FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
ABC7
— Trump signs executive order that would reclassify marijuana as less dangerous drug. DD: Pot is poison. In 2019, I led the successful effort to stop the sale of pot in Wheaton.
https://abc7chicago.com/post/reclassification-weed-president-donald-trump-signs-executive-order-today-would-reclassify-marijuana-less-dangerous/18298372/
— Trump administration moves to cut off gender-affirming care for transgender youth
https://abc7chicago.com/post/trump-administration-moves-cut-off-gender-affirming-care-transgender-youth-new-hhs-restrictions/18298513/
— Trump’s handpicked board votes to rename Washington performing arts center the Trump-Kennedy Center
https://abc7chicago.com/post/trumps-handpicked-board-votes-rename-washington-performing-arts-center-trump-kennedy/18298307/
NBC5
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) bring in more illegals and b) fight their deportation.
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-politics/new-illinois-laws-will-impact-thousands-of-students-in-the-new-year/3865125/
FOX32
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote more LGBTQ.
https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/buffalo-grove-volunteers-send-handwritten-support-cards-lgbtq-people-nationwide
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— President Donald Trump signs order that would reclassify marijuana as less dangerous drug. DD: Pot is poison. In 2019, I led the successful effort to stop the sale of pot in Wheaton.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/18/trump-executive-order-reclassify-marijuana/
— New Trump administration proposals could further reduce gender-affirming care for minors in Illinois. DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly make children sexually active LGBTQers.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/18/gender-affirming-care-trump-proposals/
— State commission highlights ‘unjustified’ uses of tear gas, pepper spray by federal immigration agents
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/18/illinois-accountability-commission-pritzker-border-patrol/
— President Donald Trump’s Justice Department sues Illinois over sensitive state voter data
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/18/illinois-voter-data-lawsuit/
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Durbin, Duckworth seek criminal probe of Chicago’s immigration blitz — even after Trump leaves office
https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/12/18/durbin-duckworth-criminal-investigation-operation-midway-blitz-ice-tactics
— New state panel takes shot at holding Trump immigration blitz to account: ‘We will not forget’ The chairman of the newly formed Illinois Accountability Commission acknowledged their eventual recommendations are likely to “fall on deaf ears” in the Trump administration.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/12/18/illinois-accountability-commission-trump-immigration-midway-blitz
DAILY HERALD
— Palatine Township trustees this week approved a $1.65 million tax levy for its community mental health board.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20251218/local-politics/a-good-thing-for-people-palatine-township-levies-first-tax-for-community-mental-health-board/
CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS
— Justice Department sues for access to Illinois voter rolls
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/politics/justice-department-sues-access-illinois-voter-rolls
— DD: Democrat and RINO leaders ever-increasingly push more pot. Pot is poison.
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/cannabis/trump-signals-marijuana-rescheduling-tax-relief-ahead
CHAMPAIGN/URBANA NEWS GAZETTE
— The head of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has urged white men to report workplace discrimination based on race or sex. DD: In Diersen v. GAO, the courts ruled that discrimination against older White males was not only legal, but that it is what Congress wanted.
https://www.news-gazette.com/news/nation-world/head-of-workplace-rights-agency-urges-white-men-to-report-discrimination/article_6026fc17-ba43-52f4-98bc-f22f3c675724.html
NPR ILLINOIS
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly demonize, denigrate, and condemn Trump
https://www.nprillinois.org/2025-12-17/with-costs-a-growing-worry-for-americans-trump-seeks-to-defend-his-economic-record
NORTH PARK UNIVERSITY
— North Park University Invites Dreamers to Apply for TheDream.US Scholarship. DD: Did you get any scholarships? I did not. My critics/opponents have always used that against me.
https://www.northpark.edu/stories/north-park-university-invites-dreamers-to-apply-for-thedream-us-scholarship/
DUCKWORTH
— Duckworth-Led Provisions to Protect Rock Island Arsenal. DD: During the first 6 months of 1989, I worked for GAO at the Rock Island Arsenal on an audit of DOD’s 1990 ammunition budget request. SEE: https://www.gao.gov/assets/150/148194.pdf
https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/news/press-releases/duckworth-led-provisions-to-protect-rock-island-arsenal-support-illinois-quantum-technology-research-and-safeguard-care-for-veterans-passes-congress-awaits-presidents-signature
(FROM THE ARTICLE: By Constructing a Child Development Center at Rock Island Arsenal: The bill authorizes $50 million in Major Construction funds for a new addition to the Child Development Center at Rock Island Arsenal and to consolidate the existing facilities and make upgrades to meet DoD guidelines and safety requirements, ensuring that eligible families at Rock Island Arsenal have a safe, modern facility for childcare.)
CAPITOL FAX
— Afternoon roundup
https://capitolfax.com/2025/12/18/isabel%e2%80%99s-afternoon-roundup-440/
FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
CENTER SQUARE ILLINOIS
— Pritzker disputes Trump claims, says Illinois GOP backs president ‘100%’
https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/article_594bb86c-7336-490e-936f-3e3c69b17fc0.html
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/pritzker-disputes-trump-claims-says-160400287.html
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— Mamdani says free buses means fewer assaults over ‘fare collection’
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/crime/3926075/mamdani-free-buses-fewer-assaults-fare-collection/
NEW YORK POST
— Mamdani appointee made vile antisemitic comments in unearthed social media posts
https://nypost.com/2025/12/18/us-news/zohran-mamdani-appointee-catherine-almonte-da-costa-made-vile-antisemitic-comments-in-unearthed-social-media-posts/
— NYC Council pushes bill to create Zohran Mamdani’s $1B ‘safety’ agency that would pull cops off some 911 calls
https://nypost.com/2025/12/18/us-news/nyc-council-pushes-bill-to-create-zohran-mamdanis-1b-safety-agency-that-will-pull-cops-off-some-911-calls/
BREITBART
— ‘It’s Open Season’: Antisemitic Attacks in NYC Highlight Broader Threat, ‘This is Mamdani’s NY’
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/12/18/its-open-season-antisemitic-attacks-in-nyc-highlight-broader-threat-this-is-mamdanis-ny/
— Inflation Unexpectedly Tumbles To 2.7%, Much Better Than Expected, Core Inflation Falls to Lowest Since Early 2021
https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2025/12/18/inflation-unexpectedly-tumbles-to-2-7-much-better-than-expected/
DAILY SIGNAL
— EEOC Urges White Males to Report Discrimination—And Promptly. DD: In Diersen v. GAO, the courts ruled that discrimination against older White males was not only legal, but that it is what Congress wanted.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/12/18/eeoc-urges-white-males-report-discrimination-promptly/amp/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: White males who have faced discrimination should file a federal complaint, the head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says. In a video posted on social media Thursday, EEOC Acting Chairwoman Andrea Lucas advised potential victims of discrimination to file complaints in a timely manner. “Are you a white male who has experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex?” Lucas said. “You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws.” The Trump administration has opposed diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in the government, and terminated DEI federal grants. A person has a deadline of 180 days from the alleged discrimination to make a complaint, according to the EEOC. “Contact the EOC as soon as possible. Time limits are typically strict for filing a claim,” Lucas continued. “The EOC is the federal agency charged with enforcing federal antidiscrimination law against businesses and other private sector employers.” “The EOC is committed to identifying, attacking, and eliminating all forms of race and sex discrimination, including against white male applicants, and employees,” Lucas clarified. The EEOC website says the 180-day deadline can be extended up to 300 days if a state or local agency enforces a law that prohibits employment discrimination on the same basis, and would have to first hear the case. Although the EEOC has frequently taken up discrimination cases on behalf of minority groups, earlier this year the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that someone who belongs to a “majority group” can sue for discrimination, in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services. That case involved a straight woman who alleged she was passed over for employment due to her sexual identity, but the “majority group” principle would likely apply for a white male. During his first term, President Donald Trump appointed Lucas—a former labor and litigation lawyer at the firm of Gibson Dunn—to the EEOC, and the Senate confirmed her in 2020. After Trump returned for a second term in January, he designated her as the acting chair of commission. [Lucas is not related to The Daily Signal reporter who wrote this news story.] Lucas has not been confirmed by the Senate as chair. But, as previously noted in The Daily Signal, as acting chair she forced major law firms to stop using DEI to discriminate based on race. She further ordered the EEOC to be evenhanded in its enforcement priorities. Lucas made it easier for employees to report DEI discrimination and made it a priority to protect Americans from religious discrimination. This is move is a Trump administration “stunt,” said Markus Batchelor, national political director at People For the American Way, a liberal activist group. “Stunts like this demonstrate the lengths Trump is willing to go to dismantle institutions meant to do good and make them tools that once again unbalance the scales in favor of privilege and white supremacy,” Batchelor told The Grio. “A call for ‘color-blind, merit-based’ employment falls flat from a White House that is overwhelmingly white, wealthy, and unqualified to govern.”)
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
NEW YORK TIMES
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote more foreign truck drivers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/business/trump-immigrants-trucks.html
WASHINGTON POST
— Trump’s unconvincing argument on affordability. Hyperbole is not a plan. DD: What did you do to help you afford things? To help me afford cars, college expenses, real estate, etc., I took bad jobs that my peers would never stoop to take. I a) did yard work 1962-1964. b) delivered newspapers 1962-1966, c) washed dishes 1964-1966, d) cleaned golf shoes, chipped slag, and pumped gasoline in 1966, e) delivered mail 1966-1969, f) worked on an automotive assembly line in 1970, g) sold tires, automotive services, and major appliances 1970-1971, h) pumped more gasoline 1971-1972, i) collected delinquent federal taxes 1971-1980, and j) audited federal agencies 1980-1997. I earned a) a job-related bachelor’s degree in 1970, b) job-related master’s degrees in 1976, 1980, and 1997, c) job-related professional certifications in 1979, 1981, 1990, 1994, 1996, and 1997, and a job-related professional license in 1981. I was able to do the aforesaid even though I was not viewed as being college material. 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. I have never been able to run because I have a bone disease. My eyesight has never been correctable to 20/20. I have always had partial red/green color blindness. My ACT score was only 24. I only just barely made it into the upper 20% of my high school class. According to my critics/opponents, I have always been stupid. They stress that I got no scholarships or student loans and that had to work my way through college. One could argue that if I could do the aforesaid with the limitations that I had, just about anyone could do what I did academically and professionally.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/12/18/trump-speech-tariffs-economy-checks/
— How the end of extra Affordable Care Act subsidies could affect you. 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.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/12/18/affordable-care-act-subsidies-expire/
FORTUNE
— Mamdani gets 74,000 resumes in sign of New York City’s job-market misery
https://fortune.com/2025/12/17/mamdani-gets-74000-resumes-in-sign-of-new-york-citys-job-market-misery/
FROM FOREIGN SOURCES
GUARDIAN
— FCC chair suggests agency is not independent amid fears of Trump power-grab. Brendan Carr’s declaration raises concerns amid Trump efforts to exert greater control over independent agencies. DD: GAO is not an independent agency. Congress funds it. It works for Congress.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/17/trump-fcc-brendan-carr
