FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
DAILY HERALD
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD WITH PICTURE: DD: As Democrats move in, poverty and crime increase. DuPage County is a prime example. Democrats have flooded DuPage County since I moved to it in 1978. Poverty and crime have ever-increasingly increased in relative terms if not absolute terms. As time goes on, the Democrats who move have lower and lower and lower incomes. Democrats vote for Democrats. The Democrat Party platform promotes poverty and crime. It destroys personal responsibility. It promotes dependency on government and charity. It promotes vices. I destroys traditional marriage and family. It promotes LGBTQ and abortion. It destroys equal opportunity. It promotes Affirmative Action and DEI, that is, it promotes race and gender based preference giving, patronage, political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, age discrimination, religious discrimination, and national origin discrimination. It promotes hatred against Republicans, and especially against Republicans who are conservative, White, male, older, non-poor, married, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20251221/news/neighbors-in-need-glen-ellyn-nonprofit-provides-families-a-bridge-to-a-better-place/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The CEO of the Glen Ellyn-based nonprofit, Bridge Communities, said more than 3,000 DuPage County schoolchildren are registered as homeless. Van Polen said about 44% of county renters are “rent-burdened,” paying more than 30% of their income for rent. Expenses rise, she said, and wages don’t keep up. . .A typical client, who averages a little over two years working with Bridge mentors while living in one of the 25 apartment buildings Bridge owns countywide, is a single mother in her late 20s with one to three children, Van Polen said. She works, but her job doesn’t provide a living wage. So she has her children stay with relatives while she may live out of her car. There might be a history of domestic violence.)
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Inexperienced, poorly trained ICE and border patrol agents could face legal trouble. DD: IRS hired me when I was 22 years old in 1971 as a GS-7, currently $55,850/year, Revenue Officer. I spend my first 6 months in classroom training. See below from Google AI. IRS promoted me to GS-9, currently $68,315/year, in 1972, to GS-11, currently $82,655/year, in 1973, and to GS-12, currently $99,069/year, in 1974. My Democrat IRS superiors got more and more and more furious at the GAO manager who promoted me. According to them, those promotions should have been given to my Democrat coworkers who were minority, female, younger, and/or veteran. They forced him to transfer to Dallas, and to get rid of me, they disallowed my travel vouchers in 1974, they disallowed my education deductions in 1978, and they made it clear that they would never promote me to GS13. They ignored/dismissed/belittled my earning an MBA in 1976 and my passing the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979. The aforesaid led to my transferring to GAO in 1980.
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/chicago-sun-times/20251222/281719800932521
(FROM GOOGLE AI: IRS revenue officer (RO) training involves extensive on-the-job training in tax law, collection techniques, and civil investigative methods. The program typically spans up to a year and includes a series of in-person training units held in various cities. Training Details On-the-Job Focus: New hires receive substantial on-the-job training, which can last anywhere from several months to a year. Structured Units: The training is often delivered in multiple units (e.g., Unit 1 through Unit 4) in various locations. Trainees have reported traveling to different cities for these multi-week sessions. Core Curriculum: The curriculum is designed to educate officers in the specifics of tax law and the techniques necessary for collecting delinquent taxes and securing delinquent returns. This includes: Conducting research, interviews, and investigations. Analyzing financial information for assigned cases. Understanding business law, including laws governing fraudulent transfers and secured debts. Learning how to interact with taxpayers and their representatives, often in the field at homes or businesses. Assessment: Training involves open-book tests, and satisfactory completion of the required levels is often a prerequisite for continued employment and promotion. Continuing Education: Once initial training is complete, officers must stay current with changes in the tax code and enforcement procedures throughout their careers. Post-Training Work Environment After successfully completing the initial training year, revenue officers may be eligible for frequent telework up to four days a week, depending on performance and management discretion. Application Process and Requirements To become an IRS revenue officer, a bachelor’s degree in any major is generally required, or a combination of education and specialized experience. While the IRS doesn’t specify a major, degrees in accounting or finance can be advantageous. . .Key Responsibilities Collection of Delinquent Taxes: The primary duty is to collect unpaid taxes, typically for cases with significant, long-ignored debt. Securing Delinquent Returns: They survey for and secure unfiled tax returns. Taxpayer Interaction: They contact and interview taxpayers (or their representatives) face-to-face or by phone, often at the taxpayer’s home or business, to discuss their financial situation and resolve the debt. Financial Analysis: They analyze financial information, often using IRS Form 433-A, Collection Information Statement, to determine a taxpayer’s ability to pay. Negotiation and Resolution: They educate taxpayers on their rights and obligations and work to resolve liabilities through various means, including: Setting up installment payment agreements. Considering Offers in Compromise (OIC). Suspending collection due to financial hardship (currently not collectible status). Enforcement Actions: If a taxpayer is uncooperative, they can take enforcement actions, which may include recommending the imposition of liens, garnishing wages, levying bank accounts, and seizing assets. Referrals: They can make referrals to IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) if they suspect tax fraud or other criminal violations.)
NPR ILLINOIS
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly call Republicans who are the following bigots: conservative, White, male, older, non-poor, heterosexual, married, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time.
https://www.nprillinois.org/2025-12-22/vance-refuses-to-set-red-lines-over-bigotry-at-turning-point-usas-convention
CENTRAL ILLINOIS PROUD
— Trump removes nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial positions. DD: While I worked for the Democrats who ran GAO 1980-1997, they used Gingrich budget cuts to removed thousands of GAO employees who were Republican, White, male, older, and/or non-veteran.
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/politics/ap-trump-removes-nearly-30-career-diplomats-from-ambassadorial-positions/
ADVANTAGE NEWS
— State rep Nicole La Ha, R-Homer Glen, calls out violent rhetoric after Pritzker commission rips federal officers
https://www.advantagenews.com/news/local/state-rep-calls-out-violent-rhetoric-after-pritzker-commission-rips-federal-officers/article_c8457e75-49c3-4733-9024-4d9d8d178871.html
DES PLAINES PATCH
— Du Page Democrats hosted the annual holiday party. Du Page Democrats hosted the annual holiday party. Large numbers members of the Chicago community Elected prominent figures in attendance.
https://patch.com/illinois/desplaines/du-page-democrats-hosted-annual-holiday-party
(FROM THE ARTICLE: On Friday, December 12, 2025, the DuPage County Democratic Party celebrated its yearly holiday party under the leadership of County Chairman Reed McCollum. Many members of the Muslim community, as well as a number of Muslim elected officials and upcoming Muslim candidates, were there. Ashfaq Hussain, a member of the Naperville City Council; Saba Haider, a member of the DuPage County Board; Syed Hussain, a candidate for US Congress District 8th Junaid; former Glendale Heights Mayor Chaudhry Asif Khokar; Mahnoor Ahmed, a candidate for the DuPage County Board; and a number of other attendees attended the annual holiday dinner. The yearly holiday party was held by the DuPage Democrats. With a large number of community members and public leaders present, the event was a huge success. The occasion took place on Friday, December 12, 2025. Dinner and activities started at 6:30 PM after the doors were opened at 5:30 PM. Abbington Distinctive Banquets hosted the event. The purpose of the event was to generate money, honor the party’s accomplishments, and unite candidates and elected leaders. Christian Mitchell, the upcoming Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, gave the event’s keynote address. To assist local families, the DuPage Young Democrats organized a holiday supply drive in tandem with the event. Bringing together elected officials, party candidates, volunteers, and community members to promote partnerships and camaraderie was one of the event’s main goals. Honoring Success: The party’s recent achievements, especially its wins in the April elections, were honored at the ceremony. Additionally, the party utilized the event as a fundraiser to support the election of Democrats in DuPage County. Along with outlining the party’s future objectives and tactics, participants also talked on the opportunities and difficulties for the upcoming year. The recent DuPage Democrats’ annual event featured a number of keynote speakers, including: The event’s keynote speaker, Christian Mitchell, will be Illinois’s next lieutenant governor. Dr. Robin Kelly was present at the ceremony and gave a speech. She commended Reed McCollum, the chairman of the DuPage County party, for his attempts to change DuPage County from being “red” (with a Republican majority) to “blue” (with a Democratic majority). Among the prominent sponsors and speakers were Illinois Lieutenant Governor Julina Stratton and US Congress candidate Junaid Ahmed. Along with these keynote speakers, the audience was addressed by over eighty other elected officials, candidates for the Senate and Congress, and local leaders. The main political goal of Julina Stratton is to represent Illinois in the US Senate. Currently serving as Illinois’ lieutenant governor, she has formally begun her campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2026. She discusses focusing on the concerns of middle-class families, increasing wages, and making life more affordable. She stated that she is in favor of ideas like “Medicare for All” and increasing access to healthcare. She Furth mentioned supporters of federal protection of voting and reproductive rights, as has been done in Illinois. Her campaign focused heavily on opposing former President Donald Trump and promoting Illinois’s accomplishments across the country. She was the first major Democratic candidate to enter the race, supported by Governor J.B. Pritzker. Junaid Ahmed, a Muslim candidate for Congress, focuses on fighting to create an effective and equitable economy. ensuring that every citizen has access to high-quality, affordable healthcare. attaining environmental justice and combating the climatic problem. He emphasized fighting for fair justice and civil rights even more.)
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
— McHenry County Republicans Decide Not to Have Rod Blagojevich as Lincoln Day Dinner Speaker
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/22/mchenry-county-republicans-decide-not-to-have-rod-blagojevich-as-lincoln-day-dinner-speaker/
— What Ever Happened to Lee Daniels?
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/21/what-ever-happened-to-lee-daniels/
— Comparing Wealth Across Illinois
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/21/comparing-wealth-across-illinois/
— Sue Rezin on Assisted Suicide Law
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/21/sue-rezin-on-assisted-suicide-law/
— Capparelli Endorsed for U.S. Senate by Italian Group
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=15317&action=edit
— Woodstock Cited as One of Six Best Places to Retire in Illinois, What Are the Other Five?
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/21/15314/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
NEW YORK POST
— Major signs of another coming Dark Age — collapsing the West could make history repeat.
https://nypost.com/2025/12/21/opinion/major-signs-of-another-coming-dark-age-collapsing-the-west-could-make-history-repeat/
FOX NEWS
— Leaked University of Illinois lecture material blames Trump for ‘white supremacy,’ embraces far-left activism. Leaked PowerPoint slides show EDUC 201 course promotes far-wing talking points on immigration and race.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/leaked-university-illinois-lecture-material-blames-trump-white-supremacy-embraces-far-left-activism
— Radical wokeism threatens American liberty
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6386808265112
— White House teases major housing affordability plan as prices squeeze Americans. DD: Where did the money come from for your first down payment? Back in the good old days, mine came from what I had earned working for IRS for 15 months, working part-time for a Firestone Store for 21 months, and working for that store full-time for 7 months before that. I bought a new town home in University Park ( https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/774-Sunset-Ct-5-University-Park-IL-60484/5451474_zpid/ ) when I was 24 years old in September of 1972. Zillow estimates it to be worth $90,800 today. IRS had just promoted me and my salary had increased from $55,850/year to $68,315/year in today’s dollars. I had bought a new 1972 Corvette in 1971. I had paid tuition for three graduate evening business courses at Loyola in 1972.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-teases-major-housing-affordability-plan-prices-squeeze-americans
JONATHAN TURLEY
— Yale No Longer Has a Single Republican Professor Across 27 Departments. DD: While I worked for the Democrats who ran the federal government for almost 30 years, virtually all of my superiors, supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates were Democrats. Many, most, and at times virtually all of them were minority, female, younger than me, veteran, non-Protestant, non-German American, and/or had ancestors who had not been in America for a long time.
https://jonathanturley.org/2025/12/21/study-yale-has-eliminated-all-republican-faculty-from-27-departments/
LAW ENFORCEMENT TODAY
— New Orleans Exposes Media Lies About ICE Enforcement
https://lawenforcementtoday.com/new-orleans-operation-catahoula-crunch-exposes-media-lies-about-ice-enforcement
NEWSMAX
— Homan: Politicians’ Rhetoric Will Bring More Bloodshed for ICE
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/tom-homan-ice-immigration/2025/12/21/id/1239170/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
ABC NEWS
— Vance rallies conservatives, honors Charlie Kirk at Turning Point USA convention. Earlier this week, Erika Kirk endorsed Vance for president in 2028.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/vice-president-jd-vance-rallies-conservatives-honors-charlie/story?id=128605789
ASSOCIATED PRESS
— Turning Point convention’s young attendees praise VP Vance’s closing speech and 2028 outlook
https://apnews.com/video/turning-point-conventions-young-attendees-praise-vp-vances-closing-speech-and-2028-outlook-6c047838edd643c0b0691e8217a03e53
CNN
— Turning Point exposed a brewing MAGA civil war. Can Vance unite it? DD: I should write about my critics/opponents who had their saboteurs destroy TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois in 2012 and Illinois Center Right Coalition in 2007.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/turning-point-exposed-a-brewing-maga-civil-war-can-jd-vance-unite-it/ar-AA1SMRCm
NEW YORK TIMES
— Mitt Romney: Tax the Rich, Like Me. DD: Who wants you to pay more taxes and why? Starting when I was 18 years old in 1966, my critics/opponents have hinted/implied/argued/shouted that I should pay more taxes because I was an overpaid federal employee, I avoided the Vietnam War draft, I itemized, my wife had good-paying jobs, we itemized, we gave up trying to have children, we did not adopt, we did not become foster parents, etc.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/opinion/romney-tax-the-rich.html
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly shout that if you cannot afford something, it is Trump’s fault. There are many things that I could/cannot afford because my Democrat superiors in the federal government wasted my career and forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/upshot/affordability-democrats-trump.html
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly call Republicans who are the following bigots: conservative, White, male, older, non-poor, heterosexual, married, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/us/politics/vance-republicans-trump-antisemitism.html
–DD: Democrat and RINO leaders ever-increasingly push more pot. Pot is poison.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/opinion/trump-marijuana-policy.html
WASHINGTON POST
— The diversity overcorrection in the workplace. Discrimination against young White men was an open secret in hiring. DD: The Democrats who ran the Post Office in 1966, IRS in 1971, and GAO in 1980 hired me because they could not find a qualified Democrat, minority, female, younger person, or veteran who would take the job. The Democrats who ran IRS in 1972, 1973, and 1974 promoted me because I was better qualified than my Democrat, minority, female, younger person, and veteran coworkers. I was taking graduate evening business courses. The Democrats who ran GAO 1986 promoted me because I was better qualified than my Democrat, minority, female, younger person, and veteran coworkers. I had earned an MBA in 1976. I had passed the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979. I had earned a master’s degree in accounting in 1980. I had passed the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt in 1981. I had become a licensed CPA in 1981.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/12/21/diversity-hiring-white-men/
NBC PHOENIX
— Vance closes out Turning Point’s annual AmericaFest conference in Phoenix. The conference drew more than 30,000 people to downtown Phoenix.
https://www.12news.com/article/news/politics/vice-president-jd-vance-closes-out-turning-points-annual-americafest-conference-in-phoenix-arizona/75-d864ef69-d5ff-4c98-858a-8f4b23ea575d
— Turning Point’s annual AmericaFest conference in Phoenix draws ‘counterpoint’ protest. DD: My critics/opponents oppose/despise/hate not only Kirk and Turning Point, they oppose/despise/hate conservatives like me. Should I write about my critics/opponents. I would focus on those who have lots of religious/government/political/financial clout in Wheaton, Milton Township, DuPage County, and Illinois. I would focus on those who have had their operatives and dupes take the biggest adverse actions against me lately.
https://www.12news.com/video/news/politics/turning-points-annual-americafest-conference-in-phoenix-draws-counterpoint-protest/75-359c4cfa-d554-4045-87a6-81cc04185ce7
WALL STREET JOURNAL
— By All Means Raise Mitt Romney’s Taxes. But please spare the middle class trying to become rich like him.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/by-all-means-raise-mitt-romneys-taxes-5e936cf6
— Would You Let Claude Do Your Taxes? Preparing a return is the kind of task AI ought to be good for. DD: I use and recommend Quicken and TurboTax.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/would-you-let-claude-do-your-taxes-d7517b52
— What to Do if You Suspect You’re About to Be Laid Off. DD: My Democrat GAO superiors deliberately misled me into believing that they were going to let me work until I was eligible for regular retirement when I was 55 in 2003. But they succeeded in suddenly forcing me to retire when I was 49 in September of 1997.
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/holiday-layoff-signs-workers-81df9d0e
— The True Meaning of Empathy
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-true-meaning-of-empathy-5b93dfca
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Some people are performers. In June 2020, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer led a group kneeling in the U.S. Capitol wearing African kente stoles. National Football League end zones say “Choose Love” and “It Takes All of Us.” Empathy? More like images over action. Then there are coddlers. They paternalistically throw money at problems: welfare, drug programs, ObamaCare. They create rules and regulations to protect “marginalized” groups: Title IX, affirmative action and federal contract set-asides. To pay for it, they rationalize redistribution of wealth so the world can be “fair” for everyone. This progressive playbook often fails. See low-income housing, preferential college admissions and rising insurance premiums. Is letting men on women’s swim teams and in women’s bathrooms empathy? I can’t get there. . .New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is a coddler: “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.” Yikes. Is that empathy or a threat? Sadly, we know how the latter ends. Lately there has been talk of a $140,000 poverty line for a family of four. See what I mean? Economist Milton Friedman put it best: “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” Intentions like “social justice” inevitably lead to organizing and activism and raised taxes—empathy is expensive!—and redistribution of wealth, without solving the underlying problems. For me, empathy and that elusive righteousness is about restoring lost dignity. And that often means setting up rules and then getting out of the way and letting freedom and free markets do their magic. There is little political credit for that whole “freedom” thing. Just results. The American way is: Do what you want, but respect the dignity of others. An essential part of respect is to not be pitied. Freedom is dignity. That’s true empathy.)
FORBES
— Healthcare Demand Is Rapidly Growing. DD: How good has your health been? My critics/opponents have always been envious of my relative good health. They ignore/dismiss/belittle that I cannot run because I have a bone disease, my eyesight cannot be corrected to 20/20, and I have partial red/green color blindness. They have always hinted/implied/argued/shouted that if I had not avoided the Vietnam War draft, my health would never have been as good.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/saibala/2025/12/21/healthcare-demand-is-rapidly-growing/
NIEMAN LAB
— DD: Democrat and RINO leaders use DEI to get rid of Republicans.
https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/dei-dies-in-darkness-taking-integrity-with-it/
FREE PRESS
— DD: According to my critics/opponents, a) those who are the following have never been discriminated against: conservative, Republican, White, male, older, non-poor, heterosexual, married, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time and b) those who are the aforesaid discriminate against those who are not the aforesaid. I should write about my critics/opponents.
https://www.thefp.com/p/should-we-feel-sorry-for-white-men
NPR
— Shopping for pricy ACA health plans? Some cheaper options come with trade-offs. DD: Are/were your healthcare insurance premiums subsidized? Ever since I became a part-time postal employee when was 18 in 1966, my critics/opponents have been furious that the federal government has paid 72% of my healthcare insurance premiums. They have been even more furious ever since I got married when I was 29 and the federal government started paying 72% of my wife’s healthcare insurance premiums. That 72% subsidy is a major reason why people despise/hate federal employees, federal retirees, and their spouses. That 72% subsidy helped me withstand tremendous efforts by my Democrat superiors in the federal government to waste my career and to get rid of me.
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/12/21/nx-s1-5649902/aca-health-plans-costs-alternatives
FROM FOREIGN SOURCES
MEAWW
— You don’t have to apologize for being white anymore. DD: To get more votes from minorities and from females, Democrat and RINO candidates promote more hatred against Whites and against males.
https://news.meaww.com/jd-vance-says-trump-ended-dei-you-dont-have-to-apologize-for-being-white-anymore
HINDUSTAN TIMES
— CEO’s take on merit, privilege and success divides internet. DD: Because I was able to earn three master’s degrees, six professional certifications, and a professional license even though neither of my parents attended college, my father was only the first of my ancestors to earn a high school diploma, and my mother attended high school, my critics/opponents have always hinted/implied/argued/shouted that I benefitted tremendously from discrimination against those who not share my demographics, that is, those who are liberal/moderate, minority, female, younger, veteran, unmarried, LGBTQ, non-Protestant, non-German American, have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time, and/or are noncitizens. I should write about my critics/opponents. I would focus on those whose parents had the most money.
https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/news/90-of-life-is-ceo-s-take-on-merit-privilege-and-success-divides-internet/ar-AA1SMc3r
(FROM THE ARTICLE: A LinkedIn post by Rohan Verma, CEO and co-founder of Breathe Well-being, has sparked a discussion online about privilege, merit and the role of luck in shaping life outcomes. In his post, Verma argued that educational pedigree and family background play a decisive role in determining future success. He claimed that those who attend elite institutions such as Ivy League universities or India’s IITs and IIMs are far more likely to see their children enter top colleges and corporate leadership roles, while people engaged in low-paid or manual labor largely come from poor families, irrespective of talent or hard work. “If you went to an Ivy League or the IIT/IIM route, your kids will likely attend a good college. And there is zero chance that they will end up doing manual labor. If you are a billionaire, your kids will 100% attend Yale, Stanford, or Harvard (or something similar). And they will later become Board Chairmen and CEOs,” Verma wrote in his post. “On the other hand, – 100% of people doing lowly paid jobs or manual labor come from poor families — regardless of their IQ, talent, or propensity for hard work,” he continued. “This is how privilege persists over generations,” Verma wrote, adding that many manual laborers could have been corporate leaders “had they been born differently”. He concluded by saying that “probably 90% of life is luck,” with only a small fraction accounting for inspirational stories of people who rise against all odds. True humility and awareness, he added, come from recognizing which parts of one’s life fall into that 90%.
FROM OTHER SOURCES
HARPER COLLEGE
— Accounting Program DD: I will forever regret not majoring in accounting from the beginning. I wrongly believed that I could never pass the CPA examination. I did not start taking graduate evening accounting courses until I was 27. I did not take and pass the CPA examination on my first attempt until I was 30. I did not earn a master’s degree in accounting until I was 31. I did not take and pass the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt until I was 32. I did not become a licensed CPA until I was 32. By then, my IRS and GAO superiors and the accounting profession considered me to be far too old. They would not have done that if I had been a Democrat, minority, female, and/or veteran. I should have majored in accounting at UIC 1966-1968, NIU 1969-1970, and Loyola 1972-1976.
https://www.harpercollege.edu/academics/business/accounting/index.php
(FROM THE POSTING: Start your accounting career at Harper College. Take the first steps toward becoming an accountant, bookkeeper, or financial auditor. Harper’s Accounting Program offers several courses of study, including certificate programs that prepare students for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam and entry-level roles in business and finance. Associate degrees with transfer options are also available, with Advising Services to help students plan the transfer process and provide information on what accounting classes would fit best with the student’s academic and career goals. Students will learn practical knowledge and skills essential to succeed in business careers. Harper’s Accounting courses are designed to equip students with a strong foundation in auditing, financial and managerial accounting, and business law. For professional accounting students, Harper’s Accounting Program offers an exam preparation certificate that meets Illinois Board of Examiners (ILBOE) requirements for the Uniform CPA Exam. Whether you are earning the first two years of your bachelor’s degree in accounting or if you are developing your skills as a current professional, Harper College’s Accounting Program is a valuable stepping stone toward a successful career in accounting and business finance. Get started today by exploring the Harper’s degree and certificate offerings.
CPA PRACTICE ADVISOR
— 7 in 10 Managers Say Supervising Gen Z Feels Like Babysitting or Parenting. About 61% say their Gen Z reports require frequent hand-holding, while 52% say they struggle to follow basic instructions. DD: All those who my Democrat IRS and GAO superiors assigned me to supervise were Democrat, minority, female, younger, veteran, disabled, non-Protestant, non-German American, had ancestors who had not been in America for a long time, and/or had performance problems.
https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/2025/07/22/7-in-10-managers-say-supervising-gen-z-feels-like-babysitting-or-parenting/165375/
PWC
— DD: PWC wants to hire an experienced internal auditor who is a CPA and Certified Internal Auditor (CIA). Should I apply? Just kidding. I passed the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979. I passed the CIA examination on my first attempt in 1981. I became a licensed CPA in 1981. I earned additional job-related professional certifications in 1990, 1994, 1996, and 1997. I earned an MBA in 1976. I earned a master’s degree in accounting in 1980. I earned a master’s degree in finance in 1997.
https://talentexchange.pwc.com/bp-audit-support-contractor-jobs/31211
Tag: marriage
December 21, 2025 Evening Edition
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Chicago Cubs’ Matt Shaw enters a new world with his Turning Point USA appearance
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/21/chicago-cubs-matt-shaw-turning-point-appearance/
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) glorify and praise their illegals and b) fight their deportation.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/12/21/how-i-reported-on-immigration-as-a-daughter-of-immigrants
SUBURBAN CHICAGOLAND
— U.S. Republican Senate Candidate R. Cary Capparelli argues that the Illinois Republican Party needs new leadership.
https://suburbanchicagoland.com/2025/12/21/republican-party-in-illinois-needs-new-grassroots-candidate-says/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON TIMES
— Judge’s conviction in ICE obstruction case vindicates courthouse arrests
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/dec/21/judges-conviction-ice-obstruction-case-vindicates-courthouse-arrests/
— Turning Point’s AmericaFest surprises attendees with phone call from Trump
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/dec/21/nicki-minaj-donald-trump-surprise-guests-turning-points-americafest/
— House investigators probing Jeffrey Epstein case urged to unseal the Clinton impeachment files
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/dec/20/house-investigators-probing-jeffrey-epstein-case-urged-unseal-clinton/
— Our enemy Islam has revealed all. Recent massacres reveal patterns that denial and euphemisms only worsen.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/dec/21/enemy-islam-revealed/
— Seats for sale: Campaign costs skyrocket, fueling elites in politics
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/dec/19/seats-sale-campaign-costs-skyrocket-fueling-elites-politics/
WASHINGTON FREE BEACON
— Assessing the Wreckage of Affirmative Action. DD: Up until recently, Affirmative Action (AA) was the “law of the land,’ that is, up until recently, political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and age discrimination was the “law of the land.” My Democrat superiors in the federal government used AA to waste my career and to force me to retire when I was 49 in 1997. My critics/opponents not only have no problem with that, they applaud it.
https://freebeacon.com/culture/assessing-the-wreckage-of-affirmative-action/
NEW YORK POST
— Vance wades into MAGA civil war at AmericaFest, criticizes conservatives for ‘canceling each other’
https://nypost.com/2025/12/21/us-news/jd-vance-wades-into-maga-civil-war-decries-conservatives-canceling-each-other/
— Tucker Carlson named ‘Antisemite of the Year’ by prominent Jewish organization after alarming interviews
https://nypost.com/2025/12/21/us-news/tucker-carlson-named-antisemite-of-the-year-by-jewish-organization/
— Mamdani’s early staff picks confirm NYers’ worst fears for the next four years
https://nypost.com/2025/12/21/opinion/zohs-staffer-picks-are-starting-to-confirm-nyers-worst-fears-for-the-next-four-years/
AMERICAN GREATNESS
— Wake Up, Parents: American Library Association Is (Still) Grooming Our Kids. DD: How successful have Democrats been making the students in your school district sexually active LGBTQers?
https://amgreatness.com/2025/12/21/wake-up-parents-american-library-association-is-still-grooming-our-kids/
AMERICAN THINKER
— I thought Trump didn’t want any more federal holidays
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/12/i_thought_trump_didn_t_want_any_more_federal_holidays.html
BREITBART
— Vance: ‘Honor’ Charlie Kirk by Not Doing Things ‘That He Himself Refused to Do in Life’
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/12/21/jd-vance-honor-charlie-kirk-by-not-doing-things-that-he-himself-refused-to-do-in-life/
COLLEGE FIX
— U.S. House leader questions Chicago Public Schools’ exclusion of Christian student teachers
https://www.thecollegefix.com/u-s-house-leader-questions-chicago-public-schools-exclusion-of-christian-student-teachers/
— University play ‘A Gay in a Manger’ features Jesus as ‘King of Gays,’ Three Wise Men as drag queens
https://www.thecollegefix.com/university-play-a-gay-in-a-manger-features-jesus-as-king-of-gays-three-wise-men-as-drag-queens/
— ‘Power Rainbow’ by Harvard grad students teaches 3rd graders about systemic oppression
https://www.thecollegefix.com/power-rainbow-by-harvard-grad-students-teaches-3rd-graders-about-systemic-oppression/
DAILY CALLER
— ‘Threatening Western Civilization’: Tulsi Gabbard Slams ‘Islamist Ideology’ As America’s Greatest Threat
https://dailycaller.com/2025/12/21/tulsi-gabbard-islamist-ideology-america-threat-americafest-tpusa/
— WSJ Celebrates Degeneracy Just In Time For Christmas
https://dailycaller.com/2025/12/19/house-vaishnavi-nayel-talawadekar-throuple-wall-street-journal-relationship-gay-marriage/
EPOCH TIMES
— At TPUSA Event, Vance Warns Conservatives to Not Cancel Each Other. Sparks flew between Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, and other speakers at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest 2025.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/at-tpusa-event-vance-warns-conservatives-not-to-cancel-each-other-5961174
— How Chinese Syndicates With Ties to CCP Took Over Marijuana Black Market in US. ‘This stuff is being exported out of the country … It’s an international business for them,’ a drug enforcement expert said.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/how-chinese-syndicates-with-ties-to-ccp-took-over-marijuana-black-market-in-us-5944843
— Safer Roads, More Work: Truckers Welcome Crackdown on Illegal Drivers. A series of fatal accidents in 2025 spurred calls for reforms and better scrutiny of non-resident foreign commercial driver’s license holders and applicants.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/safer-roads-more-work-truckers-welcome-crackdown-on-illegal-drivers-5947753
FOX NEWS
— Progressive churches in Colorado and Washington host drag Nativity, Christmas shows. Congregations in Colorado and Washington host Nativity shows through a ‘queer lens.’
https://www.foxnews.com/media/progressive-churches-churches-colorado-washington-host-drag-nativity-christmas-shows
— Vance says ‘America First’ movement rejects ‘purity tests,’ welcomes critical thinkers. Vice president tells AmericaFest crowd Trump built coalition by welcoming supporters regardless of background. DD: I should write about my critics/opponents who had their saboteurs destroy TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois in 2012 and Illinois Center Right Coalition in 2007.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/vance-says-america-first-movement-rejects-purity-tests-welcomes-critical-thinkers
LEGAL INSURRECTION
— Ben Shapiro at TPUSA: Conservative movement in danger “from charlatans who … traffic in conspiracism and dishonesty”
https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/12/ben-shapiro-at-tpusa-conservative-movement-in-danger-from-charlatans-who-traffic-in-conspiracism-and-dishonesty/
PJ MEDIA
— Trump Solved the Border Crisis Biden Claimed Was Unsolvable
https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2025/12/21/trump-solved-the-border-crisis-biden-claimed-was-unsolvable-n4947344
TOWNHALL
— Vance Calls for GOP Unity, Touts Trump Agenda at AmericaFest 2025
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/scott-mcclallen/2025/12/21/jd-vance-calls-for-gop-unity-touts-trump-agenda-at-americafest-2025-n2668273
— BLM Co-founder Arrested on Domestic Assault Charges
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/josephchalfant/2025/12/21/blm-co-founder-arrested-on-domestic-assault-charges-n2668274
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
ASSOCIATED PRESS
— Photos of Turning Point USA’s annual conservative youth conference
https://apnews.com/photo-gallery/turning-point-usa-conference-photos-d99fb219f6942e16b915208e13c1b37c
CNN
— Endorsement of Vance receives mixed reactions at Turning Point USA conference
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/21/politics/video/turning-point-endorse-jd-vance-president-reaction-vrtc
— Turning Point’s AmericaFest is rife with infighting
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/21/world/video/americafest-chaos-contorno-lkl-fst-122104aseg1-cnni-world-fast
NEWSWEEK
— MAGA Girl Power Riley Gaines Shapes Turning Point USA AmericaFest
https://www.newsweek.com/maga-girl-power-shapes-turning-point-usa-americafest-11250370
NEW YORK TIMES
— $27,000 a Year for Health Insurance. How Can We Afford That? DD: Are/were your healthcare insurance premiums subsidized? Ever since I became a part-time postal employee when was 18 in 1966, my critics/opponents have been furious that the federal government has paid 72% of my healthcare insurance premiums. They have been even more furious ever since I got married when I was 29 and the federal government started paying 72% of my wife’s healthcare insurance premiums. That 72% subsidy is a major reason why people despise/hate federal employees, federal retirees, and their spouses. That 72% subsidy helped me withstand tremendous efforts by my Democrat superiors in the federal government to waste my career and to get rid of me.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/opinion/health-care-aca-cost-insurance.html
WASHINGTON POST
— Turning Point USA showcases the discord that Republicans like Vance will need to navigate in the future. Turning Point has endorsed Vance as the Republican nominee for the next presidential election.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/21/turning-point-charlie-kirk-vance-republicans-2028/ae0bac0e-de6f-11f0-9a80-62add4d0e8ef_story.html
WALL STREET JOURNAL
— Charlie Kirk’s Empire Is Lining Up Behind a Vance Presidential Bid. The vice president will speak Sunday at TPUSA’s premier event, days after Erika Kirk endorsed him for 2028 run.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/charlie-kirks-empire-is-lining-up-behind-a-jd-vance-presidential-bid-cedeb9cc
FORTUNE
— What comes after affirmative action? DD: Up until recently, Affirmative Action (AA) was the “law of the land,’ that is, up until recently, political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and age discrimination was the “law of the land.” My Democrat superiors in the federal government used AA to waste my career and to force me to retire when I was 49 in 1997. My critics/opponents not only have no problem with that, they applaud it.
https://fortune.com/2023/06/08/affirmative-action-supreme-court-harvard-unc/
— Five-year career plan. DD: What career advice did you reject? I refused to a) become a Democrat, b) glorify and praise my superiors and supervisors, c) pander to my superiors and supervisors, d) serve as an operative or as a dupe for my superiors and supervisors, and e) help them get rid of their employees because they were Republican, White, male, older, and/or non-veteran. Consequently, my Democrat superiors wasted my career, took many big adverse actions against me, and forced me to retire when I was 49 in 1997.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/linkedin-ceo-says-it-s-outdated-to-have-a-five-year-career-plan-it-s-a-little-bit-foolish-considering-the-pace-ai-is-changing-the-workplace/ar-AA1SBIt9
HUFFINGTON POST
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly crow about their success in getting religious leaders to do their bidding.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/maga-nativity-immigration-ice-protest-goog_l_6942ebdfe4b045d9788c63f3
AXIOS
— MAGA media mess deepens at Turning Point convention
https://www.axios.com/2025/12/21/maga-media-antisemitism-turning-point-usa
FROM FOREIGN SOURCES
FINANCIAL TINES
— Affordability. DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly shout that if you cannot afford something, it is Trump’s fault. There are many things that I could/cannot afford because my Democrat superiors in the federal government wasted my career and forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997.
https://www.ft.com/content/d5f033e9-f9de-420d-93a1-22f2e38c6d5e
GUARDIAN
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly hint/imply/argue/shout that if you vote for Democrats, your health care will be free.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/21/us-healthcare-system-trump
TIMES OF INDIA
— Less than one-third of state teachers clear competency test. DD: Only about 20% of those who take the CPA and Certified Internal Auditor examinations pass them on their first attempt like I did. My critics/opponents have always ignored/dismissed/belittled that. My Democrat IRS and GAO superiors would not have done that if I had been a Democrat and a minority, female, younger, and/or veteran.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/less-than-one-third-of-state-teachers-clear-competency-test/articleshow/126097320.cms
December 21, 2025
FROM CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) glorify and praise their illegals and b) fight their deportation.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/20/volunteers-bringing-holiday-bliss-to-needy-immigrant-families/
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/21/broadview-six-protest-ice-charges/
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/19/chicago-immigration-enforcement-raids/
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/18/broadview-zoning-ice-center/
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/18/illinois-accountability-commission-pritzker-border-patrol/
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly demonize, denigrate, and condemn Trump.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/21/column-donald-trump-kennedy-center-susie-wiles-page/
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
–DD: What helped you earn a bachelor’s degree? For me, back in the good old days, it was my parents who provided me with room and board while I took classes at UIC 1966-1968, weekends during my first semester at NIU in 1969, and the summer of 1969. For me, it was the money I earned delivering mail for the Park Forest Post Office part-time during the school years and full-time during the summers 1966-1969. The aforesaid enabled me to graduate debt-free from NIU with a bachelor’s degree in management in August of 1970 and owing a 1969 Dodge Charger SE.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2025/12/18/in-austin-neighborhood-of-chicago-black-mentors-are-making-college-possible
DAILY HERALD
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) glorify and praise their illegals and b) fight their deportation.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20251219/lifestyle/downers-grove-woman-helps-form-operation-midway-bliss-to-assist-those-affected-by-ice/
CENTRAL ILLINOIS PROUD
— DD: Anticipate/expect that Democrats and RINOs will use Trump’s pot order to push more and more and more pot. Pot is poison. I led the successful effort to stop the sale of pot in Wheaton in 2019.
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/business/press-releases/accesswire/1119813/after-trumps-marijuana-executive-order-will-the-dea-face-a-court-imposed-deadline-from-mmjs-writ-of-mandamus/
FROM CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— Netflix’s merger threatens to push more woke dogma on Americans
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/faith-freedom-self-reliance/4044489/netflix-warner-bros-merger-threatens-more-woke-dogma/
DAILY WIRE
— How Universities Divert Federal Science Grants To DEI And Administrative Bloat. 56% overhead rate funds college administrators under the guise of science grants.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-universities-divert-federal-science-grants-to-dei-and-administrative-bloat
PJ MEDIA
— The Left Offers Slavery, Nothing Else.
https://pjmedia.com/caskeet/2025/12/20/the-left-offers-slavery-nothing-else-n4947341
FROM CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
THE HILL
— Turley: Democratic despotism: The left moves from censored to compelled speech
https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/5657977-democratic-despotism-the-left-moves-from-censored-to-compelled-speech/
— Trump endorses GOP’s Blakeman for New York governor a day after Stefanik exits race. DD: Which of the candidates on the Republican primary ballot in your precinct a) have sought Trump’s endorsement and/or b) have gotten Trump’s endorsement?
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5658614-trump-endorses-blakeman-ny-governor/
— DD: What helped you escape liberal indoctrination? I majored in business at UIC 1966-1968, NIU 1969-1970, and Loyola 1972-1976. I majored in accounting at DePaul 1976-1980. I majored in finance at IIT 1992-1997.
https://thehill.com/opinion/education/5601601-college-indoctrination-myth-exposed/
ABC NEWS
— Here’s what you missed at Turning Point’s chaotic convention. Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest convention has been marked by internal feuds among conservative figures. DD: Who leads TPUSA in Illinois, in DuPage County, in Milton Township, in Wheaton, and in Wheaton Warrenville School District 200? I want to promote TPUSA activities. I should write about my critics/opponents who had their operatives and their dupes destroy TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois and the Illinois Center Right coalition.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/missed-turning-points-chaotic-convention-128592455
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Some of the biggest names in conservative media took turns torching each other on the main stage, spending more time targeting right-wing rivals than their left-wing opponents. The feuds could ultimately define the boundaries of the Republican Party and determine the future of President Donald Trump’s fractious coalition, which appears primed for more schisms in the months and years ahead.)
CNN
— Top lawyer for military joint chiefs told chairman that officers should retire if faced with an unlawful order. DD: To be an employee is to be someone who obeys orders. While I worked for the Democrats who ran the federal government for almost 30 years, I never disobeyed any of their orders. My Democrat IRS and GAO superiors ordered me to give tremendous preference to their Democrat employees who they assigned me to supervise. All of those employees were minority, female, much younger than me, veteran, disabled, and/or had performance problems. But because I complained about their political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and age discrimination and I became an active member in a class action lawsuit that charged them with the aforesaid discrimination when I was 40 years old in 1988, they wasted my career, they took many big adverse actions against me, and forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997.
https://www.wisn.com/article/top-lawyer-for-military-joint-chiefs-told-chairman-that-officers-should-retire-if-faced-with-an-unlawful-order/69827195
ASSOCIATED PRESS
— Gender gap closing at Turning Point. Young conservative women embracing Erika Kirk at helm.
https://journalnow.com/news/nation-world/government-politics/article_b632d7be-f716-5ea6-b5f1-3ff96949bb96.html
MSN
— Career Advice. DD: What career advice did you reject? I refused to a) become a Democrat, b) glorify and praise my superiors and supervisors, c) pander to my superiors and supervisors, d) serve as an operative or as a dupe for my superiors and supervisors, and e) help them get rid of their employees because they were Republican, White, male, older, and/or non-veteran. Consequently, my Democrat superiors wasted my career, took many big adverse actions against me, and forced me to retire when I was 49 in 1997.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/mcdonald-s-ceo-the-career-advice-i-would-give-if-i-wasn-t-afraid-to-hurt-your-feelings/ar-AA1SxFgj
— Millions of retirees are owed Social Security money – are you one of them? DD: My critics/opponents will be furious when they learn that because of a law that Biden signed, a) my Social Security increased from $3,000/year to $6,000/year, and now to $18,700/year and b) I got $3,200 and $14,000 backpay awards. Because of the law, I now can start getting 47% of my wife’s Social Security. I paid into Social security 1964-1973 while I washed dishes, cleaned golf shoes, chipped slag, pumped gasoline, delivered mail, worked on an automotive assemble line, sold tires, automotive services, and major appliances, and pumped more gasoline.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/retirement/millions-of-retirees-are-owed-social-security-money-are-you-one-of-them/ar-AA1SFaun
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Millions of public workers received a notice this year and saw something unexpected. The Social Security Administration (SSA) informed them that their Social Security checks were going up and a lump-sum payment was on the way. If you spent your career as a teacher, firefighter, police officer, or government worker and watched your Social Security get slashed by confusing rules, this is the change you’ve been waiting for. A newer law, called the Social Security Fairness Act, wipes out two long-hated penalties: the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). Those rules used to cut or erase senior benefits for people who also had a pension from a job that didn’t pay into Social Security. Now they’re gone, and billions of dollars are being paid out. Here’s what the law actually does, who gets money, who doesn’t, and how much people are seeing. The Social Security Fairness Act became law on January 5, 2025, and repeals both WEP and GPO for benefits payable starting January 2024. WEP used to reduce retirement or disability benefits if you had a pension from “non-covered” work. This is a job where you didn’t pay Social Security tax. GPO reduced or wiped out spousal and survivor benefits for people with those same kinds of pensions. Together, those two rules cut benefits for more than 2.8 million people. Many of those were teachers, firefighters, police officers, and federal workers under old pension systems. Under the new law, December 2023 is the last month WEP and GPO apply. Any benefit payable for January 2024 and later must be calculated as if those penalties never existed. That means higher monthly checks going forward, and catch-up money for past qualifying months where your benefit was reduced. The new law does not help every public employee. To benefit, you must have a pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security taxes. These may include: State and local teachers, firefighters, and police officers. Federal workers covered by the old Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), Some workers with foreign Social Security pensions. If your pension comes from a job where you paid Social Security tax, you will not see a change from this law. Roughly 72% of state and local public employees fall into this group. You may qualify if: You already receive a reduced retirement or disability benefit because of WEP. You get a reduced or zero spousal or survivor benefit because of GPO. You have enough Social Security credits or a spouse or ex-spouse with enough credits, but you never applied because WEP or GPO made the benefit too small to bother with. The law covers benefits on your own record and benefits as a spouse or surviving spouse. It does not change your actual pension. It only changes the Social Security piece that was being cut because of the pension. The amount depends on your situation, but the numbers can be big. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates show that eliminating WEP alone raises monthly benefits by around $360 on average for affected workers. The GPO repeal adds even more for spouses and widows. The CBO estimates an average monthly increase of $700 for spouses and $1,190 for widows. On top of higher monthly checks, there are lump-sum back payments. Because the repeal applies to benefits payable from January 2024 onward, people who were already collecting in 2024 are owed money for every month their benefit was underpaid. By early March 2025, more than 1.1 million people had already received over $7.5 billion in retroactive payments, with an average lump sum of $6,710. As implementation continued, the totals grew. By early July 2025, more than 3.1 million payments had gone out, totaling about $17 billion, five months ahead of schedule. While some people get hundreds of dollars more per month, others see a more modest increase. The size of your non-covered pension, how much GPO or WEP used to take away, and whether you’re a worker, a spouse, or a surviving spouse are all key factors in how much you’ll receive. For people who were already receiving benefits reduced by WEP or GPO, the process was mostly automatic. In 2025, SSA recalculated records and sent a one-time lump-sum payment for benefits owed back to January 2024 and increased monthly payments going out in April 2025. If you were affected by WEP or GPO and think you might be entitled to an increased benefit or a back-dated lump sum but haven’t received any money or a notice, you need to take action. Check your “my Social Security” account to see the status of your benefits and contact SSA for help if you think there’s a problem. If you never applied for retirement, spousal, or survivor benefits because WEP or GPO made the amount tiny or zero, you most likely need to file a new application. Retroactive payment rules still apply, though, so back pay could be limited to six months in many retirement and survivor cases. So don’t wait, as the longer you delay, the more money you’re losing. . .If you have a pension from work that didn’t pay into your Social Security and your benefits were cut by WEP or GPO, you’re exactly who this law was written for. You should already have received your lump-sum back pay and have been seeing your increased benefit amount since April. If you haven’t and think you’re entitled to it, check with SSA. If you never bothered to apply because WEP and GPO made the benefit tiny or non-existent, you should reconsider claiming now. With back pay potentially limited to six months, act fast to put extra cash in your pocket sooner rather than later.)
NEW YORK TIMES
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly shout that if you cannot afford something, it is Trump’s fault. There are many things that I could/cannot afford because my Democrat superiors in the federal government wasted my career and forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/upshot/affordability-democrats-trump.html
— Turning Point’s Annual Gathering Turns Into a Gripefest. At AmericaFest, conservative leaders insulted one another, revealing serious rifts over conspiracy theories, antisemitism and who belongs in America. DD: Who leads TPUSA in Illinois, in DuPage County, in Milton Township, in Wheaton, and in Wheaton Warrenville School District 200? I want to promote TPUSA activities. I should write about my critics/opponents who had their operatives and their dupes destroy TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois and the Illinois Center Right coalition.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/us/politics/turning-points-americafest-ben-shapiro.html
— DD: Anticipate/expect that more and more and more candidates will use criticisms of Trump to be more and more and more anti-conservate, anti-Republican, anti-American, anti-White, anti-male, anti-older-people, anti-heterosexual, anti-married people, anti-rich people, anti-Protestant, and/or anti-those whose ancestors have been in America for a long time.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/us/politics/vivek-ramaswamy-anti-indian-hate.html
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly hint/imply/argue/shout that if you vote for Democrats, your health care will be free.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/us/politics/health-care-gop.html
WASHINGTON POST
— The year Trump broke the federal government. How DOGE and the White House carried out a once-unthinkable transformation of the nation’s sprawling bureaucracy.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2025/trump-federal-government-workers-doge/
FORBES
— DD: I should write about my critics/opponents who had their saboteurs destroy TAPROOT Republicans of the Illinois in 2012 and the Illinois Center Right Coalition in 2007. I would focus on my critics/opponents who still have lots of religious, government, political, and/or financial clout in Wheaton, Milton Township, DuPage County, and Illinois. I would focus on those who have had their operatives and their dupes take the most/biggest adverse actions against me lately.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2025/11/30/theres-a-hidden-saboteur-in-your-meetings-and-theres-only-one-person-who-can-stop-it/
FAST COMPANY
— DD: To get rid of their employees who were Republican, White, male, older, and/or non-veteran, my Democrat GAO superiors and supervisors turned their employees who were Democrat, minority, female, and/or veteran against them.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91449043/most-leaders-misread-generational-tension-these-five-habits-resolve-it-generational-tension-workplace
TIMES RECORD
— Race-based hiring practices remain illegal. DD: How has Affirmative Action (AA) and DEI impacted you? While I was young, employers had to hire, promote, and retain based on race and gender, that is, they had to hire, promote, and retain minorities and females. The Democrats who ran the Post Office in 1966, IRS in 1971, and GAO in 1980 hired me because they could not find a qualified Democrat, minority, female, younger person, or veteran who would take the job. Because I am not a Democrat, minority, female, or veteran, my Democrat superiors ever-increasingly used AA and DEI to promote over me their Democrat employees who were minority, female, younger, and/or veteran. That ever-increasingly rendered worthless my job-related bachelor’s degree, my three job-related master’s degrees, my six job-related professional certifications, and my job-related professional license.
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/times-record-ft-smith-southwest/20251221/281522232434308
NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER
— DD: Ever-increasingly, Democrat leaders succeed in getting religious leaders to do their bidding.
https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/ice-nativity-offers-boston-archbishop-leadership-opportunity-apology
AMERICAN PROSPECT
— Another Mass Staffing Purge at the VA. DD: I worked for the Democrats who ran GAO 1980-1997. They used Gingrich budget cuts to purge the agency of its employees who were Republican, White, male, older, and/or non-veteran. They gave their managers of their Chicago office lists of employees to purge. Of course, I was on all those lists. I would not have survived for almost 18 years 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, passed the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt in 1981, became a licensed CPA in 1981, earned more professional certifications in 1990, 1994, 1996, and 1997, and earned a master’s degree in financial markets and trading in 1997. I should write about that.
https://prospect.org/2025/12/18/another-mass-staffing-purge-at-va/
WYOMING NEWS
— Two U.S. senators blast Trump’s nominee to be the federal attorney for Wyoming as being unqualified. DD: Were you promoted too fast? IRS promoted me when I was 23, 24, and 25. My Democrat and RINO critics/opponents have always hinted/implied/argued/shouted that I was promoted too fast, that is, that I was unqualified. My Democrat IRS superiors got rid of the IRS manager who promoted me. To get rid of me, they disallowed my travel vouchers when I was 25, they disallowed my education deductions when I was 29, and they never promoted me again. They ignored/dismissed/belittled/badmouthed my earning an MBA when I was 27 and my passing the CPA examination on my first attempt when I was 30. I should write about that.
https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/senators-blast-wyoming-s-u-s-attorney-as-unqualified-maga-loyalist-jan-6-supporter/article_8d8a98f8-6f07-44ee-b0db-45b0a4a75c8a.html
MITCH JACKSON
— How an Unqualified, Conspiracy Driven Loyalist Gained Power Inside the Department of Justice. DD: Were you promoted too fast? IRS promoted me when I was 23, 24, and 25. My Democrat and RINO critics/opponents have always hinted/implied/argued/shouted that I was promoted too fast, that is, that I was unqualified. My Democrat IRS superiors got rid of the IRS manager who promoted me. To get rid of me, they disallowed my travel vouchers when I was 25, they disallowed my education deductions when I was 29, and they never promoted me again. They ignored/dismissed/belittled/badmouthed my earning an MBA when I was 27 and my passing the CPA examination on my first attempt when I was 30. I should write about that.
https://mitchthelawyer.substack.com/p/ed-martin-how-an-unqualified-conspiracy
ATLANTIC
— America’s ‘Marriage Material’ Shortage. DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasing destroy traditional marriage and family. Under the Democrats, fewer and fewer and fewer people are marriage material. What helped make you marriage material? By the time I got married when I was 29 in 1978, I had worked for IRS for almost 7 years and my salary was $108,978/year in today’s dollars. I had earned an MBA from Loyola in 1976 and I was taking graduate evening accounting courses at DePaul. I lived in a one bedroom condo in the Outer Drive East building that I had bought in 1976. I was renting out a town home in University Park that I had bought new in 1972. I owned a 1972 Corvette that I had bought new in 1971.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/02/america-marriage-decline/681518/
NPR
— Inside Turning Point USA’s uneasy moment after Charlie Kirk. DD: Who leads TPUSA in Illinois, in DuPage County, in Milton Township, in Wheaton, and in Wheaton Warrenville School District 200? I want to promote TPUSA activities. I should write about my critics/opponents who had their operatives and their dupes destroy TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois and the Illinois Center Right coalition.
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/20/nx-s1-5648806/inside-turning-point-usas-uneasy-moment-after-charlie-kirk
FROM FOREIGN SOURCES
INDIAN EXPRESS
— Is the young, white male being pushed out? A new article is latest lightning rod in US culture wars. ‘The Lost Generation’, an article published in Compact magazine last week, alleges that DEI practices have squeezed young, white men out of prestige jobs in sectors such as media and television. It has reignited the debate on representation as the Trump administration goes after DEI programs.
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-global/young-white-male-us-10431501/
December 20, 2025 Evening Edition
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
DAILY HERALD
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote more illegal drug use.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20251220/news/illinois-libraries-step-into-life-saving-role-as-new-law-expands-access-to-narcan/
RIVER BENDER
— DD: Duckworth ever-increasingly fights Trump’s use of the military.
https://www.riverbender.com/news/details/duckworthled-provision-to-rein-in-trumps-misuse-of-the-military-passes-congress-awaits-presidents-signature-89249.cfm
WAND TV
— Military lawyer swiftly fired from immigration bench after defying Trump deportation push. DD: While I worked for the Democrats who ran the federal government for almost 30 years, I never defied any of their orders. My Democrat IRS and GAO superiors ordered me to give tremendous preference to their Democrat employees who they assigned me to supervise. All those employees were minority, female, much younger, veteran, disabled, and/or had performance problems. But because I complained about their political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and age discrimination and I became an active member in a class action lawsuit that charged them with the aforesaid discrimination when I was 40 years old in 1988, they wasted my career, they took many big adverse actions against me, and forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997.
https://www.wandtv.com/news/national/military-lawyer-swiftly-fired-from-immigration-bench-after-defying-trump-deportation-push/article_0db74911-444a-5a1a-8ee6-c5f8de72ad55.html
WGLT
— Duckworth: Hegseth is “dangerously unqualified.” Hegseth left the armed services with a rank of Major, which can oversee a unit of between 300 to 1,200. DD: To discredit Hegseth, Duckworth stresses that the Army never promoted him beyond the rank of Major. IRS promoted me to GS-12 when I was 25 in 1974. The equivalent Army rank is Captain. GAO promoted me to GS-13 when I was 38 in 1986. The equivalent Army rank is Major. My critics/opponents have always ignored/dismissed/belittled/badmouthed what I did as an IRS Revenue Officer 1971-1980 and as a GAO Analyst 1980-1997.
https://www.wglt.org/illinois/2025-01-13/trump-defense-nominee-hegseth-is-dangerously-unqualified-duckworth-says
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
— Federal Child Sex Crime Report
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/20/federal-child-sex-crime-report/
— McHenry State’s Attorney on a Roll in Keeping Dangerous Criminals in Jail, This Time a Marengo Man Arrested for Child Porn
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/19/mchenry-states-attorney-on-a-roll-in-keeping-dangerous-criminals-in-jail-this-time-a-marengo-man-arrested-for-child-porn/
— Rep. Sosnowski Opposes Subsidy for Bears
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/19/15263/
— Head of Northern Illinois Food Bank Receives National Recognition, Salaries of Officers Listed for Year Ending June, 2024
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/19/head-of-northern-illinois-food-bank-receives-national-recognition-salaries-of-officers-listed-for-year-ending-june-2024/
— UPDATE 2: MORE Images You Won’t See in Chicago Tribune Story on Australian Jewish Massacre, GUNMEN TIED TO ISIS, POLICE INACTION
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/19/images-you-wont-see-in-chicago-tribune-story-on-australian-jewish-massacre/
— Ted Dombrowski Says Mass Transit Law “Fleeces” Taxpayers
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/19/ted-dombrowski-says-mass-transit-law-fleeces-taxpayers/
ILLINOIS REVIEW
— Kristi Noem Joins United States Coast Guard in Christmas Tree Giveaway In Chicago
https://www.illinoisreview.com/illinoisreview/2025/12/weyermuller-kristi-noem-joins-united-states-coast-guard-in-christmas-tree-giveaway-in-chicago.html
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON TIMES
— DD: Which of the candidates on the Republican primary ballot in your precinct a) have sought Trump’s endorsement and/or b) have gotten Trump’s endorsement?
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/dec/20/trump-endorses-blakeman-new-york-governor/
— Former President Clinton turns up in newly released ‘Epstein files’ — in a hot tub
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/dec/19/former-president-bill-clinton-turns-newly-released-epstein-files-
— The snakes within the Trump administration. The president should heed his own 2016 warning.
hot/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/dec/18/snakes-within-trump-administration/
— Recent terrorist attacks highlight the folly of unchecked mass migration
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/dec/19/editorial-recent-terrorist-attacks-highlight-folly-unchecked-mass/
WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— The politically incorrect crisis: How society is failing boys and men
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/community-family/3926463/society-failing-boys-and-men/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: For decades, Americans have told a clear story about gender. Women were held back. Society was built by men and for men. The moral task of our time, we were told, was to dismantle male advantage and help women catch up. That story may have once described reality. It no longer does. Today, a growing body of evidence points to a different and deeply uncomfortable conclusion. Boys and men are now falling behind across many of the institutions that structure a stable, dignified life: education, work, family, and mental health. And yet our public conversation remains frozen in an earlier era, unable or unwilling to recognize what has changed. This is not an argument against women’s progress. Women have made extraordinary and deserved gains. It is an argument that a society can correct one injustice and create another if it refuses to update its moral lens. Start with education. In elementary and secondary school, boys now lag behind girls in reading in every developed country. They are more likely to struggle academically, to be disciplined, and to disengage from school altogether. That early gap compounds over time. Seven out of 10 valedictorians are female. On college campuses, the gender balance has flipped: Women now make up nearly 60% of undergraduates and earn close to 60% of bachelor’s degrees. Among young adults, women are significantly more likely than men to have a college degree, a reversal of the gender gap that defined much of the 20th century. Yet our educational rhetoric still sounds as though girls are the ones being left behind. The consequences don’t end at graduation. Men’s connection to work, a central source of purpose, structure, and social standing, has been eroding for decades. Prime-age male labor force participation has steadily declined, especially among men without college degrees. Entire cohorts of working-class men have drifted out of stable employment, not because they prefer idleness, but because the economy increasingly rewards credentials and social skills while offering fewer pathways for men whose strengths are practical, mechanical, or physical. For generations, society made a promise to such men: Work hard, show up, and you will earn a place. That promise has been quietly broken. The fallout shows up starkly in our health statistics. Men die by suicide at nearly four times the rate of women. Middle-aged men, particularly those without college degrees, account for a disproportionate share of what economists grimly call “deaths of despair”: suicide, drug overdoses, and alcohol-related disease. When we talk about mental health, we often focus, appropriately, on the pressures facing teenage girls. But while that crisis is loudly discussed, another one unfolds in silence: Men are dying in extraordinary numbers, and few seem to notice. Loneliness deepens the wound. Surveys show that young men are significantly more likely than young women to report feeling lonely. Male friendship has collapsed over the past few decades, with approximately 25% of young men reporting that they have no close friends at all. As traditional institutions that once anchored male social life — stable jobs, unions, churches, and fraternal organizations — have weakened, little has replaced them. Men, on average, are less likely to seek emotional support and less likely to be invited into spaces where vulnerability is encouraged. The result is a quiet epidemic of isolation. Family life tells a similar story. Roughly 1 in 4 American children now grow up without a father in the home. This is often discussed solely in terms of its impact on children, and rightly so, but it also reflects the broader marginalization of men from family life. Many men are disconnected from stable work, from marriage, and ultimately from daily involvement in their children’s lives. For all our concern about “toxic masculinity,” the more common problem in many communities is not men behaving badly, but men being absent altogether. When men fail, society often responds with punishment rather than repair. Men make up more than 90% of the prison population. The United States incarcerates more people than any other nation on Earth, and the burden falls overwhelmingly on men — disproportionately poor men and men of color. Many of the same struggles we ignore in schools and workplaces — illiteracy, untreated mental illness, and addiction — reappear in our jails and prisons, where they are far more expensive and difficult to address. None of this means women no longer face injustice. Women still bear disproportionate caregiving burdens, face violence, and encounter barriers in certain professions. Acknowledging male disadvantage in some areas does not erase female disadvantage in others. Justice is not a finite resource. But our gender conversation has become dangerously one-sided. We have built institutions, policies, and cultural narratives that assume men are always advantaged and women are always vulnerable, even when the data tell a different story. That mismatch matters. When people feel unseen or misrepresented, they disengage. When boys grow up hearing only what’s wrong with men, they struggle to imagine a hopeful future for themselves.)
NEW YORK POST
— DOGE’s federal job cuts really ARE making a difference
https://nypost.com/2025/12/19/opinion/guess-what-doges-federal-headcount-cuts-really-are-making-a-difference/
AMERICAN THINKER
— Using the Christmas Story to Demonize ICE Agents
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/12/using_the_christmas_story_to_demonize_ice_agents.html
BIZ PAC REVIEW
— ‘We are just getting started’: DHS says 2.5M illegals have now exited US
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2025/12/20/we-are-just-getting-started-dhs-says-2-5m-illegals-have-now-exited-us-1611555/
— HUD Secretary shares shocking details of welfare program usage among illegal alien families
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2025/12/20/hud-sec-shares-shocking-details-of-welfare-program-usage-among-illegal-alien-families-1611613/
BLAZE
— ’50 high-quality sons’: Chinese men are siring US citizen ‘mega-families’ via surrogacy
https://www.theblaze.com/news/50-high-quality-sons-chinese-elites-are-siring-armies-of-babies-in-us-via-surrogates-report
BREITBART
— Translator Services Helping Illegal Aliens to Cheat on Drivers Exam
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2025/12/20/maine-whistleblower-translator-services-helping-illegal-aliens-to-cheat-on-drivers-exam/
CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES
— Trump DOJ Undoes Clinton Sabotage of the 1996 Welfare Reform Law
https://cis.org/Fishman/Trump-DOJ-Undoes-Clinton-Sabotage-1996-Welfare-Reform-Law
CHRISTOPHER RUFO
— DEI and the “Lost Generation.” How white millennial men were purged from elite institutions. DD: My Democrat GAO superiors used Gingrich budget cuts to purge the agency of its employees who were Republican, White, male, older, and/or non-veteran.
https://christopherrufo.com/p/dei-and-the-lost-generation
(FROM THE ARTICLE: In Compact magazine, “The Lost Generation,” is a firsthand account, backed by deep reporting, on discrimination against millennial white men in the institutions of elite culture, academia, media, publishing, and entertainment. Affirmative action, a euphemism for anti-white-male discrimination, dates back to the mid-1960s, and, in the 1990s, Claremont University professor Frederick Lynch was already documenting systematic discrimination against white men in corporate environments in books such as Invisible Victims and The Diversity Machine. But Jacob Savage, the author of the Compact article, makes a persuasive case that this trend accelerated dramatically in the ten-year period between 2014 and 2024—the decade of the so-called Great Awokening.)
FOX NEWS
— University of Illinois lesson materials push leftist race, class struggles on future teachers. Lectures focus on racism, white supremacy and cultivating belonging for ‘minoritized’ students.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/university-illinois-lesson-materials-push-leftist-race-class-struggles-future-teachers-leaked-lectures
— ‘Bitter sweet’: TPUSA holds AmericaFest for the first time without Charlie Kirk. DD: Who leads TPUSA in Illinois, in DuPage County, in Milton Township, in Wheaton, and in Wheaton Warrenville School District 200? I want to promote TPUSA activities.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6386755343112
— Dallas Church depicts nativity as migrants in detention. ‘Relatable Podcast’ host Allie Beth Stuckey joins ‘Saturday in America’ live from AmericaFest 2025 to discuss churches politicizing nativity scenes by depicting them as anti-ICE.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6386757075112
— It’s not just Minnesota; Democrats have created welfare fraud everywhere. Politicians in virtually every state have let waste, fraud and abuse spread like wildfire in Medicaid.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/its-not-just-minnesota-democrats-have-created-welfare-fraud-everywhere
HERITAGE FOUNDATION
— Taxpayer Cash, Zero Accountability: Minnesota Fraud Proves Welfare Is Broken
https://www.heritage.org/welfare/commentary/taxpayer-cash-zero-accountability-minnesota-fraud-proves-welfare-broken
LEGAL NEWSLINE
— Supreme Court weighs gun owners’ challenge to IL transit carry ban
https://www.legalnewsline.com/cook-county-record/transit-gun-ban-in-illinois-a-supreme-court-matter/article_b9854254-33e7-49d7-849b-735485520cc8.html
NEWSMAX
— Property Taxes Threaten American Dream of Home Ownership. DD: Being able to itemize and to deduct real estate taxes helped me a) buy a new townhome when I was 24 in 1972, b) buy a studio condo when I was 25, and c) buy a one bedroom condo when I was 27. Being able to itemize and to deduct real estate taxes helped my wife and I a) buy a home in Wheaton when I was 29 and b) have a home built in Wheaton when I was 35.
https://www.newsmax.com/mccaughey/affordability-homeowners-syracuse/2025/12/18/id/1238829/
PJ MEDIA
— Border Crossings Down 93%, Fentanyl Trafficking Cut in Half in 2025
https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2025/12/20/border-crossings-down-93-fentanyl-trafficking-cut-in-half-n4947321
REASON
— Mamdani’s $6 Billion Child Care Expansion Would Be a Handout to Wealthy New Yorkers. The more the government intervenes in the market, the more New York parents pay for child care.
https://reason.com/2025/12/25/mamdani-cant-raise-your-kids/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
ASSOCIATED PRESS
— Young conservative women find a home in Turning Point with Charlie Kirk’s widow at the helm. DD: Who leads TPUSA in Illinois, in DuPage County, in Milton Township, in Wheaton, and in Wheaton Warrenville School District 200? I want to promote TPUSA activities.
https://www.theheraldreview.com/news/politics/article/young-conservative-women-find-a-home-in-turning-21251712.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e56BOXKhvnY
AOL
— Everything about retirement changes if you’re one of the lucky few who have a pension in America. DD: What is your attitude toward federal employees and federal retirees? I was a federal employee for almost 30 years and I have been a federal retiree for more than 28 years. My critics/opponents have always despised/hated federal employee and federal retirees. I should write about that. They believe that federal employees are grossly overpaid, that federal pensions are much too generous, and that their benefits are much too generous. In my defense, I would not have become a postal employee when I was 18 in 1966 if my high school friend had not asked me to join him in taking the postal employment test. I would not have become an IRS employee when I was 22 in 1971 if my Firestone Store boss had not fired me because I had accepted a job offer from Oldsmobile, an offer that Oldsmobile withdrew because it had just agreed to stop hiring Whites to settle an EEOC complaint.
https://www.aol.com/finance/everything-retirement-changes-one-lucky-114500050.html
NBC NEWS
— VERY SAD: MAGA infighting over Israel and 2028 heats up at the Turning Point USA conference. Influencers turned on one another, with Ben Shapiro blasting “charlatans,” Steve Bannon calling Shapiro a “cancer” and Megyn Kelly declaring she was no longer friends with Shapiro. DD: Who leads TPUSA in Illinois, in DuPage County, in Milton Township, in Wheaton, and in Wheaton Warrenville School District 200? I want to promote TPUSA activities.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/maga-infighting-israel-2028-turning-point-usa-conference-rcna250162
NEW YORK TIMES
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly use religious leaders to do their bidding.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/briefing/a-moral-reckoning-on-immigration.html
WALL STREET JOURNAL
— What to Know About Minnesota’s ‘Industrial-Scale Fraud’ Scandal. A federal prosecutor highlights ‘fraud tourism,’ where people with no connection to the state allegedly siphoned money from safety-net programs there.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/minnesota-fraud-trump-scandal-113f4315
FORBES
— The 2026 US Job Market Will Be Competitive – How To Stand Out. DD: When you graduated from college, what frustrated your job search? For me, it was potential employers viewing me as being draft bait. They did not believe that my financial hardship draft deferment application would be approved.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecenizalevine/2025/12/19/the-2026-us-job-market-will-be-competitive–how-to-stand-out/
TIME
— ‘No Sleep for ICE’: Inside the Protest Movement Keeping Immigration Agents Awake at Night
https://time.com/7341833/no-sleep-for-ice-protests-hotels/
HUFFINGTON POST
— DD: Hate-filled conservative-hating conservative-haters ever-increasingly work against Erika Kirk. DD: Who leads TPUSA in Illinois, in DuPage County, in Milton Township, in Wheaton, and in Wheaton Warrenville School District 200? I want to promote TPUSA activities.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/erika-kirk-turning-point-usa-gen-z_n_6925f13ae4b063285310f023
December 20, 2025
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Kane state’s attorney confirms she’s investigating Elgin ICE complaints
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/18/elgin-kane-investigation-ice-agents/
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD WIH BIG PICTURE: Trump administration threatens to withhold $50M from CTA, calling its plan to add police ‘materially deficient.’
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/19/cta-security-plan-fta/
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) glorify and praise their illegals and b) fight their deportation.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/19/editorial-greg-bovino-susie-wiles-donald-trump-immigration-home-depot-deportations/
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/19/chicago-immigration-enforcement-raids/
— Some Carl Sandburg students speak out against a Turning Point USA club. DD: Your attitude toward Charlie Kirk and his assassination say more about you than anything that you can say about yourself.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/19/carl-sandburg-students-oppose-turning-point-usa-club/
— Young conservative women find a home in Turning Point USA: ‘If Erika can do it, I can do it’. DD: Your attitude toward Charlie Kirk and his assassination say more about you than anything that you can say about yourself.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/19/turning-point-usa-erika-kirk/
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— ALL OF THE FRONT PAGE: DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) glorify and praise their illegals and b) fight their deportation.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdogs/2025/12/19/border-control-body-cameras-videos-midway-blitz-albany-park
DAILY HERALD
— DD: Under the Democrats, soon, everyone in Illinois will be a) handing out welfare and/or b) receiving welfare.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20251219/lifestyle/im-so-thankful-salvation-army-delivers-gifts-food-to-needy-suburban-families/
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly succeed in getting religious leaders to do their bidding.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20251219/nation-and-world/pope-names-pro-immigrant-pastor-bishop-of-florida-diocese-where-trumps-mar-a-lago-is-located/
ABC7
— Erika Kirk endorses JD Vance for president in 2028
https://abc7chicago.com/post/erika-kirk-endorses-jd-vance-president-2028/18300896/
— Concern grows over health care costs in Chicago area as ACA premiums could double in January
https://abc7chicago.com/post/concern-grows-health-care-costs-chicago-area-affordable-act-premiums-could-double-january/18301472/
WTTW
— Push for Chicago Teen Curfew to Control Large Gatherings Faces Uncertain Future. DD: How prepared is your municipality for Democrat teen takeovers?
https://news.wttw.com/2025/12/19/push-chicago-teen-curfew-control-large-gatherings-faces-uncertain-future
WBEZ
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) glorify and praise their illegals and b) fight their deportation.
https://www.wbez.org/public-safety/2025/12/19/border-control-body-cameras-videos-midway-blitz-albany-park
25 NEWS NOW
— Democrat and RINO leaders ever-increasingly push more pot. Pot is poison. I led the successful effort to stop the sale of pot in Wheaton in 2019.
https://www.25newsnow.com/2025/12/20/peoria-dispensary-manager-sees-trump-order-boost-cannabis-research-ease-stigma/
CAPITOL FAX
— Afternoon roundup
https://capitolfax.com/2025/12/19/isabel%e2%80%99s-afternoon-roundup-441/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
— What Politico Thinks Is Worth Reporting about 9th Congressional District Hopeful Daniel Biss
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/20/what-politico-thinks-is-worth-reporting-about-9th-congressional-district-hopeful-daniel-biss/
— Chicago Gets the Ride, Everyone Else Gets the Bill
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/20/chicago-gets-the-ride-everyone-else-gets-the-bill/
ILLINOIS FAMILY INSTITUTE
— Why Abortions Are Rising Despite the Fall of Roe
https://illinoisfamily.org/life/dr-mohler-why-abortions-are-rising-despite-the-fall-of-roe/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— Democrats won’t give up on child gender transitions
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/community-family/3926401/democrats-will-not-give-up-child-gender-transitions/
NEW YORK POST
— Trump officials slam Minneapolis police chief’s ‘absurd’ use of Nativity story to criticize ICE raids
https://nypost.com/2025/12/19/us-news/trump-officials-slam-minneapolis-police-chiefs-absurd-use-of-nativity-story-to-criticize-ice-raids/
BIZ PAC REVIEW
— Illinois Dem leaders fume when Chicago Bears mull business-friendly Indiana for new stadium
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2025/12/19/illinois-dem-leaders-fume-when-chicago-bears-mull-business-friendly-indiana-for-new-stadium-1611374/
BLAZE
— Trump DOJ slams door on welfare for illegal aliens, ends Clinton-era loophole draining taxpayer dollars
https://www.theblaze.com/news/trump-doj-slams-door-on-welfare-for-illegal-aliens-ends-clinton-era-loophole-draining-taxpayer-dollars
CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES
— WSJ Article Shows Why the ‘Birthright Citizenship’ Debate Is Overdue. The world, technology, and immigration have changed a lot since the 19th century, and the ultimate question is whether the Constitution can keep up.
https://cis.org/Arthur/WSJ-Article-Shows-Why-Birthright-Citizenship-Debate-Overdue
CITY JOURNAL
— Rescheduling Marijuana Is the Wrong Call. Trump’s move sacrifices public decency to big business.
https://www.city-journal.org/article/trump-reschedule-marijuana-pot
DAILY CALLER
— Can The Dark Ages Return? DD: The most recent dark ages were the years Biden was President.
https://dailycaller.com/2025/12/19/victor-davis-hanson-dark-ages-western-civilization-tradition-mass-migration/
FEDERATION FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM
— Illegals on Interstates: Must States Recognize Deadly Drivers’ Licenses? DD: All this harkens back to George Ryan.
https://www.fairus.org/issue/states-giving-drivers-licenses-dangerous-illegal-aliens
FOX NEWS
— Trump’s marijuana order pushes a dangerous lie about drugs. As a society we seem to have become desensitized to the potentially horrific consequences of drug use. We should not be. We must not be.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/alex-berenson-trumps-marijuana-order-pushes-dangerous-lie-about-drugs
— Trump administration touts ‘most secure border in history’ as 2.5 million migrants exit US. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says administration delivered ‘most historic achievements in presidential history. DD: illegals came to America because Democrat and RINO leaders invited them. Democrat leaders because illegals vote for Democrats. RINO leaders because RINO leaders want cheap labor.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-administration-touts-secure-border-history-2-5-million-migrants-exit-us
JUDICIAL WATCH
— Sanctuary Policies Release Thousands of Violent Criminal Aliens
https://www.judicialwatch.org/sanctuary-policies-release-thousands-of-violent-criminal-aliens/
NATIONAL REVIEW
— One Nation Under Siege. Radicals assail our constitutional republic from the left and the right.
https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2026/02/one-nation-under-siege/
— DD: Pot is poison
https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/12/why-rescheduling-cannabis-falls-short/amp/
NEW AMERICAN
— Cowed by the Left, Chick-fil-A Stands by DEI Despite Culture Shift
https://thenewamerican.com/us/culture/faith-and-morals/cowed-by-the-left-chick-fil-a-stands-by-dei-despite-culture-shift/
PJ MEDIA
— Milwaukee Judge Convicted for Protecting Illegal Alien From Arrest
https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2025/12/19/judge-convicted-for-protecting-illegal-alien-from-arrest-n4947277
TOWNHALL
— Democrats Rage After Woke Trans Surgeries Targeted by Trump Administration
https://townhall.com/videos/2025/12/19/dems-rage-after-woke-trans-surgeries-targeted-by-trump-administration-n2668215
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
WASHINGTON POST
— Young conservative women find a home in Turning Point with Charlie Kirk’s widow at the helm. Young women who have grown emboldened in their conservative beliefs are attending the annual conference held by Turning Point USA. DD: My outstanding wife’s first job after she earned her high school diploma was working for the FBI. She did much to help elect Big Jim Thompson in 1976. She earned a bachelor’s degree in finance in 1986. She became the Corporate Secretary for the U.S. League of Savings Institutions. SEE: https://gopillinois.com/documents/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/19/turning-point-kirk-conservative-women/f52251ca-dc9d-11f0-b484-4459fa8e79e5_story.html
WALL STREET JOURNAL
— After Charlie Kirk’s Death, MAGA Battles Over Free Speech. Ben Shapiro rebuked Tucker Carlson at the Turning Point USA conference over an interview with a white nationalist. DD: Who leads Turning Point USA in Illinois and in your county, township, municipality, and school district?
https://www.wsj.com/politics/maga-turning-point-usa-americafest-b4d16632
— Trump Goes for the Stoner Vote. Rescheduling pot sends the wrong message to vulnerable young brains.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/donald-trump-marijuana-reschedule-drugs-cdc-fda-6b30bf00
— DD: Pot is poison
https://www.wsj.com/video/series/potomac-watch-strassel/wsj-opinion-donald-trump-order-to-relax-marijuana-restrictions/8DAD1240-E948-4CBA-B335-B2212C60CF91
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyCf6W9P6fk
— Kristen Waggoner’s Legal Crusade for Conservative Christian Values. Her advocacy group has tallied 16 wins before the Supreme Court and is preparing for two transgender sports cases in January.
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/kristen-waggoner-alliance-defending-freedom-supreme-court-conservative-christians-19be5bda
— Why My Generation Is Turning to ‘Financial Nihilism.’ It might seem reckless for Gen Z to gamble money on meme coins and sports, but many of us have lost confidence in the traditional ladder of success.
https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/financial-nihilism-gen-z-gambling-meme-stocks-options-kyla-scanlon-7ae4f2aa
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Early career roles have eroded too. Entry-level jobs have thinned out due to automation and cost pressures, with only 30% of 2025 college graduates able to find entry-level jobs in their field, an 11% drop since 2024, according to the Cengage Group’s 2025 Graduate Employability Report. Just this week the nation’s job report showed that the unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds is at a postpandemic high of 10.6%. That instability hits at the exact moment when people are supposed to take their first steps on the economic ladder. And then there is homeownership: Only about 32% of 27-year-olds owned a home in 2024, a number that hasn’t budged in two years, according to the real-estate brokerage company Redfin. It’s a tough story compared to generations past—almost 40% of boomers and Gen Xers owned a home when they were 27. The price-to-income ratio for a median home now is nearly double what it was when their parents and grandparents were buying in the 1980s and 1990s. The specifics vary by region, but the broader reality is that the entry point into ownership has moved farther out of reach.)
FORTUNE
— The job market is so bad that people in their 40s are resorting to going back to school instead of looking for work. DD: How many people do you know who earned their third master’s degree in their 40s like I did? I earned a master’s degree in financial markets and trading from IIT when I was 48 in 1997. I did that because my Democrat GAO supervisor wanted/demanded that. I did that because my Democrat GAO superiors had made it clear that they would never again assign me to audits of IRS. In addition, I became a Certified Financial Services Auditor when I was 47 in 1996. But they flushed the aforesaid down their toilets when they forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997.
https://fortune.com/2025/12/16/job-market-so-bad-people-age-40-going-back-to-school/
FORBES
— DD: Rubio promotes merit over DEI at the State Department.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDlnMxnB3dU
— DD: Unfair Advantages. DD: According to your critics/opponents, what unfair advantages do you have? According to my critics/opponents, the unfair advantages that I have include the following. I was born a healthy White male in 1948. My parents sent me to religious schools K-8 1953-1962. I avoided the Vietnam War draft. The federal government employed me 1966-1969 and 1971-1997 and promoted me in 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1986. I was able to work my way through college and a) earn a job-related bachelor’s degree in 1970, b) earn job-related master’s degrees in 1976, 1980, and 1997, c) earn job-related professional certifications in 1979, 1981, 1990, 1994, 1996, and 1997, and d) earn a job-related professional license in 1981. I got married in 1978. My wife had good jobs. We gave up trying to have children. We did not adopt. We did not become foster parents. I have had a COLA-adjusted Civil Service Retirement System pension since 1997. Because I am a federal retiree, the federal government pays 72% of my and my wife’s healthcare insurance premiums.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ruthgotian/2022/07/19/you-might-be-overlooking-your-unfair-advantage-heres-how-to-find-it/
— How To Get Promoted Faster At Work. DD: My critics/opponents have always been furious that IRS promoted me when I was 23, 24, and 25 and that GAO promoted me when I was 38. According to them, all those promotions should have been given to my Democrat coworkers who were minority, female, younger, and/or veteran. According to my critics/opponents, the federal government exists to hire, retain, and promote Democrats who are minority, female, younger, and/or veteran.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dianehamilton/2025/02/11/how-to-get-promoted-faster-at-work-the-one-skill-leaders-notice-most/
CONCORD MONITOR
— DD: Duckworth and other Democrat leaders decry that the Army never promoted Hegseth beyond the rank of Major. IRS promoted me to GS-12 when I was 25 in 1974. The equivalent Army rank is Captain. GAO promoted me to GS-13 when I was 38 in 1986. The equivalent Army rank is Major. My critics/opponents have always ignored/dismissed/belittled/badmouthed what I did as an IRS Revenue Officer 1971-1980 and as a GAO Analyst 1980-1997.
https://www.concordmonitor.com/2025/12/19/my-turn-hegseth-dod-leadership-tillis/
MONEY WISE
— DD: GAO finds rampant Obamacare waste, fraud, abuse, but Democrat and RINO leaders ignore/dismiss/belittle that.
https://moneywise.com/news/rampant-waste-fraud-abuse-fake-obamacare-accounts-got-2350month-from-us-taxpayers-watchdog-finds
YOU GOV
— What are the best decades of Americans’ lives? Many say their 20s or 30s. DD: What were your best years? Mine include a) when I bought new cars when I was 17 in 1966, 19, 20, 23, 25, 29, etc. b) when I bought real estate when I was 24, 25, 27, 29, 35, etc. c) when I earned college degrees when I was 21, 27, 31, and 48, d) when I earned professional certifications when I was 30, 32, 41, 45, 47, and 48, e) when I became a licensed CPA when I was 32, f) when I got hired when I was 18, 21, 22, and 31, g) when I got promoted when I was 23, 24, 25, and 38, h) when I got married when I was 29, i) when I worked on audits of IRS when I was 38, 39, and 40, j) when I worked on audits of federal financial industry regulators when I was 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, and 48, k) etc.
https://today.yougov.com/society/articles/53769-what-are-the-best-decades-of-americans-lives-many-say-their-20s-or-30s
NEW YORK MAGAZINE
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) glorify and praise their illegals and b) fight their deportation.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/blaming-immigrants-is-jd-vance-answer-for-every-problem.html
DEMOCRACY SOS
— Imagine if Congress was elected by Proportional Representation. Illinois’ 110-yr history with a form of PR resulted in more voter choice, more bipartisanship, less bitter polarization and better representation—a lesson for our times. DD: Because minorities vote for Democrats, Democrat leaders ever-increasingly flood America with minorities.
https://democracysos.substack.com/p/imagine-if-congress-was-elected-by-796
TALKING POINTS MEMO
— Democrat and RINO employers use Affirmative Action and DEI a) to not hire Republicans and b) to get rid of their Republican employees.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/how-the-trump-administration-is-quietly-resegregating-the-american-workforce
HUFFINGTON POST
— DD: Democrat and RINO leaders want the following to be free for their illegals: housing, food, clothing, healthcare, education, transportation, childcare, etc.
https://www.aol.com/articles/why-republicans-falsely-claiming-democrats-161259456.html
DAILY KOS
— DD: Anticipate/expect that hate-filled conservative-hating Democrats and RINOs will ever-increasingly promote more hatred against Kirk. Your attitude toward Kirk and toward his assignation says more about you than anything that you can say about yourself.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/12/19/2359155/-Wife-of-murdered-bigot-endorses-Vance-for-2028
FROM FOREIGN SOURCES
INTERNATIONAL TIMES
— Retirement Planning Is a Public Health Issue and a Personal Responsibility. DD: My having been in line for a Civil Service Retirement System pension since I was 18 years old in 1966 has had a big positive impact on me.
https://www.ibtimes.com/retirement-planning-public-health-issue-personal-responsibility-3793251
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Retirement readiness in America is increasingly about basic well-being and even longevity itself. Research shows that adults with low incomes and limited financial stability die nearly a decade earlier on average than those with greater wealth. This is not about luxury. It is about stress, access to healthcare, and the ability to live independently as we age. Too many Americans are entering retirement without a plan that accounts for healthcare costs, rising longevity, market uncertainty, taxes, and evolving federal policy. The consequences of that uncertainty extend far beyond individual portfolios. They touch federal programs, the healthcare system, and the economic stability of families and communities.)
FROM OTHER SOURCES
ECONOMIC TIMES
— What married retirees need to know: 5 often-overlooked Social Security rules. DD: My critics/opponents will be furious when they learn that because of a law that Biden signed, a) my Social Security increased from $3,000/year to $6,000/year, and now to $18,700/year and b) I got $3,200 and $14,000 backpay awards. Because of the law, I now can start getting 47% of my wife’s Social Security. I paid into Social security 1964-1973 while I washed dishes, cleaned golf shoes, chipped slag, pumped gasoline, delivered mail, worked on an automotive assemble line, sold tires, automotive services, and major appliances, and pumped more gasoline.
https://m.economictimes.com/news/international/us/what-married-retirees-need-to-know-5-often-overlooked-social-security-rules/amp_articleshow/126082641.cms
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Social Security payments usually depend on how much a person earned and paid in payroll taxes during their career. People with short or uneven work histories may get lower benefits because they paid less into the system. To help, Social Security allows married people to claim spousal benefits based on their spouse’s work history. A husband or wife can get up to 50% of their partner’s full Social Security benefit. This full amount is called the primary insurance amount (PIA).)
LIVE ACTION
— South Korea finds economic stability is key to encourage marriage and family. DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasing destroy traditional marriage and family. Under the Democrats, fewer and fewer and fewer people are marriage material. What helped make you marriage material? By the time I got married when I was 29 in 1978, I had worked for IRS for almost 7 years and my salary was $108,978/year in today’s dollars. I had earned an MBA from Loyola in 1976 and I was taking graduate evening accounting courses at DePaul. I lived in a one bedroom condo in the Outer Drive East building that I had bought in 1976. I was renting out a town home in University Park that I had bought new in 1972. I owned a 1972 Corvette that I had bought new in 1971. SEE: https://gopillinois.com/documents/
https://www.liveaction.org/news/south-korea-economic-stability-key-marriage-family
INVESTOPEDIA
— Maximize Earnings Potential with a College Education. DD: Firestone Stores would not have hired me when I was 21 in 1970 and IRS when I was 22 if I had not earned a bachelor’s degree in business. IRS would not have promoted me in 1972, 1973, and 1974 if I had not been taking graduate evening business courses. GAO would not have hired me when I was 31 if I had not earned an MBA and passed the CPA examination on my first attempt when I was 31. GAO would not have promoted me when I was 38 or let me work until I was 49 if I had not a) earned master’s degrees in accounting and finance, b) passed the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt, c) became a licensed CPA, and d) earned four more job-related professional certifications.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/younginvestors/06/investineducation.asp
(FROM THE ARTICLE: College graduates earn significantly more over their lifetime than high school graduates. Higher degrees generally lead to greater salary potential. Choosing an in-state public college can save significantly on tuition costs. A college degree provides economic benefits beyond salary, including job security and upward mobility. College graduates often enjoy healthier lifestyles and increased physical activity.)
December 15, 2025 Evening Edition
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Nearly 23% of Illinois high school students say they drink. DD: If I had been a drinker, a) S.S. Kresge would not have hired me to wash dishes, b) my ACT score would have been lower, c) I would not have made it into the upper 20% of my class, and d) UIC would not have accepted me.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/15/alcohol-report-illinois-department-of-health/
SPRINGFIELD STATE JOURNAL REGISTER
— DD: Anticipate/expect that under Pritzker, homelessness will ever-increasingly increase in Illinois.
https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/local/2025/12/15/gov-pritzker-announces-2m-in-state-funding-to-help-with-unhoused/87774489007/
WSIL TV
— Illinois’ first report on alcohol use reveals concerning trends
https://www.wsiltv.com/news/illinois/illinois-first-report-on-alcohol-use-reveals-concerning-trends/article_87bae20e-07b9-4e2e-8eea-86410235228b.html?
CITIES 92.9
— Illinois Freedom Caucus raises new questions about noncitizen police officer
https://www.cities929.com/2025/12/15/watch-illinois-freedom-caucus-raises-new-questions-about-noncitizen-police-officer/
CWB CHICAGO
— Man wearing ankle monitor attacked 3 women days after judge refused to detain him
https://cwbchicago.com/2025/12/man-wearing-ankle-monitor-attacked-3-women-days-after-judge-refused-to-detain-him-documents-show.html
DAILY ILLINI
— Trump administration moves to end student loan forgiveness program. DD: I could not have gotten a student loan. My ACT score was only 24. I only just barely made it into the upper 20% of my high school class. I could not run because I had a bone disease. My eyesight could not be corrected to 20/20. I was 1-A for the Vietnam War draft. I was not a minority or a female.
https://dailyillini.com/news-stories/university-news/2025/12/15/trump-student-loan-forgiveness/
CAPITOL FAX
— Afternoon roundup
https://capitolfax.com/2025/12/15/isabel%e2%80%99s-afternoon-roundup-436/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
FREEDOMS JOURNAL
— Symbolism Is Not Salvation: A Black Conservative Response to Chicago’s Reparations Push
https://freedomsjournalinstitute.org/blog/2025/12/15/symbolism-is-not-salvation-a-black-conservative-response-to-chicago-s-reparations-push
ILLINOIS FAMILY INSTITUTE
— Reclassifying Marijuana Ignores Science and Endangers Families
https://illinoisfamily.org/marijuana-2/reclassifying-marijuana-ignores-science-and-endangers-families/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON TIMES
— Conservatives line up against Trump’s marijuana downgrade. DD: Pot is poison. I led the successful effort to stop the sale of pot in Wheaton in 2019.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/dec/15/conservatives-line-trumps-marijuana-downgrade/
WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— Reclassifying marijuana will not make America great again. DD: Pot is poison. I led the successful effort to stop the sale of pot in Wheaton in 2019.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/3917642/reclassifying-marijuana-will-not-make-america-great-again/
— Democrats blame guns, not evil, for Bondi Beach and Brown University shootings
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/3917487/democrats-blame-guns-not-evil-bondi-beach-brown-shootings/
BLAZE
— ‘Rents will come down’ — but not in sanctuary cities
https://www.theblaze.com/news/rents-come-down-sanctuary-cities
CAMPUS REFORM
— 5 times higher ed pushed socialism in 2025
https://www.campusreform.org/article/5-times-higher-ed-pushed-socialism-in-2025/29080
FOX BUSINESS
— Sanctuary cities accused of shielding dangerous offenders from ICE enforcement
https://www.foxbusiness.com/video/6386509733112
FOX NEWS
— Leaked lessons from first-year University of Illinois education course show extreme left bias: ‘Just so wrong.’ Student whistleblower shares PowerPoints from first semester education class riddled with far-left messaging.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/leaked-lessons-from-first-year-university-illinois-education-course-show-extreme-left-bias-just-so-wrong
FOX SPORTS
— Chicago radio host rips Cubs player for Turning Point event attendance, likens it to ‘Nazi-adjacent pep rally.’ Matt Shaw attended Kirk’s funeral during the season. DD: People’s attitudes toward Kirk and toward his assassination say a lot about them.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/chicago-radio-host-rips-cubs-player-turning-point-event-attendance-nazi-adjacent-pep-rally
TOWNHALL
— NBC News Stirs the ‘Systemic Racism’ Pot
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/amy-curtis/2025/12/15/nbc-news-systemic-racism-in-certain-activities-n2667899
WESTERN JOURNAL
— Chick-fil-A Doubles Down on Wokeness After Getting Backlash for Gay ‘Marriage’ Stunt
https://www.westernjournal.com/chick-fil-doubles-wokeness-getting-backlash-gay-marriage-stunt/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
WASHINGTON POST
— Chicago has lost its mind. The city’s fiscal situation is dire, and Mayor Brandon Johnson is determined to make things worse.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/12/15/chicago-budget-brandon-johnson-taxes/
FORBES
— DD: Anticipate/expect that under Pritzker, homelessness will ever-increasingly increase in Illinois.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQiCy48UMhQ
BANKING RATES
— 5 Expensive Items Everyone Should Sell Before Retiring. DD: When my Democrat GAO superiors forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997, I owned two collector cars, a 1962 Chevrolet Impala SS and 1968 Dodge Charger R/T. I held on to them until 2005. I wish I still owned them.
https://www.aol.com/finance/5-expensive-items-everyone-sell-000608065.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: “One of the first things I suggest to clients is to take a hard look at their vehicles,” said Kevin Marshall, CPA and personal finance professional at Amortization Calculator. That dream car in the garage or the second SUV might have been exciting at one point, but it also carries weight — insurance premiums, maintenance costs, and repairs that never come cheap. “Retirement often brings fewer commutes and a slower pace, so why keep paying for something that spends most of its time sitting still?” He’s seen people sell an extra car and use the money to fund an entire year of travel or home improvements. “It’s not about downsizing — it’s about reallocating your resources to what actually brings you joy now.”)
JD SUPRA
— DOJ Promulgates Final Rule Removing Disparate Impact Regulations Under Title VI. DD: Democrat and RINO leaders use disparate impact to get rid of Republicans who are conservative, White, male, older, nonpoor, nonveteran, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time. According to Democrat and RINO leaders, when those who are the aforesaid succeed, it is because they benefit from discrimination against those who are not aforesaid. According to my critics/opponents, because I am all of the aforesaid, a) I owe all of my successes in life to my benefitted from discrimination against those who are not the aforesaid and b) I should pay the price of Affirmative Action and DEI.
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/doj-promulgates-final-rule-removing-7150551/
PEW RESEARCH
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) glorify and praise their illegals and b) fight their deportation
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/12/15/growing-shares-say-the-trump-administration-is-doing-too-much-to-deport-immigrants-in-the-us-illegally/
MOTHER JONES
— Trump Is Hellbent on Crushing Federal Unions, But They’re Still Kicking. DD: My critics/opponents despise/hate past, present, and future federal employees, and especially those who are, were, or might be union members. I was a union member while I worked for the Post Office 1966-1969 and for IRS 1971-1980.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/12/trump-doge-layoffs-federal-unions-busting-resistance-strike-protest-collective-bargaining-rights/
December 11, 2025 Evening Edition
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
ABC7
— Indiana Republicans block Trump’s redistricting push in rare break with president
https://abc7chicago.com/post/indiana-redistricting-news-proposed-2025-map-final-vote-state-senate-thursday-amid-pressure-president-donald-trump/18275092/
— New policies cause worry among refugees, asylum seekers in Chicago area
https://abc7chicago.com/post/chicago-immigration-news-president-donald-trumps-new-policies-cause-worry-among-refugees-asylum-seekers-city-suburbs/18276909/
NBC5
— Indiana GOP blocks Trump’s redistricting push in a rare break with the president
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-politics/indiana-gop-blocks-trumps-redistricting-push-in-a-rare-break-with-the-president/3861947/
— Senate rejects extension of health care subsidies as costs are set to rise for millions of Americans
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/senate-health-care-vote-aca-subsidies/3861640/
CBS2
— Hopkins introduced revamped teen curfew measure
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/video/hopkins-introduced-revamped-teen-curfew-measure/
WTTW
— Senators Clash Over Trump’s National Guard Deployments During Hearing Pushed by Duckworth
https://news.wttw.com/2025/12/11/senators-clash-over-trump-s-national-guard-deployments-during-hearing-urged-duckworth
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— In dueling DC hearings, Ramirez calls Noem a liar and Duckworth questions Trump troop deployments. Ramirez also penned a letter on Wednesday that asked House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan “to conduct a complete investigation into Noem’s “unlawful and potentially impeachable actions.”
https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/12/11/kristi-noem-testimony-congress-delia-ramirez-tammy-duckworth-trump-troop-deployments
CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS
— Indiana GOP blocks Trump redistricting push, easing pressure on Illinois
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/politics/indiana-gop-rejects-trump-redistricting-easing-illinois-pressure
— Duckworth confronts defense officials over Guard deployment in Chicago
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/politics/tammy-duckworth-confronts-dod-officials-over-national-guard
AM870
— Young Voters Want Socialism
https://am870theanswer.com/columnists/larry-elder/video/693a04b03d0f1ebab8af1d95
ALTON TELEGRAPH
— How the IRS’ crime-fighting force took on immigration. IRS Criminal Investigations Chief Guy Ficco spoke with The Associated Press about how the agency is juggling its work on new Trump administration priorities with its core mission of tax enforcement. The little-known agency has been doing more with fewer staff, according to its annual report, released on Thursday. DD: I worked for GAO for 3 years on audits of IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division.
https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/politics/article/how-the-irs-crime-fighting-force-took-on-21237763.php
FOX ILLINOIS
— Thirteen House Republicans joined Democrats in advancing a bill that would reverse Trump’s executive order to crack down harder on federal worker unions. DD: When I started working for the Post Office in 1966, I felt I had no choice but to join the union. When I started working for IRS in 1971, I felt I had no choice but to join the union.
https://foxillinois.com/news/nation-world/13-house-republicans-join-democrats-to-advance-bill-reversing-trumps-union-crackdown
— HUD Secretary blames illegal migration for ruining the housing market for Americans
https://foxillinois.com/news/nation-world/hud-secretary-turner-blames-illegal-migration-for-ruining-the-housing-market-for-americans-biden-administration-immigration-families
CITIES 92.9
— Your kids now belong to the Chicago Teachers Union
https://www.cities929.com/2025/12/11/op-ed-your-kids-now-belong-to-the-chicago-teachers-union/
DURBIN
— Durbin Condemns Trump’s Racist Comments Towards Immigrants In Senate Judiciary Committee Executive Meeting. During his opening remarks, Durbin again called on Noem to testify in front of the Committee, urged Grassley to consider a subpoena if she refuses to appear.
https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-condemns-president-trumps-racist-comments-towards-immigrants-in-senate-judiciary-committee-executive-meeting
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON TIMES
— Indiana Republicans defy Trump, block redistricting push
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/dec/11/indiana-republicans-defy-trump-block-redistricting-push/
— America’s unsustainable fertility crisis. A demographic earthquake is coming, unless we change.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/dec/11/americas-unsustainable-fertility-crisis/
WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— Democratic socialist breaks DC campaign filing system with massive fundraising haul
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/3914740/janeese-lewis-george-breaks-dc-campaign-filing-system-massive-fundraising-haul/
NEW YORK POST
— Tyler Robinson, accused in Charlie Kirk killing, smirks and chuckles during first in-person court appearance, with family in tow
https://nypost.com/2025/12/11/us-news/tyler-robinson-accused-in-charlie-kirk-killing-looks-calm-chuckles-with-lawyers-during-first-in-person-court-appearance-with-family-in-tow/
— Erika Kirk tormented by vile trolls since Charlie’s assassination
https://nypost.com/2025/12/10/opinion/miranda-devine-erika-kirk-tormented-by-vile-trolls-since-charlies-assassination/
— Nikki Haley’s son says ‘this isn’t the country for you’ if you can’t choose your loyalty. DD: My critics/opponents demand blind loyalty. They have their operatives and their dupes take adverse actions against me. They destroy those like me who they cannot manipulate or dominate, who refuse to glorify and paise them, who refuse to pander to them, who refuse to serve as one of their operatives or dupes, who refuse to cover up their wrongdoing, and/or who refuse to give them money. They reject some, many, most, virtually all, if not all conservative principles and planks in the Republican Party platform. Most commonly, they reject its personal responsibility, traditional marriage and family, right to life, immigration, illegal drugs, Second Amendment, and/or equal opportunity (no race or gender based preference giving) planks. I should write about my critics/opponents. I would focus on those who continue to have lots of clout and have had their operatives and their dupes take the most/biggest adverse actions against me lately.
https://nypost.com/2025/12/11/media/nikki-haleys-son-says-this-isnt-the-country-for-you-if-you-cant-choose-your-loyalty/
AMERICAN THINKER
— Pritzker and the Act of Choosing Sides
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/12/j_b_pritzker_and_the_act_of_choosing_sides.html
BREITBART
— Mamdani on NYPD Arresting ICE Agents
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2025/12/11/mamdani-on-nypd-arresting-ice-agents-focus-is-on-sanctuary-law-but-has-to-be-accountability-for-all-of-us-for-law-to-be-meaningful/
BIZ PAC REVIEW
— DHS buying six 737s to speed up getting illegal aliens OUT
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2025/12/11/dhs-buying-six-737s-to-speed-up-getting-illegal-aliens-out-1609593/
DAILY WIRE
— Ending The Woke Monopoly: White House Takes Aim At Higher Ed’s Ideological Capture. University leaders would be wise to get out of the business of indoctrination and discrimination and return to open inquiry.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/ending-the-woke-monopoly-white-house-takes-aim-at-higher-eds-ideological-capture
FOX NEWS
— Noem confronts Democrats over NYC crime, asylum abuses as members hurl accusations. Noem fought off a wave of Democrat attacks and calls to resign during Thursday’s hearing.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/noem-confronts-democrats-over-nyc-crime-asylum-abuses-members-hurl-accusations
— Top Republican rebukes notions to arrest DHS agents with plan to pull funding from problem cities. House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington’s SHIELD Act could target San Francisco, Chicago.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/top-republican-rebukes-notions-arrest-ice-agents-plan-pull-fed-funding-from-problem-cities
— Musk accuses Ilhan Omar of treason
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/elon-musk-accuses-ilhan-omar-treason-over-somalia-comments-viral-social-media-post
— In wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, Elon Musk says security issues keep him from spending much time in public
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/wake-charlie-kirk-murder-elon-183853711.html
HOT AIR
— Homan: You Better Believe We’re Looking Into Omar’s Alleged Marriage to Brother as Immigration Fraud
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2025/12/11/homan-you-better-believe-were-looking-into-omars-marriage-to-brother-as-immigration-fraud-n3809763
NATIONAL REVIEW
— On the Brink of Suicide: New York and Illinois
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/on-the-brink-of-suicide-new-york-and-illinois/
NEWS BUSTERS
— Pritzker ‘Violated the Supremacy Clause’ of Constitution, DHS Warns
https://newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2025/12/10/illinois-gov-pritzker-violated-supremacy-clause
NEWSMAX
— HUD Links Migration to Higher Housing Costs
https://www.newsmax.com/us/hud-jd-vance-scott-turner/2025/12/11/id/1237974/
PJ MEDIA
— 2.5M Illegal Aliens Out of U.S. Since January
https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2025/12/11/25m-illegals-out-of-us-since-january-n4946939
— DOJ Sues Minneapolis Schools for Race Discrimination in Hiring
https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2025/12/11/doj-sues-minneapolis-schools-for-race-discrimination-n4946944
— Is American Urban Culture Beyond Repair?
https://pjmedia.com/benbartee/2025/12/11/is-american-urban-culture-beyond-repair-retail-reparations-pt-iv-n4946937
— Biden Admin Let at Least 18,000 Terrorists Into America
https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2025/12/11/biden-admin-let-at-least-18000-terrorists-into-america-n4946947
POST MILLENNIAL
— ‘Not all cultures are equal’: Rep Randy Fine defends Trump admin’s crackdown on Somali migrants after billion dollar fraud scheme in Minnesota. “There are some people who come to this country to add value, and there are some that come to this country to take value.”
https://thepostmillennial.com/not-all-cultures-are-equal-rep-randy-fine-defends-trump-admins-crackdown-on-somali-migrants-after-billion-dollar-fraud-scheme-in-minnesota
REAL CLEAR POLITICS
— Mamdani: “I’m Prepared For Any Consequence” For Standing Up To ICE For New Yorkers
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/12/10/mamdani_im_prepared_for_any_consequence_for_standing_up_to_ice_for_new_yorkers.html
TOWNHALL
— The Somali Experiment Failed, It’s Time to Change Course
https://townhall.com/columnists/dustin-grage/2025/12/11/the-somali-experiment-failed-its-time-to-change-course-n2667661
— Thank You, Indiana RINOS…for Being Totally Worthless
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2025/12/11/indianas-push-to-redraw-its-congressional-maps-torpedoed-by-republicans-n2667769
TURNING POINT USA
— Another College Student Government Votes Against a TPUSA Chapter Becoming a Recognized Student Organization
https://tpusa.com/live/another-college-student-government-votes-against-a-tpusa-chapter-becoming-a-recognized-student-organization/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
CBS NEWS
— DD: Democrat leaders drive up grocery prices and then blame on Trump.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-speech-affordability-fact-check-inflation-data/
NEW YORK TIMES
— Noem Faces Questions From House Panel Amid Immigration Crackdown
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/11/us/politics/noem-house-hearing-immigration-crackdown.html
— ICE Says It Has No Videos to Release of Chicago Deportation Operations
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/us/politics/ice-bodycam-video-chicago.html
— What Is a Trump Gold Card? Applications Open for Million-Dollar Visas.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/us/politics/trump-gold-card.html
WASHINGTON POST
— House votes to repeal Trump order ending union rights at federal agencies. DD: GAO did not unionize until 2007. If GAO had unionized sooner, I might still be a GAO employee. But if not that, my Democrat GAO superiors would not have been able to take the adverse actions against me that they did.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/12/11/house-repeal-trump-union-order/
LOS ANGELES TIMES
— DD: To illegally bring a child illegally into a country illegally demonstrates gross disrespect for the rule of law and for that country.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-12-11/trump-administration-separates-thousands-of-migrant-families-in-u-s
WALL STREET JOURNAL
— Socialism Still Not That Popular. But capitalism wins only a plurality in a new survey.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/socialism-still-not-that-popular-00686d77
— Miami, a Power Center for Trump, Delivers a Rebuke of the President. Voters sent clear messages on issues in race that became a referendum on the president.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/miami-a-power-center-for-trump-delivers-a-rebuke-of-the-president-03fcebe6?mod=djemwhatsnews
MONEY WIZE
— Everything about retirement changes if you’re one of the lucky few who have a pension in America. DD: I got in line for a Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) pension when I was 18 years old in 1966. I have begetting a CSRS pension since I was 49 years old in 1997. My critics/opponents have always been furious about that.
https://www.aol.com/finance/everything-retirement-changes-one-lucky-114500050.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: If you’re one of the few American workers with a traditional pension, your retirement strategy likely looks different from that of your peers. As of March, 2025, only 14% of U.S. workers were covered by a defined benefit pension plan, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These plans are far more common among government employees and retirees. In fact, nearly 86% of state and local public sector workers have access to such a pension, according to Congress. And in 2024, 56% of retirees reported receiving pension income, according to the Federal Reserve. Depending on your age and your employer, a defined benefit pension could significantly shape your retirement outlook. The guaranteed monthly income offers stability, but it brings unique considerations for tax strategy and estate planning.)
NFFE
— NFFE Applauds House Passage of the Protect America’s Workforce Act to Restore Collective Bargaining Rights for Federal Employees. DD: GAO did not unionize until 2007. If GAO had unionized sooner, I might still be a GAO employee. But if not that, my Democrat GAO superiors would not have been able to take the adverse actions against me that they did.
https://nffe.org/nffe_news/nffe-applauds-house-passage-of-the-protect-americas-workforce-act-to-restore-collective-bargaining-rights-for-federal-employees/
POLITICO
— Indiana GOP rejects Trump’s map in major blow to his gerrymandering push
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/11/indiana-republicans-redistricting-vote-trump-00687714
FROM FOREIGN SOURCES
DEMOCRACY NOW
— Trump Launches “Trump Gold Card” Visa Program for Wealthy Noncitizens
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/12/11/headlines/trump_launches_trump_gold_card_visa_program_for_wealthy_noncitizens
TIMES OF INDIA
— Charlie Kirk’s Widow Delivers Emotional Message To People Mocking His Death
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/entertainment/english/charlie-kirks-widow-delivers-emotional-message-to-people-mocking-his-death/videoshow/125920713.cms
— Elite US colleges see record surge in low-income enrolments as new financial aid strategies take hold. DD: Overwhelmingly, low-income students are minorities.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/education/news/elite-us-colleges-see-record-surge-in-low-income-enrolments-as-new-financial-aid-strategies-take-hold/articleshow/125913704.cms
WESTERN STANDARD
— Not all ideas are equal. Neither are all cultures.
https://www.westernstandard.news/opinion/albers-not-all-ideas-are-equal-neither-are-all-cultures/69690
December 10, 2025
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan asks Trump to pardon him after bribery conviction
https://chicago.suntimes.com/madigan-trial-news/2025/12/09/former-illinois-house-speaker-michael-madigan-asks-trump-for-pardon
— As Indiana Republicans move toward redistricting, Pritzker warns Illinois ‘won’t stand idly by’
https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2025/12/09/indiana-redistricting-illinois-pritzker-congressional-map
— Pritzker, Johnson slam Trump admin threat to cut funding over CTA safety issues: ‘Action has been taken.’ Federal officials ordered the CTA to develop an enhanced security plan by next week in response to the burning of a woman aboard a Blue Line train last month.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/transportation/2025/12/09/trump-administration-cta-crime-federal-funding-threat-jb-pritzker-brandon-johnson
— ALL OF THE FRONT PAGE: DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) glorify and praise their illegals and b) fight their deportation.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/religion/2025/12/09/guadalupe-little-village-epiphany-catholic
https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/12/09/tammy-duckworth-senate-hearing-illegal-dhs-arrests-chicago-woman-testimony
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly turn women against those who are conservative, Republican, American, White, male, older, heterosexual, married, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/10/gallup-young-women-move-abroad/
DAILY HERALD
— Krishnamoorthi, Mendrick survive challenges, but some candidates knocked out
https://www.dailyherald.com/20251209/illinois-state-politics/krishnamoorthi-mendrick-survive-challenges-but-some-candidates-knocked-out/
STATELINE
— 50% of Illinois residents would move if they could. DD: What keeps you in Illinois? My ancestors have lived in northeast Illinois since 1844. I have lived in DuPage County, Milton Township, and Wheaton since 1978. I have lived in my precinct since 1984. All four of my degrees are from Illinois Universities.
https://www.mystateline.com/news/illinois-residents-want-to-leave-state/
NPR ILLINOIS
— DD: Democrat leaders do not want any of their illegals to be deported, and especially those who do not have a criminal record yet. To come into a country illegally and/or to stay in a country illegally demonstrates gross disrespect for the rule of law and for that country.
https://www.nprillinois.org/2025-12-10/about-a-third-of-people-arrested-by-ice-had-no-criminal-record-new-data-shows
CHALKBEAT CHICAGO
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly fill their schools with illegals. What percent of the students in your school district are illegals?
https://www.chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025/12/09/illinois-governor-signs-bill-on-immigrants-at-child-care-centers-colleges/
POLITICO ILLINOIS
— On the GOP side, attorney Jeannie Evans has officially entered the fray, launching her U.S. Senate campaign by presenting herself as a consumer advocate and working mom who has spent her career challenging major corporations. She steps into a marquee Republican primary against former Illinois GOP Chair Don Tracy. “There are important issues that demand leadership,” Evans said in her announcement. “Illinoisans deserve a fresh voice in Washington. I’m a political outsider and working mother who has taken on powerful corporations to help lower the cost of living.” Her résumé includes time at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago, co-founding a litigation firm, and serving as a partner at plaintiff-side class-action firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro. Evans is also active in the Federalist Society and says she’s committed to working with President Donald Trump on lowering costs, reducing crime, and expanding education and job opportunities.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/2025/12/10/union-tip-toes-around-endorsing-00684291
CAPITOL FAX
— Morning briefing
https://capitolfax.com/2025/12/10/isabel%e2%80%99s-morning-briefing-645/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WIREPOINTS
— Chicago’s Leadership Fixates on Police Use-of-Force While Violent Crime and Fiscal Crisis Deepen
https://wirepoints.org/chicagos-leadership-fixates-on-police-use-of-force-while-violent-crime-and-fiscal-crisis-deepen-wirepoints-mark-glennon-warns-am560-interview/
CENTER SQUARE ILLINOIS
— IL Statehouse candidate finds 20,000 kids without SSNs getting Medicaid
https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/article_12d4062d-013c-430a-b4f7-402511a179d1.html
ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE
— Transit sales tax hike makes suburbs pay for Chicago problems
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/transit-sales-tax-hike-makes-suburbs-pay-for-chicago-problems/
— Illinois’ $143.5 billion state pension debt saw a tiny dip, but meaningful reform is needed to stop threats to taxpayers and protect state retirees.
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/illinois-alone-lets-state-pension-debt-top-100b/
GOPUSA ILLINOIS
— What keeps you in Illinois? My ancestors have lived in northeast Illinois since 1844. I have lived in DuPage County, Milton Township, and Wheaton since 1978. I have lived in my precinct since 1984. All four of my degrees are from Illinois Universities. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— A growing number of Americans are taking on second, third and even fourth jobs to offset inflation and stagnant wages. Have you worked second jobs? I did when I worked for IRS when I was 22-24 years old 1971-1972. I pumped gasoline for the Firestone Store in Chicago Heights. The money that I earned helped me a) buy a new 1972 Corvette in 1971, b) pay for graduate business courses at Loyola in 1972, and c) buy a new townhome in University Park in 1972. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Socialists argue that socialist employers, that is, Democrat employers, pay their employees more than capitalist employers, that is, Republican employers, do. Ever since I was 18 years old in 1966, my critics/opponents have hinted/implied/argued/shouted that I was able to do the following because the Democrat federal government paid me far more than Republican employers would have: a) buy new cars when I was 19, 20, 23, 25, 29, etc. b) buy real estate when I was 24, 25, 27, 29, 35, etc., c) pay my expenses to earn a bachelor’s degree when I was 21 and master’s degrees when I was 27, 31, and 48, d) pay my review course expenses to pass the CPA examination on my first attempt when I was 30, pass the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt when I was 31, and become a licensed CPA when I was 31, e) get married when I was 29, f) etc. In your opinion, if I had worked for Republican employers, how much would I have been paid? In today’s dollars, the Democrat federal government paid me a) $19.37/hour when I was 18, b) $55,850/year when I was 22, c) $68,315/year when I was 23, $82,655/year when I was 24, $99,069/year when I was 25, $112,280/year when I was 29, $117,807/year when I was 38, and $153,151/year when I was 49. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Under the Democrats, the future for White males in America is ever-increasingly bleak. Fewer and fewer and fewer of them seek college degrees. Why is that? They are discouraged. Under the Democrats, non-Whites and females ever-increasingly get more and more and more preference, and especially non-White females who are Democrat, younger, LGBTQ, veteran, non-Protestant, non-German American, have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time, and/or are citizens of foreign countries. If I was young today, because of my bad demographics, I question if I could find the motivation to do what I did. 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. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— What have your critics/opponents used to discredit your accomplishments? To discredit my accomplishments. my critics/opponents have always outrageously disgustingly unethically painted my parents as having been filthy rich. My father never earned more than $50,000/year in today’s dollars. He almost always worked second jobs to pay the family’s bills. He died suddenly when he was 47, I was 21, and my brother was 16. I had to work my way through college. I should write about my critics/opponents. I would focus on those whose parents had the most money. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly shout at everyone that if you have less money than your peers, it is because of Trump. I have way less money than my peers who earned college degrees, professional certifications, and a professional license like I did. But I have way less money because my Democrat superiors in the federal government wasted my career and forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Democrat leaders use “disparate impact’ to hint/imply/argue/shout that if something results in Whites or males doing better at something than minorities or females, that it is because that something discriminates against minorities and females. Using that, Democrat leaders ever-increasingly lowered hiring, retention, and promotion standards in the federal government. That ever-increasingly rendered worthless my job-related bachelor’s degree, my three job-related master’s degrees, my six job-related professional certifications, and my job-related professional license. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON TIMES
— A growing number of Americans are taking on second, third and even fourth jobs to offset inflation and stagnant wages. DD: Have you worked second jobs? I did when I worked for IRS when I was 22-24 years old 1971-1972. I pumped gasoline for the Firestone Store in Chicago Heights. The money that I earned helped me a) buy a new 1972 Corvette in 1971, b) pay for graduate business courses at Loyola in 1972, and c) buy a new townhome in University Park in 1972.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/nov/25/americans-polyworking-offset-inflation-stagnant-wages/
WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— Democrat Eileen Higgins wins Miami mayor race, ending 28 years of GOP control
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/state/3912830/democrat-eileen-higgins-miami-mayor/
— Gen Z socialists (DD: Socialists argue that socialist employers, that is, Democrat employers, pay their employees more than capitalist employers, that is, Republican employers, do. Ever since I was 18 years old in 1966, my critics/opponents have hinted/implied/argued/shouted that I was able to do the following because the Democrat federal government paid me far more than Republican employers would have: a) buy new cars when I was 19, 20, 23, 25, 29, etc. b) buy real estate when I was 24, 25, 27, 29, 35, etc., c) pay my expenses to earn a bachelor’s degree when I was 21 and master’s degrees when I was 27, 31, and 48, d) pay my review course expenses to pass the CPA examination on my first attempt when I was 30, pass the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt when I was 31, and become a licensed CPA when I was 31, e) get married when I was 29, f) etc. In your opinion, if I had worked for Republican employers, how much would I have been paid? In today’s dollars, the Democrat federal government paid me a) $19.37/hour when I was 18, b) $55,850/year when I was 22, c) $68,315/year when I was 23, $82,655/year when I was 24, $99,069/year when I was 25, $112,280/year when I was 29, $117,807/year when I was 38, and $153,151/year when I was 49.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/videos/3912567/inside-scoop-jim-antle-gen-z-socialists-christmas-reading-utah-redistricting/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: “A lot of younger people today don’t have any stake in the capitalist system because they don’t have any capital,” Antle said. “They study in college, they accumulate a lot of debt to pay off their student loans, and then they are not in a position where they can afford to buy a home when they graduate, so they’re perennially renting. They don’t really feel like they benefit from a lot of aspects of the free enterprise system.” Antle highlights the appeal of socialist candidates, such as newly elected New York Mayor-elect Mamdani. “He ran on an explicitly Democratic Socialist platform,” Antle said. “Many of the people who voted for him were younger professionals making six-figure salaries, but in an expensive city like New York, and in a place where they’re very unlikely to own their own homes, own any of their own property. They really feel the crushing burden of how expensive everything is in the city, and they don’t see how the free market system is really benefiting them.”)
NEW YORK POST
— Citizens are fed up with Dem-invited migrants who have disdain for US law and culture
https://nypost.com/2025/12/09/opinion/citizens-are-fed-up-with-dem-invited-migrants-that-have-disdain-for-us-law-and-culture/
— Send Her Back’: MAGA Crowd Erupts as Trump Claims Ilhan Omar is ‘Here Illegally’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEtkoidi01E
BIZ PAC REVIEW
— DOJ restores equal treatment for all in civil rights enforcement. DD: Democrat leaders use “disparate impact’ to hint/imply/argue/shout that if something results in Whites or males doing better at something than minorities or females, that it is because that something discriminates against minorities and females. Using that, Democrat leaders ever-increasingly lowered hiring, retention, and promotion standards in the federal government. That ever-increasingly rendered worthless my job-related bachelor’s degree, my three job-related master’s degrees, my six job-related professional certifications, and my job-related professional license.
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2025/12/10/doj-restores-equal-treatment-for-all-in-civil-rights-enforcement-1609269/
BREITBART
— Pritzker Signs Bill Preventing ICE from Arresting Illegal Aliens near Courthouses
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2025/12/09/illinois-gov-jb-pritzker-signs-bill-preventing-ice-arresting-illegal-aliens-courthouses/
— Trump Approval Rating up as Republicans Applaud Focus on Affordability
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/12/09/trump-approval-rating-up-as-republicans-applaud-focus-on-affordability/
FEDERALIST
— ‘Gold-Standard’ Immigration Enforcement Bill Lagging In Indiana As Redistricting Sucks Oxygen
https://thefederalist.com/2025/12/10/gold-standard-immigration-enforcement-bill-lagging-in-indiana-as-redistricting-sucks-oxygen/
FOX NEWS
— Japan rejects same-sex marriage to save itself from demographic collapse. Tokyo court upholds traditional marriage while G7 nations face plummeting fertility rates.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/japan-rejects-same-sex-marriage-save-itself-from-demographic-collapse
— DHS blasts Newsom over taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegals as California ambulance costs may soar 382%. California governor faces federal criticism over Medi-Cal benefits as transport costs jump from $339 to potentially $1,637.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dhs-blasts-newsom-taxpayer-funded-healthcare-illegals-california-ambulance-costs-may-soar-382-percent
LAW ENFORCEMENT TODAY
— ICE Slams Pritzker as Illinois Releases 1,700 Criminal Illegal Aliens — Including Rapists and Pedophiles
https://lawenforcementtoday.com/ice-slams-gov-pritzker-as-illinois-releases-1700-criminal-illegal-aliens-including-rapists-and-pedophiles
WESTERN JOURNAL
— Man Behind App That Helps Illegals Evade ICE Now Suing Bondi, Noem, Homan After Apple Took it Down
https://www.westernjournal.com/man-behind-app-helps-illegals-evade-ice-now-suing-bondi-noem-homan-apple-took/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
CBS NEWS
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) glorify and praise their illegals and b) fight their deportation.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/after-ice-arrested-his-mom-18-year-old-citizen-now-caring-for-his-sister-worries-he-could-be-next/
ASSOCIATED PRESS
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly use the Pope against Trump.
https://apnews.com/article/vatican-russia-ukraine-trump-pope-leo-60c898afe3241ff67552f417a06900b0
NEW YORK TIMES
— Trump Calls Europe ‘Decaying’ and ‘Weak’ President Trump criticized his European counterparts over their defense and Ukraine policies during an interview with Politico. The president also suggested that it was time for President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to compromise in the cease-fire talks.
https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000010577149/trump-europe-decaying-weak-ukraine.html
— The Latest Trump Resistance Is Within the Indiana G.O.P. Some Republicans in the Indiana Senate have resisted a new congressional map despite lobbying from the White House and threats of political consequences.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/us/indiana-redistricting-trump-republicans.html
— Nancy Mace: What’s the Point of Congress?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/opinion/nancy-mace-congress-republicans.html
— Despite Red-State Efforts, Abortion Rate Nationwide Still Climbs. DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote more abortion.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/us/states-new-abortion-laws.html
WASHINGTON POST
— DD: Under the Democrats, the future for White males in America is ever-increasingly bleak. Fewer and fewer and fewer of them seek college degrees. Why is that? They are discouraged. Under the Democrats, non-Whites and females ever-increasingly get more and more and more preference, and especially non-White females who are Democrat, younger, LGBTQ, veteran, non-Protestant, non-German American, have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time, and/or are citizens of foreign countries. If I was young today, because of my bad demographics, I question if I could find the motivation to do what I did. 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.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/12/04/trump-dei-ban-college-men/
WALL STREET JOURNAL
— The Economics of Immigration. DD: All my employers would have hired noncitizens instead of me if they could have. Noncitizens drive wages down. Noncitizens vote for Democrats.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-economics-of-immigration-9b4a5b9d
— Potheads Head for the Emergency Room. Two new studies show that the ill effects of THC are increasing. DD: Pot is poison.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/marijuana-referendum-massachusetts-pot-users-emergency-rooms-68fa22cd
FORTUNE
— Americans can’t agree on what ‘middle class’ means anymore. DD: To discredit my accomplishments. my critics/opponents have always outrageously disgustingly unethically painted my parents as having been filthy rich. My father never earned more than $50,000/year in today’s dollars. He almost always worked second jobs to pay the family’s bills. He died suddenly when he was 47, I was 21, and my brother was 16. I had to work my way through college. I should write about my critics/opponents. I would focus on those whose parents had the most money.
https://www.aol.com/finance/americans-t-agree-middle-class-204839884.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Pew Research Center defines middle class as falling between two-thirds and double the median household income—which can vary in U.S. metro areas from about $53,000 to $161,000 annually. . .With the median household income coming to roughly $83,000 as of September 2025, and steadily climbing as inflation has pushed up household costs.”)
KFF HEALTH NEWS
— Online Abortion Pill Access Up In Early 2025, Despite GOP Efforts to Restrict It
https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-breakout/online-abortion-pill-access-up-in-early-2025-despite-gop-efforts-to-restrict-it/
POLITICO
— As Pope Leo’s MAGA criticism builds, Trump suggests he’d meet Catholic leader.
https://www.politico.eu/article/pope-leo-maga-criticism-donald-trump-meeting/
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly shout at everyone that if you have less money than your peers, it is because of Trump. I have way less money than my peers who earned college degrees, professional certifications, and a professional license like I did. But I have way less money because my Democrat superiors in the federal government wasted my career and forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/10/poll-affordability-cost-of-living-00678076
GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE
— 200 DOJ employees who left under Trump say admin is making ‘coordinated effort’ to undermine career staff. The Justice Department is actively pushing out career employees working on civil rights, they say. DD: According to Democrats, the federal government exists to get rid of Republicans, and especially Republicans who are conservative, White, male, older, non-veteran, non-poor, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time.
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/12/200-doj-employees-who-left-under-trump-say-admin-making-coordinated-effort-undermine-career-staff/410052/
SUSTAINABILITY
— Why Microsoft Has Scaled Back DEI in its Performance Reviews. DD: To promote Affirmative Action and DEI is to discriminate against those who are conservative, Republican, White, male, older, non-veteran, non-poor, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time. Because I opposed that discrimination, my Democrat superiors in the federal government wasted my career and forced me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997.
https://sustainabilitymag.com/news/why-microsoft-has-scaled-back-dei-in-its-performance-reviews
FROM FOREIGN SOURCES
ASAM NEWS
— Duckworth becomes a voice for Asian America. DD: Who is a voice for those who share your demographics?
https://asamnews.com/2025/12/09/hegseth-defense-secretary-controversy-duckworth-response-war-crime-allegations/
NTD
— Documentary Exposes How People Opposed to Critical Race Theory Were Put on Lists. DD: Democrat and RINO leaders promote CRT to get more votes from Blacks.
https://www.ntd.com/documentary-exposes-how-people-opposed-to-critical-race-theory-were-put-on-lists_1112910.html
ECONOMIC TIMES
— Mamdani’s new address: Iconic $100 million Gracie Mansion
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/new-updates/zohran-mamdanis-new-address-all-about-iconic-100-million-gracie-mansion-the-226-year-old-residence-in-new-york/articleshow/125882778.cms
TELEGRAPH
— Mamdani to move into $100 million mansion after becoming New York mayor, cites family safety, Mamdani, who prominently featured the issue of affordability in his election campaign, has sparked discussion with his decision to move into this $100 million mansion.
https://www.telegraphindia.com/world/zohran-mamdani-to-move-into-100-million-gracie-mansion-after-becoming-new-york-mayor-cites-family-safety/cid/2137078
TIMES OF INDIA
— Illinois Shields ‘ILLEGAL ALIENS’, Pritzker Unleashes Direct Attack On Trump, Noem, Bovino
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/international/illinois-shields-illegal-aliens-pritzker-unleashes-direct-attack-on-trump-noem-bovino-watch/videoshow/125879701.cms
— Parents’ income puts candidate in creamy layer, Karnataka high court upholds rejection. DD: My parents’ income never put me in the creamy layer. My father never earned more than $50,000/year in today’s dollars. My mother never worked outside of the home until he died suddenly in 1969 when he was 47 and I was 21. Neither of my parents attended college. My father was only the first of my ancestors to earn a high school diploma. My mother never attended high school.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/parents-income-puts-candidate-in-creamy-layer-karnataka-high-court-upholds-rejection/articleshow/125840555.cms
December 9, 2025 Evening Edition
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
ABC7
— Pritzker signs bill increasing immigrant protections at Illinois courthouses, hospitals and more. DD: Anticipate/expect that Pritzker will ever-increasing fill the courthouses, hospitals, university campuses, and day cares near you with his illegals.
https://abc7chicago.com/post/gov-jb-pritzker-sign-bill-creating-more-protections-immigrants-illinois-la-villita-community-church-chicago/18267491/
NBC5
— Pritzker signs law seeking to limit immigration enforcement at schools, daycares. The bill also curtails enforcement actions at courthouses, hospitals and more. DD: Anticipate/expect that Pritzker will ever-increasing fill the courthouses, hospitals, university campuses, and day cares near you with his illegals.
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-politics/pritzker-signs-law-seeking-to-limit-immigration-enforcement-at-schools-daycares/3860805/
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Pritzker signs Illinois immigration law that curbs courthouse arrests and expands right to sue agents
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/09/jb-pritzker-illinois-immigration-law/
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Bleak stats on white men not shocking. Economy, class and education now do as much work as race in deciding whether a man will be seen as “marriageable,” employable and likely to climb beyond the station of his birth. DD: Under the Democrats, the future for White men in America is ever-increasingly bleak. Fewer and fewer and fewer White men in America seek college degrees. Why is that? Under the Democrats, non-Whites and females ever-increasingly get more and more and more preference, and especially those who are Democrat, younger, LGBTQ, non-Protestant, non-German American, have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time, and/or are citizens of foreign countries. If I was young today, because of my bad demographics, I question if I could find the motivation to do what I did. 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.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2025/12/09/white-men-working-class-college-education-dei-ben-jealous
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The headlines this month about white men, college admissions and the fallout from ending affirmative action startled a lot of people. Stories of declining enrollment and shrinking opportunity for young white men were treated as if they had materialized out of nowhere. Many found it surprising. I didn’t. . .For years now, researchers have documented serious headwinds facing working-class American men: wages that stagnate or fall, especially for men without college degrees; fewer men in college even as women’s enrollment rises; more men detached from the labor force; rising suicide and overdose deaths in many hard-hit communities; and marriage becoming less common and less stable for men with the weakest economic prospects. White working-class men feel this acutely. But they are not alone. White men may have made the headlines, but similar trends are affecting Black, Latino, Native and Asian men —especially those from poor and working-class backgrounds. In today’s economy, class and education now do as much work as race in deciding whether a man will be seen as “marriageable,” employable and likely to climb beyond the station of his birth. So if you’re wondering why a Black civil rights leader cares about the struggles of white men, the answer is simple: In a democracy, you cannot fix poverty for anyone unless you fix it for everyone. Every major leap forward in opportunity in this country has depended on multiracial coalitions. Progress comes when we face the full truth — not when we ignore parts of it. Which brings us to the conversation we are actually having. Or rather, not having. It’s time to readjust our thinking about white men, college admissions and diversity, equity and inclusion. The left and the right have both turned this into a culture war when what we really need is a reality check. On the right, the headlines became a grievance weapon — proof, some claim, that diversity efforts were out to “replace” white men. On the left, the reaction was defensive, as if acknowledging hardship among white families would somehow undermine the fight for racial justice. Neither response had much to do with the truth. And if we’re wondering why we can’t seem to have a real conversation about opportunity, we should start where political scientist Martin Gilens warned us decades ago. By portraying poverty disproportionately with Black faces, American media helped make the white poor — and much of the working class —invisible. That distortion robbed us of the ability to see the full picture of suffering and the full map of shared struggle. When entire communities are invisible, their pain doesn’t get counted. Their boys don’t get counted. Their decline doesn’t make the front page until it shows up as a political shock. That invisibility hurts everyone. It hurts white families like Bill’s. It hurts Black and Brown families navigating the same broken ladders. It hurts the communities trying to build stable futures for their children. Before we talk solutions, we need full visibility — a willingness to see all who are struggling, not just the ones who fit our old narratives. And yes, part of that conversation may involve something like affirmative action for working-class families, including white men. Not the caricatured version people argue about on cable news, but the real kind colleges have long used: giving a boost to students from low-income families, high-poverty neighborhoods, under-resourced schools and overlooked rural counties — from Appalachia to the Mississippi Delta to remote parts of Alaska. Race-based affirmative action sat alongside these class- and place-based efforts; it never replaced them. And even after the Supreme Court’s decision, colleges can still use class-based affirmative action because it recognizes a basic truth: A child’s chances in life are shaped powerfully by ZIP code, wealth and opportunity. The headlines surprised many because they showed only one part of the story. It’s time we tell the whole one. Only then can we rebuild opportunity — for Bill, for the boys in his family and for every family fighting for a fair shot.)
DAILY HERALD
— Chicagoan Spomenka Vajic, a would-be Republican candidate in Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District shouldn’t be on the 2026 primary ballot because she didn’t gather enough petition signatures, state election officials ruled Tuesday.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20251209/us-congress-politics/gop-candidate-knocked-off-ballot-in-3rd-congressional-district/
— Cody Holt, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the 33rd state Senate seat, was removed Tuesday from the March primary ballot.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20251209/illinois-state-politics/33rd-state-senate-candidate-removed-from-ballot/
— Pritzker signs bill enacting immigrant protections at courthouses and on campus
https://www.dailyherald.com/20251209/illinois-state-politics/pritzker-signs-bill-enacting-immigrant-protections-at-courthouses-and-on-campus/
CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS
— Illinois sees decline in rate of residents moving out of state. DD: What keeps you in Illinois? My ancestors have lived in northeast Illinois since 1844. I have lived in DuPage County, Milton Township, and Wheaton since 1978. I have lived in my precinct since 1984. All four of my degrees are from Illinois Universities.
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/economy/illinois-sees-decline-rate-residents-moving-out-state
ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR
— State Sen. Andrew Chesney stunned a legislative luncheon audience Dec. 9 when he said that his solution to a housing crisis would be the deportation of all undocumented immigrants.
https://www.rrstar.com/story/news/local/2025/12/09/freeport-republican-says-deportation-could-solve-housing-crisis/87691471007/
HERALD
— Will County opens vote-by-mail applications this month for March primary
https://www.shawlocal.com/the-herald-news/2025/12/09/will-county-opens-vote-by-mail-applications-this-month-for-march-primary/
NPR ILLINOIS
— Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat representing Maryland, says his party must do more to regain public confidence and counter what he calls a “lawless president.”
https://www.nprillinois.org/2025-12-09/sen-van-hollen-urges-democrats-to-stand-for-something-not-just-be-anti-trump
CAPITOL FAX
— Afternoon roundup
https://capitolfax.com/2025/12/09/isabel%e2%80%99s-afternoon-roundup-435/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
CENTER SQUARE ILLINOIS
— Illinois’ SAFE-T Act ’emboldens’ anti-police attackers
https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/article_e2a7dffa-9620-4ade-ba2f-bf8212a1282d.html
— Chicago minority, low-income students struggling to make testing grade. DD; How much money did your parents have. My father never earned more than $50,000/year in today’s dollars. My mother never worked outside of the home until he died suddenly in 1969 when he was 47 and I was 21. Neither of my parents attended college. My father was only the first of my ancestors to earn a high school diploma. My mother never attended high school.
https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/article_bf6f7a92-0808-459c-a6c3-ea24955f012e.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Illinois state Rep. La Shawn Ford said it’s not hard to comprehend why Chicago Public Schools system low-income and minority students are reading and performing math at much lower levels than their state peers. Even after state officials inflated the number of students meeting proficiency levels by lowering reading and math benchmarks, new Illinois Report Card data shows struggling students still posted achievement gaps as low as 22 points below state average, including Black and Hispanic students scoring as low as 28 points below standards. . .Overall, data shows more than half of CPS students are reading below grade level and roughly 75% are falling short of the mark in math. As for 3rd through 8th-graders, only 35% read at grade level and just 19% are proficient in math. At the high school level, just 32% of low-income 11th graders read at grade level and 17% proved to be competent in math. Noting that wide discrepancies also exist among Black and Hispanic 3rd through 8th graders, Ford pointed out that similar achievement gaps between minorities and other students across the city are also prevalent at the high school level, with Black 11th graders testing 26% below the state average in reading and 28% below in math and Hispanics 12 and 17 points below standards.)
MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
— UPDATE: Pritzker Continues Unannounced Visits to Crystal Lake, Refers to Excessive SNAP (Food Stamp) Fraud
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/09/pritzker-continues-unannounced-visits-to-crystal-lake/
— Rockford YMCA Follows Marengo Park District Example Opening Fitness Center 24 Hours
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/09/rockford-ymca-follows-marengo-park-district-example/
— Pritzker Meets with McHenry County Leaders, Public, Reporters Not Invited
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/09/pritzker-meets-with-mchenry-county-leaders-public-reporters-not-invited/
— Cody Holt Ruled Off the Ballot in 33rd Senate Republican Contest
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/09/cody-holt-ruled-off-the-ballot-in-33rd-senate-republican-contest/
— Tribune Gives Biss Free Publicity
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/09/tribune-gives-biss-free-publicity/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON TIMES
— America’s vanishing middle class. Crisis demands urgent action.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/dec/9/americas-vanishing-middle-class/
WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— Pritzker signs Illinois bill allowing lawsuits against law enforcement officers
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/immigration/3911956/jb-pritzker-illinois-bill-allows-lawsuits-against-law-enforcement-officers/
— Pritzker unchallenged on Democrat primary ballot after Tillman removed by board
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/state/3912752/pritzker-unchallenged-democrat-primary-after-opponent-removed/
DAILY SIGNAL
— Illinois Reps Outraged Over ICE-Arrested Cop Back on Duty
https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/12/09/illinois-reps-outraged-over-ice-arrested-cop-back-on-duty/
FOX NEWS
— Pritzker signs bill to further shield illegal immigrants in Illinois from deportations. Bill goes into effect as Trump administration expands deportation efforts.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pritzker-signs-bill-further-shield-illegal-immigrants-illinois-deportations
PJ MEDIA
— Pritzker, Resisting Trump Means Releasing Murderers and Pedophiles
https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/12/08/for-jb-pritzker-resisting-trump-means-releasing-murderers-and-pedophiles-n4946825
— Pritzker Should Think About Resisting Sandwiches Rather Than Trump
https://pjmedia.com/stephen-kruiser/2025/12/09/the-morning-briefing-jb-pritzker-should-think-about-resisting-sandwiches-rather-than-trump-n4946836
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
THE HILL
— Noem claims Mamdani could be violating Constitution with advice to migrants
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/5640509-noem-mamdani-migrants-advice/
NEW YORK TIMES
— Pritzker Signs Bill Imposing New Limits on Immigration Enforcement
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/us/illinois-immigration-legislation-pritzker.html
WASHINGTON POST
— Illinois law protects immigrants from arrest near courthouses, hospitals or colleges. Illinois has a new law shielding immigrants from federal enforcement near courthouses, hospitals, university campuses, and day cares. DD: Anticipate/expect that Pritzker will ever-increasing fill the courthouses, hospitals, university campuses, and day cares near you with his illegals.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2025/12/09/immigration-chicago-pritzker-courthouse-ice-arrests/6ff39d24-d527-11f0-a93c-a869cf73ebd6_story.html
USA TODAY
— Is it illegal to hire someone based on race? DD: All my employers were always under tremendous pressure to hire minorities and females. They hired me because they could not find qualified minorities and females who would take the jobs.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/2025/12/09/is-race-based-hiring-illegal/87604243007/
FORBES
— DD: Democrat leaders created affordability problems and now they blame Trump for those problems.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/martinacastellanos/2025/12/09/20-signs-theres-an-affordability-crisis-in-america/
December 8, 2025
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— DD: Democrat leaders say that there are life-and-death stakes in the debate over Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies. ACA is a mecca for fraud. GAO has shown how easy it is for the ineligible to sign up.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/08/opinion-aca-subsidies-obamacare-congress-vote/
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly glorify and praise Somali and Somalians.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/08/column-donald-trump-somalis-ilhan-omar-christopher-rufo-page/
DAILY HERALD
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD WITH PICTURE: DD: The Democrat Party platform ever-increasingly generates more homeless people.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20251207/news/they-always-provide-journeys-offers-a-lifeline-and-a-path-out-of-homelessness/
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD WITH PHOTO: DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly make it clear that they will forever do everything that they can to illegally bring citizens of foreign countries into America illegally and to illegally keep them in America illegally. Democrats have declared a Second Civil War against Republicans. Their illegals are their soldiers in their Democrat Army.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20251207/news/travesty-elgin-mayor-blasts-federal-agents-actions-against-protesters/
CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS
— At this downtown condo building, second-home buyers are back. DD: In Money Magazine’s February 1978 4-page article on me ( https://gopillinois.com/documents/ ), to paint me as being grossly overpaid by IRS, it stressed that I owned a one bedroom condo in the Outer Drive East (ODE) building in downtown Chicago as well as a 5-year-old townhome in University Park. But I was renting out that townhome because I could not sell it without taking a big loss. I bought that ODE condo so that I could walk to/from it and my IRS job in the Loop and graduate evening accounting classes at DePaul.
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/residential-real-estate/sales-cirrus-show-uptick-second-home-buyers-downtown
NPR ILLINOIS
— After Texas ruling, Trump and Republicans head to 2026 with a redistricting edge
https://www.nprillinois.org/2025-12-08/after-texas-ruling-trump-and-republicans-head-to-2026-with-a-redistricting-edge
POLITICO ILLINOIS
— Irish influence lives beyond the machine
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/2025/12/08/irish-influence-lives-beyond-the-machine-00680500
CAPITOL FAX
— Morning briefing
https://capitolfax.com/2025/12/08/isabel%e2%80%99s-morning-briefing-643/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
CENTER SQUARE ILLINOIS
— Expert blasts Illinois Congressman’s push to double H-1Bs as ‘tone-deaf’
https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/article_1ac402b4-140f-401c-b5cb-0fa70098d5a7.html
MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
— Republican Scandals
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/08/republican-scandals/
— Outrageously High Cost Taxpayer Subsidized Housing in Alton
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/12/08/outrageously-high-cost-taxpayer-subsidized-housing-in-alton/
REPUBLICANS OF MAINE TOWNSHIP
— Candidate Forum DD: If I was still the TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois chairman, the organization would still be hosting candidate forums. If I was still an Illinois Center Right coalition Steering Committee member, the organization would still be hosting candidate forums.
https://romt.nationbuilder.com/candidate_forum_pickwick
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— Trump’s firing power faces major test at the Supreme Court. DD: Trump could cite Diersen v. GAO. The 7th Circuit ruled that my Democrat GAO superiors had the power to force me to retire, that is, that they had the power to fire me, when I was 49 years old in 1997, because I was an active member in a class action lawsuit that charged them with reverse discrimination, age discrimination, and retaliation.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/supreme-court/3907415/trumps-firing-power-faces-major-test-at-the-supreme-court/
WASHINGTON FREE BEACON
— Mamdani Transition Adviser’s Nonprofit Under Congressional Investigation for Allegedly Teaching Illegal Aliens How To Evade ICE. The news comes after a campaign in which the New York City mayor-elect vowed to prevent ICE from carrying out deportations.
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/mamdani-transition-advisers-nonprofit-under-congressional-investigation-for-allegedly-teaching-illegal-aliens-how-to-evade-ice/
https://freebeacon.substack.com/p/mamdani-transition-adviser-under
NEW YORK POST
— Mamdani gives advice to thwart, evade ICE in video message calling to ‘stand up’ to feds
https://nypost.com/2025/12/07/us-news/zohran-mamdani-gives-advice-to-thwart-evade-ice-in-video-message-calling-to-stand-up-to-feds/
— Protesters hurl icy snowballs at immigration agents trying to cuff man fleeing car crash outside Chicago. DD: Democrats make it ever-increasingly clear that they will a) never stop bringing illegals into America and b) never stop fighting to keep them in America. Democrats have declared a Second Civil War against Republicans. Illegals are soldiers in the Democrat Army.
https://nypost.com/2025/12/07/us-news/protesters-hurl-snowballs-at-immigration-agents-near-chicago/
— Younger generations are making riskier investments and spending more recklessly as they give up on the American dream of owning a home. DD: Did you have the American dream? I did. Where did the money come from for your first down payment? For me, back in the good old days, it came from what I earned a) working for IRS for 15 months and b) working for a Firestone Store part-time for 18 months and full-time for 7 months before that. I bought a new townhome in University Park ( https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/774-Sunset-Ct-5-University-Park-IL-60484/5451474_zpid/ ) when I was 24 years old in 1972. In addition, I bought a new 1972 Corvette in 1971 and I paid for graduate evening business courses at Loyola in 1972.
https://nypost.com/2025/12/07/business/younger-americans-making-riskier-investments-nonessential-purchases-for-tragic-reason/
AMERICAN THINKER
— New chant: ‘Assimilate or Repatriate’ DD: All my ancestors immigrated from what is now Germany during the 1840s and 1850s. Sadly, they did not assimilate as fast as they could/should have. Consequently, neither of my parents attended college, my father was only the first my ancestors to earn a high school diploma, and my mother never attended high school. All my grandparents spoke German. I had to work my way through college.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/12/new_chant_assimilate_or_repatriate.html
— Minnesota Proves that Politics is a Spoils System. DD: 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. They wasted my career and forced me to retire when I was 49 in 1997 because I refused to become a Democrat. My ending salary in today’s dollars was $153,151/year, but only because I earned three job-related master’s degrees, six job-related professional certifications, and a job-related professional license. With those qualifications, I would have earned much more in the private sector.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/12/minnesota_proves_that_politics_is_a_spoils_system.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Back at the Dawn of the Progressive Age in 1883 our representatives in Congress passed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act and promised a Golden Age with a civil service hired on merit instead of the corruption of the Spoils System. With the average federal worker now earning benefits and a pension far higher than the average private sector worker, does anyone still think that the civil service system is anything other than a corrupt spoils system? Only now the jobs in the spoils system are lifetime jobs for Democrats, and Republicans need not apply, whereas in the bad old days the spoils were switched from one party in a fair and equitable manner after each election.)
BIZ PAC REVIEW
— Mamdani posts video tipping illegals on how to evade ICE, ‘stand up’ to feds
After Texas ruling, Trump and Republicans head to 2026 with a redistricting edge
BLAZE
— NYC councilwoman lays into ‘rich,’ ‘entitled’ Mamdani voters as mayor-elect plans to leave homeless encampments alone.
https://www.theblaze.com/news/mamdani-homeless-camp-sweep-ban
COLLEGE FIX
— Social work accreditor says colleges should teach students to advocate DEI. DD: My critics/opponents advocate DEI. To advocate DIE is to promote more hatred against those who are conservative, Republican, American, White, male, older, married, non-poor, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time.
https://www.thecollegefix.com/social-work-accreditor-says-colleges-should-teach-students-to-advocate-for-dei/
FOX NEWS
— Mamdani tells New York City residents how to resist ICE agents knocking at their door in new video after Manhattan immigration raid. DD: Mamdani ever-increasingly proves that he is anti-American if not an America-hater. That ever-increasingly proves that those who voted for Mamdani are anti-American if not America-haters. How soon will New York City succeed from America?
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nyc-mayor-elect-tells-residents-how-resist-ice-agents-knocking-door-new-video
— Republicans divided over whether to salvage Obamacare — or replace it — ahead of subsidy deadline. DD: The 72% healthcare insurance subsidy that the federal government gives its employees and retirees and their spouses helped me deal with my Democrat Post Office, IRS, and GAO superiors’ tremendous efforts to get rid of me.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republicans-remain-deeply-divided-whether-replace-reform-obamacare-policies-ahead-subsidy-deadline.amp
PJ MEDIA
— Is There Hope for the GOP in 2026? DD: How much money will Pritzker spend to defeat the Republican candidates on the November 3, 2026 ballot in your precinct? Anticipate/expect that Pritzker will ever-increasingly use everything that Trump says and does against him. So far, how successful has Pritzker been in your county, township, municipality, school district, precinct, neighborhood, and block?
https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/12/07/is-there-hope-for-the-gop-in-2026-n4946788
— DD: How welcome are you in America, in Illinois, in your county, in your township, in your municipality, in your school district, in your precinct, in your neighborhood, and on your block? Under the Democrats and under the RINOs, those who are the following are ever-increasingly more unwelcome: American, Republican, conservative, White, male, older, non-poor, married, heterosexual, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time.
https://thepostmillennial.com/gop-sen-john-curtis-urges-americans-to-help-immigrants-feel-more-welcome-breaks-with-trump-over-somali-comments
POST MILLENNIAL
— Trump to charge illegals $5,000 ‘apprehension fee.’ “Illegal aliens age 14 or older who entered the United States without inspection will be assessed a $5,000 apprehension fee.”
https://thepostmillennial.com/trump-admin-to-charge-illegal-immigrants-5000-apprehension-fee
TOWNHALL
— Trump Administration is Sweeping Minneapolis for Illegals After Somali Fraud Exposed
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/scott-mcclallen/2025/12/07/trump-admin-sweeping-minneapolis-for-illegals-after-somali-fraud-exposed-n2667499
— Democratic Lawmakers Big Mad That Trump Admin is Fighting NarcoTerrorists. DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote illegal drug use.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/scott-mcclallen/2025/12/07/democratic-lawmakers-big-mad-that-trump-admin-is-fighting-narcoterrorists-n2667501
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
ASSOCIATED PRESS
— Democrats see an opening to win the Miami mayor’s race in the latest test of the US political mood. DD: When your mayor is up for reelection, who will Democrat leaders run?
https://apnews.com/article/miami-mayor-election-democrats-trump-republicans-florida-ffffea54bb56ad0ed3bee2840b70c615
STAR TRIBUNE
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly unite religious leaders against Trump, that is, against Protestants.
https://www.startribune.com/twin-cities-religious-leaders-unite-to-support-somali-community-and-condemn-trump-attacks/601539354
WALL STREET JOURNAL
— How Abortion Access Became a Major Sticking Point in the GOP Healthcare Fight. DD: Democrat and RINO leaders ever-increasingly promote more abortion.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/aca-subsidies-abortion-funding-ebda5459
— ObamaCare Is a Mecca for Fraud. GAO shows how easy it is for the ineligible to sign up.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/obamacare-is-a-mecca-for-fraud-96fe6c29
— I Have a Positive Net Worth. Now I Just Can’t Let It Go to My Head. DD: According to Money Magazine, my net worth was $60,000 when I was 29 years old at the end of 1977. That is $322,000 in today’s dollars. In Money Magazine’s February 1978 4-page article on me ( https://gopillinois.com/documents/ ), it hinted/implied/argued/shouted that I had that net worth because IRS grossly overpaid me ($108,978/year in today’s dollars) and because I had avoided the Vietnam War draft. In my defense, my net worth at that time came from money that I had earned a) doing yard work 1962-1964. b) delivering newspapers 1962-1966, c) washing dishes 1964-1966, d) cleaning golf shoes, chipping slag, and pumping gasoline in 1966, e) delivering mail 1966-1969, f) working on an automotive assembly line in 1970, g) selling tires, automotive services, and major appliances 1970-1971, h) pumping more gasoline 1971-1972, and i) collecting delinquent federal taxes for IRS since 1971. In my defense, I had earned a bachelor’s degree in management from NIU in 1970. I had earned an MBA from Loyola in 1976. I was taking graduate evening accounting courses at DePaul.
https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/positive-net-worth-wealth-effect-bccf310c
POLITICO
— The government’s top watchdog is retiring — but the Trump probes continue. The comptroller general is wrapping up his term after an unprecedented year checking the Trump administration. DD: My critics/opponents have always ignored/dismissed/belittled/badmouthed my having been a GAO employee for almost 18 years, the last 11 years of which at the GS-13 Step 1-10 levels, currently $117,807-$153,151/year. They have also ignored/dismissed/belittled/badmouthed a) my earning master’s degrees in business, accounting, and finance, b) my earning professional certifications in accounting, internal auditing, fraud examination, government financial management, financial services auditing, and forensic accounting, and c) my becoming a licensed CPA. I should write about my critics/opponents. I would focus on past and present Republican a) federal candidates and elected officials and b) Illinois, DuPage County, and Milton Township party leaders.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/07/gene-dodaro-gao-trump-impoundment-00679550
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Gene Dodaro started his career at what is now the Government Accountability Office in 1973, as then-President Richard Nixon was battling Congress for control of federal cash. More than a half-century later, Dodaro runs that watchdog agency amid another epic clash between Capitol Hill and the White House over President Donald Trump’s funding moves. Now, with his 15-year term as comptroller general coming to an end in late December, he’s getting ready to retire. “I’m going into witness protection,” Dodaro, 74, said in a recent interview of his upcoming departure from the independent office with a workforce of more than 3,000. He meant it as a joke. But Dodaro’s agency, which is tasked with auditing federal programs and helping lawmakers fulfill their constitutional duties, has been under an unprecedented level of scrutiny this year as conservative lawmakers and the White House publicly challenge GAO’s objectivity and seek to undermine its influence. Adding to the pressure on Dodaro, the Supreme Court this fall appeared to endorse the view that only the comptroller general has the authority to sue the Trump administration for flouting impoundment law — not the groups losing out on federal cash. Dodaro has declined to take such legal action, despite the urging of some lawmakers, including Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins. “People are already suing in many cases,” he reasoned, adding that the court’s decision “surprised” him and that he won’t be “cajoled” into suing. “We’ll see what we need to do. But we need to be prudent and make sure that — when we do it — we’re in the strongest possible position to prevail,” he added. Following the Supreme Court’s opinion, Collins said in a brief interview that it “goes without saying” this dynamic underscores the need for the lawmakers involved in the selection process to find a strong candidate to succeed Dodaro. Dodaro’s last day is Dec. 29, at which point he will hand-pick an acting comptroller general to take the reins of the agency until the Senate confirms a permanent replacement. A panel of 10 lawmakers seated on a bipartisan commission is supposed to suggest candidates for Trump to nominate. Whoever succeeds Dodaro will have to direct ongoing probes into Trump’s funding moves. To date, the agency has issued 11 opinions — five concluding the administration illegally withheld money, two citing some wrongdoing. Dozens are ongoing. “The worst thing for GAO is to look like you have an agenda. That’s what concerns me about allegations like we’re against the current president’s agenda. We’re not,” he said. “Our job, and most of what we’re doing, is in response to actions they’ve taken. It’s not things we’re bringing up out of nowhere.” Because the Office of Management and Budget has stonewalled GAO’s requests for information, the agency is forced to rely on evidence in the many lawsuits against the administration, Dodaro said. Moreover, the GAO head said he has never spoken to Trump’s budget chief, Russ Vought. Multiple attempts to make contact during the first Trump administration were unsuccessful, he added. “His public comments have led me to believe that wouldn’t be a successful approach here,” Dodaro said of Vought, who on social media this spring accused the office of taking a “partisan role in the first-term impeachment hoax,” a reference to GAO’s conclusion that Trump illegally withheld aid to Ukraine in 2019. The past 11 months have been politically difficult for Dodaro in other ways. Earlier this year, top Republicans derided GAO for not blessing Senate GOP efforts to skirt filibuster rules to overturn state waivers issued under former President Joe Biden for pollution standards — and ignored the agency’s conclusion to boot. Dodaro fended off Elon Musk’s attempt to send a downsizing team to GAO as part of the president’s now-disbanded Department of Government Efficiency initiative, before House Republicans proposed cutting the agency’s budget in half for the current fiscal year. It’s not the first time the comptroller general has irked a party in power. During the Biden administration, GAO delivered its first-ever estimate of fraud in the federal government, pegging losses at between $233 billion and $521 billion dollars a year. “OMB wasn’t happy,” Dodaro recalled. Dodaro’s agency doesn’t always disappoint Republicans. Just last week, GOP lawmakers cheered a new GAO report reinforcing their arguments about fraud in the Obamacare insurance marketplace. To investigate this claim, GAO set up 24 fake accounts; 22 successfully enrolled in plans. It ended up costing the federal government thousands of dollars a month. And Congress has averted several crises as a direct result of the watchdog’s warnings. That includes action to replace crucial weather satellites before they fail and to buoy the federal insurance program designed to protect Americans whose pension benefits are at risk. “GAO is incredibly valuable … the ability for Congress to ask a hard question and ask them to chase it,” said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), who added that Dodaro has for years aided him in a running effort to compel federal agencies to identify and describe each program they oversee. Dodaro also started a partnership with experts at the National Academy of Sciences and launched an international effort to help developing countries run audit offices. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who is supposed to serve on the commission to recommend candidates for a Senate-confirmed comptroller general, said lawmakers “won’t find anybody as experienced and as knowledgeable” as Dodaro. “The integrity and professionalism he brought to the job, I thought, was exceptional.” Dodaro attributes any praise to decades of relationship maintenance, including with top Trump administration officials who used to be members of Congress and senators who formerly served in the House. “I try to pull out all the stops on my Italian charm,” he joked. “We’re not only in the auditing business. We’re in the relationship business.” The next comptroller general could be anyone, and it could be a long time before that person is seated. Dodaro is the only Senate-confirmed GAO chief who was picked from inside the agency, and he held the position in an acting capacity for more than two years before then-President Barack Obama nominated him upon the recommendation of lawmakers. The Senate confirmed him by unanimous consent in 2010. “If it can be done quickly, that’s fine. If it can’t, then they need to take their time to get the right person in the job, because it’s 15 years,” Dodaro said of the selection process for his successor. “I have great confidence in the people at GAO … and I have confidence in the Congress to take their responsibility seriously and pick someone. This is their person — to serve them.”)
WEEK
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly do everything that they can to discourage/end traditional marriage. Ironically, my Democrat IRS and GAO superiors hinted/implied/argued/shouted that if I had not gotten married in 1978, I would not have been able to a) pass the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979, b) afford to take a $23,472/year (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer to GAO in 1980, c) earn a master’s degree in accounting from DePaul in 1980, d) pass the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt in 1981, or e) become a licensed CPA in 1981. While I was an IRS employee for almost 9 years and a GAO employee for almost 18 years, I ever-increasingly had more job-related education, more job-related professional certifications, and a job-related professional license than my IRS and GAO superiors had.
https://theweek.com/articles/528746/origins-marriage
FINANCIAL TIMES
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly blame affordability problems on Trump, that is, they ever-increasingly blame inflation problems on Trump.
https://www.ft.com/content/e569454d-ea51-42c5-86ed-d2d61fa47edc
HR DRIVE
— Workers from lower socioeconomic backgrounds face barriers. DD: What is your socioeconomic background? Neither of my parents attended college. My father was only the first of my ancestors to earn a high school diploma. He never made more than $50,000/year in today’s dollars. He died suddenly when he was 47 and I was 21. My mother never attended high school. I had to work my way through college.
https://www.hrdive.com/news/workers-from-lower-socioeconomic-backgrounds-face-barriers-to-inclusion/805246/
FROM FOREIGN SOURCES
FEDERAL
— ‘Know Your Rights’: Mamdani urges New Yorkers to push back against ICE raids.
https://thefederal.com/category/international/know-your-rights-mamdani-urges-new-yorkers-push-back-against-ice-raids-219708
TIMES OF INDIA
— ‘Every illegal alien, foreigner and visa scammer…’: Stephen Miller weighs in on US birthright citizenship
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/every-illegal-alien-foreigner-and-visa-scammer-stephen-miller-weighs-in-on-us-birthright-citizenship-amid-trumps-clash-with-sc/articleshow/125817595.cms
— Homan defends Trump’s ‘garbage’ line, claims Minnesota has ‘large illegal Somali community’
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/tom-homan-defends-donald-trumps-garbage-line-claims-minnesota-has-large-illegal-somali-community/articleshow/125823971.cms
SOCIALIST WORKER
— Exploitation is capitalism’s dirty secret. DD: My critics/opponents want socialism. According to them, capitalist employers exploit their employees. According to them, if had spent my career in the capitalist private sector instead of the socialist federal government, I never would have made $153,151/year in today’s dollars when I was 49 years old in 1997. What if I had spent my career in the capitalist private sector? I earned a bachelor’s degree in management. I earned master’s degrees in business, accounting and finance. I earned professional certifications in accounting, internal auditing, fraud examination, government financial management, financial services auditing, and forensic accounting. I earned a CPA license. I anticipate/expect that someone in the capitalist private sector with my credentials and my work experience would have earned at least $200,000+/year. To advance in the socialist federal government, you have to be a Democrat.
https://socialistworker.co.uk/teach-yourself-marxism/exploitation-is-capitalisms-dirty-secret/