FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
DAILY HERALD
— Democrats try to brush aside ‘Woke 1’
https://www.dailyherald.com/20260901/syndicated-columnists/democrats-try-to-brush-aside-woke-1/
RIVER BENDER
— Pritzker Demands Relief For Farmers Facing Soaring Fertilizer Costs From Trump’s War With Iran.
https://www.riverbender.com/news/details/gov-pritzker-demands-relief-for-farmers-facing-soaring-fertilizer-costs-from-trumps-war-with-iran-96358.cfm
WGLT
— McLean County GOP calls for Republican county auditor to resign.
https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2026-08-31/mclean-county-gop-calls-for-republican-county-auditor-to-resign
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Anderson was appointed county auditor in 2009 and has won election to the office four times. Anderson has often clashed with county officials over delayed payments, has faced questions about her office’s accounting practices and faced claims she is not responsive to county administrators and other elected officeholders. “These are not isolated political disagreements. They represent a continuing pattern involving delayed financial work, disrupted county operations, strained professional relationships and potential costs to taxpayers and community organizations,” the county GOP said, citing a 2024 WGLT report about delayed grant payments that caused the nonprofit McLean County Center for Human Services to fear for its long-term financial stability.)
COD COURIER
— COD Board Hears Renewed Concerns Over Student Trustee.
https://codcourier.org/campus-progress-and-student-concerns-recap-of-the-college-of-dupage-board-of-trustees-meeting/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Isabella “Luna” Escobar, 2025-26 student trustee, returned to public comment — speaking both for herself and on behalf of another speaker, Joanna Osorio, who could not attend — to press the board on transparency around Student Trustee Danna Gonzalez, who remained in her position following past use of racial slurs.)
CAPITOL FAX
— Morning briefing
https://capitolfax.com/2026/09/01/isabel%e2%80%99s-morning-briefing-798/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
ILLINOIS REVIEW
— Grogan’s Unity Test: Will IL GOP Chair Condemn Close Ally Jim Durkin’s Attacks on Trump, Bailey? DD: My critics/opponents side with Durkin.
https://www.illinoisreview.com/illinoisreview/2026/08/grogans-unity-test-will-il-gop-chair-condemn-close-ally-jim-durkins-attacks-on-trump-bailey.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Illinois Republican Party Chairman Bob Grogan has made “party unity” the defining message of his young tenure. Now Grogan faces a simple test: Does that rule apply to his close friend and longtime political ally, former Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin? During a recent CBS News Chicago interview, Durkin launched a blistering attack on President Donald Trump and Republican gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey — declaring Bailey’s campaign “foolish” and blaming Trump and Bailey for Republican losses in Illinois. “There’s really no election in November,” Durkin said. “Darren Bailey, this is a foolish — uh, foolish campaign that he’s moving on. He adds nothing to the equation for Republicans. He’s not gonna help the Republican Party. He’s very intolerant.” Durkin predicted Bailey would receive “the same result that he got last time,” before adding: “We’ve lost more Republicans because of people like Darren Bailey and Donald Trump in Illinois.” That creates an uncomfortable problem for Grogan. Just weeks ago, Grogan was lecturing Republicans about the need to stop attacking one another. “We have to go back to the Reagan rule, where if somebody agrees with us 80 percent of the time, they’re not a 20 percent traitor,” Grogan told Capitol News Illinois in July. “Our entire Republican team is better than the entire Democratic team, and we need to pull together. We can’t purge our way to 51 percent.” Grogan has also warned that “fratricide isn’t a good campaign strategy.” Upon becoming chairman in May, Grogan proclaimed, “Illinois Republicans are united and I’m excited to get to work electing Republicans up and down the ballot in November.” Apparently, Durkin missed the unity memo. Rather than helping elect the Republican ticket, Durkin went on Chicago television and declared the party’s nominee for governor essentially defeated while attacking the Republican president. There is also rich irony in Durkin lecturing Republicans about losing elections. Republicans held 51 Illinois House seats following the 2016 election. By the time Durkin’s final election as Republican leader was over in 2022, the caucus had fallen to just 40 — a net loss of 11 seats. Republicans lost five seats in 2022 alone. Durkin then stepped aside as leader and ultimately resigned from the legislature. Yet today, he is blaming Trump and Bailey for Republicans disappearing from Illinois government. Grogan cannot have it both ways. He cannot demand that conservatives stop attacking establishment Republicans, preach that Republicans must embrace their “80-percent” allies and condemn intra-party “fratricide” — then remain silent when one of his closest political friends publicly torches Trump and the GOP nominee for governor. Bailey won the Republican primary. Trump leads the Republican Party nationally. And Grogan is chairman of the Illinois Republican Party. If Grogan’s unity message means anything, he should publicly separate himself from Durkin’s comments and make clear that Durkin does not speak for the Illinois Republican Party. Otherwise, Republicans may reasonably conclude that Grogan’s “unity” doctrine has an exception: His friends.)
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
NEW YORK POST
— Trump warns Chicago ‘will die’ if lefty Gov. Pritzker refuses federal help after bloody weekend leaves 41 shot.
https://nypost.com/2026/09/01/us-news/trump-warns-chicago-will-die-if-lefty-gov-pritzker-refuses-federal-help-after-bloody-weekend-leaves-41-shot/
BIZ PAC REVIEW
— Chicago’s new contract test: Is your company leadership ‘diverse’ enough?
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2026/08/31/chicagos-new-contract-test-is-your-company-leadership-diverse-enough-1657035/
— It’s time for young Americans to step up. DD: What did you do to qualify yourself for better paying jobs? I took jobs that my peers would not stoop to take. I worked my way through college. I earned a job-related bachelor’s degree. I earned three job-related master’s degrees. I earned six job-related professional certifications. I earned a job-related professional license.
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2026/08/31/its-time-for-young-americans-to-step-up-1656966/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Unfortunately, many students attend college without acquiring skills that employers value. They sometimes accumulate substantial debt for degrees that provide little earning power. Higher education deserves some blame for selling expensive programs with limited economic value. But students must also take responsibility for choosing an education that does not prepare them for the workplace. Government cannot guarantee prosperity. In fact, government has no money of its own. Every dollar it spends must first be taxed from someone who earned it, borrowed and repaid by future taxpayers, or created in a way that can produce inflation. America became the world’s largest and most prosperous economy because it emphasized individual freedom, personal responsibility, relatively low taxation and a limited role for government. Those principles encouraged people to work, save, invest, innovate and build. Young Americans have legitimate concerns about housing, wages and opportunity. But socialism would replace those problems with dependency, stagnation and lost freedom. The answer is not to wait for government to provide a comfortable life. It is to acquire valuable skills, embrace entrepreneurship and solve the problems standing in the way. It is time for young Americans to step up.)
BLAZE
— The left’s next phase is even worse than woke.
https://www.theblaze.com/shows/rufo-lomez/the-lefts-next-phase-is-even-worse-than-woke
BREITBART
— Feds Shut Down 270 Truck Driving Schools After 239 Deaths.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/08/31/sean-duffy-feds-shut-down-270-truck-driving-schools-after-239-deaths/amp/
— Woke 2: Democrats Say Illegal Aliens Better Than Americans.
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2026/08/31/woke-2-democrats-say-illegal-aliens-better-than-americans/
— Vance Excoriates Democrats for Giving CDLs to Illegal Aliens.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/08/31/jd-vance-excoriates-democrats-giving-cdls-illegal-aliens/
DAILY SIGNAL
— Race Over Merit: Higher Education Finds New Ways to Install DEI.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/08/31/even-after-affirmative-actions-fall-dei-thrives-at-elite-law-schools/
FOX NEWS
— House returns to session as lawmakers face shutdown deadline, socialism resolution.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6404389340112
NEWSMAX
— Feds Boot 110 Commercial Driver Training Providers.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/department-of-transportation-sean-duffy-dhs/2026/08/31/id/1267911/
POST MILLENNIAL
— Trump admin closes 270 truck driving schools for giving licenses to illegal aliens.
https://thepostmillennial.com/trump-admin-closes-270-truck-driving-schools-for-giving-licenses-to-illegal-aliens
TOWNHALL
— Trump Blows Up at Reporter Over Question About Iran and Nukes.
https://townhall.com/news/mattvespa/2026/08/31/trump-blows-up-at-reporter-over-question-about-iran-and-nukes-n2682206
— What the Socialists Get Wrong About the Affordability Problem. DD: What did you do to afford things? I took jobs that my peers would not stoop to take. I worked my way through college. I earned a job-related bachelor’s degree. I earned three job-related master’s degrees. I earned six job-related professional certifications. I earned a job-related professional license.
https://townhall.com/watch/2026/08/31/what-the-socialists-get-wrong-about-the-affordability-problem-is-everything-n2682233
— Supposed Feminist Kathy Hochul Bends the Knee to Islam.
https://townhall.com/news/amy-curtis/2026/08/31/kathy-hochul-hijab-n2682161
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF WAR
— Hegseth Says Promotions, Retention to be Based on Meritocracy, Not Quotas. DD: For my Democrat GAO, IRS, and Post Office superiors, meeting/exceeding their race and gender promotion quotas was their top priority. All my coworkers who my Democrat superiors promoted over me were Democrats a) who had less education than I had, had less work experience than I had, had no professional certification or fewer than I had, and/or had no professional license like the one I had and/or b) who were minority, female, younger, veteran, non-Protestant, non-German American, and/or had ancestors who had not been in America for a long time.
https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4318944/hegseth-says-promotions-retention-to-be-based-on-meritocracy-not-quotas/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
THE HILL
— Democrats propose counter to GOP’s anti-socialism resolution.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/6062370-democrats-socialism-resolution/amp/
REUTERS
— Trump’s approval stuck at 33%; Democrats appear more fired up for midterms.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-approval-stuck-33-democrats-appear-more-fired-up-midterms-reutersipsos-2026-08-31/
NEW YOR TIMES
— Army Secretary Resigns After Clashes With Hegseth Over Firings. DD: My critics/opponents were always overjoyed when my Democrat GAO, IRS, and Post Office superiors took adverse actions against me. They were overjoyed when my Democrat GAO superiors forced me to retire when I was 49 in 1997, always ranked me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance, kept me off audits of IRS for all but 3 of the almost 18 years that I worked for GAO, got rid of the GAO manager in 1987 who had arranged my transfer from IRS in 1980 and was finally able to assign me to audits of IRS and to promote me to GS-13 in 1986, delayed my promotions and never promoted me to GS-14, and forced me to take a $23,699/year (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer from IRS in 1980. They were overjoyed when my Democrat IRS superiors never promoted me to GS-13, disallowed my education deductions in 1978, disallowed my travel vouchers in 1974, and got rid of the IRS manager in 1974 who had promoted me in 1972, 1973, and 1974. They were overjoyed when my Democrat Post Office superiors denied my sick leave requests in 1968 and 1969 and forced me to resign in 1969.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/08/31/us/trump-news
WASHINGTON POST
— Hegseth chose loyalty over leadership — and has crippled the military. The Iran quagmire wouldn’t have happened under Trump’s first-term military leaders.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/08/31/hegseths-purges-pentagon-leaders-threaten-national-security/
WFIN
— DSA leader’s working-class image takes hit as public records pile up contradictions. 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. My mother never attended high school. My critics/opponent stress that my great grandfather and then my grandfather on my father’s side operated Crete’s only hardware store for many years and that my great grandfather and my grandfather on my mother’s side operated a farm in Grant Park along the Indiana border for many years.
https://wfin.com/fox-political-news/dsa-leaders-working-class-image-takes-hit-as-public-records-pile-up-contradictions/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Manuel Gordillo, Gordillo’s grandfather, immigrated from Peru to the United States to practice medicine in 1958. After settling in the United States, Manuel met his future wife in St. Louis, and the couple later had Gordillo’s father, Gustavo. The obituary also notes that Gordillo’s grandfather built a successful life as a psychiatrist in Ohio, at one point serving as the president of the Ohio Psychiatric Association, casting doubt on the socialist’s claim that his parents grew up in poverty.)
KNOWLEDGE AT WHARTON
— Why Workplace Success Isn’t Just About Merit. DD: What did your coworkers do to get promoted? To get promoted, my Democrat coworkers in the federal government a) stressed that they were Democrat, minority, female, younger, veteran, non-Protestant, non-German American, and/or had ancestors who had not been in America for a long time, b) stressed that they were blindly loyal to the Democrat Party platform, c) painted themselves as being yes-men and yes-women, d) stressed that their spouse, if they had one, had little or no income, e) stressed if they had children, the tremendous amount of time and money they spent raising their children, and f) destroyed their fellow coworkers who were Republican, White, male, older, non-veteran, Protestant, German American, and/or had ancestors who had been in America for a long time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9m8K5nXoAQ
TRUTHOUT
— Trump Calls on FCC to Punish News Orgs That Publish His Bad Polling Numbers. DD: I should write about my critics/opponents and the adverse actions they had their operatives and their dupes take against me since 2000 because I included links in my GOPUSA ILLINOIS newsletters to articles that they do not like.
https://truthout.org/articles/trump-calls-on-fcc-to-punish-news-orgs-that-publish-his-bad-polling-numbers/
FROM FOREIGN SOURCES
DAILY STAR
— Merit, not politics, should guide promotions.
https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/merit-not-politics-should-guide-promotions-4255266
