FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
WGN9
— Mayor Johnson to defend Chicago’s sanctuary city status in Washington (COMMENT: To be a Democrat or a RINO is to promote more illegal immigration.)
https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/mayor-johnson-to-defend-chicagos-sanctuary-city-status-in-washington/
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Dolton Trustee Jason House declares victory over Tiffany Henyard in mayoral primary
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/25/dolton-mayor-tiffany-henyard-far-behind-challenger-jason-house-in-democratic-primary/
— ReSet Party declares victory over incumbents in Homer Township Republican primary
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/25/homer-township-reset-claims-victory/
— What we know about primary elections in Chicago’s suburbs
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/26/daywatch-what-we-know-about-primary-elections-in-chicagos-suburbs/
CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS
— Pritzker and Illinois Dems say the state is being shorted $1.9B by Trump
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/politics/pritzker-illinois-democrats-say-trump-withholding-funds
SPRINGFIELD STATE JOURNAL REGISTER
— Pritzker panders to working-class voters by saying that the system is rigged against them. Of course, he hints/implies/argues/shouts that Republicans do the rigging.
https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/state/2025/02/26/illinois-gov-jb-pritzker-system-is-rigged-toward-the-wealthy/80316143007/
BELLEVILLE NEWS DEMOCRAT
— Pritzker takes the lead nationally calling Trump a Nazi. Because of Pritzker, the more demographics that you share with Trump, the more danger that you are in. Trump is conservative, Republican, White, male, older, non-poor, non-veteran, married, Protestant, German American, and his ancestors have been in America for a long time.
https://www.bnd.com/news/politics-government/article300989979.html
SOUTHERN
— Musk’s whirlwind approach sparks rift in the White House and in Trump’s orbit
https://southernillinoisnow.com/2025/02/25/musks-whirlwind-approach-sparks-rift-in-the-white-house-and-in-trumps-orbit-sources/
FOX ILLINOIS
— Illegal migrant hotels in the spotlight with taxpayers footing the bill
https://foxillinois.com/news/nation-world/illegal-migrant-hotels-in-the-spotlight-taxpayers-footing-the-bill-nancy-mace-alien-removal-not-resort-stays-act-ice-deportation
NPR ILLINOIS
— Trump introduces a green card for the rich: the gold card
https://www.nprillinois.org/2025-02-25/trump-introduces-a-green-card-for-the-rich-the-gold-card
WREX
— Rockford leaders ever-increasingly promote more illegal immigration.
https://www.wrex.com/news/rockford-city-council-committee-votes-to-keep-all-people-are-welcome-sign/article_d562e5f4-f330-11ef-90d6-f32ca480598b.html
FOX2
— Illinois schools will continue to teach LGBTQ+ history despite warning from feds (COMMENT: Democrats do not teach LGBTQ+ history, they promote LGBTQ+.)
https://fox2now.com/news/illinois/illinois-schools-will-continue-to-teach-lgbtq-history-despite-warning-from-feds/amp/
LOYOLA PHOENIX
— Long Live The King? Trump Grabs For Power (COMMENT: How soon will the Democrats who run Loyola revoke my 1976 MBA?)
https://loyolaphoenix.com/2025/02/long-live-the-king-trump-grabs-for-power/
POLITICO ILLINOIS
— Pritzker tries prying back $2B in frozen fed funds
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/2025/02/26/pritzker-slams-trump-over-2b-in-frozen-funds-00206170
CAPITOL FAX
— Local results: Balich slate swept out in Homer Township; Henyard trounced in Dolton; Durbin candidate fails to make Aurora runoff; Dominick, Jackson win in Cicero and Riverdale
https://capitolfax.com/2025/02/26/local-results-balich-slate-swept-out-in-homer-township-henyard-trounced-in-dolton-durbin-candidate-fails-to-make-aurora-runoff-dominick-jackson-win-in-cicero-and-riverdale/
— Morning briefing
https://capitolfax.com/2025/02/26/isabel%e2%80%99s-morning-briefing-462/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WIREPOINTS
— Beyond the Nazi accusations. What you should know about Gov. Pritzker’s budget address.
https://wirepoints.org/beyond-the-nazi-accusations-the-many-deflections-in-gov-pritzkers-2026-budget-address-wirepoints/
— Wondering how Illinois’ projected $3.2 billion budget deficit disappeared?
https://wirepoints.org/wondering-how-illinois-projected-3-2-billion-budget-deficit-disappeared-wirepoints-quickpoint/
CENTER SQUARE ILLINOIS
— Illinois State Board of Education not complying with Trump’s DEI orders. Despite declining enrollment, ISBE asking for more tax dollars.
https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/article_a02aeec2-f3cb-11ef-a77e-97097912fca1.html
MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
— “Integrity Team” Wins Control of Algonquin Township, Dado Wins for Supervisor, Danijela Sandberg Re-Elected Road Commissioner, Medendorp Wins Clerkship, Allied Trustees Victorious
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/25/integrity-team-win-control-of-algonquin-township-dado-wins-for-supervisor-danijela-sandberg-re-elected-road-commissioner-medendorp-wins-clerkship-allied-trustees-victorious/
— Mike Shorten Wipes Out Incumbent Nunda Township Supervisor Leda Bobera-Drain
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/25/mike-shorten-wipes-out-incumbent-nunda-township-supervisor-leda-drain/
— Algonquin Township Fuzzy Maps of Who Won Where for Supervisor and Road Commissioner
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/25/algonquin-township-fuzzy-maps-of-who-won-where/
— Fuzzy Map of Nunda Township Precincts Where Mike Shorten and Leda Barbora-Drain Won for Supervisor
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/25/nunda-township-fuzzy-map-of-precincts-where-mike-shorten-and-leda-barbora-drain-won-for-supervisor/
— Three Percent Turnout Decide All But One Township Official in Algonquin, Grafton and Nunda Townships
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/25/three-percent-turnout-decide-all-but-one-township-official-in-algonquin-grafton-and-nunda-townships/
GOPUSA ILLINOIS
— I should write about my high-profile critics/opponents who stress that they are religious, conservative, and/or Republican, but who have taken many big anti-religious, anti-conservative, and/or anti-Republican actions. I would focus on those whose many big anti-religious, anti-conservative, and/or anti-Republican actions have been highlighted the most by the Democrat news media. I would focus on those who have taken the most/biggest adverse actions against me since 2000 because I included links to reports of their actions in my GOPUSA ILLINOIS newsletters. My high-profile critics/opponents want/expect/demand that I coverup their wrongdoing. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— What is your position on unions and grievances? I transferred from IRS to GAO when I was 31 years old in 1980. My Democrat GAO superiors took many big adverse actions against me. If GAO had been unionized, I would have filed grievances. My Democrat GAO superiors a) forced me to take a $23,472/year (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer, b) gave me bad job assignments and unfair performance expectations and appraisals, c) kept me off audits of IRS for all but 3 of the almost 18 years that I worked for GAO, d) delayed my promotions and never promoted me beyond GS-13, e) always ranked me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance, and f) forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. They would not have done any of the aforesaid if I had been a Democrat, minority, female, younger, or veteran. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Hegseth became a Second Lieutenant in 2003, Captain in 2011, and Major in 2014. My critics/opponents have always demonized me, denigrated me, and condemned me as having been a failed federal employee. But I became a) a GS-7 in 1971; that is equivalent to Second Lieutenant, b) a GS-9 in 1972, that is equivalent to First Lieutenant, c) a GS-11 in 1973, that is equivalent to Captain, d) a GS-12 in 1974, that is equivalent to Major, and e) a GS-13 in 1986, that is equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Democrat and RINO leaders ever-increasingly paint themselves as being champions for those who are marginalized if not oppressed, that is, that they are champions for those who are liberal/moderate, non-Republican, minority, female, younger, LGBTQ, unmarried, pregnant, non-rich, veteran, disabled, non-Protestant, non-German American, have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time, citizens of foreign countries, in America illegally, boozers, gamblers, stoners, criminals, etc. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— What has frustrated your job searches? My Democrat GAO superiors forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. That, along with the previous adverse actions that they had taken against me, my having opposed their political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and age discrimination, and my demographics defeated my search for a job appropriate for my work experience, professional certifications, and my professional license. I should write about the aforesaid. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Democrats say that DOGE is turning into a Democratic candidate recruitment tool. How dependent on federal spending are the voters in America, Illinois, your county, your township, your municipality, your school district, and your precinct? From what I see, the more of the following that voters are, the more dependent that they are on federal spending: liberal/moderate, non-Republican, minority, female, younger, LGBTQ, unmarried, pregnant, non-rich, veteran, disabled, non-Protestant, non-German American, have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time, citizens of foreign countries, in America illegally, boozers, gamblers, stoners, criminals, etc. According to Democrats, those who are the aforesaid are discriminated against, marginalized, and oppressed by Republicans. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON TIMES
— ‘Self-deport’: Noem vows to flex immigration laws on the books but never enforced
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/25/dhs-warns-illegal-immigrants-self-deport/
NEW YORK POST
— Ex-Navy SEAL Rep. Dan Crenshaw fumes over Tucker Carlson in hot-mic moment
https://nypost.com/2025/02/25/us-news/ex-navy-seal-rep-dan-crenshaw-fumes-over-tucker-carlson-in-hot-mic-moment-ill-f-king-kill-him/
BREITBART
— Pritzker: Trump Ignoring Courts, ‘Disobeying’ Constitution Like Early Nazi Days
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2025/02/25/pritzker-trump-ignoring-courts-disobeying-constitution-like-early-nazi-days/
CHRONICLES MAGAZINE
— Henry Hyde’s Monuments
https://chroniclesmagazine.org/web/henry-hydes-monuments/
DAILY WIRE
— Trump Admin Planning To Create Registry For Illegal Aliens. The plan utilizes an old immigration law that was designed to catch suspected communists.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-planning-to-create-registry-for-illegal-aliens-report
FEDERALIST
— Illinois Democrat Bill Would Legalize Women Selling Their Bodies For Money
https://thefederalist.com/2025/02/26/illinois-democrat-bill-would-legalize-women-selling-their-bodies-for-money/
EPOCH TIMES
— Trump to Launch ‘Gold Card’ Visas That Would Grant Residency for $5 Million. The new visa will grant green card privileges and a path to citizenship. ‘Wealthy people will be coming into our country,’ the president said. (COMMENT: What do wealthy people think of you? I should write about my critics/opponents who are wealthy.)
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/trump-to-launch-gold-card-visas-that-would-grant-residency-for-5-million-5816329
FOX NEWS
— Noem announces DHS registry for illegal aliens in US that will require them to be fingerprinted. DHS secretary announces plans to fully enforce the Immigration and Nationality Act enacted in 1952.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/noem-announces-dhs-registry-illegal-aliens-us-require-fingerprinted
— Top Trump official moves to block illegal immigrants from receiving food stamps
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/top-trump-official-moves-block-illegal-immigrants-from-receiving-food-stamps-follow-law-full-stop
NEWSMAX
— Trump Plan: Fines, Prison For Illegals Not Part of Registry
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/donald-trump-illegal-immigration/2025/02/25/id/1200480/
REAL CLEAR POLITICS
— Trump Ending Benefits to Illegals Is a Game Changer
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/2025/02/26/trump_ending_benefits_to_illegals_is_a_game_changer_641824.html
REAL CLEAR EDUCATION
— Illinois Students Are Struggling. Lowering Standards Masks the Crisis.
https://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2025/02/25/illinois_students_are_struggling_lowering_standards_masks_the_crisis_1093921.html
TOWNHALL
— Biden Policy Fast-Tracked Illegals Through Airport Security Lines
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2025/02/25/biden-policy-fast-tracked-illegals-through-airport-security-lines-n2652815
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
THE HILL
— The mainstream news media acts like the Democrat Party is paying it to spin everything against Republicans and for Democrats.
https://www.aol.com/news/trump-claims-media-paid-write-152811489.html
REUTERS
— Democrats say “Musk to attend Trump cabinet meet as workers brace for more uncertainty.”
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-attend-trump-cabinet-meet-workers-brace-more-uncertainty-2025-02-26/
ASSOCIATED PRESS
— Fired federal workers hunt for new jobs but struggle (COMMENT: What has frustrated your job searches? My Democrat GAO superiors forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. That, along with the previous adverse actions that they had taken against me, my having opposed their political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and age discrimination, and my demographics defeated my search for a job appropriate for my work experience, professional certifications, and my professional license. I should write about the aforesaid.)
https://apnews.com/article/doge-firings-layoffs-federal-government-workers-musk-57671a76f22d5398a3c794e29e350082
— Trump administration creates registry for immigrants who are in the US illegally
https://apnews.com/article/illegal-immigrant-registry-trump-border-enforcement-37ce7a345c1617ce3a9427e0ef755021
NEW YORK TIMES
— Hegseth Returns to Guantánamo, This Time as Defense Secretary. Hegseth served at the U.S. Navy base as a National Guard Second Lieutenant. The base is now being used to hold some migrants who face deportation. (COMMENT: Hegseth became a Second Lieutenant in 2003, Captain in 2011, and Major in 2014. My critics/opponents have always demonized me, denigrated me, and condemned me as having been a failed federal employee. But I became a) a GS-7 in 1971; that is equivalent to Second Lieutenant, b) a GS-9 in 1972, that is equivalent to First Lieutenant, c) a GS-11 in 1973, that is equivalent to Captain, d) a GS-12 in 1974, that is equivalent to Major, and e) a GS-13 in 1986, that is equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/us/politics/pete-hegseth-guantanamo-bay.html
USA TODAY
— 1,400 more VA employees laid off in Trump’s latest purge of federal workers (COMMENT: While I worked for the Democrats who ran GAO 1980-1997, Republicans got rid of more than 3,000 of its employees, that is, they got rid of more than half of its employee. My Democrat GAO superiors punished me severely for that.)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/25/more-layoffs-veterans-department/80303826007/
— Democrats ask “When did the party of ‘family values’ stop caring about having moral leaders?” (COMMENT: I should write about my high-profile critics/opponents who stress that they are religious, conservative, and/or Republican, but who have taken many big anti-religious, anti-conservative, and/or anti-Republican actions. I would focus on those whose many big anti-religious, anti-conservative, and/or anti-Republican actions have been highlighted the most by the Democrat news media. I would focus on those who have taken the most/biggest adverse actions against me since 2000 because I included links to reports of their actions in my GOPUSA ILLINOIS newsletters. My high-profile critics/opponents want/expect/demand that I coverup their wrongdoing.)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/02/24/trump-musk-republicans-immoral-family-values/78925358007/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Conservatism is rooted in a philosophy of personal responsibility. How you conduct yourself as an individual matters. Living your life in line with conservative principles pays dividends far more often than cheating and lying your way through relationships and politics. . .People pretend that personal and political lives are separate. They’re not. The two facets, political and personal, are interconnected. As the GOP has embraced men who have conducted themselves poorly in their personal lives, the party’s commitment to conservative political principles have crumbled.)
— Democrat and RINO leaders ever-increasingly paint themselves as being champions for those who are marginalized if not oppressed, that is, that they are champions for those who are liberal/moderate, non-Republican, minority, female, younger, LGBTQ, unmarried, pregnant, non-rich, veteran, disabled, non-Protestant, non-German American, have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time, citizens of foreign countries, in America illegally, boozers, gamblers, stoners, criminals, etc.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2025/02/23/jane-fonda-sag-awards-speech-trump/79899116007/
— ‘Reverse discrimination’ case comes to Supreme Court as DEI is under siege. At issue: have courts created an extra hurdle for discrimination claims made by the member of a majority group? It comes amid a raging battle over DEI programs.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/26/supreme-court-case-dei-reverse-discrimination/80052848007/
— Democrats say “MAGA roars as Trump GOP critics fret in the wilderness.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/26/donald-trump-maga-cpac-2025/79612255007/
BARRON’S
— Tesla Has Lost $400 Billion In Value During Trump Presidency. What the Charts Say Comes Next.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/tesla-stock-value-trump-eb339749
POLITICO
— ‘Furious and looking for action’: DOGE is turning into a Democratic candidate recruitment tool. More than 2,000 people reached out to an organization that recruits people to run for office in the last week. (COMMENT: How dependent on federal spending are the voters in America, Illinois, your county, your township, your municipality, your school district, and your precinct? From what I see, the more of the following that voters are, the more dependent that they are on federal spending: liberal/moderate, non-Republican, minority, female, younger, LGBTQ, unmarried, pregnant, non-rich, veteran, disabled, non-Protestant, non-German American, have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time, citizens of foreign countries, in America illegally, boozers, gamblers, stoners, criminals, etc.)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/25/recruit-federal-workers-run-for-office-022064
GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE
— It’s Becoming Rarer for Federal Agencies and Employees to Settle Over Adverse Actions And employees who take their cases to a judge are increasingly losing. (COMMENT: I transferred from IRS to GAO when I was 31 years old in 1980. My Democrat GAO superiors took many big adverse actions against me. If GAO had been unionized, I would have filed grievances. My Democrat GAO superiors a) forced me to take a $23,472/year (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer, b) gave me bad job assignments and unfair performance expectations and appraisals, c) kept me off audits of IRS for all but 3 of the almost 18 years that I worked for GAO, d) delayed my promotions and never promoted me beyond GS-13, e) always ranked me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance, and f) forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. They would not have done any of the aforesaid if I had been a Democrat, minority, female, younger, or veteran.)
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2020/01/its-becoming-rarer-federal-agencies-and-employees-settle-over-adverse-actions/162813/
GUARDIAN
— To get more votes from minorities and females, Democrat and RINO leaders ever-increasingly promote more hatred against Whites and men.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/26/donald-trump-straight-white-men-diversity-kemi-badenoch-business-multiculturalism-economy
Tag: age
February 25, 2025 Evening Edition
WHITE HOUSE
— Sick Politicians Want Killers, Rapists Roaming Our Streets
https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/02/sick-politicians-want-killers-rapists-roaming-our-streets/
— Statement on Trump White House Victory Against the Associated Press
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/02/statement-on-trump-white-house-victory-against-the-associated-press/
— New Poll Shows Massive Support for President Trump and His Agenda
https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/02/new-poll-shows-massive-support-for-president-trump-and-his-agenda/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
ABC7
— Federal employees may get more demands to justify their work at Elon Musk’s direction
https://abc7chicago.com/post/president-donald-trump-backs-musk-he-roils-federal-workforce-demands-threats/15953583/
— Is Mayor Brandon Johnson is ready to defend Chicago’s sanctuary city law to Congress?
https://abc7chicago.com/post/ex-congressman-luis-guttierez-questions-chicago-mayor-brandon-johnson-is-ready-defend-sanctuary-city-law-congress/15954965/
— Rudy Giuliani satisfies Fulton County election workers’ $148 million defamation case
https://abc7chicago.com/post/rudy-giuliani-satisfies-fulton-county-election-workers-148-million-defamation-case/15952884/
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Search for next US attorney in Chicago underway, again, in dramatically changed landscape (COMMENT: My critics/opponents have always stressed that my Republican U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald appointed U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald who sided with my Democrat GAO superiors in Diersen v. GAO. Previously, Peter Fitzgerald also appointed Amy St. Eve to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois who also sided with my Democrat GAO superiors. To side with my Democrat GAO superiors is to promote Affirmative Action and DEI, that is, to promote race and gender based preference giving, patronage, political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, and national origin discrimination.)
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/25/search-for-next-us-attorney-in-chicago-underway-again-in-dramatically-changed-landscape/
— Democrat leaders always hint/imply/argue/shout that Republicans are responsible for racist graffiti
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/25/officials-promise-immediate-consequences-after-racist-graffiti-found-at-oak-park-and-river-forest-high-school/
— Social Security says higher payments are on the way for millions of former public workers
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/25/social-security-payments/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: More than 3.2 million Social Security recipients who received pensions from their time as teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public service jobs will soon see a boost in their benefits. Most people will receive their one-time retroactive payment by the end of March, and new monthly payments will begin in April, the agency says. The Social Security Administration announced it would immediately begin processing retroactive payments and will send increased monthly payments to people affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, which were rescinded in the bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act that former President Joe Biden signed into law last year. The Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset limited Social Security benefits for recipients if they got retirement payments from other sources, including public retirement programs from a state or local government. Advocates say the Social Security Fairness Act rights a decades-old disparity, though it also puts a strain on Social Security Trust Funds, which face a looming insolvency crisis.)
— Apple shareholders reject proposal to scrap company’s diversity programs
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/25/apple-diversity-programs-2/
— Federal employees may get more demands to justify their work at Elon Musk’s direction
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/25/federal-employees-elon-musk/
— Elon Musk renews threat to fire federal workers despite pushback from various agencies
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/25/elon-musk-federal-workers/
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Rep. LaHood calls Trump policies a ‘priority’ as he opens search for new top federal prosecutor. The Peoria Republican also noted that the Northern District of Illinois has gone more than 22 months without a confirmed U.S. attorney.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2025/02/25/lahood-opens-u-s-attorney-search-by-calling-trump-policies
— Anticipate/expect that hate-filled Trump-hating Trump-haters will ever-increasingly hint/imply/argue/shout that rump is a Nazi. To hint/imply/argue/shout that someone is a Nazi in America today is like hinting/implying/arguing/shouting that someone is a Jew in Germany in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/letters-to-the-editor/2025/02/25/pritzker-trump-comparison-nazi-hitler-academic-commentary
— With intensifying assaults on the press, is it time for a ‘NATO for news’? To protect the free press in America, we need to agree that “an attack on one is an attack on all.”
https://chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/2025/02/24/president-donald-trump-assault-press-news-media-associated-press-ap-nato-news-jim-friedlich
DAILY HERALD
— Wheaton College in political, religious crosshairs over congratulating Trump appointee
https://www.dailyherald.com/20250225/news/wheaton-college-in-political-religious-crosshairs-over-congratulating-trump-appointee/
— Some GOP lawmakers start to call out DOGE — carefully
https://www.dailyherald.com/20250225/nation-and-world-politics/some-gop-lawmakers-start-to-call-out-doge-carefully/
— College of DuPage to host College Poll Worker Recruitment Summit April 11
https://www.dailyherald.com/20250224/submitted-content/college-of-dupage-to-host-college-poll-worker-recruitment-summit-april-11/
CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS
— Who will be Chicago’s next U.S. attorney? Rep. LaHood is taking applications.
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/politics/darin-lahood-kicks-search-chicagos-us-attorney
SHAW LOCAL
— White House says it ‘will decide’ which news outlets cover Trump, rotating some traditional ones
https://www.shawlocal.com/news/2025/02/25/white-house-says-it-will-decide-which-news-outlets-cover-trump-rotating-some-traditional-ones/
ALTON TELEGRAPH
— Apple shareholders reject proposal to scrap company’s diversity programs
https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/politics/article/alert-apple-shareholders-reject-proposal-to-20186932.php
CENTRAL ILLINOIS PROUD
— DeSantis talks up his wife as next Florida governor. Here’s what to know about Casey.
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/national/ap-as-desantis-talks-up-his-wife-as-next-florida-governor-heres-what-to-know-about-casey/
NORTHERN PUBLIC RADIO
— Rollback of diversity efforts leaves teachers wondering about effects on Black History Month
https://www.northernpublicradio.org/2025-02-25/rollback-of-diversity-efforts-leaves-teachers-wondering-about-effects-on-black-history-month
CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS
— Pritzker positions himself at forefront of Trump opposition by invoking Nazis’ rise to power
https://capitolnewsillinois.com/news/pritzker-positions-himself-at-forefront-of-trump-opposition-by-invoking-nazis-rise-to-power/
— Lawsuit threatens Illinois minority teachers scholarship. Conservative group seeks to overturn race-based financial aid. (COMMENT: My critics/opponents have always used my not getting any scholarships against me.)
https://capitolnewsillinois.com/news/lawsuit-threatens-illinois-minority-teachers-scholarship/
POLITICO ILLINOIS
— Edgar disses Trump
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/2025/02/25/edgar-battles-cancer-disses-trump-00205911
CAPITOL FAX
— Afternoon roundup
https://capitolfax.com/2025/02/25/isabel%e2%80%99s-afternoon-roundup-255/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
— Milena McConchie, Wife of Recently Resigned State Senator Dan McConchie Succumbs to Cancer from Chernobyl Radiation, R.I.P.
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/25/milena-mcconchie-wife-of-recently-resigned-state-senator-dan-mcconchie-succumbs-to-cancer-from-chernobyl-radiation-r-i-p/
— Carbondale Retreats To Keep Sidewalk Counseling Case Out of U.S. Supreme Court
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/25/carbondale-retreats-to-keep-sidewalk-counseling-case-out-of-u-s-supreme-court/
— Algonquin Township Supervisor Randy “My Way or the Highway” Funk Mails Out Newsletter Right Before Election Day
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/25/algonquin-township-supervisor-randy-my-way-or-the-highway-funk-mails-out-newsletter-right-before-election-day/
— Schakowsky Continues Picketing Agencies Musk Targets
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/25/schakowsky-continues-picketing-agencies-musk-targets/
— Federal Gun Dealer Takedown
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/25/federal-gun-dealer-takedown/
— State Reps Reick and Keicher Set Tele-Town Hall Meeting February 26th
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/25/state-reps-reick-and-keicher-set-tele-town-hall-meeting-february-26th/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON TIMES
— DHS warns illegal immigrants to self-deport
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/25/dhs-warns-illegal-immigrants-self-deport/
WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— Chicago keeps electing Democrats to disastrous results
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/3329826/chicago-keeps-electing-democrats-disastrous-results/
— Hospitals conducting transgender procedures on children supported by billions in taxpayer dollars
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/3329731/hospitals-transgender-procedures-children-billions-taxpayer-dollars/
NEW YORK POST
— Trump administration ends use of controversial app to allow migrants to fly without ID
https://nypost.com/2025/02/25/us-news/trump-administration-ends-use-of-app-to-allow-migrants-to-board-flights-without-id/
CITY JOURNAL
— How Universities Get Away With Hiring Radicals. Fellow-to-faculty programs have seeded academia with activists.
https://www.city-journal.org/article/universities-fellow-to-faculty-programs-activists
DAILY WIRE
— Nearly 100 Illegals Captured In Colony Ridge Deportation Raids. Border Czar Tom Homan said “several child sexual predators” were arrested in the Texas development.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/nearly-100-illegals-captured-in-colony-ridge-deportation-raids
NATIONAL REVIEW
— Homan Wants to Double ICE Footprint in Sanctuary Cities. Musk Is Helping Him Get There.
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/tom-homan-wants-to-double-ice-footprint-in-sanctuary-cities-elon-musk-is-helping-him-get-there/
NEWS BUSTERS
— The View Celebrates Black History Month By Promoting Discredited 1619 Project
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2025/02/25/view-celebrates-black-history-month-promoting-discredited
ONE AMERICA NEWS
— DHS Secretary Noem Says She Discovered Some Officials ‘Tipping Off’ Illegals About Deportation Plans: ‘They Will Be Fired’
https://www.oann.com/newsroom/dhs-secretary-noem-says-she-discovered-some-officials-tipping-off-illegals-about-deportation-plans-they-will-be-fired/
WESTERN JOURNAL
— Poetic Justice: Obama Library Delayed – Discrimination Lawsuits, Environmental Injunctions, Enrichment Allegations
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/poetic-justice-obama-library-delayed-discrimination-lawsuits-environmental-injunctions-enrichment-allegations/ar-AA1zCG31
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
CBS NEWS
— Federal workers urge congressional lawmakers to reverse job cuts
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/federal-workers-urge-congressional-lawmakers-to-reverse-job-cuts/
— Case surge from fired federal workers jams federal board
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/case-surge-from-fired-federal-workers-jams-merit-systems-protection-board/
NTD
— House Hearing on ‘The Government Accountability Office’s 2025 High-Risk List’
https://www.ntd.com/live-1-pm-et-house-hearing-on-the-government-accountability-offices-2025-high-risk-list_1049779.html
WASHINGTON POST
— What has Trump done today?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2025/trump-administration-actions/
USA TODAY
— Trump pitches $5 million gold card path to citizenship for foreign investors
https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/politics/2025/02/25/trump-pitches-gold-card-path-to-citizenship-for-foreign-investors/80355877007/
WALL STREET JOURNAL
— Trump Proposes Fines, Prison Time for Migrants Who Don’t Join Registry. Administration plans to establish registration website as soon as this week.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-immigration-migrant-registry-jail-time-95c405a7
POLITICO
— White House says it will determine which reporters have access to the president
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/25/trump-white-house-press-pool-access-00206001
PBS
— Elon Musk may direct more demands on federal employees to justify their work
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/elon-musk-may-direct-more-demands-on-federal-employees-to-justify-their-work
RASMUSSEN REPORTS
— Is Trump Acting Like a Dictator? 74% of Democrats Say So
https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration_second_term/is_trump_acting_like_a_dictator_74_of_democrats_say_so
February 25, 2025
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
ABC7
— Federal employees in Chicago react to confusion over ‘disrespectful’ Musk email request. Trump administration also looking to sell off a number of government-owned buildings, including a couple in Chicago. (COMMENT: I worked in the Kluczynski building 1973-1980 for IRS and then for GAO 1980-1981. If I was still working for GAO, my Democrat superiors, supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates would have killed me by now figuratively if not literally.)
https://abc7chicago.com/post/federal-employees-chicago-react-confusion-disrespectful-president-donald-trump-elon-musk-doge-email-request/15952453/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Some people working in the Kluczynski federal building were walking on eggshells Monday morning. One 40-year Treasury Department veteran did not want to go on camera, but called the current climate “overwhelming and mentally distressing.”)
FOX32
— USPS rallies against Trump’s possible agency takeover. “Fight like hell” is what USPS workers are saying in response to President Donald Trump’s proposal to take over the agency. (COMMENT: I worked for the Democrats who ran the Post Office 1966-1969.)
https://www.fox32chicago.com/video/1598376
— Democrat and RINO leaders ever-increasingly crow about their success in manipulating and in dominating religious leaders.
https://www.fox32chicago.com/video/1598601
WGN RADIO
— OPM tells HR leaders that response to Musk is ‘voluntary’
https://wgnradio.com/news/opm-tells-hr-leaders-that-response-to-musk-is-voluntary/
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— US refuses to blame Russia for Ukraine war, splitting with European allies in UN votes
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/24/us-russia-ukraine-war/
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD: Former two-term Gov. Jim Edgar diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/24/former-gov-jim-edgar-pancreatic-cancer/
CHICAGO SUN-TMES
— ALL OF THE FRONT PAGE: Trump’s cozying up to Russia comes as ‘slap in the face’ to Ukrainian Americans in Chicago. “It’s a betrayal of that ideal that I believe made America what it is — a place in the world where those that don’t have hope can look forward to hope,” said Walter Tun, whose Ukrainian parents immigrated to the U.S. after World War II.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/ukraine/2025/02/24/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-third-anniversary-chicago-ukrainians
— Passengers at O’Hare know flying is safe, but some have concerns after plane crashes (COMMENT: I often flew out of O’Hare a) as a GAO employee 1980-1997 and b) with my wife on her business trips to luxury resorts 1978-1992.)
https://chicago.suntimes.com/transportation/2025/02/24/air-travel-safety-anxiety-transportation
DAILY HERALD
— FRONT PAGE: Sooner or later, if not already, under the Democrats and under the RINOs, everyone in America will a) be handing out welfare and/or b) receiving welfare.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20250224/news/new-building-expands-peoples-resource-centers-capacity/
CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS
— Hate-filled Trump-hating Trump-haters ever-increasingly spin everything negatively against Trump.
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/crains-forum-whats-ahead-medicaid/medicaid-funding-cuts-could-hit-illinois-hard
SOUTHERN
— Democrats outline playbook to target House Republicans on Medicaid, budget and DOGE
https://southernillinoisnow.com/2025/02/25/democrats-outline-playbook-to-target-house-republicans-on-medicaid-budget-and-doge/
SPRINGFIELD STATE JOURNAL REGISTER
— New bill would raise age in which Illinois seniors need to take a driving test
https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/state/2025/02/25/new-bill-would-raise-age-illinois-seniors-need-to-take-driving-test/79226496007/
CHAMPAIGN/URBANA NEWS GAZETTE
— Did Pritzker’s ‘Nazi’ ploy have intended effect for 2028?
https://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/columns/jim-dey-did-pritzkers-nazi-ploy-have-intended-effect-for-2028/article_ec56f494-f2e5-11ef-9823-e7e608d77383.html
STATELINE
— No property tax on new homes? Rockford considers extending 3-year program (COMMENT: My wife and I had a home built in Wheaton in 1984. I should write about our fight to get its assessed valuation lowered because of construction defects and unrecorded easements. SEE: https://casetext.com/case/diersen-v-joe-keim-builders-inc )
https://www.mystateline.com/news/local-news/no-property-tax-on-new-homes-rockford-considers-extending-3-year-program/
NPR ILLINOIS
— U.S. Office of Special Counsel asks for stay of terminations of six probationary federal employees fired over the past two weeks. (COMMENT: When I transferred from IRS to GAO when I was 31 years old in 1980, my Democrat GAO superiors were furious that could not just fire me because I had served my probationary period working for IRS.)
https://www.nprillinois.org/2025-02-24/federal-watchdog-agency-intervenes-in-trumps-purge-of-probationary-employees
AXIOS
— Illinois schools will teach LGBTQ+ history despite federal pushback
https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2025/02/25/illinois-schools-transgender-history-curriculum
CAPITOL FAX
— Morning briefing
https://capitolfax.com/2025/02/25/isabel%e2%80%99s-morning-briefing-461/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
CENTER SQUARE ILLINOIS
— Pritzker’s budget proposal maintains spending levels on abortions (COMMENT: To vote for Democrats is to promote abortion.)
https://www.mdjonline.com/neighbor_newspapers/extra/news/pritzker-s-budget-proposal-maintains-spending-levels-on-abortions/article_f47e1142-8cb7-547c-90c3-911d68a72187.html
WIREPOINTS
— Beyond the Nazi accusations. What you should know about Gov. Pritzker’s budget address
https://wirepoints.org/beyond-the-nazi-accusations-the-many-deflections-in-gov-pritzkers-2026-budget-address-wirepoints/
MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
— Lakewood Set to Give Golf Discounts to All Sorts of Insiders
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/25/lakewood-set-to-give-golf-discounts-to-all-sorts-of-insiders/
— Fourth Mailing by Algonquin Township Road Commissioner Danijela Sandberg
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/25/fourth-mailing-by-algonquin-township-road-commissioner-danijela-sandberg/
— Politico Covers McHenry County GOPAC Fundraiser Featuring Lara Trump
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/25/politico-covers-mchenry-county-gopac-fundraiser-featuring-lara-trump/
— McLaughlin Calls Out Democrats for Again Seeking to End Flat Rate Income Tax
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/24/mclaughlin-calls-out-democrats-for-again-seeking-to-end-flat-rate-income-tax/
GOPUSA ILLINOIS
— I am a platform Republican. To run for an office as a Republican is to obligate yourself to defend and advance the Republican Party platform if elected. I help elect Republican candidates because if they are elected, they are obligated to defend and advance the Republican Party platform. But sadly, if not outrageously, if not disgustingly, if not tragically, after they are elected as Republicans, far too many fail/refuse to defend/advance the Republican Party platform. But nevertheless, I continue to help elect them because Democrat elected officials are much worse. There are many RINOs, but there are virtually no DINOs. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— What if you were ordered to report what you accomplished during the last 7 days? I put GOPUSA ILLINOIS newsletters together and sent them out. Between Tuesday, February 18, and Monday, February 24, they included links to 522 articles. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Hate-filled Trump-hating Trump-haters ever-increasingly promote more hatred against Trump and against those who share Trump’s demographics: conservative, Republican, American, White, male, older, non-poor, married, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America foe a long time. More than 77 million voted for Trump. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— GAO is supposed to be doing what DOGE does, plus much more. Bur GAO is just a shell of what it once was. That is because Gingrich gutted GAO instead of reforming it. Because of that, my Democrat GAO superiors forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. Before that, they always ranked me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance, delayed my promotions and never promoted me beyond GS-13, kept me off audits of IRS for all but 3 of the almost 18 years that I worked for them, and forced me to take a $23,472/year (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer from IRS in 1980. GAO did not unionize until 2007. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— The federal government is not nonpartisan. Virtually all federal employees are Democrats who despise/hate Republicans. For Democrats, the federal government exists to hire, to retain, and to promote Democrats. I should write about that. I would use as examples the three federal agencies that I worked for: GAO 1980-1997, IRS 1971-1980, and Post Office 1966-1969. I would use as examples the adverse actions that the aforesaid took against me to waste my career and to get rid of me because I was a Republican who complained about their use of budget cuts, up-or-out, subjectivity in job assignment and performance appraisal systems, and Affirmative Action and DEI, that is, race and gender based preference giving, political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, and national origin discrimination to not hire Republicans, to not retain Republicans, to not promote Republicans, and to get rid of Republicans. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Have you been collateral damage? I want to believe that my big GAO employment problems 1980-1997 were simply collateral damage caused by Republican budget cuts. But Hastert and my Republican U.S. Senators and Representatives not coming to my defense in Diersen v. GAO argues against that. It argues that they did not really oppose GAO’s political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, and national origin discrimination. It argues that they rejected the equal opportunity (no race or gender based preference giving) plank in the Republican Party platform. According to my critics/opponents, they did not come to my defense because they believed that I was a bad employee. In my defense, while I worked for GAO, I earned two job-related master’s degrees, five job-related professional certifications, and a job-related professional license. Previously, while I worked for IRS, I earned a job related master’s degree and a job-related professional certification. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— How much religious, political, government, and/or financial clout do your critics/opponents have. My critics/opponents have tremendous religious, political, government, and/or financial clout in Wheaton, Milton Township, DuPage County, and Illinois. Because of that, virtually no one has come to my defense since I moved to Wheaton in 1978. Everyone especially fears my critics/opponents who I have sued and their lawyers. They are especially wealthy, vicious, and vindictive. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON TIMES
— Musk forges ahead with DOGE demand for list of federal workers’ tasks. Says failure to respond a second time could result in firing.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/25/elon-musk-forges-ahead-doge-demand-list-federal-workers-tasks/
WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— Defunding the teacher trainers
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/equality-not-elitism/3328504/defunding-teacher-trainers/
AMERICAN CONSERVAIVE
— The Distraction of Mexico’s 10,000 Troops. The Mexican president must disband her country’s network of NGOs that bring millions of illegals to the U.S. border. (COMMENT: To send people into a country illegally is an act of war.)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-distraction-of-mexicos-10000-troops/
BREITBART
— Governors Ask President Trump to Let Them Import Foreign Workers
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2025/02/24/governors-ask-president-trump-to-let-them-import-foreign-workers/
— Survey Reveals Trump’s Mass Deportation Policy Has 62% Approval
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2025/02/24/nolte-survey-reveals-trumps-mass-deportation-policy-has-62-approval/
DAILY CALLER
— GOP Senator Suffers Brain Bleed After Slipping On Ice (COMMENT: Brain bleeds are very serious. The one that I suffered slipping on ice picking up newspapers on my driveway stopped me from putting GOPUSA ILLINOIS newsletters together and sending them out for a while. I still have not fully recovered and I probably never will.)
https://dailycaller.com/2025/02/25/gop-senator-suffers-brain-bleed-after-slipping-on-ice/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Republican North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer suffered a brain injury Sunday afternoon after slipping on ice in the backyard of his North Dakota home. Cramer, 64, said he was hospitalized and diagnosed with a “severe concussion, a seizure and a slight brain bleed” in a statement posted to Facebook Monday evening. He said he did not know when he plans to return to Washington, D.C., but that he could return quickly for a critical vote if necessary.
DAILY SIGNAL
— DOGE Follows GAO in ‘Identifying Trillions of Dollars Lost’ (COMMENT: I worked for the Democrats who ran GAO 1980-1997.)
https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/02/24/comer-doge-follows-gao-identifying-trillions-dollars-lost/
EPOCH TIMES
— US Votes Against Ukraine-Drafted UN Resolution Seeking Full Russian Withdrawal (COMMENT: What does the Republican Party platform say about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?)
https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/us-votes-against-ukraine-drafted-un-resolution-seeking-full-russian-withdrawal-5815380
— Afrikaners Stand in Line for Trump’s Refugee Offer. Tens of thousands of white Afrikaners want to move to the United States to escape alleged racial persecution in South Africa. (COMMENT: But if a Democrat or RINO is elected U.S. President in 2028, America will immediately go back to discriminating against Whites, that is, America will immediately reinstate Affirmative Action and DEI.)
https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/afrikaners-stand-in-line-for-trumps-refugee-offer-5813397
FOX NEWS
— Noem ends Biden-era use of controversial app to allow migrants to board flights, except to self-deport. Trump ordered the shutdown of the CBP One app to parole migrants last month.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/noem-ends-biden-era-use-controversial-app-allow-migrants-board-flights-except-self-deport
— Woke actors have toxic empathy
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6369283984112
NATIONAL REVIEW
— Trump Agency Heads Ignore Musk’s Ultimatum to Federal Employees, in Farcical Episode
https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/02/trump-agency-heads-ignore-musks-ultimatum-to-federal-employees-in-farcical-episode/
TOWNHALL
— ‘Did Not Know It Was Even Possible to Go That Low’: You Won’t Believe Chicago Mayor’s Favorable Ratings
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/rebeccadowns/2025/02/24/did-not-know-it-was-even-possible-to-go-that-low-you-wont-believe-chicago-mayors-approval-rating-n2652711
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
THE HILL
— The federal government is not nonpartisan. Virtually all federal employees are Democrats who despise/hate Republicans. For Democrats, the federal government exists to hire, to retain, and to promote Democrats. I should write about that. I would use as examples the three federal agencies that I worked for: GAO 1980-1997, IRS 1971-1980, and Post Office 1966-1969. I would use as examples the adverse actions that the aforesaid took against me to waste my career and to get rid of me because I was a Republican who complained about their use of budget cuts, up-or-out, subjectivity in job assignment and performance appraisal systems, and Affirmative Action and DEI, that is, race and gender based preference giving, political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, and national origin discrimination to not hire Republicans, to not retain Republicans, to not promote Republicans, and to get rid of Republicans.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/opinion-america-s-civil-service-must-remain-nonpartisan/ar-AA1thDR8
CBS NEWS
— Trump praises Musk for email threatening termination to federal workers (COMMENT: Of course, my critics/opponents would stress to Trump a) that I was a federal employee for almost 30 years and that I was a union member for almost 12 of those years, b) that I never made GS-14 and that I was forced to retire early even though I had three job-related master’s degrees, six job-related professional certifications, and a job-related professional license, and c) that I have been a federal retiree for more than 27 years.)
https://www.cbs19.tv/video/news/local/president-donald-trump-praises-elon-musk-for-email-threatening-termination-to-federal-workers/501-1e6be9de-a762-47cb-9db2-38ebc643c5e8
MSN
— Trump Didn’t Campaign on Decimating the Federal Government (COMMENT: Trump got elected by promising to defend and advance the Republican Party platform.)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/trump-didn-t-campaign-on-decimating-the-federal-government/ar-AA1zHNDh
— 10 Fast Cars From The ’60s That No One Talks About (COMMENT: The list includes 1962 Chevy Impala SS. I owned one 1989-2005. My Democrat GAO superiors, supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates were furious that I bought and owned that collector car.)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/other/10-fast-cars-from-the-60s-that-no-one-talks-about/ar-AA1zB6kv
ASSOCIATED PRESS
— Ex-Secret Service agent and conservative media personality Dan Bongino picked as FBI deputy director (COMMENT: One of my close friends during the 1960s and 1970s was a Secret Service Agent.)
https://apnews.com/article/trump-fbi-bongino-patel-cad5f4ea22ada9768ea90a08168568d1
NEW YORK TIMES
— Musk deepened the confusion and alarm of workers across the federal government Saturday by ordering them to summarize their accomplishments for the week, warning that a failure to do so would be taken as a resignation. (COMMENT: What did your accomplish during the last week? I put GOPUSA ILLINOIS newsletters together and sent them out. Since Tuesday, February 18, 2025, they included links to 522 article.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/us/politics/elon-musk-email-federal-employees.html
— America and Russia Are on the Same Side Now
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/opinion/russia-europe-trump-vance.html
DALLAS NEWS
— Democrat and RINO leaders ever-increasingly analogize illegals to runaway slaves.
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/2025/02/25/why-are-christians-fleeing-persecution-among-trumps-deportees/
ORLANDO SENTINEL
— DeSantis creates a Florida DOGE to audit universities, local governments (COMMENT: GAO is supposed to be doing what DOGE does, plus much more. Bur GAO is just a shell of what it once was. That is because Gingrich gutted GAO instead of reforming it. Because of that, my Democrat GAO superiors forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. Before that, they always ranked me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance, delayed my promotions and never promoted me beyond GS-13, kept me off audits of IRS for all but 3 of the almost 18 years that I worked for them, and forced me to take a $23,472/year (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer from IRS in 1980. GAO did not unionize until 2007.)
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/02/24/desantis-to-create-a-florida-doge-to-audit-universities-local-governments/
KXLY
— USPS workers rally against Trump (COMMENT: I worked for the Democrats who ran the Post Office 1966-1969.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC18AT46N70
KGET
— Federal employee unions expand lawsuit to Musk firing threat if they don’t justify work (COMMENT: I was a union member while I worked for the Post Office 1966-1969 and for IRS 1971-1980. If GAO had been unionized when I worked for it 1980-1997, I might still be a GAO employee.)
https://www.kget.com/video/federal-employee-unions-expand-lawsuit-to-musk-firing-threat-if-they-don%e2%80%99t-justify-work/10484134/
HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL
— Analyzing DOGE actions one month into Trump’s second administration (COMMENT: I want to believe that my big GAO employment problems 1980-1997 were simply collateral damage caused by Republican budget cuts. But Hastert and my Republican U.S. Senators and Representatives not coming to my defense in Diersen v. GAO argues against that. It argues that they did not really oppose GAO’s political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, and national origin discrimination. It argues that they rejected the equal opportunity (no race or gender based preference giving) plank in the Republican Party platform. According to my critics/opponents, they did not come to my defense because they believed that I was a bad employee. In my defense, while I worked for GAO, I earned two job-related master’s degrees, five job-related professional certifications, and a job-related professional license. Previously, while I worked for IRS, I earned a job related master’s degree and a job-related professional certification.)
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/democracy-governance/analyzing-doge-actions-one-month-trumps-second
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Even if legal and institutional safeguards eventually rein in some of the collateral damage, it will take years for government to recover from the shocks of his tenure.)
FAST COMPANY
— Democrat and RINO employers use DEI a) to not hire Republicans and b) to get rid of their Republican employees.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91282124/a-practical-guide-to-doing-dei-work-in-a-hostile-era
NPR
— U.S. votes against a U.N. resolution urging Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine (COMMENT: According to Democrat and RINO leaders, if you support Trump, you support Putin. But what does the Republican Party platform say about this? Trump got elected by promising to defend and advance the Republican Party platform.)
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/24/g-s1-50473/un-ukraine-resolution-russia
(FROM THE ARTICLE: In a win for Ukraine on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, the U.N. General Assembly on Monday adopted two resolutions calling for an end to the war, while rejecting a U.S. draft that never mentioned Moscow’s aggression. Instead, both resolutions make clear Russia was the aggressor. The United States, reflecting the extraordinary turnaround under President Donald Trump, joined Russia in voting against a Europe-backed Ukrainian resolution. The U.S. then abstained from voting on its own resolution after Europeans succeeded in amending it. It was a setback for the Trump administration in the 193-member world body, whose resolutions are not legally binding but are seen as a barometer of world opinion.)
NEW YORK MAGAZINE
— Trump Didn’t Campaign on Decimating the Federal Government
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-didnt-campaign-on-decimating-the-federal-government.html
ACLU
— Hate-filled Trump-hating Trump-haters ever-increasingly promote more hatred against Trump and against those who share Trump’s demographics: conservative, Republican, American, White, male, older, non-poor, married, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America foe a long time. More than 77 million voted for Trump.
https://www.aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/state-and-local-governments-are-saying-no-to-trumps-radical-agenda
WORKERS WORLD
— Black History Month, every day!
https://www.workers.org/2025/02/84011/
ECONOMIC TIMES
— IRS will lay off roughly 7,000 employees amid tax filing season in Trump downsizing spree (COMMENT: I worked for the Democrats who ran IRS 1971-1980.)
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/global-trends/us-news-irs-layoffs-will-lay-off-roughly-7000-employees-amid-tax-filing-season-in-trump-downsizing-spree-10-point-explainer/articleshow/118448606.cms
February 21, 2025 Evening Edition
WHITE HOUSE
— When There Are No Illegal Immigrants, There Is No Need for Shelters
https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/02/when-there-are-no-illegal-immigrants-theres-no-need-for-shelters/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
ABC7
— Father Pfleger, faith leaders call for boycott of Target after company scales back DEI initiatives
https://abc7chicago.com/post/target-boycott-father-michael-pfleger-among-faith-leaders-calling-consumer-company-scales-back-dei-initiatives/15942947/
— Judge blocks Trump’s executive order ending federal support for DEI programs
https://abc7chicago.com/post/dei-judge-blocks-president-donald-trumps-executive-order-ending-federal-support-diversity-equity-inclusion-programs/15943426/
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote more illegal immigration
https://abc7chicago.com/post/11-year-old-jocelynn-rojo-carranza-dies-suicide-days-chatter-rumors-ice-raids-gainesville-isd-school/15942540/
WGN9
— Fired IRS employee Vanessa Marie Rollins searching for health insurance after recent cancer diagnosis (COMMENT: I worked for IRS in its downtown Chicago office in 1971 and 1973-1980, its Harvey office 1972-1973, its 63rd & Halsted office in 1973, and its Joliet office 1973-1974.)
https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/chicago-irs-federal-job-cuts-trump/
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Judge blocks Donald Trump’s executive order ending federal support for DEI programs
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/21/judge-trump-dei-programs/
DAILY HERALD
— Darby Hills’ appointment to state Senate on hold as Republicans reopen applications for McConchie’s seat
https://www.dailyherald.com/20250221/illinois-state-politics/republicans-reopen-applications-for-mcconchies-suburban-senate-seat/
SOUTHERN
— Fired IRS employee decries irony of being hired to ‘make the IRS ‘more efficient’ (COMMENT: The purpose of GAO’s audits of IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID) that I worked on for GAO for 3 years was to help IRS CID close the tax gap.)
https://southernillinoisnow.com/2025/02/21/fired-irs-employee-decries-irony-of-being-hired-to-make-the-irs-more-efficient/
RIVER BENDER
— Duckworth Slams SecDef Hegseth’s Order to Cut Defense Budget by Eight Percent for the Next Five Years (COMMENT: SEE: Downsizing the U.S. General Accounting Office at https://www.gao.gov/assets/Downsizing_at_the_U.S._General_Accounting_Office.pdf )
https://www.riverbender.com/news/details/duckworth-slams-secdef-hegseths-order-to-cut-defense-budget-by-eight-percent-for-the-next-five-years-79912.cfm
(FROM THE GAO REPORT: In 1995, Congress sent a legislative branch appropriations bill to the President, which he signed, that reduced the fiscal year 1996 budget of the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) by 15 percent. At the same time, Congress indicated that it would be calling for an additional 10 percent
reduction in GAO’S budget for fiscal year 1997. In order to accommodate those reductions, GAO determined that it would have to trim its workforce
from the fiscal year 1995 level of approximately 4,350 employees’ to 3,500 employees (a loss of 850 positions) by the beginning of fiscal year 1997.)
FOX ILLINOIS
— Kristi Noem deputizes hundreds of State Department agents for immigration enforcement
https://foxillinois.com/news/nation-world/kristi-noem-deputizes-hundreds-of-state-department-agents-for-immigration-enforcement-dhs-department-of-homeland-security-trump-mass-deportations-illegal-immigration-ice
NEWS CHANNEL 20
— MAGA is ‘a Nazi movement’: Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe arrested at city council meeting (COMMENT: Under Pritzker’s lead, anticipate/expect that those in Illinois who voted for Harris (3 million) will ever-increasingly call those who voted for Trump (2.4million) Nazis.)
https://newschannel20.com/news/nation-world/maga-is-a-nazi-movement-former-nfl-punter-chris-kluwe-arrested-at-city-council-meeting-california-huntington-beach-city-council-minnesota-vikings-president-donald-trump-politics-make-america-great-again-red-hat-swastika
CENTRAL ILLINOIS PROUD
— Virtually all federal employees are Democrats. Democrat leaders ever-increasingly glorify and praise them because of Trump budget cuts.
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/national/ap-trump-administration-looks-to-slash-hud-workers-tackling-the-housing-crisis/
WGLT
— IRS cuts over 6,000 jobs in the middle of tax season
https://www.wglt.org/2025-02-20/irs-cuts-over-6-000-jobs-in-the-middle-of-tax-season
WOC 1420
— Former John Deere Employee Sues For Age Discrimination (SEE: Diersen v. GAO at: https://gopillinois.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/DiersenGAOFifthAmendedComplaint.pdf )
https://woc1420.iheart.com/content/2025-02-21-former-john-deere-employee-sues-for-age-discrimination/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: A former John Deere employee is suing the agricultural equipment maker for age discrimination. Sixty-one year-old Terence Murphy of Geneseo, Illinois says he was fired last summer after 26 years, and his job filled days later by a 33 year-old woman. In the suit, Murphy says his performance ratings were excellent. He says the new hire had no prior experience in the position, and lacked his credentials. Murphy’s attorneys say statistics show Deere fired employees over age 60 at a rate 7.5% higher than those under age 40. Deere & Company says it can’t comment on pending litigation.)
WQAD
— Employment law experts break down age discrimination lawsuit against John Deere (SEE: Diersen v. GAO at: https://gopillinois.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/DiersenGAOFifthAmendedComplaint.pdf )
https://www.wqad.com/article/money/business/john-deere/john-deere-wrongful-termination-lawsuit-age-discrimination/526-5c13b394-2ec9-4933-b724-eb26b9746e13
CHALKBEAT CHICAGO
— Illinois schools chief tells districts to follow state law, not Trump threats (COMMENT: Federal Trumps State Law.)
https://www.chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025/02/21/illinois-schools-chief-says-keep-teaching-black-history-after-trump-letter/
CAPITOL FAX
— Afternoon roundup
https://capitolfax.com/2025/02/21/isabel%e2%80%99s-afternoon-roundup-253/
— ILGOP calls out Jewish governor for ‘vile, antisemitic attacks”
https://capitolfax.com/2025/02/21/ilgop-calls-out-jewish-governor-for-vile-antisemitic-attacks/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
ILLINOIS GOP
— ILGOP Responds To Pritzker’s Vile, Antisemitic Attacks
https://illinois.gop/category/news/
(THE PRESS RELEASE: Lost in the shuffle of the grandstanding and hypocrisy from Governor Pritzker’s budget speech was the dangerous, divisive rhetoric he used – comparing President Trump and the Republican Party to Nazi’s. During Wednesday’s budget speech, Pritzker referred to Nazi’s six times, painting an inaccurate and dangerously partisan picture of the Republican Party. As Pritzker continues to prepare for his 2028 run for President, ILGOP Chair Kathy Salvi released the following statement: “JB Pritzker stoops to a new low and needs to be condemned by both Democrats and Republicans. His disgusting and repulsive attack on Republicans and this administration comes at a time when President Trump and Republicans are supporting Israel and the Jewish people as they defend themselves from barbaric terrorists. Meanwhile, JB Pritzker is standing with criminal illegals and further dividing our great nation. At the Illinois Republican Party, we continue to fight with the Trump Administration to combat an unprecedented wave of antisemitism and will always call out Pritzker’s repulsive language. Bottom Line: In their effort to combat vile, antisemitic attacks like those by Governor Pritzker on Wednesday, President Trump and Republicans are fighting antisemitism in the United States.)
GOPUSA ILLINOIS
— Those who have demographics that vote for Democrats benefit from DEI. Those who have demographics that vote for Republicans are harmed by DEI. Demographics that vote for Democrats are liberal/moderate, minority, female, younger, unmarried, poor, non-Protestant, non-German American, and/or have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time. Demographics that vote for Republicans are conservative, White, male, older, married, non-poor, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors have been in America for a long time. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON TIMES
— Stopping the illegal alien invasion. January was the lowest month of people illegally crossing the border since May 2020.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/20/stopping-illegal-alien-invasion/
EPOCH TIMES
— Trump Fires Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Charles Q Brown. Trump will nominate Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Caine to replace the general.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/trump-fires-joint-chiefs-of-staff-gen-chair-charles-q-brown-5814407
FOX BUSINESS
— Chicago resident says his city believes it’s ‘more important’ to take care of illegals than Americans
https://www.foxbusiness.com/video/6369166557112
— Red state businesses put on notice if they intentionally hire illegal immigrants: ‘Stiff penalties’ The bill would give the Montana prosecutors resources to enforce the law.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/red-state-businesses-put-on-notice-intentionally-hire-illegal-immigrants-stiff-penalties
NEWSMAX
— Military Bases to Be Used to House Illegals
https://www.newsmax.com/us/immigration-deportation-ice/2025/02/21/id/1200023/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
NBC NEWS
— Elon Musk becomes a new power center at CPAC. The tech billionaire stole the show Thursday, a surprise guest who wielded a chainsaw to symbolize his government cuts.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/doge/elon-musk-becomes-new-power-center-cpac-rcna193097
— At town halls, Republicans feel the heat from Trump and Musk’s firing and cutting spree. The White House said the incidents represent just a handful of critics. Others noted similarities to earlier backlash against disruptive moves in Washington.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/town-halls-republicans-feel-heat-trump-musks-firing-cutting-spree-rcna193164
CBS NEWS
— White House pushes back on criticism of Trump spending cuts
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/white-house-pushes-back-on-criticism-of-trump-spending-cuts/
MSNBC
— Not all Republicans want Musk’s chainsaw approach to spending cuts
https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/joe-not-all-republicans-want-musk-s-chainsaw-approach-to-spending-cuts-232576069725
USA TODAY
— What is DOGE dividend check? Will Illinoisans get a $5,000 stimulus check?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2025/02/21/will-illinoisans-get-5000-doge-stimulus-check-heres-what-to-know/79440259007/
— More than one way to slice a workforce: How Trump’s cuts differ from Clinton’s.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/21/clinton-trump-federal-workers-jobs/79306710007/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: In the wake of mass layoffs under President Donald Trump’s new administration, some have compared the government-shrinking initiative to a 1990s effort under President Bill Clinton, when about 400,000 jobs were cut from the federal workforce.)
WALL STREET JOURNAL
— Illinois Cancels Henry Hyde. Progressives stripped the late GOP Congressman’s name from a courthouse over abortion.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/dupage-county-democrats-henry-hyde-courthouse-illinois-abortion-hyde-amendment-bffcbb8d
POLITICO
— AP sues Trump officials after being barred from some White House events. The lawsuit says First and Fifth Amendment rights were violated.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/21/associated-press-lawsuit-trump-officials-white-house-00205504
JEWISH NEWS SYNDICATE
— Who is calling who a Nazi? “Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s comparison of the Trump administration to the Nazi regime is deeply disturbing and unacceptable,” said Rabbi David Katz, executive director of the Israel Heritage Foundation.
https://www.jns.org/who-is-calling-who-a-nazi/
February 21, 2025
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Democrat leaders do not want America to be the leader of the free world.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/21/opinion-america-first-nato-ukraine-pete-hegseth/
— According to Democrat leaders Russia has won the Cold War and it all Trump’s fault.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/20/column-russia-wins-cold-war-ukraine-nato-shackelford/
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Trump’s anti-DEI stance has Illinois companies tight-lipped or reversing diversity policies. The Sun-Times reviewed the policies of 15 major Illinois-based public companies and found some changed their policies and others won’t discuss them amid what experts blame on fears of being sued.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/work/2025/02/21/trump-dei-stance-illinois-raoul-mcdonalds-kraft-john-deere-reversing-diversity-policies
— Anticipate/expect that soon, Illinois Democrats will legalize prostitution and offer associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.Ds. in prostitution. What about licensing?
https://chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/2025/02/21/sex-workers-criminal-charges-exploit-survivor-model-traffickers-pimps-sex-buyers-marian-hatcher
NBC5
— What does DOGE’s IRS shake-up mean for tax season? (COMMENT: I was involved in IRS’s 1974 tax season big time. Have you ever phoned IRS with a tax question? If you did during the 1974 filing season, the IRS employee who answered your call was one of my subordinates. Back then, as a 25-year-old GS-11 (currently $82,655/year) IRS Revenue Officer, I supervised all of the IRS employees, which included a rotating staff of about 90 IRS Revenue Agent trainees, in IRS’s new downtown Chicago office who answered taxpayer questions using IRS’s new tollfree CentiPhone system. Because of my job performance, the IRS manager who had given me that developmental opportunity and who had promoted me in 1972 and 1973 promoted me to GS-12 (currently $99,069/year) in 1974.)
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/doge-irs-shake-up-tax-season/3679235/
WTTW
— Mass Deportations a Cause of Concern for Illinois Restaurant Industry (COMMENT: Have you ever had to compete against immigrants? What percent of restaurant employees are immigrants? I washed dishes for the minimum wage in the basement of the S.S. Kresge in Chicago Heights 1964-1966. If there had been as many immigrants back then as there are now, they would have gotten that job as well as all the jobs that I had 1964-1970. The money that I earned and saved washing dishes enabled me to buy a new 1966 Pontiac Tempest Sprint in May of 1966. I used that car to get to/from my parents’ home in Crete and a) jobs cleaning golf shoes, chipping slag, and pumping gasoline during the summer of 1966, b) delivering mail during 1966 and 1967, and c) classes at UIC 1966 and1967. I sold that car in late 1967 and bought a new 1968 Oldsmobile 442 that I used delivering mail 1967 and1968 and getting to/from classes at UIC. I sold that car in late 1968 and bought a new 1969 Dodge Charger SE that I used delivering mail 1968 and 1969, getting to/from classes at NIU, and working on the Chrysler assemble line in Belvidere in 1970.)
https://news.wttw.com/2025/02/20/mass-deportations-cause-concern-illinois-restaurant-industry
CHAMPAIGN/URBANA NEWS GAZETTE
— Anticipate/expect that Pritzker will ever-increasingly call Trump and the 2.4 million in Illinois who voted for Trump Nazis. To call someone a Nazi in America today is like calling someone a Jew in Germany during the 1920s, 19390s, and 1940s. Anticipate/expect that Pritzker will focus on those in the 2.4 million who share the most demographics with Trump but not with Pritzker, that is, those who are Protestant and/or German American.
https://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/columns/jim-dey-pritzker-says-no-to-new-taxes-cellphones-in-school-and-nazis/article_f7117e3a-eefe-11ef-868c-63cea336ecf0.html
FOX ILLINOIS
— Rand Paul gives post-election endorsement to Trump: ‘I was wrong’ (COMMENT: Will the hate-filled Trump-hating Republican major donors, candidates, elected officials, and party leaders in your county, township, municipality, and school district do the same?)
https://foxillinois.com/news/nation-world/rand-paul-gives-post-election-endorsement-to-trump-i-was-wrong-white-house-2024-presidential-election-politics
— White House avoids question on who Trump blames for Russia’s invasion
https://foxillinois.com/news/nation-world/white-house-avoids-question-on-who-trump-blames-for-russias-invasion-united-states-ukraine-president-volodymyr-zelenskyy-peter-doocy-dmitry-medvedev-putin-senate-intelligence-committee-negotiations-war-freedom-democracy
CENTRAL ILLINOIS PROUD
— Ukrainians rally around their president after Trump seeks to denigrate him
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/world/ap-ukrainians-rally-around-their-president-after-trump-seeks-to-denigrate-him/
— IRS lays off 6,700 employees, torpedoing Democratic enforcement boost (COMMENT: I worked for IRS 1971-1980 and I worked for GAO on audits of IRS’s enforcement efforts 1986-1988.)
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/hill-politics/irs-lays-off-6700-employees-torpedoing-democratic-enforcement-boost/
NPR ILLINOIS
— EV’s and the Trump Administration (COMMENT: I have ordered a 2025 Dodge Charger Daytona R/T EV. If you know anyone who shares my interest in that car, please ask them to contact me.)
https://www.nprillinois.org/illinois/2025-02-20/statewide-evs-and-the-trump-administration
ILLINOIS TIMES
— Don Tracy clears his name. Illinois executive inspector general previously cited him for prohibited political activity.
https://www.illinoistimes.com/news-opinion/don-tracy-clears-his-name-19783942
POLITICO ILLINOIS
— Illinois Democrat leaders ever-increasingly fight Trump
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/2025/02/21/illinois-ag-kwame-raoul-says-it-costs-to-fight-trump-00205408
CAPITOL FAX
— Morning briefing
https://capitolfax.com/2025/02/21/64866/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
JOHN KASS
— Unanchoring Babies
https://johnkassnews.com/unanchoring-babies/
GOPUSA ILLINOIS
— Anticipate/expect that Pritzker will ever-increasingly call Trump and the 2.4 million in Illinois who voted for Trump Nazis. To call someone a Nazi in America today is like calling someone a Jew in Germany during the 1920s, 19390s, and 1940s. Anticipate/expect that Pritzker will focus on those in the 2.4 million who share the most demographics with Trump but not with Pritzker, that is, those who are Protestant and/or German American. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— The mainstream news media ever-increasingly carries out Democrat Party orders to negatively spin and to demonize, denigrate, and condemn everything that Trump says and does. I base that on what I see spending 10-15 hours each and every day putting GOPUSA ILLINOIS newsletters together and sending them out. I should write about that. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— I was involved in IRS’s 1974 tax season big time. Have you ever phoned IRS with a tax question? If you did during the 1974 filing season, the IRS employee who answered your call was one of my subordinates. Back then, as a 25-year-old GS-11 (currently $82,655/year) IRS Revenue Officer, I supervised all of the IRS employees, which included a rotating staff of about 90 IRS Revenue Agent trainees, in IRS’s new downtown Chicago office who answered taxpayer questions using IRS’s new tollfree CentiPhone system. Because of my job performance, the IRS manager who had given me that developmental opportunity and who had promoted me in 1972 and 1973 promoted me to GS-12 (currently $99,069/year) in 1974.- Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Have you ever had to compete against immigrants? What percent of restaurant employees are immigrants? I washed dishes for the minimum wage in the basement of the S.S. Kresge in Chicago Heights 1964-1966. If there had been as many immigrants back then as there are now, they would have gotten that job as well as all the jobs that I had 1964-1970. The money that I earned and saved washing dishes enabled me to buy a new 1966 Pontiac Tempest Sprint in May of 1966. I used that car to get to/from my parents’ home in Crete and a) jobs cleaning golf shoes, chipping slag, and pumping gasoline during the summer of 1966, b) delivering mail during 1966 and 1967, and c) classes at UIC 1966 and1967. I sold that car in late 1967 and bought a new 1968 Oldsmobile 442 that I used delivering mail 1967 and1968 and getting to/from classes at UIC. I sold that car in late 1968 and bought a new 1969 Dodge Charger SE that I used delivering mail 1968 and 1969, getting to/from classes at NIU, and working on the Chrysler assemble line in Belvidere in 1970. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Have you been discriminated against? According to my critics/opponents, no one has ever discriminated against me for any reason. Have you had adverse employment actions taken against you? According to my Democrat superiors in the federal government, all the adverse employment actions that they took against me were justified. In my defense, I earned a job-related bachelor’s degree, three job-related master’s degrees, six job-related professional certifications, and a job-related professional license. In my defense, my Democrat superiors never cited any performance problems or employee complaints against me to justify any of the adverse actions that they took against me. In my defense. all my coworkers who my Democrat superiors promoted over me were Democrats who had less work experience than I had, had less education than I had, had no professional certifications or fewer than I had, and/or had no professional license like the one I had and/or were minority, female, younger, veteran, non-Protestant, non-German American, and/or had ancestors who had not been in America for a long time. In my defense, my Democrat GAO superiors have never denied a) that I complained about their political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, and national origin discrimination or b) that I became an active member in a class action lawsuit that charged them with reverse discrimination, age discrimination, and retaliation when I was 40 years old in 1988. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— What pretexts have been used against you to justify adverse actions against you? When I was 20 years old in 1969, to force me to resign, my Democrat Post Office superiors falsely argued that I would not be available to work enough part-time hours. Starting in 1974, to not promote me to GS-13, my Democrat IRS and GAO superiors used up-or-out to falsely hint/imply/argue/shout that I was too old to be promoted to GS-13. In 1974, to disallow my travel vouchers, my Democrat IRS superiors falsely charged me with living inside their commuting area. In 1978, to disallow my education deductions, they falsely argued that the courses that I took did not relate to my job duties, did not maintain or improve my job skills, qualified me for a new trade or business, and were taken by me to get a job in the private sector. In 1980, to justify forcing me to take a $23,472/year (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer from IRS to GAO, my Democrat GAO superiors falsely argued that the work that I did for IRS was not similar to the work that I would do for GAO and that my earning an MBA from Loyola in 1976, that my passing the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979, and that my almost completing the requirements for a master’s degree in accounting from DePaul were not enough. To keep me off audits of IRS, they falsely badmouthed what I had learned about IRS by working for it for almost 9 years, the last 5 1/2 years of which at the GS-12 Step 1-5 Levels, currently $99,069-$112,280/year and stressed the adverse actions that my Democrat IRS superiors had taken against me and falsely hinted/implied/argued/shouted that because of that, I could not be objective, that I would take revenge against my former IRS superiors. To delay my promotions, to not promote me beyond GS-13, and to always rank me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay for performance, they falsely used the tremendous subjectivity in their performance appraisal system. In 1997, to force me to take their early retirement “offer,” they falsely denied that they told me that if I did not retire, they would demote me, they would give me adverse transfers, and/or they would take even bigger adverse actions against me. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— The Democrats who ran the Park Forest Post Office hired me in 1966 because they could not find a qualified Democrat, minority, female, or veteran who would take the job. I had passed the postal employment examination, I had earned a diploma from Crete-Monee High School, and I was taking classes at UIC. Virtually all my superiors, supervisors, and coworkers were Democrat veterans. My Democrat Post Office superiors despised/hated Republicans, and especially draft avoiding Republicans like me. They disallowed my sick leave requests in 1968 and 1969 and they forced me to resign in 1969 falsely claiming that I was not available to work enough part-time hours. I was available each and every a) Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, b) holiday, and c) day that NIU was not in session. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— To get more votes from Blacks, Democrat leaders ever-increasingly hint/imply/argue/shout at Blacks that Republicans cause all the problems that Blacks have. According to my critics/opponents, all the federal jobs and promotions that I got should have been given to Blacks instead of me. The Post Office hired me when I was 18 years old in 1966. IRS hired me in 1971 and promoted me in 1972, 1973, and 1974. GAO hired me in 1980 and promoted me in 1986. GAO forced me to retire in 1997 and gave my job and my preferred corner office to my Black subordinate. He had less work experience than I had, less education than I had, one professional certification while I had six, and had no professional license like the one I had. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Are you involved in politics? If so, what do your critics/opponents use against you? My critics/opponents in Republican politics use a) my promoting the individual responsibility, traditional marriage and family, right to life, immigration, illegal drugs, Second Amendment, and equal opportunity (no race or gender based preference giving) planks in the Republican Party platform, b) my promoting direct election of Illinois Republican Party State Central Committee members, c) my supporting Pat O’Malley in the Illinois Republican gubernatorial primary in 2002, d) my serving on the Illinois Center Right Coalition Steering Committee 2003-2007, e) my serving as the TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois chairman 2005-2012, and f) my serving as the Republican fundraiser for Wheaton Independence Day parades and firework 2005-2021. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
FOX NEWS
— Frustrated Chicago residents fed up with spending on illegal immigrants, call for Republican leadership. The group ‘Chicago Flips Red’ has been active in pushing for the GOP to take over the traditionally blue city.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/frustrated-chicago-residents-fed-up-spending-illegal-immigrants-call-republican-leadership
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
THE HILL
— 5 takeaways from Musk’s CPAC talk
https://www.wjtv.com/news/5-takeaways-from-musks-cpac-talk/amp/
WASHINGTON POST
— Democrat and RINO leaders do not want anyone to be deported.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/02/21/panama-costa-rica-migrants-trump/
USA TODAY
— Trump evolved CPAC beyond conservatism. Is there still room for Reagan Republicans? CPAC has become a parade of prancing personalities, all trying to one-up each other in toadyism to Trump, where provocation is everything and actual policy of governing is, at best, an afterthought.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/02/21/cpac-conservative-conference-trump-republican-party/79313361007/
— Anticipate/expect that the more demographics that you share with Trump, and especially if you are Protestant and/or German American, the more that Democrats and RINOs will call you an extremist and even worse things.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/02/21/extremist-murders-2025-increase-on-the-rise/78385408007/
WALL STREET JOURNAL
— An Escape Route From Illinois. Indiana takes the first step toward welcoming Land of Pritzker counties that want to secede.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/indiana-illinois-secession-boundary-adjustment-commission-todd-huston-j-b-pritzker-a3c18977
— Trump Is Planning to Take Control of the Postal Service. President seeks to disband governing board and put Postal Service under the Commerce Department. (COMMENT: The Democrats who ran the Park Forest Post Office hired me in 1966 because they could not find a qualified Democrat, minority, female, or veteran who would take the job. I had passed the postal employment examination, I had earned a diploma from Crete-Monee High School, and I was taking classes at UIC. Virtually all my superiors, supervisors, and coworkers were Democrat veterans. My Democrat Post Office superiors despised/hated Republicans, and especially draft avoiding Republicans like me. They disallowed my sick leave requests in 1968 and 1969 and they forced me to resign in 1969 falsely claiming that I was not available to work enough part-time hours. I was available each and every a) Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, b) holiday, and c) day that NIU was not in session.)
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-is-planning-to-take-control-of-the-postal-service-officials-say-e9188e7c
— FRONT PAGE: IRS Begins to Fire 6,000 Workers, Threatening Tax-Season Delays. Some collections and audits are likely to be paused, and one-on-one personal service is set to be more limited.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/irs-workers-fired-tax-season-doge-102fbecb
BLOOMBERG GOVERNMENT
— Ambitious MAGA Republicans Hunt for Trump Bump as Others Skip CPAC
https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/ambitious-maga-republicans-hunt-for-trump-bump-as-others-skip-cpac
POLITICO
— Trump holds Black History Month celebration amid his administration’s war on DEI. Famed golfer Tiger Woods attended the event. (COMMENT: To get more votes from Blacks, Democrat leaders ever-increasingly hint/imply/argue/shout at Blacks that Republicans cause all the problems that Blacks have. According to my critics/opponents, all the federal jobs and promotions that I got should have been given to Blacks instead of me. The Post Office hired me when I was 18 years old in 1966. IRS hired me in 1971 and promoted me in 1972, 1973, and 1974. GAO hired me in 1980 and promoted me in 1986. GAO forced me to retire in 1997 and gave my job and my preferred corner office to my Black subordinate. He had less work experience than I had, less education than I had, one professional certification while I had six, and had no professional license like the one I had.)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/20/trump-black-history-month-dei-021434
— The Trump administration has defended its cuts at the Federal Aviation Administration by saying safety-critical employees weren’t affected. Experts disagree. (COMMENT: During the early 1980s, I worked for GAO on an audit of FAA that involved air traffic control staffing.)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/20/faa-firings-aviation-safety-experts-00205160
NPR
— A far-right influencer is getting invitations to travel with Trump Cabinet members (COMMENT: My critics/opponents hint/imply/argue/shout that I am a failed would-be far right influencer. They stress the many big adverse actions that they had their operatives and their dupes take against. I should write about my critics/opponents and their operatives and dupes.)
https://www.wesa.fm/2025-02-21/a-far-right-influencer-is-getting-invitations-to-travel-with-trump-cabinet-members
ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS
— Who in the Democratic party Is calling who a Nazi? if any use of Holocaust imagery was justified, it was President Trump’s description of Jewish hostages released from Hamas terrorist captivity last week, certainly not Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s parallels between Trump’s political agenda and the rise of Nazi Germany.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/404252
AL JAZEERA
— Are White Afrikaners at risk in South Africa? Not really, most say. As Trump offers to take in Afrikaner refugees, many say right-wing lobbyists have spread misinformation and fear. (COMMENT: Have you been discriminated against? According to my critics/opponents, no one has ever discriminated against me for any reason. Have you had adverse employment actions taken against you? According to my Democrat superiors in the federal government, all the adverse employment actions that they took against me were justified. In my defense, I earned a job-related bachelor’s degree, three job-related master’s degrees, six job-related professional certifications, and a job-related professional license. In my defense, my Democrat superiors never cited any performance problems or employee complaints against me to justify any of the adverse actions that they took against me. In my defense. all my coworkers who my Democrat superiors promoted over me were Democrats who had less work experience than I had, had less education than I had, had no professional certifications or fewer than I had, and/or had no professional license like the one I had and/or were minority, female, younger, veteran, non-Protestant, non-German American, and/or had ancestors who had not been in America for a long time. In my defense, my Democrat GAO superiors have never denied a) that I complained about their political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, and national origin discrimination or b) that I became an active member in a class action lawsuit that charged them with reverse discrimination, age discrimination, and retaliation when I was 40 years old in 1988.)
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2025/2/21/are-white-afrikaners-at-risk-in-south-africa-not-really-most-say
February 20, 2025
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
ABC7
— Republicans shocked by Gov. Pritzker’s attacks on Trump administration, Nazi Germany references
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jts1KaE_rj0
WTTW
— Pritzker Compares Trump Administration’s Approach to Nazi Germany During State Budget Address
https://news.wttw.com/2025/02/19/pritzker-compares-trump-administration-s-approach-nazi-germany-during-state-budget
BLOOMINGTON PANTAGRAPH
— What Central Illinois lawmakers liked, and didn’t like, in Pritzker budget plan (FROM THE ARTICLE: Multiple Republicans walked out of the joint session in the House chamber.”)
https://pantagraph.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/what-central-illinois-lawmakers-liked-and-didnt-like-in-pritzker-budget-plan/article_a48aeb5e-ef23-11ef-b7ba-2f418a049d96.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Near the end of his address, Pritzker compared the actions taken by the Trump Administration in recent weeks to the rise of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. “The authoritarian playbook is laid bare here,” Pritzker said. “They point to a group of people who don’t look like you and tell you to blame them for your problems.” What comes next, he asked, “after we’ve discriminated against, deported or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities, once we’ve ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends after that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face — what comes next?’” Before Pritzker could finish making his point, multiple Republicans walked out of the joint session in the House chamber, including state Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville. “That rhetoric was out of place, and (did) not need to be talked and spoken,” Halbrook, a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, said. “It was completely wrong.” Fellow caucus member Rep. Adam Niemerg, R-Teutopolis, had more heated criticism. “Parts of the governor’s own party want to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth,” Niemerg said. “And to call Trump and Republicans Nazis is dangerous political grandstanding and will only incite the violence he claims to condemn. But this is about JB Pritzker’s misguided aspirations to be the next president.”)
WAND TV
— GOP criticize Governor for ‘Nazi comparison’ (COMMENT: To harm me, my critics/opponents, including those who are Protestant and/or German American, have always stressed that I am Protestant and German American. I should write about my critics/opponents who are Protestant and/or German American and who have taken the biggest/most adverse actions against me to curry favor with non-Protestants and/or with non-German Americans.)
https://www.wandtv.com/news/statehouse/il-democrats-celebrate-pritzkers-budget-gop-criticize-governor-for-nazi-comparison/article_7b08d028-ef16-11ef-ba5b-efc1d3148209.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Pritzker ended his speech by criticizing the Trump administration and comparing it to when the Nazis attacked marginalized communities. “To sit there and basically be called Nazis, not only Trump but the Republican party, it was disgusting,” House Minority Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) said.)
NBC5
— To get more votes from Blacks, Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote reparations. Democrat leaders ever-increasingly hint/imply/argue/shout at Blacks that Republicans cause all the problems that Blacks have.
https://www.nbcchicago.com/top-videos-home/former-educator-historian-makes-push-for-reparations/3678446/
— President Trump signs executive order to make IVF more affordable (COMMENT: During the 1980s, my Democrat GAO superiors used against me big time my and my wife giving up trying to have children without trying IVF even though they knew full-well that both of us had big fertility problems and that because of that, our doctor had advised against trying IVF. They stressed that IVF was covered by our health insurance and they punished me big time for our not trying IVF. They hinted/implied/argued/shouted that if my wife and I had children, I would not have been able to pass the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979, earn a master’s degree in accounting from DePaul in 1980, or pass the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt and became a licensed CPA in 1981. I should write about my Democrat GAO superiors. I would focus on those who complained the most about the time and money they spent raising their children.)
https://www.nbcchicago.com/top-videos-home/president-trump-signs-executive-order-to-make-ivf-more-affordable/3678347/
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— City Council proposal would return Columbus statues to Grant, Arrigo parks. Condemning what he calls “selective censorship,” Ald. Anthony Napolitano also is criticizing the city’s refusal to remove from the city-owned Cultural Center a puppet display titled “U.S.-Israel War Machine.”
https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2025/02/19/columbus-statues-grant-arrigo-park-cultural-center-public-art-gaza-monuments-project-report
— When politics seep into schools, learning becomes harder (COMMENT: Democrat teachers focus on turning their students into good little Democrats.)
https://chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/2025/02/20/schools-politics-culture-wars-learning-becomes-harder-students-want-comfort-jerald-mcnair
WBEZ
— Chicago’s most marginalized students have almost no shot of getting into CPS’ elite schools (COMMENT: According to Democrat and RINO leaders, a) the more of the following that you are, the more marginalized that you are: liberal/moderate, Democrat, minority, female, younger, LGBTQ, unmarried, poor, veteran, non-Protestant, non-German American, and/or if your ancestors have not been in America for a long time and b) the more of the following that you are, the more of an oppressor that you are: conservative, Republican, White, male, older, heterosexual, married, non-poor, non-veteran, Protestant, German American, and/or if your ancestors have been in America for a long time.)
https://www.wbez.org/education/2024/07/09/chicagos-most-marginalized-students-have-almost-no-shot-of-getting-into-cps-elite-schools
CHAMPAIGN/URBANA NEWS GAZETTE
— Anticipate/expect that Democrat leaders will ever-increasingly blame Trump for everything that is bad. My critics/opponents ever-increasingly blame me for all of their problems, your problems, my problems, and everyone’s problems. They mainly blame me for all the losses that Republican candidate candidates on ballots in my precinct have suffered. I should write about my critics/opponents and those candidates and the many big adverse actions that they have had their operatives and dupes take against me.
thing that is bad.
https://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/politics/pritzker-calls-55-2b-budget-responsible-and-balanced-warns-trump-policies-could-upend-it/article_3415cc6c-ef33-11ef-ab69-bf48b8db64d3.html
STATELINE
— IRS plans to lay off 7,000 probationary workers beginning Thursday (COMMENT: I worked for IRS 1971-1980.)
https://www.mystateline.com/news/national/ap-irs-plans-to-lay-off-7000-probationary-workers-beginning-thursday-ap-source-says/
WSIL TV
— Democrats ever-increasingly crow about their success in making children and everyone else sexually active LGBTQers. How much success have Democrats had doing that in your county, township, municipality, school district, and precinct?
https://www.wsiltv.com/news/health/population-identifying-as-lgbtq-in-the-us-has-nearly-doubled-since-2020-poll-finds/article_db540a40-8c28-5949-a7a8-4a96dd9d4432.html
FOX ILLINOIS
— Senate Republicans voice rare dissent after Trump blames Ukraine for Russia’s invasion
https://foxillinois.com/news/nation-world/senate-republicans-voice-rare-dissent-after-trump-blames-ukraine-for-russias-invasion-zelenskyy-american-russian-officials-putin-bipartisan-backlast-chuck-schumer-war
CHICAGO DEFENDER
— Pritzker ‘proud’ to join lawsuit against Trump over federal spending freezes (COMMENT: To get more votes from those who need/want/demand government assistance, Democrat leaders ever-increasingly use government to give them more money. How dependent on government spending are those in your county, township, municipality, school district, and precinct?)
https://chicagocrusader.com/pritzker-proud-to-join-lawsuit-against-trump-over-federal-spending-freezes/
BARRINGTON HILLS OBSERVER
— Do Over Scheduled for Meeting to Replace State Senator Dan McConchie
https://barringtonhillsobserver.com/2025/02/20/do-over-scheduled-for-meeting-to-replace-state-senator-dan-mcconchie/
NORTHERN STAR
— Democrats run Illinois. They ever-increasingly use the power that they have to drive Republicans out of Illinois who are conservative, White, male, older, non-poor, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time.
https://northernstar.info/123108/news/pritzker-talks-budget-rise-of-american-authoritarianism-at-state-of-the-state-address/
BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO
— City Crews Tear Down Tents At Gompers Park Encampment On One Of Coldest Mornings Of The Year. The Park District said the city was removing “smoke stack components and propane tanks used to heat five, illegal structures” in the park. The rest of the encampment would be spared, they said.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/02/19/city-crews-tear-down-tents-at-gompers-park-encampment-on-one-of-the-coldest-mornings-of-the-year/
POLITICO ILLINOIS
— Democrats love Pritzker’s promotion of hate against Trump, that is, Democrats hate Trump. How much success has Pritzker had promoting hate against Trump in your county, township, municipality, school district, and precinct?
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/2025/02/20/pritzker-packs-a-punch-00205092
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Pritzker used the word “idiot” to describe Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk, and he compared the actions unfolding in Washington to Nazi Germany. The governor isn’t apologizing: He had a whole passage about the Nazis trying to march in Skokie. “I do not invoke the specter of Nazis lightly.” Pritzker said in his speech in the Illinois House chamber, adding he’s “watching with a foreboding dread what is happening in our country right now.” In a powerful passage, Pritzker added: “After we’ve discriminated against, deported or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities — once we’ve ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends — After that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face — what comes next?” The whole speech is here. Critics see Pritzker’s address as an effort to fuel his political aspirations, though the governor has denied that even saying so in his speech: “I am not speaking up in service to my ambitions — but in deference to my obligations.” Simply put, the governor told reporters later, he is “passionate” about his belief in the Constitution and sees the Trump administration’s efforts to sidestep that as an attack on Democracy. He’s not going to keep quiet about Trump. . .Latino Caucus lawmakers felt stung learning Pritzker wants to eliminate a healthcare benefit for noncitizen immigrants younger than 65. It’s a program that had huge support from Democrats when it was passed. And members of the Black Caucus wished they had heard the governor mention Black History Month or the importance of the Black community in his speech, noting the governor’s sweeping mention of diversity and equity was fine but not enough.)
CAPITOL FAX
— Morning briefing
https://capitolfax.com/2025/02/20/isabel%e2%80%99s-morning-briefing-459/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WIREPOINTS
— Pritzker says he is fighting against Nazis in astounding speech
https://wirepoints.org/jb-pritzker-says-he-is-fighting-against-nazis-in-astounding-speech-wirepoints/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: It was supposed to be the annual State of the State and Budget Address, but the most notable segment by far in Gov. J.B Pritzker’s Wednesday speech was what he said about Americans he opposes. That message was deliberate and unequivocal: “I do not invoke the specter of Nazis lightly,” he said after talking about his work building the Holocaust Museum and an earlier Nazi march. “I’m watching with a foreboding dread what is happening in our country right now,” Pritzker said, citing President Trump blaming a recent plane crash on diversity hiring and the Missouri Attorney General’s reverse discrimination lawsuit against Starbucks. “The authoritarian playbook is laid bare,” he said. “They point to a group of people who don’t look like you and tell you to blame them for your problems.” Pritzker continued. “I just have one question. What comes next? All the atrocities of human history lurk in the answer to that question. And if we don’t want to repeat history – then for God’s sake in this moment we better be strong enough to learn from it…. If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this: It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic.” Note that Pritzker’s words weren’t only about Donald Trump. The looming and sinister “they” are the Nazi threat, Pritzker said. The Missouri attorney general is an example. It’s not the first time Pritzker has made such an astonishing charge about so many Americans. Last year, he said all Republican Trump supporters are fascist. “Illinois Democrats have done more in the last five years to push back on the wave of authoritarian, anti-democratic MAGA Republican nonsense than in any other place in the country,” Pritzker said. “Leave it to us to raise the tallest flag in the fight against modern American fascism.” The full text of the relevant part of Pritzker’s speech is below. It’s difficult to imagine words more inflammatory and irresponsible than Pritzker’s. “Nazi” is perhaps the worst conceivable insult, they being tyrannical monsters who slaughtered some 20 million people during World War II and its run-up. How are Pritzker’s words not incitement to violence? To those convinced by Pritzker’s words, would it not be morally right, or even morally imperative, to use violence or even kill those who are bringing Nazism to America? Pritzker’s accusation applies to around half of America, with support growing. A recent CBS poll, for example, found Trump’s job approval rating at 53%. Support is much stronger, as that poll showed, for Trump policies to which Pritzker is most hostile, namely, those on illegal immigration, deportations and DEI policies (diversity, equity and inclusion). Among other consequences of words as outrageous as Pritzker’s is his loss of credibility on matters that Trump can be reasonably criticized for. There’s no shortage of those. Most Americans, for example, don’t like Trump’s tariff policies, and even Trump’s Republican base doesn’t like his idea for America taking ownership of Gaza. On those and many other matters, Pritzker’s bombast about Nazism dooms him to irrelevance. All hope of constructive input is forfeited. The Trump Administration will laugh him off or perhaps impose reprisals on Illinois. Finally, does Pritzker not know that invoking the Holocaust and comparisons to Nazism must be used sparingly to preserve their impact when true risks arise? Who does Pritzker think benefits from insults like the ones he made? Presumably, he thinks it will help him in the next presidential race, but good luck with that. His speech will help nobody. Not him, his faction of the Democratic Party, the State of Illinois or the United States. Hatred and division help nobody. They are Nazis, he told us.)
— This wasn’t the budget speech that ordinary Illinoisans want to hear. They want tax relief, not more spending.
https://wirepoints.org/this-wasnt-the-budget-speech-that-ordinary-illinoisans-want-to-hear-they-want-tax-relief-not-more-spending-wirepoints-on-the-illinois-radio-network/
— Pritzker declares Lake Michigan is now “Lake Illinois.” The responses are perfect.
https://wirepoints.org/gov-pritzker-declares-lake-michigan-is-now-lake-illinois-the-responses-are-perfect-not-the-bee/
ILLINOIS REVIEW
— State Election Board Vindicates Illinois Review in 6-0 Vote as Mayor Pekau Allies Fail to Silence Conservative Voice
https://www.illinoisreview.com/illinoisreview/2025/02/state-election-board-vindicates-illinois-review-in-6-0-vote-as-mayor-pekau-allies-fail-to-silence-conservative-voice.html
ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE
— Pritzker’s magic beans: Growing a record-setting $55B Illinois budget
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/pritzkers-magic-beans-growing-a-record-setting-55b-illinois-budget/
GOPUSA ILLINOIS
— How much success has Pritzker had promoting hatred against Trump in your county, township, municipality, school district, and precinct? I anticipate/expect to get a measure of Pritzker’s success when I hand-deliver Republican campaign literature and sample ballots to the 400 residences in my precinct that have at least one Republican or Independent voter for the April 1 election. Anticipate/expect that ever-increasingly, the more demographics that you share with Trump, the more that Pritzker will do to destroy you. Trump is conservative, Republican, American, White, male, older, non-poor, married, Protestant, German American, and his ancestors have been in America for a long time. Anticipate/expect that Pritzker will ever-increasingly focus on destroying those who do not share his demographics with Trump, especially those who are Protestant and/or German American. It is called religious discrimination and national origin discrimination. Are you Protestant? I am. I was baptized, raised, and confirmed as a Missouri Synod Lutheran. Are you German American? I am. If you are, what do you stress in defense of your national origin? I stress that my grandfather on my father’s side fought the Germans in WWI, that my uncles on my mother’s side fought the Germans in WWII, and that my father would have fought the Germans in WWII if he had not been 4-F. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Are you Protestant? Are you German American? To harm me, my critics/opponents, including those who are Protestant and/or German American, have always stressed that I am Protestant and German American. I should write about my critics/opponents who are Protestant and/or German American and who have taken the biggest/most adverse actions against me to curry favor with non-Protestants and/or with non-German Americans. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— What is your position on IVF? During the 1980s, my Democrat GAO superiors used against me big time my and my wife giving up trying to have children without trying IVF even though they knew full-well that both of us had big fertility problems and that because of that, our doctor had advised against trying IVF. They stressed that IVF was covered by our health insurance and they punished me big time for our not trying IVF. They hinted/implied/argued/shouted that if my wife and I had children, I would not have been able to pass the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979, earn a master’s degree in accounting from DePaul in 1980, or pass the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt and became a licensed CPA in 1981. I should write about my Democrat GAO superiors. I would focus on those who complained the most about the time and money they spent raising their children. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Anticipate/expect that Democrat leaders will ever-increasingly blame Trump for everything that is bad. My critics/opponents ever-increasingly blame me for all of their problems, your problems, my problems, and everyone’s problems. They mainly blame me for all the losses that Republican candidate candidates on ballots in my precinct have suffered. I should write about my critics/opponents and those candidates and the many big adverse actions that they have had their operatives and dupes take against me. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— To get more votes from those who need/want/demand government assistance, Democrat leaders ever-increasingly use government to give them more money. How dependent on government spending are those in your county, township, municipality, school district, and precinct? – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Democrats run Illinois. They ever-increasingly use the power that they have to drive Republicans out of Illinois who are conservative, White, male, older, non-poor, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time. – Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Democrat leaders like Duckworth ever-increasingly do everything that they can to turn veterans against Republicans. While I worked for the federal government for almost 30 years, many, most, and at times, virtually all of my superiors, supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates were Democrat veterans. To turn them against me, my Democrat superiors stressed to them that I avoided the Vietnam War draft. They hinted/implied/argued/shouted that if had not avoided the Vietnam War draft, I would not have been able to a) earn a bachelor’s degree in management when I was 21, a master’s degree in business when I was 27, pass the CPA examination on my first attempt when I was 30, earn a master’s degree in accounting when I was 31, and pass the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt when I was 32; b) buy new cars when I was 19, 20, 23, 25, and 29; c) buy real estate when I was 24, 25, 27, 29, and 35; and d) get married when I was 29. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Did you enlist? I did not. Worse yet, I avoided the Vietnam War draft. Since 1966, my critics/opponents have used that against me. They stress a) that I am a conservative Republican, b) that I was 1-A for the draft, and c) I would not have been sent into combat anyway because I could not run because I had a bone disease, my vision could not be corrected to 20/20, and I had partial red/green color blindness. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— What is your position on age discrimination? My Democrat IRS and GAO superiors used up-or-out, that is, they used age discrimination big time to get rid of their Republican employees. They wrote off their Republican employees as being too old to be promoted if they had not made GS-13 (currently $117,807/year) by age 25, GS-14 ($139,211/year) by age 30, GS-15 ($163,749/year) by age 35, and Senior Executive Service ($195,200/year) by age 40. Extremely few federal employees make the aforesaid promotion deadlines. I should write about that. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— What are your demographics? According to Democrat and RINO leaders, a) the more of the following that you are, the more marginalized that you are: liberal/moderate, Democrat, minority, female, younger, LGBTQ, unmarried, poor, veteran, non-Protestant, non-German American, and/or if your ancestors have not been in America for a long time and b) the more of the following that you are, the more of an oppressor that you are: conservative, Republican, White, male, older, heterosexual, married, non-poor, non-veteran, Protestant, German American, and/or if your ancestors have been in America for a long time.
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON TIMES
— CPAC attendees ecstatic about conservatives’ big wins in the new Trump-era
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/20/cpac-attendees-ecstatic-conservatives-big-wins-new-trump-era/
EPOOCH TIMES
— Trump Loves Idea of Sending Taxpayers Checks Funded by DOGE Savings. The proposal was first floated by businessman James Fishback, who called it a ‘DOGE dividend.’ (COMMENT: To justify its budget requests, GAO always stresses that its audits save the federal government far more tax dollars than its budget requests. SEE: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-107438 )
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/trump-considers-returning-20-percent-of-doge-related-savings-to-americans-5813167
(FROM GAO’s FISCAL YEAR 2025 BUDGET REQUEST: In fiscal year 2023, GAO’s work yielded $70.4 billion in financial benefits. Our average return on investment for the past 6 years is $133 for every $1 invested in GAO. In this testimony before the House Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations, U.S. Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro discusses GAO’s FY 2025 budget request. Our budget request will enable GAO to continue to meet key areas of importance to the nation and Congress including national security, fraud prevention, science and technology, cybersecurity, and health care costs. These resources will also support GAO’s IT modernization and space optimization efforts.)
FOX NEWS
— Trump signs executive order ending use of taxpayer money to ‘incentivize or support’ illegal immigration. A White House fact sheet said the executive order is to ensure taxes are used to ‘protect the interests of American citizens, not illegal aliens.’
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-signs-executive-order-ending-use-taxpayer-money-incentivize-support-illegal-immigration?lid=q4376bhn4ot7
NEWSMAX
— Democrats Criticize Trump IVF Order as ‘PR Stunt’ (COMMENT: During the 1980s, my Democrat GAO superiors used against me big time my and my wife giving up trying to have children without trying IVF even though they knew full-well that both of us had big fertility problems and that because of that, our doctor had advised against trying IVF. They stressed that IVF was covered by our health insurance and they punished me big time for our not trying IVF. They hinted/implied/argued/shouted that if my wife and I had children, I would not have been able to pass the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979, earn a master’s degree in accounting from DePaul in 1980, or pass the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt and became a licensed CPA in 1981. I should write about my Democrat GAO superiors. I would focus on those who complained the most about the time and money they spent raising their children.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/trump-ivf-pr/2025/02/19/id/1199750/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
ASSOCIATED PRESS
— To these Black retirees, the federal civil service now under attack was a path to the middle class (COMMENT: According to my critics/opponents, all the federal jobs and promotions that I got should have been given to Blacks instead of me. The Post Office hired me when I was 18 years old in 1966. IRS hired me in 1971 and promoted me in 1972, 1973, and 1974. GAO hired me in 1980 and promoted me in 1986. GAO forced me to retire in 1997 and gave my job and my preferred corner office to my Black subordinate. He had less work experience than I had, less education than I had, one professional certification while I had six, and had no professional license like the one I had.)
https://apnews.com/article/trump-doge-civil-service-race-black-americans-64980891924f179c7395ed7443107ce5
USA TODAY
— Are you a fired federal employee? Here are resources to help you get back on your feet. (COMMENT: My Democrat GAO superiors not only wasted my career, took many adverse actions against me, and forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997, they did everything that they could to stop me from getting a job appropriate for my work experience, professional certifications, and professional license. Their success in doing that drove me into Republican politics. I became a Republican Precinct Committeeman in 1999, the GOPUSA Illinois Editor in 2000, an American Association of Political Consultants Midwest Chapter board member in 2001, an Illinois Center Right Coalition Steering Committee member in 2003, the TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois chairman in 2005, the Republican fundraiser for Wheaton Independence Day parades and fireworks in 2005, etc.)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2025/02/17/what-to-do-lost-federal-government-job-resources/78976164007/
SACRAMENTO BEE
— Number of studio apartments has doubled in Sacramento region in last decade. ‘We do sacrifice’ (COMMENT: I bought a studio condo in the Outer Drive East building when I was 25 years old in 1974. I lived in it weekdays until 1976 when I traded it in to the building’s developer for a one bedroom condo. During that time, I waked to/from my IRS job in Loop and graduate evening business courses at Loyola. I spent weekends in my townhome in University Park that I had bought in 1972.)
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article298981875.html
STARS AND STRIPES
— ‘On the backs of veterans’: Senators rail against federal workforce purge as vets hit hard by cuts (COMMENT: While I worked for the federal government for almost 30 years, many, most, and at times, virtually all of my superiors, supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates were Democrat veterans. To turn them against me, my Democrat superiors stressed to them that I avoided the Vietnam War draft. They hinted/implied/argued/shouted that if had not avoided the Vietnam War draft, I would not have been able to a) earn a bachelor’s degree in management when I was 21, a master’s degree in business when I was 27, pass the CPA examination on my first attempt when I was 30, earn a master’s degree in accounting when I was 31, and pass the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt when I was 32; b) buy new cars when I was 19, 20, 23, 25, and 29; c) buy real estate when I was 24, 25, 27, 29, and 35; and d) get married when I was 29.)
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2025-02-19/veterans-federal-firings-trump-musk-16888063.html
C-SPAN
— VP Vance & Republicans Deliver Remarks at CPAC
https://www.c-span.org/event/public-affairs-event/vp-vance-republicans-deliver-remarks-at-cpac/431061
— Democrats run Illinois. They ever-increasingly use the power that they have to drive Republicans out of Illinois who are conservative, White, male, older, non-poor, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time.
https://www.c-span.org/clip/state-legislature/illinois-governor-pritzker-warns-against-threats-to-american-democracy-in-state-of-the-state-address/5154061
NBC NEWS
— Democrats run Illinois. They ever-increasingly use the power that they have to drive Republicans out of Illinois who are conservative, White, male, older, non-poor, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time.
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/illinois-gov-jb-pritzker-warns-against-authoritarianism-in-address-232454725674
BARRON’S
— CPAC: American Conservatives Gather To Savor Trump’s Triumph
https://www.barrons.com/news/american-conservatives-gather-to-savor-trump-s-triumph-468d4b89
360 LAW
— Chicago’s Art Institute School Hit With Age Bias Claims (COMMENT: My Democrat IRS and GAO superiors used up-or-out, that is, they used age discrimination big time to get rid of their Republican employees. They wrote off their Republican employees as being too old to be promoted if they had not made GS-13 (currently $117,807/year) by age 25, GS-14 ($139,211/year) by age 30, GS-15 ($163,749/year) by age 35, and Senior Executive Service ($195,200/year) by age 40. Extremely few federal employees make the aforesaid promotion deadlines. I should write about that.)
https://www.law360.com/employment-authority/wage-hour/articles/2299888/chicago-s-art-institute-school-hit-with-age-bias-claims
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
— Amnesty International sides with countries that send their citizens into America to destroy America.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/02/the-right-to-seek-asylum-does-not-exist-at-u-s-mexico-border/
COMPASS
— FOR SALE: 1000 Delles Road, Wheaton – $889,000
https://www.compass.com/listing/1000-delles-road-wheaton-il-60189/1776211843058275473/
— FOR SALE: 1044 Golf Lane, Wheaton – $1.075,000
https://www.compass.com/listing/1044-golf-lane-wheaton-il-60189/1258102091755862113/
— FOR SALE: 1011 Penny Lane, Wheaton – $1,139,000
https://www.compass.com/listing/1011-penny-lane-wheaton-il-60189/1779055728122503841/
February 19, 2025
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
NBC5
— Fired federal workers protest Trump administration cuts as others speak out in support (COMMENT: If you were me, what position would you take on federal employees. While I worked for the federal government for almost 30 years (Post Office-3, IRS-9, and GAO-18), virtually all my superiors, supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates were Democrats. Extremely few sided with me. Virtually none came to my defense. Many helped my Democrat superiors waste my career and take adverse actions against me including forcing me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. Overwhelmingly, they promoted Affirmative Action and DEI, that is, they promoted race and gender based preference giving, patronage, political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, and/or national origin discrimination.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SsrWEuGTRs
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Libertyville Township has unrelated O’Connors facing off for supervisor; ‘We were just blessed with the same last name’ (COMMENT: What offices are on the April 1 ballot in your precinct? Who are the candidates? How much do you know about them? How have those candidates treated your Republican Precinct Committeeman?)
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/18/libertyville-township-has-unrelated-oconnors-facing-off-for-supervisor-we-were-just-blessed-with-the-same-last-name/
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Trump’s Friday firings leave EPA Chicago office down dozens of scientists, staff (COMMENT: Republican-led budget cuts during the 1980s and 1990s left GAO’s Chicago office down dozens of auditors. I was one of those auditors that my Democrat GAO superiors forced into early retirement.)
https://chicago.suntimes.com/environment/2025/02/18/trump-fires-epa-chicago-scientists-staff-environmental-protection-agency
— Democrats oppose anything and everything that discourages voter fraud.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/2025/02/18/safeguard-american-voter-eligibility-illinois-citizenship-passport-birth-certificate-becky-simon
NPR ILLINOIS
— She worked for years to get a federal job. Within a month, she was fired (COMMENT: The Democrats who ran GAO in 1980, IRS in 1971, and the Post Office in 1966 hired me because they could not find a qualified Democrat, minority, female, younger person, or veteran who would take the job. My passing the postal employment examination and earning a high school diploma qualified me for the Post Office job. My passing the Federal Service Entrance Examination and earning a bachelor’s degree in management qualified me the IRS job. My earning an MBA, passing the CPA examination on my first attempt, and almost completing the requirements for a master’s degree in accounting qualified me for the GAO job.)
https://www.nprillinois.org/2025-02-19/she-worked-for-years-to-get-a-federal-job-within-a-month-she-was-fired
(FROM THE ARTICLE: A dream job. Rose is the daughter of immigrants and grew up on the East Coast. For her entire professional life, she had wanted to work in the government. She’d done a few internships around Washington, D.C., before taking a job as a consultant. In that role, she’d worked alongside federal workers on environmental cleanup and clean energy projects. Working with those federal employees inspired her to pursue a job as a civil servant. But, she says, she soon learned that “getting a job in the federal government is a science in itself.” Initially, she was rejected from several positions. Undaunted, Rose steeped herself in the language of the U.S. government. She taught herself an endless list of acronyms and bought a book on how to build a résumé that would make her more attractive to federal work. Then late last year, she got what she thought was going to be her big break. She had interviewed at the Department of Energy for a job helping to oversee a portfolio of renewable energy projects. She says the hiring process was a monthslong ordeal, during which, she jokes, she told them everything except “what my blood type is.” In December, she got the call from human resources telling her she’d landed the role. “I was with a friend at the time,” she says. “And I just kept saying over and over, ‘I got the job! I got the job!'” It was going to be a turning point in her life: “It really felt like … my career is beginning, because this is the job I want,” she recalls.)
WOKV
— ‘Now I have a voice’: Jacksonville sheriff joins statewide illegal immigration crackdown
https://www.wokv.com/news/local/now-i-have-voice-jacksonville-sheriff-joins-statewide-illegal-immigration-crackdown/AGNOWOCVPNBXHMIWPMNIJGNBRQ/
CENTRAL ILLINOIS PROUD
— Trump imposes his vision on America
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/politics/ap-trump-imposes-his-vision-on-america-in-departure-from-first-term-stumbles/
WAND TV
— Rep. Will Davis (D- East Hazel Crest), who chairs the House Appropriations-Elementary & Secondary Education Committee, calls for more Affirmative Action and DEI, that is, for more race and gender based preference giving, patronage, political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, and national origin discrimination. Democrat leaders ever-increasingly hint/imply/argue/shout that all the problems that minorities and females have are caused by Republicans.
https://www.wandtv.com/news/statehouse/rep-blaine-wilhour-argues-illinois-should-stop-focusing-on-equity-in-education-funding/article_b0c6b2da-ee4d-11ef-ade8-67c4623f0b02.html
POLITICO ILLINOIS
— Anticipate/expect that ever-increasingly, hate-filled Trump-hating Trump-haters will blame for everything that is bad.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/2025/02/19/pritzkers-budget-reveal-00204837
CAPITOL FAX
— Morning briefing
https://capitolfax.com/2025/02/19/isabel%e2%80%99s-morning-briefing-458/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WIREPOINTS
— Illinois has spent billions and billions on illegal immigrants…and that’s just the money we can see publicly
https://wirepoints.org/illinois-has-spent-billions-and-billions-on-illegal-immigrants-and-thats-just-the-money-we-can-see-publicly-wirepoints-on-am-560-chicagos-morning-answer/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
AMERICAN GREATNESS
— Morning Greatness: Most Americans Say Foreign Aid Is Wasted on Corruption
https://amgreatness.com/2025/02/18/morning-greatness-most-americans-say-foreign-aid-is-wasted-on-corruption/
— Support for President Trump’s Tariffs on China: A Strategic Move Towards Equitable Global Relations. Trump’s tariffs on China target fentanyl, economic espionage, and human rights abuses, signaling a hardline stance on trade and national security.
https://amgreatness.com/2025/02/19/support-for-president-trumps-tariffs-on-china-a-strategic-move-towards-equitable-global-relations/
BREITBART
— Fmr. GAO Head David Walker: DOGE Opponents Aren’t ‘Providing Any Support’ for Claims It’s Breaking Law
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2025/02/19/fmr-gao-head-doge-opponents-arent-providing-any-support-for-claims-its-breaking-law/
CENTER SQUARE
— IRS tax gap grows to $600 billion as DOGE looks for savings (COMMENT: I worked for GAO for 3 years on audits of IRS’s efforts to close the tax gap.)
https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_ecd0de72-ee0c-11ef-848d-ebb54839938d.html
CHRISTIAN POST
— Wheaton College alumni flood petition for leadership change amid ‘pernicious drift’
https://www.christianpost.com/news/wheaton-college-alumni-flood-petition-to-change-leadership.html
COLLEGE FIX
— Trump finds nearly $1 billion in Education Department waste
https://www.thecollegefix.com/trump-finds-nearly-1-billion-in-education-department-waste/
DAVID ARMANO
— These federal employees have no idea how private sector workers view them. Wow, they live in a world of their own with guaranteed job security, unions and legal armies ready to do battle on their behalf. A completely different set of rules. (COMMENT: If you were me, what position would you take on federal employees. While I worked for the federal government for almost 30 years (Post Office-3, IRS-9, and GAO-18), virtually all my superiors, supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates were Democrats. Extremely few sided with me. Virtually none came to my defense. Many helped my Democrat superiors waste my career and take adverse actions against me including forcing me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. Overwhelmingly, they promoted Affirmative Action and DEI, that is, they promoted race and gender based preference giving, patronage, political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, and/or national origin discrimination.)
https://x.com/armano/status/1892047499755409808?mx=2
EPOCH TIMES
— Trump Terminates Biden-Era US Attorneys in DOJ Overhaul. The president stated that the move was necessary to restore a ‘fair justice system’ in the country. (COMMENT: My critics/opponents have always stressed that my Republican U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald appointed U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald who sided with my Democrat GAO superiors in Diersen v. GAO. To side with my Democrat GAO superiors is to promote Affirmative Action and DEI, that is, to promote race and gender based preference giving, patronage, political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, and national origin discrimination.)
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/trump-terminates-biden-era-us-attorneys-in-doj-overhaul-5812443
FOX NEWS
— Deportation flights are ‘the most profoundly impactful tactic’ to deter illegal immigration (COMMENT: Anticipate/expect that many, most, if not virtually all of those who are deported will return.)
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6369027551112
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
CNN
— Trump administration terminates privacy officials at agency overseeing government hiring and firing
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/18/politics/opm-privacy-team-fired/index.html
NEWSWEEK
— Musk Says Some DOGE Workers Are Federal Employees
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-doge-employees-hannity-interview-2033017
NBC NEWS
— Despite DOGE, Trump’s agenda calls for adding trillions of dollars to U.S debt. Budget experts say Trump’s tax and spending priorities would increase red ink, even as he boasts of balancing the budget. “I don’t think their rhetoric matches reality,” says one.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/doge/doge-trumps-agenda-calls-adding-trillions-dollars-us-debt-rcna191665
CBS NEWS
— Tension between sanctuary cities and federal immigration crackdown
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/tension-between-sanctuary-cities-and-federal-immigration-crackdown/
MSN
— Boeing’s new Air Force One delayed until 2029 or later
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/boeing-s-new-air-force-one-delayed-until-2029-or-later-official-says/ar-AA1zeNrN
WASHINGTON POST
— U.S. Catholic bishops sue Trump administration over blocked refugee funds. The suit says the impact of the administration’s action is “devastating” for the Church and the refugees it serves. (COMMENT: According to Democrat leaders, sooner or later, everyone outside of America who is one of the following a) is a refugee, b) will be a refugee, and c) should be admitted as a refugee: minority, female, younger, LGBTQ, disabled, poor, non-Protestant, non-German American.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/02/18/catholic-bishops-sue-trump-refugee-funds/
— FEMA is losing scores of employees. What does that mean for disaster recovery? Cuts at the Federal Emergency Management Agency could affect people across the country who are struggling to rebuild and prepare for disasters. (COMMENT: I should write about the tremendous negative impacts of Republican gutting of GAO during the 1980s and 1990s.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/02/18/fema-layoffs-disaster-response/
— Trump and Musk praise each other, promise ‘hundreds of billions’ in cuts during Fox interview
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/18/trump-presidency-news/
— Youngkin promises help for federal workers but defends Trump job cuts. In his first extended remarks on the Trump cuts, Youngkin acknowledges many are anxious but says the process is needed and that state help is coming. (COMMENT: In Diersen v. GAO, virtually everyone sided with the Democrats who ran GAO. Those who sided with GAO were many, most, if not virtually all of the following: liberal/moderate, minority, female, younger, poor, LGBTQ, veteran, disabled, non-Protestant, non-German American, and/or have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/02/18/virginia-youngkin-trump-federal-jobs/
— Why people aren’t having kids (COMMENT: My Democrat IRS and GAO superiors used my and my wife’s giving up trying to have children to justify the big adverse actions that they took against me. They hinted/implied/argued/shouted that I had lied about our efforts to have children. They stressed that we did not try IVF knowing full-well that our doctors said it would not be successful. They shouted that we could have adopted or become foster parents but did not.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/02/18/fertility-decline-women-kids-claudia-goldin/
USA TODAY
— Trump’s mass firing of probationary employees illegal, not performance-based, lawyers say (COMMENT: After I transferred from IRS to GAO when I was 31 years old in 1980, my Democrat GAO superiors were furious that they could not use their probationary procedures to fire me because I had served my probationary period while I worked for IRS.)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/18/trump-mass-firings-federal-workers-illegal/79070972007/
— Barron Trump is ‘future of conservative movement’ say College Republicans
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/19/barron-trump-nyu-conservative-republican/79104907007/
— Trump said he was the ‘father of IVF.’ After his executive order, these voters are rejoicing.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2025/02/19/ivf-trump-insurance-executive-order-reactions/78405547007/
UNION JOURNAL
— Trump Has Used $10.7 Million in Taxpayer Funds for Golf Expenses
https://www.theunionjournal.com/donald-trump-has-used-10-7-million-in-taxpayer-funds-for-golf-expenses/
BLOOMBERG
— Trump Accelerates Mass Firing of Federal Workers
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-02-18/trump-accelerates-mass-firing-of-federal-workers-evening-briefing
FAST COMPANY
— How federal workers are mobilizing against Trump, Musk, and DOGE. In response to sudden firings, government workers from across departments are starting a protest movement to fight back—and are targeting Tesla dealerships.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91280631/how-federal-workers-are-mobilizing-against-trump-musk-and-doge
WORLD AND WAY
— Wheaton College Clash Over Russell Vought Escalates, Exposing Evangelical Fault Lines
https://wordandway.org/2025/02/19/wheaton-college-clash-over-russell-vought-escalates-exposing-evangelical-fault-lines/
INSIDE HIGHER EDUCATION
— Democrat and RINO leaders use DEI to get rid of Republicans.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/02/19/higher-ed-groups-push-back-trumps-dei-threats
GOVERNMENT EXCUTIVE
— Thousands join class actions as fired feds weigh options to challenge Trump’s moves. Former federal probationary employees are hopeful they can prove their dismissals were not actually performance based, as their agencies claim. (COMMENT: After I transferred from IRS to GAO when I was 31 years old in 1980, my Democrat GAO superiors were furious that they could not use their probationary procedures to fire me because I had served my probationary period while I worked for IRS.)
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/02/thousands-join-class-actions-fired-feds-weigh-options-challenge-trumps-moves/403087/
FED MANAGER
— Federal Agencies Start Mass Layoffs, Probationary Employees Targeted (COMMENT: After I transferred from IRS to GAO when I was 31 years old in 1980, my Democrat GAO superiors were furious that they could not use their probationary procedures to fire me because I had served my probationary period while I worked for IRS.)
https://www.fedmanager.com/news/federal-agencies-start-mass-layoffs-probationary-employees-targeted
FEDERAL NEWS NETWORK
— Fired probationary employees bring class-wide complaint to OSC (COMMENT: After I transferred from IRS to GAO when I was 31 years old in 1980, my Democrat GAO superiors were furious that they could not use their probationary procedures to fire me because I had served my probationary period while I worked for IRS.)
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce-rightsgovernance/2025/02/fired-probationary-employees-bring-class-wide-complaint-to-osc/
FED WEEK
— Federal Workplace Likely to Be Topic in Hearing on New GAO High-Risk List (COMMENT: At that hearing, Republicans should stress that GAO wasted my career and forced me to retire when I was 49 years old. My Democrat GAO superiors wasted what I had learned a) working for GAO for almost 18 years and for IRS for almost 9 years before that, b) earning six job-related professional certifications, c) earning a job-related professional license, and d) earning three job-related master’s degrees. Who does Trump want the next head of GAO to be, that is, who does Trump want the next Comptroller General to be?)
https://www.fedweek.com/fedweek/federal-workplace-likely-to-be-topic-in-hearing-on-new-gao-high-risk-list/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Democrats likely will use the hearing to point out that among GAO’s concerns in all such reports since they started in 2001 is what GAO calls “strategic management of human capital.” Main issues cited have included persistent shortages of federal employees with needed skills in areas such as cybersecurity and other IT functions, the STEM fields in general, acquisition, HR, and others—along with the need for better planning and building up capacity for the workforce of the future. The prior report said that shortages of employees were “undermining agencies’ abilities to meet their missions.” Closing those gaps “will require demonstrated improvements in agencies’ capacity to perform workforce planning, foster employee engagement, train staff effectively, and recruit and retain the appropriate number of staff with the necessary skills,” it said.)
AFGE
— AFGE Condemns Trump’s Mass Firing of Federal Employees
https://www.afge.org/article/afge-condemns-trumps-mass-firing-of-federal-employees/
NARFE
— NARFE Members Denounce Fed Firings During Nationwide Protests. Act Now: Protect Federal Earned Federal Retirement and Health Benefits from Budget Cuts. Urge Congress to Stand Up for Public Servants, Rule of Law. (COMMENT: I have been a NARFE member since I was 40 years old in 1988.)
https://www.narfe.org/advocacy/legislative-action-center/?_zs=NUifm&_zl=k7OF3
REDDIT
— Some federal workers are ‘getting wealthy at taxpayer expense,’ says Elon Musk, whose companies have received at least $20 billion from the government. (COMMENT: I was a federal employee for almost 30 years. My critic/opponents have always demonized me, denigrated me, and condemned me as being overpaid.)
https://www.reddit.com/r/50501/comments/1isvn9q/some_federal_workers_are_getting_wealthy_at/?rdt=63007
INSTAGRAM
— 3rd of federal workers are veterans. The federal government is largely a jobs program for them.(COMMENT: My Democrat superiors who took adverse actions against me were veterans and/or used their subordinates who were veterans to do that. I should write about that. Of course, they stressed that I avoided the Vietnam War draft.)
https://www.instagram.com/thetnholler/p/DGPScQstOrO/
February 18, 2025
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
CBS2
— Durbin, congresspeople highlight what they say would be detrimental effects of federal spending cuts (COMMENT: To what extent is your county, township, municipality, school district, and precinct dependent on federal spending?)
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/durbin-congresspeople-detrimental-effects-federal-spending-cuts/
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote their protests against Trump.
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/video/protesters-rally-in-chicago-against-president-trumps-policies/
WGN9
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote their protests against Trump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFkVQUBlIoY
https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/chicago-presidents-day-trump-musk-protests/
— Illinois Congressional Democrats rail against Trump, Musk cuts (COMMENT: To what extent is your county, township, municipality, school district, and precinct dependent on federal spending?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luDPZki4H5Q
FOX32
— Illinois Dem lawmakers push back against Trump budget cuts (COMMENT: To what extent is your county, township, municipality, school district, and precinct dependent on federal spending?)
https://www.fox32chicago.com/video/1594717
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote more hatred against Trump.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/18/opinion-illinois-fighting-unconcstitutional-actions-donald-trump/
— Homer Township Reset slate challenges Freedom Caucus incumbents in Republican Primary
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/17/homer-township-republican-primary/
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote their protests against Trump.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2025/02/17/protesters-march-donald-trump-nationwide-presidents-day-demonstration
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote more hatred against Trump.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/letters-to-the-editor/2025/02/17/trump-presidency-republicans-maga-mean-federal-layoffs-debt-conservatives-new-party-usaid
NPR ILLINOIS
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote their protests against Trump.
https://www.nprillinois.org/2025-02-17/thousands-of-people-protest-in-washington-d-c-and-across-the-u-s-on-presidents-day
WCIA
— Central Illinois federal workers face unemployment, uncertainty (COMMENT: Because of Republican-led budget cuts, all during the almost 18 years that I worked for the Democrats who ran GAO 1980-1997, I faced Democrat retaliation, that is, I faced political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, and national origin discrimination. I should write about that.)
https://www.wcia.com/news/champaign-county/there-were-people-crying-central-illinois-federal-workers-face-unemployment-uncertainty/
WAND TV
— Democrats ever-increasingly promote more abortion.
https://www.wandtv.com/news/planned-parenthood-of-illinois-expands-medication-abortion-access-through-app/article_206323fe-edf3-11ef-ab84-1f11aa00a2cd.html
POLITICO ILLINOIS
— TROLLING TRUMP: The Illinois Democratic Party has been trolling President Donald Trump by projecting digital phrases onto the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago’s River North neighborhood and a stream of online messaging.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/2025/02/18/richard-irvin-returns-to-the-ring-00204650
CAPITOL FAX
— Morning briefing
https://capitolfax.com/2025/02/18/isabel%e2%80%99s-morning-briefing-457/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
GOPUSA ILLINOIS
— How much success have the Democrat and RINO leaders of your county, township, municipality, and school district had promoting fear, anger, and hatred against Trump and against those who voted for Trump? – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— I should write about the tremendous negative impacts from Republican gutting GAO instead of Republican reforming of GAO. If Republicans had reformed GAO, the Democrats who ran GAO 1980-1997 would not have been able to a) force me to take a $23,472/year (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer from IRS to GAO, b) delay my promotions and never promote me beyond GS-13, c) always rank me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance, or d) force me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— GAO is supposed to fight waste in the federal government. But Democrats run the federal government and Democrats run GAO. I worked for the Democrats who ran GAO 1980-1997. Because I have always been a Republican, they did not want me fight waste. To get rid of me, they. a) forced me to take a $23,472/year (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer from IRS to GAO, b) delayed my promotions and never promote me beyond GS-13, c) always ranked me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance, and d) forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. They wasted what I had learned a) working for GAO for almost 18 years and for IRS for almost 9 years, b) earning three job-related master’s degrees, c) earning six job-related professional certifications, and d) earning a job-related professional license. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— According to my critics/opponents, the courts in Diersen v. GAO decided that employers can fire their employees a) because they oppose political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and/or age discrimination and/or b) because they have performance problems. According to my critics/opponents, both of the aforesaid applied to me a) because I was an active member in a class action lawsuit that charged my employer with reverse discrimination and age discrimination and b) because my employer never promoted me beyond GS-13 and always ranked me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance. According to them, I had to have performance problems because they took those adverse actions against me even though I had three job-related master’s degrees, six job-related professional certifications, and a job-related professional license. But in fact, they took those adverse actions against me a) because I opposed their political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and age discrimination and b) because I was an active member in a class action lawsuit that charged them with reverse discrimination and age discrimination. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— What do your critics/opponents stress about you to turn people against you? My critics/opponents stress that I am conservative, Republican, White, male, older, non-veteran, Protestant, German American, my ancestors have been in America since 1844, I was a federal employee for almost 30 years and almost 9 of which working for IRS, I have been a federal retiree for more than 27 years, I have been married for almost 47 years, I have more education than they have, I have six professional certifications and a professional license, I have more real estate, vehicles, and/or money than they have, I have better health than they have, etc. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— What do your critics/opponents stress to promote envy against you? Mine stress that I have been a federal retiree for more than 27 years, that I have been married for almost 47 years, that I have more education than they have, that I have six professional certifications and a professional license, that I have more real estate, vehicles, and/or money than they have, that I have better health than they have, etc.
http://www.gopillinois.com
MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
— Congressman Robert C. McClory’s Significant Law
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/17/congressman-robert-c-mcclorys-significant-law/
— Crystal Lake Grade School District Has 20% Fewer Students Than in 2008, But More Staff
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/17/crystal-lake-grade-school-district-has-20-fewer-students-than-in-2008-but-more-staff/
— The Censures of Randy Funk – Part 1
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/17/the-censures-of-randy-funk-part-1/
— The Contract with Peter Bensinger I Would Not Sign in the Thompson Administration
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/17/the-contract-with-peter-bensinger-i-would-not-sign-in-the-thompson-administration/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
U.S. Department of HOMELAND SECURITY
— Secretary Kristi Noem announced a nationwide and international multimillion-dollar ad campaign warning illegal aliens to leave our country now or face deportation with the inability to return to the United States. The international ads warn criminal illegal aliens not to come to America and break its laws or they will be hunted down and deported. (COMMENT: Of course, Democrats and RINOs oppose/reject the aforesaid.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hezXQvjzCkQ
WASHINGTON TIMES
— Time to go: DHS tells illegal immigrants to ‘self-deport and stay out’ Secretary Kristi Noem vows ‘We will hunt you down’
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/17/dhs-tells-illegal-immigrants-self-deport-stay/
NEW YORK POST
— AOC’s harmful migrant assistance (COMMENT: It is criminal to help people commit crimes.)
https://nypost.com/2025/02/17/opinion/aocs-harmful-migrant-assistance-letters/
— Eric Adams is a hostage to New Yorkers’ will — not to Donald Trump
https://nypost.com/2025/02/17/opinion/memo-to-eric-adams-critics-hes-a-hostage-to-nyers-will-not-donald-trump/
AMERICAN THINKER
— Buttigieg insinuates that Trump’s IG firing spree has something to do with promoting ‘waste, fraud, and abuse’ (COMMENT: When the Democrats who ran GAO’s Chicago Office forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997, the Democrats who ran IG offices in Chicago could have offered to hire me, but they did not. I should write about those who they hired instead of me.)
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/02/buttigieg_insinuates_that_trump_s_ig_firing_spree_has_something_to_do_with_promoting_waste_fraud_and_abuse.html
BREITBART
— Supreme Court Path for President Trump on Birthright Citizenship
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/02/17/scotus-path-birthright-citizenship-trump/
— Kristi Noem Warns Migrants Against Entering U.S. Illegally: ‘You Will Be Caught’
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/02/17/kristi-noem-warns-migrants-entering-u-s-illegally-will-be-caught/
FOX BUSINESS
— DOGE critics are in favor of government waste (COMMENT: GAO is supposed to fight waste in the federal government. But Democrats run the federal government and Democrats run GAO. I worked for the Democrats who ran GAO 1980-1997. Because I have always been a Republican, they did not want me fight waste. To get rid of me, they. a) forced me to take a $23,472/year (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer from IRS to GAO, b) delayed my promotions and never promote me beyond GS-13, c) always ranked me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance, and d) forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. They wasted what I had learned a) working for GAO for almost 18 years and for IRS for almost 9 years, b) earning three job-related master’s degrees, c) earning six job-related professional certifications, and d) earning a job-related professional license.)
https://www.foxbusiness.com/video/6368973252112
FOX NEWS
— Homan takes victory lap after illegal immigrant crossings plummet during Trump admin: ‘He is delivering’ Homan said it’s the lowest he’s seen since President Reagan was in office.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/homan-victory-lap-after-illegal-immigrant-crossings-plummet-during-trump-admin-delivering
LEGAL INSURRECTION
— Dear DOGE – Why Is The U.S. Government Funding “Media Literacy” Informers And Indoctrination? DHS, Defense, and State are all involved. I know, I took the trainings. Do Secretaries Noem, Hegseth, and Rubio know?
https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/02/dear-doge-why-is-the-u-s-government-funding-media-literacy-informers-and-indoctrination/
NEWSMAX
— Some Shelters Close as Migrant Flow Slows
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/migrant-shelters-closing-border/2025/02/17/id/1199406/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
NBC NEWS
— Supreme Court could decide who Trump is allowed to fire (COMMENT: According to my critics/opponents, the courts in Diersen v. GAO decided that employers can fire their employees a) because they oppose political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and/or age discrimination and/or b) because they have performance problems. According to my critics/opponents, both of the aforesaid applied to me a) because I was an active member in a class action lawsuit that charged my employer with reverse discrimination and age discrimination and b) because my employer never promoted me beyond GS-13 and always ranked me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance (PFP). According to them, I had to have performance problems because they took those adverse actions against me even though I had three job-related master’s degrees, six job-related professional certifications, and a job-related professional license. But in fact, they took those adverse actions against me a) because I opposed their political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and age discrimination and b) because I was an active member in a class action lawsuit that charged them with reverse discrimination and age discrimination.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq2hVZ_zz94
MSN
— Hegseth reports that IRS has audited him and says he owes $33,558.16. (COMMENT: I should write about why my Democrat IRS superiors disallowed my education deductions when I was 29 years old in 1978. They would not have done that if I had been a Democrat, minority, female, younger, or veteran.)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pete-hegseth-shares-back-taxes-self-own-while-blasting-biden-irs-for-audit/ar-AA1zfqGt
(FROM THE ARTICLE: A Fox News host until being nominated by Donald Trump to lead the Defense Department, Hegseth’s annual salary at the media company was north of $2 million, according to a financial disclosure report he filed as part of the confirmation process. Additionally, he earned $900,000 in speaking engagement fees over the last two years, according to the report. As Secretary of Defense, Hegseth will be paid $246,000 per year. The Trump administration is expected to soon announce substantial layoffs at the IRS. Furthermore, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is looking to gain access to the IRS’s highly-classified system for housing taxpayers’ financial information.)
ASSOCIATED PRESS & MSNBC & NEWSWEEK & LOS ANGELES & ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER & NBC BOSTON & ABC DENVER & BUSINESS TIMES
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote their protests against Trump.
https://apnews.com/article/president-donald-trump-protest-c8796556fbf20e796f42167f61c3d942
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLJLFiB6bb8
https://www.newsweek.com/photos-show-trump-musk-50501-protests-across-us-2032448
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-02-17/presidents-day-rally-long-beach
https://www.ocregister.com/2025/02/17/on-presidents-day-in-irvine-demonstrators-rally-against-president-trump-and-elon-musk/
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/politics/presidents-day-brings-protests-against-trumps-policies/3634753/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKbNe3qG8MQ
https://www.btimesonline.com/articles/172879/20250218/no-kings-on-presidents-day-rallies-target-trump-policies-musk-s-influence.htm
NEW YORK TIMES
— What do your critics/opponents stress to promote envy against you? Mine stress that I have been a federal retiree for more than 27 years, that I have been married for almost 47 years, that I have more education than they have, that I have six professional certifications and a professional license, that I have more real estate, vehicles, and/or money than they have, that I have better health than they have, etc.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/03/learning/do-you-ever-feel-envious-of-others.html
— Democrats Fear They Are Missing the Moment to Remake the Party. As President Trump steamrolls over their priorities, Democrats say they could miss the opportunity to learn lessons from their defeat and undertake needed reform. (COMMENT: From what I see, the Democrat Party will forever promote dependency on government charity, LGBTQ, abortion, mass/illegal immigration, booze, gambling, pot, and other vices, abolition of the Second Amendment, and Affirmative Action and DEI, that is, race and gender based preference giving, patronage, political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, and national origin discrimination. By doing the aforesaid, the Democrat Party wants to get more votes from those who are liberal/moderate, minority, female, younger, poor, non-Protestant, non-German American, have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time, are in America illegally, boozers, gamblers, stoners, and criminals.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/17/us/politics/democrats-trump-future.html
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD: Trump Targets a Growing List of Those He Sees as Disloyal. In his first month in office, the president has carried out a campaign of retribution that has little analogue in history. (COMMENT: My critics/opponents demand blind loyalty and 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 coverup their wrongdoing, and/or who refuse to give them money.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/17/us/politics/trump-retribution-list.html
USA TODAY
— Federal government has wasted trillions. Trump and Musk are saying, ‘Enough!’
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/02/17/trump-musk-doge-government-waste-national-debt/78518870007/
WEEK
— How much did Germany pay as WWI reparations? Here’s why Donald Trump’s proposed $500 billion offer for Ukraine is even worse. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked his officials to reject Donald Trump administration’s $500 billion deal, saying it does not give adequate security guarantees for Kyiv.
https://www.theweek.in/news/world/2025/02/18/how-much-did-germany-pay-as-wwi-reparations-here-s-why-donald-trump-s-proposed-500-billion-offer-for-ukraine-is-even-worse.html
WBAL TV
— Employees across federal agencies detail impacts of layoffs, DOGE action (COMMENT: I should write about the tremendous negative impacts of Republicans gutting GAO instead of reforming GAO. If Republicans had reformed GAO, the Democrats who ran GAO 1980-1997 would not have been able to a) force me to take a $23,472/year (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer from IRS to GAO, b) delay my promotions and never promote me beyond GS-13, c) always rank me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance, or d) force me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997.)
https://www.wbaltv.com/article/federal-employees-layoffs-impacts-doge-executive-orders/63821109
WALL STREET JOURNAL
— The Media Claim to Find No Fraud in Government. Then again, they also told us Biden was sharp as a tack and nothing was amiss at the border.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-media-claim-to-find-no-fraud-in-government-waste-abuse-agencies-8ed673b2
— 6 Ways to Fix the Job-Application Nightmare. Companies are needlessly hurting their reputations among potential employees. Here’s what they can do to improve the process—and attract better talent. (COMMENT: I did not apply to be an IRS employee. IRS offered me a job because I had passed the Federal Service Entrance Examination.)
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/job-search-applications-fixes-476ed638
— America’s Trumpiest City Council Is Thriving—in Newsom’s California. Huntington Beach has become a laboratory for Trump-style local governance; ‘non-sanctuary city’ status and a MAGA plaque at the library. (COMMENT: How strongly do the Republican leaders of the following support Trump: a) your state senate and house districts, county, township, municipality, and school board and b) the Illinois Republican Party and your Republican county and township/ward party organizations?)
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/americas-trumpiest-city-council-is-thrivingin-newsoms-california-e671f21c
INSIDE HIGHER EDUCATION
— Anticipate/expect that Democrat and RINO leaders will ever-increasingly use DEI to get rid of Republicans
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/diversity/race-ethnicity/2025/02/18/after-trumps-diversity-threats-what-should-colleges-do
February 17, 2025
ABC7
— Trump mug shot hung just outside Oval Office
https://abc7chicago.com/post/president-donald-trumps-mug-shot-fulton-county-jail-georgia-hung-outside-oval-office-photos-show/15916528/
— Trump tours Boeing plane to highlight aircraft maker’s delay in delivering a new Air Force One
https://abc7chicago.com/post/donald-trump-tours-boeing-747-plane-highlight-aircraft-makers-delay-delivering-new-air-force-presidential/15915490/
— Fired federal workers speak out on recent terminations: ‘we’re under attack by billionaires’ (COMMENT: I did more than speak out when my Democrat GAO superiors forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. I filed Diersen v. GAO. SEE: https://gopillinois.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/DiersenGAOFifthAmendedComplaint.pdf My critics/opponents side with GAO in that lawsuit, that is, they promote political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and age discrimination.)
https://abc7chicago.com/post/federal-layoffs-fired-workers-speak-recent-terminations-were-attack-billionaires/15915591/
WTTW
— An Illinois DOGE? Rep. John Cabello’s (R-Rockford) Proposal Would Create New Department
https://news.wttw.com/2025/02/17/illinois-doge-republican-state-lawmaker-s-proposal-would-create-new-department
WBBM
— LaHood trusts Trump’s implementation of the Republican Party platform. To what extent do the Republican leaders in your county, township, municipality, and school district share LaHood’s trust? Which planks in the Republican Party platform do the aforesaid leaders accept or reject?
https://www.audacy.com/wbbm780/news/local/congressman-lahood-trusts-trump-administration-musk
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD: Democrats ever-increasingly promote more abortion.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/17/cook-county-health-planned-parenthood-partnership-englewood/
— Trump’s moves to end foreign aid agency hit close to home in Illinois
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/17/ctc-l-trump-usaid-spending-illinois/
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— ALL OF THE FRONT PAGE: Chicago area federal workers on edge as Trump guts agencies: ‘It’s devastating’ More than 48,000 federal workers in and around Chicago have been on edge for weeks as President Donald Trump aims to drastically reduce the federal workforce. (COMMENT: Virtually all federal employees are Democrats. If I was still a federal employee, my Democrat superiors, supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates would have killed me by now figuratively if not literally. When Republicans gutted GAO in the 1990s, my Democrat GAO superiors forced me to retire when I was 49 years old.)
https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/donald-trump/2025/02/16/federal-workers-chicago-trump-buyouts-layoffs
— Democrat and RINO leaders ever-increasingly promote more illegal immigration.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/la-voz/work-permit-immigration-eligibility-chicago
DAILY HERALD
— As federal workers and aid recipients reel, Trump’s team is unmoved (COMMENT: I reeled big time when my Democrat GAO superiors forced me to retire in 1997 when I was 49 years old. I filed Diersen v. GAO. SEE: https://gopillinois.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/DiersenGAOFifthAmendedComplaint.pdf )
https://www.dailyherald.com/20250215/nation-and-world-politics/as-federal-workers-and-aid-recipients-reel-trumps-team-is-unmoved/
— Illinois leaders: Stop pushing for big government, start helping small businesses
https://www.dailyherald.com/20250215/business/illinois-leaders-stop-pushing-for-big-government-start-helping-small-businesses/
CHAMPAIGN/URBANA NEWS GAZETTE
— Daytona 500 resumes after lengthy rain delay; Trump on hand for start of NASCAR’s biggest race. The Daytona 500 has resumed after two weather delay totaling more than 3 1/2 hours, and with President Donald Trump set to watch the rest of the race in Florida, after he earlier led drivers on two laps around the track in his heavily armored presidential limousine known in Washington as “The Beast.”
https://www.news-gazette.com/news/nation-world/daytona-500-resumes-after-lengthy-rain-delay-trump-on-hand-for-start-of-nascars-biggest/article_cbec048e-62f3-5f04-b0d8-22239f18aa2e.html
ALTON TELEGRAPH
— Trump administration wants the Supreme Court to let the firing of whistleblower agency head proceed (COMMEMT: I was a whistleblower. I ever-increasingly blew the whistle on political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and age discrimination in the federal government. The Bush administration wanted me to suffer the retaliation that I did for my doing that.)
https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/trump-administration-wants-the-supreme-court-to-20170946.php
NPR ILLINOIS
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote more protests against Trump.
https://www.nprillinois.org/2025-02-16/protests-are-set-to-take-place-on-presidents-day-heres-why
WCIA
— Presidents dominate their DOJs. My critics/opponents stress that while Bush was president, his DOJ sided with the Democrats against me in Diersen v. GAO, that is, that Bush wanted political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and age discrimination.
https://www.wcia.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-justice-departments-independence-is-threatened-as-trumps-team-asserts-power-over-cases-and-staff/
WAND TV
— Trump attends the Daytona 500 and says the spirit of NASCAR will ‘fuel America’s Golden Age’ President Donald Trump says the spirit of NASCAR will “fuel America’s Golden Age.”
https://www.wandtv.com/news/national/trump-attends-the-daytona-500-and-says-the-spirit-of-nascar-will-fuel-americas-golden/article_68c448c7-3894-5da3-ab9c-45a47a8dabd3.html
— Local federal employees in Illinois among those who’ve been fired nationally (COMMENT: During the 1980s and 1990s, I was among those Republican GAO employees who the Democrats who ran GAO punished for Republican-led budget cuts. They forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997 because of Republican-led budget cuts.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8_KiZcXA1Q
FOX ILLINOIS
— Rubio backs Israel’s Gaza strategy as ceasefire faces uncertainty amid Hamas tensions
https://foxillinois.com/news/nation-world/rubio-in-israel-says-hamas-must-be-eradicated-casting-further-doubt-on-gazas-shaky-cease
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
GOPUSA ILLINOIS
— What if the federal government had to look like America? It certainly does not now. Virtually all federal employees are Democrats. But Republican Trump got 50% of the vote. What if 50% of federal employee had to be Republican? The Democrats who ran GAO in 1980, IRS in 1971, and the Post Office in 1966 hired me because they could not find a qualified Democrat, minority, female, younger person, or veteran who would take the job. Because I am a Republican, the Democrats who ran IRS would not have promoted me in 1972, 1973, or 1974 if I had not been taking graduate evening business courses. Virtually none of my coworkers had done that. Because I am a Republican, the Democrats who ran GAO would not have promoted me in 1986 if I had not earned an MBA in 1976, passed the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979, earned a master’s degree in accounting in 1980, and passed the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt and became a licensed CPA in 1981. None of my coworkers had done anything close to that. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— What discourages Republicans from seeking federal jobs? Virtually all federal employees are Democrats. Democrat superiors and supervisors in the federal government give preference to their employees who are Democrat, and especially to those who are minority, female, younger, and/or veteran, that is, they discriminate against their employees who are Republican, and especially against those who are White, male, older, and/or non-veteran. What could Trump do about the aforesaid? He could use me as an example. If I had been a Democrat, the federal government would have promoted me into its Senior Executive Service before I was 40 years old. But because I was a Republican, the federal government wasted my career and forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997 even though I had a) earned job-related master’s degrees in 1976, 1980, and 1997, b) earned job-related professional certifications in 1979, 1981, 1990, 1994, 1996, and 1997, and c) earned a job-related professional license in 1981. Trump could force the return of meritocracy in the federal government. All my coworkers who my Democrat superiors promoted over me were Democrats who a) had less work experience than I had, had less education than I had, had no professional certifications or fewer than I had, and/or had no professional license like the one I had and/or b) were minority, female, younger, and/or veteran. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
WIREPOINTS
— Illinois shouldn’t dismiss Indiana’s overture to snap up “separatist” downstate counties
https://wirepoints.org/illinois-shouldnt-dismiss-indianas-overture-to-snap-up-separatist-downstate-counties-wirepoints/
JOHN BIVER
— USAID, DOGE and the state of Illinois 2025
https://johnbiver.com/usaid-doge-and-the-state-of-illinois-2025/
MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
— Is McHenry County Administrator’s Pending 5.3% Raise a Signal That All Non-Union Employees Will Receive the Same?
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/16/is-mchenry-county-administrators-pending-5-3-raise-a-signal-that-all-non-union-employees-will-receive-the-same/
— Inside View of State Senate Appointment Process in Which Darby Hills Selected to Replace Dan McConchie
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/16/inside-view-of-state-senate-appointment-process-in-which-darby-hills-selected-to-replace-dan-mcconchie/
— Ness Attacked on Facebook by Americans for Prosperity
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/15/ness-attacked-on-facebook-by-americans-for-prosperity/
— Mike Buehler’s 2025 State of the County Address
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/15/mike-buehlers-state-of-the-county-address/
— Trump as a “Disruptor”
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/15/trump-as-a-disruptor/
— Kane County GOP Campaigns Against Democrats’ Sales Tax Hike Referendum
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/15/kane-county-gop-campaigns-against-democrats-sales-tax-hike-referendum/
— Schakowsky Wonders if MANufacturers Discriminate against Women
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/15/schakowsky-wonders-if-manufacturers-discriminate-against-women/
— Crystal Lake Grade School Offers Mental Health/Suicide Prevention Advice
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/15/crystal-lake-grade-school-offers-mental-health-suicide-prevention-advice/
— Keicher Takes on TIFs
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/15/keicher-takes-on-tifs/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON TIMES
— Democrats hunt for Trump vulnerability, zero in on inflation
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/16/democrats-looking-trump-vulnerability-zero-inflati/
— Trump’s record-breaking start rattles Washington, rankles rivals, but earns raves from voters
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/16/trump-record-breaking-start-rattles-district-rankl/
— Time for ‘Never Trumpers’ to admit they were wrong about Donald Trump
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/16/time-never-trumpers-admit-wrong-donald-trump/
— Trump moves to counter hatred of Christians and Jews. Left claims it doesn’t exist. (COMMENT: I was baptized, raised, and confirmed as a Missouri Synod Lutheran. While was a federal employee for almost 30 years, virtually none of my superiors, supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates were Protestants.)
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/16/trump-moves-counter-hatred-christians-jews/
— Dems fighting Trump’s cuts represent states receiving $231 billion in federal funds
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/15/dem-task-force-stop-trump-bureaucracy-overhaul-rep/
NEW YORK POST
— Trump attends Daytona 500, drives lap around track in motorcade while delivering message
https://nypost.com/2025/02/16/sports/trump-attends-daytona-500-drives-lap-around-track-in-motorcade/
AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE
— Mass Deportations Are an American Tradition. Past presidents showed that removing millions of illegal aliens is achievable.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/mass-deportations-are-an-american-tradition/
AMERICAN GREATNESS
— Trump Speed. President Trump is not moving at light speed. He’s not moving at warp speed. He is moving even faster… he is moving at Trump speed. And the left doesn’t know what to do.
https://amgreatness.com/2025/02/17/trump-speed/
AMERICAN THINKER
— Trump is Closing the Border. Now What About Legal Immigration?
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/02/trump_is_closing_the_border_now_what_about_legal_immigration.html
BREITBART
— House Republicans Budget Billions for Trump Border and Immigration Enforcement
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/02/17/budget/
— Trump’s Deputies Shrink Democrats’ Labor and Sex Trafficking Programs
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/02/16/trumps-deputies-shrink-federal-labor-sex-trafficking-uac-program/
DAILY CALLER
— Reince Priebus Tells Dem Panelists Their Party Is On ‘Wrong Side Of Normal’
https://dailycaller.com/2025/02/16/reince-priebus-democrats-wrong-normal-party-abc-news/
FOX NEWS
— Sanctuary policies protect criminal illegal aliens
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6368926559112
— Sanctuary cities are illegal and unconstitutional
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6368939017112
— Mayors, local officials could face arrest if they don’t comply with Trump’s mass deportations (COMMENT: Are the leaders of your county, township, municipality, and school district obstructing or helping with deportation of illegals?)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/mayors-local-officials-could-face-arrest-if-they-don-t-comply-with-trump-s-mass-deportations/ar-AA1xJrhA
— Trump applauds ‘guts’ of NASCAR drivers ahead of Daytona 500, sends them special message. Trump took a lap in The Beast ahead of the start of the race.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/trump-applauds-guts-nascar-drivers-ahead-daytona-500-sends-them-special-message?lid=5eki2yd47qmi
— Trump admin aims for killing blow to independence of ‘Deep State’ agencies (COMMENT: After I transferred from IRS to GAO when I was 31 years old in 1980, I soon learned that GAO was much more partisan, that is, anti-Republican, than IRS was.)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/donald-trump-supreme-court-independent-agencies-deep-state-justice-department-dick-durbin
REAL CLEAR POLICY
— Trump’s Opening Move Against Migrant Sex Trafficking
https://www.realclearpolicy.com/2025/02/17/trumps_opening_move_against_migrant_sex_trafficking_1091841.html
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
THE HILL
— Trump’s plan is to implement the Republican Party platform.
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5146280-trump-executive-orders-government-efficiency/
CBS NEWS
— Trump administration wants Supreme Court to permit firing of whistleblower agency head (COMMENT: I was a whistleblower. I ever-increasingly blew the whistle on political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and age discrimination in the federal government. Because of that, my Democrat GAO superiors forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. Because of that, I filed Diersen v. GAO. SEE: https://gopillinois.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/DiersenGAOFifthAmendedComplaint.pdf But Bush sided with my Democrat GAO superiors in that lawsuit. My critics/opponents have always stressed that. My critics/opponents promote political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and age discrimination.)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-supreme-court-permit-firing-whistleblower-agency-head/
NEW YORK TIMES
— First Test of Trump’s Power to Fire Officials Reaches Supreme Court. The court’s conservative majority may be receptive to the argument that presidents have unlimited power to remove leaders of independent agencies.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/16/us/trump-supreme-court-special-counsel.html
— Democrats say “Trump Targets an Ideal Born of a President’s Murder. The act of violence almost 150 years ago effectively gave birth to the civil service, that class of nonpartisan experts who cannot be hired or fired for political reasons.” (COMMENT: Constructively, the Democrats who run the federal government have abolished Civil Service protections for federal employees who are Republican, and especially for those who are White, male, older, non-veteran, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time. I should write a book about the aforesaid.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/us/politics/trump-civil-service-history.html
USA TODAY
— ‘It’s a lie’: Federal workers incensed by performance language in termination letters (COMMENT: My critics/opponents have always hinted/implied/argued/shouted that real reason why my Democrat superiors in the federal government wasted my career and forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997 was performance problems. They ignore/dismiss/belittle/badmouth a) my earning job-related master’s degrees in 1997, 1980, and 1976, b) my earning job-related professional certifications in 1997, 1996, 1994, 1990, 1981, and 1979, and c) my earning a job-related professional license in 1981.)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/17/fired-federal-workers-performance-language-doge/78886104007/
BOSTON HERALD
— Trump’s Department of Education gives schools 2 weeks to ditch DEI…or else
https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/02/17/trumps-department-of-education-gives-schools-2-weeks-to-ditch-dei-or-else/
BALTIMORE SUN
— America is in the midst of a rightward shift (COMENT: Are the leaders of the Illinois Republican Party and your Republican county and township/ward party organizations shifting to the right?)
https://www.baltimoresun.com/2025/02/17/america-is-in-the-midst-of-a-rightward-shift-editorial/
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
— With 1.4 million undocumented people, Southern California will change as deportations ramp up (COMMENT: How many illegals are there in your county, township, municipality, school district, and precinct?)
https://www.ocregister.com/2025/02/16/with-1-4-million-undocumented-people-southern-california-will-change-as-deportations-ramp-up/
T. ROWE PRICE
— You’re age 35, 50, or 60: How much should you have saved for retirement by now? It’s important to make steady progress toward saving for retirement, no matter what your age. (COMMENT: Saving for our retirement was always a priority for my wife and I. While we were both working, we spent money like only one of us had a paycheck. We always put the maximums into tax-deferred accounts. Our retirement savings are much greater because we gave up trying to have children. Sadly, my critics/opponents use the aforesaid against me. We have less retirement savings because my Democrat superiors in the federal government wasted my career and forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. We have more money because of inheritances.)
https://www.troweprice.com/personal-investing/resources/insights/youre-age-35-50-or-60-how-much-should-you-have-by-now.html
ATLANTIC
— The Coming Democratic Baby Bust. Birth rates on the left fell in the last Trump presidency. It seems likely to happen again.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/02/democrat-baby-bust-trump-population-decline/681619/
NARFE
— Musk’s Meddling in Government Operations: A Threat to Federal Employees and National Security
https://www.narfe.org/blog/2025/02/11/elon-musks-meddling-in-government-operations-a-threat-to-federal-employees-and-national-security/
— The Importance of Smart-Sizing Federal Agencies (COMMENT: If Gingrich had reformed GAO instead of gutting it in the1980s and 1990s, there would be no need for DOGE today.)
https://www.narfe.org/blog/2025/02/11/the-importance-of-smart-sizing-federal-agencies-a-letter-from-narfe/
— Emerging Threats to the Federal Community
https://www.narfe.org/advocacy/emerging-threats/
SOUTH AFRICAN
— According to Democrat and RINO leaders, all the citizens of all the countries in the world are qualified to seek asylum in America, and especially those who are marginalized/oppressed, that is, those who are minority, female, younger, LGBTQ, poor, disabled, non-Protestant, non-German American, lack education and/or job skills, boozers, gamblers, stoners, criminals, etc.
https://www.thesouthafrican.com/lifestyle/confusion-qualifies-us-asylum-in-2025/
February 14, 2025
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
ABC7
— Trump administration begins mass layoffs across multiple federal agencies (COMMENT: While I worked for the Democrats who ran GAO 1980-1997, the agency ever-increasingly shrank because of Republican-led budget cuts. My Democrat GAO superiors ever-increasingly punished me for that. I was one of the last Republicans who GAO hired. GAO audits IRS. The Democrats who ran GAO in 1980 let me transfer from IRS when I was 31 years old, but only if I took a $23,472/year (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars. They could not find a qualified Democrat, minority, female, younger person, or veteran who would take the job. My qualifications included having a) passed the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979, b) almost completed the requirements for a master’s degree in accounting from DePaul, c) earned an MBA from Loyola in 1976, and d) worked for IRS for almost 9 years, the last 5 1/2 years of which at the GS-12 Step 1-5 Levels, currently $99,069-$112,280/year. To further punish me for Republican-led budget cuts, my Democrat GAO superiors a) delayed my promotions and never promoted me beyond GS-13, kept me off audits of IRS for all but 3 of the almost 18 years that I worked for GAO, always ranked me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance purposes, and forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997.)
https://abc7chicago.com/post/trump-administration-begins-mass-layoffs-multiple-federal-agencies-sources/15903559/
NBC5
— Local businesses concerned about DEI rollbacks as Illinois AG releases guidance (COMMENT: Democrat and RINO employers use DEI a) to not hire Republicans and b) to get rid of their Republican employees.)
https://www.nbcchicago.com/top-videos-home/local-businesses-concerned-about-dei-rollbacks-as-illinois-ag-releases-guidance/3674153/
FOX32
— Trump’s Illinois approval rating: New poll sheds light on president’s favorability (COMMENT: How strongly do the following approve of Trump: a) the leaders of the Illinois Republican Party and your Republican county, township, and ward party organizations, b) the Republican leaders of your county, township, municipality, and school district, c) the Republican candidates on the April 1 ballot in your precinct, and d) your Republican Precinct Committeeman?)
https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/trump-illinois-approval-rating-new-poll
(FROM THE ARTICLE: President Donald Trump’s approval rating in Illinois stands at 45%, slightly higher than his election day numbers. Trump’s support grew in suburban Cook County and the collar counties but remained steady in Chicago. The poll highlights a gender gap and varied opinions on Trump’s early policy moves.)
— Durbin slams RFK Jr. as ‘unqualified, unfit, and dangerous’ after health secretary confirmation
https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/illinois-senator-slams-rfk-jr-unqualified-unfit-dangerous-health-secretary
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Brandon Johnson, brooking no diversity of opinion, summons his inner Donald Trump. Chicago’s mayor is taking precisely the wrong lessons from his administrative failures
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/14/editorial-brandon-johnson-donald-trump-loyalty/
— Democrats ever-increasingly use DEI to get rid of Republicans
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/14/opinion-dei-trump-administration-free-speech/
— Reader: Illinois should follow President Donald Trump’s example and cut the waste (COMMENT: Democrats and RINOs oppose cutting government waste because Democrats and RINOs benefit from government waste. Democrats and RINOs do not want Republicans like me to fight government waste. GAO fights government waste. I would not have survived as a GAO Analyst for almost 18 years 1980-1997 if I had not a) earned master’s degrees in business in 1976, in accounting in 1980, and in finance in 1997, b) passed on my first attempt the CPA examination in 1979 and the Certified Internal Auditor examination in 1981, c) became a licensed CPA in 1981, d) became a Certified Fraud Examiner in 1990, Government Financial Manager in 1994, Financial Services Auditor in 1996, and Forensic Accountant in 1997, and e) worked for IRS for almost 9 years 1971-1980, the last 5 1/2 years of which at the GS-12 Step 1-5 Levels, currently $99,069-$112,280/year.)
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/13/letters-021325/
— Mayor Johnson’s public food market idea leaves us hungry for details
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/13/editorial-mayor-johnsons-public-market-idea-leaves-us-hungry-for-details/
— What to know about the federal workforce under President Trump (COMMENT: GAO did not unionize until 2007. If GAO had been unionized in 1997, I might still be a GAO employee.)
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/13/president-trump-federal-workforce-explainer/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The civilian federal workforce, not including military personnel and postal workers, comprises about 2.4 million people. While a chunk of federal workers, about 20%, are in Washington, D.C., and the neighboring states of Maryland and Virginia, more than 80% are distributed outside the region. . .Civil servants are the vast majority of federal workers. They’re generally hired through an application process and have strong protections once in their positions. Political appointees, who number roughly 4,000, serve at the discretion of the president and can be dismissed at will by the chief executive. . .“Civil servants tend to be in their jobs as careers, some of them for decades,” said Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who worked in President Bill Clinton’s Democratic administration when about 426,000 federal jobs were cut over more than eight years in a deliberative effort aimed at reinventing government. . .It’s not easy to fire the vast majority of federal workers — they have considerable job security with a long legal history. Federal employees who are not political appointees have strong protections designed to prevent political whims from clearing out the workforce. The protections have grown over time, under leadership of both major political parties. “The president definitely has his work cut out for him,” said Donald Kettl, a professor emeritus and former dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. Federal workers are entitled to due process, which means they can challenge disciplinary actions through a formal process. They have to be notified of the allegations against them and allowed to respond and present their side. “You have to build a record to fire somebody, and that doesn’t often happen,” Kamarck said. . .Federal workers have union representation, but, unlike those of many industries, they do not have the power to strike. Federal workers also can’t bargain over pay, because salaries are set in law. Federal unions can bargain over working conditions and basic protections for their members. Recently, unions have battled over remote working conditions, which they’ve successfully bargained for in the past and Trump is working to sharply reduce. “There also are some limits about what they can bargain over, so, for example, they can’t bargain over what the policy of their agency is,” Super said. “That’s a matter for the political process to work out, but they can bargain for things that affect workers on their jobs and their well-being.”)
— Trump administration begins sweeping layoffs with probationary workers, warns of larger cuts to come (COMMENT: My Democrat GAO superiors and supervisors were furious that they could not use probationary employee procedures to get rid of me because I had already survived my probationary period when I worked for IRS.)
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/13/trump-administration-lays-off-probationary-workers/
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Trump, pensions, health care among pressure points as Gov. JB Pritzker crafts state budget. Uncertainty in federal funding under President Donald Trump’s administration has made a tough state budget season even more difficult for Gov. JB Pritzker and Illinois Democrats who control Springfield.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/springfield/2025/02/14/jb-pritzker-budget-proposal-donald-trump
— Aviation, COPA chiefs out after Johnson vows to purge disloyal staff (COMMENT: My critics/opponents demand blind loyalty and 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 coverup their wrongdoing, and/or who refuse to give them money.)
https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2025/02/13/aviation-commissioner-retiring-jamie-rhee-ohare-midway-mayor-brandon-johnson-clean-house
DAILY HERALD
— EDITORIAL: Removing Henry Hyde’s name from Wheaton courthouse feels petty. Because it is.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20250213/editorials/daily-herald-opinion-removing-henry-hydes-name-from-wheaton-courthouse-feels-petty-because-it-is/
— Elgin moves to ban sale of THC products (COMMENT: Money spent on THC products, booze, gambling, prostitution, and other vices is money not spent on pot.)
https://www.dailyherald.com/20250213/news/elgin-moves-to-ban-sale-of-thc-products/
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD WITH BIG PICTURE: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly use illegals and students to promote more hatred against Trump.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20250213/news/this-is-a-safe-environment-amid-fears-of-deportation-sweeps-schools-work-to-protect-students/
CARROLL COUNTY NEWS
— Early voting begins for April 1 election (COMMENT: What offices are on the April 1 ballot in your precinct? Who are the candidates? Which ones are Republican?)
https://www.mycarrollcountynews.com/news/article_b1cc4bac-ea21-11ef-a282-2ff1c3444292.html
CENTRAL ILLINOIS PROUD
— The more demographics that voters have who vote for Republicans, the more that Democrats and RINOs discriminate against those voters. Demographics that vote for Republicans include: conservative, White, male, older, Protestant, German American, and have ancestors who have been in America for a long time.
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/politics/ap-given-christianitys-dominance-in-us-trump-raises-eyebrows-with-anti-christian-bias-initiative/
NPR ILLINOIS
— Trump administration was set to purchase $400 million worth of armored Teslas
https://www.nprillinois.org/2025-02-12/trump-administration-was-set-to-purchase-400-million-worth-of-armored-teslas
— Trump hired Musk as a special federal employee. Here is what that means. (COMMENT: I was just a regular federal employee. But notwithstanding tremendous efforts by my Democrat superiors to waste my career and to get rid of me, I survived for almost 18 years and got promoted to GS-13 Step 10, currently $153,151 year.)
https://www.nprillinois.org/2025-02-13/trump-hired-musk-as-a-special-government-employee-heres-what-that-means
— Under the Democrats and under the RINOs, homelessness will ever-increasingly increase.
https://www.nprillinois.org/illinois/2025-02-13/statewide-counting-the-unhoused
— A federal worker tried to take Trump’s ‘Fork’ resignation offer. Here’s what happened
https://www.nprillinois.org/2025-02-14/a-federal-worker-tried-to-take-trumps-fork-resignation-offer-heres-what-happened
— Immigration poll shows growing support for restrictions, but deep divisions remain (COMMENT: Democrats want immigrants because immigrants vote for Democrats. RINOs want immigrants because RINOs want cheap labor.)
https://www.nprillinois.org/2025-02-14/immigration-poll-shows-growing-support-for-restrictions-but-deep-divisions-remain
NPR ILLINOIS & WEEK
— As Chicago strengthens immigrant protections, downstate officials split on sanctuary laws (COMMENT: Ever-increasingly, according to Democrat leaders, those who are the following are discriminated against by Republicans and protected by Democrats: liberal/moderate, minority, female, younger, unmarried, LGBTQ, non-rich, non-Protestant, non-German American, have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time, in America illegally, boozers, gamblers, stoners, criminals, etc.)
https://www.nprillinois.org/illinois/2025-02-13/as-chicago-strengthens-immigrant-protections-downstate-officials-split-on-sanctuary-laws
https://www.25newsnow.com/2025/02/13/chicago-strengthens-immigrant-protections-downstate-officials-split-sanctuary-laws/
WAND TV
— Attorney General Raoul joins coalition proving DEI guidance for businesses (COMMENT: To promote DEI is to promote discrimination.)
https://www.wandtv.com/news/attorney-general-raoul-joins-coalition-proving-guidance-for-businesses-on-diversity-and-inclusion/article_7d3937ce-ea3f-11ef-8955-0341fccb6b8c.html
RUSS STEWART
— DEMOCRATS BESEECH SEN. DURBIN: TIME TO STEP ASIDE IN 2026
http://www.russstewart.com/articles/2025/01-29-25.html
CAPITOL FAX
— Morning briefing
https://capitolfax.com/2025/02/14/isabel%e2%80%99s-morning-briefing-456/
— Afternoon roundup
https://capitolfax.com/2025/02/13/isabel%e2%80%99s-afternoon-roundup-248/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
GOPUSA ILLINOIS
— Ever-increasing, when push comes to shove, Democrats and RINOs make it clear that they are anti-conservative, anti-Republican, anti-American, anti-White, anti-male, anti-older people, anti-Protestant, anti-German American, and/or anti-those whose ancestors have been in America longer than their ancestors. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
WIREPOINTS
— Chicago Public Schools is so corrupted, both morally and financially, that it begs for an intervention like DOGE
https://wirepoints.org/chicago-public-schools-is-so-corrupted-both-morally-and-financially-that-it-begs-for-an-intervention-like-doge-wirepoints-on-wls-ramblin-ray-show/
MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
— Illinois State Corporate Tax Rate Second Highest in the Nation, How the Personal Property Tax Made It So and How It Could Have Been (and Still Could Be) Different?
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/13/illinois-state-corporate-tax-rate-second-highest-in-the-nation-how-the-personal-property-tax-made-it-so-and-how-it-could-have-been-and-still-could-be-different/
— Crystal Lake Grade School District Follows Cary’s Lead on Possible Contacts with ICE
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/13/crystal-lake-grade-school-district-follows-carys-lead-on-possible-contacts-with-ice/
— DuPage Appearance of Lara Trump Sponsored by McHenry County GOPAC
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/13/dupage-appearance-of-lara-trump-sponsored-by-mchenry-county-gopac/
— Movie Tentatively Titled “The Lottery” Being Shot in McHenry County
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/13/movie-tentatively-titled-the-lottery-being-shot-in-mchenry-county/
— Reick Explains Attack on Home Schooling, Plus Private Schools
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/13/reick-explains-attack-on-home-schooling-plus-private-schools/
— Salvi Name Still Potent in Northwest Suburbs, But Joe Salvi No Longer Seeking the Senate Appointment
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/13/salvi-name-still-potent-in-northwest-suburbs/
— Madigan Loses $13,170 Monthly Pension
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/13/madigan-loses-13170-monthly-pension/
— Three McHenry County Nursing Homes Fined by Illinois Public Health Department
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/13/three-mchenry-county-nursing-homes-fined-by-illinois-public-health-department/
— Chinese Companies Indicted for Trade Secret Theft from Aurora Company
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/13/chinese-companies-indicted-for-trade-secret-theft-from-aurora/
— $1.5 Million Food Stamp, that is, SNAP Fraud
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/13/1-5-million-food-stamp-that-is-snap-fraud/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON TIMES
— Trump’s spending pause exposes extreme reach of federal government. Uncle Sam pays for up to 40% of states’ expenses. (COMMENT: To what extent are those in the following dependent on government spending: your county, your township, your municipality, your school district, and your precinct?)
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/13/trump-spending-pause-exposes-extreme-reach-federal/
NEW YOR POST
— AOC shares tips on how illegal immigrants can evade ICE: ‘Do not open your door’
https://nypost.com/2025/02/13/us-news/aoc-shares-tips-on-how-illegal-immigrants-can-evade-ice-do-not-open-your-door/
BREITBART
— Former GAO Head David Walker: What DOGE Is Doing ‘Needs to Be Done,’ But Needs More Transparency (COMMENT: Who does Trump want the next head of GAO to be? Walker headed GAO 1998-2008. Walker could have, but he did not a) rescind GAO’s forcing me to retire in 1997 or b) settle Diersen v. GAO. Therefore, Walker further promoted patronage, political affiliation, reverse discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, and national origin discrimination in GAO.)
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2025/02/12/fmr-gao-head-what-doge-is-doing-needs-to-be-done-but-needs-more-transparency/
— New York ‘Doing Everything They Should Do’ by Tipping Off Illegals
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2025/02/13/hispanic-caucus-chair-new-york-doing-everything-they-should-do-by-tipping-off-illegals/
— New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D): ‘We Need’ Illegals Who Haven’t Committed Further Crimes, ‘That Is Part of Who We Are’ (COMMENT: To come into a country illegally and/or to stay in a country illegally is to demonstrate gross disrespect for the rule of law and for that country. Of course, illegals say that under Biden’s policies, they came into America “legally” and/or that they are staying in America “legally.”)
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2025/02/14/adams-we-need-illegals-who-havent-committed-further-crimes-that-is-part-of-who-we-are/
— Hegseth: Woke Generals ‘Will Have a Different Job in Due Time’
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/02/13/exclusive-defense-secretary-pete-hegseth-woke-generals-have-different-job/
EPOCH TIMES
— IRS to Be Audited by DOGE. IRS collects trillions in taxes. (COMMENT: Democrat and RINO leaders do not want Republicans to audit IRS. I worked for the Democrats who ran GAO on audits of the Democrats who ran IRS for 3 years 1986-1988 while I was at the GS-13 Step 1-3 Levels, currently $117,807-$125,661/year. I had worked for the Democrats who ran IRS for almost 9 years 1971-1980, the last 5 1/2 years of which at the GS-12 Step 1-5 Levels, currently $99,069-$112,280/year. I agreed to take a $23,472/year pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer, that is, a downgrade from GS-12 Step 5 to GS-9 Step 10, because the Republican GAO Staff Manager (Bill) who had arranged the transfer promised me that he would assign me to audits of IRS and that he would rapidly promote me back to GS-12 Step 5 and then to GS-13. But my Democrat GAO superiors immediately replaced Bill with a nasty/vicious Democrat Staff Manager (Dave) who despised Republicans and especially Republicans who shared my demographics. Dave kept me off audits of IRS, gave me bad job assignments and unfair performance expectations and appraisals, and delayed my promotions back to GS-12 Step 5. But then, in 1985, Dave had to have major heart surgery and go on extended sick leave because of his heavy drinking. That enabled Bill to assign me to audits of IRS and to promote me to GS-13 in 1986. But then, Dave came back from sick leave and a) forced Bill to retire in 1987, b) threw me off audits of IRS in late 1988, c) gave me an extremely bad job assignment and unfair performance expectations and appraisal in 1989, and d) ranked me at the bottom of my coworkers for pay-for-performance (PFP) purposes in 1989. But thankfully, Dave’s efforts to get rid of me moderated because my Congressman Henry Hyde came to my defense. But Dave nevertheless succeeded in a) keeping me off audits of IRS for the rest of my GAO career, b) always ranking me in the bottom of my coworkers for PFP, and c) forcing me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. If Dave had not taken the aforesaid adverse actions against me that he did, I would have always been assigned to audits of IRS and I would have been promoted to GS-13 sooner and then to GS-14, currently $139,211-$180,974/year, and then to GS-15, currently $163,749-$195,200/year, and then to Senior Executive Service, currently $195,200/year.)
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/irs-to-be-audited-by-doge-trump-says-5809719
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The IRS will be audited by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), President Donald Trump said on Feb. 13. “The Internal Revenue Service will be looked at like everybody else,” Trump told reporters at the White House in Washington. He said that just about every federal agency will be examined by DOGE, led by billionaire Elon Musk. “They’re doing a hell of a job. It’s an amazing job they’re doing,” Trump said. “I call it the force of super-geniuses, but it’s building, and you know they go up, and they talk to some of the people about certain deals, and they get all tongue-tied because these people get it. They’re very smart people. We need smart people.” The IRS declined to comment on the remarks. Trump was responding to a question about how DOGE reportedly arrived at the IRS on Thursday and whether he wanted to close the IRS. Trump said he did not expect the IRS, which is currently processing 2024 taxes, to be shuttered. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said on social media platform X, owned by Musk, that his office has heard that DOGE is at the IRS. “That means Musk’s henchmen are in a position to dig through a trove of data about every taxpayer in America. And if your refund is delayed, they could very well be the reason,” Wyden said. After DOGE accessed U.S. Department of Treasury payment systems earlier in the year, a group of Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives wrote to the acting IRS commissioner asking what confidential information DOGE had requested from the IRS and how many taxpayers had had their confidential information accessed by DOGE. Separately on Thursday, senior IRS executives were instructed to identify all contracts that were nonessential for termination, according to an internal email. The email said that the General Services Administration (GSA), which manages most government contracts, is demanding they review consulting contracts under their purview and determine whether they can be justified. The GSA deems a contract nonessential if it “merely generates a report, research, coaching, or an artifact,” the email says. “Consistent with the goals and directives of the Trump administration to eliminate waste, reduce spending, and increase efficiency, GSA has taken the first steps in a government-wide initiative to eliminate non-essential consulting contracts.” The GSA did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.)
FEDERALIST
— Advocating For Asylum Seekers Made Me Less Sympathetic To Illegal Migrants
https://thefederalist.com/2025/02/14/advocating-for-asylum-seekers-made-me-less-sympathetic-to-illegal-migrants/
NATIONAL REVIEW
— AOC Webinar Teaches Illegal Immigrants How to Avoid ICE Deportation
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/aoc-webinar-teaches-illegal-immigrants-how-to-avoid-ice-deportation/
REAL CLEAR POLITICS
— Homan: “AOC Is Going To Be In Trouble Now” For Delivering Webinar On How Illegals Can Evade ICE Apprehension
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/02/13/tom_homan_aoc_is_going_to_be_in_trouble_now_for_delivering_webinar_on_how_illegals_can_evade_ice_apprehension.html
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
CNN
— RAHM EMANUEL JOINS CNN
https://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2025/02/13/rahm-emanuel-joins-cnn-as-senior-political-and-global-affairs-commentator/
REUTERS
— Thousands fired in US government as Trump, Musk purge federal workers (COMMENT: While I worked for the Democrats who ran GAO 1980-1997, the agency ever-increasingly shrank because of Republican-led budget cuts. My Democrat GAO superiors ever-increasingly punished me for that. I was one of the last Republicans who GAO hired. GAO audits IRS. The Democrats who ran GAO in 1980 let me transfer from IRS when I was 31 years old, but only if I took a $23,472/year (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars. They could not find a qualified Democrat, minority, female, younger person, or veteran who would take the job. My qualifications included having a) passed the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979, b) almost completed the requirements for a master’s degree in accounting from DePaul, c) earned an MBA from Loyola in 1976, and d) worked for IRS for almost 9 years, the last 5 1/2 years of which at the GS-12 Step 1-5 Levels, currently $99,069-$112,280/year. To further punish me for Republican-led budget cuts, my Democrat GAO superiors a) delayed my promotions and never promoted me beyond GS-13, kept me off audits of IRS for all but 3 of the almost 18 years that I worked for GAO, always ranked me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance purposes, and forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997.)
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/mass-firings-federal-workers-begin-trump-musk-purge-us-government-2025-02-13/
CBS NEWS
— U.S. is deporting African and Asian migrants to Panama in diplomatic breakthrough
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-deportations-panama-african-asian-migrants/
NEW YORK TMES
— Democrats say “Trump Wants to Destroy All Academia, Not Just the Woke Parts.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/opinion/trump-college-academia-woke.html
USA TODAY
— Musk, Trump degrade federal workers as they put them out of work. It’s sadistic. (COMMENT: What is your opinion of federal employees? From what I see, employers and just about everyone else have a negative opinion of past, present, and future federal employees. I was a federal employee for almost 30 years. I have been a federal retiree for more than 27 years.)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/02/12/elon-musk-donald-trump-federal-workers-jobs-cruelty/78428472007/
WALL STREET JOURNAL
— Trump’s EEOC Firing Will Likely Prevail in Court. The justices’ precedents imply that he has the power to dismiss officials of ‘independent’ agencies. (COMMENT: How has EEOC impacted you? I became an IRS Revenue Officer when I was 22 years old in 1971 because my Firestone Store boss had rudely fired me. He did that because I had told him that I had accepted a job offer from Oldsmobile. But Oldsmobile withdrew that job offer saying it had just agreed to stop hiring Whites to settle an EEOC complaint.)
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/youre-fired-trump-says-the-justices-will-likely-agree-officials-dismissed-supreme-court-precedent-9b40b529
— Trump Layoffs Push Federal Workers Into Tough Job Hunt. Companies have pulled back on white-collar hiring, limiting options for government workers. (COMMENT: What is your opinion of federal employees? From what I see, employers and just about everyone else have a negative opinion of past, present, and future federal employees. I was a federal employee for almost 30 years. I have been a federal retiree for more than 27 years.)
https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/federal-workers-jobs-doge-37b761cd
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The Trump administration’s effort to slash the federal workforce is pushing employees into a challenging job market, where their age and lack of corporate experience can hold them back. Federal workers are also facing an environment where hiring for white-collar jobs has slowed. Despite the availability of state and local government jobs, many of these positions take place outside offices and aren’t a good match for federal workers’ experience.)
FORBES
— Jamie Dimon Reportedly Says He’ll Cut Some ‘Stupid’ DEI Costs At JPMorgan Chase (COMMENT: If Affirmative Action and DEI had been implemented earlier/faster, Dimon would have made to where he is now.)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/02/13/jamie-dimon-reportedly-says-hell-cut-some-stupid-dei-costs-at-jpmorgan-chase-here-are-all-the-companies-rolling-back-dei/
FORTUNE
— Democrat and RINO employers use DEI a) to not hire Republicans and b) to get rid of their Republican employees.
https://fortune.com/2025/02/14/companies-rolling-back-changing-dei-meta-target-fortune-500-diversity-equity-inclusion-policies/
HUFFINGTON POST
— Ever-increasingly, since the 1960s, the Democrats who run the federal government have used Affirmative Action and DEI a) to hire, retain, and promote Democrats who are minority, female, and/or younger and b) to get rid of their Republican employees who are White, male, and/or older.
https://www.aol.com/trump-trying-federal-workforce-whiter-003612069.html
ECONOMIC TIMES & NDTV
— “Will Take Back Verified Illegals”: PM Modi On Illegal Immigrants | PM Modi’s US Visit (COMMENT: How many of those who are in America illegally share you national origin?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqg2zhKkSUo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSm7bjhqMMA
INDIA TODAY
— Impact of US immigration raids on Indians: What visa applicants need to know. Many Indians planning to relocate to the United States have been left anxious after Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegals. As deportation of undocumented immigrants continues, here’s how people applying for work visas can avoid complications.
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/impact-of-us-immigration-raids-on-indians-what-visa-applicants-need-to-know-2679998-2025-02-14
GUARDIAN
— Trump administration sparks outcry as it continues to gut federal workforce. Major union as well as federal worker advocacy group condemn moves to fire probationary employees as thousands told to leave.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/feb/14/trump-musk-federal-government-layoffs-jd-vance-ukraine-latest