December 24 Morning Edition

ABC7
— Foster wants congressional gym, sauna closed during government shutdown
https://abc7chicago.com/politics/illinois-lawmaker-wants-congressional-gym-sauna-closed-during-government-shutdown/4956897/

 

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Proposed medical marijuana tax might preserve right to tax recreational cannabis in village, Oak Park officials say – Steve Schering
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/oak-park/news/ct-oak-marijuana-tax-tl-1227-story.html

 

DAILY HERALD
— Want to cut your tax bill? Keep reading and call your CPA – Laura Davison
https://www.dailyherald.com/business/20181223/want-to-cut-your-tax-bill-keep-reading-and-call-your-cpa
(FROM THE ARTICLE: SALT deductions One of the most bitterly opposed parts of Trump’s tax law was the $10,000 cap on so-called SALT deductions, for state and local taxes. Some tax accountants have helped clients in high-tax states set up special trusts that can help to get around the limit. Here’s how it works: clients transfer their homes into limited liability companies, and then transfer the interests in the LLCs into non-grantor trusts, and each trust takes the maximum $10,000 deduction. So if you have a $50,000 property tax bill, you can set up five separate trusts, with each taking the $10,000 deduction. The strategy has some drawbacks — setting up the trusts can be costly and the homeowner would need to put enough income-generating assets into the trust to balance out the $10,000 deduction. The IRS could also move to block the strategy. But for top-earners living in high-tax states, the savings could well justify the costs and the hassle, accountants say.)

 

ALTON DAILY NEWS
— Davis Questions Rauner on Food Stamp Waiver – Greg Bishop
http://altondailynews.com/news/details.cfm?clientid=17&id=276732#.XCDSd1xKiM8

 

PRAIRIE STATE WIRE
— DIERSEN HEADLINE: Ever-increasingly, anti-Trumps demonize, denigrate, and condemn members of the following groups as being racists and even worse things who should be gotten rid of: Trump supporters, Protestant, conservative, patriotic, Republican, American, White, male, older people, rich people, gun owners, German Americans, and/or those whose ancestors have been in America for a long time.
https://prairiestatewire.com/stories/511689949-reeder-talk-of-illegal-immigration-often-is-nothing-more-than-a-smokescreen-for-condemnation-of-all-immigrants

 

TOWNHALL
— Trump The Disrupter Pivots Back To Trumpism – And The Establishment Freaks Out – Kurt Schlichter
https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2018/12/24/trump-the-disrupter-pivots-back-to-trumpism-and-the-establishment-freaks-out-n2537978

 

FOX NEWS
— Caravan organizer Pueblo Sin Fronteras blasted by migrants over risky journey – Nicole Darrah
https://www.foxnews.com/world/world-2018-12-23-group-that-escorts-migrant-caravans-draws-more-scrutiny-html

 

NEWSMAX
— CNBC Poll: Startling 38 Percent of Wealthy GOP Won’t Vote Trump – Eric Mack (DIERSEN: What percent of the “wealthy GOP” is anti-Protestant, anti-conservative, anti-patriotic, anti-Republican, anti-American, anti-White, anti-male, anti-older people, anti-rich people, anti-gun owners, anti-German Americans, and/or anti-those whose ancestors have been in America for a long time?)
https://www.newsmax.com/us/wealthy-republicans-re-election/2018/12/23/id/895617/

 

WASHINGTON TIMES
— Trump may move to try to end birthright citizenship in U.S.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/23/trump-may-move-to-try-to-end-birthright-citizenshi/
— ‘Unfit’: Trump’s wild Washington week spurs increase in 25th Amendment talk Julian Castro: ‘He’s not behaving like he’s fit for office’ – Valerie Richardson
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/23/25th-amendment-calls-remove-trump-increase/

 

AMERICAN GREATNESS
— The President’s Enemies and Their Confected Drama – Conrad Black (DIERSEN: Who paints themselves as being your enemies? I should write a book about those who paint themselves as being my enemies.)
https://amgreatness.com/2018/12/23/the-presidents-enemies-and-their-confected-drama/

 

NEWS BUSTERS
— DIERSEN HEADLINE: Ever-increasingly, those who are members of Group A say that members of Group B are White supremacists, Nazis, KKK members, haters, racists, sexists, bigots, and even worse things. Members of Group A are anti-Trump, anti-Protestant, anti-conservative, anti-patriotic, anti-Republican, anti-American, anti-White, anti-male, anti-older people, anti-rich people, anti-gun owners, anti-German Americans, and/or anti-those whose ancestors have been in America for a long time and members of Group B are Trump supporters, Protestant, conservative, patriotic, Republican, American, White, male, older people, rich people, gun owners, German Americans, and/or those whose ancestors have been in America for a long time.)
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/brad-wilmouth/2018/12/24/rick-tyler-wall-supporters-dont-want-people-who-are-not-white

 

WATCHDOG
— Open the Books: 19 million public employees cost taxpayers nearly $1 trillion – Bethany Blankley (DIERSEN: In your precinct, in your township/ward, and in your county, how high is the level of hatred a) against past and present public employees and b) against public retirees?)
https://www.watchdog.org/national/open-the-books-million-public-employees-cost-taxpayers-nearly-trillion/article_c8e10b5a-020d-11e9-9d08-bfd09e189736.html

 

ACCURACY IN ACADEMIA
— University of Illinois Course to Address ‘Snowflakes’ and Viewpoint Diversity Problems at Colleges
https://www.academia.org/university-of-illinois-course-to-address-snowflakes-and-viewpoint-diversity-problems-at-colleges/

 

EPOCH TIMES
— ‘Lawfare’ Used to Tie Down and Punish President Trump, Conservatives Say – MATTHEW VADUM
https://www.theepochtimes.com/lawfare-used-to-tie-down-and-punish-president-trump-conservatives-say_2747181.html

 

THE HILL
— Migrants say caravan escort group misled them on dangers of trip – EMILY BIRNBAUM
https://thehill.com/latino/422692-migrants-say-caravan-escort-group-misled-them-on-dangers-of-trip


— DIERSEN HEADLINE: An anti-Trump says “Trump’s week of tumult shakes many in GOP.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/422682-trumps-week-of-tumult-shakes-many-in-gop

 

ASSOCIATED PRESS
— DIERSEN HEADLINE: Trump-haters say “Trump’s coalition cracking over his policies and personality.”
https://www.abc15.com/national/trumps-coalition-cracking-over-his-policies-and-personality

 

NEW YORK TIMES
— Peddled on the Streets of Los Angeles: Ice Cream, Hot Dogs, and Fake Social Security Cards – Miriam Jordan
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/24/us/undocumented-immigrants-los-angeles.html
— The Steady Bedlam of the Trump White House Making sense of the never-ending turnover in the administration. – Michael Tomasky
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/24/opinion/trump-mattis-turnover.html
— HARDCOPY ARTICLE TITLE: If Your Boss Is Unhappy and You Know It – Rob Walker (DIERSEN: Some of my superiors and supervisors in the federal government were unhappy that they had to waste the careers of and get rid of their employees who were Republican, White, male, and/or non-veteran who had not made GS-13 (currently $96,403) by age 25, GS-14 (currently $113,920) by age 30, GS-15 (currently $134,000) by age 35, and Senior Executive Service (currently $164,200) by age 40.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/business/unhappy-boss.html

 

NEW YORK POST
— Fewer NYC high school students identify as heterosexual than ever before – Carl Campanile (DIERSEN: Democrats want everyone to be LGBTQ, that is, Democrats want to destroy a) traditional marriage and b) the traditional family.)
https://nypost.com/2018/12/24/fewer-nyc-high-school-students-identify-as-heterosexual-than-ever-before/

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL
— Facebook’s Lonely Conservative Takes on a Power Position Joel Kaplan has emerged as the social-media site’s protector against allegations of political bias – Deepa Seetharaman
https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebooks-lonely-conservative-takes-on-a-power-position-11545570000
— What Amazon Isn’t Telling Investors About Its Revenue New accounting rule says companies should report more details about revenue, but many don’t: ‘There will have to be more of an outcry’ – Michael Rapoport
https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-amazon-isnt-telling-investors-about-its-revenue-11545480000
— Shutdown Shows Little Initial Impact Due to the weekend and federal holidays, the closing of government agencies and services won’t be fully felt until Wednesday – Kate Davidson and Andrew Duehren (DIERSEN: Are/were you an essential employee? My critics/opponents, their operatives, and their dupes have always demonized me, denigrated me, and condemned me as being someone who never was an essential employee.)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/shutdowns-initial-impact-likely-to-be-minor-11545455237

 

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL
— We don’t have a wall because it would work – VICTOR DAVIS HANSON
https://www.abqjournal.com/1261011/we-dont-have-a-wall-because-it-would-work.html

 

WASHINGTON MONTHLY
— DIERSEN HEADLINE: Trump-haters say that Trump is insecure.
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/12/23/just-how-insecure-is-donald-trump/

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.