Illinois Review

Aurora man arrested for throwing explosive device at Naperville Police vehicle

Naperville Community Television graphic

CHICAGO — An Aurora man was arrested last week on a federal civil disorder charge for allegedly throwing an explosive or incendiary device at a Naperville Police Department vehicle during a protest earlier this month, the FBI announced.

The man, Christian Rea, threw the explosive device in the proximity of the police vehicle, and the officers that were standing near the vehicle, which subsequently detonated causing an explosion, according to a criminal complaint and affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago.  Panic ensued in the crowd of protesters, with people running in all directions, the complaint states.

Chicago Pride revelers twerk on Chicago Police car roofs

CHICAGO - The city of Chicago Police has apparently given up on protecting its citizens from unruly or violent mobs - despite the tight COVID-19 Phase Four rules.

According to CWBChicago.com, a Chicago alderman sent out a copy of this email Chicago Police Commander sent out Sunday night - saying CPD was no longer asked to disperse large gatherings. 

Things got way out of hand in Chicago's Boyztown Sunday night into Monday morning, including young men and women celebrating Pride Month twerking on the roofs and hoods of Chicago Police cars while the cops "chilled" inside the car. 

Chicago should prepare for a spike in COVID-19 numbers - few masks were sighted.

Black Conservatives: "Black Lives Don't Seem to Matter to Liberal Supreme Court Justices"

Credit: digitalskillet1 - stock.adobe.com

DC - Members of the Project 21 black leadership network condemned Monday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned a Louisiana law requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. 

Noting that black women are disproportionately at risk of unnecessary harm during abortion procedures, Project 21 had appealed to the justices through a legal brief that argued against throwing out "a substantial medical benefit that justifies any minimal burden" and thus allowing abortionists to escape oversight and safety requirements.

"It's a sad day when the Supreme Court rules against the preservation of life. With this decision, it is signaling that not all black lives matter," said Project 21 member Donna Jackson.

Justice Roberts sides with US Supreme Court Left against requiring abortionists to have hospital access

WASHINGTON - Pro-abortion activists are cheering Monday after US Supreme Court Justice John Roberts sided with the Left to overturn Louisiana's state law requiring abortionists to have admission credentials to send their patients to a hospital within a 30 mile radius. 

"We do not have a short-term, viable solution to end abortion legally at this time," Mark Harrington of Created Equal. said in a reaction to the decision. 

Chief Justice John Roberts cast his vote against the limitation, making the vote 5 to 4 - with Justice Thomas and Scalia writing dissenting opinions. Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch voted against the decision, but did not write dissenting opinions. 

Mark Harrington explains: 

Weyermuller: Long Waits in Illinois for COVID test results

By Mark Weyermuller -

In the Chicago area,  we are constantly being told about increased cases of Covid 19. Today, I listened to the CVS Minute Clinic outgoing message which says test results may take five days. Another source indicated it is now taking eight days to get results.

What happened to that 15 minute test we heard about ten weeks ago? If this is a huge health emergency, why does it take so long to get test results? If you need treatment or deciding on a quarantine plan, it seems like you need results immediately.

Thorner/O'Neil: Leftist ‘Agents’ in Consort with Democrats to push November victory

By Nancy Thorner & Bonnie O'Neil -

It has been reported that Google, a company that has enjoyed a premier reputation, tried to remove conservative sites from their platform, according to John Davidson, political editor of the Federalist.  Davidson explained details and provided proof of Google’s bias on FOX News. FOX was one of very few media sources willing to give Davidson a platform to expose the information. Other media sources chose to believe Google’s denials, rather than make a serious attempt to investigate the credibility of the accusations.

This should be a warning to everyone who values facts and fairness. If Mr. Davidson is correct, and there is no reason to believe he is not, then Google’s actions, decisions, and intentional bias is a problem for all of us. That most media sources chose to remain silent about Davidson’s claims is equally disturbing.

Our nation was founded by men of integrity and built by patriots who understood the importance of unbiased, accurate reporting of facts, especially those which have an impact on large numbers of our citizens. We should expect nothing less from our current news sources, especially when addressing the highly controversial, exceedingly important issues we face today.

Beckman: Statistics show there is no war on Blacks

Al Jazeera photo

By Hank Beckman -

“Each day I wake up wondering if this is the day I’m going to die because of the color of my skin,” the young Black girl said  at the first La Grange protest over the murder of Minneapolis resident George Floyd.

She looked to be a middle school student; maybe a high school freshman.

With the large crowds and a mediocre sound system, it was hard to make out everything she was saying. But most of it seemed to fit right into the general tenor of the protest, which was your basic White Guilt meeting. The crowd of what appeared to be a thousand mostly young people spent a couple of hours marching, chanting the usual slogans, (no justice, no peace...no racist police) and carrying the usual signs, (Black Lives Matter, silence is consent, White silence=violence).

63% of US adults still say police officers are important jobs

CHICAGO - If you're concerned about the safety of your neighborhood while protesters are demanding police be defunded, you're not alone. Indeed, most Americans value the role of the police and worry that increasing criticism of cops will make their communities less safe. Black Americans are the most concerned, a new Rasmussen Report says. 

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 63% of American Adults still regard being a police officer as one of the most important jobs in our country today, down only slightly from 68% three years ago. Twenty-six percent (26%) disagree, up from 19% in the earlier survey. Eleven percent (11%) are not sure. 

Illinois Rising Action Launches Paid Media Campaign focusing on Pritzker’s Failures

CHICAGO, IL – Illinois Rising Action launched a television and digital campaign last week exposing the Pritzker administration’s record of serving the political class while burdening families with higher taxes and failing to assist thousands of Illinoisans with unemployment claims when they needed help most.

“Tax hikes, taxpayer-funded pay raises for Springfield politicians, and a broken unemployment filing system embody Governor Pritzker’s record in office for Illinoisans,” said Kayleen Carlson, executive director of Illinois Rising Action. “It is clear that he and his administration have forgotten that they don’t work for the politicians in Springfield, they work for Illinois families.”

Illinois Rising Action is associated with America Rising  - a political action committee made up of Republican operatives that have worked for high profile politicians from Congresswoman Liz Cheney to former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Illinois Congressman Mark Kirk.

The campaign’s ad, “Failed”, is appearing throughout the state.

Thomas Sowell at 90: Understanding Race Relations Around the World

The issue of race relations in America has reached a new high pitch with the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis policeman, followed by mass peaceful demonstrations and instances of violence, looting, and arson in cities around the country. A new soul-searching on matters of race and racism are now, also, impacting a growing number of academic and professional fields, including the economics profession.

On June 5, 2020, the American Economic Association (AEA), the premier organization among economists in the United States, issued a statement saying that it was time for officers and governance committees within the Association to look into racism and racist practices and presumptions within the profession. It was pointed out that while black Americans make up 13 percent of the nation’s population, only 3 percent of economists who are members of the AEA identity themselves as black, and 47 percent of those surveyed said that they experienced instances of discrimination within the profession.

More HERE

Sen. Rand Paul Offers Bill for Portable Health Insurance Outside the Workplace

Recognizing that many Americans have lost jobs and the health insurance that goes with them during the coronavirus pandemic, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced a bill to allow organizations to offer portable insurance that can stay with an individual in and out of the workforce and across state lines.

The Healthshare Plans Act of 2020, introduced on May 5, would amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to allow membership organizations, such as Costco and Sam’s Club and associations such as the National Restaurant Association to offer health insurance to their members. Eligible organizations would also include small-business platforms for gig workers, such as Uber, Etsy, ebay, and Amazon, plus trade associations and other large groups.

More HERE

Police Are Fighting Child Exploitation

Every 30 seconds a child is stolen for sex, slave labor, or organ harvesting somewhere in the world. Former special agent and Operation Underground Railroad founder Tim Ballard joins Will Witt to discuss the "tsunami" of child exploitation happening during the COVID-19 pandemic and what's being done to fight back.

Trump Campaign's New Ad: Fortitude

Democrat Party Should be Dismantled Over History of Slavery, Racism

By Alex Newman -

With mobs of indoctrinated young people now targeting America’s Founding Fathers and even the foundations of the nation under the guise of tearing down “racism,” a much more logical place to start would be dismantling the Democratic Party. The party’s shameful history is literally filled with vicious racism, violence and oppression of black Americans.

It was America’s Founding Fathers who enshrined the then-revolutionary idea that “all men are created equal” and are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” This biblical ideal at the heart of America’s founding laid the foundation for abolishing slavery not just in America, but worldwide, despite the scourge having been ubiquitous throughout human history. It took time to realize that dream, but it eventually happened — first in America, later in other places.

The Democrats fought the process every step of the way, however. Less than one fourth of Democrats in Congress supported the 13th Amendment to end slavery. All 118 Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor. Literally no Democrats supported the 14th and 15th amendments granting blacks full citizenship and protecting their right to vote. After Democrats lost the slavery battle, they worked fiendishly to restrict the rights of blacks in any way possible, including by founding the Ku Klux Klan and using terror.

By contrast, the Republican Party was literally founded in the mid-1800s in large part as a force to oppose the racist pro-slavery extremism of the Democrats. And of course, it was Republican political leaders, including President Abraham Lincoln, who fought to liberate black Americans from slavery and other oppression against the backdrop of staunch Democrat opposition.

More HERE

Thorner & Pennington: Nation at a Crossroads

By Nancy Thorner & Dave Pennington - 

Given this time of crisis our nation is now experiencing, when terrorist groups such as Antifa are attempting to foist their Marxist ideology upon this nation through rioting, looting, and the destruction of this nation's history by pulling down statues, it is a situation that all rational Americans should openly reject.

There remains, however, a naive notion, especially among the young, that another radical group, Black Lives Matter, is dedicated to helping blacks receive fair and just treatment. As for the Democrat Party, it endorses the demands of Black Lives Matter.

Rossi: 100 Shot In Chicago on Father’s Day Weekend & Libs Want to Defund the Police?

By Randy Rossi - 

Need some proof that defunding the police is a very bad idea? On Father’s Day Weekend in Chicago, over 100 people were shot and 14 of those shot died including a 3 year old boy and a 13 year old girl.

Based on pure statistics, the odds are that most if not all of those victims were African-American and 91.6% of them were shot by African-Americans. Not one shooting involved the police. Yet while these horrible shootings were going on in Chicago, liberals all across the country were demanding that we “Defund the Police”. Pretty crazy right? I mean if a bad guy is threatening to shoot you and the police have been defunded, who would you call to save your life? PETA?

The Blue State Depression

From The Committee to Unleash Prosperity - 

The new Department of Labor employment data confirms that when it comes to the economy, America is on two divergent paths. Blue states are losing jobs at record pace and red states are gaining them.

Ten states had unemployment rates in May above 15 percent.  They are all states with Democratic governors, with the exception of Deep Blue Massachusetts with its liberal Republican governor Charlie Baker.

Ranked from highest to lowest they are Nevada 25.3%, Hawaii (22.6%), Michigan (21.2%), California (16.3%), Rhode Island (16.3%), Massachusetts (16.3%), Delaware (15.8%), Illinois (15.2%), New Jersey (15.2%), Washington (15.1%).

The six states with the lowest unemployment rates are all red states – most of which never shutdown at all. These are Nebraska (5.2%), Utah (8.5 %), Wyoming (8.8%), Arizona (8.9%), Idaho (8.9%), MT (9.0%) , and North Dakota (9.1%).

This is not a coronavirus recession. It is a blue state lockdown recession. Democrats say they have shut down their economies for health reasons, but these are also the states that generally have had the highest death rates and the highest nursing home fatalities. So the blue states have not only failed to keep their citizens safe, they’ve ruined their economies as well. Democrats are promising to make America look more like New Jersey, Washington, and California. God forbid.

The Famous Abolitionist Frederick Douglass Hated Socialism

The nation marked “Juneteenth” - the anniversary of the last Civil War slaves to learn they’d been freed - last week. The Atlas Society has put together a stirring video on just what that freedom represented, telling it through the eyes of famous abolitionist and freed slave Frederick Douglass.

Government May Take the Lion’s Share of America

By Stephen Moore -

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Congress has enacted four spending bills—so far. The Congressional Budget Office estimates their cost at roughly $2.1 trillion, of which nearly $1.6 trillion is new spending. That’s on top of $4.7 trillion that was already in the pipeline to be spent this year by the federal government, which brings the total to $6.3 trillion.

But Congress isn’t done with the spending blitz. On May 15 the House passed the Heroes Act, an acronym for Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions. Heroes has a lot of zeros: The bill would spend $3 trillion, which would bring total federal spending to $9.3 trillion. No one expects it to pass the Senate, but many Senate Republicans and some in the White House are negotiating a compromise that could cost $1.5 trillion. If that number holds up, Congress will have spent $7.8 trillion this year.

That doesn’t count state and local government. The best estimates of these budgets come from the Census Bureau. In 2018 the total—excluding money received from Washington—was roughly $2.4 trillion. Discount that by $200 billion for Covid-induced shortfalls, add it all up, and the total price tag comes to $10 trillion. The CBO’s April estimate for total 2020 GDP is $20.4 trillion.

Government spending as a share of GDP would be 48%. Under the Pelosi bill it would be 51.5%—more than half. That’s never happened. Even in 1943-45, at the height of World War II, government spending was a bit under 50%.

Read more in the Wall Street Journal.

“There Is No Apolitical Classroom”

The culture wage will rage in America's classrooms. Max Eden writes:

School will be a very different place next year. Classes will be less full. Desks will be rigorously sterilized. And, if the education establishment has its way, teachers will be aggressively “woke.”

“We are living at a time of obscene inequities and merely trying to compensate is not enough,” the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) recently announced. “Equity is more than making things more accessible and AASA’s work on equity must go further and become actively anti-racist. ... Leading a system-wide effort requires that we ensure that cultural responsiveness permeates all levels of the district.”

ILGOP: IL Supreme Court Justice Votes to Allow Police to Destroy Records

From the Illinois Republican Party -

Last week, the Illinois Supreme Court handed down their near unanimous decision in favor of the  City of Chicago in a case against the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police. The FOP filed suit against the city for failing to destroy police disciplinary records after five years per their collective bargaining agreement. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that requiring the destruction of police disciplinary records after five years violates public records law.

The decision is being heralded as a positive development in the wake of a growing police reform movement. There was only one member of the Supreme Court who disagreed - Justice Thomas Kilbride of the 5th Judicial Circuit. Both conservative justices from downstate (Garman, Karmeier) and liberal justices from Chicago (Burke, Neville, Theis) came together to recognize the illegality and bad faith nature of the FOP’s effort to protect cops with a history of disciplinary actions, but Kilbride stood alone in dissent (dissent here, starting on page 17).

Even more troubling than Justice Kilbride’s decision is the glaringly obvious motivation for him to be the lone dissenting vote. The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police was his saving grace during his 2010 retention campaign as he came under attack for his record on crime. The FOP and other police groups rushed to his defense and came through for Kilbride with an endorsement and major campaign support. Kilbride ran his retention campaign with a central theme as being a strong ally to law enforcement, even touting an award from the Illinois Crime Commission / Police Athletic League of Illinois and each of his ads painting Kilbride as “tough on crime.”

Kilbride’s decision to allow the destruction of police records after only 5 years is contrary to the police reform movement that Republicans and Democrats are embracing nationally, in which legislation would require law enforcement to retain records for longer periods of time. The just-released “Justice Act” authored by Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) requires 30 year record-keeping.

Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider pointed out the obvious, saying, “It’s clear why Justice Kilbride felt he needed to be the lone voice against positive police reform that conservatives, moderates and liberals all agree upon. Kilbride is up for a tough retention campaign and needs the support of the FOP and other law enforcement groups that bailed him out in 2010. Political calculations should have no place in the decision making process of our judiciary. Justice Kilbride should be ashamed.”

Shimkus endorses Mary Miller to be next IL-15 Congress member

OAKLAND, IL – Congressman John Shimkus (IL-15) says the clear choice for voters in the 15^th Congressional District is Republican Mary Miller.

"I have no question she will bring to Washington the same values and beliefs in less government, lower taxes, individual responsibility and personal freedom as I've fought for on Capitol Hill for more than two decades," Shimkus said. 
 
Congressman Shimkus also has been named the honorary chair of Miller’s campaign.

African Christian University Dean: 'Black people in America are the FREEST and MOST PROSPEROUS black people in the world'

Dr. Voddie Baucham, Dean of Theology at African Christian University and former pastor from California, recently made waves when his sermon titled "Ethnic Gnosticism" resurfaced online. He joined Glenn Beck on the radio program Thursday to share why he believes today's social justice, anti-racism movements are "poisonous" ideology steeped in Marxist critical theory, which aim to "redistribute" justice to certain societal groups with no consideration for the individual.

Dr. Baucham argued that left's narrative that black Americans are the most oppressed black people in the world is far from true.

"I've been trying to talk about this from the perspective of the big picture. Unfortunately, when you talk about it from the big picture, people tend to think, you just don't have empathy, you just don't have compassion, you just don't understand how bad it is. Me, who grew up in drug-infested, gang-infested, South Central L.A., born in 1969, grew up during the crack era ... [and] raised by a single, teenage Buddhist mother," Baucham said.

More HERE

No, Google, Climate Change Is Not Killing Americans, It Is Saving Them

At the top of Google News searches this morning for “climate change” is an article titled, “Climate Change Is Killing Americans. Health Departments Aren’t Equipped to Respond.” The article, published by Columbia Journalism Investigations and the far-left British tabloid The Guardian, claims “a rise in dangerous heat in the United States” is causing a dramatic rise in climate-related deaths. However, just the opposite is the case, as objective evidence proves warmer temperatures are reducing deaths in America and around the world.

More HERE

YouTube Weaponizes ‘Hate Speech’ Policy to Censor Heritage Foundation Video

On Oct. 9, Walt Heyer took the stage at a Heritage Foundation event called the Summit on Protecting Children from Sexualization. His powerful testimony captivated the audience. It was so powerful, in fact, that YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, is now censoring his words.

The event, co-sponsored with the Family Policy Alliance, was a half-day of public panel discussions featuring a wide range of speakers. Parental rights groups from across the country attended. Their underlying goal: How to protect children from sexualization in culture, education, and health care. 

Like all of its public programs, The Heritage Foundation posted the three-hour event video on YouTube (as well as on other video platforms). Months later, YouTube notified Heritage that it had removed the entire video for violating YouTube’s “hate speech” policy.

Heritage appealed the decision, spoke to Google and YouTube staff, and the video remains censored.

More HERE

Di Leo: On Statues and History, in a Moment of Terror

By John F. Di Leo - 

I cheered 30 years ago, when the Russians tore down statues of Lenin and Stalin. 

And I cheered 20 years ago, when Iraqis tore down statues of Saddam Hussein. 

I took me a long time to realize it, but... I was wrong. 

Now, I’m not saying there was any good in these particular people. There wasn’t.  They were off-the-charts malevolent.  But some of those statues could have performed a public service, as reminders of past errors, and warnings that such errors must not be repeated. 

The Ferguson Lie

Most people think they know what happened in Ferguson, MO on August 9, 2014. Most people are wrong. Radio host and author Larry Elder presents a factual account of what actually took place on that fateful day.

Justices Continue Long, Shameful Silence on Second Amendment

The Supreme Court has waited far too long to take up a Second Amendment case. Amy Swearer writes:

Unfortunately, the court this week dealt a serious blow to hopes that it would hear a Second Amendment case in its next term, denying certiorari in all the gun-related cases pending before it.

In laymen’s terms, the court effectively said, “We will not review the lower court decisions upholding these constitutionally questionable gun control laws.”

Thorner: Black Lives Matter attempts to redefine Moral Values

Black Lives Matter protested in south suburban Cook County neighborhoods last weekend 

By Nancy Thorner - 

Given the no criticism policy which exists for Black Lives Matter, a person is called racist and can even be fired for saying anything in this politically-correct world that is perceived negative against Black Lives Matter, given its no-criticism policy which exists.

On June 5, 2020, a former Garces Memorial High School teacher in Bakersfield, CA, who is himself black, was allegedly fired over social media posts targeting the Black Lives Matter movement and protests.  Refusing to back down from his posts, Timothy Gordon called his former school "insane" for not supporting him. 

As reported on June 6th, 2020, in Arizona News: The first black Republican elected to the Arizona Legislature,  Rep. Walt Blackman of Snowflake, when facing blowback after calling Black Lives Matter a “terrorist organization” and attacking the character of George Floyd, pulled back his comment.

Leaders Failed Our Older Generations

New data is emerging on how COVID-19 response policies failed to protect one of the most vulnerable groups to the disease—the 2.1 million residents of American nursing homes.

After COVID-19 struck the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, resulting in at least 30 deaths, nursing homes and residential care facilities became a focal point of the COVID-19 response. Although COVID-19 affects the elderly more severely than younger individuals on average, statistics show that deaths are more concentrated in elderly individuals who live in nursing homes or residential care facilities than those that do not reside in a facility.

The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP) has been monitoring infection and death rates among the nursing home population and reports that as of June 2, 2020, approximately 42 percent of all COVID-19 deaths occurred in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

More HERE

Social Media Companies in Trouble?

President Trump finally issued an Executive Order targeting viewpoint discrimination by Big Tech social media companies. The Order grows out of Trump’s summit on this thorny issue last July. Topping the list of targets are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Google, but there are many other possibilities.

This form of discrimination is very much uncharted legal territory. The chosen central concept for Big Tech wrongdoing is “censorship”, as the EO is titled “Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship”. This choice in itself is a strategic legal decision.

More HERE

We Must Never Forget the 100 Million Victims of Communism

Communism has left an enormous body count. Lee Edwards writes:

Each June brings the world closer to that day when communism finally will be dumped on the ash heap of history, and freedom will take its place in the five countries that still groan under communist dictatorship—China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cuba.

How can we be sure that day will come? We remember the words of the East German communist boss Erich Honecker, who boasted in January 1989 that the Berlin Wall would stand for at least another 100 years. Before the year was out, the Berlin Wall had fallen, and Honecker was under house arrest.

Each June, those in attendance at the Victims of Communism Memorial ceremony pledge that never again will they allow so evil a tyranny to enslave peoples and nations.

They hear the voices of the fallen crying out, “Remember us,” and vow they will never forget them.

Who's More Radical: The Left or the Right?

What would America look like if the Left got everything it wanted? What would America look like if the Right got everything it wanted? PragerU’s Will Witt fleshes out each of these scenarios in this provocative thought experiment.

Perkins: The Trans Teen Revolution

By Tony Perkins - 

Keira Bell can never get her childhood back. And her body, a scarred and mangled reminder, tells her every day. “I am living in a world where I don’t fit in as male or as female. I am stuck between two sexes.”

Now 23, she’s dedicated her life to stop teenagers from making the same mistake. And suing the clinic responsible is step No. 1.

More HERE

Congressional Membership has its Privileges | Open The Books Oversight Report

Illinois-based 'Open The Books' has a new report out. This 28-page report details all of the benefits received by members of Congress. Download your complimentary copy of the report here.

Emmy award winning journalist, Kristine Frazao summarized the findings in a TV news segment:

The Mainstream Media Will Not Tell the Truth About Black Lives Matter

What the media won't acknowledge: Black Lives Matter fuels violent anti-police sentiment. WATCH Sheriff David Clarke with the facts (and Don Lemon with the stammering and cut to commercial).

Oberweis to lead caravan to Woodlawn to deliver care packages to families in need

SUGAR GROVE – Chicago families whose local grocery stores and pharmacies have been badly damaged in the recent outbreak of riots and looting are hurting but State Senator Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove) and candidate for Congress in the 14th District, is calling on suburban families to join him in lending a helping hand.

“It is important for us as Americans to help our neighbors in need and so I am asking families in the 14^th District to help in a meaningful way,” Oberweis said. “I am working with Pastor Corey Brooks in Woodlawn to give 100 families of four enough food for two days. That’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner for two days. We can’t help everyone, but we can help 100 families in Pastor Brooks’ community.”

Romanian Churches Continue Fight for Freedom

CHICAGO - Liberty Counsel will file an en banc petition requesting that the entire panel of judges review the case after a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals denied the preliminary injunction on behalf of Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church and Logos Baptist Ministries in their federal lawsuit against Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker for his unconstitutional executive orders discriminating against churches. 

Depending on the result of the petition for en banc review, Liberty Counsel will also consider filing a petition for cert requesting Supreme Court review at the appropriate time. 

This decision now conflicts with the two 3-0 rulings Liberty Counsel obtained at the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of the Maryville Baptist Church. This also conflicts with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. However, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 against a church on an emergency appeal. Thus, the Circuit Courts of Appeal are now split 2-2, which sets up an eventual case for Supreme Court review.

Di Leo: Ten Percent and Counting – the Predictable Recidivism of COVID-19’s Ex-Cons

By John F. Di Leo -

When much of this nation started embarking on unprecedented shutdowns in March – closing our factories, our stores, our restaurants and schools… evacuating our hospitals to make room for the millions of patients that were sure to flood them in a matter of days, as soon as the CCP Virus caught on – one of the oddest choices that some state governments made was to set their prisoners free.

The peculiar, misguided fear that criminals in jail might catch this virus prompted certain hard leftist governors – New York’s Cuomo, Washington’s Inslee, California’s Newsom, Illinois' Pritzker, and others – to throw open the prison gates. They flooded their own communities with these known, proven criminals, people in jail for committing crimes - not just minor transgressions, but the kind that actually result in years behind bars, even in these permissive, forgiving states. (Remember, when studying their rap sheets, that criminals are usually cataloged under lesser crimes than the ones they actually committed, due to plea bargaining).

Plenty of voices opposed the idea, of course, but Republicans are a muzzled minority in such states, and the local press usually serves as house organs for the state Democratic party, so few listened to these warnings.

Harsanyi: The Problem With ‘Pick a Knee’

By David Harsanyi - 

“Pick a knee,” says CNN’s S. E. Cupp, “The one that knelt on a neck or the one that knelt to try to prevent it.” This kind of ugly false choice—either you adopt my favored form of political protest or you support murder!—is meant to bully you into participating in groupthink.

Worse, it’s meant to shame the target of Cupp’s exhortation into taking ownership of racism, an evil that may have nothing to do with him.

I find the abuse of black civilians—or, though this is apparently a provocation, any civilians—by the police abhorrent. More than any other group in American life, cops, empowered by the state to use force, have a special responsibility to protect life and adhere to the law.

But I am no more liable for the actions of Derek Chauvin than is S. E. Cupp or Al Sharpton. I have nothing to confess. The color of my skin is not an indictment of my morality, nor does it strip me of my agency.

More HERE

Pandemic, Planning, and Racial Politics

People are being forced back into a new tribalism and a new racial and ethnic collectivism in the public arena due to the renewed insistence on “group-think” that is reinforced by a variety of government policies.

An old adage says that tragedies often come in threes. Certainly, the first half of 2020 has seen a version of this. First, the coronavirus that has infected millions of people and killed hundreds of thousands. Second, the response by most governments to the virus by commanding near universal business lockdowns and stay-at-homes that have wrecked economic havoc on the world economy. And, third, the horrific killing of George Floyd, an unarmed and handcuffed black man in Minneapolis by a policeman, that has served as the catalyst for demonstrations against police abuse and charges of racism all around the world. 

They are tragedies that, for the most part, have been man-made. Yes, the coronavirus has been a “force of nature,” though the verdict is still out on the actual origin of the virus and how it first entered the general population in Wuhan, China and then began to spread from one continent to another. But what has become fairly clear is the “human factor” in analyzing and forecasting its likely impact on the world population, which, in turn, highly influenced government responses to it.

More HERE

Horrowitz - The new panic lie: Increased coronavirus hospitalizations and cases in the southwest

By Daniel Horowitz - 

The health “experts” and the media propagating viral panic porn think people like us don’t understand arithmetic. They think they can manipulate headline stories warning of increased cases of COVID-19 in order to push more lockdowns, ignoring all the ways that more cases are being discovered, while the percentage of positive tests, new hospitalizations and deaths, and the lethality of the virus are all waning significantly.

“Arizona’s COVID-19 spread is ‘alarming’ and action is needed, experts warn,” read the title of an Arizona Republic article on Wednesday. Yahoo News breathlessly warned about a “spike” in all the southwestern states.

As is always the case, there is a grain of truth that is hugely distorted by numerous obfuscations of important facts and context. The truth is that new hospitalizations of people coming in for serious coronavirus infections are actually extremely low. What they are actually counting are the extra people coming in for all of the delayed health care caused by the lockdown.  But thanks to universal testing in hospitals, they are discovering more asymptomatic cases than ever before, which had nothing to do with the original purpose of the hospital stay. Thus, they are blaming the fallout of the lockdown on the easing of the lockdown!

This chart from Arizona’s coronavirus dashboard says it all.

More HERE

To Truly Reduce Racial Disparities, We Must Acknowledge Black Fathers Matter

The only institution to which today’s black children are routinely denied is marriage. Their plight won’t improve until they receive equal access.

Americans must confront the injustice of George Floyd’s death and examine issues of police use of force. We should review sentencing guidelines and revisit qualified immunity. We must never dismiss the generational effects of slavery and Jim Crow.

We must also acknowledge that racism is not primarily responsible for the struggles of the black community. Fatherlessness is.

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More Evidence that the Left's Lockdowns Discriminate Against Blacks

Professor Robert Fairlie of UC Santa Cruz looked at Current Population Survey data to determine the demographic makeup of the businesses destroyed by lockdowns, and the results strongly reinforce what we've been saying about lockdowns being the most racist policy in America: "African-American businesses were hit the hardest by COVID-19. The first estimates from April 2020 for black business owners in the United States indicate a massive drop of 41 percent."

https://www.nber.org/papers/w27309.pdf

Thorner/Ingold: Where's the Beef (Spike)?

By Nancy Thorner & Ed Ingold - 

Stocks suffered their biggest one-day pull back in three months on Thursday, June 11, 2020, as traders grew concerned about the number of coronavirus cases increasing in some states that are opening up from lockdowns, over fear of a second wave of coronavirus in the fall. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 1,861.82 points, or 6.9%, to close at 25,128.17. 

As Victor Davis Hanson wrote in his article, The Bitter Irony of Revolutions, on Wednesday, June 10, 2020:

Throughout history, revolutions often do not end up as their initial architects planned.

The ancient Greeks created new words like "paradox" and "irony" to describe the wide gap between what people profess and assume, and what they actually do and suffer.

The COVID-19 epidemic, the nationwide mass quarantine, and the massive protests, looting, rioting and arson that all followed the police killing of George Floyd have resulted in similar paradoxes. 

Social distancing and mandated lockdowns for months have been the source of endless fighting between the people and their governments. Red and blue states often adopted diametrically opposite policies. 

But the massive demonstrations and rioting saw hundreds of thousands of protesters jammed together and often without masks. That mass disobedience to quarantining will teach us, better than any university modeling, whether the virus spikes or is indifferent to thousands who congregate in the streets.

Lawsuit Charges Illinois with Religious Liberty Violations Over Forced Abortion Coverage

In the aftermath of COVID-19 related religious liberty lawsuits, the Thomas More Society  has now sue the State of Illinois to challenge a law requiring all health insurance policies sold in the state provide coverage for elective chemical and surgical abortions, with no exemptions even for churches. On June 10, 2020, the Thomas More Society filed a complaint in the Sangamon County Circuit Court, charging the state with abuses of the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act in relation to the abortion insurance mandate. The case was filed on behalf of a Baptist church association, a dental practice and its owner, and a freight company and its owner. The lawsuit charges that Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, the Department of Insurance, and its director, Robert Muriel, have refused to protect the plaintiffs’ sincerely held religious beliefs, which forbid them from funding and providing coverage for elective abortions.

Under an expansive abortion law that was passed with a straight party-lines vote by Democratic state legislators and Governor Pritzker, the “Reproductive Health Act” mandates that every health insurance plan in Illinois that provides pregnancy-related benefits must also provide coverage for abortion. The law, rushed through the legislature over the 2019 Memorial Day weekend, requires private health insurance companies to cover abortion procedures, giving everyone who participates financially in that plan – employees, employers, and the company – no way to opt out.

ILGOP Chairman Responds to Pritzker’s 35 Madigan Patronage Hires

Last week it was revealed that upon winning the gubernatorial election in 2017, Speaker Madigan sent Governor Pritzker a list of individuals he wanted hired in state government. Pritzker complied with the Speaker’s wishes and hired 35 of them.

WBEZ: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker Hired 35 People From House Speaker Michael Madigan’s Clout List - “Despite repeatedly promising to be “independent” of longtime Democratic boss Michael Madigan, first-term Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker filled many prominent roles in his administration with people recommended by the state House speaker and party chairman, a WBEZ investigation has revealed.

As Pritzker won the election in 2018 and was sworn into office last year, Madigan’s office sent him the names of scores of job seekers and the positions in state government they desired. Madigan’s successful recommendations far outnumbered those from other legislative leaders, with records showing the new governor made nearly three dozen hires and board appointments off the speaker’s clout list.

Illinois taxpayers are paying those Madigan-endorsed public officials a total of more than $2.5 million a year, WBEZ’s investigation found.”

ILGOP Chairman Tim Schneider responded to the news by releasing the following statement:

“It was obvious long before Governor Pritzker was elected that he would do Speaker Madigan’s bidding. Now we have proof. When Madigan asked, Governor Pritzker delivered for him. Just as they have been for decades, the taxpayers of Illinois were left out of that equation.

The only appropriate response for when Madigan’s chief emailed his clout list was for Pritzker’s chief to email back, ‘no thanks.’ Instead, the Governor hired half of them, gave them cushy jobs as department heads and board commissioners, and is paying them $2.5 million in taxpayer funds annually. All 35 Madigan Patronage hires should resign immediately.”

Rossi: The Incredible Insanity of “Defund the Police”

By Randy Rossi - 

Just when you think the world can’t get any crazier, it does! First liberals and Democrats wanted open borders which would create massive chaos, cost American citizens billions of dollars and thousands of jobs, and is a direct attack on the rule of law and our national sovereignty. Then we shut down our entire economy because of Covid 19 which cost 40 million Americans their jobs and mental health and some dictatorial governors actually took away our freedom of religion by forcing us to stay out of churches but allowing us to buy marijuana as an “essential business” and allowing thousands of protestors to flood our streets to practice their constitutional right of peaceful protest. And by the way, those peaceful protests caused tens of millions of dollars of damage to businesses all around the country, resulted in the deaths of at least two police officers, and injuries to over 300 police officers around the country that risked their lives to protect the people and their communities from violent protestors.

Now these crazy liberals and Democrats all across the nation want to “Defund the Police”. That is the last straw and if Americans are naïve enough to quietly sit by and let that happen, chaos and violence will rule our nation. These extreme liberals and Democrats are either incredibly ignorant or are dedicated to chaos. And if you want to know how that movie would end, read George Orwell’s books “1984” and “Animal Farm”!

Jussie Smollett Loses Bid To Have Disorderly Conduct Charges Dropped

A Cook County judge ruled Friday that former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett’s disorderly conduct charges would not be dropped as they did not violate his constitutional protection against double jeopardy, arguing the charges dropped against him last year were invalid due to misconduct by the Cook County State’s Attorney office.

Smollett was indicted earlier this year on new charges stemming from his claims in January 2019 that he had been attacked by two racist white men in Chicago on a frigid night who yelled homophobic and racial epithets at him. He claimed they poured a bleach-like substance on him and tied a noose around his neck, which he continued to wear until he was interviewed by police about the incident later. After a national outcry despite the obvious issues with his story, a police investigation discovered that Smollett made up the claim and allegedly hired two brothers from Nigeria to attack him while wearing red hats he later claimed were “Make America Great Again” hats from President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.

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Civil Rights Attorney Leo Terrell Explains Why He’s ‘Stopped Drinking the Democratic Kool Aid’

Liberal civil rights attorney Leo Terrell has a message for anyone who’s still a Democrat: If you want law and order, you’re not going to get it from Democrats.

Terrell, who has often been a featured liberal commentator, appeared on Sean Hannity’s show and revealed how why he was done with the “Democratic Kool-Aid.”

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