Illinois Review

Shapiro: Lying About ‘Misinformation’ To Justify Tyranny

By Ben Shapiro - 

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

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

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

More HERE

Di Leo: Considering the Most Serious Complaint in the Outcry over Dobbs

By John F. Di Leo - 

On Friday, June 24, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

The Dobbs ruling was significant, for two reasons: It settled a question regarding abortion at the national level: that it’s not the federal government’s business, so it’s up to the states. Also, since it overturned a 50-year-old ruling, it reminds both the general public and future courts that our respect for precedent should not be so blind as to allow blatantly unfounded rulings to stand if a chance comes up to correct the error.

The outcry was loud and immediate, and no wonder: a multibillion dollar industry has grown up around the concept of “abortion on demand,” not to mention incredible behavioral changes, both micro and macro, as everything from individual dating practices to the nature of the pop culture were altered to accommodate the practice.

Di Leo: China's Draconian Lockdowns Extend to Tianjin

By John F. Di Leo - 

 

The Chinese government announced on May 19 that they are immediately putting much of the city of Tianjin under the martial-law style Covid lockdowns for which Chairman Xi Jinping will be remembered.

 

As he has previously done in Wuhan, Shenzhen, and other major cities, residents are restricted to their homes and require special permission to leave. While businesses may not be formally closed, they cannot reopen without staff, so they are unable to function unless they are fortunate enough to be completely outside the shuttered zone, and rely on staffs also outside the shuttered zones.

 

Tianjin is the primary seaport for the capital city of Beijing, one of the largest ports in northern China, and one of the busiest ports in the world.

Thorner: Naturopath offers different perspective on COVID treatments

(Disclaimer: Illinois Review does not intend this information to be an endorsement or recommendation of suggested treatments. It is intended to simply provide additional information for our readers' decision-making about their health care.)

By Nancy Thorner - 

Recent developments in treating COVID-19, especially in terms of existing therapeutics, are validating what doctors like Colleen Huber knew all along: masks, distancing, ventilators, and vaccines couldn’t resolve the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Last year, Huber, a naturopathic medical doctor based in Arizona, published “The Defeat of COVID: 500+ Medical Studies Show What Works & What Doesn’t.”   About author Colleen Huber.

The book details research on COVID-19 treatments and strategies—everything from zinc and hydroxychloroquine to social distancing and masking. She shares studies that explore the effectiveness of the various treatments, preventative measures, and interventions.

The book pays homage to doctors who have tried to promote early treatment using existing medications, vitamins, and supplements—folks like Dr. Vladimir Zelenko and the America’s Frontline Doctors team.

Illinois becomes last Midwestern state to remove indoor mask mandate

CHICAGO - Indoor masks are no longer mandated in Illinois indoor businesses as of 12:01 am Monday, February 28, Governor JB Pritzker's office confirmed over the weekend. While his original announcement two weeks ago did not include alleviating the mask mandate in the state's public school system, the Illinois Supreme Court stepped in last Friday. 

Doing his best to defend his rights as the state's executive to require COVID masks to be worn longer than any other state in the Midwest, and among only four states nationwide, the Governor's office put out the following statement late last Friday night:  

SPRINGFIELD – Due to the continued decrease in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, and increase in available ICU beds, the Illinois indoor mask requirement will end Monday, February 28, 2022, at 12:01 a.m.  Since the Governor announced his plan to lift the indoor mask requirement, the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 has been cut in half and the number of ICU beds available increased by 24%.  Illinois’ weekly COVID-19 case rate has also decreased by 70%,
 
More than 8 million people in Illinois are fully vaccinated with an average of approximately 16,000 COVID-19 vaccines administered each day, including more than 4,600 first doses daily. 
 
“Throughout this pandemic, we’ve taken action to save lives and keep our economy open – and I’m proud that Illinoisans have done the hard work that has our made our state a leader in the Midwest,” said Governor JB Pritzker.  “Today, our hospitals are much better positioned to handle emergencies and more than half of all eligible adults have been boosted; this is the progress we needed to make to remove our state indoor masking requirements. As individuals, I encourage everyone to make the best choices going forward to protect your health, along with that of your family and community – and most importantly to treat each other with kindness and compassion.”

Di Leo: The Canadian Truckers' Choice: The Easy Way or the Hard Way

By John F. Di Leo - 

Justin Trudeau, current prime minister of Canada, and heir of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, is angry.  There are truckers — lots of them — clogging the streets of Ottawa, honking their horns, and revving their engines.

Raised in privilege as a prime minister's son, Mr. Trudeau doesn't believe that he should have to listen to the people's voices, let alone their engines. 

So he has ordered police to steal the drivers' fuel and even impound their vehicles.  He has ordered banks to confiscate their bank accounts.  He has even decreed a national emergency — which he didn't do for the virus, by the way, only for the truckers' convoy — and in so doing, jeopardized the majority status of his party, since virtually everyone knows that the Emergencies Act was never intended for anything like this.

Yes, this is a big demonstration.  Yes, it's one of the biggest in Canadian history, possibly the biggest (though there are different ways to count such things).  Yes, the closure of a couple of bridges was a noticeable hit to the economy for a few days — though not nearly as severe a hit as two years of mask mandates, social distancing mandates, lockdowns, and shutdowns have been, and we don't see him apologizing for those, do we?

But there is something about this particular demonstration that the extremist pro-max-and-vax fringe crowd might want to consider: that it could be worse.

More, in the American Thinker, HERE:

Di Leo: GOP gubernatorial primary candidates vie for suburban voters

Bailey, Solomon, Schimpf, Rabine

 

By John F. Di Leo - 

A Republican town hall was held in Naperville, and Illinois Review was there...

On Saturday, February 12, Freedom Initiative Now hosted a GOP Gubernatorial Town Hall, featuring four of the announced Republican candidates for Governor of Illinois, with a couple hundred activists in attendance at the Embassy Suites in Naperville.

State Senator Darren Bailey, former State Senator Paul Schimpf, businessman Gary Rabine, and attorney Max Solomon were seated on the dais.  Three other candidates believed to be in the running - Chris Roper (who at some point had accepted), Jesse Sullivan and Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin – were not in attendance.

Co-hosts Nick Richmond and Kelly Dittmann kept their introduction to a minimum, asked three appropriate, general series of questions, then closed with a couple of final questions from the audience.  The format wasn’t perfect, but it was impressively, scrupulously fair.

Di Leo: The Problem with Mandates

By John F. Di Leo - 

There is a short, pithy line that a lot of us find ourselves saying these days… one which merits reconsideration because it is only occasionally accurate.

“Mandates are not laws.”

It’s only four words long; therefore, it works well as a tweet or Facebook comment. It fits on a picket sign.  People mutter it all the time, nowadays, especially in the context of masks, social distancing, and vaccines.

But is it true?

Frankly, it depends. Sometimes the statement is true -- some mandates are not legally binding at all -- but often, when legitimate, this is just a distinction without a difference.

More, in the American Thinker, HERE:

Di Leo: The Canadian Freedom Convoy Arrives in Ottawa

By John F. Di Leo -

Thousands of trucks, thousands of cars, and thousands of pedestrians too, have descended upon downtown Ottawa, Ontario, the national capital of Canada, in what is now being called the Freedom Convoy of 2022.

As often happens in the United States, the counts will vary widely from news outlet to news outlet, perhaps based on the political affiliation of the speaker. With tens of thousands of trucks in different processions all meeting this week, it seems certain that the total number of protesters will be at least six figures, a truly stirring figure for a nation of only 38 million people (about a ninth the size of the USA).

Already, reporters mention every weird individual with a swastika or other hostile signs, in an effort to poison the viewer against the protest. Such others are obviously not a part of this protest at all… But they take advantage of the opportunity to mingle in with a larger protest, perhaps specifically to besmirch the reputation of the main protest itself, as Antifa regularly does at Trump rallies down here.

Thorner: Canadian Truckers unite against Marxist state policy

Canadian Free Press photo

By Nancy Thorner - 

"Truckers of the world, UNITE!"

The title is a riff off of Karl Marx’s famous "Workers of the World Unite!" proving that not only was Marx wrong, he was the polar opposite of the truth. WORKERS are revolting against Marxism.

That was reinforced in a January 31, 2022 article posted by Kurt Schlichter at Townhall.com. Wrote Mr. Schlichter: 

But the real problem for the elite is that the actual workin’-class folks, who are usually busy workin’, are getting activated by the myriad assaults upon them made by our elite. It takes a lot to activate them politically. Look at those Canadian truckers. They would rather be trucking. Taking time off for protests – usually the province of parent-supported brats – costs them money they need. But now they have no choice but to stop earning and start making clear that they are done with the petty and not-so-petty oppressions of an elite that despises them.

Beckman: Nothing beats being in a classroom

By Hank Beckman - 

Honorable people can disagree about the motivation for public K-12 school districts implementing remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some, primarily on the left, maintain that the safety of students and teachers make virtual education necessary; conservatives will counter that the policy is nothing more than teachers' unions flexing their political muscle to get out of going to work every day like the rest of us.

Whatever the truth is, what can’t be gainsaid is that locking kids out of the classroom and expecting them to be educated by remote control is a practice that almost certainly has a disproportionately negative impact on students of color—and might actually be legally suspect.

Or, as the lawyers and civil rights activists might argue, remote learning, even if applied to all schools and communities in a given location, could still be prohibited because it has a “disparate impact” on non-white communities.

But first things first. No serious person denies that remote learning is anything like an ideal approach to educating schoolchildren.

Thorner: Maine Doctor Suspended for ‘public dissemination of ‘misinformation’

Dr. Meryl Nass of Maine

By Nancy Thorner - 

Dr. Meryl J. Nass had her license suspended by a licensing board in Maine after accused of sharing COVID-19 misinformation. She must undergo a psychiatric evaluation.  The Soviet Union's manipulation tactics, including psychiatry as a punishment and/or to authenticate its rule, is back.

A doctor with decades of experience can’t practice medicine after her license was temporarily suspended over complaints that she shared coronavirus misinformation, according to a Maine licensing board. The board has ordered her to undergo a neuropsychological evaluation, it said.

Dr. Meryl J. Nass, who got a license to practice medicine in Maine in 1997, had her license “immediately” suspended for 30 days after a board investigation and review of complaints against her on Jan. 12, according to a suspension order from the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine.

Nass, who is an internist in Ellsworth, must “submit” to an evaluation by a “Board-selected psychologist” on Feb. 1, the board’s evaluation order issued Jan. 11 said. “I have no comment about submitting to a neuropsych exam, except that the board ordered me to do so on shaky grounds,” Nass told McClatchy News.

Di Leo: Pharmaceutical Dos and Don'ts in the Age of Covid

By John F. Di Leo - 

I have a few medical questions...not for experts, just for regular folks like you and me.

• Should you take antibiotics if you don't have a bacterial infection?
• Should you take phenobarbital if you don't have a seizure disorder such as epilepsy?
• Should you take nitroglycerin if you don't have some kind of heart trouble?
• Should you undergo chemotherapy if you don't have cancer?

Most likely, we all have the same gut reaction to all of these questions: "Probably not.  In fact, very probably not."

This isn't to say there aren't other uses for each of these medicinal miracles, but they all have primary purposes.

Sometimes they are good for other purposes, too.  Some of our greatest discoveries have been when a drug developed for one purpose surprisingly turned out to have another benefit as well (famous examples include Cortisone, Rogaine, and Viagra).

More, in the American Thinker, here:

Di Leo: Analogy Time with Johnny Dee: Tollbooths, Syringes, and the U.S. Constitution

By John F. Di Leo - 

Let's say I claim the right to collect tolls on the Brooklyn Bridge. (I need cash, you know, and there’s money there).

So, I fly to New York; I erect tollgates, and I start collecting tolls from cars and trucks crossing the Brooklyn Bridge.

Now, as you might imagine, I have no right to do this.  I just did it, and dared people to stop me.  Well, people did.  They didn’t waste much time, either.  Let’s assume that people sued me, and it went all the way to the Supreme Court, where SCOTUS said "This is ridiculous!  John, you don't have the authority to collect tolls on the Brooklyn Bridge. Now cut it out. Unless you're given that authority, you can't do it. Period. Take down those stupid tollbooths and go home."

But you know me, folks.  I don’t give up that easily.

So, I go to Springfield.

Illinois conservative lawmakers respond to SCOTUS decision on Biden vaccine mandate

US Supreme Court

SPRINGFIELD - Conservative state lawmakers responded to the US Supreme Court's ruling Thursday that stayed the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) during the pendency of the 6th Circuit case.

The Court stated, “the Act empowers the Secretary to set workplace safety standards, not broad public health measures.”

Some conservative lawmakers in the Illinois General Assembly issued statements in response to the ruling.

Illinois' current COVID spike could be leveling out, stats show

 

According to the New York Times' most recent data update, the number of COVID cases in Illinois during the current Omicron spike could be leveling off. 

Still showing the highest numbers since October 2021, the numbers show COVID cases did not continue to skyrocket as they had in previous weeks, when Illinoisans were gathering for the holidays. Altogether since the pandemic commenced, Illinois stats show the state has had over two and a half million cases. 

Positive COVID test rates are still high, nearing 16% - and Illinois reports nearly 48 million tests since they first became available last year. 

Di Leo: Getting the Jab and Doing Your Job

By John F. Di Leo - 

Joe Biden wants everyone to be vaccinated against the China Virus commonly known as Covid-19. 

Whether that’s a good idea or not is at this point an open question.  The vaccines and boosters currently available appear to be ineffective at preventing people from catching the virus, but there is evidence often interpreted as proof that they are effective in reducing the danger of the virus to those who do catch it.  There is also evidence often interpreted as proof that they are dangerous, often causing severe heart ailments in otherwise healthy people.  The oddity here is that the virus may be most dangerous to people who are already sick, and the vaccine may be most dangerous to people who are otherwise healthy. 

With billions of people getting doses of brand new vaccines, it is difficult to tell – because much of the information is censored – whether these side effects are statistically worthy of note, or are so rare, statistically speaking, that we shouldn’t worry about them.  Anyone on either side who says this is a clear-cut issue is jumping to conclusions.  We simply can’t be sure yet.

So, most reasonable people’s natural gut instinct is to treat this like the annual flu shot, and make a personal decision on whether to take this particular vaccine or not.

Agresti: COVID-19 Is Not a 'Pandemic Of The Unvaccinated'

By James D. Agresti - 

False statistics and misinformation are being used to push the baseless narrative that most COVID-19 hospital patients are unvaccinated.

On Friday, September 17, the CDC published a study that refutes the common claim that Covid-19 is a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” Coauthored by more than 50 MD’s and Ph.D.’s, the study contains data on the vaccine status of adults hospitalized with Covid-19 at 21 U.S. hospitals across 18 states during March to August of 2021. 

Contrary to assertions from the Associated Press and Anthony Fauci that fully vaccinated people comprise only 1% of those being hospitalized or killed by C-19, the study found that 13% of patients hospitalized with C-19 had been fully vaccinated. Moreover, that 13% figure is just the tip of iceberg because the authors excluded from their study a large group of hospitalized C-19 patients, the bulk of whom were likely vaccinated.

About half of the omitted group and 27% of the C-19 patients in these hospitals were people with “immunocompromising conditions,” such as cancer, HIV, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, scleroderma, and Crohn’s disease. In the words of an FDA official and 18 other co-authors published in a medical journal, “immunocompromised individuals” were “prioritized for early immunization” and are “plausibly more likely to be offered and seek vaccination” because they are highly vulnerable to C-19.

More HERE

Illinois announces vaccine status app with QR code

SPRINGFIELD – The state of Illinois now offers verification of vaccination status on your phone with a QR code, they announced Wednesday. The outline of the IDPH's new program appears similar to the QR system now used to track COVID patients in Communist China, where it is now "effectively compulsory." 

From a Lex-Atlas story:

China is perhaps the first country to use tracking mechanisms through mobile phones and/or social media Apps such as WeChat and Alipay to track people’s movements or to stop people diagnosed of Covid-19 from travelling. It has now developed into a national Health QR Code System (Jiankang Ma). While an early study suggests that the health QR code had helped control the spread of Covid-19 in China, the effectively compulsory use of the QR code and the apparently unconstrained collection of personal information and data for the system have caused some major concerns about its potential for misuse or abuse at the expense of individual rights. Among these is a serious question concerning the protection of privacy in China, where a right balance between its protection and the need for safeguarding public health is yet to be established.

Illinois Review inquired of the IDPH their future plans for the system, and will update this story as they respond.

From the Department of Public Health's press release Wednesday:

New updates to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) Vax Verify immunization portal now includes use of the SMART™ Health Card.  The SMART™ Health Card allows users to download a QR code, which individuals can use to easily confirm a their COVID-19 vaccination status at businesses, events, and other locations.  Vax Verify is an online system that allows Illinois residents 18 years and older to check their COVID-19 vaccination record.  Vax Verify can be accessed at  https://idphportal.illinois.gov.

With no symptoms, Omicron appears in vaccinated Cook County resident

CHICAGO - Omicron has arrived in Cook County, public health officials said Wednesday. They also said the unvaccinated should not celebrate Christmas this year with friends and family - despite the Omicron variant being found in a vaccinated person with no symptoms.

“As expected, Omicron has arrived in suburban Cook County and we must take every possible precaution to prevent this highly-contagious variant from spreading rapidly,” Dr. Rachel Rubin, senior medical officer of Cook County, said in a statement.

“Vaccinations, including booster shots, are vital. Masking indoors in all public spaces is mandated in the county and must continue. And we urge unvaccinated residents to not attend any holiday celebrations or social events during this time.”

Di Leo: Illegal Mandates and the Abandonment of a Sacred Oath

By John F. Di Leo - 

In just one week, four federal courts have said no, and the US Senate voted the same way. The vaccine mandate is crumbling.

Earlier this fall, Jabbin’ Joe Biden issued his commands in no uncertain terms:  OSHA will mandate that all employers of over a hundred people must force their employees to accept these experimental Covid-19 vaccines.  Every federal department must mandate that all their federal employees accept it too.  All federal contractors and health care workers, all members of the military, must take it as well.  There is no freedom anymore; the days of human rights are over. Uncle Joe has spoken.

Many of us assumed that the federal mandate was a con from the start – that even the ultra-statists of the Biden-Harris regime knew full well that they don’t have the authority, so they hoped that Biden’s speech would be enough to scare people into compliance on the basis of his speech. He might never have to issue an illegal executive order; his department chiefs might never have to publish illegal regulations in the Federal Register, if they just said they were going to, and a gullible public acted on that promise alone.

But no, to the surprise of some, the regime went ahead and filed those illegal rules, knowing they would eventually be overturned.  And many businesses, especially the “woke” ones, both small and large, did climb aboard that sinking ship.  A few vocal refusals by airline pilots and mailmen followed, along with thousands (or maybe hundreds of thousands?) of quiet resignations as well, and the mandate defenders are more visibly desperate every week.

Thorner: Truth as a Shield Against Tyranny

By Nancy Thorner - 

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent, we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. —George Washington

The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them. —Patrick Henry

Tyranny is tyranny, no matter what its form; the free man will resist it if his courage serves. —Judge Learned Hand

Our only weapon is the truth and, in the end, the truth must always defeat the lie. Ten years ago, we would have been shocked and outraged by the very idea of censorship, but I’m afraid we’ve all become acclimated to cruelty and injustice by being exposed to it in steadily increasing doses throughout the years.

Amazingly, RFK Jr. has been allowed to broadcast the truth about Covid in his book: “The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health” (Children’s Health Defense) Hardcover – November 16, 2021 by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Author).

Thorner: Why Is Vermont, the most vaccinated state, grappling with another Coronavirus surge?

By Nancy Thorner - 

Keep in mind that you’re not considered “fully vaccinated” until two weeks after your second injection. If you got your second dose a week ago and end up in the hospital with COVID symptoms, you’re counted as "unvaccinated."

The case rate in Vermont is FAR higher now than it was in the fall of 2020, when no one had gotten the “vaccine.”  Vermont health commissioner Dr. Mark Levine says the surge is occurring primarily among unvaccinated people in their 20s and children aged 5 through 11 — which is obviously another ruse, given that the shots are just now being rolled out for 5- to 11-year-olds. 

Dr. Levin also tries to blame the delta variant, but delta has been around for months already, first case of delta in Vermont was identified in mid-May 2021.  

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.

Thorner: Natural Immunity vs. the Jab

By Nancy Thorner - 

In an article by Greg Piper, updated, November 9, 2021, "Naturally immune federal workers file class-action suit against Fauci COVID vaccine mandate," Piper writes:

Federal employees with natural immunity from COVID-19 infection filed a class-action lawsuit Friday against the members of President Biden's task force that enforces his COVID vaccine mandate for government workers, intending to stop it before a deadline this month.

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, where plaintiff and civilian Navy employee Isaac McLaughlin lives and where some of the plaintiffs' agencies have offices.

The court is overseen by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which halted the related employer COVID vaccine mandate over the weekend, citing 'grave statutory and constitutional issues.'

Suit claims the feds are following the EPA's playbook for the Clean Power Plan, which the Supreme Court blocked before a lower court could review it.

Thorner: Children and Jabs

By Nancy Thorner -

According to a 2012 double-blind, randomized, controlled trial in Clin Infect Dis. March 15, 2012, (the first of its kind) conducted in healthy children 6 to 15 years of age, getting a flu shot was found to increase the risk of other respiratory viral infections over four-fold. 

And what about now giving the Covid shot to 5-year olds?

Even former Surgeon General and neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson thinks this is absurd, saying in an interview with Maria Bartiromo“absolutely not” due to the kids’ extremely low mortality rate and it is “a giant experiment.”

Di Leo: Joe Biden's Needle Over the Line

By John F. Di Leo - 

On Tuesday, November 2, the Democratic Party suffered a serious electoral walloping.  Republican gains - in states and districts we were long told were solid blue - showed that a public horrified by the tyrannical Biden/Harris/Pelosi/Schumer regime is indeed able to channel that horror into effective action in the voting booth.

Some would expect the Democratic Party leadership to regroup after being dealt such a stern lesson… but not our Democrats.  No, the lesson they took from this election was that they can expect to be turned into a minority party in 2022, so they had better make the most of the fourteen months that remain in their reign of error.

They therefore sped up their timetables on a number of unwise programs, including the vaccine mandate, massive “settlements” to illegal aliens, and a $1.2 trillion “infrastructure plan.”  All of them outrages. All of them the product of a government that has lost its tether to reality.

UPDATE x3: IL Senate & House pass effort to weaken Healthcare Conscience Act; effective June 2022

UPDATE x1: At 10:39 PM Wednesday night (10/27), the Illinois House passed 64-52 another version of Rep. Gabel's changes to SB 1169 - with 7 Democrats joining the House's 45 Republicans in voting no. An effort rushed to vote during the short "veto" session, the measure now moves to the Illinois Senate, where it is sponsored by Senators Don Harmon and Melinda Bush - both Democrats. 

Amendment 3 amends the Health Care Right of Conscience Act. Provides that it is not a violation of the Act for any person or public official, or for any public or private association, agency, corporation, entity, institution, or employer to take any measures or impose any requirements intended to prevent contraction or transmission of COVID-19 or any pathogens that result in COVID-19 or any of its subsequent iterations. Provides that it is not a violation of the Act to enforce such measures or requirements. Provides that the Section applies to all actions commenced or pending on or after the effective date of the amendatory Act.

UPDATE x2: Here's what State Senator Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) wrote on a Facebook page about the vote:

Democrats did not have the votes to change the law so they did what they do best, changed the rules and lowered the number of votes needed to pass the bill.

Under the new bill the law does not go into effect until June of ‘22 . This tells you it is not about Covid.

As I have said from day one, this is about the Governor taking full control over peoples lives.

These people are dangerous!

UPDATE x3: Despite thousands of opposition slips, the Illinois Senate rushed through a vote on SB 1169 late Thursday night (10/28)- and the Democrats carried the vote across the finish line with Rep. Gabel's amendment above. However, the measure does NOT go into effect until June 2022. Until then, the unamended state law remains in effect - even after Governor Pritzker signs SB 1169 into law.

 

Di Leo: Evening Soup with Basement Joe: Solyanka Soup and Inflation Woes

 

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.

 "Good evening, sir! I have soup!"

 

"And I have a headache. Leave me alone."

 

"Don't you want your soup, sir?"

 

"Of course I want my soup. Just don't want to talk to anybody."

 

"Oh, I see. Dale Carnegie is alive and well, I see."

 

Di Leo: Supply Chain Advice Upon Joe Biden's Request, in a Year of Disaster

By John F Di Leo - 

The global supply chain, and particularly the North American supply chain, have been in crisis for about a year. There are a lot of reasons for this, almost entirely government-created, end it appears that the federal government has finally noticed it.

Joe Biden has been a lifeguard, lawyer, city councilman, senator, and vice president. While it’s hard to tell what he is now, he has gone public with a request to hear from the American people on this matter, and he has said that he will welcome advice. It would be a first for him, but we will try, anyway.

Let’s begin with the big picture. We go to the store, and we see empty shelves. We look at our harbors, and we see dozens of ships, often backed up for weeks, waiting for a berth. We go to our factories, and we see assembly lines idled for lack of components, injection molders idled for lack of resin, stamping lines idled for lack of steel.

Di Leo: Evening Soup with Basement Joe: Wild Mushroom & Onion Soup and a Visit to Elk Grove Village

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, is da boss in? Hey? HEY! Anybody in there?"

"Come on, man! Don't yell at an old man! Who are you looking for?"

"Oh, there you are! Wait a minute, don't you got any staff, any guards, any yes-men or anything? You're not all alone in this hotel suite, are ya, boss?"

"Yes-Men?"

"Yeah, sure, you know... here in Chicago, we call 'em 'aldermen."

"Look, I have to finish my work and go to sleep. Flying back to the east coast in a few hours. So unless you have business..."

"Sorry, boss, I thought you'd want some soup before you turned in. They told us to get ya some good Chicago soup while you're in town. Sample da local scene, ya know."

The New Story to Push COVID-19 Vaccines

False statistics and misinformation are being used to push the baseless narrative that most COVID-19 hospital patients are unvaccinated.

On Friday, September 17, the CDC published a study that refutes the common claim that Covid-19 is a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” Coauthored by more than 50 MD’s and Ph.D.’s, the study contains data on the vaccine status of adults hospitalized with Covid-19 at 21 U.S. hospitals across 18 states during March to August of 2021. 

Contrary to assertions from the Associated Press and Anthony Fauci that fully vaccinated people comprise only 1% of those being hospitalized or killed by C-19, the study found that 13% of patients hospitalized with C-19 had been fully vaccinated. Moreover, that 13% figure is just the tip of iceberg because the authors excluded from their study a large group of hospitalized C-19 patients, the bulk of whom were likely vaccinated.

Ridings: Following the science or following the money?

ScienceNordic image

By Jim Ridings - 

The experts – those who are making up mandates (which are not laws) out of thin air to restrict our freedoms – keep telling us that they are “following the science.”

They want everyone to “follow the science.”

That means no one is allowed to have an opinion on Covid if you disagree with the experts. No one is entitled to have an opinion unless you are a “scientist” – you know, like a doctor or a governor.

But what are we to do when the “scientists” do not follow the science?

Judge Orders Parkview Christian Academy's State Recognition be Reinstated

A Kendall County Judge on Wednesday ordered the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to temporarily reinstate Parkview Christian Academy's state recognition. The school had requested an emergency order to that effect while the issue works its way through the court system, WSPY News is reporting.

Judge Stephen Krentz ruled that nonpublic schools like Parkview are being held to a different standard than public schools in that public schools have more due process before their state recognition is revoked.

More on the situation HERE, which ignited when the Christian school decided to allow parents decide whether their children should wear COVID masks, rather than strictly adhering to the governor's emergency executive order.

Everything You Need to Know About Mask Folly

TThe use of face masks for COVID-19 mitigation has little basis in scientific evidence, and can cause a host of deleterious health problems.

In a terse essay titled “Science and Dictatorship,” Albert Einstein warned that “Science can flourish only in an atmosphere of free speech.” And on his deathbed, Einstein cautioned, “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted in important affairs.” 

With reckless disregard for both of those principles, powerful government officials and big tech executives have corrupted or suppressed the central scientific facts about face masks. The impacts of this extend far beyond the issue of masks and have caused widespread harm and countless deaths.

Despite the fog of contradictory claims and changing government guidelines, dozens of scientific journals have published consistent data that establish these facts:

Dr. Orient Op-Ed: This Is Not about Freedom or Personal Choice

by Jane M. Orient, M.D.

Today we have two contrasting quotations from world leaders. One said: “Mandatory vaccinations will never be allowed because [this] is a free country and its people are sovereign.” The other said: “This is not about freedom or personal choice.”

The first was by Vladimir Putin. Russia, a free country! The second was by Joe Biden. The U.S. is no longer a free country, and the people are not sovereign. Nor are the once-sovereign states. If state governors won’t cooperate with him, “I’ll use my power as president to get them out of the way.” It is not clear exactly how he would accomplish that. Invade the state and occupy its capitol and its courts? Arrest the governor and perhaps the legislature and throw them into prison without bail like some January 6 demonstrators? Already, many states are suing—perhaps we will learn whether the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has any meaning.

Who would have believed that a U.S. President would ever say such things?

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?" 

Thorner: Time for open, honest dialogue about treating coronavirus - Part 1

(This article is informational only, not intended to be medical advice. Pros and cons of treatments are offered) 

By Nancy Thorner - 

"Yep, you're COVID positive. Go home and stay home until you're negative. Call 911 if you can't breathe." 

That's about the extent of what those stricken with COVID over the past 18 months have been told on how to treat the virus symptoms. Little, if any, other help is offered to keep one from ending up in the hospital. It's a dilemma that has baffled anyone observing the pandemic. 

But the question is "Why?" And why is the media slapping down any possible treatments that some find that work? 

In a report published by Liberty Counsel on Sept. 14, 2021, Ivermectin: Scare Tactics Unfounded, the report begins as follows: "The media is attempting to paint a picture in our minds that ivermectin is a 'horse wormer' and isn’t for human consumption. There are in fact two different forms of ivermectin. One is for livestock and the other is for human beings. As for safety, over four billion doses have been given to human patients since 1998."

“In 2015, the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, in its only award for treatments of infectious diseases for six decades prior, honored the discovery of ivermectin, a multifaceted drug deployed against some of the world’s most devastating tropical diseases. Since it came on the market, it has been used off-label for other diseases and conditions such as Systemic Lupus and Papulopustular Rosacea. In 2018, a patent was filed to treat certain autoimmune disorders.”

 

Said Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Stacer: “The FDA, CDC, Fauci and Biden are deceiving the American people in support of Big Pharma. We need open and honest dialogue, not propaganda sponsored and directed by Big Pharma. The censorship and misinformation must end. ivermectin has been proven time and time again to be a viable option in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.”

Illinois law says "unlawful" to discriminate against conscientious objectors to health care

Business Insider photo

SPRINGFIELD - A measure that was signed into state law by former Governor Jim Edgar in 1997 has moved into the limelight as private businesses, health care systems and now the city of Chicago begin requiring their employees get the COVID-19 vaccines or face some form of discrimination - including losing jobs and promotions - if they do not adhere to the newly-imposed mandate.

Illinois' "Health Care Right of Conscience Act" - which was passed unanimously in the Illinois Senate in 1997 and passed the Illinois House with only 2 objections - states clearly that it is "unlawful" to discriminate because of a person's "conscientious refusal" to receive health care services "contrary to his or her conscience."

Illinois Review asked Rockford attorney Austin Scott Davies if this law would apply to the COVID vaccine mandates being set into motion throughout the state and he said the provision applies directly to vaccine mandates in Illinois.

"The Health Care Right of Conscience Act protects Illinoisans from being discriminated against if they cannot in good conscience accept certain health care or treatments, regardless of whether rendered by a physician, nurse, or any person that assists in providing health care services," Davies said.

Thorner: Could Biden's Taliban takeover be used by COVID Stasi?

By Nancy Thorner - 

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. - Ben Franklin.

There was Jimmy Carter's Iran incompetence, Hillary/Obama's Benghazi ineptitude, and now President Biden's junior high antics at Kabul.

Thousands of Afghans are struggling to ensure the physical safety of their families after the Taliban took control of the country have an additional worry.  It is that biometric databases and their own digital history can be used to track and target them. 

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned of “chilling” curbs on human rights and violations against women and girls.  On Monday, August 16, 2021, Amnesty International said thousands of Afghans – including academics, journalists and activists – were “at serious risk of Taliban reprisals.”

After years of a push to digitize databases in Afghanistan and introduce digital identity cards and biometrics for voting, these technologies can now be used to target and attack vulnerable groups. 

Illinois sets up online digital COVID-19 vaccination passport system

SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Department of Public Health has set up an online digital vaccination record system that they say will be only accessible to individuals to check on their own COVID-10 records and share via their phones that they have had the COVID-19 vaccination. The identification system, Vax Verify, can be accessed at https://idphportal.illinois.gov

The system demonstrates that the state has developed a state-owned and state-controlled centralized system of reporting those who've chosen to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Illinois Review has requested from the IDPH whether the system includes folks that have filed religious or medical exemptions. We will report when they respond. 

UPDATE: IDPH spokesperson Melaney Arnold responded: "Vax Verify has information about what vaccines an individual has received; not those they have not."  

From a press release issued Wednesday morning:

UPDATE x1: Pritzker requires masks in "all" P-12 schools and day care centers

CHICAGO - Wednesday at a press conference, Governor Pritzker announced the return of mask mandates in "all" P-12 schools and day care centers. 

Vaccinations will be required for state employees at congregate facilities such as veterans' homes, developmental centers and other group locations.

Masks will be required at long-term facilities. 

Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey has a response press conference scheduled at 4:00 PM Wednesday. 

UPDATE x1: From the Governor's office press release:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Want a free drink? Pritzker signs vaccine enticement into law

Chicago Eater photo

SPRINGFIELD — (Press release from Pritzker's office) Businesses serving alcohol can now offer up a free drink to vaccinated patrons under a new law signed by Governor JB Pritzker day. The measure also extends businesses’ ability to sell cocktails for pickup and delivery. 
 
“Not only will the vaccine protect you from getting sick — your free COVID-19 shot can now get you a free shot of your choosing or whatever drink suits your palate,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “I’m pleased to sign this legislation into law to offer our hardest-hit businesses another lifeline as we recover from the pandemic.”

Thorner: America won't be rescued with Dems' bailout plan; future generations will pay

By Nancy Thorner - 

On March 4, 2021, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)   forced the Senate floor staff to read the entire Democratic coronavirus relief bill -- “American Rescue Plan Act of 2021” bill -- before the vote took place in the Senate, arguing it would give senators time to craft amendments and for Americans to learn the details of the legislation. As Johnson stated in his appearance on News Max's Greg Kelly show on March 9, 2021, the bill took 10 hours and 44 minutes to read. 

Following the reading, the Senate, where Democrats have effective control, passed its version of the bill after a marathon Saturday overnight session.  It eliminated or pared back some provisions in an original House bill, including an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. 

The House of Representatives is planning to take up the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill on Wednesday, March 10, 2021. The chamber's expected approval will enable Joe Biden's signing of the legislation into law later this week.

They Want to Force COVID Shots

From Liberty Counsel HERE - 

Tragic reports of late-term miscarriages, serious side effects and death following Pfizer or Moderna COVID injections are piling up.

Historically, vaccines take up to 10 years of testing before release to the public. Years 1-5 are typically dedicated to lab research. Years 6-10 are usually dedicated to clinical safety trials. Those trials begin with animals before moving on to humans.

ONLY when inoculations have been thoroughly tested (for all categories of people) is the vaccine released to the general public.

Over 93% of all vaccines FAIL the safety part before clinical trials are completed.

Yet the COVID shots, developed in just 9 months or less, SKIPPED these critically important safety protocols.

As a result, NO ONE, not even the COVID scientists who developed the shots, know all the dangers. But we are beginning to find out...

A startling number have died within hours or days of the injection. Those victims include doctors, health care workers, elderly people and pregnant women.

When death is a side effect...

Di Leo: Schooling, Safety, and Reality in the Age of Covid

By John F. Di Leo - 

The Chicago Public Schools have been closed for about a year now, but they finally got a deal.  Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles: they will finally return to the workplace, part time, for some early grades.  

Why the long delay?  Because the Chicago Teachers’ Union, like so many people across the country, have spent the past year primarily concerned about being “safe.” 

“Safe.”  Such an interesting word.  Its definition has been radically transformed, hasn’t it, in the twelve months since news began to leak out that the Chinese government was welding shut the doors and windows of Wuhan apartment buildings, sealing the fate of thousands of innocent victims, all from fear of the deadly new China Virus, known as the Wuhan Flu or Covid-19. 

Di Leo: The Simple Facts – Reflections on the First Week of a New Administration

By John F. Di Leo - 

Energy:

Energy independence is imperative to American economic success.  After decades of Democrat-led attacks on the energy sector, President Trump did everything necessary from a government perspective to enable the real American energy sector (oil, gas and coal) to succeed.  The Biden/Harris administration is working as fast as possible to undo all this progress. 

Crime:

A crime problem is much bigger than just the specific individual criminal and victim involved in a given mugging, burglary or rape.  A crime problem contributes to the destruction of a neighborhood, the loss of jobs in a community as employers flee, the widening of ghettos and the retreat of safe neighborhoods ever farther away.  Under the Trump/Pence administration, this recognition led to their efforts to curb illegal immigration (the primary path for foreign street gangs’ growth and influence in our inner cities).  The Biden/Harris administration and the big city Democrat machines that installed it feel more “compassion” for the criminals than for the victims or for society, so they establish sanctuary cities, knock down the border wall, throw open the prison gates with mass releases of known, convicted criminals, and do everything possible to enable increased crime. 

Dr. Orient: Medicine In Turbulent Times

By Jane M. Orient, M.D. -

Students of history feel that we are living in a time comparable to 1848 (the Spring of Nations) in Europe, 1917 in Russia, 1933 in Germany—or the times of the French Revolution, the American Revolution, or the U.S. Civil War.

Most Americans who are alive today have lived in a period of relative political stability and ideological clarity. It never occurred them that they might be facing dilemmas like those their ancestors did in times preceding the American Revolution or Civil War—or those that immigrants from Cuba, Romania, communist China, the Soviet Union, and other totalitarian states came to America to escape. Most Americans, especially young ones, have no knowledge of history.         

The people who were experiencing those times of upheaval had absolutely no clue about the future. They therefore tried to make best predictions they could and bet on various outcomes. They joined different factions based upon their place in the societal structure and upon their predictions and bets. Some guessed right, and many were wrong. Millions of people were killed, and many were forced into exile. 

Most Americans are—or have been—apathetic about politics. But politics is coming for them. People in the upper middle class have felt secure—they have assets, live in a safe neighborhood, still have a paycheck or pension, and have not knowingly offended anyone. But their gated communities have been crashed. 

Parents Get Options to Escape School Lockdowns

President Trump approved the use of grants to help cover the costs of in-person education, including enrollment in private schools, allowing parents to get their children back in classrooms.

Trump’s December 28 executive order allows states to use Community Service Block Grants (CSBG) to give emergency K-12 scholarships to disadvantaged children who have been locked out of public schools due to the pandemic. The grants can cover a multitude of schooling options, such as private school, homeschooling, micro-schooling, learning-pods, special education services, or tutoring.

“All families should be empowered to make the decision that is right for their own circumstance,” Trump stated in a press release.

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.