Tag: pension

FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES

ABC7
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote more LGBTQ.
https://abc7chicago.com/post/university-chicago-medicine-is-latest-hospital-pausing-gender-affirming-care-child-patients-trump-admin-threats/17187950/
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly fight deportation of their illegals.
https://abc7chicago.com/post/us-immigration-news-ice-arrests-courts-chicago-nationwide-labeled-unlawful-new-lawsuit-trump-administration/17186490/
— Did you benefit from after school and summer programs? I did not. I did yard work 1962-1964. I delivered newspapers 1962-1966. I wash dishes 1964-1966. I cleaning golf shoes, chipping slag, and pumping gasoline in 1966. I delivering mail 1966-1969. I had to work my way through college.
https://abc7chicago.com/post/donald-trump-administrations-department-education-will-release-frozen-grants-supporting-summer-school-programs/17183858/
— Alleged squatters move next-door to IL state rep. in Chicago: ‘Going to be calling the governor.’  Lawmakers argue governor should immediately sign ‘squatter bill’ passed by state legislature.
https://abc7chicago.com/post/alleged-squatters-move-door-illinois-state-rep-marcus-evans-avalon-park-chicago-going-calling-governor/17186665/

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly side with the Fed against Trump.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/18/trumps-attacks-powell-threaten-feds-independence/

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Community colleges are a bridge for students still seeking a path. According to my critics/opponents, degrees from non-Ivy league universities are worthless.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/next-voices/2025/07/18/chicago-city-college-community-college-education-lashaunta-moore-next-voices
— New sales tax revenue will help mass transit, but there’s still a long way to go. My critics/opponents look down on if not despise/hate mass transit users. I used mass transit big time in 1971 and then 1973-1997.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2025/07/18/illinois-sales-tax-revenue-rta-mass-transit-rich-miller
— Democrat leaders never blamed Biden for inflation, but they sure blame Trump.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdogs/2025/07/18/supermarket-super-pain-trump-campaign-food-prices-inflation-tariffs

DAILY HERALD
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote more hatred against Republicans.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20250718/nation-and-world-politics/most-us-adults-think-the-gop-tax-bill-will-help-the-wealthy-and-harm-the-poor-ap-norc-poll-finds/

WGN RADIO
— Should Chicago allow video gambling throughout the city? I led the successful effort to stop video gambling in Wheaton. Subsequently, I led the successful effort to stop the sale of pot in Wheaton.
https://wgnradio.com/john-williams/newsclick/the-john-williams-newsclick-should-chicago-allow-video-gambling-throughout-the-city/#/questions

WBEZ
— College still pays off, but wage gaps persist in Illinois. Even with the same college degree, students from low-income families earn less than those from middle or upper-income families. My father never earned more than $50,000/year in today’s dollars, He died suddenly when he was 47 and I was 21.
https://www.wbez.org/education/2025/07/18/college-still-pays-off-but-wage-gaps-persist-in-illinois-study-finds

MUDDY RIVER NEWS
— World Population Review’s 2025 rankings for the “Most Hated States” lists Illinois No. 1.  Yikes.  World Population Review reports Illinois is one of the fastest-shrinking states in the U.S. in terms of population, and has experienced a 0.54 percent (more than half a percent) decrease in population in recent years. And it gets worse. Roughly 25 percent of Illinoisans say their state is the worst in the nation. This negativity could be partially attributed to animosity between politically liberal Chicago and the heavily conservative rural portions that make up the rest of the state. The “Most Hated” rankings were determined by compiling three indicators: The percentage of each state’s own residents who believe their state is the worst. The number of other states that hate each state the most. Each state’s population decline, the logic being that population decline reflects the flow of residents moving to another state.
https://muddyrivernews.com/opinion/daily-dirt-illinois-no-1-among-most-hated-states/20250719053500/

BELLEVILLE NEWS DEMOCRAY
— Education still pays, but barriers to upward mobility persist in Illinois. How much money did your parents have? My father never earned more than $50,000/year in today’s dollars. He died suddenly when he was 47 and I was 21. I had to work my way through college. My GPA suffered because of that.
https://www.bnd.com/news/state/illinois/article310956495.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: It found that educational attainment is still a strong predicter of a person’s future earnings as an adult. So too is the industry that a person chooses for a career. Other factors can also influence a person’s ability to complete a higher education degree, including their race, ethnicity and gender. Class-based barriers The study also found that a person’s own economic background – whether they grew up rich or poor – also strongly influences their future earnings. Students who grew up in higher-income households tended to earn more than those who grew up in lower-income families, in part because students from higher-income families were more likely to complete a college degree than lower-income students. But perhaps most surprisingly, the study found that even among those who earn similar degrees and go to work in similar industries, a student’s own economic background influenced their future earnings. That is, students from lower-income families tend to earn less than those from wealthier families, even after they went on to earn similar credentials. Further, the study found, among students from lower-income families, Black and Latino students and women tended to earn less than their white and male counterparts.)

SPRINGFIELD STATE JOURNAL REGISDTER
— Illinois will soon become America’s lawsuit capital—unless Gov. Pritzker acts. I should write about all the lawsuits that I filed. My critics/opponents side with the defendants in all those lawsuits.
https://www.sj-r.com/story/opinion/columns/2025/07/19/pritzker-can-prevent-illinois-from-becoming-americas-lawsuit-capital-opinion/85249565007/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Senate Bill 328, if signed into law, will expose companies operating here to a tidal wave of out-of-state lawsuits that have nothing to do with Illinois, brought by people who don’t live in our state for incidents that didn’t happen here. It’s called litigation tourism, and Illinois will become its poster child if Governor JB Pritzker doesn’t veto SB 328.)

CENTRAL ILLINOIS PROUD
— Democrat leaders side with Bob Woodward against Trump.
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/national/trumps-lawsuit-against-bob-woodward-dismissed/

CAPITOL FAX
— Afternoon roundup
https://capitolfax.com/2025/07/18/isabel%e2%80%99s-afternoon-roundup-348/

FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES

MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
— Lots of Illinois Tax Money Going to Non-Government Organizations through Legislative Pork
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/07/18/lots-of-illinois-tax-money-going-to-non-government-organizations-through-legislative-pork/

WIREPOINTS
— Pritzker Presides Over an Illinois Pension Mess
https://wirepoints.org/dabrowski-bacharach-op-ed-jb-pritzker-presides-over-an-illinois-pension-mess-wall-street-journal/

GOPUSA ILLINOIS
— GAO falsely claims to be nonpartisan. The House Republican Appropriators Committee recently tried to slash GAO’s funding nearly in half. Because I was one of GAO’s few remaining Republican employees, my Democrat GAO superiors used Gingrich GAO funding cuts to waste my career and to force me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. If Gingrich had reformed GAO instead of gutting it, there would be no need for DOGE and I might still be a GAO employee. In any event, my Democrat GAO superiors would not have been able to a) force me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997, b) always rank me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance, c) delay my promotions and never promote me beyond GS-13, d) keep me off audits of IRS except for 3 of the almost 18 years that I worked for GAO, and e) force me to take a $23,472/year (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer from IRS to GAO in 1980. What if Speaker Johnson reformed GAO and offered me $50,000 to rejoin the agency? I should write about that. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— The U.S. Comptroller General ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comptroller_General_of_the_United_States ) runs GAO. Who does Trump want the next U.S. Comptroller General to be? If Gingrich had reformed GAO instead of gutting it, there would be no need for DOGE.  – Dave Diersen
http//www.gopillinois.com

FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES

WASHINGTON TIMES
— Mamdani and Sanders demonstrate far-left hypocrisy
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/jul/18/editorial-mamdani-sanders-demonstrate-far-left-hypocrisy/

NEW YORK POST
— Trump admin offering former ICE agents up to $50K in bonuses to rejoin agency. What if Speaker Johnson reformed GAO and offered me $50,000 to rejoin the agency?
https://nypost.com/2025/07/18/us-news/trump-admin-offering-former-ice-agents-up-to-50k-in-bonuses-to-rejoin-agency/

WASHINGTON FREE BEACON
— Former State Department Bureaucrats Show Why Trump Fired Them. My critics/opponents side with my Democrat GAO superiors against me. I should write about my critics/opponents. I would focus on those who promote political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and age discrimination the most.
https://freebeacon.substack.com/p/former-state-department-bureaucrats
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Proving the point: Nearly a half dozen disgruntled former bureaucrats gathered before a crowd (if you can call it that) outside Foggy Bottom on Friday. They attempted to rally support for themselves and other “recently fired State Department employees.” They failed. Organizer Michael Duffin, who was fired from State despite holding three graduate degrees, promoted the rally by asking for former U.S. ambassadors and other “senior officials” to attend and speak. Apparently nobody was interested—a Free Beacon reporter was one of the only people in attendance. Speakers instead included Steven Ramsey, a former USAID contractor and Fulbright alumnus who read a version of the Nazi-era “First They Came” poem that he “adapted for the context we’re in right now.” “First they came for the immigrants, and I did not speak out because I was not an immigrant,” he said after noting that the original poem came “from 1930s Germany.” Several individuals eventually applauded. Duffin did not read a poem, but he did post a screenshot of his farewell email to colleagues in the buildup to the rally. It too made a Nazi comparison: “In the musical ‘Sound of Music,’ the Von Trapp family escaped the Nazis while performing ‘So long, farewell,'” wrote Duffin. “As the curtain descends on my State Department career I feel like it’s strangely appropriate to share with you some lyrics to that song.” Bravo.)

AMAC
— POLL: What is the PRIMARY method you use to receive news about current events and issues? Based on how they treat me, far too many read my GOPUSA ILLINOIS newsletters for opposition research against me.
https://amac.us/poll/primary-method-news/

BLAZE
— The GOP establishment lost to Trump — now it’s rebranding as ‘neo-MAGA’
https://www.theblaze.com/columns/opinion/the-gop-establishment-lost-to-trump-now-it-s-rebranding-as-neo-maga

BREITBART
— Military Bases in Indiana, New Jersey Will Be Converted to Migrant Holding Centers
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2025/07/18/military-bases-in-indiana-new-jersey-will-be-converted-to-migrant-holding-centers/

CAMPUS REFORM
— University of Oklahoma boasts ‘safe place’ for illegal alien students. UIC admitted me in 1966, NIU in 1969, Loyola in 1972, DePaul in 1976, and IIT in 1992, but they would have admitted illegals instead of me if they could have.
https://www.campusreform.org/article/university-of-oklahoma-boasts-safe-place-for-illegal-alien-students-/28254

CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES
— America First, or ‘Refugees’ First?  The ‘Tent’ movement doesn’t seem to be in line with Trump policies.
https://cis.org/Rush/America-First-or-Refugees-First

DAILY CALLER
— Blue City Sheriffs Scoff At DOJ Request For Information On Illegals
https://dailycaller.com/2025/07/18/california-sheriffs-scoff-at-doj-request/

DAILY SIGNAL
— Trump Will Fight Back Against the Big Bank Woke Agenda. What does your bank think of you?
https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/07/18/the-days-of-big-banks-targeting-conservatives-are-over-trump-is-restoring-sanity-to-the-finance-industry/

FOX BUSINESS
— Trump has the authority to abolish wokeness from government policy
https://www.foxbusiness.com/video/6375806546112

FOX NEWS
— The surprising ways illegals evaded border security, until now
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6375805980112
— Zohran Mamdani is the face of the new Democratic Party, RNC chairman says
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6375792242112
— Trump is ‘very serious’ about prosecuting individuals assaulting ICE agents
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6375781578112
— Biden team coordinated on school memo calling parents ‘domestic terrorists.’
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-doj-white-house-coordinated-controversial-school-boards-memo-documents-reveal

NATIONAL REVIEW
— Venezuelans Deported by Trump to El Salvador Are Traded for Americans Held Hostage by the Maduro Regime
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/venezuelans-deported-by-trump-to-el-salvador-are-traded-for-americans-held-hostage-by-the-maduro-regime/

REAL CLEAR MARKETS
— The $100,000 Retiree Club Is Growing Way Too Fast In Illinois. My Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) pension is $66,780/year. My critics/opponents have always decried my CSRS pension. In my defense, while I worked for the federal government for almost 30 years, I paid 7% of my salary into the CSRS. During that time, 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.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2025/07/17/the_100000_retiree_club_is_growing_way_too_fast_in_illinois_1122603.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Now, there are nearly 32,000 in the $100k club. An extra 20,000 government retirees making that much is a sign Illinois’ public pension systems are out of control. Plus, there are many more state retirees getting close to that benchmark: the state’s 239,384 pensioners now average $93,558.)

TOWNHALL
— Noem Slams Leftist Media for Coddling Criminal Illegals with Sob Stories
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2025/07/18/kristi-noem-forces-fake-news-outlets-to-look-at-the-criminal-illegals-they-are-peddling-sob-stories-for-n2660607

FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES

ROLL CALL
— Bill backed by House Republican Appropriators Committee would slash funding for GAO nearly in half. My Democrat GAO superiors used Gingrich budget cuts to waste my career and to force me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. I should write about that.
https://rollcall.com/2025/07/10/appropriators-advance-legislative-branch-bill-without-gao-cuts/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The smallest of the 12 spending bills, the legislative branch bill is also typically the least controversial. But the House’s proposed cuts to GAO funding have put it in the spotlight, drawing the condemnation of Democrats and outside groups, who characterized the move as a political attack after the watchdog found on at least two occasions that the Trump White House illegally barred the release of appropriated funds. More than 100 House Democrats this week joined a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson and Appropriations Chair Tom Cole, R-Okla., arguing the funding reduction to the independent watchdog would “significantly weaken its ability to deliver future savings throughout the government.” Also this week, dozens of outside groups signed on to two separate letters similarly calling for the restoration of funds. “No federal agency is perfect, but the GAO’s more than 100-year history is a success story overall, with an average return on investment of $123 for every $1 expended,” said one letter, led by the R Street Institute and signed by about a dozen other center-right groups. “As Congress’s fiscal watchdog, the GAO has identified hundreds of billions of dollars in savings along with opportunities to reduce duplication and mismanagement.” The Library of Congress, which was targeted by the White House in May when President Donald Trump fired its director Carla Hayden and Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter, also would avoid a deep cut. Perlmutter filed a lawsuit challenging her firing, which is ongoing, and Democrats have floated changing the process by which directors of legislative branch agencies, like the Library of Congress, Government Publishing Office and the GAO, are appointed. Murray briefly spoke about her draft amendment regarding the positions, but it was not put to a vote. She said she wanted to continue to discuss the issue with Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine. “Right now, the appointing process for the heads of these agencies involves the executive branch. That does not make a lot of sense, no matter who the president is. And I do believe it’s time to modernize this process and make sure that agency heads are appointed by the legislative branch,” Murray said.)

ASSOCIATED PRESS
— Democrat leaders shout that the GOP tax bill will help the wealthy and harm the poor.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/most-u-s-adults-think-the-gop-tax-bill-will-help-the-wealthy-and-harm-the-poor-ap-norc-poll-finds
— Billy Long will be sworn in as IRS commissioner, taking over an agency he once sought to close. I worked for IRS for almost 9 years, the last 5 1/2 years at the GS-12 Step 1-5 Levels, currently $99,069-$112,280/year. I worked for GAO on audits of IRS for 3 years at the GS-13 Step 1-3 Levels, currently $117,807-$125,661/year.
https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/07/18/billy-long-irs-commissioner/amp/

CBS NEWS
— Trump files $10 billion lawsuit over Wall Street Journal’s Jeffrey Epstein report
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-lawsuit-wall-street-journal-jeffrey-epstein-birthday-letter/
— Bondi tours Alcatraz as part of Trump’s plan to reopen former prison
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/pam-bondi-alcatraz-prison-san-francisco-bay-penitentiary-trump-plans/

NEW YORK TIMES
— Democrat leaders covered up Biden’s health problems, but trumpet Trump’s.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/us/politics/trump-chronic-venous-insufficiency.html

WASHINGTON POST
— Justice Dept. asks for names, records of noncitizens in California jails
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/07/18/justice-department-immigration-california-inmates-noncitizens-list/

POLITICO
— The GOP vs. the GAO. My Democrat GAO superiors used Gingrich budget cuts to waste my career and to force me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. I should write about that.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/inside-congress/2025/05/27/the-gop-vs-the-gao-00369890
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Republicans are declaring war against the Government Accountability Office. GOP lawmakers and White House officials are ramping up public criticism of the nonpartisan watchdog arm of Congress as it complicates President Donald Trump’s efforts to remake the federal government and grab power from the legislative branch. GAO investigates bad behavior at federal agencies and issues recommendations for how they can improve. A flurry of conflicts, including a run-in with DOGE, are inflaming tensions as GAO chief Gene Dodaro makes the rounds on Capitol Hill to defend the agency. Trump doesn’t have the power to remove Dodaro, as he did former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, but he could make Dodaro’s tenure at the office unpleasant by calling on Republicans to impeach or remove him through a joint resolution. At stake, as Jennifer Scholtes, Jordain Carney and Katherine Tully-McManus report this morning, is GAO’s independence — which some Republicans are openly attacking. “GAO has lost credibility as an independent body,” Sen. Mike Lee wrote on X last week. Lee’s criticism got at the heart of the right’s current frustration with GAO. The Utah Republican was responding to an earlier X post from OMB Director Russ Vought, who blasted the agency for finding the Trump administration broke the law by withholding funds approved by Congress. It was one of at least 39 GAO inquiries into whether the White House has flouted the 51-year-old Impoundment Control Act, which prevents presidents from circumventing lawmakers’ “power of the purse.” The impoundment questions aren’t the end of it. GAO rejected an attempt by Elon Musk’s DOGE to land a team at the agency, arguing GAO wasn’t subject to DOGE or executive orders. And GAO faced tensions with Senate Republicans in recent weeks after the agency advised that they couldn’t use the Congressional Review Act to fast-track the termination of a California emissions standard. They decided to anyway. GAO is standing its ground. At a recent hearing, Dodaro stressed the agency’s desire to stay out of political crosshairs. “We’re just responding to help Congress,” Dodaro said. “We’re not trying to influence things one way or the other. We’re nonpartisan. We’re asked a question; we give an answer. It doesn’t matter who it is.”)
— GAO is targeted by House Republicans in new spending bill. My Democrat GAO superiors used Gingrich budget cuts to waste my career and to force me to retire when I was 49 years old in 1997. I should write about that.
The Legislative Branch appropriations subcommittee aims to cut Congress’ own budget by $51 million.
(FROM THE ARTICLE: House Republicans are aiming to slash funding for the nonpartisan watchdog for waste, fraud and abuse within the federal government by nearly half in the next fiscal year, according to spending bill text released Sunday night. The House Appropriations subcommittee funding Congress and its support agencies, led by chairman David Valadao (R-Calif.), is set to mark up their fiscal 2026 measure Monday evening, with the full committee set to act Thursday. The Legislative Branch bill would provide $6.7 billion — $51 million below the current funding level, which was set in fiscal 2024. Per tradition, the House bill does not touch any Senate funding. “Chairman Valadao’s bill puts the American people first — in strengthening the institutions that represent them, protecting effective governance, and safeguarding taxpayer dollars,” said House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) in a statement. The deepest cuts in the bill are to the Government Accountability Office, an arm of Congress that would see a $396.5 million reduction from current levels to $415.4 million. GAO has served as the nation’s chief investigator of wrongdoing at federal agencies for more than a century, but has been fighting for months as Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration have attempted to undercut its legal conclusions and independence. Now, they are attempting to shrink the agency into submission as it pursues nearly 40 investigations into whether the White House is illegally withholding, or “impounding,” money Congress had previously approved. Also tucked into the bill is a major policy change that would eliminate the GAO’s ability to bring civil action against the executive branch over impoundments of funds. “GAO’s work makes it possible for the legislative branch to hold government accountable,” said Daniel Schuman, executive director of the American Governance Institute. “Congress needs independent expert advice, which is exactly what GAO provides.”)
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/06/23/congress/gao-targeted-house-republicans-00417754

ED SOURCE
— Trump wants to cut college access programs for low-income students. What was your college access program? Mine was taking college preparatory courses in high school, getting the best ACT score that I could, graduating in the upper 20% of my class, and working enough part-time hours during the school years and full-time during the summers to pay for my college expenses and to buy new cars to get to/from my parents’ home in Crete and jobs and classes at UIC and NIU.
https://edsource.org/2025/trio-program-funding-threats-california/736767