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

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. 

Six Canadian elders fined $10k for service with more than 10 worshippers

ONTARIO, CANADA - Think that maybe the United States Constitution's First Amendment isn't so important? Think that what happens in Socialist Canada would never happen in Socialist Illinois? Ask these Canadian citizens of Ontario ... 

Six elders of a church in Ontario, Canada, have been asked to appear in a criminal court for holding in-person services in violation of COVID-19-related restrictions. The elders, who face a fine of up to $10,000, say the action is “a violation of God-given rights.”

The members of Trinity Bible Chapel in Waterloo were charged last week under Section 10.1 of the Reopening Ontario Act for exceeding the number of permitted people in attendance — 10 people indoors and 10 people outdoors — during a worship service on Dec. 27, according to CBC News.

Officers from the Waterloo Region Police Service visited the homes of the elders at night and gave them each a summons to court.

The church says no outbreak has been traced back to its services since they reopened in June. But they “have heard a plethora of stories from many of our congregants about how they were negatively affected spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and financially during the first lockdown,” the elders said in a statement.

More on the Christian Post

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.

Di Leo: The Wuhan Flu and the Challenge of Economic Stimuli

By John F Di Leo - 

What should a proper Covid-19 stimulus bill look like? 

Well, the one thing we know for sure is that the current one isn’t it.  After nine to ten months of partial to complete shutdowns, $600 per person isn’t enough to provide much help.  

President Trump is right to press Congress for a higher figure.  Government caused this problem, so it makes sense for government to do something to help solve it. 

RETRACTION: AMA Did NOT Rescind Previous Statement Against Hydroxychloroquine to COVID-19 Patients

Illinois Review apologizes for mistakenly reporting Wednesday the AMA had voted to rescind their official position on HCQ. The AMA posted this tweet: 

CHICAGO, IL – The American Medical Association (AMA), in a surprising move, has officially rescinded a previous statement against the use of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, giving physicians the okay to return to utilizing the medication at their discretion.

Previously, the AMA had issued a statement in March that was highly critical of HCQ in regards to its use as a proposed treatment by some physicians in the early stages of COVID-19. In addition to discouraging doctors from ordering the medication in bulk for “off-label” use – HCQ is typically used to treat diseases such as malaria – they also claimed that there was no proof that it was effective in treating COVID, and that its use could be harmful in some instances.

More HERE

The Center Square: A third of Illinois small businesses closed since January

From The Center Square - Illinois comes stunning news - one out of three Illinois small businesses have closed since before the COVID pandemic hit in January. 

Illinois has lost more than a third of its small businesses since the beginning of the year, according to TrackTheRecovery.org. 

A small business association said it is heartbreaking.

The data compiled by Harvard and Brown universities and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation shows as of Nov. 16, 2020, the number of small businesses open decreased by 35.4 percent compared to January of this year.

The national average businesses not open compared to January is 28.9 percent fewer. Washington D.C. had the worst loss at 47.1 percent fewer small businesses. Nebraska and North Carolina had the best showing at 20.5 percent fewer.

More HERE. 

Thorner: Only the Blind Cannot See Truth about the 2020 Election

By Nancy Thorner -

In an unexpected shot across the bow: RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel privately doubts claims of voter fraud, but wants to appear she if fighting for President Trump. 

As for RINOs, they are trying to pretend it is business as usual.  “The GOP-controlled Senate stabbed their voters in the back on Wednesday, December 2, 2020, by passing Utah Senator Mike Lee's green card giveaway to reward Big Tech by allowing them to import hundreds of thousands of Indian workers to take jobs from struggling American tech workers. The bill failed earlier this year, but Lee brought it back and the GOP-controlled Senate just passed it with unanimous consent...It would only have taken one senator to force a debate or force a vote on the bill.”

Illinois reports highest number of COVID-related deaths in 24 hours: 238

CHICAGO - Governor JB Pritzker said Wednesday during his daily COVID-19 press briefing that Illinois reached a "solemn milestone" - 238 COVID-related deaths in 24 hours. 

"We have far-surpassed our previous single day high report of 191 in mid-May," Pritzker said. Higher case numbers, higher hospitalizations end with higher numbers of deaths. "I offer my sincerest and deepest condolences." 

Admitting some of these cases may be the result of delayed reporting after the Thanksgiving holiday, Pritzker urged Illinoisans to remain cautious.

"Wear your masks, keep your distance. STay home whenever you can. We'll get through this," he said. 

Rep. Sosnowski questions Pritzker's latest COVID mitigation restrictions

ROCKFORD – State Representative Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford) issued the following statement Wednesday following Tuesday’s announcement by Governor JB Pritzker that the State of Illinois will be placed under Tier 3 COVID-19 mitigation status effective at 12:01am on Friday, November 20:

“There is no scientific data that supports lower occupancy limits or for keeping restaurants closed to indoor dining.  The Governor's own numbers show that there is very little danger of contraction when inside businesses or public buildings.  The Governor’s mitigation policies have proven successful in one aspect, however, and that is instilling fear in Illinois residents.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, the statewide COVID-19 recovery rate is 97% and 50% of the deaths have been those living in long term care facilities (75% of deaths have been those over the age of 70).  All life is valuable and should be protected, but we need to have perspective that misguided rolling lockdowns and business restrictions are destroying people’s livelihoods, shuttering businesses, putting people out of work, causing stress on families unable to care for children, increasing depression and other social ills, and ruining educational attainment of our children.

Illinois’ COVID fatality rate plummets: Cases skyrocket, deaths down since last peak

CHICAGO - Chicago-based Wirepoints.com points to stats and says COVID fatalities are down dramatically as positivity rates mount once again.

Lost in the attention given to Illinois’ massive spike in COVID-19 cases is the collapse in the virus’ case fatality rate, or CFR. At the height of the crisis in June, almost 5 percent of Illinois’ recorded COVID cases resulted in deaths. But as recorded cases have risen significantly over the past three months and deaths have not, the fatality rate from August through today has dropped to just 0.9 percent.

The latest COVID data is quickly revealing how less fatal the coronavirus really is, and that has major implications for lockdown policies and, in particular, for school shutdowns.

That drop in the case fatality rate reflects a dramatic increase in the number of COVID tests being performed, a significant increase in rates of infection among younger Illinoisans and reportedly better overall treatment of the virus.

Illinois’ CFR is gradually dropping toward what the Center for Disease Control estimates is the virus’ true infection fatality rate (IFR), about 0.65 percent. In contrast to the case fatality rate, the IFR includes estimates of all infections, including asymptomatic cases, not just reported cases.

It’s important to note that the 0.9 percent case fatality rate reported above is an average across all age groups and it’s still heavily influenced upward by the high death rate for those 80 and older. The actual CFR for the younger age brackets is dramatically lower. We break out those numbers in a following section.

More on the topic HERE 

DeVore: Lawful citizens cannot be ordered to stay at home

Rep. Bailey with Thomas DeVore - DailyLine.com photo

SORENTO - Downstate attorney Thomas DeVore represented State Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) when he challenged Governor Pritzker's edict to restrict activity after his initial 30 day COVID Executive Order expired, and the governor renewed time and time again. 

DeVore won the case for Bailey as an individual, but the governor continues to issue what many consider unlawful edicts concerning COVID and public health measures. With the COVID positive cases on the rise once again, Pritzker is threatening yet another shutdown to stem the number of cases. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot asked Chicagoans to stay home more, but did not attempt to demand they go along. 

Pritzker, however, is stronger in his more recent threats of shutting the state down.

The idea provoked a strong reaction from DeVore on his Facebook page: 

I’m going to go ahead and get this out of the way right now. If any of you sumbitches start crying about any “stay at...

Posted by Thomas DeVore on Thursday, November 12, 2020

Expanded areas with COVID mitigations take effect today

CHICAGO – Additional COVID-19 mitigation efforts are now in effect in Region 5 (Southern Illinois), Region 7 (Will and Kankakee counties), and Region 8 (Kane and DuPage counties). These regions are seeing a test positivity rate that remains above 8 percent and continues to rise after more than 14-days under Tier 1 mitigations, which exceeds the threshold set for establishing additional mitigation measures under the state’s Restore Illinois Resurgence Plan.

Region 5 has been under Tier 1 of the state’s resurgence mitigation plan since October 22 and Regions 7 and 8 since October 23, after seeing a 7-day rolling average test positivity rate of 8 percent or above for three consecutive days. However, the positivity rate has continued to significantly increase in these regions. Beginning November 11, Regions 5, 7, and 8 will face additional mitigations, such as a tighter gathering cap of 10 individuals rather than 25 and new table caps of six rather than 10 when eating out.

A word from attorney Thomas DeVore

Attorney Thomas DeVore has been counseling bar and restaurant owners in Illinois on how they can stay open despite Governor Pritzker's expanding second COVID shutdown wave.

He's represented State Rep. Darren Bailey in his lawsuit to limit the governor's powers and he's encouraged restaurants like the FoxFire restaurant in Kane County to win a temporary restraining order and keep their doors open. Here's what DeVore posted on his personal Facebook page Friday:

I need to explain something to all of you. If you have noticed recently, a great many business owners, politicians,...

Posted by Thomas DeVore on Friday, October 30, 2020

Pritzker demands more restaurants, bars to serve outside only again - despite snowy weather

COOK COUNTY - It snowed in parts of Cook and DuPage counties Monday, emphasizing how devastating Governor Pritzker's shutdown COVID-19 decrees now expanding to the most-populated Cook County will be for the area's restaurants and bars. In his shutdown orders focused on bars and restaurants, he allows only outside tables, and those until 11:00 PM.

While the Rockford area and Chicago suburban DuPage, Kane, Will and Kankakee counties were shut down last Friday, the governor's office calls for these rules to extend to more areas - Regions 4 (Metro East) and 10 (Cook County) starting Wednesday, October 28 at 12:01 am:

Bars 

• No indoor service 
• All outside bar service closes at 11:00 p.m. 
• All bar patrons should be seated at tables outside 
• No ordering, seating, or congregating at bar (bar stools should be removed)  
• Tables should be 6 feet apart  
• No standing or congregating indoors or outdoors while waiting for a table or exiting 
• No dancing or standing indoors 
• Reservations required for each party 
• No seating of multiple parties at one table 

Restaurants 

• No indoor dining or bar service 
• All outdoor dining closes at 11:00 p.m. 
• Outside dining tables should be 6 feet apart 
• No standing or congregating indoors or outdoors while waiting for a table or exiting 
• Reservations required for each party  
• No seating of multiple parties at one table 

Meetings, Social Events, Gatherings 

• Limit to lesser of 25 guests or 25 percent of overall room capacity 
• No party buses 
• Gaming and Casinos close at 11:00 p.m., are limited to 25 percent capacity, and follow mitigations for bars and restaurants, if applicable 

These mitigations do not currently apply to schools.

Thorner: Censorship and Propaganda Run Rampant in Closing Days of Nov. 3rd Election

By Nancy Thorner - 

“Censoring and propaganda are but two strategies that shape and mold a population." 

Psychiatry professor Albert Biderman’s “chart of coercion” includes the following methods, all of which can be clearly related to the COVID-19 response.  Biderman’s article is worth reading in its entirety, Fear Secures Obedience in Covid-19,War.

The "Chart of Coercion:"

• Isolation techniques — Quarantines, social distancing, isolation from loved ones and solitary confinement.
• Monopolization of perception — Monopolizing the 24/7 news cycle, censoring dissenting views and creating barren environments by closing bars, gyms and restaurants.
• Degradation techniques — Berating, shaming people (or even physically attacking) those who refuse to wear masks or social distance, or generally choose freedom over.
• Induced debility — Being forced to stay at home and not be able to exercise or socialize.
• Threats — Threatening with the removal of your children, prolonged quarantine, closing of your business, fines for noncompliance with mask and social distancing rules, forced vaccination and so on.
• Demonstrating omnipotence/omniscience — Shutting down the whole world, claiming scientific and medical authority.
• Enforcing trivial demands — Examples include family members being forced to stand 6 feet apart at the bank even though they arrived together in the same car, having to wear a mask when you walk into a restaurant, even though you can remove it as soon as you sit down, or having to wear a mask when walking alone on the beach.
• Occasional indulgence — Reopening some stores and restaurants but only at a certain capacity, for example. Part of the coercion plan is that indulgences are always taken away again, though, and they’re already saying we may have to shut down the world again this fall.
• The Trampling of Privacy and Human Rights--The technocracy’s fingerprints are also evident in the invasive, privacy-shredding tracking and tracing programs that have been rolled out around the world, and the repeated warning that unless every man, woman and child gets vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, life will never go back to normal.

The truth is, the technocrats have no intention of ever letting us go back to normal. The plan is to alter society permanently. Part of that alteration is the removal of civil liberties and human rights, and it is now happening at breakneck speed.

Government Worsened the COVID Crisis

There is no doubt that 2020 has become a unique event in almost everyone’s life due to the Coronavirus and the response of almost all governments everywhere in the world.

Few would disagree that we have been and are living through some unprecedented times in 2020. A global pandemic, government-imposed and mandated lockdowns and shutdowns of much of the world’s economic activities and social interactions, and total government debts that cumulatively are almost equal to the global economy’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

But while comparisons are being made between the impacts and effects of the coronavirus and the Great Depression of the 1930s and the war years of the 1940s, they are not really anywhere alike. To begin with, the Second World War cost the lives of an estimated 50 million people, combining military and civilian lives lost. Advancing and retreating armies and air bombardments undertaken by all sides in that conflict destroyed an immense amount of the world’s physical capital, especially in Europe and parts of Asia. Nothing during the last year comes even close to this from the coronavirus.

More HERE

Sunde: The forgotten child: Pandemic policies are leaving kids behind

By Joseph Sunde - 

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed many victims, from the millions who have contracted the virus directly to many others who continue to endure its social and economic disruptions.

The suffering has been particularly acute for the children who continue to be confined at home, whether struggling to adapt to remote-learning regimens or remaining mysteriously absent altogether. For low-income and minority families, in particular, the road is even more difficult. As Jonathan Chait recently put it, “The social damage will not be spread evenly.”

Meanwhile, somewhat paradoxically, the public-health case for school reopening seems only to grow stronger. According to economist Emily Oster of Brown University, “Schools do not, in fact, appear to be major spreaders of COVID-19.” Observing a range of evidence from multiple states, Oster summarizes her findings as follows:

DuPage Co family restaurant says they're staying open despite "Dictator Pritzker's" COVID shutdown orders

GLENDALE HEIGHTS - An 80 year old family restaurant in Glendale Heights declared on Facebook Wednesday they would defy "Dictator Pritzker's" COVID eat-in restaurant shutdown orders this weekend for DuPage, Will, Kane and Kankakee counties.

Ki's Steak & Seafood Restaurant on North Avenue in Glendale Heights declared on their marquee, "We are Americans" and that they are "Free and Open."

Tuesday, Governor JB Pritzker declared all eat-in restaurants in DuPage, Will, Kane and Kankakee counties to shut down starting Friday, due to an uptick in COVID cases in those areas. The Rockford region is already under similar orders.

Public health officials announced 4,342 new confirmed cases of COVID in Illinois Wednesday, with 59 additional deaths - the vast majority of which died were 70 years and older. 

"We are standing up for our freedom and we will stay open!" the restaurant's Facebook page said. "...No one is going to tell us we can't live out the American dream."

The restaurant is located just west of I-355 on North Avenue in Glendale Heights, Illinois.

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.

Census Report Shows How Jaw-Dropping Trump’s Economy Was Before Shutdowns

Based on a Census Bureau report released last Tuesday, the current debate over economic policy might come down to a question of numbers. Which would you prefer: A $1,200 “stimulus” check while not working during lockdowns, or a nearly $4,400 pay increase in a growing job?

The Census report, which chronicled changes in income and poverty in 2019, documented the state of the economy well before the coronavirus hit. But the amazing strength of the data in that report shows what the American economy, and American workers, can achieve—if given the right policy environment and opportunities.

The headline number from the Census report sounds so large as to be a misprint: Real median income for American households increased 6.8 percent in 2019—a jump of almost $4,400. Think about it for a moment: How many businesses offer 6.8 percent annual raises to all their workers?

More HERE

Illinois US Senator Durbin ramps up his anti-Trump vitriol with Facebook post

WASHINGTON - Illinois US Senator Dick Durbin's hatred for President Trump is evident in every social media post, every media appearance, every in-person comment. How does his vitriol open the door to working in a bipartisan way? How will the state of Illinois benefit from the work of such an angry, vitriolic representative in the all-important U.S. Senate? 

Durbin is on the November 2020 ballot for another six year term. His first was in 1996, then in 2002, 2008, 2014 and now he seeks another in 2020. 

Here's what the senator posted Tuesday on his Facebook Page: 

Thorner: Trump and the Covid-19 Mask Debate

US News photo

By Nancy Thorner - 

President Trump isn't the first US president to be infected with a "pandemic".  US President Woodrow Wilson became sick in April 1919 of 'Spanish Flu, while in Paris negotiating the end of World War One. The first lady, Edith Wilson, quickly stepped in to make sure as few people as possible knew the president was ailing. 

 

President Trump, on the other hand, announced via Twitter early on Friday, Oct 2, 2020 that he and the first lady had tested positive for Covid virus and were self-isolating.  Trump later that day was transported by helicopter from the White House to Walter Reed Hospital where he could be treated by a team of specialist as a precaution, because of his age and the nature of the illness on someone Trump's age, who is also overweight.

Di Leo: A President, a Diagnosis, and Welcome Clarity at Election Time

By John F. Di Leo - 

From the moment that President Trump was diagnosed with symptoms of the China virus, the punditry has declared that this news “fundamentally changes the race.”

But why?

Yes, the President would have to work out of Walter Reed Hospital for a few days instead of from the Oval Office... And the president will have to take a break from his wonderful campaign rallies...

But that is all. In fact, the cancellation of his rallies means he can do even more from the White House, without all that time spent in travel from state to state. The President has excellent surrogates to campaign in his place; he can continue to focus on his job, a luxury few candidates are afforded in the weeks before an election.

New questions raised concerning COVID-19 reporting, Gov. Pritzker

Sun-Times photo

CHICAGO - Something is up with the information Governor Pritzker's administration is giving out on a daily basis about the state's COVID status. In a piece posed today on Wirepoints.org, they ask, "Illinois COVID-19 cases triple since June, but hospitalizations, deaths remain flat. What gives?"

The number of COVID cases have tripled in Illinois since their lows on June 18, yet the average daily death rate has actually fallen from 50 then, to about 19 today. 

Wirepoints poses these questions to be answered by Governor Pritzker:

• Are cases way up and hospitalizations flat because it’s young, healthier people that make up most of the new cases?
• Is it because there are many more asymptomatic cases?
• Is it because newer cases are coupled with fewer pre-existing conditions?
• Is it because the virus has already spread through Illinois’ most-vulnerable populations?
• Is it because Illinois is finally protecting retirement home residents better?

Read more at Wirepoints.org