December 21 Morning Edition

FOX NEWS CHICAGO
— The Future of the Illinois Republican Party – Mike Flannery
(DIERSEN: Political parties exist to help elect candidates who can and will defend and advance their platform. The Illinois Republican Party (IRP) platform is conservative. Anti-conservatives, that is, anti-Republicans, want the IRP to dump the following planks in the Republican Party platform: traditional marriage/family, right to life, immigration, illegal drugs, Second Amendment, and equal opportunity (no race or gender based preference giving). Any state that promotes LGBTQ, abortion, mass/illegal immigration, booze, gambling, pot, and other vices, abolition of the Second Amendment, and/or race or gender based preference giving is headed for bankruptcy.)
https://www.fox32chicago.com/video/882415

ABC7
— DIERSEN HEADLINE: Hate-filled Republican-hating Republican-haters use George Floyd to promote hatred against Republicans.
https://abc7chicago.com/8900804/

WGN TV
— People over 75, essential workers next in line for COVID-19 vaccine – AP
https://wgntv.com/news/coronavirus/people-over-75-essential-workers-next-in-line-for-vaccine/

WGN RADIO
— Social media manipulation affects even US senators – AP
(DIERSEN: Everyone should be advised that if you post a like on anything about me or about my GOPUSA ILLINOIS emails, my critics/opponents, their operatives, and their dupes will try to punish you. Further, my critics/opponents, their operatives and their dupes would try to punish anything that I might post a like on. That is why I do not post any likes.)
https://wgnradio.com/news/report-social-media-manipulation-affects-even-us-senators/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The conversation taking place on the verified social media accounts of two U.S. senators remained vulnerable to manipulation, even amid heightened scrutiny in the run up to the U.S. presidential election, an investigation by the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence found. Researchers from the center, a NATO-accredited research group based in Riga, Latvia, paid three Russian companies 300 euros ($368) to buy 337,768 fake likes, views and shares of posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok, including content from verified accounts of Sens. Chuck Grassley and Chris Murphy.)

WTTW
— Congress Seals Agreement on COVID-19 Relief, Government Funding – AP
https://news.wttw.com/2020/12/21/congress-seals-agreement-covid-19-relief-government-funding

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Second stimulus bill would give airlines $15 billion more, bring back 32,000 furloughed airline workers – KYLE ARNOLD
https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-codi-19-airline-stimulus-furloughs-20201221-lgspejl6nbgnherwo3ybjcmevi-story.html
— Clergy, doctors and activists take on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and access in Black and Latino communities: ‘Don’t underestimate the fear’ – ANGIE LEVENTIS LOURGOS, LAURA RODRÍGUEZ PRESA, STACY ST. CLAIR, ALICE YIN and DARCEL ROCKETT
https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-coronavirus-vaccine-black-latino-20201219-x6wlkklgqzbunovx5jub4w4dwi-story.html
— COVID-19 liability lawsuits: Should businesses be immune? – AP
https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-covid-19-legal-liability-lawsuit-20201221-sf7cs7mzofacpg5siqq3ahe3my-story.html

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Past campaign tactics rebound against Pritzker and Lightfoot. Gov. Pritzker is on the defensive over his administration’s handling of coronavirus outbreaks at the state-run LaSalle Veterans Home, while Mayor Lightfoot is in hot water over the botched raid of a Chicago social worker’s home. – Mark Brown
https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2020/12/20/22191980/gov-pritzker-mayor-lori-lightfoot-lasalle-quincy-veterans-anjanette-young-botched-police-raid-rahm
— ALL OF THE FONT PAGE: Kim Foxx’s vision: Automatically erase more serious convictions for weed dealing, expunge cocaine or heroin arrests. In an interview with the Sun-Times, Foxx said for people in some areas of the city, drug dealing “was the only economy that they had.” Their records should be expunged automatically, she said. – Tom Schuba and Matthew Hendrickson
(DIERSEN: What do you want to be expunged from your record? It would be great if the following would expunge the adverse actions that they took against me: Post Office, Firestone Stores, IRS, GAO, Wheaton, Milton Township, DuPage County, Illinois, defendants in lawsuits that I have filed, Milton Township Republican Organization, DuPage County Republican Party, Illinois Republican Party, TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois, Wheaton Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Center Right Coalition, and American Association of Political Consultants Midwest Chapter.)
https://chicago.suntimes.com/cannabis/2020/12/21/22177193/kim-foxxs-expunge-drug-dealers-convictions-record-weed-cannabis-marijuana-pot-cocaine-heroin

SOUTHEAST MISSOURIAN
— You are what you drive, according to study – Jay Wolz
(DIERSEN: It would be great if candidates would disclose a) the vehicles that they own and b) the vehicles that they have owned.)
https://www.semissourian.com/story/2855073.html

PEORIA PUBLIC RADIO
— As 34th Resident Dies After LaSalle Veterans’ Home COVID-19 Outbreak, Families Prepare To Sue – HANNAH MEISEL
https://www.peoriapublicradio.org/post/34th-resident-dies-after-lasalle-veterans-home-covid-19-outbreak-families-prepare-sue#stream/0

NPR ILLINOIS
— Millions Of People Flying Despite Public Health Pleas To Stay Put – MATTHEW S. SCHWARTZ
https://www.nprillinois.org/post/millions-people-flying-despite-public-health-pleas-stay-put#stream/0

WHEATON PATCH
— Wheaton Library To Host Job Search Process Workshop In January. The manager if Workforce Connection Center at Goodwill is conducting a series of timely and informative Job Search Workshops.
(DIERSEN: From what I see, the more of the following that you are/were, the more that Democrat, Libertarian, Green, Independent, and RINO employers do not want to hire you: law enforcement officer, Trump supporter, conservative, patriotic, Republican, American, White, male, older, heterosexual, married, non-poor, gun owner, present/past federal employee, Christian, Protestant, Italian American, German American, and/or if your ancestors have been in America for a long time.)
https://patch.com/illinois/wheaton/wheaton-library-host-job-search-process-workshop-january

MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
— Finally, IDPH Releases Sources of Coronavirus Infections
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2020/12/20/finally-idph-releases-sources-of-coronavirus-infections/
— Huntley Police Suicide Calls in 2019 & 2020
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2020/12/20/huntley-police-suicide-calls-in-2019-2020/
— Have the Political Correction People Missed This?
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2020/12/20/have-the-political-correction-people-missed-this/
— Week’s School Board Filings, One Day to Go
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2020/12/20/weeks-school-board-fililngs-one-day-to-go/
— New Grafton Township Salaries
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2020/12/20/new-grafton-township-salaries/
— IL-14: Lauren Underwood Part of Joint Statement on Cyber Attack
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2020/12/20/underwood122020/
— From the Desk of John Lopez: IL-14 Congressional Filing and an Anniversary
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2020/12/19/lopez121920/
— IL-14: Graduate of Algonquin D-158 Prompts New Federal Civil Rights Legislation
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2020/12/19/underwood121920/
— Algonquin Township Abolition Petition Challenge Hearing Postponed
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2020/12/19/algonquin-township-abolition-petition-challenge-hearing-postponed/
— McHenry Road District Seeks Court Order Forcing Township Board to Sign and File Tax Levy
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2020/12/19/mchenry-road-district-seeks-court-order-forcing-township-board-to-sign-tax-levy/
— IL-14: Post-Election Campaign Reports for Lauren Underwood and Jim Oberweis
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2020/12/18/fec121820/

ILLINOIS LEAKS
— President Trump Files Petition for a Writ of Certiorari with US Supreme Court – KIRK ALLEN & JOHN KRAFT
https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2020/12/president-trump-files-petition-for-a-writ-of-certiorari-with-us-supreme-court/

ILLINOIS FAMILY INSTITUTE
— Leftists See Orwell’s Novel 1984 As a Blueprint for Progress – Laurie Higgins
https://illinoisfamily.org/education/leftists-see-novel-1984-as-a-blueprint-for-progress/

ILLINOIS REVIEW
— CHICAGO MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT ADMITS SHE HAS KNOWN FOR A YEAR ABOUT BOTCHED NO-KNOCK RAID
https://www.illinoisreview.com/illinoisreview/2020/12/chicago-mayor-lori-lightfoot-admits-she-has-known-for-a-year-about-botched-no-knock-raid.html

WASHINGTON TIMES
— Law could delist some Chinese companies from U.S. markets – Bill Gertz
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/dec/20/holding-foreign-companies-accountable-act-could-de/
— Government’s case against Facebook is bad economic policy – Peter Morici
(DIERSEN: Facebook has become a utility. Ever-increasingly, Facebookers a) spend all their time on Facebook, b) stop sending/reading emails, c) stop visiting websites, d) stop making/returning phone calls, and e) dump those who are not Facebookers.)
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/dec/20/governments-case-against-facebook-is-bad-economic-/

FOX NEWS
— The most popular car color of 2020 was this. It’s not that colorful at all. – Gary Gastelu (DIERSEN: All the new cars that I have bought since 1989 have been red.)
https://www.foxnews.com/auto/most-popular-car-color-2020

DAILY SIGNAL
— Conservatives Now Have an Option to Avoid Investing in Left-Leaning Companies – Rob Bluey
https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/12/21/how-to-avoid-accidentally-investing-in-far-left-progressive-companies/

PJ MEDIA
— Gavin’s Watch: So Many People Fled California It Could Lose a Congressional Seat in Census – VICTORIA TAFT
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/victoria-taft/2020/12/20/gavins-watch-so-many-people-fled-california-it-could-lose-a-congressional-seat-in-census-n1221039

EPOCH TIMES
— Trump: ‘We’re Getting Closer and Closer’ to Successful Challenge to Election Results – ZACHARY STIEBER
https://www.theepochtimes.com/trump-were-getting-closer-and-closer-to-successful-challenge-to-election-results_3627102.html
— Trump Campaign Files Supreme Court Challenge to Pennsylvania Election Results – JACK PHILLIPS
https://www.theepochtimes.com/trump-campaign-files-supreme-court-challenge-to-overturn-election-results-in-pennsylvania_3626145.html

NEW YORK TIMES
— New York Is Ousting Older Judges to Save Money. They’re Fighting Back. Dozens of judges are being forced to retire to close a pandemic budget gap. They have sued New York State, charging age discrimination. – Benjamin Weiser
(DIERSEN: My critics/opponents, their operatives, and their dupes have always promoted political affiliation discrimination, reverse discrimination, and age discrimination. They have always wanted the federal government to get rid of its employees who are Republican, White, male, and/or non-veteran who did not make GS-13 (currently $101,176) by age 25, GS-14 (currently $119,559) by age 30, GS-15 (currently $140,634) by age 35, and Senior Executive Service (currently $170,800) by age 40.) Extremely few federal employees make the aforesaid promotion deadlines. Further, my critics/opponents, their operatives, and their dupes want to oust conservative White male Republicans who are over 40 years old. In 1997, when I was 49 years old, they ousted me as a GAO employee. In 2004, when I was 56 years old, they ousted me as a Milton Township Republican Organization (MTRO) webmaster and American Association of Political Consultants Midwest Chapter board member. In 2007, when I was 59 years old, they ousted me as an Illinois Center Right Coalition Steering Committee member. In 2010, when I was 62 years old, they again ousted me as a MTRO webmaster. In 2011, when I was 63 years old, they ousted me as a Wheaton Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee member. In 2012, when I was 64 years old, they ousted me as a TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois chairman.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/nyregion/nyc-judges-age-discrimination.html
— How to Manage Performance Evaluations in the Work-From-Home Era – Julie Wees
(DIERSEN: Government is nasty. Politics is nasty. My Democrat GAO superiors never alleged that performance problems justified the following adverse actions that they took against me: forcing me to retire in 1997 when I was 49 years old, not promoting me beyond GS-13, getting rid of my mentor in 1987, keeping me off audits of IRS for all but 3 of the almost 18 years that I worked for GAO, and forcing me to take a $20,157 (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer from IRS to GAO in 1980. In Diersen v. GAO, I entered into the court record all the performance appraisals that GAO gave me 1980-1997.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/business/work-performance-evaluations-covid.html

WASHINGTON :POST
— DIERSEN HEADLINE: A hate-filled Trump-hating Trump-hater says “How Trump drove the lie that the election was stolen, undermining voter trust in the outcome.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-election-voter-trust/2020/12/20/00282aa6-407a-11eb-8db8-395dedaaa036_story.html

USA TODAY
— DIERSEN HEADLINE: A hate-filled conservative-hating conservative-hater says that Fox News has a grip on conservatives. I have never been in the grip of anyone and I never will be. I should write a book about those who are/were in the grip of others. I would focus on present/past members of the Milton Township Republican Organization, DuPage County Republican Central Committee, Illinois Republican Party, TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois, Wheaton Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Center Right Coalition, and American Association of Political Consultants Midwest Chapter. I would focus on present/past officials and employees of Wheaton, Milton Township, DuPage County, and Illinois. I would focus on present/past Republican candidates on ballots in my precinct, their political consultants, their major donors, their campaign managers, their campaign staff members, and their campaign volunteers.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/12/21/fox-news-newsmax-oan-cable-news-donald-trump-2020-election/3881624001/
— Don’t cut in line for the COVID vaccine. Elites who do will be named and shamed. The optics of the privileged jumping the COVID vaccine line ahead of essential workers will be terrible and should be damaging. – Juleanna Glover
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/12/20/covid-vaccine-name-shame-elites-who-jump-the-line-column/3920917001/

WALL STREET JOURNAL
— The Unfinished Business of Office Diversity Training – Krithika Varagur
(DIERSEN: To promote diversity is to get rid of those who are Trump supporters, conservative, patriotic, Republican, American, White, male, older, heterosexual, married, non-poor, gun owners, Christian, Protestant, Italian American, German American, and/or those whose ancestors have been in America for a long time.)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-unfinished-business-of-office-diversity-training-11608512401
— Nursing Homes Grapple With Staff Hesitant to Get the Covid-19 Vaccine. Nearly 72% of certified nursing assistants say they don’t want to be vaccinated, a recent survey found. Anna Wilde Mathews and Sarah Toy
https://www.wsj.com/articles/nursing-homes-grapple-with-staff-hesitant-to-get-the-covid-19-vaccine-11608477474
— Race Is Key Issue as California Governor Picks Harris’s Senate Replacement. Some urge Gov. Gavin Newsom to appoint state’s first Latino senator, while others say Black woman should get role. – Christine Mai-Duc
(DIERSEN: How soon, if not already, will America, Illinois, your county, your township, and your municipality officially banish those who are White, male, older, heterosexual, married, non-poor, Trump supporters, conservative, patriotic, Republican, American, gun owners, Christian, Protestant, Italian American, German American, and/or those whose ancestors have been in America for a long time?)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/race-is-key-issue-as-california-governor-picks-harriss-senate-replacement-11608483601
(DIERSEN: The public debate surrounding Mr. Newsom’s choice has centered primarily on racial and ethnic representation, not the next senator’s political views—a sign of how salient diversity questions are in America’s most populous state, where 63.5% of residents are nonwhite and Democrats dominate.)
— How to Negotiate and Counter a Job Offer – Deborah Acosta
(DIERSEN: In 1971, Oldsmobile withdrew a job offer that I had accepted saying that Oldsmobile had just agreed to stop hiring Whites to settle an EEOC complaint. That directly resulted in a) Firestone Stores firing me and b) my accepting a job offer from IRS.)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-negotiate-and-counter-a-job-offer-11607356041

FORBES
— Why Are New York’s State Pensions Fully Funded? Because They Have To Be – Elizabeth Bauer
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ebauer/2020/12/19/why-are-new-yorks-state-pensions-fully-funded-because-they-have-to/

INC.
— How To Use 2020 As A Springboard To Create Success.  You want to move fast in life, get in alignment with what matters most. – RAJ JANA
https://www.inc.com/raj-jana/how-to-use-2020-as-a-springboard-to-create-success.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: 1. What are you energized by?. . .2. Am I following my values?. . .3. What choices have I made this year?)
— How to Turn Lessons Learned From 2020 Into Your Greatest Opportunity. The misfortunes of yesterday don’t have to be carried into tomorrow. – RAJ JANA
https://www.inc.com/raj-jana/how-to-turn-lessons-learned-from-2020-into-your-greatest-opportunity.html

SEATTLE TIMES
— DIERSEN HEADLINE: VERY SAD: LGBTQ-promoters promote LGBTQ.
https://www.seattletimes.com/life/in-for-a-renewed-fight-why-seattle-area-lgbtq-rights-advocates-are-nervous-about-the-new-supreme-court/

FED SMITH
— Increasing Performance Value in Reduction-in-Force (RIF) – Ralph R. Smith
(DIERSEN: To deal with Republican-led budget cuts during the 1980s and 1990s, the Democrats who ran GAO got rid of their employees who were Republican, White, male, and/or non-veteran who they had not promoted to GS-13 (currently $101,176) by age 25, GS-14 (currently $119,559) by age 30, GS-15 (currently $140,634) by age 35, and Senior Executive Service (currently $170,800) by age 40. Extremely few GAO employees made the aforesaid promotion deadlines. Further, to keep GAO employees who were liberal/moderate, poor, LGBTQ, non-married, non-Christian, non-Protestant, non-German American, and/or those whose ancestors have not been in America for a long time, the Democrats who ran GAO got rid of their employees who were conservative, non-poor, heterosexual, married, Christian, Protestant, German American, and/or those whose ancestors have been in America for a long time.)
https://www.fedsmith.com/2020/12/20/increasing-performance-value-in-reduction-in-force-rif/

(FROM THE ARTICLE: The proposed regulations alter existing regulations regarding RIF procedures by modifying the order of retention, increasing the value of performance, and reducing the value of an employee’s length of service. This ranking procedure determines which employees will be retained—and which ones will not be retained—when an agency implements a RIF. Current RIF regulations place an employee’s performance as the last factor to consider when listing which employees will remain and which ones will go. The initial factors to consider in a RIF under current regulations are the “tenure of employment” followed by veterans preference and length of an employee’s federal service.)

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.