August 19 Morning Edition

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Helene Miller Walsh, wife of former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, replaces state rep accused of sharing ex’s nude pics – Mike Riopell
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-nick-sauer-republicans-walsh-20180818-story.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Now, Walsh faces the potentially difficult task of building a campaign in the short few months before the election. She will run against Mary Edly-Allen, a teacher from Libertyville, in the race to represent a central and southern Lake County district in the state legislature. Lake County Republican Party Chairman Mark Shaw said he voted for Walsh because he thinks she will be a good lawmaker and able to set up a campaign in a hurry. “I know how tenacious she can be and how hard a worker she can be,” Shaw said. Shaw said Walsh was picked from about 20 contenders to replace Sauer.)
— Top 10 best back-to-school cars – Robert Duffer (DIERSEN: Duffer recommends a 2018 Honda CR-V (TSP) for business majors. What did you drive while you were earning your bachelor’s degree? While I attended UIC during 1966 and 1967, I drove a 1966 Pontiac Tempest Sprint. While I attended UIC during 1968, I drove a 1968 Oldsmobile 442. While I attended NIU during 1969 and 1970, I drove a 1969 Dodge Charger SE. I bought the Pontiac with money that earned washing dishes for the minimum wage in the basement of the S.S. Kresges in Chicago Heights during 1964, 1965, and 1966. I bought the Oldsmobile and the Dodge with money that earned delivering mail for the Park Forest Post Office during 1966, 1967, and 1968.)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/automotive/new/ct-best-2018-cars-for-grads-20180607-photogallery.html
— What would Jesus do? Clean house in the Catholic Church – Megan McArdle
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-catholic-pennsylvania-grand-jury-jesus-0819-20180816-story.html
— Can you record your boss at work without him or her knowing? – Jena McGregor (DIERSEN: During August and September of 1997, if I had recorded the threats that my Democrat GAO superiors made to me to force me to take their early retirement “offer,” a) my 7th Amendment right to a jury trial would not have been denied and b) the jury would have ruled in my favor.)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-record-boss-at-work-20180815-story.html
— DIERSEN HEADLINE: Anti-Trumps hint/imply/argue/shout that the press is “free,” but the press acts like it is an operative or a dupe for the Democrat, Libertarian, and Green parties.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/opinion/ct-sta-slowik-enemy-of-the-people-st-0816-story.html

 

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Plenty of danger for Dems if they win House and impeach Trump – Laura Washington
https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/president-donald-trump-democrats-house-impeachment-2020-election-laura-washington/
— Good journalism depends on savvy consumers – Georgie Anne Geyer (DIERSEN: Of course, my critics/opponents, their operatives, and their dupes dismiss, belittle, badmouth, demonize, denigrate, condemn, and slander those who read GOPUSA ILLINOIS emails as being stupid, lazy, White supremacists, Nazis, KKK members, haters, racists, sexists, bigots, and even worse things. Should I sue my critics/opponents, their operatives, and their dupes?)
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/chicago-sun-times/20180819/281908773990529

 

DAILY HERALD
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD WITH COLOR PHOTO OF HELEN MILLER WALSH: Helene Miller Walsh was sworn in as Republican state representative Saturday by Lake County Circuit Judge Christopher Stride to fill the remainder of Nick Sauer’s term in House District 51. – Bob Susnjara
https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20180818/ex-congressmans-wife-appointed-to-seat-of-legislator-who-resigned-amid-sex-scandal
— CEO pay jumps to $19M annually, as fears mount over the wealthy pocketing gains – Jeff Stein and Jena McGregor (DIERSEN: What do you say to those who say nothing about the CEO-worker pay ratio, but who viciously demonize, viciously denigrate, and viciously condemn government employees and government retirees as being over-compensated?)
https://www.dailyherald.com/business/20180819/ceo-pay-jumps-to-19m-annually-as-fears-mount-over-the-wealthy-pocketing-gains
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The top executives of America’s biggest companies saw their average annual pay surge to $18.9 million in 2017, according to a report released Thursday, fueling concerns about the gulf between the nation’s richest and everyone else. The dramatic 18 percent jump in chief executive pay came as wages for American workers remained essentially flat, pushing the gap between executive compensation and employee pay to its highest point in about a decade. The rise in executive pay shown in the report by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, is driven largely by the big increases in the stock market over the past year. The bulk of CEO compensation is made up of stock grants or stock options, which can lead to substantial paydays for CEOs when companies perform well in the market. The Standard & Poor’s stock market index jumped 14.5 percent in value from 2016 to 2017 when adjusting for inflation, EPI said. From 2009 to 2017, average pay for the nation’s CEOs jumped by $7.8 million, or by 72 percent, according to the report. Over that period, the average wages and benefits for a typical American worker rose from $53,400 to $54,600, or by about 2 percent, the report said. “It speaks to the degree the economic recovery is unbalanced,” said Larry Mishel, an economist who has tracked the CEO-worker pay ratio for two decades and co-authored the report with Jessica Schieder.)
— There’s much at stake for the public in journalism’s success – Georgie Anne Geyer (DIERSEN: To make GOPUSA ILLINOIS emails more successful, I am extremely reluctant to take advice from anyone, because of course, my critics/opponents, their operatives, and their dupes work extremely hard to get everyone to give me bad advice.)
https://www.dailyherald.com/discuss/20180819/theres-much-at-stake-for-the-public-in-journalisms-success
— We take offense at Trump’s false insult – Editorial (DIERSEN: The hardcopy title of this editorial is “Servant of the people Ultimately, any newspaper’s job is to make the world a little better place.” But anyone who looks at what the mainstream news media does sees that it focuses on defending and advancing the Democrat, Libertarian, and Green party platforms.)
https://www.dailyherald.com/discuss/20180818/editorial-we-take-offense-at-trumps-false-insult

 

ABC7
— 3 men shot near Seward Park on Near North Side during back-to-school peace party – Will Jones
https://abc7chicago.com/3-men-shot-near-seward-park-during-back-to-school-peace-party/3994564/

 

CBS2
— Undaunted In Face Of Shootings, Englewood Residents March In Back To School Parade – Audrina Bigos
https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2018/08/18/englewood-shootings-back-to-school-parade/

 

FOX NEWS CHICAGO
— 3 men shot in Old Town
http://www.fox32chicago.com/news/crime/3-men-shot-in-old-town

 

SPRINGFIELD STATE JOURNAL
— Ag policy forum featured only Republicans – Bernard Schoenburg
http://www.sj-r.com/opinion/20180818/bernard-schoenburg-ag-policy-forum-featured-only-republicans

 

BLOOMINGTON PANTAGRAPH
— Traditional family model is strongest – Gary Bussmann, Bloomington (DIERSEN: Are you the product of a traditional family. I am. My Democrat superiors, supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates in the federal government always hinted/implied/argued/shouted a) that I had an unfair advantage in life because I was a product of a traditional family and b) that my being a product of a traditional family was just one more reason why I should pay the price of Affirmative Action, Diversity, and Inclusion, in addition to my being a healthy non-veteran Republican White male whose ancestors had been in America since 1844.)
https://www.pantagraph.com/opinion/letters/traditional-family-model-is-strongest/article_d50351c0-6f8d-5dfb-ad5f-e725c23d9f80.html

 

MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
— A woman called police on a man who was getting into his own car (a 2016 Ford Mustang) in Milwaukee – Lainey Seyler
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2018/08/17/woman-called-police-man-who-getting-into-his-own-car-milwaukee/1021846002/

 

LAKE COUNTY GAZETTE
— Helene Walsh selected to succeed Sauer in Illinois House
https://lakecountygazette.com/stories/511536781-helene-walsh-selected-to-succeed-sauer-in-illinois-house

 

WASHINGTON TIMES
— Trump says he won’t allow social media companies to censor conservatives They are ‘totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices’ says the president – Dave Boyer
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/aug/18/donald-trump-says-he-wont-allow-social-media-compa/

 

WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— Twitter CEO denies company censors content based on ideology – Robert King
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/twitter-ceo-denies-company-censors-content-based-on-ideology

 

WORLD NET DAILY
— TRUMP TWEET STORM AGAINST ‘SPEECH CODE CARTEL’ ‘Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices’
https://www.wnd.com/2018/08/trump-tweet-storm-against-speech-code-cartel/

 

TOWNHALL
— Trump Slams Social Media Censorship As Big Tech Silences PragerU, Other Conservatives – Timothy Meads
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/timothymeads/2018/08/18/trump-calls-out-social-media-censorship-as-big-tech-silences-prageru-other-conse-n2510989

 

NEW AMERICAN
— Trump Slams Social Media Censorship of Conservatives; Files Discrimination Complaint Against Facebook – Selwyn Duke (DIERSEN: Facebook is a Democrat website.)
https://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/computers/item/29814-trump-slams-social-media-censorship-of-conservatives-files-discrimination-complaint-against-facebook
(FROM THE ARTICLE: “Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices,” and “the Trump Administration … won’t let that happen.” So wrote President Trump on Twitter Saturday, in a shot across the bow of increasingly Orwellian social-media companies. This comes on the heels of a Friday discrimination complaint the administration filed against Facebook alleging that “the way the company targets ads can be used to screen out people based on race, sex or other protected categories,” reports the Washington Times. While the latter complaint doesn’t relate to the censorship issue, it perhaps does signal the Trump administration’s determination to deal with social-media sleight-of-hand. As for its substance, the Times explains: The complaint goes to the heart of Facebook’s business model, which depends on being able to offer advertisers micro-targeting. “Facebook mines extensive user data and classifies its users based on protected characteristics. Facebook’s ad targeting tools then invite advertisers to express unlawful preferences by suggesting discriminatory options,” the Housing and Urban Development Department said in the complaint. Among those options are physical disabilities, parents with children and even religious practices — advertisers are allowed to show their ads only to people Facebook deems interested in “Jesus” or the “Christian Church,” for example.)

 

FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE
— PRAGERU’S CENSORSHIP AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT – Daniel Greenfield
https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/271070/pragerus-censorship-and-first-amendment-daniel-greenfield

 

BREITBART
— Donald Trump Condemns Social Media Companies for Biased Censorship – Charlie Spiering
https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/08/18/donald-trump-condemns-social-media-companies-for-biased-censorship/
— Trump’s Anti-Censorship Tweets Just Reminded Us Why He Is the Greatest – James Delingpole
https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/08/19/delingpole-trumps-anti-censorship-tweets-just-reminded-us-why-he-is-the-greatest/

 

BLAZE
— PragerU claims it is being ‘heavily censored’ by Facebook — and they have evidence to prove it – Chris Enloe (DIERSEN: Facebook is a Democrat website.)
https://www.theblaze.com/news/2018/08/18/prageru-claims-it-is-being-heavily-censored-by-facebook-and-they-have-evidence-to-prove-it

 

INDEPENDENT JOURNAL REVIEW
— Trump Tells Social Media Giants to Lay Off Conservatives: ‘There Is Nothing So Fake as MSNBC, CNN’ – SAM DORMAN
https://ijr.com/2018/08/1117114-trump-social-media-giants-conservatives/

 

POLITICO
— ‘We won’t let that happen:’ Trump alleges social media censorship of conservatives
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/18/trump-social-media-censorship-conservatives-twitter-facebook-787899

 

NBC NEWS
— Trump echoes conservative claims that social media companies censor conservatives – Jason Abbruzzese
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/trump-echoes-conservative-claims-social-media-companies-censor-conservatives-n901876

 

NEW YORK TIMES
— Trump Accuses Social Media Firms of Discrimination Against Conservatives – Emily Cochrane
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/us/politics/trump-social-media-conservatives.html
— White Doctor Arrested at Orlando Airport Complains of Being Treated Like a ‘Black Person’ – Mihir Zaveri
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/us/dr-jeffrey-epstein-like-a-black-person.html
— How to Get the Most Out of College They’re privileged, pivotal years. Navigate them with as much care as you did the path that got you there. – Frank Bruni (DIERSEN: My Democrat IRS and GAO superiors, supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates were furious that while I attended UIC 1966-1968 and NIU in 1970, I earned full-time Civil Service credit while I worked only part-time for the Park Forest Post Office.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/opinion/college-students.html
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD: Trump Tax Cut Unlocks Millions for a Republican Election Blitz – Jim Tankersley and Michael Tackett
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/us/politics/tax-cuts-republicans-donors.html
— DIERSEN HEADLINE: An anti-Trump says “The Slippery Slope of Complicity A wannabe Mussolini and his party of apparatchiks.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/opinion/the-slippery-slope-of-complicity.html
— You’re Ready to Quit. How Much Notice Do You Owe? – Rob Walker (DIERSEN: QUESTION: Why did I accept IRS’s job offer in 1971 when I was 22 years old? ANSWER: I was unemployed and seeking a financial hardship draft deferment to help support my mother and brother. I was unemployed because Firestone Stores had fired me for accepting a job offer from Oldsmobile. But Oldsmobile withdrew that job offer saying that it had just agreed to stop hiring Whites to settle an EEOC complaint.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/business/quitting-your-job.html
— How America’s Jews Learned to Be Liberal – Steven R. Weisman (DIERSEN: While I worked for the federal government for almost 30 years, many of my superiors and supervisors were Jewish. To turn them against me, my Democrat superiors, supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates stressed to them that I was a) conservative, b) baptized, raised, and confirmed as a Missouri Synod Lutheran, and c) 100% German national origin.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/opinion/american-jews-israel-liberals.html
— HARDCOPY ARTICLE TITLE: Men vs. Women, and the Rules of Debate – Ginia Bellafante
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/15/nyregion/men-women-candidates-debates.html
— How “Crazy Rich” Asians Have Led to the Largest Income Gap in the U.S. – ADEEL HASSAN and AUDREY CARLSEN
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/17/us/asian-income-inequality.html

 

BOSTON HERALD
— Trump slams social media over efforts to silence conservatives – Joe Dwinell
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/2018/08/trump_slams_social_media_over_efforts_to_silence_conservatives

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL
— Trump Slams Social-Media Companies for ‘Censorship’ of the Right President alleges bias against conservative voices on popular platforms – Rebecca Ballhaus
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-slams-social-media-companies-for-censorship-of-the-right-1534609973

 

NERD WALLET
— How to Stretch Your Spending Money in College – ANNA HELHOSKI (DIERSEN: What did you do with the money that you earned while you were earning your bachelor’s degree? I spent the money that I earned on tuition, books, two new cars, and room and board at NIU for three semesters and a summer session. I graduated debt-free from NIU in August of 1970 owning a 1969 Dodge Charger SE.)
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/loans/student-loans/college-student-budget/

 

NEWSWEEK
— TRUMP ACCUSES SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIES OF CENSORING CONSERVATIVES – TOM PORTER
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-accuses-social-media-companies-censoring-conservatives-1079143


— TWITTER IS LEFT-LEANING BUT DOES NOT CENSOR BASED ON POLITICS: JACK DORSEY – JASON MURDOCK
https://www.newsweek.com/twitter-left-leaning-admits-boss-jack-dorsey-1079559

 

THE WEEK
— Social media is censoring Republicans, Trump claims on social media
http://theweek.com/speedreads/791098/social-media-censoring-republicans-trump-claims-social-media

 

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
— President Trump Claims Social Media Companies Censor Conservatives
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/president-trump-claims-social-media-companies-censor-conservatives-1135815

 

GOPUSA ILLINOIS
— Transferring between federal agencies – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com

(THE ARTICLE: In 1980, when I was 31 years old, I took a $19,203 (26%) pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer from IRS to GAO – a downgrade from GS-12 Step 5 (currently $91,880) to GS-9 Step 10 (currently $72,677). According to the Office of Personnel Management, 77% of current federal employees have worked for only one agency, 15% have worked for two agencies, and only 8% have worked for three or more agencies. I worked for the Post Office 1966-1969, for IRS 1971-1980, and for GAO 1980-1997. I should write a book about transferring between federal agencies.

 

GAO audits IRS. In 1980, when I was 31 years old, my Democrat GAO superiors, supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates vehemently opposed my transferring from IRS to GAO. Instead of my taking a $19,203/year (26%) pay cut in today’s dollars, they wanted me to transfer in as an intern and take a $58,902/year (64%) pay cut in today’s dollars (a downgrade from GS-12 Step 5 to GS-4 Step 1). To justify that, they viciously demonized, viciously denigrated, and viciously condemned a) the knowledge of IRS that I had gained by working for IRS for almost 9 years, the last 5 1/2 years of which at the GS-12 Step 1-5 levels, currently $81,071-$91,880; b) my having passed the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979; c) my having almost completed the requirements for a master’s degree in accounting from DePaul; d) my having earned an MBA from Loyola in 1976; and e) the fact that much of what GAO Analysts do is similar to what IRS Revenue Officers do.

 

They hinted/implied/argued that IRS should NOT have a) hired me in 1971, b) promoted me in 1972, 1973, or 1974, or c) let me work there for almost 9 years. They hinted/implied/argued that the Post Office should NOT have a) hired me in 1966 or b) let me work there for almost 3 years. They were disgusted, outraged, and beyond furious that I transferred in with almost 12 years of federal seniority, 30 unused vacation days, and more than 100 unused sick days. They hinted/implied/argued/shouted that legislative branch employees were far superior to executive branch employees. They stressed that I had been a union member while I worked for the Post Office and for IRS and that I had filed grievances.

 

To turn everyone at GAO against me, they stressed to GAO employees a) who were Democrats, that I was a Republican, b) who were liberal or moderate, that I was conservative, c) who were non-Protestant, that I was a Missouri Synod Lutheran, d) who had less money than my wife and I had, that my wife and I had more money than they did, e) who were non-German American, that I was 100% German American, f) who had ancestors who had not been in America for a long time, that my ancestors had been in America since 1844, and g) who were veterans, that I was a draft avoider. They would not have done any of the aforesaid if I had been a Democrat, a minority, a female, or a veteran.

 

Have you worked in toxic workplaces? Soon after I transferred from IRS to GAO in 1980 when I was 31 years old, I learned how toxic its Chicago office was for those who shared my demographics. Nevertheless, I counted on the GAO manager who had arranged for my transfer a) to protect me from political affiliation discrimination, from reverse discrimination, and from age discrimination, b) to get me assigned to audits of IRS, c) to get me promoted to GS-11 Step 10 (currently $87,933), to GS-12 Step 5 (currently $91,880), to GS-13 Step 1 (currently $96,403), etc. However, ever-increasingly, the Democrats who ran the office did everything that they could to get rid of him. Nevertheless, in 1986, he succeeded a) in getting me assigned to audits of IRS and b) in promoting me to GS-13 Step 1 (currently $96,403). However, the Democrats succeeded a) in getting rid of him in 1987, b) in throwing me off audits of IRS in 1989, c) in keeping me off audits of IRS for the rest of my GAO career, d) in giving me unfair performance expectations and unfair performance appraisals, e) in always ranking me the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance purposes, and f) in forcing me to take their early retirement “offer” in 1997 when I was 49 years old.)

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.