FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD WITH BIG PICTURE: Pritzker and Bailey spar over Trump tariffs and farm economy at ag forum.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/08/10/jb-pritzker-darren-bailey-ag-forum/
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote socialism.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/08/10/column-democrats-democratic-socialism-progressives-donald-trump-red-scare-page/
SHAW LOCAL
— ‘This race is winnable’: Bailey calls on La Salle County Republicans for support in quest for governor’s chair. Candidate stopped in Mendota for appearance in Sweet Corn Fest Grand Parade.
https://www.shawlocal.com/illinois-valley/2026/08/10/this-race-is-winnable-bailey-calls-on-la-salle-county-republicans-for-support-in-quest-for-governors-chair/
CENTRAL ILLINOIS PROUD
— Governor candidates fight for the farmers vote.
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/your-local-election-hq/illinois-gov-candidates-agriculture/
CAPITOL CITY NOW
— Illinois Republicans fight for name recognition.
https://capitolcitynow.com/news/248842-il-republicans-fight-for-name-recognition/
CHICAGO PARENT
— These are the 10 best places to raise a family in Chicagoland. Explore the top family-friendly suburbs in Chicagoland with great schools, low crime rates and affordable housing. DD: If your municipality is not on the list, why is that?
https://www.chicagoparent.com/how-do-i/these-are-the-10-best-places-to-raise-a-family-in-chicagoland-cbd38771
CHICAGO READER
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote more LGBTQ.
https://chicagoreader.com/city-life/chicago-gay-games-2006/
BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) glorify and praise their illegals and b) fight their deportation.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2026/08/10/chicagoans-alleging-crimes-by-ice-agents-seek-police-help-after-feds-fail-to-act/
POLITICO ILLINOIS
— Is Wisconsin becoming Illinois north?
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/2026/08/11/is-wisconsin-becoming-illinois-north-01032223
CAPITOL FAX
— Morning briefing
https://capitolfax.com/2026/08/11/isabel%e2%80%99s-morning-briefing-788/
— Afternoon roundup
https://capitolfax.com/2026/08/10/isabel%e2%80%99s-afternoon-roundup-575/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON TIMES
— Dangers of issuing commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. States that weaken CDL standards put American families at deadly risk.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/aug/10/dangers-issuing-commercial-drivers-licenses-illegal-aliens/
— Trump says Democrats are electing ‘jihadists.’
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/aug/10/trump-says-democrats-electing-jihadists/
— Young adults are having trouble finding potential spouses. DD: I met my outstanding wife at a Presbyterian singles event. She is Catholic and I am Missouri Synod Lutheran. What helped you become marriage material? By the time I got married when I was 29 in 1978, I had worked for IRS for almost 7 years and my salary was $110,066/year in today’s dollars. I had earned an MBA from Loyola in 1976 and I was taking graduate evening accounting courses at DePaul. I lived in a one bedroom condo in the Outer Drive East building that I had bought in 1976. I was renting out a town home in University Park that I had bought new in 1972. I owned a 1972 Corvette that I had bought new in 1971. See Money Magazine’s 4-page February 1978 article on my wife and I at https://gopillinois.com/documents/ Things that impressed me about my outstanding wife included that her first job after high school was working for the FBI. She soon became the Corporate Secretary of the U.S. League of Savings Institutions. She did much to help elect Big Jim Thompson governor in 1976. She earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from DePaul in 1986.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/aug/10/young-people-looking-love-wrong-places/
— Ceuta invasion another step toward a Muslim Europe. Americans can ill afford to be smug.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/aug/10/editorial-ceuta-invasion-another-step-toward-muslim-europe/
WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— Rainbow reds are more dangerous than communists of old.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/community-family/4680978/rainbow-reds-more-dangerous-communists-no-god-debasing-science-pampered/
— Too conservative. DD: According to Democrats and according to RINOs, I am too conservative, that is, I promote too many conservative principles, that is, I promote too many planks in the Republican Party platform. Most commonly, they reject the personal responsibility, traditional marriage and family, right to life, immigration, anti-vice, Second Amendment, equal opportunity (no race or gender based preference giving) planks.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/in_focus/4681101/new-fusionism-blueprint-uniting-gop/
— AOC, 2028, and the coming of woke 2.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/presidential/4682228/aoc-2028-woke-1-socialist-democrats/
— Democrats try to dodge ‘Woke 1’
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/4681169/the-democrats-crazy-woke-1-dodge-past-comments-trailing-candidates/
— ‘We have to smash the state’: The Left prepares for war.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/in_focus/4681140/we-smash-state-left-prepares-war/
WASHINGTON FREE BEACON
— Move Over, Thanksgiving: Francesca Hong Hosted ‘Feast of the Feminine.’
https://freebeacon.substack.com/p/move-over-thanksgiving-francesca
NEW YORK POST
— DSA darling Francesca Hong doesn’t just want to cancel Thanksgiving — here’s all her nuttiest takes ahead of pivotal Wisconsin primary.
https://nypost.com/2026/08/10/us-news/dsa-darling-francesca-hong-doesnt-just-want-to-cancel-thanksgiving-all-her-nuttiest-takes-ahead-of-pivotal-wisconsin-primary/
— Democratic socialists will act like communists once elected.
https://nypost.com/2026/08/10/opinion/fresh-proof-that-democratic-socialists-will-act-like-communists-once-elected/
— Judge Wayne Ozzi derails Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax. DD: I had a second home in the Outer Drive East building in downtown Chicago 1974-1978, but only because I would have had to suffer a big loss if I had sold my University Park townhome.
https://nypost.com/2026/08/10/opinion/judge-squelches-mamdanis-enemies-list-but-the-socialists-have-still-put-you-on-notice/
AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE
— Do Hegseth’s Reforms to Military Universities Go Far Enough? Wokeness isn’t the only problem at war colleges and service academies.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/do-hegseths-reforms-to-military-universities-go-far-enough/
BLAZE
— Socialism’s favorite bait-and-switch.
https://www.theblaze.com/columns/opinion/socialisms-favorite-bait-and-switch
DAILY CALLER
— Woke 2
https://dailycaller.com/2026/08/11/duke-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-woke-1-crazy-francesca-hong/
DAILY SIGNAL
— Far-Left Democrats Lose to Far-Far-Left DSA Challengers.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/08/10/far-left-democrats-far-far-left-dsa-challengers/
DAILY WIRE
— America’s Professors Break Century-Long Precedent To Go Full Socialist.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/americas-professors-break-century-long-precedent-to-go-full-socialist
FOX BUSINESS
— Let’s not punish the rich.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/video/6403158657112
FOX NEWS
— Socialist tax-the-rich plan to face NY judge. DD: Who wants you to pay more taxes and why? My critics/opponents have always wanted me to pay more taxes. Their justifications include a) my having avoided the Vietnam War draft, b) my having worked for the Post Office 1966-1969, for IRS 1971-1980, and for GAO 1980-1997, c) my being a federal retiree since 1997, d) my getting promotions in 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1986, e) my wife and I giving up trying to have children without trying IVF, our not adopting, and our not becoming foster parents, and f) me and my wife having itemized. According to my critics/opponents, I have always had more income because I benefit from discrimination against those who share their demographics.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6403179217112
— Will Wisconsin be the place that stops socialism?
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6403165635112
— Mamdani clashes with Democratic Socialists’ push to abolish police and prisons. DD: Of course, criminals vote for socialist candidates.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/mamdani-clashes-democratic-socialists-push-abolish-police-prisons
GREENWALD
— The tactic of AOC and her allies to giggle away the ‘craziness’ of Woke-era abuses should not be tolerated. The so-called “Woke 1” period is not something to laugh off. It was a repressive and destructive mob rule which unjustly destroyed careers and requires a reckoning.
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-tactic-of-aoc-and-her-allies
HERITAGE FOUNDATION
— Some Migrants Hate America on Arrival.
https://www.heritage.org/progressivism/commentary/some-migrants-hate-america-arrival
INSTITUTE FOR FAMILY STUDIES
— It’s still not good for man to be alone. New research on the state of men in America shows the benefits of marriage, family, and work.
https://wng.org/opinions/its-still-not-good-for-man-to-be-alone-1786340259
JONATHAN TURLEY
— “Niceness as Whiteness”: Professors Denounce Niceness as White Privilege.
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/08/11/niceness-as-whiteness-professors-denounce-niceness-as-perpetuating-white-privilege/comment-page-1/amp/
NEWSMAX
— Democrats Are Embracing Communism.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/russell-fry-democrats-communism/2026/08/10/id/1265670/
— ICE Arrests Hit Record Highs.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/tom-homan-newsmax-ice/2026/08/10/id/1265685/
TOWNHALL
— Congress Can Still Act on Birthright Citizenship.
https://townhall.com/columnists/jeremy-beck/2026/08/11/congress-can-still-act-on-birthright-citizenship-n2680998
— A Staten Island judge has blocked a tax hike on second homes proposed by Mamdani. DD: I had a second home in the Outer Drive East building in downtown Chicago 1974-1978, but only because I would have had to suffer a big loss if I had sold my University Park townhome.
https://townhall.com/news/josephchalfant/2026/08/10/new-york-judges-halts-mamdanis-aggressive-socialist-policy-n2681015
— Wisconsin Will Stop the Socialist Wave.
https://townhall.com/news/amy-curtis/2026/08/10/tom-tiffany-wisconsin-will-stop-socialism-n2680967
— Did Abdul El-Sayed Really Say This About White Truck Drivers?
https://townhall.com/news/amy-curtis/2026/08/10/abdul-el-sayed-afraid-of-white-truck-drivers-n2680973
WESTERN JOURNAL
— The House’s Push to Purge LGBT Propaganda from Children’s Shows.
https://www.westernjournal.com/houses-push-purge-lgbt-propaganda-childrens-shows/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
THE HILL
— DD: The more problems that you have, the more likely that you will a) blame capitalism for your problems and b) want socialism to solve your problems. What did you do to avoid problems? I earned a job-related bachelor’s degree (management), three job-related master’s degrees (business, accounting, and finance), six job-related professional certifications (accounting, internal auditing, fraud examination, government financial management, financial services auditing, and forensic accounting), and a job-related professional license (CPA).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdSicnRRBC0
AOL
— Illinois breaks top 20 best states to live in. DD: The more of the following that you are, the better that Illinois is for you: liberal/moderate, Democrat, RINO, minority, female, younger, unmarried, LGBTQ, veteran, poor, non-Protestant, non-German American, have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time, and/or are in America illegally.
https://www.aol.com/articles/study-illinois-breaks-top-20-175518000.html
NEW YORK TIMES
— Homeland Security Intensifies Pursuit of Noncitizens on Voter Rolls.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/10/us/politics/noncitizens-vote-crackdown.html
— Women’s Share of Top Military Promotions Falls as Hegseth Blocks Nominees. DD: All my coworkers who were women and who my Democrat superiors promoted over me were Democrats who a) had less education than I had, b) had less work experience than I had, c) had no professional certification or fewer than I had, and/or d) no professional license like the one I had.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/06/upshot/military-promotions-women-hegseth.html
— Now Coming to a Black Media Outlet Near You: Mayor Mamdani. Zohran Mamdani’s “all of the above” media strategy, which encompasses ethnic media, influencers and content creators, has led to a recent Black media blitz. DD: Everyone sees how the following treat me and treat my GOPUSA ILLINOIS newsletters: past and present a) leaders of the Milton Township Republican Organization, DuPage County Republican Central Committee, Illinois Republican Party, TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois, and Illinois Center Right Coalition, b) Republican leaders of Wheaton, Milton Township, DuPage County, and Illinois, c) Republican candidates on ballots in my precinct, d) conservative leaders, and e) religious leaders.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/09/nyregion/black-media-mamdani.html
WASHINGTON POST
— Trump administration takes aim at website listing diversity scholarships. DD: My critics/opponents have always used my not getting scholarships against me.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2026/08/10/trump-administration-takes-aim-website-listing-diversity-scholarships/
USA TODAY
— $110,000 needed to afford a typical US home in 2026. DD: What did you do to buy your first home? I bought a new townhome in University Park ( https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/774-Sunset-Ct-5-University-Park-IL-60484/5451474_zpid/ ) when I was 24 in 1972. In today’s dollars, I paid about $180,000 for it and the down payment would have been about $36,000. In today’s dollars, my IRS Revenue Officer salary had just increased from $56,409/year to $68,999/year. The down payment came from what I had earned working for IRS for 15 months and for a Firestone Store part-time for 18 months and full-time for 7 months before that. According to Zillow, the townhome is currently worth $92,200. That says worlds about real estate values in University Park.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2026/08/05/income-needed-afford-typical-us-home-2026-redfin-report/91185869007/
— As Trump drastically rolls back rules for Head Start, some Republicans are wary. DD: My critics/opponents have always used my parents’ sending me to kindergarten at Trinity Lutheran Grade School in Crete in 1953 to falsely hint/imply/argue/shout that they were filthy rich.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/08/09/head-start-trump-rfk-jr-preschool-senate-republicans-alarmed/91213407007/
WALL STREET JOURNAL
— Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong’s Wisconsin Primary Lead Alarms Establishment Democrats. Party insiders worry Hong would lose the general election for governor in November.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/democratic-socialist-francesca-hongs-wisconsin-primary-lead-alarms-establishment-democrats-e3b9a1ce
— How to Plan for the Staggering Costs of Fertility Treatments. The amount of money spent can rival a house purchase or college tuition. It’s crucial for couples to figure out the financial equation ahead of time. DD: In 1989, my Democrat GAO superiors pulled out all the stops to get rid of me. That included their viciously demonizing, denigrating, and condemning me for my wife and I giving up trying to have children without trying IVF. They stressed that my wife’s health insurance covered the costs. They ignored/dismissed/belittled our doctor’s advising against it because we both had major fertility problems. They viciously demonized, denigrated, and condemned our not adopting and our not becoming foster parents. They painted themselves as being grossly underpaid. They decried the time and money they spent raising their children. They decried the little or no income that their wives had.
https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/fertility-treatment-costs-planning-976703b7
FORTUNE
— We have a happiness-segregated society by marriage. DD: My Democrat IRS superiors, supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates were furious when I got married when I was 29 in 1978. To get rid of me, they had ever-increasingly painted me as being so bad that I would never get married. They were especially furious because my wife had a good job. SEE: https://gopillinois.com/documents/
https://fortune.com/2026/08/10/americans-unhappy-marriage-rates-peltzman/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The first instinct is to blame money, but Peltzman says it’s not that simple. Yes, while grocery bills and gas prices have soared, blaming the affordability crisis would make sense if the unhappiest Americans were the ones getting squeezed hardest. But Peltzman’s data says the opposite. The people who fell furthest after 2020 were the ones who had the most going in: white, high-income, college-educated, right-leaning Americans. “The affordability business is not an upper-income kind of concern,” he said. “It’s a lower-income kind of concern, and the upper-income people have been hit hardest in the happiness crash. “Any story which says that it’s inequality,” Peltzman said, “those kind of stories are not consistent with the facts.” ‘We have a happiness-segregated society by marriage’ Married people are still, on net, happy. Unmarried people, about 45% of American adults, are now, on net, unhappy. “The only people who are positive, where there’s a clear positive balance in happiness, are married people,” Peltzman said. “We have a happiness-segregated society by marriage.” The obvious next question is whether this is just the marriage rate falling and the crash is only picking that up. It isn’t. The marriage rate itself hasn’t moved in 15 years: “It’s 55/45, and it’s been that way,” Peltzman said. Marriage rates did decline for decades, from the 1970s through the early 2000s, and in an earlier paper, Peltzman found that decline explained most of the happiness slide that came before the pandemic. But that slide had already leveled off well before 2020. The country’s split between married and unmarried adults going into the crash is the same split as today. What changed was not how many people are married, but how much worse it now feels to be unmarried, while married people mostly held their ground.)
— Jamie Dimon says Gen Z is wrong to give up on the American Dream—but admits it’s dying for the bottom 20% of households. DD: Neither of my parents attended college. My father was only the first of my ancestors to earn a high school diploma. He never earned more than $50,000/year in today’s dollars. He almost always worked second jobs to pay the family’s bills. He died suddenly when he was 47 and I was 21, My mother never attended high school. All my grandparent spoke German. I had to work my way through college.
https://fortune.com/2026/08/10/jamie-dimon-gen-z-giving-up-american-dream-wrong-understandable/?ref=biztoc.com
BUSINESS INSIDER
— Job loss. DD: After my Democrat GAO forced me to retire when I was 49 in 1997, I soon gave up searching for a job appropriate for someone with my work experience, education, professional certification, and professional license because my Democrat GAO superiors had damaged me so much. Prior to their forcing me to retire, they had a) always ranked me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance, c) delayed my promotions and never promoted me beyond GS-13, d) kept me off audits of IRS for all but 3 of the almost 13 years that I worked for GAO, and e) forced me to take a $23,699/year (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer from IRS to GAO in 1980.
https://www.businessinsider.com/laid-off-single-mom-part-time-garden-new-perspective-2026-8
WEEK
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote socialism.
https://theweek.com/politics/should-democrats-embrace-democratic-socialists
FLORIDA POLITICS
— Super PAC’s new CD 19 ads warn voters: Don’t let Catalina Lauf ‘Illinois our Florida.’ In the Republican Primary to succeed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, “Illinois” is now a verb. A week after loading three out-of-state candidates into an AI-generated clown car, Southwest Florida First is back with ads aimed at just one of them: Catalina Lauf. DD: My critics/opponents in DuPage County have always stressed that I did not move to DuPage County until I was 29 in 1978.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/812570-super-pacs-new-cd-19-ads-warn-voters-dont-let-catalina-lauf-illinois-our-florida/
ALTERNET
— Former GOP chair Michael Steele: Republicans are socialists — but only for themselves.
https://www.alternet.org/trump-farmers-2677684186/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: President Donald Trump is accusing Democrats of being “communists” and “socialists,” but as a former Republican National Committee chair pointed out on Monday, he supports socialist policies… as long as they benefit Republican constituencies like farmers. “People fundamentally do not understand socialism,” MS NOW commentator and former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele said on Monday. “They do not understand communism. What is it — the median grade level in the United States is eighth grade. Okay? We’re not teaching civics. We’re not teaching world history. We’re not teaching the fundamentals of how all of this comes together. So these terms from the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s are being thrown out into the ecosystem.” He then mentioned Trump’s proposed $17.3 billion bailout to farmers, a group that has been disproportionately economically harmed by his tariffs, his mass deportations and his war against Iran. “Y’all know the Farm Bill is socialism; y’all know that, right?” Steele said.)
LAW
— DD: Democrats and RINOs use Affirmative Action and DEI to get rid of Republicans.
https://www.law.com/article/almID/900005518698/
— STOP THE CLOCK ON AGE RETIREMENTS. DD: Federal employees under the Civil Service Retirement System and who are the following are forced to retire as soon as they are eligible, that is, when they are 55 and have 30 years of service: conservative, Republican, White, male, non-veteran, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time. I am all of the aforesaid. I became eligible for early retirement when I was 45 in 1993. My Democrat GAO succeeded in forcing me to retire when I was 49 in 1997 when their early retirement “offer” expired. I would not have been eligible for regular retirement until I was 55 in 2003. They made it very clear that if I did not take their “offer,” they would make those 6 years a living hell for me. They would constructively demote me, give me adverse transfers, give me unfair performance expectations, give me unfair performance appraisals, and even worse things. SEE: https://www.law.com/article/almID/53G5-97S1-JBM3-R0DM-00000-00/https://gopillinois.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/DiersenGAOFifthAmendedComplaint.pdf
FED SMITH
— Beyond One Senate Race: What AFGE’s Endorsement Reveals About Federal Employee Unions. AFGE’s endorsement of Abdul El-Sayed highlights the political role of federal employee unions and raises questions about representing a non-partisan workforce. DD: Virtually all federal employees are Democrats who are minority, female, younger, veteran, disabled, non-Protestant, non-German American, and/or have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time. Many if not most of them a) paint themselves as being “in need” and b) blame Republicans for their many problems. While I worked for the Democrats who ran the federal government for almost 30 years, none of my coworkers did what I did. I earned a) three job-related master’s degrees (business, accounting, and finance), b) six job-related professional certifications (accounting, internal auditing, fraud examination, government financial management, financial services auditing, and forensic accounting), and c) a job-related professional license (CPA).
https://www.fedsmith.com/2026/08/10/afge-endorsement-federal-unions-senate-race/
PARTNERSHIP FOR PUBLIC SERVICE
— Civil Service Protections. DD: Democrats run the federal government. For Democrats, the federal government exists to hire, retain, and promote Democrats who are minority, female, younger, and/or veteran. I am none of the aforesaid. To get rid of me, my Democrat Post Office, IRS, and GAO superiors punished me a) for my not becoming a Democrat, b) for my avoiding the Vietnam War draft, c) for my complaining about their political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, age discrimination, and retaliation, and d) for my being an active member in a class action lawsuit that charged them with the aforesaid. Federal employees who are the following have no Civil Service protections: conservative, Republican, White, male, older, non-veteran, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time. Unions provide some protection. But GAO did not unionize until 2007. If GAO had been unionized when I transferred from IRS to GAO when I was 31 in 1980, my Democrat GAO superiors might not have been able to take the many big adverse actions against me that they did including forcing me to retire when I was 49 in 1997.
https://ourpublicservice.org/know-the-facts/blog/merit-systems-protection-board-mspb-removal-conditions-retaliation-protections
HIGHER EDUCATION DIVE
— Elite colleges are returning to the SAT and ACT. Will others follow? Top-ranked colleges and the Trump administration are embracing the exams, but that doesn’t mean test-optional policies are falling out of favor everywhere. DD: UIC would not have accepted in 1966 if my ACT score had not been 24 and I had not graduated in the upper 20% of my class.
https://www.highereddive.com/news/elite-colleges-are-returning-to-the-sat-and-act-will-others-follow/827299/
DAILY KOS
— DD: Democrat leaders continue to reject the fact that in 2024, voters elected Trump and gave control of the House and Senate to Republicans.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/8/10/800082538/community/forget-the-socialist-scare-americas-crisis-is-capitalism-without-democracy/
