Illinois Review

New Illinois "Office of Equity" will promote diversity, equity and inclusion across state government

Illinois Capitol Governor's Office

SPRINGFIELD - Just out of the Governor's office this Friday afternoon.  Will work on a response in upcoming Illinois Review stories. At first glance, it appears Governor Pritzker is taking the state of Illinois even further into a Leftist mindset - something that is of no surprise to attentive conservative Illinoisans. Some are seeing it immediately as ushering in a state government guided by the Critical Race Theory so many are opposing in school curriculum. 

This is the Governor's office's release in its entirety: 

Executive Order 2021-16 Advances Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Throughout State Agencies and Public Policy

SPRINGFIELD — Building on the administration’s ongoing work to advance equity and inclusion, Governor JB Pritzker today signed an Executive Order establishing the Office of Equity to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across state government.  By creating a standalone Office of Equity, the Chief Equity Officer will serve as a leader in creating more equitable systems and opportunity for state employees and all residents.

“It’s been the mission of my administration to carry forth justice and equity in all that we do for the people of Illinois,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “I’m proud that this Executive Order will help shape a more equitable system of justice that makes our state stronger and expands opportunities for all of our residents. It is a goal of mine for the nation to look to Illinois as a leader in true equity. The action we’re taking today takes us one step closer to that goal.”

Sec of State offices expand services "to address heavy customer volume"

Crowds in line at Lombard IL facility in August 2020 (Star indicates DMV office location in mall)

CHICAGO - Secretary of State Jesse White says they are expanding services "to address heavy customer volume" in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anyone who's had the misfortune to need a visit to your local Driver and Motor Vehicles facility over the last 18 months will likely say this is great, but as typical in bureaucracies, it's months, if not years, too late. Reports are of Illinois residents standing in line up to eight hours and being forced to return the next day to the Lombard Illinois DMV office to get their licenses updated with a required photo. That's been the case since last fall. 

From the Secretary of State's office Friday ... 

Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White is launching a comprehensive plan to address the heavy customer volume at Driver Services facilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. White’s plan includes two key elements:

• Expanding the appointment pilot program in September to include most Driver Services facilities in the Chicagoland area.

• Expanding remote renewal over the next six months to allow approximately 1 million more people to renew their driver’s licenses and ID cards online, by phone or by mail. Letters will be mailed out to those who qualify beginning in September until the end of February 2022.

Rossi: Significantly More Americans Want Congress to Investigate BLM Riots than the Capitol Riots

By Randy Rossi - 

Rasmussen released a poll on 7/21/2021 that proves that a majority of Americans get the “Big Picture” and understand what is a real threat to our great republic. While 49% of Americans do support Nancy Pelosi’s investigation of the one day “Capitol Riots”, 66% of Americans want a formal investigation of the BLM/ANTIFA riots that caused $2 billion of damage to 140 cities over 200 days. Those riots are the most expensive riots in US history. That means that 34% more Americans want a BLM/ANTIFA investigation vs. the Capitol riots investigation! Yet the Democrat controlled House has not done an investigation of the BLM/ANTIFA riots, while they have started an investigation of the one day Capitol riots. While the initial peaceful capitol protests on January 6 involving over 100,000 protestors were legal and protected by the 1st Amendment, the much smaller violent protests that caused damage to the Capitol and injured several police officers were indeed illegal and those that broke the law should be prosecuted as the law demands. But let’s compare that one day of illegal riots on the Capitol vs. the 200 days of BLM/ANTIFA riots in 140 cities.

St Louis County lifts masks mandate; Illinois gov mandates masks in Illinois government facilities

ST. LOUIS COUNTY - Just to the west of Illinois, across the Mississippi River that is easily crossed on a daily basis, the St. Louis County Council voted this week to rescind a mask mandate 24 hours after it was enacted. 

Explaining his vote to rescind the mandate Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-6th District said, “Too many American men and women have given the last full measure of devotion for us to be cavalier with the very liberty they fought and died to provide. I will not abide any measures that seek to compromise or erode our liberty and freedom.”

This week, Illinois' Governor JB Pritzker issued a statewide face covering mandate for state facilities.  From Pritzker's office:

Thorner: A Stark Report of Biden’s First Six Months in Office

By Nancy Thorner - 

On Tuesday, July 20, 2021, Biden marked his six months as president, which could also mark the worst start of an administration in this nation's history. 

The White House celebrated President Biden's first six months in office by touting his economic achievements and handling of the coronavirus pandemic on Instagram, but commenters appeared to be less than impressed. 

"So we just going to forget that we are on the verge of inflation?" one commenter wrote in a post liked by more than 350 users.

Lockdowns Proved Deadly to Children, Study Shows

Lockdowns, especially in low-income countries resulted in higher mortality among a group rarely considered in the international narrative on COVID-19– children, concludes a report by a prominent economic research organization.

“In lower-income countries, the economic contractions that accompany lockdowns to contain the spread of COVID-19 can increase child mortality, counteracting the mortality reductions achieved by the lockdown,” state the authors. The report, “Intergenerational Mortality Tradeoff of COVID-19 Lockdown Policies,” was published in June by the Massachusetts-based National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).  Four of the six authors of the study are employed by the World Bank, the other two are with the National University of Singapore and the University of Michigan, respectively.

To formulize and quantify the unprecedented lockdowns’ effect on child mortality, the researchers built what they call a “macro-susceptible-infected-recovered model” that featured heterogeneous agents and a country-group-specific relationship between economic downturns and child mortality and calculate it to data from 85 countries across all income levels.

The rise of the delta variant in India, Europe, Australia, Israel, and South America and the fact that COVID-19 appears to be bumping up against herd immunity in the U.S gave researchers an opportunity to calculate the human toll of lockdowns. Whether the benefits of such policies outweigh “the accompanying dramatic economic contractions” is what researchers were able to test out, and by extension, whether this path should ever be taken again in confronting future pandemics.

More HERE

Parker: The Perverse Agenda of Black Lives Matter

By Star Parker - 

Since the new wave of race consciousness that has been sweeping our country, precipitated by the graphic video of the killing of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin, something very strange has happened.

Somehow, what is perceived as a problem has become widely understood to be the solution. And it is endangering our country.

If there remain citizens in America who, because of race or any other reason, are deprived of the benefits and protections of a free society, we should work to bring those benefits of freedom to them.

The answer is not to abandon the principles that make us a free country.

More HERE

Coalition Calls on Feds to Cease Collusion with Social Media Platforms

'The Biden administration is ripping the U.S. Constitution to shreds. Its assault on America’s freedom of speech is terrifying. It is the hallmark of dictatorships.'

Over 40 conservative leaders have signed on to an open letter led by Media Research Center President L. Brent Bozell in calling on the federal government to cease its collusion with Big Tech. 

The open letter was first published as a Fox News exclusive by Fox News Media Reporter Brian Flood:

“The Biden administration is ripping the U.S. Constitution to shreds. Its assault on America’s freedom of speech is terrifying. It is the hallmark of dictatorships. 

“As a result of the incendiary and dangerous announcements made by the Biden White House last week to censor free speech with the cooperation of social media, we, the undersigned, demand  Big Tech firms immediately and publicly announce that they will not comply with calls from the federal government to censor dissenting viewpoints. Not on COVID-19 and not on any other topic. Furthermore we call on those companies to resist further demands for such outrageous censorship of dissenting voices. 

“The Biden administration is guilty of violating the most basic fundamental principles of a free and open society. President Joe Biden shockingly claimed Facebook is ‘killing people’ because it doesn’t completely censor its site in ways the administration approves. Though he later backed off this claim a bit, multiple members of the administration are moving to quash free speech on social media following that autocratic rationale.

More HERE

Rossi: Shocking New Scientific Proof That Children Don’t Need Covid Vaccines

By Randy Rossi - 

It is absolutely heartbreaking to watch Democrat President Biden, his Democrat “cronies”, and the “Fake News” aggressively attack anybody who dares to question their “pitch” on Covid vaccines and present scientific data that disagrees with them. But some new hard data just came out that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that children under 18 absolutely do not need to be vaccinated and probably shouldn’t be.

In today’s Wall Street Journal, Dr. Marty Makary who is a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health, wrote an incredibly informative Op Ed with the title of “The Flimsy Evidence Behind CDC’s Push to Vaccinate Children” that should change any rational person’s opinion on kids needing Covid vaccines. Dr. Makary certainly has impeccable credentials and experience so he should at least be listened to. In his WSJ piece, he reports the fact that according to the CDC, just 335 American kids under 18 have died from Covid. Do the math, 335 US kids out of at least a US population of 55 million kids under 18 have died from Covid which is a death rate of 0.0006%! Ten times more kids have died from suicide and 3 times more have died from the annual flu. Yet we shut down our schools and caused massive academic, social, and psychological damage to those kids for no rational reason. Now many Democrats want all kids to get Covid vaccine shots which cause some heart swelling problems. Where is the logic and common sense?

Cuba Libre: Protestors call for an end to communism and oppression

Cubans are taking to the streets over food shortages and outrageously high prices, calling for an end to the country’s communist regime with mass protests.

“Cuban citizens have taken to the streets across the country for the first time in more than six decades to protest against deteriorating living conditions and the lack of basic goods and services, including medical attention amid increasing numbers of coronavirus infections,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

There have been other protests in Cuba, but this time the Cuban government seems worried. The Wall Street Journal further commented that the “demonstrations are more widespread and larger than ever before … Protesters this time appear willing to stand up against the government.” President Díaz-Canel has called the protests a U.S.-supported conspiracy to undermine and subvert the Communist Party through instability.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s administration has made it clear that the U.S. will not welcome Cuban refugees, thus continuing Trump-era policies regarding restrictions and sanctions against Cuba. Republicans, including Sens. Marco Rubio and Elliot Abrams, want the Biden Administration to support to the Cuban protestors without softening the sanctions against the Cuban government. The actual substance of this proposal is not clearly defined.

Could this be the beginning of the end for the Cuban Communist Party? If so, how can we interpret these events through a theological and moral lens?

More HERE

IL's Kinzinger's hearing appearance: Embarrassing or Endearing?

Tuesday, while serving as one of two "Pelosi Republicans" on Speaker Pelosi's specially-appointed committee looking into what Democrats are calling the January 6th "Insurrection Day," Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger opened his remarks with a slight chuckle, then immediately transitioned to choking up. 

For you, was Congressman Kinzinger's representation from Illinois embarrassing or endearing? 

 

NOW - Rep. Adam Kinzinger goes from laughing to crying in seconds during the "January 6 Select Committee" hearing.pic.twitter.com/KGIu3cH8hr

— Disclose.tv 🚨 (@disclosetv) July 27, 2021

Feel free to comment below: 

Texas Rep on US House Floor: A crisis at our border, we're playing footsie with mask mandates

Rep. @chiproytx NAILS IT. pic.twitter.com/X2PlSkp6rd

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) July 28, 2021

Liberty Counsel: VA COVID Shot Mandate Violates the Law

The Liberty Counsel, a legal firm that advances religious liberty, the sanctity of human life, and the family through litigation and education, says they are responding for "pleas for help" from Veterans Administration medical personnel in light of this week's COVID-19 vaccination mandate announcement.

The legal group sent out the following announcement late Tuesday afternoon: 

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) sent an email to all employees mandating that all its health care personnel receive the COVID-19 shots. The mandate gives each employee eight weeks to comply, and employees will receive four hours of paid administrative leave after demonstrating they have gotten the shot. 

Since the mandate was issued, Liberty Counsel has received many pleas for help, including doctors, psychiatrists, nurses and other healthcare workers, chaplains, and more. These employees do not want the COVID shots and are afraid of losing their jobs. Liberty Counsel will be representing these VA employees. 

Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough announced he will make COVID-19 injections mandatory for Title 38 VA health care personnel — including physicians, dentists, podiatrists, optometrists, registered nurses, physician assistants, expanded-function dental auxiliaries and chiropractors — who work in Veterans Health Administration facilities, visit VHA facilities, or provide direct care to those that the VA serves. 

Shapiro: Lying About ‘Misinformation’ To Justify Tyranny

By Ben Shapiro - 

This week, President Joe Biden was asked whether he had any message for social media amidst a dramatic rise in the number of diagnosed COVID-19 cases thanks to the delta variant. Biden immediately responded that companies like Facebook were responsible for murder: “They’re killing people — I mean, they’re really, look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people.” Meanwhile, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said that Facebook had not stopped misinformation thoroughly enough on its platform, calling misinformation a “serious threat to public health.”

None of this is accurate. Facebook is, first of all, a platform; it is not a publication with the same responsibilities of editorial oversight as a publisher. To treat Facebook as such would be to transform its purpose. Furthermore, on a purely factual level, it is simply untrue that Facebook users are disproportionately likely to avoid vaccination — in fact, according to Facebook’s statistics, vaccine acceptance in the United States among their users now stands between 80% and 85%, and 3.3 million Americans have used their vaccine finder tool to seek a location for a vaccine.

So, what’s driving the Biden administration’s finger pointing?

More HERE

Government Spending Leads to Inflation

It has been several decades since Americans dealt with the specter of inflation. However, according to several economic benchmarks and commonsense, inflation is oozing into the American economy like poison ivy into an open wound.

The last time the U.S. economy was overrun with inflation occurred during the dark days of the late 1970s. For example, in December 1979, as disco music rocked the nation, the annual inflation rate reached a staggering 13.3%.

As Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently said during a House of Representatives hearing, “I came of age and studied economics in the 1970s and I remember what that terrible period was like. … No one wants to see that happen again.” I doubt Yellen was referring to disco.

While no American surely wants to experience the degradation of inflation, the bad news is it is already occurring, albeit not as bad as it was in the 1970s — at least not yet.

More HERE

Cuba Demoted to "Not Real Socialism"

The “embargo” story also doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in light of Marxish claims about imperialism and free trade.

If the Socialist Party of Great Britain is an authority on such things, it is official: in light of recent anti-communist protests and civil unrest, Cuba has been demoted to “Not Real Socialism” and reclassified, along with the USSR and other failed socialist experiments, as “actually state capitalism.”

La Revolucion, it appears, is moving into the last stage of what we might call the Niemietz Cycle in honor of Kristian Niemietz’s excellent-and-downloadable-for-$0 book Socialism: The Failed Idea That Never Dies (I review it here and here). The first stage is the “honeymoon” stage where things look like they’re going well. Contrary to what neoliberal naysayers might think, short-run successes seem to prove that socialism is viable.

More HERE

We Are Doctors. Here’s the Truth About Transgender Females’ Bodies and Athleticism.

(Photo: Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

When males are allowed to compete in athletic leagues designed for females, they deprive girls and women of the opportunity to safe and fair participation in sports. Michell Cretella and Quintin Van Meter write:

When it was announced that Laurel Hubbard, a male athlete who identifies as female, was selected to represent New Zealand on the women’s weightlifting team in the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo, it was considered by some to be a victory for the transgender movement and “the power of inclusion.” Others consider it unfair to both the sport and the athletes.

Anna Vanbellinghen, a female weightlifter from Belgium who hoped to qualify in the same event as Hubbard, made it clear that she “fully supports the transgender community.” However, she correctly pointed out that steroids—which give athletes unfair advantages—can have retained benefits even years after their use.

Di Leo: Ice Cream and Bigotry

By John F. Di Leo - 

On Monday morning, July 19, 2021, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream posted a statement on their website announcing that their ice cream would no longer be sold in the “occupied palestinian territory” or OPT. This was a shock, for many, for a number of reasons, first among them being that people think of Ben and Jerry’s as a Jewish business, since, after all, its founders were Jewish.

Only after careful consideration did people put two and two together, realizing that Ben & Jerry’s was bought, sometime ago, by Unilever, a Britain-based conglomerate.

Downstate lawmakers cite Inspector General's resignation as basis for "true ethics reform"

SPRINGFIELD – The resignation of Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope is an affirmation of the lack of serious reform efforts in Springfield according to State Representatives Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur); Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) and Chris Miller (R-Oakland), who are issuing the following statement on the need for comprehensive reform legislation.

“Carol Pope in her resignation letter stated, ‘This last legislative session has demonstrated true ethics reform is not a priority. The [Legislative Inspector General] has no real power to effect change or shine a light on ethics violations.’

What exactly does he mean? President Biden at CNN Town Hall

Could you re-state in clearer terms what President Biden was saying in response to this Republican pediatrician, Dr. Nicole Baldwin? 

From last week's CNN Town Hall transcript provided by Cincinnati.com| The Enquirer:

QUESTION:  Hi. Thank you for taking my question, Mr. President. I am a pediatrician who utilizes social media to educate about health, and I'm very concerned about the rise in misinformation from the anti-vaccine community that is eroding trust in life-saving vaccines. 

Spread of this misinformation and declining vaccination rates could leave Americans vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases in the future. So what I want to know is, what is the White House doing to combat medical misinformation and to restore America's faith in science? 

BIDEN:  What we're doing is, number one, to restore America's faith in science is listen to the scientists. No, I'm not joking. 

(APPLAUSE)

I mean, literally listen to the scientists and not interfere. Not rush anything, just make -- let the scientists proceed, because they desperately want to get this right, number one. 

Chicago's "Defund the police" killing zone continues

CHICAGO - According to the HeyJackass.com website, Chicago's summer heat prompted more shootings and killings last weekend among the city and state's ongoing "Defund the Police" effort. 

Last week alone, 25 were shot and killed while 115 were shot and wounded in Chicago's streets, bringing the year to date totals up to 423 killed in the City of Chicago alone. 

In the meantime, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is very concerned whether next weekend's Lollapalooza attendees will be safe from COVID-19. Lightfoot told the New York Times she's open to mandating masks again if the COVID death rate exceeds 300 again. 

Apparently, she's focused on keeping the public safe - from COVID - not so much criminals.

“I hope we don’t get there,’ Lightfoot added. “What we’re going to keep focusing on is pushing the vaccine. But my number one priority is to keep people safe.”

Where’s Weyermuller? With Kristi Noem at Lake County GOP Spring Gala 2021

By Mark Weyermuller - 

Last Thursday, the Lake County Republican Federation held their 59th Annual Spring Gala. Over 500 attended the dinner and reception held at the Chevy Chase Country Club in Wheeling, Illinois.

Thorner: Is VP Harris Waiting in the Wings?

By Nancy Thorner -

 

On Wednesday, July 21, 2021 President Biden spoke to a half-empty auditorium while doing a live CNN town hall event in Ohio. As noted in the article, More And More Citizens Concerned About Biden’s Mental Health, his appearance on CNN raised a lot of red flags for many Americans.   

 

“The more than a dozen empty rows weren’t apparent to television viewers thanks to flattering shots that appeared to show a full, non-distanced crowd packing the front rows — in a striking visual display of normalcy after more than a year of COVID-19 restrictions.”

 

“But members of the traveling White House press pool shared photos from the back of the room, revealing that the venue was far from packed at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati."

 

“Throughout the whole show, his 'dementia-like' shocked a lot of people.”

UPDATE X1: Pelosi Names Fellow Lefty Adam Kinzinger to January 6 Panel

Left-wing, octogenarian Speaker Nancy Pelosi has named a fellow progressive and Illinois Congressman, Adam Kinzinger, to her January 6 panel. Kinzinger joins Liz Cheney as two individuals on the tribunal that claim to be Republican.

More in Crain's HERE

UPDATE x1:

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy told me “we’ll see” when asked if Cheney and Kinzinger will be punished for serving on Jan 6 committee. I asked him the last time he talked to either of them: “Couldn’t tell you.” He called them “Pelosi Republicans.” pic.twitter.com/jMyjJBoq5I

— Emily Goodin (@Emilylgoodin) July 26, 2021

Rufo: Ibram X. Kendi is the false prophet of a dangerous and lucrative faith

Ibram X. Kendi fashions himself a revolutionary, but he is quickly being absorbed in the fabric of elite institutions. Christopher F. Rufo writes:

Ibram X. Kendi’s name appears everywhere: in school curricula, corporate training programs, even the Navy’s official reading list. The Boston University prof is a blazing supernova in the constellation of radical-chic race activism. But be warned: His philosophy would jeopardize the bedrock American ideal of individual dignity and equality under law.

Kendi’s rise was swift and significant. He published a bestselling book, “Stamped from the Beginning,” in 2016. After the death of George Floyd in 2020, Kendi’s next book, “How to Be An Antiracist,” began selling an astonishing number of copies, including institutional sales to public schools, government agencies and professional groups, all seeking to understand the ongoing racial unrest; he was a campus and media fixture at the height of the crisis.

Flight From the Activist Cities

(Jerry Holt/Star Tribune via AP)

The capture of the city by leftist politics has left urban leaders unable to respond to crime and other challenges like metastasizing homelessness. Aaron M. Renn writes:

Partisan polarization has gotten considerable press, but there’s another kind of emerging division flying under the radar: cities and suburbs pulling apart as an urban flight to the burbs picked up steam in the wake of Covid-19. This is happening for many reasons, but looming large among them are skyrocketing crime and disorder, as well as increasingly extreme politics in urban centers that degrades the rule of law.

Covid-19 restrictions meant most white-collar workers who used to commute to downtowns have instead worked from home for over a year. They may not be in a hurry to return due to reports of soaring violence in cities. According to the New York Times, murders were up 30% on average among major cities last year, and are up 24% so far this year. While some cities like New York remain well below their early 90s murder peak, many others reached all-time record high murder levels last year, including Louisville and Milwaukee. There’s also been a stunning surge in crimes like carjacking, with rates up by 300% in Minneapolis and more than doubling in Chicago and Washington, DC. In some places, this isn’t just affecting select neighborhoods, but places in the heart of the city where crime had been seen as vanquished. Multiple people have been shot in Times Square recently, and Chicago has seen killings and carjackings in its downtown.

Prager: Why Is It OK for Men to Expose Themselves?

By Dennis Prager - 

How many examples could one give to show what a sick world left-wing activists, the media and the Democrats — the left’s political party — have wrought? The number is equal to the number of policies they advocate.

There is no more obvious example than their position on the display of a penis in front of girls and women.

No issue — with the possible exceptions of defunding police departments as murders increase and biological men competing in women’s sports — better reveals the moral and rational decline of an individual or institution. If anyone you care about defends a person’s right to display their penis in front of a group of girls and women, my heart goes out to you. It is very painful to lose respect for a loved one.

Within the lifetime of even the youngest person reading this column, exposing the male organ to strangers, especially women and girls, was considered sick and criminal. Men who did it were arrested and charged with indecent exposure, and rightly so. In the span of a few years, thanks to the schools people still send their children to, and thanks to the media people still watch, listen to and read, exposing one’s penis is to be considered wholesome and not only legal but a fundamental civil right.

More HERE

Congressman Davis joins effort to stop White House effort to censor social media speech

WASHINGTON DC -- U.S. Representative Rodney Davis (R-IL) and 188 Republicans in the U.S. House are urging the Biden-Harris Administration and White House officials to stop coordinating with social media companies to secretly censor speech on their platforms. Davis and Republican leaders are also requesting specific information regarding the White House’s secret program to censor speech they deem as “misinformation."

From their letter to President Biden:

 

“We are concerned that your administration’s actions are undermining First Amendment principles by pressuring private companies to censor free speech. On July 15, 2021, your press secretary, Jen Psaki, announced that your administration is “in regular touch with” social media platforms and “flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation.” The federal government’s ongoing efforts to pressure private companies to censor speech that it disagrees with is alarming and an affront to the First Amendment.”

Revealing Our Unstoppable Argument Against Socialism

Socialism is the most radical, dangerous, destructive idea in the history of human civilization. I really do believe that, and it’s the core reason Donald Kendal and I founded StoppingSocialism.com in 2018. But, unfortunately, not everyone agrees with us, and most are not willing to take the time to read about the long, bloody history of socialism so that they can see for themselves just how disastrous of an idea it is.

Making matters even worse, the average person’s attention span today isn’t much longer than five minutes. If you can’t explain your position quickly, clearly, and with passion, you aren’t going to reach anyone in the modern era.

How, then, can we convince other people to reconsider socialism, especially younger people, if they don’t understand history, don’t want to take the time to learn the details about socialism, and aren’t hearing the truth about socialism in most schools, including college?

The key to whole debate is to get younger people thinking. You don’t need to win every single argument about every single topic related to socialism and capitalism. All you need to do is challenge people (and not just young people, by the way) to think about the issue and do their own homework. If they have any intellectual curiosity at all, they will look at the data for themselves and see that socialism is train wreck.

More HERE

Media Misrepresents Study Showing Cold Related Deaths Outnumber Heat Related Deaths Ten-to-One

The media is reporting on a new study that heat-related deaths are on the rise. While true, cold-related deaths are falling, leading to far less death overall. The corporate media ignored this part.

The headlines are lying by omission. The report makes clear the number of deaths linked to cold temperatures decreased by more than double the amount that deaths tied to hotter temperatures increased over the period of the study.

More HERE

Is Teaching Critical Race Theory Illegal?

Although there are many reasons schools should avoid critical race theory, as well as various other “critical” theories that promote similar ideas, perhaps the most important is that many forms of critical race theory teaching are likely in violation of federal or state law.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, a national law, mandates, “No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

Because public schools receive federal financial assistance, they are banned from subjecting students to “discrimination under any program or activity,” including in the classroom.

More HERE

GOP candidates respond to Pritzker running for re-election

CHICAGO - Earlier this week, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker officially announced he plans to run for re-election - something everyone in Illinois politics already knew - and three announced IL GOP gubernatorial primary contenders responded.

Thorner: Biden’s Door Knocking Project Comes to Lake County, IL

US News photo

By Nancy Thorner - 

After failing to hit their goal of vaccinating 70% of Americans by July 4th, the Biden regime is recruiting left-wing activists to go door-to-door to gather information on who has not been vaccinated and to encourage them to get the jab.

“Now we need to go community by community, neighborhood by neighborhood, and often times door-to-door — literally knocking on doors to get help to the remaining people protected from the virus.” 

Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller introduces bill to protect college students from abortion drugs

WASHINGTON - Tuesday, House co-lead Rep. Mary Miller (IL-15) along with Congressman Chip Roy (TX-21) introduced the Protecting Life on College Campus Act of 2021 with Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), the Founder and Chairman of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, introducing the legislation in the Senate.

The bill would prohibit Federal funds from going to any institution of higher learning that hosts or is affiliated with a student-based service site that provides abortion drugs or abortion to students of the institution or to employees of the institution or site.

“Chemical abortions are the future the abortion issue is lobbying for, and I know that as a mother of five daughters, my girls and their peers are the most vulnerable to the chemical abortion industry. The abortion industry does not advocate for women, as they constantly claim to do. They exploit young women but leave them to deal with the consequences and severe potential side effects all on their own,” said Congresswoman Miller. “American taxpayers should not be forced by Democrats to fund the abortion providers in this country directly or indirectly. The Protecting Life on College Campus Act stands up for the many Americans who share a deeply held moral opposition to ending life in the womb.”

This legislation is in direct response to California’s radical chemical abortion pill mandate on college campuses. Starting in 2023, California will require their 34 public universities to provide chemical abortion pills to their students without exception.

LaHood joins bipartisan effort to improve Medicare

Washington, D.C. – Representatives Darin LaHood (IL-18), Suzan DelBene (WA-01), Peter Welch (VT-At-large), and Brad Wenstrup (OH-02) reintroduced the Value in Health Care Act, a bipartisan bill that will make commonsense changes to the program parameters of Medicare’s Alternative Payment Models (APMs). The changes will increase participation in these value-based health programs that are designed to improve the quality of care and health outcomes for seniors while lowering costs.

In 2017, a U.S. Health and Human Services Inspector General report found that 98 percent of Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), after participating for three years, met or exceeded quality measures and outperformed regular fee-for-service providers on 81 percent of quality measures. However, in 2019, after changes were implemented to the ACO program, fewer providers participated for the first time since its inception in 2012.

Finally, a conservative plan to fix America's broken health care system

Democrats and progressive activists have done a remarkable job of convincing tens of millions of Americans that there are only two ways to fix the nation’s health care system: a single-payer, government-run model, or a public option plan, which would inevitably lead to the creation of the single-payer system. But this is a false choice.

Americans deserve a health care system that can help all people gain access to affordable, high-quality health care coverage. Putting government in charge of health care would undoubtedly improve access for some people, but it would substantially reduce the quality of care for tens of millions of others, and almost certainly lead to severe health care rationing. 

More HERE

Rossi: The Dem’s “Big Lie” That Protecting Vote Integrity Is Racist

By Randy Rossi - 

Any informed American of either party should know that the Democrat’s constant attacks on Republican states that want to protect vote integrity as being racist is a “Big Lie”. The proof of the Dem’s nonsense on this is overwhelming.

First and foremost, let’s look at the facts regarding requiring voter IDs, which Democrats hate. A recent Rasmussen poll showed that 75% of Americans support voter IDs to protect vote integrity including 69% of Blacks that support voter IDs. Even 60% of Democrats support voter IDs while, of course, 89% of Republicans do.

Why do a vast majority of Americans support voter IDs? To protect the integrity of our elections and to protect their votes. Why do Democrat politicians hate voter IDs? Because they want to cheat in elections and get more illegal votes from dead people and illegal aliens to help insure that they control our government!

Stepman: San Francisco Descends Into Lawlessness

By Jarrett Stepman - 

If you don’t like the explosion of violent crime, you’re a racist.

That’s the message sent by a top aide to the San Francisco district attorney to a self-described “Democrat” who had said on Twitter that the jump in crime had made people afraid for their lives and dubious about the city’s future.

The Democrat tweeted that “every single one of my friends right now is considering leaving” San Francisco because of the big increase in crime, adding: “My friends are scared for their children, and their husbands are scared for their wives.”

More HERE

Moore: OPEC and Big Oil’s New Best Friend, Joe Biden

By Stephen Moore - 

The price of oil surged to $75 a barrel the other day under President Joe Biden’s green energy policies. The price was as low as $35 a barrel under former President Donald Trump because he believed in American energy dominance (“Drill, baby, drill”). So, more oil meant lower prices at the pump. It was effectively a massive, multibillion-dollar tax cut for lower- and middle-income earners of tens of billions of dollars a year.

But now, with the exploding demand for energy as the world economy reopens, the self-defeating Biden policy is to curtail oil drilling here at home, which is often done by the smaller and independent “wildcat” drillers. Instead, this administration enriches the major oil companies such as Exxon and Chevron with existing wells that are suddenly more profitable to drill. This is why the gas price at the pump is $3.29 a gallon nationally and above $5 a gallon in California.

Are these higher-energy prices transitory?

More HERE

Stossel: Break Rules

By John Stossel - 

America has so many regulations that today, often the only way to do something new, to create something great, to prosper is to ignore rules.

Minutes before SpaceX launched a rocket, the government told the company that the launch would violate its license.

SpaceX launched anyway.

CEO Elon Musk says that the Federal Aviation Administration has “a broken regulatory structure” and that “there is simply no way that humanity can become a spacefaring civilization without major regulatory reform.”

But reform isn’t likely.

More HERE

Pritzker makes it official: In for a second term

Big news: I’m running for re-election.

We’ve been through a lot, and I’ve been so proud to see Illinoisans come together during the toughest of times. I'm excited to fight for the state I love with @JulianaforLG, and there’s no limit to what we can do going forward. pic.twitter.com/r5UXILlrb3

— JB Pritzker (@JBPritzker) July 19, 2021

UPDATE: Governor JB Pritzker released a COVID-themed video today announcing his re-election campaign for a second term. Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy released the following statement in response:

“During a global pandemic that required steady leadership, Governor Pritzker failed our most vulnerable in their time of need. When our children missed an entire year of in-person education, Pritzker was silent while political teachers unions forced children to stay home even when the science and CDC said they should be back in school.

"When thousands of Illinoisans were laid off from work, they went weeks without help from Pritzker’s incompetent state unemployment agency. And when our nation’s elderly heroes needed protection from the virus in our state facilities, the tragic mistakes of the Pritzker administration led to the death of 36 veterans at Lasalle Veterans Home. Governor Pritzker’s record on helping Illinois through the pandemic is a failure. I look forward to talking about that and his radical policy agenda out of step with Illinoisans in the upcoming election.”

UPDATE 1x: WATERLOO – Paul Schimpf, Republican candidate for Governor of Illinois, issued the following statement in response to Governor JB Pritzker's re-election announcement:

"Governor Pritzker's reelection announcement today means the voters of Illinois will face a stark choice about the future of our state in 2022. Under the Pritzker Leadership Deficit, he has failed to stand up to corruption, failed to protect our veterans and families, and failed to help overtaxed Illinoisans. In three years, JB Pritzker has demonstrated he has neither the vision nor the leadership skills to unite our state. Simply put, Illinoisans deserve better--they deserve a leader with commonsense who will renew our state."

Where’s Weyermuller? With President Trump at CPAC Texas 2021

By Mark Weyermuller = 

Earlier this month, a regional conservative political action conference commonly known as CPAC was held in Texas, July 9-11, 2021 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas. The theme was “America Uncanceled.”  These events are considered the largest gatherings of conservatives in the world.

Shapiro: What Foreign Dissidents Understand About the American Flag

By Ben Shapiro - 

This week, thousands of Cuban dissidents marched against the repressive communist tyranny that has subjugated the Cuban people for three generations. They chanted “Libertad!” and called for the end of the regime. And they carried aloft a symbol of freedom: the American flag.

This isn’t a rarity. It’s a common sight among protesters for freedom worldwide. Before Hong Kong was turned into yet another municipality of the Chinese communist tyranny, freedom-seeking dissidents marched by the tens of thousands, carrying the American flag. When Iranian protesters stand up against the mullahcracy subjecting their nation to theocratic despotism, they refuse to deface the American flag.

They do so for a reason: people all over the world understand that the American flag stands for freedom.

More HERE

Border Encounters

More than 188,000 migrants were stopped along the US-Mexico border last month, according to government data, the highest June total in at least two decades. Border officials have reported more than 1 million encounters in the current fiscal year (which begins in October), the first time that mark has been passed since 2005. 

Of the June total, roughly 34% were migrants who had been encountered within the previous 12 months. Similarly, of the 1 million encounters since October, less than half (about 456,000) were newly encountered migrants. Officials said the large number of migrants who were expelled under pandemic-related public health orders and subsequently attempted reentry contributed to the high overall numbers. See the data here. 

In related news, a federal judge ruled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, referred to as DACA, to be illegal. The Obama-era program defers deportation of certain undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers—an estimated 700,000 children and young adults who were under 16 years old when they entered the US. Under the ruling, current recipients will not be affected and may continue to renew their status, but no new applicants will be allowed.

Riley; Critical Race Theory Is a Hustle

PHOTO: MARY ALTAFFER/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Critical race theory may resemble a serious academic discipline, but it’s really just a fancy argument for racial preferences. Jason Riley writes:

A majority of American fourth- and eighth-graders can’t read or do math at grade level, according to the Education Department. And that assessment is from 2019, before the learning losses from pandemic school closures.

Whenever someone asks me about critical race theory, that statistic comes to mind. What’s the priority, teaching math and reading, or turning elementary schools into social-justice boot camps?

Unprecedented Protests in Cuba Deserve America’s Support

Here's why Cubans protesting the regime deserve support from the United States. Mike Gonzalez and James Carafano write:

The people of Cuba stood up on Sunday and took to the streets to demand liberty and an end to 62 years of communist oppression. Thousands took part in unprecedented protests in at least a dozen cities throughout the island.

The term “historical” is so overused it has become a cliché, but it applies perfectly this time. This is the first time in 62 years of tyrannical rule this has happened, and it’s about time the long-suffering people of Cuba get both these demands.

California Fleeing

Some deny the Golden State’s demographic decline, but data make it hard to ignore. Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox write:

Some longtime Californians view the continued net outmigration from their state as a worrisome sign, but most others in the Golden State’s media, academic, and political establishment dismiss this demographic decline as a “myth.” The Sacramento Bee suggests that it largely represents the “hate” felt toward the state by conservatives eager to undermine California’s progressive model. Local media and think tanks generally concede the migration losses but comfort themselves with the thought that California continues to attract top-tier talent and will remain an irrepressible superpower that boasts innovation, creativity, and massive capital accumulation.

Reality reveals a different picture. California may be a great state in many ways, but it also is clearly breaking bad. Since 2000, 2.6 million net domestic migrants, a population larger than the cities of San Francisco, San Diego, and Anaheim combined, have moved from California to other parts of the United States. (See Figure 1.) California has lost more people in each of the last two decades than any state except New York—and they’re not just those struggling to compete in the high-tech “new economy.” During the 2010s, the state’s growth in college-educated residents 25 and over did not keep up with the national rate of increase, putting California a mere 34th on this measure, behind such key competitors as Florida and Texas. California’s demographic woes are real, and they pose long-term challenges that need to be confronted.

Masks required or not? Confusion plagues Illinois parents and school boards

ELGIN - Parents concerned about their children being forced to wear COVID masks when the 2021-22 school year begins are engaging with their local elected officials and school boards with hopes of lifting restrictions. A recent announcement from the Illinois State Board of Education agitated the mask discussion, and a response from Governor Pritzker's office heightened confusion for parents. 

Over the past few weeks, school districts throughout Illinois have lifted mask requirements for all students - even those below age 12, the Center of Disease Control's minimum age for approved vaccinations. While stating clearly that masks are no longer required for those fully vaccinated, the CDC was more vague about those that are not vaccinated - saying they "recommend" unvaccinated persons (all students under age 12) wear masks as one layer of protection against COVID. The other "layers" include social distancing, hand washing and COVID screening testing.

The Elgin District U-46 will be deciding their mask policy Monday night, July 19, and a growing group of parents have been pleading with their school board to hold the meeting in a location that will allow for more than 75 participants - the number the ad hoc parents' group is expecting. 

However, the parents are being met with a school board that is resisting the idea.

We Deserve the Truth on the Origin of COVID

By Christina Herrin - 

The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed the world. At the start, we were told that the lab leak theory was incorrect and dangerous. It's now generally accepted. We deserve the whole truth.

More HERE

Malkin: The Jan. 6 Video Cover-Up

By Michelle Malkin - 

Hide and seek should be a game for children, not for ruthless feds. But here we are. An American citizen, innocent until proven guilty, is fighting for his freedom against a government juggernaut hell-bent on framing him as a violent Jan. 6 insurrectionist. One crucial key to clearing his name, his lawyer argues, lies in 30 seconds of a Capitol surveillance video that prosecutors don’t want the public to see.

John Steven Anderson, 61, stands accused of “civil disorder,” “assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers,” “disruptive conduct” and other federal felonies related to his presence in a Capitol building tunnel where police officers pepper-sprayed pro-Trump marchers near the lower west terrace door. Anderson’s lawyer, Marina Medvin, has battled Swamp attorneys who have designated video of Anderson struggling to breathe and seeking help from cops “highly sensitive” and subject to a restrictive protective order.

More HERE