Illinois Review

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!"

Di Leo: Sundae Time with Basement Joe - A Weekend in Rome

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.

 

"Buona Sera, Signore! Are you ready for your gelato, signore?"

 

"Huh? What's that? Who's there?"

 

"Vittorio, Signore. From the Embassy in Roma.  Vittorio Humberto."

 

"Well, which is it?"

 

"I beg your pardon, signore?"

Di Leo: Port Congestion, from the Perspective of a Hammer

By John F. Di Leo -

There is an old saying: to a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. This is truly the only point of view from which the administrations recommended “solution” to current port congestion makes any sense.

Consider this: at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the largest containership ports in the United States, a massive influx of volume over the past year has caused perpetual congestion. With volumes consistently 30% to 40% above the norm over the past year or so, these ports simply cannot handle the volume.

It has now become common for 50 to 100 ships to be sitting at anchor at a time, out in the Los Angeles harbor and beyond, awaiting open berths.

In recent weeks, the Biden-Harris regime has directed the seaports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to immediately implement a draconian surcharge scheme: Any container not moved promptly, regardless of owner, contractor, or other controller, shall be saddled with a fee schedule starting at $100, compounded daily (ie. day one, $100, day two, $200, day three, $300, etc.), so that every shipment will cost its customer thousands of dollars more.

If industry interpretations of the preliminary announcements are correct, every single ocean container arriving in LA will be fined many thousands of dollars, potentially even tens of thousands of dollars, all to be passed on to importers and obviously, therefore, to consumers… for something completely out of their control in any way.

Di Leo: Sometimes, the Price Tag is Just a Distraction

By John F. Di Leo - 

Let’s say it would cost $5.5 trillion dollars to wipe out your city by planting landmines under all the streets and sidewalks.

Another proposal on the table is to wipe out the city by buying old poison gas on the dark web, and planting it in public buildings and public places when crowds are expected; this proposal only costs $3.5 trillion.

A third proposal, only just recently promulgated, would involve the hiring of foreign mercenaries to shoot up the place; they work cheap, by comparison, and the bill is expected to only range between $1.5 and $1.75 trillion to wipe out the town this way.

I won’t bother to ask you which of the three is the most responsible choice, because, Gentle Reader, you know that the price tag isn’t the main issue here; the real issue is the end game, the horrible goal of wiping out the town.  The method, the price tag, even the perpetrators don’t matter; the very goal is domestic terrorism, and it must be opposed.  At any cost, without compromise.  We must stop this effort.

Illinois Review contributor John F. Di Leo featured with Mark Vargas on AM 560 The Answer's "Mark My Words"

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS - John F. Di Leo - a longtime contributor to Illinois Review - was featured Sunday night on Mark Vargas' "Mark My Words" AM 560 radio show. Di Leo spoke about the current hot topic "Supply Chain Crisis."  John's part in the show starts at right 51:49 below ...

John, a transportation expert for over 30 years, was also recently featured in the Technology & Manufacturing Association's News Bulletin on the topic of the Supply Chain Crisis.

Where Weyermuller? With Kayleigh McAnany at Freedom Initiative event

By Mark Weyermuller - 

Former White House Press Secretary and Fox News Host Kayleigh McEnany keynoted a Chicago area event recently at Christian Liberty Academy. Over 500 people attended. 

McEnany was joined by local pastors and business leaders that addressed the Left’s attacks on Christianity, breaking news stories of the day and the ongoing COVID pandemic. She also promoted her new book coming out in December, "For Such a Time as This: My Faith Journey through the White House."

She graduated from Harvard Law School with a Juris Doctor and Georgetown University School of Foreign Services with a degree in international politics. She also studied politics and international relations at Oxford University, St. Edmunds Hall. McEnany is a recipient of the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service and the Department of Homeland Security Secretary's Public Service Award.

Di Leo: Evening Soup with Basement Joe: Knoephla and the Per-Mile Road Tax

 

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 bowl of soup, and engages him in conversation about current events, in a losing effort to keep his mind hale. 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.

"Hey, boss! You ready for your soup?"

"What are you yelling for?"

"Because I'm still on the stairs, boss! If I whispered, you wouldn't hear me!"

"Just bring me my soup!"

"Settle down, boss. I'm working on it.... Okay. Made it... You have too steep a staircase for my bum knee, boss. You need to install an elevator."

"Come on, man! Stop complaining and bring me my soup!"

Di Leo: "$3.5 Trillion or $5.5 Trillion?" Is Entirely the Wrong Question to ask

By John F. Di Leo - 

“Hey, do we have seventy-five bucks each?”

“Seventy-five bucks?”

“Yeah, seventy-five bucks each.”

“You mean for you and me, so it’s $150?”

“Well, it’s for the kids too, so it’s $375, total.”

“Oh.  Well….  I don’t know… Depends.”

“Can we do it or not?”

“Well, I don’t know, when would we need it? Is this for today?”

“I’m thinking, we could charge it… or you could volunteer for some overtime for a couple weeks… or I could hock Grandpa’s watch….”

“Well, it depends.  Tell me… What’s all this for?”

Job Creators Network lawsuit endorsed by GOP gubernatorial candidate

WOODSTOCK – The Job Creators Network (JCN) is preparing a lawsuit against the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate on companies with 100 or more employees, a move Gary Rabine, a JCN Board member, endorses.

“Biden’s Administration, the Administration that Pritzker & AOC support is off their rockers! Their main goal seems to be kill jobs, kill freedom, and tax more!" said Rabine in a statement issued last Friday.

Rabine said as one of the founding board members of Job Creators Network, he endorses their lawsuit against Biden.

"We have been a strong voice against terrible regulations that kill jobs but this mandate by Biden might be the most aggressive, freedom crushing bill that we have ever seen. If we allow this, what freedom will we give up next?" Rabine said.

"Our businesses at the Rabine Group have amazing people who are like family to us, and some will choose not to take this vaccine for their own personal reasons. Some of these invaluable people will choose to leave the small businesses they call home to work for a smaller company that doesn’t fall under the mandate. Some of them will move to a state that fights for their freedom against a tyrannical federal government. How many more Illinoisans can we afford to chase out?" 

Pritzker says "science has prevailed" with passage of green energy bill

SPRINGFIELD — Governor JB Pritzker released the following statement on the Senate passage of the comprehensive energy package, Senate Bill 2408, that he says "puts consumers and the climate first", while the Illinois Chamber of Commerce says it will bring the largest electric rate hike in the state's history: 

“Today, with the Senate passage of SB 2408, the State of Illinois is making history by setting aggressive standards for a 100 percent clean energy future. After years of debate and discussion, science has prevailed, and we are charting a new future that works to mitigate the impacts of climate change here in Illinois.

“SB 2408 puts the state on a path toward 100% clean energy and invests in training a diverse workforce for the jobs of the future. Illinois will become the best state in the nation to manufacture and drive an electric vehicle, and equity will be prioritized in every new program created. SB2408 puts consumers and climate at the forefront, prioritizing meaningful ethics and transparency reforms, and institutes key ratepayer and residential customer protections.

Di Leo: The Global Supply Chain and the Bottleneck Archipelago

By John F. Di Leo - 

"Sorry, ma'am, we've been out for months. They're on order from Asia."

 

"Yes, sir, I know we're out of them. They've been shipped from Asia, sir; they're on their way... but it's taking forever.  No, sir, I don't know why."

 

Most retailers have had to make the above statement dozens of times each day for the past six to nine months.  Sadder still is that even American-made goods are also unavailable, because so many American-made products are dependent on components or raw materials from Asia.

 

Why?  Why on earth does international shipping take so long nowadays?

Di Leo: Mr. Biden Goes for a Test Drive

By John F. Di Leo - 

On May 18, 2021, Joe Biden took a day-trip.

Sad to say, this in itself is rather remarkable, since hundreds of thousands of his fellow Americans, of similar age, have been forbidden the luxury of day-trips for over a year, as lockdowns have trapped senior citizens in their nursing homes and senior communities of all kinds for the past 14 months.  

 

But Mr. Biden’s circumstances are special, so he was able to get out, and even to visit a state with one of the toughest lockdowns - and the least constitutional restrictions - in the country: the automotive manufacturing center known as the state of Michigan.

Di Leo: George Washington: The right leader for a new nation

By John F. Di Leo - 

Reflections on the anniversary of George Washington‘s first inauguration…

The United States of America declared our independence in 1776, and amazingly, won a revolution against the greatest military power on earth, as a loose and perpetually destitute federation. 

The Constitutional Convention in 1787, accompanied by its subsequent statewide ratification conventions, unified us as a nation, and set forth the building blocks for future success.

We held elections in 1788... a new House and Senate found their way to the temporary capital in New York in the spring of 1789, and finally, on April 30, 1789, George Washington took the oath to become our first President, under this new and groundbreaking system.

McCullough at Townhall.com: Why Biden is Erasing America

Former Chicago suburbanite Kevin McCullough writes in Townhall.com today that President Joe Biden is "erasing America" with his overreaching executive orders of which few are paying attention: 

He’s attempting to undo American accountability in elections through his support of HR1. He’s attempting to undo our economic foundations with massive printing (read that: devaluing) of our currency. He’s attempting to destroy free enterprise and job growth with coming massive tax increases. He’s attempting to take away individual liberties with proposed mask mandates, and desired lockdowns. He supports any attempt to end the Senate filibuster—in order to push through horrific laws by the thinnest margins ever attempted. He’s attempting to overwhelm our security at our borders by encouraging 100’s of 1000’s of unverifiable persons of unknown origins to cross our borders without scrutiny nor penalty. He wants the police weakened. He is pledging to take guns away from law abiding owners. And he wants to pervert the justice system so dramatically that the Constitution becomes unrecognizable.

McCullough goes on to explain Biden's nation-changing moves ... HERE

Di Leo: Changing Times and the Right to be Left Alone

By John F. Di Leo - 

The Question:  What is the US Government's key purpose? 

The Answer:  To make sure we're left alone. 

Now, it’s not only to leave us alone... that's just part of it.  

The Bill of Rights is a list of specific ways that the government itself is specifically directed to leave us alone. 

But it's much more than that. 

The Constitution – first in the world of its kind - was written to design a government that is only big enough - not too big, just big enough - to be able to help us, the people, to be left alone.  Not just to be left alone by government, but to be left alone by everybody. 

Thorner: Will 2021 Be Politically Worse Than 2020?

Photo by Depression-era photographer Dorothea Lange

Op-Ed by Nancy Thorner - 

This was a dismal year politically, yet we weren't as close to one world dictatorship and total financial, moral and demographic collapse as we are now with the prospects of a Biden/Harris administration. 

Unfortunately, the surprise election of Trump in 2016 just hindered the 2030 globalist agenda drive by just over four years for a one-world dictatorship.

Trump's pardons were reviled by those on the Left, yet NY Governor Cuomo gave Christmas pardons and commutations to illegal aliens and murderers.

See here the 29 people Trump pardoned or gave commutations to in the final weeks of his presidency. They included son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father, Charles, and his 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort and Republican political operative Roger Stone. Earlier, Trump issued pardons for four Blackwater guards convicted of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians, former GOP lawmakers Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins and two figures in Robert Mueller’s probe of Trump’s 2016 campaign.

 

Although Governor Cuomo’s pardons to illegal aliens and murderers are far more reprehensible than those granted by Trump, they will never get major media publicity any more than drug deaths are far more common than Covid deaths in San Francisco.

Tax Foundation's Business Tax Climate Index ranks Illinois as 36 out of 50 states

llinois' tax climate isn't the worst in the nation, but it's likely to change after the Democrat majority passes more tax hikes in 2021. 

In its 2021 evaluation, the Tax Foundation gives Illinois an overall tax climate rating of 36 - but that's before the tax hike threats lawmakers are making before the upcoming legislature session.

Illinois ranks third from the lowest - #48 - in the Foundation's Property Tax rank. 

The Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index enables business leaders, government policymakers, and taxpayers to gauge how their states’ tax systems compare. While there are many ways to show how much is collected in taxes by state governments, the Index is designed to show how well states structure their tax systems and provides a road map for improvement.

For more information, see www.taxfoundation.org 

Di Leo: From Classroom to Stadium, the Creeps will Creep

By John F Di Leo - 

US Senator Cory Booker (D, Thrace) has introduced a bill to “solve” the problem of college athletics, in much the same way that a healthy dose of arsenic might be proposed to solve a stomach ache. 

We have over 5000 colleges and universities in the United States. Every college, public and private, has a somewhat different approach to finance, with varying balances between tuition and endowments, scholarships, government grants and all kinds of partnerships.  

The colleges that offer competitive sports teams include the costs (coaching staffs, facilities, travel, player scholarships) and the profits (ticket sales, advertising and broadcast rights) of such programs in the mix with the rest of their financial approaches. 

Does Biden Endorse the 'Great Reset'?

Joe Biden delivered a campaign speech in July that contained some language that sounds eerily similar to the talking points provided by the biggest supporters of the socialist Great Reset.

Thorner: Ways in which 2020 election differs from 2016 signals Trump victory

2016 photo

By Nancy Thorner -

Biased polling to raise money, discourage the Republican vote and hide voter fraud has been a weapon for Democrats all my life. This year incentives to jigger polls have never been greater for a Democrat Establishment who fears their colleges, cities, and states will go broke without a federal bailout that depends on the Democrats at least holding the House.  But fundamental polling problems will cause even the best like Trafalgar to underestimate Trump support.

There are about 12% more registered voters this year over 2016. Did they get a call?  Pollsters still mostly call landlines. In 2016, about 50% had landlines, in 2020, that percentage is down to about 37%. Did the many millions that have switched to cell phones get a call?  How many pollsters call only registered voters instead only those that voted the last 4 out of 5 elections? Polls have been wrong around the world because they get librarians, teachers and unemployed “activists” to respond, while plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc. (blue collar folks) refuse to talk to them.

A net of one sixth of people asked refuse to answer polls when they are voting for Trump, only 6% refuse to say Biden, 23% refuse to answer, Trump. That means only 77 % of Trump vote is there but 94 % of Biden vote is there for pollsters.

‘BLM’ Organizations Say ‘Black Lives Matter,’ but They Mean ‘Be Like Marx’

The Movement for Black Lives and Black Lives Matter, colloquially known as “BLM,” are Marxist organizations whose views are in fundamental opposition to the values that America was founded upon. (And no, I’m not talking about racism. I’m talking about individual liberty, free markets, and the Constitution.) How do I know this? Because I went through the unprecedented, incredibly difficult task of going to their websites and reading their platforms.

Among the many Marxist demands these BLM organizations are making include:

• “Real, meaningful, and equitable universal health care”
• “A constitutional right at the state and federal level to a fully-funded education”
• “A progressive restructuring of tax codes at the local state, and federal levels, to ensure a radical and sustainable redistribution of wealth”
• “Reparations … in the form of a guaranteed minimum livable income”
• “Reparations … in the form of corporate and government reparations … and ensuring our access and control of food sources, housing and land”
• “Reparations … in the form of mandated public school curriculums that critically examine the political, economic, and social impacts of colonialism and slavery, and … the recognition and honoring of our collective struggles and triumphs”
• “Federal and state job programs that specifically target the most economically marginalized”
• “democratic control over how resources are preserved, used and distributed”

Many of these items are, of course, unquestionably Marxist and/or socialistic. Others are extremely progressive. Most are right in line with what the far left–regardless of race–has been demanding for many decades.

Not convinced yet? Consider a few statements from the founders of BLM (again, the organization, not the slogan).

More HERE

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

By Nancy Thorner & Ed Ingold - 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Champaign man charged with using internet to incite rioting

URBANA, Ill.– A 19 year old is accused of posting this: “We gotta put Champaign/Urbana on the map – expletive – gone hear and fear us too. Slide let’s get busy Justice for George – expletive.” 

U.S. Marshals Service deputies arrested a Champaign, Ill., man, Shamar N. Betts, 19, early this morning in Tchula, Miss., on a state burglary warrant issued by Champaign county. Betts has also been charged in a federal criminal complaint with using the internet to incite rioting in Champaign, Ill., on May 31 to June 1, 2020. Betts will make his initial appearance in federal court in the Southern District of Mississippi, in Jackson, on a date to be determined by the court.  

“The defendant, as alleged, used the peaceful demonstrations over the death of George Floyd, as cover to plan and carry out criminal activity,” said U.S. Attorney John Milhiser. “He incited riots and damage to businesses, and as a result of good police work by the Champaign Police Department and coordination with the FBI, he will be held accountable for his actions.”

Di Leo: June 4th - A Reminder That Some Wars Never End

By John F. Di Leo - 

In the mid-19th century, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels popularized a new slant on utopian mob rule. 

There had been mob rule before – the rivers of blood in 1890s Paris predated Marxism by half a century – but what Marx and Engels popularized was a theory of permanence and universality. 

They imagined a global linkage between all the desperate, violent, bloody moments of history, and told their acolytes that their own individual quests to become commissars of their own towns were part of something bigger.  Even if they lost, they were part of the march of history toward worldwide “dictatorship by the proletariat.”

Project 21 Black Activists condemn nationwide rioting; applaud designating Antifa a terrorist group

Example of rioting destruction on Chicago's Magnificent Mile - photo by Mark Weyermuller 

WASHINGTON DC. – Saying people need to "stop rationalizing and excusing criminal activity," members of the Project 21 black leadership network condemned the politically motivated riots that have erupted across America, and applaud the possibility of Antifa being designated a domestic terrorist organization. 

Project 21 members condemned "the irrational, counterproductive and politically motivated nature of those rioting after the police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis," according to a press release.

Thorner/Ingold: Good News on Spread of Coronavirus

By Nancy Thorner & Ed Ingold -

A CNN headline on May 22, 2020 read, CDC estimates that 35% of coronavirus patient don't have symptoms. The article by Arman Azad was based on new guidance for mathematical modelers and public health official from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In summary, the CDC finds that 36% of the individuals testing positive for COVID-19 were asymptomatic. Under CDC guidelines, only those showing symptoms of COVID-19 are eligible for testing. Random data of this sort is trickling in now that employees are being tested in order to return to their workplace, where the percentage is as high as 86%.

Bad news for checking the spread of coronavirus?  Not so fast.

Former Illinois state senator about COVID-19: "It's a lie to pretend that government can protect you"

CHICAGO - "It's a lie for government to pretend it can protect you," former State Senator Steve Rauschenberger (R-Elgin) said this week in an video-recorded interview with Illinois Review. "It's an embarrassment [that elected officials responded as they did] - that's not American, it's not the people we are. We should never let this happen again this way."

"As things have become clearer that this is not going to kill five million Americans," Rauschenberger said. "I think there's been a slowness to address the real issues. We should be focused on the vulnerable, and let the rest of society get back to work, back to school and get on with their lives," Rauschenberger said. 

The 6 min interview:

Gov Pritzker blasts "Re-Open Illinois" protests; accuses GOP lawmakers, US Senate candidate of being "dangerous"

From video taken at Chicago rally Saturday 

CHICAGO - Monday, Governor JB Pritzker told reporters he feared for his and his family's safety because of signs that were displayed at protests in Springfield and Chicago last Saturday. 

In response to the press conference question from NPR-Illinois, "Governor, are you worried about you, or your family’s safety after anti-Semitic hate speech was used during protests over the weekend?" Pritzker said he was - because of protest signs.

"Yes, I have to admit that I am worried about my family’s safety. You saw some of the signs, some of the vehemence - those people were carrying signs with swastikas and pictures of Adolph Hitler - uh, references to me and my family. Um, yeah, I’m concerned," he said.

Photos of the Springfield rally showed one handmade sign with two swastikas and Pritzker wearing a Hitler-like mustache. A video of the Chicago rally shows protesters loudly rejecting a person flaunting a flag with a swastika. "He's not with us," the protesters said. "Soros plant!" others shouted at the flag bearer.

Thorner/Ingold: If We Open, Will They Come?

By Nancy Thorner & Ed Ingold -

A 1989 movie, Field of Dreams starring Kevin Costner, told of a farmer who heard a voice telling him to build a baseball diamond in a field. “If you build it, he will come,” referring to Shoeless Joe Jackson, banned from baseball following the 1919 “Black Sox” scandal.

We’re all hearing voices clamoring for the country to open for business following nearly two months in pandemic shutdown. We are assured that if we do this, the economy will rebound like a home-run baseball. It is one thing to allow businesses and stores to resume operations, but recovery depends on consumers. The question is, “If we open, will they come?”

Congress should prevent govs from keeping federal funds from local municipalities, IL delegation says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Illinois' five Republican US Congress members called on Congress to protect local municipalities from governors withholding federal funds as leverage to demand they keep small businesses closed due to the COVID crisis. 

U.S. Representatives Darin LaHood (IL-18), John Shimkus (IL-13), Adam Kinzinger (IL-16), Rodney Davis (IL-13), and Mike Bost (IL-12) sent a letter Friday to Congressional Leadership urging that Congress take action to prevent governors from withholding federal funds appropriated by Congress for local municipalities that allow their small businesses to reopen in accordance with federal health guidelines, but ahead of arbitrary timelines outlined by states.

Following last week’s announcement of the “Restore Illinois” plan by Governor Pritzker, the Illinois Republican delegation heard from mayors, sheriffs, county board officials, and constituents with deep concern that the current guidelines outlined by the state will cripple the livelihoods of communities downstate.

Di Leo: Alexander Hamilton and the Life of a Loyalist Academic

By John F. Di Leo - 

Reflections on the anniversary of the closure of King’s College and the flight of its dean…

On May 10, 1775, Dr. Myles Cooper was on top of the world. As President of King’s College in New York City for the previous dozen years, he was in the inner circle of British leadership in New York, responsible for the education of many of the finest students in the Americas, spokesman for loyalist thought in an age of rebellion.

But by the morning of May 11, driven out of the college in the dead of night by an angry mob, he was lucky to escape with his life. The philosophical tide was turning in these colonies – against the Hanoverian King and his puppets in Parliament, and against their proud and blind local acolytes who seemingly littered polite society at the time.

Di Leo: My 24 Hours in Stir: A Personal Memoir

By John F. Di Leo -

I don’t normally write in first person. It’s not a matter of being pretentious or anything, but the monks trained me well: in high school English, with our trusted copies of Warriner’s Guide to English Grammar and Composition perennially at hand, we were reminded that the first person is to be avoided at all costs. Write like the dispassionate observer, out of the action, unless you’re penning a film noir or a personal letter.

But when you find yourself in jail, and you need to write about the experience, well, there’s no substitute for the first person. If you need to tell your audience what happened to you, it’s appropriate to break that fourth wall and speak plainly and directly.

So here it is, folks: 

My name is John, and I spent 24 hours in jail this week.

Di Leo: Michael Bloomberg Raises Question of the Year

By John F. Di Leo - 

The most important question raised in the Democratic Party’s South Carolina debate did not concern such foolish measures as Medicare-for-All, reparations for slavery, or Joe Biden’s imbecilic exaggeration about murder statistics (150 million murders in the USA? Really?).

The key issue of the day was only mentioned in passing, by Michael Bloomberg, of all people, and it was immediately set aside… and of course, he got it wrong.

Michael Bloomberg tried to make a case for his nomination, on the grounds of his own extensive business experience… and his own long and happy collaboration with Mainland China. He talked about the importance of dealing with Red China, as if this interdependence is a given, because, as he said, “our economies are inextricably linked.”

Di Leo: Georgia Day, and the Story of America

By John F. Di Leo -

On February 12, 1733, James Oglethorpe disembarked from the Anna, a ship full of British settlers, at a site near present-day Savannah, officially founding the settlement that became the Georgia colony.

Georgia was the 13th colony to be established, of the group that became the United States of America, 43 years later.

Just like its neighbors, Georgia was built by British settlers who were to spend the following generations building farms and ranches, towns and cities, churches and businesses.

Illinois cannabis industry faces what McDonald's is facing ... union organizing demands

DES PLAINES – Not only are union activists pushing worker organization at blue state McDonald's, they're demanding workers in pot companies organize, just as Illinois is counting down to recreational legalization on January 1, 2020. 

From workers at the Des Plaines'-based Cresco Labs, a press release was issued Monday am:

Di Leo: International Trade Is More Than Just China

By John F. Di Leo - 

The trade war between Mainland China and the United States is in the news.

From the business pages to the front pages, day in and day out, there is a focus on the punitive tariffs that the Trump administration placed on Chinese goods on top of our regular import duties, on the retaliatory tariffs that China put on American goods on top of their own regular duties, and on the general toll that this trade war is taking on the American economy.

One might be forgiven for imagining that this argument with China was the only front in the effort to improve America’s economic position… but one would be mistaken.

Di Leo: A Free Economy, from Door to Door and from Coast to Coast

By John F. Di Leo - 

When I was growing up in Chicago’s northern suburbs, one of our local heroes was the late, great W. Clement Stone, founder of Combined Insurance. 

I recall being an awestruck college volunteer with the Young Republicans, manning the registration table at a Republican state convention, when Clem Stone came up to chat with us.

His story was the stuff of legend: starting from nothing during the Great Depression, selling insurance door-to-door, and from that humble beginning, he became the multimillionaire founder of one of the great Illinois corporations.

Di Leo: The One Ring and the Red Flag Law

By John F. Di Leo - 

Most people enter politics for one of two purposes: to solve problems or to acquire power.

The hope, of course, is that these are tied together: that the reason for acquiring power is only to solve problems. Unfortunately, many in politics desire power for its own sake. Still, we Americans cling to the hope that we can usually assume the best of intentions in our political candidates, so we hope that their desire is truly to solve the problems of the day.

DiLeo: Donald Trump and the Problem of Tariffs

 

By John F. DiLeo - 

For over a year, the American business community has been disrupted by the current trade war. First the new tariffs on steel and aluminum from most trading partners – but then most significantly, the broadly-assessed new tariffs on products of China arrived, and shook the world.

We’ve seen wave after wave of China duties, until reaching the point at which most products from China – that’s both finished goods and components for American manufacturing too – are now another 25% higher-priced than they used to be. (and incidentally, there’s no reason to assume that 25% is the maximum. With 5.5 years left in the Trump administration, it’s entirely possible that we should think of 25% as a floor, not a ceiling).

Di Leo: President Trump Draws One More Arrow from the Quiver

By John F. Di Leo - 

One of the problems with the news is that it always requires some background information.  Without context, it is difficult to tell what’s really going on.

It may be reported that Israel fired on an apartment building in Gaza; that sounds horrible until you learn that terrorists based in that apartment building had been shooting rockets into Israel for weeks, making such retaliation necessary.

Or it may be reported that the average worker in some town is paid 30% less than you are for doing the same job as you; it sounds like  he’s being taken advantage of, until you learn that the cost of living where he works is 30% lower than where you are.

Context is particularly challenging in the world of international trade, since – even though we all participate in trade in some way, as manufacturers, resellers, or consumers – it’s not taught at all in school, and necessary background is never mentioned in news stories that involve it.

Rossi: The Growing Threat of Socialism in America

By Randy Rossi - 

Gallup just released a new poll that should scare the heck out of every rational and informed American. That poll shows that a growing number of Americans are embracing socialism.

In their new poll, Gallup reports that 43% of all Americans embrace some form of socialism while only 51% of Americans think that socialism would be a bad thing for our country. Incredibly, 6% have no opinion. If that doesn’t scare any rational American who has watched Venezuela collapse under socialism, what would?

Rossi: Legal Pot - the Last Nail in Illinois’ Coffin

By Randy Rossi - 

Dear fellow Illinoisans, have we all gone insane?

We have allowed our crooked politicians to almost destroy the once magnificent “Land of Lincoln” by our ignorance and voter apathy. Because of that ignorance and apathy, Illinois has become the most bankrupt state in the Union with the lowest bond ratings in America.

On top of that, we have seen more governors that we elected sent to prison than any other state! Even a high level FBI executive said Illinois is the most politically crooked state in America. And because of all that insanity and corruption, people and jobs are fleeing Illinois. And to make all that worse, our new governor wants you to allow him to change the Illinois Constitution so that he can tax even more of your money.

You know, he is the governor that took the toilets out of his house to pay less real-estate taxes!

Di Leo: Raising the Bar for the Democratic National Convention

By John F. Di Leo -

There’s a fascinating debate going on in Wisconsin.

Current state law requires that in order to have a liquor license, bars must be closed between 2:30am and 6:00am on Saturday nights, and between 2:00am and 6:00am the rest of the week.

But the Democratic National Committee chose Milwaukee to host their 2020 convention, and there are apparently many in the state who just don’t believe that twenty hours per day provide enough drinking time to manage the Democratic party’s national convention. They might need more.

Thorner: Beware state lawmakers pushing legalized pot

By Nancy Thorner - 

Public town hall events are currently being held throughout Illinois with one purpose: to advance legalizing recreational marijuana use for adults.

The Highland Park Library, hosted by the City of Highland Park, sponsored a town hall discussion Saturday, April 13, from 10-11:30 a.m. In the announcement blurb, individuals of all viewpoints were encouraged to attend to ask questions and learn all about the proposed cannabis legislation. About 100 attended. 

The panel included Representative Bob Morgan (D - 58th District); Senator Julie Morrison (D - 29th District); and State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago), sponsor of Senate Bill 7.  It has been two years since the Steans/Cassidy bill legalizing recreational pot was first introduced in Illinois.

Following brief introductions by Representative Bob Morgan and Senator Julie Morrison, Senator Heather Steans gave a Power Point presentation on Cannabis Legalization, designed to convince those in attendance that Illinois knows what it is doing, and that its recreational marijuana program will be well designed for positive results.  As Steans suggested, in some states legalization of recreational marijuana was achieved by referendum.  Doing it legislatively in Illinois is the better way, she said, as it will reflect the feedback received over the past twenty-four months.

Di Leo: Inspiration at a Conference Center

By John F. Di Leo - 

Reflections on the free market, at Chicago’s McCormick Place

I like trade shows and conferences. I’ve attended a lot of them - and I’ve given speeches at a few - and I have always found them to be a wonderful microcosm of both society and the economy.

No matter how troubled a city or state may be, the trade show is a place to be re-invigorated about the potential in our own American economy and even in the world at large.

This week, for example, walking through the Housewares Show at Chicago’s McCormick Place, I was reminded of a number of wonderful issues that slip our minds from day to day, as we live out our busy lives. For instance:

Di Leo: Sparkling Wine and the Regulatory State

By John F. Di Leo - 

The kids are heading back to school, and a new Congress is taking their seats (well, technically, our seats, though many of them quickly forget that fact). This means the holiday party season of Christmas and New Year’s is finally over.

One of the things we do during party season is to select our beverages, both for ourselves and for our guests – and, as much as personal taste plays a role in that selection, the government plays a role as well.

How much government do we want?  How much government do we need?  What should our federal, state, and local legislatures demand of us?  And how should the executive branch – from federal departments and their agencies, to local zoning boards and liquor commissions – write the rules to enforce those demands?

Let’s look at that most basic of purchases – our choice of champagne – as we consider the question.

Di Leo: Perfect Timing for Corrections in International Trade

By John F. Di Leo - 

Reflections on the latest summit in the southern hemisphere…

The heads of state of the USA, Mexico and Canada signed the new NAFTA 2.0 – the USMCA – early Friday morning in Buenos Aires, as they prepared to meet with more world leaders for the latest G-20 summit.   But despite that happy signing ceremony, it’s the rougher aspects of the trade wars of 2018 that weigh heavily on everyone’s mind.

Some would assume that these trade wars are all of Donald Trump’s making, but they would be mistaken. 

• Great Britain’s challenges in extricating itself from the European Union are of Brussels’ making.
• The American loss of much of our manufacturing, especially of steel but not remotely entirely of steel, is of the making of 50 years of union-and-statist American burdens.
• The flaws in existing free trade agreements are of their original negotiators’ making.
• And our special challenges with Mainland China today, as we lead the effort to try to reclaim the world’s manufacturing from a single country bound and determined to dominate the world economy, have too many causes to list (though that list must begin with American capitulations in the 1970s).

Two quiet issues – barely addressed in the news media on this side of the Pond – are the questions of whether the USA and Great Britain will manage to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement, and whether the USA and the European Union will do so as well.

From $15 per hour minimum wage to DACA support, women's group announces legislative priorities for 2019 session

SPRINGFIELD - With Democrats in total control of Illinois' three branches of state government, the leftist group "Women Employed" published their top priorities for Governor-Elect JB Pritzker to sign into law. In many cases, they seek the same legislation Republican Governor Bruce Rauner resisted over the past four years. 

The group's list of demands - from a $15 per hour minimum wage statewide to support for DACA recipients - will weigh heavily on Illinois business owners already paying some of the nation's highest property taxes. 

Women Employed expect to participate in enacting with a Democrat super majority in the Illinois House and Senate, and a Democrat in the Governor's Mansion the following:

Thorner: New documentary shows Google, Facebook pose real threat to democracy

Matthew & Michelle Taylor with Jim Lakely

By Nancy Thorner - 

Google and Facebook cross the privacy line and endanger American freedoms, two filmmakers told a capacity audience in Heartland Institute's Andrew Breitbart Freedom Center last Wednesday. The Creepy Line, an 81-minute new documentary, revealed what director Matthew Taylor and producer Michele Taylor found while filming their expose.

Every day more and more information is coming out on the issue. "In making the documentary the plug had to be pulled on July 31, 2018, despite so much that has happened after that date,” Taylor told the audience.

The Creepy Line reveals how Google searches and Facebook newsfeeds can bias opinions without the reader knowing by manipulating search engines and news feed, presenting a serious threat to America's democracy and elections.  

Di Leo: A Seat at the Table, and CNN's Embarrassing Presumption

By John F. Di Leo - 

As tempers flare in Washington this November, with the dust settling on late-night midterm results and vote fraud occurs in broad daylight… we see an unusual dispute in the news.  This kerfuffle is between a major news source – CNN – and the White House. CNN’s reporter, Jim Acosta, refused to shut his mouth when his time was expired, and even shoved an intern out of the way for just doing her job.  The White House had it with him, and revoked his press credentials - not CNN’s, just his.

The reporter made more of the story than it was, which is perhaps unsurprising, but his employer also made more of it than it was, which should be shocking.  An employer should have a better handle on how to deal with an employee who goes over the line, embarrassing his employer and his profession on international television. CNN even filed a lawsuit against the administration, claiming that it was a violation of the First Amendment for the administration to kick a reporter out of a press conference.

The First Amendment?   Really, folks?