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/

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.