February 4, 2025

FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Businesses across Chicago area close, some CPS students stay home for ‘a day without immigrants’  The national movement encouraged participants to skip work, school and refrain from shopping for one day. The initiative spread across social media in response to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. (COMMENT: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly reject Trump’s election, that is, they ever-increasingly reject the rule of law.)
https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/02/03/businesses-across-chicago-area-close-some-cps-students-stay-home-for-a-day-without-immigrants

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD: Hoping to ‘Trump proof’ students’ rights, Illinois lawmakers aim to end police ticketing at school (COMMENT: Democrat leaders ever-increasing destroy education.)
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/04/illinois-school-ticketing-bill/
— The more hatred that you promote against Trump, the more that hate-filled Trump-hating Trump-hates promote you.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/04/opinion-congress-powers-donald-trump/
— Under the Democrats and under the RINOs, homelessness will ever-increasingly increase.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/03/lake-county-volunteers-search-deep-into-the-night-for-the-homeless-they-left-their-warm-homes-to-seek-out-our-unhoused-neighbors/
— Democrats promote illegal immigration in Lake County
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/03/hundreds-rally-in-waukegan-for-immigrants-rights-we-will-not-let-trumps-war-on-immigrants-go-uncontested/

ABC7
— Chicago Teachers Union holding ‘walk-ins’ amid concerns over Trump policies
https://abc7chicago.com/post/chicago-teachers-union-holding-walk-ins-amid-concerns-president-donald-trumps-policies/15863535/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47uvgPvocjo
— Rubio says El Salvador offers to accept deportees from US of any nationality, including Americans
https://abc7chicago.com/post/marco-rubio-says-el-salvador-offers-accept-deportees-us-any-nationality-including-americans/15862619/
— Northwestern University among 5 colleges in Trump probe by Education Dept. over alleged antisemitism
https://abc7chicago.com/post/department-education-investigate-antisemitism-5-colleges-including-northwestern-university-trump-order/15862361/

CBS2
— Trump administration investigates Northwestern University claiming antisemitism
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/video/trump-administration-investigates-northwestern-university-claiming-antisemitism/
— Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote more illegal immigration
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/video/chicago-woman-worries-about-trump-administration-ending-temporary-immigration-program/

WGN9
— What is your connections with slavery? Democrat leaders ever-increasingly a) blame Republicans for all the problems that Blacks have, b) remind Blacks about past discrimination against them, c) urge Blacks to forever demand Affirmative Action (AA), DEI, and reparations, and d) promise to give Blacks the aforesaid. Democrat leaders ever-increasingly hint/imply/argue/shout that the longer that your ancestors have been in America and the more of the following that you are, the more that you have benefitted from slavery and from past discrimination against Blacks: conservative, Republican, White, male, older, non-poor, Protestant, and/or German American. Because I am all of the aforesaid, Democrats have always made me pay the price of AA and DEI big time. My critics/opponents have always stressed my bad demographics and that all my ancestors immigrated to Illinois during the 1840s and 1850s. They have also stressed that in 1853, Illinois passed a so called “Black Law” also known as a “Black Code.” At the time, it was the harshest restriction of Black people in the country and that it was not repealed until 1865. They have also stressed that none of my ancestors served in the Union Army. During the Civil War, on my father’s side, they raised and sold horses in Crete. Before that, they homesteaded a farm in southeast Crete Township. Before that, they worked in a brick factory in Chicago. On my mother’s side, they sharecropped a farm in Grant Park along the Indiana border. My Democrat GAO superiors hinted/implied that I discriminated against my Black subordinates. I should sue my Democrat GAO superiors.
https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/historic-meeting-in-illinois-paved-the-way-for-black-citizens-rights/

FOX32
— New poll shows Chicagoans losing confidence in Johnson, CTU: ‘Politically toxic’
https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/new-poll-chicago-mayor-ctu

ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR
— 2 Illinois legislators support ban on abortion
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/rockford-register-star/20250204/281500756946373

INDIANAPOLIS STAR
— Indiana shouldn’t want Illinois’ poor counties  (COMMENT: Since the 1850s, on my father’s side, my ancestors lived in northeast Will County. On my mother’s side, they lived in northeast Kankakee County. From what I see, if they had lived in DuPage County, they would have done much better financially. 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.)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/indiana-shouldnt-want-illinois-welfare-103038149.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The “secessionist” counties in Illinois are in the southern part of the state, with many bordering Indiana. This one-third of counties comprise only 6.6% of the Illinois population, and only 4% of the state’s economy. Per capita income in the secessionist counties is $54,381. If it were a separate state, it would be the second-poorest state in the union, sliding right in between Mississippi and West Virginia. The remaining counties in Illinois have a per capita income of $73,228. Adding the secessionist counties to Indiana would cut our per capita income enough for us to move from 14th to 11th place from the bottom. Only 18.6% of adults in these counties have completed college, while the Illinois total is 36.7%. This new post-secession Indiana would instantly be the least well-educated state, and would be right about where the U.S. as a whole was in the late 1980s. Economic growth in the secessionist counties has been at about half the rate of the rest of Illinois so far this century. And, while the rest of Illinois has experienced very modest population growth of about 1.4%, these secessionist counties have lost a whopping 5.2% of their population. If the secessionist parts of Illinois were their own state, they’d have the worst 25 years of population loss of any state in U.S. history. So, it’s pretty easy to see why these counties might be unhappy about their economic conditions. They are truly dismal. But how much of this is the fault of Illinois state government? After all, the other Illinois counties are doing much better. That includes Chicago, where the economy continues to be robust, even as population growth has stalled. Is it possible that these counties are somehow being robbed of economic opportunity by Illinois? Nope. As it turns out, these counties are essentially welfare queens of the state of Illinois. . .As it turns out, residents in these secessionist counties pay about $2,986 per person each year in state taxes. That would make them the fourth lowest-taxed residents in the nation. But here’s the rub: They receive $5,430 per person each year in support from residents of the other 69 Illinois counties. In contrast, the rest of the state collects $4,485 in state taxes each year and gets back $4,217 per person in state spending. So, each resident of the secessionist counties gets $2,444 more state dollars spent in their county each year than they pay in taxes. On top of that, they pay only 66.6 cents for every dollar of taxes residents in the other 69 Illinois counties pay. Federal taxes and spending tell a similar story. A recent study of mine calculated the share of taxes and transfer payments made at the county level to the federal government. You guessed it, the secessionist counties pay a lower federal tax rate, but receive more in Social Security payments and in other types of transfers (TANF, SNAP, etc.) than the counties that did not vote to secede from Illinois. Rural voters are failing themselves There are some useful lessons here. First, the secessionist counties of Illinois pay low state taxes but are beneficiaries of enormous transfers from the rest of Illinois. It is hard to pinpoint just what these Illinois secessionist counties are angry about. Most likely it is bad vibes borne of ignorance. There’s compelling evidence of that. If they do come to Indiana, Hoosier taxpayers will need to pony up almost $2 billion more per year to match the fiscal largesse those secessionist counties receive from the rest of Illinois. It is worth noting that those taxes are going to come primarily from urban areas, like Fishers, Carmel and Indianapolis. So, no, we don’t really want them — though it is easy to see why Illinois might not want them either. Second, neither the red state and blue state models of rural development have worked. The secessionist counties of Illinois look just like 40 or 50 declining rural counties in Indiana. Both Illinois and Indiana policymakers are failing their rural counties, though most of the blame for economic decline belongs squarely with the voters of those rural counties. Finally, the real political divisions in America are geographic. So far this century, a whopping half of all the population growth this century has occurred in just 75 out of 3,143 U.S. counties, or 2.3%. Fully 45% of U.S. counties have lost population this century. This deep economic divergence has gripped the U.S. for four decades. It is not between red or blue states, or places with high taxes or woke policies. It is primarily between urban and non-urban counties, and reflects the desire of most Americans to live in places with strong local public services — great schools, low crime and businesses that offer a mix of goods and services. Places that offer these do well; those that do not will look more and more like rural Illinois.)

CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS
— Groups demand release of after-school program funding. Programs close, staff laid off while $50M in funding remains unspent. (COMMENT. While I was a high school student, I did yard work, delivered newspapers, and washed dishes. That enabled me to buy a 1958 Chevy Bel Air at the start on my junior year in 1964 and to buy a new 1966 Pontiac Tempest Sprint at the end of my senior year in 1966. I used that car to get to/from my parents’ home in Crete and a) summer jobs cleaning golf shoes, chipping slag, and pumping gasoline in 1966, b) UIC classes in 1966 and 1967, and c) my Park Forest Post Office job 1966-1967. I sold the car to one of my coworkers in late 1967 and bought a new 1968 Oldsmobile 442.)
https://capitolnewsillinois.com/news/groups-demand-release-of-after-school-program-funding/

CAPITOL FAX
— Morning briefing
https://capitolfax.com/2025/02/04/isabel%e2%80%99s-morning-briefing-449/

FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES

WIREPOINTS
— Bally’s and the city of Chicago are engaging in illegal discrimination, plain and simple.
https://wirepoints.org/ballys-and-the-city-of-chicago-are-engaging-in-illegal-discrimination-plain-and-simple-wirepoints-on-wls-ramblin-ray-show/

GOPUSA ILLINOIS
— To get more votes from voters who have problems, Democrat and RINO leaders ever-increasingly a) shout at voters who have problems that Republicans cause all the problems that voters have and b) focus on voters who have bigger problems and are minority, female, younger, unmarried, LGBTQ, veteran, non-Protestant, non-German American, and/or have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time. How successful have Democrat and RINO leaders been doing that blaming in your county, township, municipality, school district, and precinct? If voters in the aforesaid who have big problems were surveyed, on who/what would they blame their problems on? What big problems did you have? Mine included having to work my way through college. I did not blame my parents for not having more money. I blamed myself. I could not get any scholarships because I only just barely made it into the top 20% of my high school class and my ACT score was only 24. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
—  The liberal Democrats who run Google continue to refuse to treat www.gopillinois.com as being a legitimate news website. They continue to refuse to treat me as being a legitimate political and government news and commentary aggregator, journalist, and reporter. They continue to hint/imply/argue/shout that I cannot be legitimate because I state that and I am conservative and Republican. I should write about the websites that Google treats as being legitimate news websites. I would focus on those a) that promote the Democrat Party platform and/or b) demonize, denigrate, and condemn the Republican Party platform. I would focus on those that promote the most hatred a) against Trump and b) against those who share Trump’s demographics: conservative, Republican, American, White, male, older, non-poor, non-veteran, Protestant, German American, and/or have ancestors who have been in America for a long time. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com

MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
— Challenger Richard Tado Takes on Algonquin Township Supervisor Randy Funk on YouTube
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/03/challenger-richard-tado-takes-on-algonquin-township-supervisor-randy-funk-on-youtube/
— Taking Down Pritzker’s Bragging about School Success
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/03/3521/
— Reick Reprises Animal Farm
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2025/02/03/reick-reprises-animal-farm/

FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES

WASHINGTON TIMES
— Enforcing the law breaks the law: Chicago’s ICE lawsuit. The legal equivalent of a toddler throwing a temper tantrum.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/3/enforcing-law-breaks-law-chicago-ice-lawsuit/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: A coalition of anti-border organizations in Chicago has just filed what may be the dumbest lawsuit in the history of jurisprudence. In essence, it claims that enforcement of the Immigration and Nationality Act — the statute that dictates how and when foreign nationals may lawfully enter the United States — interferes with the First Amendment rights of sanctuary city advocates. Frankly, it’s hard to overstate just how moronic Organized Communities Against Deportation, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council and Raise the Floor Alliance v. Trump are.)
— China angrily retaliates against Trump’s new 10% tariff
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/4/china-angrily-retaliates-donald-trump-new-10-tarif/

WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— Trump can help prevent aviation disasters
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/3309085/trump-can-help-prevent-aviation-disasters/

BREITBART
— Democratic Party Unfavorable Rating Hits 16-Year High
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/02/03/nolte-democratic-party-unfavorable-rating-hits-16-year-high/
— California Democrats Pass $50 Million to Fight Trump, Defend Illegal Alien Criminals; Seek Billions in Fire Aid
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/02/04/california-democrats-pass-50-million-to-fight-trump-defend-illegal-alien-criminals-seek-billions-in-fire-aid/
— Martha’s Vineyard Residents Defend Illegal Aliens After Previously Shipping Them Off Island
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2025/02/03/marthas-vineyard-residents-defend-illegal-aliens-previously-shipping-off-island/

FEDERALIST
— Why It’s Absolutely Christian To Swiftly Deport All Illegal Migrants
https://thefederalist.com/2025/02/04/why-its-absolutely-christian-to-swiftly-deport-all-illegal-migrants/

FOX NEWS
— Chicago alderman accuses Mayor Johnson of only listening to ‘hyper-liberal White progressives’ on immigration. ‘He’s not concerned with African-Americans nor Latinos,’ Alderman Ray Lopez told Fox News Digital
https://www.foxnews.com/media/chicago-alderman-accuses-mayor-johnson-only-listening-hyper-white-liberal-progressives-immigration
— Guantanamo Bay for illegals doesn’t tug at heartstrings (COMMENT: To come into a country illegally and/or to stay in a country illegally demonstrates gross disrespect for the rule of law and for that country. Democrat leaders ever-increasingly paint illegals as being fugitive slaves. But unlike illegals, slaves were brought into America against their will.)
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6368228766112

NEWSMAX
— Bill Would Allow Lawsuits Against Sanctuary Cities
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/thom-tillis-senate-bill/2025/02/03/id/1197687/

NATIONAL REVIEW
— Trump Wages a Needless War. The trade fight with our neighbors is mostly costs and very little in the way of benefits.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/02/trump-wages-a-needless-war/

TOWNHALL
— Securing the Border: Trump Actions Prove It Doesn’t Require New Laws
https://townhall.com/columnists/jennybethmartin/2025/02/04/securing-the-border-trump-actions-prove-it-doesnt-require-new-laws-n2651575#google_vignette

FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES

REUTERS
— Trump administration to take steps to defund Education Department
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-advisers-weigh-plan-dismantle-department-education-wsj-reports-2025-02-03/

ABC NEWS
— To get more votes from non-Whites, Democrats ever-increasingly a) glorify and praise non-Whites and b) demonize, denigrate, and condemn Whites.
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/video/american-monuments-perpetuate-white-supremacy-myths-118423608

NEW YORK TIMES
— China Swiftly Counters Trump’s Tariffs With a Flurry of Trade Curbs. After a 10 percent tariff on Chinese products took effect on Tuesday, China announced retaliatory measures, including tariffs and an investigation of Google.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/business/economy/trump-tariffs-china.html
— House Democratic Super PAC Creates $50 Million Fund Targeting Working Class (COMMENT: My critics/opponents despise/hate a) the working class, that is, wage earners and b) unions and union members. I was a wage earned for 33 years and I was a union member for 12 of those years.  According to my critics/opponents, a) all the jobs that I had were bad jobs that they would never stoop to take and b) I was grossly overpaid and my benefits were far too generous. In my defense, I earned a job-related bachelor’s degree, three job-related master’s degrees, six job-related professional certifications, and a job-related professional license.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/03/us/politics/democrats-house-super-pac.html
— IRS Expands Its Free Tax Filing Option (COMMENT: I use TurboTax. One could compare and contrast your balance due/refund between TurboTax and IRS’s Direct File.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/24/your-money/irs-tax-filing-free-online.html
— Anticipate/expect that the more demographics that you share with Trump, the more that hate-filled, Trump-hating Trump-haters will call you a racist and even worse things.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/03/us/politics/trump-diversity-racism.html
— Thousands of U.S. Government Web Pages Have Been Taken Down Since Friday. Federal agencies moved to satisfy Trump’s orders to remove topics like diversity initiatives and “gender ideology.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/upshot/trump-government-websites-missing-pages.html
— E.V. Owners Don’t Pay Gas Taxes. So, Many States Are Charging Them Fees. States are using higher registration fees for electric cars to make up for declining fuel taxes, but some are punitive, environmentalists say. A federal tax could be coming. (COMMENT: What about extremely low mileage EVs like mine is going to be? How about a per-miles driven tax?)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/business/ev-fees-gas-tax.html

WALL STREET JOURNAL
— Trump Can Ban Transgender Birth Certificates. Most states allow natives to alter their recorded sex, an affront against science and a danger to women.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/trump-can-ban-transgender-birth-certificates-policy-protect-womens-spaces-d726a9fe
—  Tips to Cutting Back on Your Drinking (COMMENT: Most of my superiors in the federal government who were Democrat, older, White, and male were big drinkers. They did not approve of my not being a drinker.)
https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/part-time-sober-how-you-can-join-the-ranks-f973250b
— Trump Advisers Weigh Plan to Dismantle Education Department. Administration officials are discussing executive order that could shut down key functions of the agency. (COMMENT: While I worked for the Democrats who ran GAO 1980-1997, Republicans cut the agency’s budget. When I started, GAO had more than 6,000 employees. By the time my Democrat GAO superiors forced me to retire, it had less than 3,000 employees.)
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/education-department-trump-executive-order-eeaf1cb6
— ‘We’re Taking It Back’: Trump Renews Threat to Seize Panama Canal
https://www.wsj.com/video/were-taking-it-back-trump-renews-threat-to-seize-panama-canal/54B3FD62-0EDD-43A9-8F06-5E59EE7167D2

NPR
— Even where weed is legal, product safety isn’t guaranteed
https://www.wvik.org/2025-02-04/even-where-weed-is-legal-product-safety-isnt-guaranteed

WION
— Donald Trump Begins Deporting Indian Migrants, 205 Illegals ‘Kicked Out’
https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DFFSRZNDk6YM

WIRED
— A 25-Year-Old With Elon Musk Ties Has Direct Access to the Federal Payment System. The Bureau of the Fiscal Service is a sleepy part of the Treasury Department. It’s also where, sources say, a 25-year-old engineer tied to Elon Musk has admin privileges over the code that controls Social Security payments, tax returns, and more.
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-associate-bfs-federal-payment-system/

VOA NEWS
— Trump administration moves to end deportation protections for 348,000 Venezuelans
https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-administration-moves-to-end-deportation-protections-for-348-000-venezuelans-/7961630.html

VOX
— Why some immigrants want fewer immigrants (COMMENT: Immigrants drive wages down for low-wage workers.
https://www.vox.com/immigration/397835/immigrants-less-immigration-trump-democrats-laken-riley-cesar-chavez

ABS-CBN
— Illegals unite near Trump Tower in Chicago and a) glorify and praise illegals and b) demonize, denigrate, and condemn Americans.
https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/2/4/immigrants-built-america-protesters-unite-near-trump-tower-in-chicago-1123

BUSINESS TODAY
— Trump administration begins deporting illegal migrants to India. India is the furthest destination for US military flights deporting illegals, with over 5,000 migrants being sent from El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California.
https://www.businesstoday.in/world/us/story/trump-administration-begins-deporting-illegal-migrants-to-india-after-guatemala-report-463278-2025-02-04

BUSINESS STANDARD
— 18,000 Indians identified as illegal immigrants in US; 205 deported so far
https://www.business-standard.com/finance/personal-finance/18-000-indians-identified-as-illegal-immigrants-in-us-205-deported-so-far-125020400247_1.html

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.