April 19, 2026

FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES

CBS2
— The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools have agreed to use May Day for a “day of civic action” for students and teachers. DD: To promote “civic action” is to promote the Democrat Party platform, that is, to get rid of Republicans.
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/chicago-teachers-union-cps-may-day/

WGN9
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) glorify and praise their illegals and b) fight their deportation.
https://wgntv.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/more-than-half-of-americans-say-trump-immigration-agenda-too-aggressive-survey/
— DD: Under the Democrats, fewer and fewer and fewer people become productive members of society.
https://wgntv.com/news/1-in-3-us-households-struggle-to-pay-energy-bills-but-the-reality-is-likely-even-worse/

FOX32
— Teens charged after overnight crime wave hits multiple Chicago neighborhoods. DD: Under the Democrats, anticipate/expect that Democrat teens will ever-increasingly commit more crime.
https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/teens-charged-after-overnight-crime-wave-hits-multiple-chicago-neighborhoods-police

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— FRONT PAGE WITH PICTURE: Bailey seeks distance from Trump, but MAGA shadow looms. DD: The mainstream news media exists a) to elect Democrats and b) to defeat Republicans. Ever-increasingly pro-Democrat editorials are falsely presented as being news articles.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/04/19/darren-bailey-illinois-governor-race-maga-distance/

DAILY HERALD
— DD: Under the Democrats, soon, everyone in DuPage County will be a) handing out welfare and/or b) receiving welfare.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20260417/news/giving-dupage-days-fundraiser-returns-to-help-nonprofits/
— Long-term care spending. Just as early retirement can cause a spending shock at the front end of retirement, long-term care costs can prompt a spending shock later in life. A 2025 report authored by Spencer Look and Jack VanDerhei of the Morningstar Center for Retirement & Policy Studies found that 43% of baby boomers will incur long-term care costs, with the average cost of that care $242,373. The likelihood of needing care correlates with longevity: While just 24% of men and 27% of women who die at age 75 will require long-term care, 52% of men and 60% of women who die at age 95 will require long-term care. Incurring sizable long-term care costs can have catastrophic effects for a financial plan.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20260418/finance/how-spending-shocks-affect-retirement-planning/

CENTRAL ILLINOIS PROUD
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) glorify and praise their illegals and b) fight their deportation.
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/national/more-than-half-of-americans-say-trump-immigration-agenda-too-aggressive-survey/

WGLT
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly use the Pope against Trump.
https://www.wglt.org/2026-04-18/tensions-between-president-trump-and-pope-leo-put-american-catholics-in-awkward-spot

WQAD
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly use the Pope against Trump.
https://www.wqad.com/video/news/nation-world/pope-leo-addresses-criticism-from-president-trump/526-3b71fc3a-3d3c-4d44-b469-6d2cc25111c9

WISCONSIN WATCH
— DD: All my employers would have hired noncitizens instead of me if they could have. My critics/opponents cannot say that because they did not have to take bad jobs because they had wealthy parents. I did yard work 1962-1964, delivered newspapers 1962-1966, washed dishes 1964-1966, cleaned golf shoes, chipped slag, and pumped gasoline in 1966, delivered mail 1966-1969, worked on an automotive assemble line in 1970, sold tires, automotive services, and major appliances 1970-1971, pumped more gasoline 1971-1972, collected delinquent federal taxes 1971-1980, and audited federal agencies 1980-1997.
https://wisconsinwatch.org/2026/01/skilled-but-uncertain-immigrant-workers-and-employers-navigate-hiring-hurdles-under-trump/

FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES

CENTER SQUARE ILLINOIS
— Illinois lawmakers seek to eliminate state diversity commission
https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/article_c0142076-cc4c-44f0-9801-44b42370861e.html

ILLINOIS FAMILY ACTION
— Muslim Lobby Day in Illinois
https://illinoisfamilyaction.org/2026/04/muslim-lobby-day-in-illinois/

ILLINOIS FAMILY INSTITUTE
— HB 4855 and SEL: Doubling Down on Education Evil
https://illinoisfamily.org/education/hb4855-and-sel-doubling-down-on-education-evil/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Diligently applying SEL has these effects on students: They learn that more racism, not less, is the answer to our social ills. They don’t learn to be good citizens. Rather, they’re encouraged to be social activists, tearing down our culture and society. They learn to disregard their parents’ advice, trusting the school instead.)
— When Speech Is Silenced: The Case for Ethics Reform in Talk Therapy
https://illinoisfamily.org/marriage/child-exploitation/when-speech-is-silenced-the-case-for-ethics-reform-in-talk-therapy/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: On March 31, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court of the United States ruled 8-1 in Chiles v. Salazar that Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy counseling, as applied to licensed professional talk therapy, violated the First Amendment. )

FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES

NEW YORK POST
— ‘Anchor babies’ reach nearly 10% of all US births. DD: Anticipate/expect that ever-increasing, a) Democrat and RINO leaders will encourage pregnant citizens of foreign countries to come to America to give birth and b) foreign countries will send their pregnant citizens to America to give birth.
https://nypost.com/2026/04/18/us-news/anchor-babies-reach-nearly-10-of-all-us-births-new-data/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Pew Research Center revealed that 320,000 of the 3.6 million babies born in the US that year were anchor babies who would not qualify for birthright citizenship if President Trump’s executive order is upheld by the Supreme Court. “Under the current erroneous birthright citizenship interpretation, these children automatically become citizens and unlock food stamps, welfare, specialized schooling for English education, and eventually college aid,” Brandy Perez Carbaugh of the Heritage Foundation told The Post. Of those 320,000, the center said 245,000 were born to parents who were illegal immigrants. Another 15,000 babies were born to mothers who had temporary legal status, while the fathers were not citizens or lawful permanent residents. The remaining 60,000 were born to illegal alien mothers while the child’s father was a citizen or lawful permanent resident. The massive number of US anchor baby births in 2023 is the highest total since 2010, when 325,000 babies were born to illegal immigrant parents, according to Pew data. The number of anchor baby births in the US has increased for three consecutive years. Immigration hawks warn illegal aliens will continue to abuse the generous laws in the Land of the Free while legal US citizens foot the bill. “High volumes of illegal and temporary aliens are having children in the US because they are exploiting the decades-old erroneous interpretation that such children are US citizens,” said Carbaugh. “Emergency Medicaid loopholes allow illegal aliens to qualify for free labor, delivery, and often prenatal care in some states, so taxpayers pay for these ‘anchor babies,’” said the expert. “This has brought alien parents both a claimed shield against deportation and financial benefits through the eligible child. Americans cover the cost as they struggle to provide for their own families,” she said. The Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments April 1 in Trump v. Barbara, a landmark challenge to the president’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship, which has been a right enshrined in the 14th Amendment since 1868.)

CITY JOURNAL
— Why We Should Be Skeptical About High Graduation Rates. When state exams and standardized test scores show declining student proficiency, there’s no reason to celebrate.
https://www.city-journal.org/article/graduation-rates-student-proficiency-test-scores

DAILY SIGNAL
— Pilot Ousted for Urging Merit-Based Military. DD: For Democrats, government exists to hire, retain, and promote Democrats, and especially Democrats who are minority, female, younger, veteran, non-Protestant, non-German American, and/or have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/04/18/musk-promotes-story-of-pilot-ousted-for-urging-merit-based-military/

FOX NEWS
— Democrats split on Israel funding as support for military aid slips. Fox News political analyst Reince Priebus explains the growing opposition to U.S. funding for Israel by Democrats. DD: Ever-increasingly, to be a Democrat is to be anti-Jewish.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6393320738112
— Chicago mayor links restaurant industry to ‘slavery’ as tipped wage fight intensifies. Johnson said he is ‘boldly declaring that we need reparations in this city, and that’s why I’m funding it.’ DD: I washed dishes for the minimum wage in the basement of the SS Kresge in Chicago Heights 1964-1966. I was the only White male that ever had that job, all the others were minorities and/or females.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chicago-mayor-links-restaurant-industry-slavery-tipped-wage-fight-intensifies

TOWNHALL
— DEI Over Duty: How the Secret Service Put Identity Politics Above Operational Competence. DD: All my coworkers who my Democrat superiors in the federal government promoted over me were Democrats a) who had less work experience than I had, had less education than I had, had no professional certifications or fewer than I had, and/or had no professional license like the one I had and/or b) who 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://townhall.com/columnists/jay-rogers/2026/04/19/dei-over-duty-how-the-secret-service-put-identity-politics-above-operational-competence-n2674609

FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES

THE HILL
— Young adults struggle to break into housing market as Congress seeks solution. DD: When I was 24 in 1972, HUD made the new townhome that I bought in University Park ( https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/774-Sunset-Ct-5-University-Park-IL-60484/5451474_zpid/ ) affordable. I could not have afforded to buy that townhome if it had cost more. In today’s dollars, I paid about $180,000 for it. In today’s dollars, my IRS Revenue Officer salary had increased from $56,409/year to $68,999/year. The down payment came from what I had earned working for IRS for 15 months and for a Firestone Store part-time for 18 months and full-time for 7 months before that. According to Zillow, the townhome is currently worth $85,100. That says worlds about real estate values in University Park.
https://thehill.com/business/personal-finance/5836866-young-adults-struggle-housing-market/

NEW YORK TIMES
— ‘Turning Point Was Charlie Kirk’: Why This Student Group Moved On. Students at the University of Arkansas disagreed with Turning Point’s direction, pointing to challenges ahead for the conservative group. (DD: I should write about what Democrat and RINO leaders had their operatives and their dupes do to destroy TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois in 2012 and Illinois Center Right Coalition in 2007.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/us/politics/turning-point-university-arkansas-disbands.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The conservative split over the war in Iran has only amplified the question of what Mr. Kirk would want Turning Point to be in this moment. At the University of Arkansas, the question began to consume the chapter’s leadership. In recent interviews, some chapter members sketched out some of the group’s grievances. Ava Lacey, a student from Mississippi who sits on the executive board, said the chapter wanted to be more political than its nonprofit status allowed. Members were also bothered by Turning Point’s alliance with the Arkansas governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, which they thought hindered insurgent candidates interested in shaking up the state’s Republican establishment.)
— How Many Americans Are Marriage Material? DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) promote LGBTQ and b) destroy traditional marriage and family. What helped you become marriage material? By the time I got married when I was 29 in 1978, I had worked for IRS for almost 7 years and my salary was $110,066/year in today’s dollars. I had earned an MBA from Loyola in 1976 and I was taking graduate evening accounting courses at DePaul. I lived in a one bedroom condo in the Outer Drive East building that I had bought in 1976. I was renting out a town home in University Park that I had bought new in 1972. I owned a 1972 Corvette that I had bought new in 1971. Things that impressed me about my outstanding wife included that her first job after high school was working for the FBI. She soon became the Corporate Secretary of the U.S. League of Savings Institutions. She did much to help elect Big Jim Thompson governor in 1976. She earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from DePaul in 1986.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/29/opinion/marriage-kearney.html
— Texas Restaurants Are Forcing a Reckoning Over Immigrant Labor.  DD: All my employers would have hired noncitizens instead of me if they could have. I washed dishes for the minimum wage in the basement of the SS Kresge in Chicago Heights 1964-1966. I was the only White male that ever had that job, all the others were minorities and/or females.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/us/texas-restaurants-immigration-work-permits.html

WASHINGTON POST
— States eulogize Charlie Kirk with new laws promoting religion and free speech
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/04/18/charlie-kirk-laws-free-speech/f4ea06a8-3ae9-11f1-90c4-9772c7fabc03_story.html

MSN
— DD: How much success have Democrat leaders had destroying traditional marriage and family in your county, township, municipality, school district, and precinct? Under the Democrats, fewer and fewer and fewer men are marriage material.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/relationships/11-reasons-why-more-women-are-walking-away-from-men-and-marriage/ss-AA1YvbfS
— Chicago Mayor Blames Gun Problem on Red States
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/chicago-mayor-blames-gun-problem-on-red-states/ss-AA1Mczv7

NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING
— Social isolation. DD: Because of ever-increasing success by Democrat and RINO leaders to rid of those who are the following, those who are the following should anticipate/expect that they will be ever-increasingly isolated: conservative, Republican, White, male, older, non-poor, married, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time.
https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/social-isolation-loneliness-older-people-pose-health-risks

LEE NEWS
— Millions in the US never finished college. DD: What helped you earn a bachelor’s degree? For me, it was a) my working for the Park Forest Post Office part-time during the first 3 years and full time during the summers in between and b) my parents providing me with room and board in Crete during my first 2 years, weekends during my 3rd year, and the summers in between.
https://news.lee.net/news/nation-world/education/millions-in-the-us-never-finished-college-with-targeted-help-reenrollments-are-ticking-up/article_0724cd8f-0a4d-43cb-b5d4-a066c69ba078.html

BLACK CHRONICLES
— The Chicago Teachers Union says Chicago Public Schools leaders have agreed to transform the school day on May 1 to one focused on civic engagement, student voice and standing up to the White House. DD: To promote “civic engagement” is to promote the Democrat Party platform, that is, to get rid of Republicans.
https://blackchronicle.com/midwest/illinois/illinois-quick-hits-teachers-union-says-cps-to-bus-students-to-rally/

MONEY TALKS
— Half of middle-aged Americans are forced to retire early. That has devastating financial consequences. DD: In today’s dollars, my GAO salary was $154,682. I was forced to retire when I was 49 in 1997. Because of that, my Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) pension and my retirement saving are dramatically less. My CSRS pension ($68,640) is less than what my IRS salary was in when I was 23 in 1972 in today’s dollars ($69,999).
https://www.moneytalksnews.com/heres-why-half-of-middle-aged-americans-are-forced-to-retire-early/

PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
— More than half of employees retire earlier than planned. Mental and physical health effects of being forced to retire. DD: I was forced to retire when I was 49 in 1997. If you are forced to retire early, for the rest of your life, your critics/opponents will use that to destroy you. I know that from personal experience. Your critics/opponents will hint/imply/argue/shout that you were an extremely bad person and even worse things, and that is why you were forced to retire early. Further, the more qualified that you were for the job that you had, the more that your critics/opponents will hint/imply/argue/shout that proves that you are an extremely bad person and even worse things. My critics/opponents stress that  when I was forced to retire early, I had three job-related master’s degrees, six job-related professional certifications, and a job-related professional license. I should write about my critics/opponents. I would focus on those who have had their operatives and their dupes take the biggest adverse actions against me.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sex-life-of-the-american-male/202601/forced-to-retire

NEW YORK MAGAZINE
— Trump Is Nudging Alito and Thomas Toward Retirement. DD: Because of Gingrich-led budget cuts, to get rid of their employees who were conservative, Republican, White, male, older, non-veteran, Protestant, German American, and/or had ancestors who had been in America for a long time, the Democrats who ran GAO in 1993 “offered” their employees who had 25 or more years of federal service a $25,000 buyout and early retirement. I was 45 years old in 1993 and I was eligible because I had 25 years of federal service. My Democrat GAO superiors falsely led me to believe that they were going to let me work until I was 55 in 2003 and eligible for regular retirement. But in September of 1997, just before their “offer” expired, they succeeded in forcing me to retire.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-is-nudging-alito-and-thomas-toward-retirement.html

ATLANTIC
— America’s ‘Marriage Material’ Shortage. DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) promote LGBTQ and b) destroy traditional marriage and family. What helped you become marriage material? By the time I got married when I was 29 in 1978, I had worked for IRS for almost 7 years and my salary was $110,066/year in today’s dollars. I had earned an MBA from Loyola in 1976 and I was taking graduate evening accounting courses at DePaul. I lived in a one bedroom condo in the Outer Drive East building that I had bought in 1976. I was renting out a town home in University Park that I had bought new in 1972. I owned a 1972 Corvette that I had bought new in 1971. Things that impressed me about my outstanding wife included that her first job after high school was working for the FBI. She soon became the Corporate Secretary of the U.S. League of Savings Institutions. She did much to help elect Big Jim Thompson governor in 1976. She earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from DePaul in 1986.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/02/america-marriage-decline/681518/

Author: David Diersen

The opinions that I express in GOPUSA ILLINOIS emails are based on experience that I have gained doing many things since 1948. I base my opinions on what I learned a) working for the federal government for almost 30 years -- Post Office 1966-1969, IRS 1971-1980, and GAO 1980-1997, serving on the Executive Committee of the Association of Government Accountants Chicago Chapter 1983-1996, and being a union member while I worked for the Post Office and IRS; b) earning an MBA from Loyola in 1976, a masters degree in accounting from DePaul in 1980, and a masters degree in financial markets and trading from IIT in 1997; c) passing the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979 and passing the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt in 1981; c) serving as a Republican Precinct Committeeman since 1999, the GOPUSA Illinois Editor since 2000, the TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois Chairman 2005-2012, a member of the 2008 Illinois Republican Party (IRP) Platform and Resolutions Committee, a Wheaton Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee member 2003-2011, the Milton Township Republican Central Committee webmaster 2008-2010 and 2000-2004, an Illinois Center Right Coalition Steering Committee member 2003-2007, and an American Association of Political Consultants Midwest Chapter board member 2001-2004; d) attending the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 IRP State Conventions as a delegate; e) being the subject of a nasty 4-page article in the February 1978 issue of Money Magazine; f) pursing litigation including Diersen v. GAO and Diersen v. Chicago Car Exchange; g) being married since 1978; h) living in Crete 1948-1972, in University Park 1972-1976, in Chicago 1976-1978, and in DuPage County, Milton Township, and Wheaton since 1978; and i) being baptized, raised, and confirmed as a Missouri Synod Lutheran.