Illinois Review

Di Leo: A Strawman Made of Bronze

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By John F. Di Leo - 

Reflections on the anatomy of a setup…

The news of the hour is about Charlottesville and its many copycats. For decades, there have been people agitating to take down monuments to Confederate heroes, and for just as long, there have been people defending them. But only in the summer of 2017 did this issue vault to the top of the headlines, above far worthier issues.

The question of the hour should not be what to do about the statues. The question should be "Why?" Why is this issue arising, when there is so much in the world that is so much more important than century-old bronze statues, sitting in local, state, and national parks… statues so old, in most cases, that you can’t even read their names until you get up close?

Upon analysis, we find that in this story, almost nothing is what it seems.

Roskam: Trump's comments about Charlottesville "not acceptable"

Illinois Policy Institute takes down "racist" cartoon

CHICAGO - Since several staff members have moved in to run Governor Rauner's office, Illinois Policy Institute has been heavily criticized by Chicago media and Springfield insiders as an extremist group that pushes radical right ideas like balanced budgets, lower taxes, smaller government and education choice. 

But Wednesday's cartoon depicting a rich guy with TIF dollars bulging out of one pocket rejecting an African-American boy asking for help to fund his Chicago school has pushed the envelope just too far.

During the Illinois House session Wednesday, the cartoon was condemned as "racist." Together with the Chicago media, demands were made that the cartoon be taken down. 

Rauner confirms support for abortions

SPRINGFIELD - Oregon became the first state to make all abortions free when their Democrat governor signed a bill into law Monday. Illinois could become the second state if Governor Rauner signs HB 40 into law.

Republicans gathered at the State Fair Wednesday to celebrate "Governor's Day" and when reporters asked, the governor didn't say directly what he plans to do with a bill sitting on his desk that will cause Illinois taxpayers to pay for all abortions.

Chicago pastor wants Washington, Jackson statues out of black communities

CHICAGO - A Chicago pastor is calling for statutes of George Washington and Andrew Jackson to be removed from city parks named after them - because both American presidents owned slaves. 

Bishop James Dukes, pastor of Liberation Christian Center, wrote a letter to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Park District, demanding the statues be taken down and the parks renamed. 

Trump cuts two advisory councils after nine members drop out

WASHINGTON - After nine members resigned Monday and Tuesday, President Trump shut down his White House Manufacturing Council and the Strategy and Policy Forum Wednesday.  He made the announcement via Twitter: 

"The President is focused on enacting historic tax cuts and reform for the great people who built this country—small business owners and middle-class Americans," the White House released Thursday.

Op-Ed: Protecting criminals in Urbana and Chicago endangers all of us

Ray Tranchant's daughter was killed by a drunk driver who was in America illegally. He's warning fellow Illinoisans about the dangers of sanctuary cities as Governor Rauner contemplates how he will move on SB 31 - a bill making every public school, medical facility, DMV center in Illinois, as well as preschools and nursing homes, locations that protect criminals. 

By Ray Tranchant of Catlin, Illinois - 

I wrote an op-ed in the Champaign-Urbana Gazette a few months ago (01/29/2017) about the dangers associated with cities that declare themselves "sanctuaries" in order to protect illegal aliens - people that have either overextended their work visas or just walked across the desert or Rio Grande to make their way to Urbana from other countries.

An Urbana City Council Member, Eric Jakobsson from Ward 2, wrote an opposing viewpoint op-ed and both were published on the same day in the paper's Guest Commentary section.

My view was and still is that sanctuary cities are umbrellas, created to protect illegal aliens from Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) authorities to the point of not reporting crime data or even crimes to Federal authorities. This prevents the non-citizens that commit felonies from being placed in a national database, similar to the FBI, Homeland Security, and other Intelligence agencies that crosscheck and identify criminals. This then becomes a security issue to fellow Americans if criminals cannot be identified.

Thorner: Rauner's embarrassing interview with Fox News' Bret Baier

By Nancy Thorner - 

Having found Illinois' Governor Bruce Rauner to be a cliche-ridden, ineffective communicator, his interview by Bret Baier at Chicago's Fox News studios on Friday, August 11 for Baier's daily nationally-televised TV show gave credence to my negative evaluation of Rauner.

Friends from California, whose own governor (Jerry Brown) is running the state into the ground through his ineptness and outlandish policies, viewed for themselves the Rauner interview, and appropriately labeled Rauner "extremely incompetent."  

Family institute smeared as one of 32 Illinois "hate groups," along with neo-Nazis and skinheads

From the Southern Poverty Law Center's website listing 32 Illinois "hate groups" 

CAROL STREAM - The Illinois Family Institute's traditional values principles were once again smeared Monday when an Illinois-based Reuters reporter gave credence to the list of Southern Poverty Law Center's list of 32 Illinois-based "hate groups."  

Being included alongside 31 other neo-Nazi and black separationist groups as an "anti-LGBT" hate group is "morally indefensible" and "intellectually dishonest" of the Center, IFI writer Laurie Higgins wrote in an email.

Wonder why Illinois kids just can't get a break in school choice?

SPRINGFIELD - With waiting lists for public school-affiliated charter schools and a Democrat majority in the state legislature that refuses to open the way for K-12 students to be allowed choice in education, Illinois parents continue to clamor for something better for their kids.  

After all, they are allowed school choice before starting kindergarten and after graduating from high school. Why not the other 13 years? 

The answer is that powerful teacher unions in Illinois just can't allow taxpayer-funded per student allowances to be used for competing with non-public schools. Why, if they allowed choice, the state could be facing the same challenges the Florida government school system is enduring: a mass exit to non-public alternatives. 

Trump & Rauner condemn display of hatred, bigotry and violence in Charlottesville

CHICAGO - Activists demanded clarity from President Donald Trump and Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner concerning the Charlottesville Virginia violence over the weekend. And while Governor Rauner will not say the president's name, they both expressed their disgust with the violence within minutes of each other. 

Monday morning, Governor Rauner issued a short three-sentence condemnation:

The deadly violence in Charlottesville this weekend is abhorrent and absolutely an act of domestic terrorism. Racism, hatred and violence have no place in our society. The individuals responsible should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

President Trump's statement was longer and more emphatic:

Thorner/Ingold: Charlottesville carnage blamed on Trump's campaign rhetoric

By Nancy Thorner & Ed Ingold -

Capturing news headlines on Saturday, August 12, 2017, with non-stop coverage on TV cable channels, was of a woman being killed and 19 hurt as a car plowed into anti-fascists at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

• Hundreds attended an event held at Charlottesville's Emancipation Park 
• A local state of emergency was declared around 11am and the rally was determined an unlawful assembly 
• A state police helicopter covering the rally crashed near a golf course within city limits, killing two officers 
• President Trump admonished the day's events, saying: 'We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, violence, on many sides'

The Democratic mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia, Michael Signer, pinned blame directly on President Trump, attributing the violence to the "hate-filled campaign" Trump ran, fomenting the white nationalist protest and related violence that occurred in his city. 

Domestic Terrorists. We'll call them what they are.

"Domestic Terrorism - say it, say it," Leftists are demanding of conservative office holders from the White House to the State House, and conservative journalists. Twitter is full of vitriol this morning. 

Okay. Here's "domestic terrorists" as we see them. We're not afraid to say it, and we condemn all of them - and anyone else that attempts to kill innocent life like all three of these animals did. 

One Republican joins Senate Dems to override Rauner's school funding veto

SPRINGFIELD - Only one Republican member of the Illinois Senate voted to override Governor Rauner's amendatory veto of SB 1 - this year's school funding bill: State Senator Sam McCann of downstate Jacksonville. 

“Our current school funding formula is broken. If it we don’t replace it with an evidence-based model, our schools will lose out on the majority of their state funding," McCann said in a statement after his vote with the Democrat majority.

Pregnancy Centers Win Second Injunction against Illinois Abortion Referral Mandate

A federal judge granted a temporary injunction covering all Illinois pro-life pregnancy centers and pro-life medical professionals from having to comply with the new abortion law that says pregnancy centers and pro-life medical professionals must tell patients about abortion as an option and refer them to an abortion clinic.

More HERE

College Made Me a Conservative

Jay Stephens went into her elite liberal arts college a social justice warrior....and graduated as a get-off-my-lawn conservative. How did that happen? Watch Jay's story.

Generation X Needs to Save America from Millennials

Gen X to the rescue? Matthew Hennessey writes that Gen X’s roots in the analog world make it perfectly suited to counterbalance the influence of millennials on our culture:

“Markedly less patriotic than boomers and Gen Xers, millennials see nothing special about being American and recoil at the notion of US exceptionalism. A 2016 Gallup poll found that socialism was more popular than capitalism among those under 30.

“Nearly 70 percent of millennial survey respondents said they’d be comfortable voting for a socialist candidate. […] Perhaps most troubling, millennials have displayed an indifference to the bedrock American principle of free speech. A 2015 Pew study found 40 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 34 felt the federal government ought to censor potentially offensive statements about minority groups. […]

Rahm Emanuel Replays Scene from “Yes, Prime Minister” while Chicago Burns

Joseph Bast, The Freedom Pub - 

Chicago’s embattled Mayor Rahm Emanuel issued a news release declaring global warming – not crime, not job losses, not failing schools, not deteriorating race relations, and not the city’s impending bankruptcy – is the issue he plans to focus his attention on for the rest of the year.  Emanuel’s posturing recalls the hilarious skit from the stage version (not the TV version, unfortunately) of “Yes, Prime Minister,” the British comedy about a hapless politician hoping to divert public attention from his terrible record in office by declaring himself suddenly committed to the survival of the entire world. READ MORE

Republican donor sues GOP, accusing the party of fraud

A retired attorney in Virginia Beach is so incensed that Republicans couldn’t repeal the Affordable Care Act that he’s suing to get political donations back, accusing the GOP of fraud and racketeering.

Bob Heghmann, 70, filed a lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court, saying the national and Virginia Republican parties and some GOP leaders raised millions of dollars in campaign funds while knowing they weren’t going to be able to overturn the law also known as Obamacare.

The GOP “has been engaged in a pattern of Racketeering which involves massive fraud perpetrated on Republican voters and contributors as well as some Independents and Democrats,” the suit said. Racketeering, perhaps better known for use in prosecuting organized crime, involves a pattern of illegal behavior by a specific group.

The lawsuit lists as defendants the Republican National Committee and Virginia’s two national GOP committee members, Morton Blackwell and Cynthia Dunbar, as well as the Republican Party of Virginia and state party Chairman John Whitbeck.

Perhaps something to be seen soon in Illinois?

More HERE

Venezuela's Chaos Is Logical End of Democrats' Vision for America

Justin Haskins, American Thinker - 

President Nicolas Maduro has no tolerance for dissent. For months, he’s used brute force to silence his critics, and most recently, families of opposition leaders have alleged that Maduro’s political rivals have been seized and shipped off to an unknown location. We see in Venezuela what could happen in the U.S. if Democrats are able to implement their vision for America. READ MORE