June 23, 2025

FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES

ABC7
— Democrat leaders crow about their success in getting Democrats to protest against Trump’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
https://abc7chicago.com/post/dozens-attend-downtown-chicago-protest-federal-plaza-us-strikes-iran-donald-trump-administration/16821316/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxv7lpK9-n0

CBS2
— Democrat leaders crow about their success in getting Democrats to protest against Trump’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/protesters-downtown-chicago-opposition-u-s-strikes-iran/

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Want to know how a socialist mayor would govern New York City? Ask Chicago.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/23/new-york-city-johnson-mamdani-cuomo-chicago/
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly side with Iran.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/22/trumps-strategy-iran-split-congress/
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD: Despite moves by Indiana lawmakers, Illinois’ borders unlikely to change.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/23/illinois-indiana-border-explainer/
— Illinois is wooing foreign tourists, despite a hostile White House and a blue-red divide
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/23/illinois-chicago-tourism-international/
— My Democrat superiors in the federal government illegally discriminated against their employees because they were Republican, White, male, older, and/or non-veteran because unconstitutional Democrat and RINO laws made them do that.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/23/opinion-military-follow-donald-trump-protests/

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Democrat leaders say that they stand with government employees. But Democrat leaders stand only with their government employees who are Democrat and minority, female, younger, and/or veteran. Because I was none of the aforesaid, no Democrat leader stood with me when Republican Gingrich gutted GAO during the 1980s and 1990s. Democrat leaders were overjoyed when my Democrat GAO superiors forced me to retire and replaced me in 1997 with my Democrat Black subordinate who had less work experience than I had, had less education than I had, had one professional certification while I had six, and had no professional license like the one I had. It is called patronage, political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and age discrimination.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/2025/06/23/cook-county-public-servants-federal-government-purge
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The truth is, government doesn’t work without the professionals who show up every day to serve the public. Effectiveness depends on more than elected officials or public leaders. It requires the daily efforts of those working quietly behind the scenes. Their roles are rarely glamorous or celebrated, yet they perform them diligently because they believe in something bigger than themselves.

SOUTHERN
— Democrat leaders crow about their success in getting Democrats to protest against Trump’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
https://thesouthern.com/news/southern-illinoisans-speak-out-against-u-s-strike-on-iran/article_a6768763-da9c-54f6-a8fb-319824430d80.html

NORTHERN PUBLIC RADIO
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly side with Iran.
https://www.northernpublicradio.org/2025-06-22/are-americans-at-risk-after-u-s-bombing-of-iran

CENTRAL ILLINOIS PROUD
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly side with Iran.
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/politics/ap-trumps-go-it-alone-strategy-on-iran-risks-dividing-an-already-split-congress/

WSIL TV
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly side with Hamas and Iran.
https://www.wsiltv.com/news/peace-coalition-of-southern-illinois-rally-scheduled-in-carbondale-for-peace-in-gaza-and-iran/article_160af493-f2d3-4f37-b5d5-90ccb6e435b7.html

CHICAGOLAND JOURNAL
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly give more preference to illegal students over American students.
https://thechicagolandjournal.com/advocates-await-action-on-bill-protecting-rights-of-immigrant-students-in-illinois/

CAPITOL FAX
— Morning briefing
https://capitolfax.com/2025/06/23/isabel%e2%80%99s-morning-briefing-537/

FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES

MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
— According to Bill O’Reilly, U.S. Congressman Sean Casten, who represented Algonquin Township in his first term, called for President Donald Trump’s impeachment ten minutes after the bombs were dropped on Iran’s underground nuclear facility.
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/06/22/algonquin-townships-past-member-of-congress-calls-for-trumps-impeachment/

DUPAGE POLICY JOURNAL
— Amy Grant joins lawsuit over alleged violation of legislative procedure
https://dupagepolicyjournal.com/stories/673270796-amy-grant-joins-lawsuit-over-alleged-violation-of-legislative-procedure
— Community Unit School District 200 administrators rank 173rd highest in state for average salary in 2024
https://dupagepolicyjournal.com/stories/671797139-analysis-community-unit-school-district-200-administrators-rank-173rd-highest-in-state-for-average-salary-in-2024

WIREPOINTS
— New Illinois law makes it tougher for voters to block school district borrowings/tax hikes.
https://wirepoints.org/new-illinois-law-makes-it-tougher-for-voters-to-block-school-district-borrowings-tax-hikes-effingham-is-a-good-illustration-wirepoints/

ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE
— Illinois lawmakers pass almost 100 bills on final day
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/illinois-lawmakers-pass-almost-100-bills-on-final-day/

GOPUSA ILLINOIS
— Why do people work against you? People work against me a) because they reject planks in the Republican Party platform that I promote, most commonly, the personal responsibility, traditional marriage and family, right to life, immigration, illegal drugs, Second Amendment, and/or equal opportunity (no race or gender based preference giving) planks, b) because they blame their problems on those who share my demographics: conservative, Republican, White, male, older, married, non-poor, non-veteran, Protestant, German American, and have ancestors who have been in America for a long time, c) because they despise/hate present/past union members and/or federal employees and retirees, and/or d) because they destroy those like me who they cannot manipulate or dominate, who refuse to glorify and praise them, who refuse to pander to them, who refuse to serve as one of their operatives or dupes, who refuse to cover up their wrong doing, and/or who refuse to give them money. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Anticipate/expect that when push comes to shove, many, most, virtually all, if not all of your supporters will dump you. I should write about my supporters who dumped me when my critics/opponents had their operatives and their dupes a) defeat my candidacy for Milton Township Republican Organization Treasurer in 2004, b) end my Illinois Center Right Coalition Steering Committee membership in 2007, c) end my TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois chairmanship in 2012, d) gerrymander my precinct 2015, e) end my service as the Republican fundraiser for Wheaton Independence Day parades and fireworks in 2021, and f) end my membership on the Illinois Republican Party State Convention Platform and Resolutions Committee in 2024. I would focus on those who read my GOPUSA ILLINOIS newsletters for opposition research and who I have done the most to help elect and to reelect since 2000. I would focus on those who blame me the most for their defeats. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Why do people fail/refuse to come to your defense? People who state that they are religious, conservative, and/or Republican fail/refuse to come to my defense because my critics/opponents have lots of religious, government, political, and/or financial clout in Wheaton, Milton Township, DuPage County, and Illinois and are nasty/vicious. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— My critics/opponents want me to stop sending out my GOPUSA ILLINOIS newsletters. But failing that, they want me to not include links in the newsletters to articles that they do not like. I should write about my critics/opponents, the articles that they do not like, and why they do not like those articles. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com

FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES

WASHINGTON TIMES
— DHS issues terrorism advisory alert amid U.S. attack on Iran
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/jun/22/dhs-issues-terrorism-advisory-alert-amid-us-attack-iran/

WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— Homan warns of possible Iranian sleeper cells who entered US under Biden
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/immigration/3450326/homan-warns-of-possible-iranian-sleeper-cells-who-entered-us-under-biden/

NEW YORK POST
— Trump’s support keeps growing while Democrats howl at the moon
https://nypost.com/2025/06/22/opinion/trumps-support-keeps-growing-while-democrats-howl-at-the-moon/

CENTER SQUARE
— More than 700 Iranians released into the U.S. under Biden. More than 1,500 Iranians apprehended by Border Patrol agents alone.
https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_8a9f5ec5-e337-4d29-8650-ea01eec3ff6a.html
— Heightened alert: Iranians in U.S. previously charged with support for terrorism.
https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_1a142a36-bf3b-414e-8396-e0cd08a05ee0.html

FOX NEWS
— Trump’s taking necessary steps to keep nuclear weapons out of Iran’s hands
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6374725361112
— Trump battled Democrats and isolationists
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6374724600112

NEWS BUSTERS
— MSNBC Compares LGBTQ+ Youth Mental Health To That Of Combat Veterans
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/ashley-taylor/2025/06/22/msnbc-compares-lgbtq-youth-mental-health-combat-veterans

FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES

THE HILL
— The NextGen Bar Exam is DEI in action, dangerously lowering standards. Every time that Democrat and RINO leaders lower standards, my having done the following means more. I passed the CPA and Certified Internal Auditor examinations on my first attempt. I became a licensed CPA. I earned four more job-related professional certifications. I earned three job-related master’s degrees. I earned a job-related bachelor’s degree.
https://thehill.com/opinion/education/5359119-the-nextgen-bar-exam-is-dei-in-action-dangerously-lowering-standards/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The American legal profession is in crisis, and the NextGen Bar Exam is the latest symptom of a disease that’s rapidly metastasizing: the abandonment of merit in favor of ideological box-checking. For decades, the bar exam was the last line of defense — a rigorous filter ensuring that only those with real legal chops could represent the public. Today, that filter is being shredded, sacrificed on the altar of equity and inclusion. The result? A collapse in standards, the death of meritocracy, and a profession on the brink of irrelevance. The NextGen Bar Exam, set to roll out in 2026, is not about modernizing legal education or making better lawyers. It is about making the exam easier to pass. Out go the demanding essays and complex legal analysis; in come more multiple-choice questions and “practical” scenarios that test little more than common sense and the ability to regurgitate buzzwords. The new mantra is “minimal competence,” a phrase so hollow as to be meaningless. The new system benefits neither clients, who deserve skilled and well-prepared advocates, nor the public, who depend on lawyers to guide them through a complex legal system. The only winners are bureaucrats and activists obsessed with “equity.” And even then, this is not to say that the new bar somehow guarantees equality of opportunity. Rather, it tries to force equality of outcome, no matter how much the universal bar must be lowered in the process. In truth, the NextGen Bar Exam is DEI ideology in action. By blaming the bar exam itself, rather than differences in preparation or effort, for unequal pass rates among various groups, the legal establishment has chosen to lower the standards until everyone passes. This is neither fairness nor justice, but the soft bigotry of low expectations, institutionalized. DEI has become a Trojan horse, smuggling mediocrity into the heart of the legal profession. Instead of demanding that all aspiring lawyers rise to meet high standards, the system now bends over backward to ensure that the standards themselves are erased. The message is clear: merit is out, identity is in. The legal profession was once a meritocracy. It didn’t matter where you came from or what you looked like — if you could master the law, you could make it. That’s what made American law great — it consisted of the best and brightest, tested and proven. Now, that ideal is being tossed aside. The NextGen Bar Exam is just the latest example, following major formatting changes to the LSAT to “reduce anxiety” and the proliferation of alternative “pathways” to licensure that bypass rigorous testing altogether. This isn’t just a legal education problem. It is a societal problem. When we stop rewarding excellence and start rewarding box-checking, we get a weaker, less competent, and less trustworthy profession. As a result, we end up with lawyers who lack essential skills in writing, reasoning, and effective advocacy, in turn, undermining the credibility of our justice system. If this trend continues, the outcome is inevitable: Clients will find themselves represented by lawyers who only managed to pass a watered-down exam. Our courts will be overwhelmed by incompetence, and the already fragile reputation of the legal profession will deteriorate further. Those who will suffer most are everyday Americans — people who need legal help, not just a participation trophy. The legal profession must wake up before it’s too late. Reform is acceptable and necessary when things are made better. But what’s happening now is not reform, it is surrender. Surrender to ideology and mediocrity. Surrender to the idea that the only way to achieve “equity” is to undermine true merit. The NextGen Bar Exam is a disaster in the making. It is time for lawyers, judges, educators, and the public to speak out and demand a return to merit, rigor, and excellence. The fate of the legal profession and the trust of those it serves now hang in the balance.)

ASSOCIATED PRESS
— What do you say to countries that side with Iran?
https://apnews.com/article/us-attack-iran-israel-reaction-united-nations-c10cc46ec236816d958ced2497a11464
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly side with Iran.
https://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-war-nuclear-trump-bomber-news-06-22-2025-c2baca52babe915e033ae175ce8b2687

REUTERS
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly side with Iran.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-under-missile-attack-iran-says-all-options-open-after-us-strikes-2025-06-22/

MSN
— MSNBC Examines Trump’s Appeal to Working-Class Voters. My critics/opponents despise/hate the working class, that is, they despise/hate wage earners. Are/were you a wage earner?  I washed dishes 1964-1966, cleaned golf shoes, chipped slag, and pumped gasoline in 1966, delivered mail 1966-1969, worked on an automotive assembly line in 1970, sold tires, automotive services, and major appliances 1970-1971, pumped more gasoline 1971-1972, collected delinquent taxes 1971-1980, and audited federal agencies 1980-1997.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/msnbc-examines-trump-s-appeal-to-working-class-voters/ar-AA1H44jc

NEWSWEEK
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly side with Putin and Iran.
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-new-warning-trump-iran-pandora-box-2089188
https://www.newsweek.com/iran-taunts-gambler-trump-new-threat-criminal-america-2089171
https://www.newsweek.com/no-more-war-protest-donald-trump-iran-us-strike-israel-2088964
https://www.newsweek.com/what-trumps-strikes-iran-mean-gas-prices-oil-costs-surge-2088900

NBC NEWS
— Trump’s team launches group to unseat GOP Rep. Thomas Massie. I should write about a) those Republican leaders who had their operatives and their dupes unseat me as an Illinois Center Right Coalition officer and as the TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois chairman and b) those who could have come to my defense but did not.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-thomas-massie-criticism-us-strikes-iran-kentucky-maga-rcna214387

NEW YORK TIMES
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly side with Iran.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/world/middleeast/us-protests-iran-attack.html
https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000010243288/trumps-risky-gamble-on-attacking-iran.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/us/politics/trump-strikes-war-iran.html
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote more LGBTQ.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/briefing/a-legal-gamble.html

WASHINGTON POST
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly side with Iran.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/06/22/israel-iran-live-updates-us-trump/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/06/22/trump-iran-kaine-youngkin-van-hollen/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/22/iran-trump-nuclear-sites-strikes/9a90bf76-4f67-11f0-baaa-ba1025f321a8_story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/22/trump-iran-bombing-maga/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/06/22/iran-trump-war-iraq-history-ghosts/
— APRIL 3, 2015 FLASHBACK: Would the government have hired you in 1956? IRS offered me a job when I was 22 years old in 1971 because I had taken and passed the Federal Service Entrance Examination in 1970. IRS would have offered me the job sooner if I had been a veteran.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2015/04/03/would-the-government-have-hired-you-in-1956/
(FROM TRHE ARTICLE: The old civil service exam was introduced in 1955, a proctored, pencil-and-paper test that thousands of Americans took each year to get federal jobs. It was called the Federal Service Entrance Examination. A brochure called “Futures in the Federal Government” opened with these words: “Wanted: People of Promise” and urged Americans to take the exam. Starting salaries were listed at $4,040. The civil service exam is making a comeback. The old test was eventually thrown out after legal challenges found that it discriminated against minority groups, who did poorly.)

BOSTON GLOBE
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote more LGBTQ.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/22/opinion/gay-lesbian-trans-lgbtq-military-veterans/

USA TODAY
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly side with Iran.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/06/22/donald-trump-steve-bannon-maga-iran-bombing-nuclear/84307459007/

FORTUNE
— Wealthy business-owning Trumpers are clashing with MAGA purists over who should get deported
https://fortune.com/2025/06/22/ice-raids-deportation-maga-business-workers/

BLOOMBERG
— China sides with Iran.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-22/china-condemns-trump-s-iran-attack-in-first-comment-since-us-hit

BLOOMBERG TAX
— Alternate Path to Be a Licensed CPA Has Wide-Ranging Benefits. My critics/opponents have always ignored/dismissed/belittled a) my passing the CPA examination on my first attempt in when I was 30 years old 1979, b) my earning a master’s degree in accounting from DePaul in 1980, c) my passing the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt in 1981, and d) my becoming a licensed CPA in 1981.
https://news.bloombergtax.com/tax-insights-and-commentary/alternate-path-to-be-a-licensed-cpa-has-wide-ranging-benefits

ALL GOVERNMENT
— APRIL 7, 2015 FLASHBACK: U.S. Government Brings Back Civil Service Exams after 34-Year Gap. IRS offered me a job when I was 22 years old in 1971 because I had taken and passed the Federal Service Entrance Examination in 1970. IRS would have offered me the job sooner if I had been a veteran.
http://www.allgov.com/news/unusual-news/us-government-brings-back-civil-service-exams-after-34-year-gap-150407?news=856171
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Joining the federal workforce these days can involve doing something other federal workers haven’t had to do since the early 1980s: take a test. The federal government abolished the civil service exam in 1981 following multiple discrimination lawsuits that claimed the test was biased against minorities. But with so many people applying to become federal employees, some agencies decided to bring back the civil service exam, albeit in a much newer and modern format that tries to avoid being unfair to blacks and Hispanics. About 10% of would-be bureaucrats at three dozen government agencies—including the departments of Defense, Justice, and Health and Human Services—will take the USA Hire test that utilizes “animated avatars and videos to simulate challenges that could confront employees, testing their reasoning and problem-solving skills,” Lisa Rein wrote at The Washington Post. “Advances in technology allow the tests to scale questions; a correct answer leads to a harder question and an incorrect one ratchets down to an easier option. Scoring is instantaneous, an advance that can quickly winnow the pool of applicants,” Rein said. The test is designed to gauge an applicant’s general aptitude as well as teamwork, problem solving, judgment and specific job skills. Civil service exams originated in 1955 as the Federal Service Entrance Examination. At that time, starting salaries for federal employment were $4,040.)

CPA JOURNAL
— NASBA and the AICPA Propose an Alternative Path to CPA. My critics/opponents have always ignored/dismissed/belittled a) my passing the CPA examination on my first attempt in when I was 30 years old 1979, b) my earning a master’s degree in accounting from DePaul in 1980, c) my passing the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt in 1981, and d) my becoming a licensed CPA in 1981.
https://www.cpajournal.com/2025/03/03/nasba-and-the-aicpa-propose-an-alternative-path-to-cpa-2/

HUFFINGTON POST
— Democrat and RINO leaders ever-increasingly destroy you if you do not promote LGBTQ.
https://www.aol.com/trumps-total-disregard-juneteenth-underscores-213906390.html

INSIDE HIGHER EDUCATION
— For Democrat leaders, education exists to crank out good little Democrats.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2025/06/23/academic-freedom-service-academies-dissipates-under

GUARDIAN
— Mohamad Bazzi: Like George W Bush, Trump has started a reckless war based on a lie
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/22/trump-iran-george-w-bush-netanyahu

GOOGLE AI
— Push comes to shove. Anticipate/expect that when push comes to shove, many, most, virtually all, if not all of your supporters will dump you. I should write about my supporters who dumped me when my critics/opponents had their operatives and their dupes a) defeat my candidacy for Milton Township Republican Organization Treasurer in 2004, b) end my Illinois Center Right Coalition Steering Committee membership in 2007, c) end my TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois chairmanship in 2012, d) gerrymander my precinct 2015, e) end my service as the Republican fundraiser for Wheaton Independence Day parades and fireworks in 2021, and f) end my membership on the Illinois Republican Party State Convention Platform and Resolutions Committee in 2024. I would focus on those who read my GOPUSA ILLINOIS newsletters and who I have done the most to help elect and to reelect since 2000. I would focus on those who blame me the most for their defeats.
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22push+comes+to+shove%22

Author: David Diersen

The opinions that I express in GOPUSA ILLINOIS emails are based on experience that I have gained doing many things since 1948. I base my opinions on what I learned a) working for the federal government for almost 30 years -- Post Office 1966-1969, IRS 1971-1980, and GAO 1980-1997, serving on the Executive Committee of the Association of Government Accountants Chicago Chapter 1983-1996, and being a union member while I worked for the Post Office and IRS; b) earning an MBA from Loyola in 1976, a masters degree in accounting from DePaul in 1980, and a masters degree in financial markets and trading from IIT in 1997; c) passing the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979 and passing the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt in 1981; c) serving as a Republican Precinct Committeeman since 1999, the GOPUSA Illinois Editor since 2000, the TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois Chairman 2005-2012, a member of the 2008 Illinois Republican Party (IRP) Platform and Resolutions Committee, a Wheaton Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee member 2003-2011, the Milton Township Republican Central Committee webmaster 2008-2010 and 2000-2004, an Illinois Center Right Coalition Steering Committee member 2003-2007, and an American Association of Political Consultants Midwest Chapter board member 2001-2004; d) attending the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 IRP State Conventions as a delegate; e) being the subject of a nasty 4-page article in the February 1978 issue of Money Magazine; f) pursing litigation including Diersen v. GAO and Diersen v. Chicago Car Exchange; g) being married since 1978; h) living in Crete 1948-1972, in University Park 1972-1976, in Chicago 1976-1978, and in DuPage County, Milton Township, and Wheaton since 1978; and i) being baptized, raised, and confirmed as a Missouri Synod Lutheran.