Illinois Review

IL Dem Majority Leader Greg Harris to step down for next generation of Democrats

CHICAGO - Saying "it's time," 66 year old State Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) announced Monday that the "younger leadership" needs room to exercise their political muscle, so he's not running for re-election in November 2022.

Harris, an openly gay lawmakers, is proud of making Illinois one of the earliest states embracing same sex marriage, he told Crain's. 

"...[A]s the highest-ranking openly gay person ever to have served in state government, he says his proudest accomplishment was serving as chief sponsor of the bill allowing same-sex marriage in the state, an action that came years before the U.S. Supreme Court mandated that nationally," Crain's political reporter Greg Hinz writes Monday. 

What does that mean for the Democrat super-majority in the Illinois House under the leadership of State Rep. Chris Welch, who just took over within the last year?

Thorner: Is the World Overreacting to "Omicron" Variant?

NDTV.com image

By Nancy Thorner - 

On Friday, November 26, 2021, a new B.1.1.529 variant was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by South Africa and classified as a "variant of concern",dubbed the "omicron" variant.

The variant has also been found in Botswana and Hong Kong.  Experts in South Africa say they don't know if vaccines work against the variant. #eNCA

 

The "omicron" variant – which has a high number of mutations – alarmed health professionals due to its swift spread among young people in South Africa, although there was no immediate indication whether the variant causes more severe disease.

Di Leo: Sundae Time with Basement Joe - Maple Walnut Sundae & the Meaning of Thanksgiving

By John F. Di Leo - 

Introduction: Imagine, if you will, an alternate universe in which a confused old man - Joe Buckstop - stumbles into the presidency, and spends his entire term in his basement. Each evening, an aide walks downstairs and serves him his evening snack, and engages him in conversation about current events, in a losing effort to keep the old man's mind somewhat sound. Tonight's episode is an excerpt from the ongoing series, "Evening Soup with Basement Joe," by John F. Di Leo, a fictional chronicle of the events of 2021, a political satire available in paperback or eBook from Amazon.

"Hello Down There, Boss!"

"Huh? Who's that?"

"I'm your cook, old man! Can't you hear me hobbling down the stairs?"

"Oh, right. Do you have soup?"

"No, boss, we have ice cream sundaes now, remember?"

"Oh. Right. Darn. What is it tonight?"

"Well, boss, since it's a big holiday, I figured I'd go with a nice all-American dessert: a maple walnut sundae. Here you go, sir!"

In Case With Global Implications, Finland Puts Christians On Trial For Their Faith

Meet the man who appears to be the first in the post-Soviet Union West to be brought up on criminal charges for publishing long-held Christian beliefs.

Juhana Pohjola wouldn’t be cast to play his own part if Hollywood made a movie about a bishop put on trial for his faith. The Finnish pastor has inherited a place in the church of Martin Luther, but it appears none of Luther’s pugnacity or vitriol.

More HERE

Biden’s Covid Death Milestone

PHOTO: MARIO TAMA/GETTY IMAGES

More Americans have died of the virus in 2021 than in all of 2020.

President Biden may not recall what he said during a 2020 campaign debate last fall, but Americans should: “Anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as President of the United States of America.” At the time the U.S. had recorded 220,000 Covid deaths.

Covid deaths this year have now surpassed the toll in 2020 with 350,000 since Inauguration Day. It would seem that Mr. Biden has done no better than Donald Trump in defeating Covid despite the benefit of vaccines, better therapies, and more clinical experience. The left politicized Covid by holding Mr. Trump responsible for a disease that was always going to be hard to defeat.

More HERE

Bishop: Pritzker leading in Facebook spending with ads appearing as news

By Greg Bishop - 

(The Center Square) – It’s not fake news, but social media ads funded by Gov. J.B. Pritzker could still fool some users.

Illinois gubernatorial candidates are expected to use traditional media like TV and radio to get their message out. But, millions have already been spent on social media outlets such as Facebook, mostly by Pritzker.

Since 2018, a Facebook page for “JB Pritzker” has spent more than $3.6 million on ads, $271,000 of which Facebook notes ran without a disclaimer.

Reform For Illinois Executive Director Alisa Kaplan said there is additional spending.

“Social media, in particular, can be a little deceptive in how ads are presented,” Kaplan said. “Some of the Pritzker ads for example are presented as news pieces.”

Unknown unemployment fraud compounded by delinquent report: GOP Senators say

Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register via AP, Pool

(The Center Square) – The Illinois Department of Employment Security is nearly a month late in filing a report about the state’s unemployment trust fund, according to the Illinois Senate Republican Caucus.

A spokesperson for IDES didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Republicans said the legislative leaders received a letter from the Illinois Comptroller that IDES failed to submit necessary financial information on the trust fund’s financial activities and is nearly a month delinquent.

“If regular Illinois businesses and families miss financial reporting they are fined and can even face criminal penalties,” said Illinois Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie, R-Hawthorn Woods. “The governor is not above the law. The UI Trust Fund is deeply in debt and without this report, we have absolutely no idea how big the problem really is.”

Neither the Illinois Comptroller, the House Speaker or Senate President’s office immediately returned a message seeking comment.

“The people of Illinois deserve answers as to why his agency is refusing to provide basic financial numbers on where Illinois taxpayer and federal dollars are going. What is the governor hiding,” McConchie said in a statement.

One unanswered question is how much fraud has been paid out in total.

More HERE

If You Like Stagflation, You Will Love Build Back Better

On November 18, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed the single-largest spending bill in American history: President Biden’s Build Back Better Act.

Now, the only thing standing between Build Back Better becoming the law of the land is the U.S. Senate, but more specifically, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).

As of now, both Manchin and Sinema have expressed their misgivings about voting in favor of Build Back Better.

“By all accounts, the threat posed by record inflation to the American people is not 'transitory' and is instead getting worse," Manchin recently stated. "From the grocery store to the gas pump, Americans know the inflation tax is real and DC can no longer ignore the economic pain Americans feel every day.”

Manchin, unlike those in the Biden administration bubble, has his finger on the pulse of the American people.

Moreover, Manchin understands that Biden’s Build Back Better boondoggle would increase inflation while simultaneously reducing employment.

More HERE

Happy Thanksgiving from Illinois Review

ON OCTOBER 3, 1863, ABRAHAM LINCOLN PROCLAIMED THANKSGIVING A NATIONAL HOLIDAY

In doing so, he explained,

"In the midst of civil war of unequal magnitude and severity ... peace has been preserved with all nations ... and harmony has prevailed everywhere." He declared that the last Thursday of November shall become a day of "Thanksgiving and Praise."

WE CELEBRATE HIS SPIRIT

AND WISH YOU A SAFE AND MEMORABLE HOLIDAY.

Rep. Adam Niemerg: Far left indoctrination in schools a frightening reality parents must combat

Far left indoctrination in schools a frightening reality parents must combat

By State Rep. Adam Niemerg - 

 The term “Critical Race Theory” continues to make headlines across the nation as parents increasingly are confronting school boards concerned about the kind of curriculum being used in their kids’ schools.

At first, we were told the concerns over critical race theory were overblown. After all, what is wrong with having a frank discussion on race relations throughout our nation’s history? But as parents dug deeper, they realized there was much more to this than merely putting history under a microscope.

When the tactic of minimizing critical race theory did not work, woke activists landed on a new argument – namely that there is no such thing as critical race theory. They point to the fact there is no class in schools called “Critical Race Theory,” and so all of the furor about it must just be a right-wing talking point. Right?

Di Leo: Joe Biden, Strategic Thinker?

By John F. Di Leo - 

Thoughts on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve…

Americans have always been encouraged to be savers.

This isn’t just a recent thing, from the do-it-yourself investment gurus of the late 20^th century. It goes back to our very beginnings as a people: When Benjamin Franklin used various versions of the saying, “A penny saved is a penny earned” in Poor Richard’s Almanac in the mid-18^th century, the concept was already a century old.

One of our first political arguments as a nation under the Constitution was on the question of how best to incorporate and utilize banks; our Founding Fathers knew that if our nation was to succeed, it would need to learn how to save, to invest, to capitalize. 

We also learned – early on – that saving isn’t just about money. Even in Colonial times, you would harvest your crops in the fall, then save them throughout the year to come, until the next harvest.  You preserve pork or fish with salt, so that you can eat for weeks or months without slaughtering animals every day.

Building Babel

Progressive organizations seek to standardize attitudes, language, and thought. Jacob Howland writes:

Another day, another retraction of a scientific paper for violating the code of diversity. On November 1, astronomer John Kormendy withdrew an article from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), after a preprint version that he had just posted on the web drew sharp criticism for threatening the conduct of “inclusive” science. Three days later, the preprint version was scrubbed as well (though a PDF can still be found here.) The paper had passed the journal’s three-person peer-review system and was awaiting publication. Kormendy’s forthcoming book on the same topic had also passed peer review and had been printed for distribution. Now distribution of the book has been put on hold, likely permanently.

Blacks Are Leaving Chicago For Greener, And Safer Pastures

After World War II, Chicago’s population boomed thanks in part to the large migration of black Americans from the South to the Windy City. Now they are leaving. Chicago's black population dropped by about 10% from the 2010 to the 2020 census, driven by crime and a lack of economic opportunity in the city that was once a magnet for upwardly mobile Black families.

"A city that once drew tens of thousands of southern Black residents and once held the nation’s second largest Black population seems to have lost its attraction for Black folks, who continue to leave. Chicago’s Black population dropped to 787,551 in 2020, its lowest total since the mid-1950s," reports the Chicago Tribune.

Donald Trump had it right when he used to say to minority residents of inner cities: vote for me, what have you got to lose? So sad. Democrats are destroying our great cities.

More HERE

Illinois school board association ends membership with NSBA over parent-threat letter

(The Center Square) – The Illinois Association of School Boards voted Thursday to end its membership with the National School Boards Association after the national group sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking for federal intervention to investigate unruly parents who protest at local meetings.

"The decision follows previous attempts by IASB to initiate changes to the governance structure, transparency, and financial oversight of the national association," a news release from IASB says. "IASB suspended payment of dues to NSBA for 2021-2022 but continued to work to try to bring about needed changes."

To date, 26 state school boards associations have distanced themselves from the national association over the controversial letter. Of them, thirteen discontinued membership or stopped paying dues to it.

Rossi: Shocking Covid Reality Check

By Randy Rossi - 

Every week I check the Covid death rates of Sweden and Michigan. Why? Because they both have a population of 10 million people and they have done the exact opposite of each other on how they react to Covid. The results are absolutely shocking and this should be front page news across the planet. First, let me share the key issues between Sweden and Michigan:

Supply Chain Problems Expected to Continue Through Christmas

Government policies are causing jobs to go unfilled. Containers await trucks, drivers.

Supply chain disruptions are easing, but shipping executives are still projecting long-lasting logjams at the nation’s ports.

The supply chain was disrupted initially when workers were sent home in large numbers as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Workers have been slow to return to the docks and plants.

The supply chain traffic jam continues to be felt, with dozens of ships packed with consumer goods still stuck at the ports.

Major retailers such as Amazon, Home Depot, and Walmart account for nearly 25 percent of all goods arriving at U.S. West Coast ports. Consumers may not find orders for gifts filled by Christmas, the retailers are warning.

Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen said in a tweet the supply chain problem is a “traffic jam” with ports at a standstill and truck drivers stuck in the middle of the mess.

More HERE

America Is Built on a Great Culture. Progressives Want to Abandon It

Environmental and antibusiness regulations in the deep blue state are backing up port traffic. Joel Kotkin writes:

Here's a dirty secret: Great nations rest on a great common culture. I say it's a secret because it's become almost taboo to discuss this historic fact; progressives across the globe have turned decisively against national legacies, and it's progressives who by and large dictate mainstream culture. But if the Democratic Party wants to avoid further electoral disasters like those in Virginia, Long Island and elsewhere, it would do well to relearn the obvious truth that a common culture that binds us is not only good and necessary, but popular.

America's Inflation Crisis Is Even Worse Than You Think

Unless you’ve been living under the world’s biggest rock over the past six months, you know that the United States is experiencing unprecedented inflation.

The consumer price index (CPI), the most popular index measuring inflation, shows the price of consumer products and services jumped 6.2 percent from October 2020 to October 2021 — the fastest 12-month increase in nearly 31 years. 

CPI data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal that virtually every aspect of the U.S. economy has been impacted by the inflation. The price of milk has increased 17 percent. Egg prices have risen 42 percent. Energy service prices have increased more than 11 percent.

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But as bad as the widely reported CPI inflation figures are, a closer evaluation of key industries reveals that for millions of families, especially those seeking to purchase higher-priced items such as a car or home, inflation is having an even worse impact than the CPI’s topline figures show.

More HERE

Rossi: Kenosha’s “Profiles In Courage”

By Randy Rossi - 

The Kyle Rittenhouse trial was a critical test for America to see if we still have the courage to support the rule of law, our Constitution, our 2nd Amendment, and our God given right to defend ourselves. Anybody who actually watched the trial and saw the hard facts could see that Kyle Rittenhouse was attacked by 3 criminals that put his life in severe danger. All three of those attackers were convicted criminals including one who was convicted of several charges of sexual assault on children. The surviving attacker admitted under oath that Rittenhouse did not point his gun at him until he pointed his pistol at Rittenhouse putting his life in danger. Only then did Rittenhouse shoot him. The other two attackers threatened to kill him and either tried to take his gun away or hit him in the head and neck with a skateboard which could have killed Rittenhouse. There could not have been a clearer example of the right to defend oneself.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Twice the Size of Texas Is Fake

”A huge, swirling pile of trash in the Pacific Ocean is growing faster than expected and is now three times the size of France. According to a three-year study published in Scientific Reports Friday, the mass known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is about 1.6 million square kilometers in size – up to 16 times bigger than previous estimates. That makes it more than double the size of Texas.” CNN – March 23, 2018.

Of all the fabricated narratives about the environment, this one takes the cake. Yes, there is plastic in the oceans, mostly discarded fishing gear, but there is no island of plastic waste twice the size of Texas in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Because the average person cannot see the middle of the Pacific for themselves sensationalist activists, media, and politicians just make this up. In fact, plastic in the oceans is doing far more good than harm. Allow me to explain this bold assertion.

More HERE

Here’s What You Need to Know About the Border Crisis in Poland

The border crisis in Poland has serious, global implications. Christian Mysliwiec writes:

Thousands of illegal immigrants are attempting to enter Poland from Belarus, with violent clashes with border guards breaking out on Tuesday.

To help understand what is happening at the Poland-Belarus border, The Daily Signal spoke with Alexis Mrachek, a research associate focusing on Russia and Eurasia at The Heritage Foundation.

The Daily Signal: We are receiving reports of thousands of migrants attempting to illegally enter Poland from Belarus, apparently for several months now. Who are these illegal immigrants and where are they coming from?

Parker: The Political Center Is Gone

By Star Parker - 

In a new USA Today/Suffolk University poll, President Joe Biden’s approval is down to 38%. Which looks pretty good compared to Vice President Kamala Harris, whose approval now stands at 28%.

Democrats have just been reprimanded by voters, with the upset victory of Republican candidate and political novice Glenn Youngkin in the governor’s race in Virginia, an almost upset victory in New Jersey by Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli, who came within 2% of the vote of winning, and revolts in school board elections nationwide, pushing back against critical race theory and COVID-19 government interventions.

It’s not rocket science that Biden and his party have lost touch with the voters who elected them. Large percentages of these Democrats did not vote for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the “squad.” And they are unhappy with Biden’s capitulation to the far-left elements of his party.

More HERE

Shapiro: The Narrative Is the Priority

By Ben Shapiro -

According to the media, Kyle Rittenhouse was a white supremacist. According to the media, Kyle Rittenhouse was an active shooter. According to the media, Kyle Rittenhouse was a murderer.

In reality, he was none of these.

Kyle Rittenhouse was a 17-year-old young man who went to Kenosha, Wisconsin, in order to protect businesses and administer medical aid to those who needed it. He was chased down by Joseph Rosenbaum, a 36-year-old convicted child molester; he shot Rosenbaum when Rosenbaum grabbed for his gun. He was then chased down by Anthony Huber, 26, a man convicted of two felony counts of strangulation and suffering after pulling a knife on his brother and grandmother and choking his brother; Rittenhouse shot Huber when Huber tried to slam his skateboard into Rittenhouse’s head. Finally, Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, a member of a radical Antifa offshoot, approached Rittenhouse with a pistol in his hand; Rittenhouse shot him in the biceps.

All of this was on tape. It was verified by witness testimony and physical evidence.

Yet Rittenhouse was brought to trial anyway

More HERE

Thorner: Why It's Insane to Ask Congress to Call an Article V Convention?

By Nancy Thorner - 

Publius Huldah, a Phyllis Schlafly Eagle friend of Nancy Thorner, explains in her recent video how the push for an Article V Convention is the most vicious bait and switch con game of all times.

Publius Huldah is the nom de guerre of Joanna Martin, J.D.  She is a lawyer, philosopher and logician and a strict constructionist of the U.S. Constitution.

As Publius Huldah notes:  "Convention supporters promise that at a convention, we will get amendments to "rein in" the powers and jurisdiction of the federal gov't.  But the real purpose of a convention is to impose a new Constitution."

PH also relates how the National Constitution Center’s Constitution Drafting Project has released three proposed new Constitutions to replace our existing Constitution.

Illinois roads among most expensive in nation as state slips to 40th in Reason report

AP Photo/Seth Perlman

(The Center Square) – With the federal infrastructure bill set to send Illinois at least $17 billion for roads, bridges and transit projects, Illinoisans can expect to pay more for less.

The Reason Foundation’s 26th annual Highway Performance and Cost-Effectiveness report is out and Illinois has dropped 12 spots in the past five years to 40th overall.

Researcher Baruch Feigenbaum said Illinois does well in low fatality rates, but it’s a mixed bag for spending. Pavement conditions are toward the bottom as is congestion in urban settings.

“Not the worst in any one category, certainly not the best in any one category, but trending average to below average for most of the categories which explains the ranking of 40th,” Feigenbaum said.

There are 13 categories overall each state is scored on.

Illinois taxpayers spend $123,500 per state-controlled mile of highway, ranking 39th for total spending per mile.

More HERE

OSHA's 'Emergency' Vaccine Mandate Is Dangerously Totalitarian

Ironically, Democrats and the political left spent four years accusing Donald Trump of ignoring the Constitution, emasculating the legislative branch, and imposing totalitarian fascism through the executive branch.

The Biden administration’s attempt to force Americans to be injected with a COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of holding a job is unethical, unlawful and exemplifies the totalitarian destruction of our constitutional democracy the political left claimed Donald Trump would engage in if given the chance.

Central to our constitutional democracy is the notion that federal powers are diversified and separated among three roughly coequal branches. Congress alone has the right to make laws, while the president heads the executive branch that enforces the laws Congress passes.

In our constitutional democracy, laws forcing people to get injected with COVID-19 vaccines must – if they can be lawfully implemented at all – be passed by state legislatures, not imposed by a dictatorial president or state governors.

More HERE

Di Leo: Sundae Time with Basement Joe - Finding that Old Sugar Buzz

By John F. Di Leo - 

Introduction: Imagine, if you will, an alternate universe in which a confused old man - Joe Buckstop - stumbles into the presidency, and spends his entire term in his basement. Each evening, an aide walks downstairs and serves him his evening snack, and engages him in conversation about current events, in a losing effort to keep the old man's mind somewhat sound. Tonight's episode is an excerpt from the ongoing series, "Evening Soup with Basement Joe," by John F. Di Leo, a fictional chronicle of the events of 2021, a political satire available in paperback or eBook from Amazon.

"Good evening, sir... may I come in?"

"Who wants to know?"

"Jackson Van Buren, sir."

"Who's that?"

"I have your ice cream, sir."

"Come on, man! How dare you take my ice cream!"

"I didn't TAKE it, sir. Your cook asked me to bring it down for her, sir. Remember how this works, sir?"

"No. Should I?"

Thorner: Democrats' Build Back Better Bill Will Wreck America

By Nancy Thorner -

Now that the infrastructure bill has cleared Congress and was signed by President Biden on Monday, Nov. 15, 2021, the House of Representatives is expected to soon vote on Biden’s Anti-family Budget Buster (as described by the FRC headed by Tony Perkins) as early as this week.

According to the Leader of the House Majority Steny Hoyer, a vote on the Biden administration's $1.75T “Build Back Better” social spending bill would take place on Friday, November 19, 2021 at the latest.

H.R. 5376 would most certainly pass the House, but the fate of the bill is far less certain in the Senate, because all Democrat Senators need to support the bill if they want it to pass via simple majority using the budget reconciliation process.

Senate Democrat Joe Manchin is reportedly skeptical about the timing of the bill after he publicly expressed grave concern about the build-up of inflationary pressures in the US economy after last week's higher than expected inflation figures.  Reports last week suggested he may favor withholding his support for the bill until 2022, when he hopes the inflation situation will have improved.

Policies to Wreck America

Despite displays of strength, China has key weaknesses

It’s easy to worry over China’s increasing bellicosity and economic strength, but its demographic woes, regional challengers, and declining productivity provide new opportunities for the West and its allies.

The recent announcement that China had tested something akin to a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System, which is launched into space and then orbits the globe before discharging a missile at its target, underscored yet again that America and its allies have serious grounds to be worried about China.

Whether it is Beijing’s extinguishment of Hong Kong’s special status, bellicose tone regarding Taiwan, ongoing theft of intellectual property from Western companies or inflicting jail sentences on dissidents like Jimmy Lai and Martin Lee, these are signs of a regime determined to throw its weight around.

Unscientific Method

An astronomer’s peer-reviewed work is passed under the “equity” lens and found wanting. Heather Mac Donald writes:

Another day, another retraction of a scientific paper for violating the code of diversity. On November 1, astronomer John Kormendy withdrew an article from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), after a preprint version that he had just posted on the web drew sharp criticism for threatening the conduct of “inclusive” science. Three days later, the preprint version was scrubbed as well (though a PDF can still be found here.) The paper had passed the journal’s three-person peer-review system and was awaiting publication. Kormendy’s forthcoming book on the same topic had also passed peer review and had been printed for distribution. Now distribution of the book has been put on hold, likely permanently.

Kormendy, an expert on supermassive black holes and professor emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin, acknowledges no errors in his research. “I didn’t do anything [methodologically] wrong,” he told me. “I trust my techniques; I trust the results. I checked for bias in great detail.” Nevertheless, he issued an apology on November 1: “I now see that my work has hurt people. I apologize to you all for the stress and the pain that I have caused. Nothing could be further from my hopes. I fully support all efforts to promote fairness, inclusivity, and a nurturing environment for all.”

California Is the Supply Chain’s Weakest Link

Environmental and antibusiness regulations in the deep blue state are backing up port traffic. Allysia Finley writes:

The backup of container ships at the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports has grown in recent weeks despite President Biden’s intervention to get terminal operators to move goods 24/7. The ports said last week they would fine shipping companies that let containers sit at terminals too long. But consumers will end up paying the fines, and shippers aren’t to blame for the delays. Who is?

The two Southern California ports handle only about 40% of containers entering the U.S., mostly from Asia. Yet ports in other states seem to be handling the surge better. Gov. Ron DeSantis said last month that Florida’s seaports had open capacity. So what’s the matter with California? State labor and environmental policies.

‘Build Back Better’ Bill Would Build a Bigger, but Not Better, IRS Bureaucracy

(Photo: Moostocker/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Rather than simplifying the tax system or limiting the IRS’ regulatory authority, the bloated, bureaucratic “Build Back Better” plan does the opposite. Preston Brashers writes:

According to Gallup, only 37% of Americans view the Internal Revenue Service favorably, making it one of the least popular federal agencies.

Even among self-identified liberals, the IRS only has a 38% approval rating. A paltry 8% of Americans rate the IRS’ performance as excellent.

Little wonder the IRS is unpopular, with its history of mishandling sensitive taxpayer information and with presidential administrations from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama using the powers of the agency to target political opponents.

Prager: Natural Immunity Versus Vaccine Immunity

By Dennis Prager - 

You never know when something you say will go viral. It has happened a number of times in my career, the latest being comments I made on my national radio talk show a few weeks ago when I had COVID-19. I said that I had hoped I would attain natural immunity, since science — evidenced, for example, in a major study from Israel, one of the most pro-vaccine and highly vaccinated societies in the world — strongly suggests that natural immunity provides more robust and durable protection against COVID-19 than the current COVID-19 vaccines have proven to provide.

Specifically, I said that I had hugged and taken photos with thousands of people from the beginning of the pandemic. I had two reasons for doing this: 1) I decided very early on that I would not live my life in fear, but instead live normally; and 2) if I did get the virus I had confidence that the prophylactic therapeutics and nutrients I had been taking for more than a year — ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, zinc, megadoses of vitamin D, vitamin C and selenium (and a monoclonal antibody infusion once I tested positive for COVID-19) — would protect me from serious consequences. Most importantly, I repeatedly said from the beginning of 2020 that I chose to live normally, not hide in my house. As much as I want to live a long life, I have always believed that the purpose of life is to live fully, not necessarily long (though, of course, I want that too — just not at the expense of normal living).

My COVID-19 symptoms consisted of chills for three days, a cough and fatigue for about a week and loss of taste for a day. I missed three days of radio but did not miss a speech (I flew from California to Florida to deliver a speech five days after testing negative).

More HERE

Shapiro: The So-Called Meritocracy Isn’t The Problem

By Ben Shapiro - 

In 1958, British sociologist Michael Young coined the term “meritocracy” in his satirical novel, called “The Rise of the Meritocracy.” Its point was simple: When intelligence and effort are selected by any society as the basis for success or failure, those with such merit begin to comprise their own class. That class hardens into an elite that brooks no dissent and stratifies society. As Young would say in 2001, “It is good sense to appoint individual people to jobs on their merit. It is the opposite when those who are judged to have merit of a particular kind harden into a new social class without room in it for others.”

This general point has become the basis for illiberal thinkers, both on the Left and on the Right. Philosopher Michael Sandel, in his latest book, “The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?” argues that the very notion of a meritocracy carries with it an unescapable and unsustainably selfish moral judgment. According to Sandel, “The ideal itself is flawed. Meritocracy has a dark side. And the dark side is that meritocracy is corrosive of the common good. It encourages the successful to believe that their success is their own doing and that they therefore deserve the bounty that the market heaps upon them … it generates hubris among the winners. They believe that their success is their own doing and they also believe, implicitly at least, that those who struggle must deserve their fate as well.”

More HERE

Thorner: Unfounded War Against Oil, Natural Gas, and Coal

By Nancy Thorner - 

President Joe Biden’s Soviet-born and educated woman, Saule Omarova has been nominated to lead a key branch of the Treasury Dept. If approved, she’d be ‘Comptroller of the Currency.'

As Fox Business reported:

Saule Omarova was born in the Soviet Union in what is now called Kazakhstan and graduated from Moscow State University in 1989. She has pointed to the USSR’s practices as recently as 2019, when she tweeted about the gender pay gap, citing the USSR as a better model.

U.S. Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Pat Toomey, R-Pa., last week, asked Omarova to turn over a copy of her thesis – in both English and the original Russian – for review by the committee no later than Oct. 13. Her thesis, titled “Karl Marx’s Economic Analysis and the Theory of Revolution in The Capital,” remains an item of interest to some members on the committee. …

Omarova had not complied with the request as of Thursday, Oct. 14, a spokesperson for Senate Banking Committee Republicans claimed.

Beckman: The Democrats Real Agenda

By Hank Beckman - 

It is an article of faith among many that Democrat losses in recent elections prove that the party is generally out of touch with the average American.

There’s no need to list all the examples given for this conclusion by most conservatives, and not a few liberals. Suffice it to say that when the Democratic Energy Secretary cackles like the Wicked Witch of the West when asked about increasing oil production so that gas prices might ease, one gets the distinct impression that we’re not dealing men and women of the people.

But all this speculation over Democrats’ chances to retain control of Congress next year misses a point raised by only a few commentators. It could be that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is willing to lose that control if it means passing far left legislation that will help transform the nation into a European-style society with cradle-to-grave benefits.

Why not let Democrat office-holders go down to defeat babbling about systemic racism, defunding the police, and having only a decade or so to save the planet if it means crafting an FDR-style legacy historians will be sure to be writing about for decades?

Malkin: Our Children Are Not Chattel

By Michelle Malkin - 

They admitted it. Now they think they can get away with it.

Three weeks ago, I reported to you on the appalling case of sixth grade student Rylee M., who was pressured by teachers at Chinook Trail Middle School to seal her mask to her face with thick blue painter’s tape. Another schoolmate came forward to describe how those teachers would patrol their classrooms for violators while twirling the tape rolls around their wrists.

Skeptics accused the children of manufacturing the story and of voluntarily putting the tape on themselves. Others, including the Colorado Springs Police Department school resource officer stationed at Chinook Trail, baselessly dismissed the incident as a prank committed by a teacher in “jest.” Gaslighters in the school district and their supporters misleadingly denied that teachers applied the tape directly to victims’ faces — something Rylee and her mom never alleged. By mischaracterizing the actual allegations, public school propagandists deflected attention from the brazen abuse of authority exercised by educators who issued de facto ultimatums that children comply with their directive to use the tape handed to them. Or else.

On Monday, after the district’s three-week-long internal investigation, Chinook Trail Middle School principal Tom Andrew confirmed in a meeting with Rylee’s mom, Stephanie M., that teachers had indeed “directed students to affix a mask to their face with tape” — a cruel measure that only sadists, not sane public health advocates, could embrace. Moreover, the unfazed principal blandly acknowledged, “Yes,” the “students thought they were compelled to follow through” on the teachers’ “requests” (to choke themselves off).

More HERE

State School Board Associations Leave National Group over Investigation of Parents

(The Center Square) – More than half of state school board associations have distanced themselves from the national association after it sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking for federal intervention to investigate parents who protest at local meetings.

Of the 26 that have repudiated the letter, 11 have discontinued their membership with the National School Boards Association (NSBA) after Kentucky did so last Wednesday.

More HERE

Niemerg: Far left indoctrination in schools a frightening reality parents must combat

By State Rep. Adam Niemerg - 

The term “Critical Race Theory” continues to make headlines across the nation as parents increasingly are confronting school boards concerned about the kind of curriculum being used in their kids’ schools.

At first, we were told the concerns over critical race theory were overblown. After all, what is wrong with having a frank discussion on race relations throughout our nation’s history? But as parents dug deeper, they realized there was much more to this than merely putting history under a microscope.

When the tactic of minimizing critical race theory did not work, woke activists landed on a new argument – namely that there is no such thing as critical race theory. They point to the fact there is no class in schools called “Critical Race Theory,” and so all of the furor about it must just be a right-wing talking point. Right?

The Chicago Tribune just recently ran an op-ed from Waukegan teacher Francis McCormick. In the op-ed he states, “If one expects to find critical race theory to be listed in school district training manuals or curriculum maps, they’re going to be disappointed. However, one mustn’t allow oneself to become pigeonholed into this idea that to identify critical race theory’s influence and application, it must be explicitly named. It does not exist in education as a course of student studies but as praxis (the practice of theory).”

As Inflation Hits 30-Year High, Chinese Economic Problems Could Hammer U.S. Economy

The Fed’s highly expansive monetary policy is driving the demand for everything, including stocks.

Inflation soared higher in October.

Producer prices for finished goods were up 1½ percent. Oil prices were up 6 percent from September, to $81 per barrel. October consumer prices were up at a 12 percent annual rate.

Even core inflation (without oil and food prices), rose at a 6 percent annual rate.

Year over year, consumer prices were up 6.2 percent, and core inflation was up 4.6 percent. These both are the highest yearly inflation rates in more than 30 years.

More HERE

AOC’s Inflation Solution: More Government Spending

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has a degree in economics from Boston University, yet she still misunderstands the most basic of economic principles: supply and demand.

According to Ocasio-Cortez, the solution to across-the-board, runaway inflation is massive government spending.

Per a recent tweet from AOC, “If you are worried about inflation, it’s important to understand why it’s happening: supply chain, labor, and healthcare complications. We can address these issues by investing in infrastructure, wages, healthcare & benefits. AKA signing BBB/BIF into law as absolute, bare minimum.”

AOC would like for you to believe that all the economic problems that are stifling the U.S. economy can be easily solved with President Biden’s Build Back Better reconciliation bill and the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

More HERE

Biden Laying Foundation For A ‘Great Reset’

Despite the corporate press framing Joe Biden as an ideological “moderate,” the president has repeatedly called for dramatic policy changes affecting the U.S. economy, many of which are totally out of step with the views of most Americans.

The most important of these changes stem from Biden’s deep ties to the globalist “Great Reset” campaign, a movement started in mid-2020 by the World Economic Forum to “push the reset button” on society and to “reimagine capitalism.” The Great Reset has received the support of numerous world leaders, including Prince Charles, Al Gore, and the heads of the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, and countless multinational corporations and banks.

More HERE

New legislation would prohibit out-of-state money in judicial campaigns

By Andrew Hensel - 

(The Center Square) – A new measure would prohibit candidates in judicial elections from accepting out-of-state donations and anonymous donations during campaigns for judicial positions.

Senate Bill 536 has passed both houses of the Illinois General Assembly. If signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, it would prohibit any candidate for a Supreme Court, Appellate Court, or Circuit Court position from accepting any campaign donations from out-of-state donors or accepting any untraceable campaign funds.

State Rep. Katie Stuart, who is the only House sponsor of the legislation, said that this change is something all Illinoisans can support.

"I think trying to avoid dark money from elections is something I think we can all get behind," Stuart said. "So the change would stop out of state and untraceable money from finding its way into our judicial races."

Republican state Rep. Ryan Spain, has spoken out against this bill. He called the measure unconstitutional.

"The ability to make political donations is an example of free speech," Spain said. "I have concerns that this provision in this legislation is not constitutional."

Spain also questioned the timing of a bill.

"For me, I am not comfortable supporting this bill here on the last day of veto session," Spain said. "This has very significant changes that affect how we will handle our elections for judges in the state of Illinois."

If Pritzker signs the measure, the legislation would go into effect immediately.

CDC Revises Definition of 'Vaccine'

CDC once was a federal agency that nearly everyone respected. That no longer is the case.  Now there are many reasons why CDC should be widely disrespected. Its latest debacle is how it changed the definition of vaccines.

Why would the government’s key public health agency change the definition of what a vaccine is in the midst of a pandemic? After millions of Americans have taken the shot? And millions more are being beaten into taking it for the first time and others to get booster shots.

Here is the key point. Long after it became widely recognized by medical experts and informed citizens that COVID vaccines clearly did not fit the official CDC vaccine definition; CDC thought the answer was not to fix what was deficient with the COVID vaccines or stop their use by most people. Their response was to change the vaccine definition to fit the so-called vaccines.

More HERE

The FBI’s email system was hacked

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Hackers targeted the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) email servers, sending out thousands of phony messages that say its recipients have become the victims of a “sophisticated chain attack,” first reported by Bleeping Computer. The emails were initially uncovered by The Spamhaus Project, a nonprofit organization that investigates email spammers.

Morre HERE

Rossi: Democrat President Biden’s Open Border “Garbage” & Plunging Approval Rates

By Randy Rossi - 

The USA has never had a president who has been so negligent about protecting our border and our national sovereignty than Democrat President Joe Biden. The bad news for America is that this gross negligence is causing massive damage to our economy, safety, and the rule of law. The only good news is that President Biden’s gross negligence on this critical issue as well as his Afghanistan disaster and his damage to our children’s educations through his administration’s endless attacks on our traditional American values in our schools has resulted in plunging approval ratings with the American voters. In the latest USA Today/Suffolk University poll, President Biden’s approval rating has dropped to 37.8% and his disapproval rating is 59% which is abysmal. In that poll, 64% of Americans said they do not want Biden to run for reelection. As bad as Biden’s approval ratings are, Democrat VP Kamala Harris has a 27.8% approval rating in that same poll!

The True Costs of Biden's 'Build Back Better' Plan

The mission of the Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM) “is to provide non-partisan, research-based analysis to inform the country’s budget.”

To that end, PWBM has proven successful. In recent years, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), among many others, have sung its praises.

PWBM’s most recent report, an in-depth analysis of President Biden’s Build Back Better bill, shows the actual cost of the reconciliation package could be far more expensive than we have been told by those pushing for the bill’s passage.

According to PWBM, “the White House’s Build Back Better reconciliation framework would increase spending by $1.87 trillion over the 10-year budget window while increasing revenues by $1.56 trillion over the same period.”

Based on that projection, PWBM estimates, “the reconciliation package will increase the federal debt by 2.0% and decrease GDP by 0.1% in 2050, relative to the current law baseline.”

More HERE

Bonhoeffer‘s Theory of Stupidity

Dietrich Bonhoeffer argued that stupid people are more dangerous than evil ones. This is because while we can protest against or fight evil people, against stupid ones we are defenseless — reasons fall on death ears. Bonhoeffer's famous text, which was edited for this video, serves any free society as a warning of what can happen when certain people gain too much power.

Black Activists Oppose Line 5 Pipeline Shutdown amidst skyrocketing energy prices

Washington, D.C. - Amidst soaring energy prices and predictions of a cold winter ahead, members of the Project 21 black leadership network condemned the Biden Administration for considering the shutdown of a pipeline that brings life-sustaining fossil fuels to the American people - particularly black Americans already dealing with energy poverty issues.

On November 8, White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed that the Army Corps of Engineers was reviewing the environmental impact of the Line 5 pipeline. This could result in a shutdown of this vital piece of energy infrastructure delivering crude oil and other petroleum byproducts into Michigan at a rate that can exceed 500,000 barrels a day.

"The Biden Administration cannot say it supports environmental justice when it is preparing to effectively accelerate energy poverty," said Project 21 member Derrick Hollie. "It's nice to say you want to replace lead pipes in cities like Flint, but shutting down the Line 5 is going to literally freeze the pipes of black Midwesterners when they are forced to choose between staples like energy and food, as prices for both continue to rise. By caving to the radical green lobby, Biden is betraying the black community."

Illinois Policy: Pritzker's Choice: Get the Shot, or Lose Your Job

From Illinois Policy - 

Illinoisans who refuse to get vaccinated or comply with workplace coronavirus mandates could soon be fired for their convictions, thanks to a change in the state’s decades-old health care conscience law.

Gov. J.B Pritzker pushed for and on Nov. 8 signed the amendment to Illinois’ Health Care Right of Conscience Act to limit the law being used to challenge his workplace COVID-19 mandates.  The change will allow Pritzker to fight legal challenges and employers to discipline employees for refusing to comply with COVID-19 rules, including mandatory vaccinations and testing.

“Masks, vaccines, and testing requirements are life-saving measures that keep our workplaces and communities safe,” Pritzker said. He said he is grateful the act “is no longer wrongly used against institutions who are putting safety and science first.”

Public employee unions, especially police, have fought back on the vaccination mandates, with Chicago’s police union chief battling the city’s mayor. After Pritzker signed the law, Illinois Fraternal Order of Police President Chris Southwood on Nov. 9 called him a “dictator.”

“Freedom-loving citizens all across the state have been stripped of their basic right to conscientious choice and can now be discriminated against because of their conscientious refusal to have COVID vaccines forced on them,” Southwood told WMAY.

More on Illinois Policy's story HERE>