FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
ABC7
— Trump, Mamdani promise to work to help NYC and tackle affordability amid cordiality
https://abc7chicago.com/post/trump-mamdani-meet-oval-office-mayor-elect-pushes-affordability-agenda/18185786/
— Durbin: Trump’s deployment of National Guard in Illinois cost taxpayers nearly $20M
https://abc7chicago.com/post/president-donald-trumps-deployment-national-guard-illinois-cost-taxpayers-20m-sen-dick-durbin/18186965/
— Judge prohibits IRS from sharing sensitive taxpayer data with ICE to aid its immigration crackdown
https://abc7chicago.com/post/judge-prohibits-irs-sharing-sensitive-taxpayer-data-ice/18187113/
NBC5
— Trump and Mamdani go from adversaries to allies after White House meeting
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/trump-mamdani-washington-dc-meeting/3854391/
CBS2
— Detained protesters accuse feds of using them as props for Kristi Noem’s visit to Broadview ICE facility
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/protesters-arrested-broadview-ice-kristi-noem-gregory-bovino-promotional-video/
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison ends reelection bid, leaving Republican primary uncontested
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/21/cook-county-sean-morrison-drops-out/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison, a Republican, announced Thursday he will not run for reelection next year, leaving former Commissioner Elizabeth Doody Gorman as the only Republican candidate for his seat. Morrison has represented the 17th District, which includes a wide swath of the southwest suburbs including Orland Park, Palos Heights and Lemont, since 2015. He was appointed to replace Gorman, who held the position from 2002 to 2015 before resigning to accept a job at an accounting firm in the private sector. Gorman supported Morrison as her successor. . .Morrison was reelected in 2018 and 2022. Gorman ran to unseat Morrison once before in 2022, but lost in the primary. With Morrison dropping out and the filing deadline past, she will run uncontested in the primary. Gorman has been on the Regional Transportation Authority board since 2021, and was formerly executive director of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. “I was probably just as surprised as anybody else, and, you know, wish him and his wife and kids well in their next chapter,” Gorman said Friday.)
— Takeaways from Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani visit: Both men get something they want, GOP loses a punching bag
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/21/takeaways-trump-mamdani-visit/
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Landscapers hit hard by ICE blitz, ‘accused of the crime of working’ “Operation Midway Blitz” teams might have scaled back in Chicago, but the fear — and defiance — remains. DD: The son of one of my GAO superiors started a landscaping business. But he was driven out of business by his competitors who used cheap illegal labor.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2025/11/21/operation-midway-blitz-ice-landscapers-human-impact
— Cook County townships to reopen property tax appeals window. DD: Republican officials in Wheaton, Milton Township, and DuPage County were furious when I appealed the assessment of the newly built 915 Cove Court in Wheaton ( https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/915-Cove-Ct-Wheaton-IL-60189/4447887_zpid/ ) because of construction defects and unrecorded easements. They all denied my appeal. But the Illinois Property Tax appeal Board ( https://www.ptab.illinois.gov/ ) approved it. The home had been built by an extremely powerful major Republican donor. Since then, he and his supporters have done everything that they could to destroy me.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/real-estate/2025/11/20/township-property-tax-bill-appeal
DAILY HERALD
— Immigration agencies deny responsibility for mysterious drones spotted in Wheeling
https://www.dailyherald.com/20251121/local-politics/immigration-agencies-deny-responsibility-for-mysterious-drones-spotted-in-wheeling/
WAND TV
— ‘Claytons’ Law’ calls for English requirement, citizenship verification for Illinois licenses
https://www.wandtv.com/news/illinois/claytons-law-calls-for-english-requirement-citizenship-verification-for-illinois-licenses/article_e2576645-efc2-44f0-88a9-665f27a5d6f9.html
WGN RADIO
— Karen Conti: SAFE-T Act, man charged in CTA burning charges
https://wgnradio.com/lisa-dent/karen-conti-safe-t-act-man-charged-in-cta-burning-charges/
CAPITOL FAX
— Afternoon roundup
https://capitolfax.com/2025/11/21/isabel%e2%80%99s-afternoon-roundup-428/
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES
WASHINGTON TIMES
— Trump says Mamdani will be ‘great mayor’ as they exchange praise in White House meeting
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/nov/21/trump-says-mamdani-great-mayor-exchange-praise-white-house-meeting/
— House votes to oppose socialist policies
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/nov/21/house-votes-oppose-socialist-policies-mamdani-meets-trump/
— Texas asks Supreme Court to allow use of new GOP-friendly map
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/nov/21/texas-asks-supreme-court-allow-use-new-gop-friendly-map/
WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— House Democrats split on vote denouncing socialism
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house/3894870/house-democrats-split-denouncing-socialism-trump-mamdani-meeting/
— Top teachers union warns educators about Republicans’ ‘arsenal of racist dog whistles’ and ‘transphobic tropes’
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/3895275/national-educators-association-warns-educators-republicans-transphobic-tropes/
NEW YORK POST
— Trump and Mamdani ‘giddy’ during ‘love fest’ first White House meeting, body language expert says
https://nypost.com/2025/11/21/us-news/trump-and-mamdani-look-giddy-during-first-wh-meeting-body-language-expert/
— Trump-Mamdani — the start of a beautiful friendship?
https://nypost.com/2025/11/21/opinion/trump-mamdani-the-start-of-a-beautiful-friendship/
— Trump jokes it’s OK for Mamdani to call him a ‘fascist’: ‘You can just say yes’
https://nypost.com/2025/11/21/us-news/trump-runs-cover-for-mamdani-after-mayor-elect-asked-to-explain-if-he-still-thinks-president-is-a-fascist-you-can-just-say-yes/
— Mamdani, Trump’s expected slugfest turns into a lovefest as president says socialist will make NYC ‘greater than ever before’
https://nypost.com/2025/11/21/us-news/mamdani-trumps-expected-slugfest-turns-into-a-lovefest-as-president-says-socialist-will-make-nyc-greater-than-ever-before/
— Trump says Zohran Mamdani is not a ‘jihadist’ in warm exchange during NYC mayor-elect’s White House visit
https://nypost.com/2025/11/21/us-news/trump-breaks-with-elise-stefanik-says-zohran-mamdani-is-not-a-jihadist-in-warm-exchange-during-nyc-mayor-elects-white-house-visit/
— House resolution condemning socialism splits Democrats
https://nypost.com/2025/11/21/us-news/house-passes-resolution-condemning-socialism-as-zohran-mamdani-arrives-for-trump-meeting/
— Body language expert reveals what happened during Trump and Mamdani’s meeting: ‘I was surprised’
https://nypost.com/video/body-language-expert-reveals-what-happened-during-trump-and-mamdanis-meeting-i-was-surprised/
BREITBART
— Trump Meets with Mamdani at the White House
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/11/21/watch-donald-trump-meets-with-zohran-mamdani-at-the-white-house/
— ICE Operation in Charlotte Exposes Huge Scale of Illegal Migration Across Construction Industry
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2025/11/21/ice-operation-in-charlotte-exposes-huge-scale-of-illegal-migration-across-construction-industry/amp/
DAILY CALLER
— Nearly 100 Democrats Refuse To Condemn Socialism In Party-Shattering Vote
https://dailycaller.com/2025/11/21/democrats-split-house-resolution-condemn-socialism/
DAILY SIGNAL
— 127 Democrats Refuse to Vote to Condemn ‘Horrors of Socialism’
https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/11/21/127-democrats-refuse-to-vote-to-condemn-horrors-of-socialism/
DAILY WIRE
— House Passes Anti-Socialism Resolution
https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-passes-anti-socialism-resolution-as-mamdani-visits-white-house
FOX BUSINESS
— Mamdani’s charm may be the most ‘dangerous’ thing about him
https://www.foxbusiness.com/video/6385423453112
FOX NEWS
— ‘Just say yes’: Trump cuts in as NYC mayor-elect Mamdani dodges on calling him a ‘fascist’ at Oval Office. Democratic socialist discusses housing crisis and public safety cooperation with president.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/just-say-yes-trump-cuts-nyc-mayor-elect-mamdani-dodges-calling-him-fascist-oval-office
— 86 Dems vote with Republicans to condemn socialism
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/86-dems-republicans-condemn-socialism-wake-mamdanis-mayoral-victory
— DOJ sues Newsom over California giving illegal immigrants college tuition benefits. Justice Department lawyers called it ‘unequal treatment’ that was ‘squarely’ at odds with federal law.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-sues-newsom-over-california-measure-giving-illegal-immigrants-college-tuition-benefits
— Big Paychecks, Bigger Problems: How a bloated bureaucracy exposes Congress’ funding failure. DD: According to my critics/opponents, the federal government grossly overpaid me, my employment benefits were far too generous, my Civil Service Retirement System pension is far too generous, and my federal retirement benefits are far too generous. In today’s dollars, my federal salary increased from $19.37hour when I was 16 in 1966 to $153,151/year when I was 49 in 1997. In my defense, during that time, I earned a job-related bachelor’s degree. I earned three job-related master’s degrees. I earned six job-related professional certifications. I earned a job-related professional license.
https://www.aol.com/articles/big-paychecks-bigger-problems-bloated-003400110.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: A new report from a government watchdog group begs the question of why — with nearly 800,000 federal bureaucrats drawing six-figure salaries and the average payroll of the federal workforce far outpacing its size — is Washington still unable to fund the basics of government? Open The Books, a project of American Transparency, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan charitable organization, closely tracks government spending and released an expansive report Wednesday ahead of a looming agreement between Republicans and Democrats to reopen the government, showing the swamp has gotten bigger, richer and more secretive since 2020. The report, which analyzed all publicly disclosed federal salaries for fiscal year 2024, found a total of 2.9 million civil service employees with a total payroll of $270 billion, plus an additional 30% for benefits. While the total number of employees rose by 5% since 2020, payroll grew nearly five times as much. The current federal workforce is costing American taxpayers $673,000 per minute, $40.4 million per hour and just under $1 billion per day, according to Open The Books. This includes almost 1,000 workers who are making more than the president’s $400,000 per year salary, 31,452 non-War Department federal employees who made more than every governor of all 50 states and 793,537 people making $100,000 or more. Those making $300,000 or more have seen an 84% increase since 2020, while there has similarly been an 82% increase in those earning $200,000 or more, the report points out. During Open The Book’s investigation, the fiscal watchdog group also found that the names of 383,000 federal workers across 56 different agencies were redacted, amounting to a total of $38.3 billion in pay. According to Open The Books CEO John Hart, “You can’t have accountability without visibility.” “The Trump administration has a historic opportunity to bring much-needed transparency to the administrative state. While federal employees don’t add as much to the debt as safety net programs, defense and overall agency spending, they are an indicator of government’s growth,” Hart said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Our investigators found far too many redactions and blind spots that DOGE should have already fixed. You can’t have accountability without visibility. Taxpayers need a much clearer picture of the federal workforce than they have today.” U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has been working with Open The Books to fight for greater transparency. In a letter sent in September to Scott Kupor, the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Ernst said she had identified “numerous examples” of full-time federal employees earning two salaries while moonlighting for other agencies or government contractors, something typically prohibited under the law. Ernst pointed out that this was being done without the approval or knowledge of these workers’ managers. “The Trump administration has a historic opportunity to bring much-needed transparency to the administrative state. While federal employees don’t add as much to the debt as safety net programs, defense and overall agency spending, they are an indicator of government’s growth,” Hart said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Our investigators found far too many redactions and blind spots that DOGE should have already fixed. You can’t have accountability without visibility. Taxpayers need a much clearer picture of the federal workforce than they have today.” U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has been working with Open The Books to fight for greater transparency. In a letter sent in September to Scott Kupor, the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Ernst said she had identified “numerous examples” of full-time federal employees earning two salaries while moonlighting for other agencies or government contractors, something typically prohibited under the law. Ernst pointed out that this was being done without the approval or knowledge of these workers’ managers. “From 2021 to 2024, a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) employee held multiple other full-time government contractor jobs, frequently billing taxpayers for more than 24 hours of work in a single day,” Ernst chronicled in her letter. “In addition to HUD, she was paid by AmeriCorps and the National Institutes of Health. Since she teleworked in all three positions, she was able to hide her overlapping jobs and get away with billing taxpayers $225,866 for hours she never worked. She claimed she worked 26 hours on 13 of the 21 workdays in a single month.” Ernst also described a second example of a human resources official at the Peace Corps who was caught falsifying time cards submitted to different agencies, which led to the employee double-billing taxpayers for tens of thousands of dollars. She laid out several other examples in the letter as well. “Until recently, outside of death and taxes, the expanding Washington bureaucracy was one of the few certainties in life,” said Ernst. “I am proud to have partnered with the Trump administration and DOGE to successfully downsize the bloated bureaucracy, but there is much more work to be done to make Washington more efficient.” One can “look no further” than the “failed Schumer shutdown,” Ernst said, pointing out that taxpayers will be on the hook for more than $12 billion in back pay for 750,000 non-essential federal employees who did not work for a month and a half. In October, Ernst introduced the Non-Essential Workers Transparency Act, aimed at providing the public with an exact accounting of how much back pay the government will be required to fork over in the case of a shutdown. The bill would require executive agencies to submit detailed reports to Congress within 30 days of a lapse in appropriations that must include the total number of employees and contractors employed by the agency at the time of the shutdown, the total salaries paid by the agency during the prior fiscal year, the number of furloughed during the lapse and their annual pay, the number of employees not furloughed and the sum of their pay and a requirement that all this information be posted publicly on the agencies’ websites.)
NEWSMAX
— Dozens of House Dems Join GOP to Denounce Socialism
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/socialism-house-mamdani/2025/11/21/id/1235535/
ONE AMERICA NEWS
— House votes to condemn the ‘horrors of socialism’
https://www.oann.com/newsroom/house-votes-to-condemn-the-horrors-of-socialism-ahead-of-trumps-meeting-with-mamdani/
POST MILLENNIAL
— Jeffries votes to denounce ‘horrors’ of socialism after backing socialist Mamdani for NYC mayor
https://thepostmillennial.com/jeffries-votes-to-denounce-horrors-of-socialism-after-backing-socialist-mamdani-for-nyc-mayor
TOWNHALL
— House Votes to Condemn Socialism
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/dmitri-bolt/2025/11/21/house-debates-resolution-denouncing-socialism-n2666828
— Big Dem Donor Had Major Stake in Pot Company Busted Using Illegals, Kids in Operation
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/tomknighton/2025/11/21/big-dem-donor-had-major-stake-in-pot-company-busted-using-illegals-kids-in-operation-n2666830
FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES
THE HILL
— Warren: Trump ‘trying to take a little of the shine that Zohran Mamdani has’
https://thehill.com/homenews/5618262-warren-trump-mamdani-meeting/
NEWSWEEK
— Full List of Democrats Voting to Condemn Socialism
https://www.newsweek.com/full-list-of-democrats-voting-to-condemn-socialism-as-mamdani-comes-to-town-11088383
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote sedition.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-democrats-video-executed-seditious-11089044
ABC NEWS
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote sedition.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/video/president-trump-accuses-democratic-lawmakers-seditious-behavior-127755514
NBC NEWS
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote sedition.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-democrats-sedition-death-threat-military-rcna245156
CBS NEWS
— Trump praises Mamdani after White House meeting: “I want him to do a great job”
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/live-updates/trump-mamdani-meeting-white-house-new-york/
— Full video of Trump-Mamdani meeting as president says they “agree on a lot more” than he thought
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/watch-full-video-trump-mamdani-meeting/
— Top 4 takeaways from the Trump-Mamdani meeting
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/trump-mamdani-white-house-meeting-takeaways/
NEW YORK TIMES
— Trump Heaps Praise on Mamdani and New York’s Future
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/11/21/us/trump-news
USA TODAY
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote socialism
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/11/20/katie-wilson-seattle-mayor-mamdani-socialism-democrats/87323706007/
— DD: Compared to our peers, my wife and I spent far less of our income for immediate pleasures and saved far more of our income for our retirement. My critics/opponents stress that we would not have been able save as much for our retirement if we had children.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/2018/09/12/retirement-savings-4-tips-save-more-spend-less/1201342002/
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly promote sedition.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/11/21/trump-threatens-death-six-democrats-sedition/87397313007/
https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/politics/2025/11/21/trump-claims-sedition-post-not-threatening-democrats/87401336007/
TAMPA FREE PRESS
— Affordability Crisis Deepens: 7 In 10 Americans Say Raising Kids Is Unaffordable, Driving Down Birth Rates. DD: According to my Democrat GAO superiors, if my wife and I had children, a) I would not have been able to pass the CPA examination on my first attempt, earn a master’s degree in accounting, pass the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt, become a licensed CPA, earn four more professional certifications, or earn a master’s degree in financial markets and trading, b) my wife would not have been able to earn a bachelor’s degree in finance, and c) we would not have been able to have a new home built, save lots of money for our retirement, buy collector cars. etc.
https://www.aol.com/news/affordability-crisis-deepens-7-10-194250298.html
WALL STREET JOURNAL
— The Middle Class Is Buckling Under Almost Five Years of Persistent Inflation. Workers growing tired of economy in which everything seems to get more expensive.
https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/the-middle-class-is-buckling-under-almost-five-years-of-persistent-inflation-4d783aee
FORBES
— Speaker Johnson Says He’s ‘Very Interested In Raising The Threshold’ To Censure Members. DD: I should write about my critics/opponents who almost succeeded in getting their operatives and dupes to get the Illinois Center Right Coalition to censure me for my GOPUSA ILLINOIS newsletters in 2006. I would focus on my critics/opponents who continue to have lots of religious, government, political, and/or financial clout in Wheaton, Milton Township, DuPage County, and Illinois.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEcB9RiaAzA
FORBES
— House Passes Resolution To Denounce Socialism’s ‘Horrors’ With 98 Dems Voting Against
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvUr17ulnwM
ATLANTIC
— Gas-Station Weed Is Fighting for Its Life. DD: Weed is poison.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/11/thc-marijuana-hemp-loophole/685016/
POLITICO
— House votes to denounce ‘horrors’ of socialism
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/11/21/congress/house-denounces-horrors-of-socialism-00664412
ACLU
— DD: According to my critics/opponents, I owe all my successes in life to my benefitting from discrimination against those who do not share my demographics.
https://www.aclu.org/news/racial-justice/trumps-attempt-to-roll-back-key-civil-rights-enforcement-tool
FROM FOREIGN SOURCES
INDIAN EXPRESS
— Trump-Mamdani Meeting Live Updates: Trump praises NYC mayor-elect Mamdani in Oval Office meeting, says they ‘agreed on a lot’
https://indianexpress.com/article/world/live-updates-donald-trump-is-set-to-meet-with-zohran-mamdani-at-white-house-10378890/
