October 30, 2026

FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-LEFT SOURCES

ABC7
— Pritzker, Bailey make final push on affordability as Illinois governor’s race enters final days. DD: Democrat leaders run the mainstream news media. The mainstream news media dictates what the campaign issues are.
https://abc7chicago.com/post/2026-elections-gov-jb-pritzker-darren-bailey-make-final-push-affordability-illinois-governors-race-enters-days/19996498/

NBC5
— TRAGIC: Nearly half of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 say they’ve gambled in the last year. DD: Gambling is a vice. In 2009, I led the successful effort to ban video gambling in Wheaton.
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/nearly-half-us-teens-13-17-gambled-last-year-survey/4009330/

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD: DD: The mainstream news media exists to elect Democrats and to defeat Republicans.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/10/30/gov-jb-pritzker-runs-for-rare-third-term-on-his-record-but-few-new-plans-for-illinois/

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
— Pope Leo will vote from the Vatican, by mail, in Illinois’ midterm election. That mail ballot had to travel a long way — from Joliet to the Vatican City, where Pope Leo XIV has led the Catholic church since white smoke appeared from the Sistine Chapel in May 2025. DD: I am pro-life. If you are pro-life, you vote for Republicans. My critics/opponents vote for Democrats.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/pope-leo-xiv/2026/10/29/pope-leo-xiv-mail-ballot-illinois-midterm-election
— DD: The mainstream news media exists to elect Democrats and to defeat Republicans.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2026/10/29/trump-republicans-midterm-elections-voters-policies-s-e-cupp

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS
— DD: Democrat leaders ever-increasingly diminish Second Amendment rights.
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/politics-policy/ccb-assault-weapons-ban-case-highland-park-20261029/

WGLT
— DD: Democrat leaders say “Support for Trump among white evangelicals has plummeted.” DD: The Democrat Party platform is extremely anti-religious. To vote for Democrats is to vote against religion.
https://www.wglt.org/2026-10-29/support-for-trump-among-white-evangelicals-has-plummeted-polls-reveal

CITIES 92.9
— Durkin campaign filing raises questions about lobbyist contributions, PAC power in Illinois. DD: Sooner or later, all my critics/opponents who claim to be Republican will switch parties and declare that they always really have been Democrats. Most commonly, they falsely claim to be Republican to get the Republican Party to officially dump its personal responsibility, traditional marriage and family, right to life, immigration, anti-vice, Second Amendment, and/or equal opportunity (no race or gender based preference giving) planks.
https://www.cities929.com/2026/10/29/durkin-campaign-filing-raises-questions-about-lobbyist-contributions-pac-power-in-illinois/

POLITICO ILLINOIS
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/2026/10/30/backroom-deal-takes-on-a-ballot-test-01141706

CAPITOL FAX
— Morning briefing
https://capitolfax.com/
— Afternoon roundup
https://capitolfax.com/2026/10/29/isabel%e2%80%99s-afternoon-roundup-625/

FROM ILLINOIS CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES

GOPUSA ILLINOIS
— To vote for Democrats is to vote for socialism. How strongly are the Republican candidates on the ballot in your precinct stressing that? How strongly are they stressing the benefits of capitalism and the negatives of socialism? How strongly are they stressing how they have benefitted under capitalism? Socialism destroys motivation. Capitalism motivated me and enabled me to work my way through college and earn a) a job-related bachelor’s degree when I was 21 in 1970, b) job-related master’s degrees in 1976, 1980, and 1997, c) job-related professional certifications in 1979, 1981, 1990, 1994, 1996, and 1997, and d) a job-related professional license in 1981. That enabled me to a) buy a 1958 Chevrolet Bel Air in 1964, b) buy new cars in 1966, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1978, etc., c) buy real estate in 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, and 1984, d) get married in 1978, e) buy collector cars in 1989 and 1994, d) etc. Under socialism, I would not have had the aforesaid motivation or accomplishments because under socialism, all you need to do to advance is be a good little socialist. Being a good little socialist is like being a good little Democrat. All those who my Democrat superiors promoted over me were good little Democrats. To get promoted, none of my Democrat Post Office, IRS, and GAO coworkers came close to doing what I did. I earned the aforesaid degrees, professional certifications and professional license. All my Democrat coworkers had to do to get promoted was to be good little Democrats. All those promoted over me were Democrats a) who had less education than I had, had less work experience than I had, had no professional certification or fewer than I had, and/or had no professional license like the one I had and/or b) who were minority, female, younger than me, and/or veteran. – Dave Diersen
http://www.gopillinois.com
— Political consultants who want Republican candidates to lose on November 3, 2026 justify their telling them to not speak against socialism by claiming that voters who are the following want socialism: liberal/moderate, minority, female, younger, unmarried, LGBTQ, non-rich, non-Protestant, non-German American, have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time, and/or are in America illegally. To vote for Democrats is to vote for socialism. – Dave Diersen

www.gopillinois.com

JOHN KASS
— Vallas: France Is the Canary in the Coal Mine.
https://johnkassnews.com/france-is-the-canary-in-the-coal-mine/

MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
https://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/

WIREPOINTS
https://wirepoints.org/

CENTER SQUARE ILLINOIS
— Durkin campaign filing raises questions about lobbyist contributions, PAC power in Illinois. DD: Sooner or later, all my critics/opponents who claim to be Republican will switch parties and declare that they always really have been anti-conservative Democrats. Most commonly, they falsely claim to be Republican to get the Republican Party to officially dump its personal responsibility, traditional marriage and family, right to life, immigration, anti-vice, Second Amendment, and/or equal opportunity (no race or gender based preference giving) planks. At best, they want to make the Republican Party the Democrat Lite Party.
https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/article_3d9c61da-00a4-4180-a06e-bffd2daedabd.html

FROM NATIONAL CENTER-RIGHT SOURCES

WASHINGTON TIMES
— Academic freedom should not be a shield for political activism. DD: If I had been active in Republican politics, UIC may very well have not admitted me in 1966, NIU in 1969, Loyola in 1972, DePaul in 1976, and IIT in 1992.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/oct/29/academic-freedom-not-shield-political-activism/
— U.S. must expose communist propaganda networks. DD: The mainstream news media exists to elect Democrats and to defeat Republicans.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/oct/29/us-must-expose-communist-propaganda-networks/
— Democrats scheme to seize Senate ‘by any means necessary.’ DD: Democrats are moral relativists. They believe their end justifies their means. Virtually all of my superiors and supervisors in the federal government were Democrats. They all were moral relativists who believed their end justified their means. Their end was to hire, retain, and promote Democrats who were minority, female, younger, and/or veteran. Their means was to waste my career and to force me to retire when I was 49 in 1997.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/oct/29/editorial-democrats-scheme-seize-senate-means-necessary/

WASHINGTON EXAMINER
— Johnson and Thune adopt Trump’s messaging on ‘fake’ polling as GOP looks to project midterm optimism. DD: Democrat leaders use their fake polls to defeat Republican candidates.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/4781460/mike-johnson-john-thune-trump-messaging-fake-poll/
— Four in 10 undergraduate students say ‘offensive speech’ deserves prosecution. DD: I should write about my critics/opponents and the most offensive things that they have said about me since 2000. I would focus on past and present a) leaders of the Illinois Republican Party, DuPage County Republican Central Committee, and Milton Township Republican Organization, b) Republican leaders of Illinois, DuPage County, Milton Township, and Wheaton, c) Republican candidates on ballots in my precinct, d) conservative leaders, e) religious leaders, and f) major Republican donors.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/education/4770433/four-in-10-undergraduate-students-say-offensive-speech-deserves-prosecution-poll/

NEW YORK POST
— Obama cheers for Iranian victory, Ilhan Omar believes everyone is ‘obsessed’ with her.
https://nypost.com/2026/10/29/opinion/the-week-in-whoppers-obama-cheers-for-iranian-victory-ilhan-omar-believes-everyone-is-obsessed-with-her-and-more/
— Philadelphia accused of wrongly denying 5 white male police officers promotions. DD: I passed the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979 and the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt in 1981. My Democrat superiors in the federal government used Affirmative Action to promote over me my Democrat coworkers who were minority and/or female. They all had less education than I had, less work experience than I had, no professional certification or fewer than I had, and/or no professional license like the one I had.
https://nypost.com/2026/02/26/us-news/philadelphia-accused-of-wrongly-denying-five-white-male-police-officers-promotions/
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The city passed them over for some candidates who had higher ranks on the list and others who were ranked as low as 17th on the list, per the lawsuit. “Of the 10 individuals promoted to captain, only 50% were white males, even though white men constituted 70% of the top ten candidates and 73% of the top 15 candidates by test scores,” the suit reads.)

BREITBART
— Guns and Drugs Undermine Washington Post’s Latest Deportation Sob Story.
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2026/10/29/nolte-guns-and-drugs-undermine-washington-posts-latest-deportation-sob-story/amp/

HERITAGE FOUNDATION
— Socialism Does Not Increase Affordability. DD: Socialism takes from those who work and save and gives to those who do not. Socialism destroys motivation because under socialism, all you need to do to advance is to be a good little socialist. Being a good little socialist is like being a good little Democrat. All those who my Democrat superiors promoted over me were good little Democrats. To get promoted, none of my Democrat Post Office, IRS, and GAO coworkers came close to doing what I did. I earned a job-related bachelor’s degree when I was 21 in 1970. I earned job-related master’s degrees in 1976, 1980, and 1997. I earned job-related professional certifications in 1979, 1981, 1990, 1994, 1996, and 1997. I earned a job-related professional license in 1981. All my Democrat coworkers had to do to get promoted was to be good little Democrats. All those promoted over me were Democrats a) who had less education than I had, had less work experience than I had, had no professional certification or fewer than I had, and/or had no professional license like the one I had and/or b) who were minority, female, younger than me, and/or veteran.
https://www.heritage.org/progressivism/commentary/no-mamdani-socialism-does-not-increase-affordability

NEWS BUSTERS
— White evangelical Christians have been the bedrock of Donald Trump’s support for more than a decade, and they largely still are. DD: Trump won the 2016 Republican presidential primary by promising to defend and advance the Republican Party platform if elected.
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2026/10/29/pbs-trump-supporting-christians-literally-demonize-political

PJ MEDIA
— Trying to Ignore France’s Muslim Problem, WaPo Stumbles Onto Truth About Socialism.
https://pjmedia.com/stephen-kruiser/2026/10/29/trying-to-ignore-frances-muslim-problem-wapo-stumbles-onto-truth-about-socialism-n4958802

REAL CLEAR EDUCATION
— Asian-American Share of Harvard Class Hits 43.2%. DD: Why are Asian-Americans surpassing White-Americans?
https://www.realcleareducation.com/2026/10/29/asian-american_share_of_harvard_class_hits_432_1214064.html

REAL CLEAR MARKETS
— To Thwart Socialism, We Need More Capitalism. DD: I will never forget a story about capitalism that one of my GAO supervisors told me. His son took out a loan and started a landscaping business. He was soon driven into bankruptcy by illegals.
https://www.realclearmarkets.com/2026/10/30/to_thwart_socialism_we_need_more_capitalism_1214200.html

SOUTH SHORE PRESS
— Socialists’ platform proves they are communists at heart.
https://www.southshorepress.com/national/socialists-platform-proves-they-are-communists-at-heart-cc4f5924

TOWNHALL
— Socialism Is the Left’s Chatbot. DD: To vote for Democrats is to vote for socialism.
https://townhall.com/columnists/jtyoung/2026/10/30/socialism-is-the-lefts-chatbot-n2685561
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Seeking explanation for socialism’s American ascent, modern technology is this archaic ideology’s perfect analogy. Socialism is a chatbot. It tells people, especially the Left, what they want to hear and refines its message to continually better do so. It is no secret that socialism’s acceptance by America’s Left has exploded. For the first time in our history, socialism is having a meaningful impact on our electoral system. Not long ago, even being labeled a liberal was a political liability in America. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) seemed little more than a poseur when he declared himself a Democratic Socialist; then in 2016, he took Hillary Clinton the distance in the Democrats’ presidential primary. In the intervening years, Democratic Socialists were elected to Congress as Democrats. In 2025, Democratic Socialists won mayoral elections in New York City and Seattle as Democrats. In 2026, more have been nominated and are likely to win election to Congress. According to a recent Gallup poll, 65 percent of Democrats have a positive image of socialism. This rise is astounding. It is not only so for socialism in America, which had virtually no meaningful socialist history here before, but for socialism itself. Socialism is nothing new. It had ample history before its most famous prophet, Karl Marx, and Marx himself would now be 208 years old if still alive. Its hoary history is surprising, given its lack of success. It has failed across centuries, continents, and cultures. There are many elements to this failure. . .Chatbots are souped-up software programs. They use AI to replicate human responses. But they don’t stop there. Their AI learns from users and continually refines responses to them. This give-and-take — or rather “give-and-fake” — creates an ever more enticing, and ensnaring, interaction between human users and their artificial interlocutors. The numbers show just how enticing chatbots can be. Pew Research Center found that the percentage of Americans who say they use ChatGPT has more than doubled in just three years: from 18 percent in 2023 to 44 percent in 2026. The young are far more likely to be enticed, with 1 in 3 adults under age 50 saying they use chatbots daily versus less than half that percentage for those over 50. What’s more, 20 percent of those aged 18-29 use it for emotional support, and one in three of those use it for companionship. For its part, socialism is an ideologically generated political system that tells its adherents what they want to hear. Like chatbots, socialism continually changes its message. Listen to New York City’s Democratic Socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani promise away about what the “warmth of collectivism” will mean — rent control, free buses, government-run grocery stores and childcare, and more — and you will quickly see the parallel. Like chatbots, socialism entices, promising something for nothing: Others will work as hard for you as they do for themselves. It creates dependency: Government will provide for you. It is dehumanizing: Responsibility is taken away from the individual. Ultimately, it is enslaving: Once given all power, government will not willingly return it to individuals. At the root of both chatbots and socialism is the innate belief that a “superior intelligence” can better order your life than you can. And all this belief requires is a detachment from reality.)

FROM NATIONAL CENTER-LEFT SOURCES

NBC NEWS
—  Pope Leo requested an absentee ballot in Illinois to vote in the midterms. It’s not clear whether Leo, who has been critical of the Trump administration, has mailed off his ballot yet. DD: I am pro-life. If you are pro-life, you vote for Republicans. My critics/opponents vote for Democrats.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/pope-leo-requested-absentee-ballot-illinois-vote-midterms-rcna606468

CBS NEWS
— DD: In retrospect, with benefit of hindsight, I should have sued my critics/opponents who hinted/implied/argued that I leaked confidential information. I can prove that their alleged confidential information was already in the public realm and that Democrats already knew that information. Republican organizations and Republican campaign teams have always had too many Democrat plants in them.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hegseth-fires-pentagons-top-military-planner/

NEW YORK TIMES
— Job Hunt Feelings. We look at how Gen Z feels about the job search. DD: When you graduated from college, what harmed your job hunt? When I graduated from NIU with a bachelor’s degree in management when I was 21 in 1970, potential employers saw me as being draft bait. They did not believe that my application for a financial hardship draft deferment to help support my mother and brother would be approved. Further, my GPA was not that great because instead of studying, I had worked far too many hours for the Park Forest Post Office 1966-1969. Further, potential employers were under tremendous pressure to hire minorities, females, and veterans. Consequently, I accepted the only job offer that I got, to be the Retail Sales Manager in a Firestone Store, a job that did not really require a college degree. Because my future there was bleak, I accepted a job offer from Oldsmobile in 1971. But Oldsmobile withdrew that offer saying it had just agreed to stop hiring Whites to settle an EEOC complaint. My Firestone Store boss rudely fired me because I had accepted that offer. Because I had to have a job, I accepted a job offer that I got from IRS to be a Revenue Officer. I had taken and passed the Federal Service Entrance Examination while I was a NIU student as a backup because I knew that private sector employers look down on federal employees and I had been a federal employee for almost 3 years.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/29/briefing/job-hunt-feelings.html

KATV
— Young Americans increasingly embrace socialism as midterm elections approach. DD: Political consultants who want Republican candidates to lose on November 3, 2026 justify their telling them to not speak against socialism by claiming that voters who are the following want socialism: liberal/moderate, minority, female, younger, unmarried, LGBTQ, non-rich, non-Protestant, non-German American, have ancestors who have not been in America for a long time, and/or are in America illegally. To vote for Democrats is to vote for socialism.
https://katv.com/news/nation-world/young-americans-increasingly-embrace-socialism-as-midterm-elections-approach-aoc-el-sayed

WALL STREET JOURNAL
— Federal Debt Hits 100% of GDP. Surging borrowing lifts fiscal year-end debt ratio to highest since 1946.
https://www.wsj.com/economy/federal-debt-hits-100-of-gdp-585d3cb0
— Transgenderism and the Democrats. The party can’t seem to get over its attachment to this bizarre, esoteric and deeply unpopular cause.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/transgenderism-and-the-democrats-ae859a13

24/7 WALL STREET
— 49% of Americans Can’t Afford the True Cost of Living — and the Problem Is Spreading. DD: Democrat leaders blame Republicans for affordability problems. What helped you afford things? When I was young, I spent far less money on immediate pleasures than my peers did. I took jobs that my peers would never stoop to take. I worked my way through college. I earned a job-related bachelor’s degree when I was 21 in 1970. I worked two jobs 1971-1972. I earned a) job-related master’s degrees in 1976, 1980, and 1997, b) job-related professional certifications in 1979, 1981, 1990, 1994, 1996, and 1997, and c) a job-related professional license in 1981. In today’s dollars, that increased my salary from $19.57/hour in 1966, to $100,059/year in 1974, to $113,402 in 1980, and to $154,682/year in 1997. But according to my critics/opponents, I was able to do the aforesaid only because I avoided the Vietnam War draft and because my wife and I gave up trying to have children.
https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/articles/49-americans-t-afford-true-151220225.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: 49% of Americans earn too much to count as poor but too little to save, invest, or absorb a financial shock, and the problem is spreading inland. Child care costs $6,600 more per year than a decade ago, and real wages have slid back to December 2024 levels, erasing nearly two years of gains. Adults spending more than their income reached an all-time survey high of 26% in 2024, what FINRA researchers call the ‘struggle of the middle.’)
— Real Home Prices Have Fallen for 15 Straight Months — but Buyers Still Can’t Afford One. DD: Back in the good old days, that is, back when I was 24 in 1972, I was able to buy a new townhome. SEE: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/774-Sunset-Ct-5-University-Park-IL-60484/5451474_zpid/  But if I was 24 today, I would not be able to do that. The jobs that I got back then are now ever-increasingly being given to minorities, to females, and to noncitizens. Back then, if they could have, all my employers would have hired minorities, females, and/or noncitizens instead of me.
https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/10/29/home-prices-have-fallen-for-15-straight-months-but-buyers-still-cant-afford-one/

BITTERROOT STAR
— Freedom is not a reward for obedience. DD: According to my critics/opponents, “You can’t tell Diersen what to do.” Of course, I take that as a badge of honor. My critics/opponents demand blind loyalty. They destroy those like me a) who they cannot manipulate or dominate, b) who refuse to glorify or praise them, c) who refuse to pander to them, d) who refuse to serve as one of their operatives or dupes, e) who refuse to cover up their wrong doing, and/or f) who refuse to give them money. I should write about my critics/opponents.
https://bitterrootstar.com/2026/10/freedom-is-not-a-reward-for-obedience/

JOURNAL
— Have you given up certain things because you can’t afford them now? DD: Since I was 18 in 1966, because my Democrat superiors wasted my career and did everything that they could to get rid of me, I have had less money, and more so a) since 1969 when my Democrat Post Office superiors forced me to resign, b) since 1971 when the Democrat EEOC forced Oldsmobile to withdraw a job offer that I had accepted, c) since 1971 when my Democrat Firestone Store boos fired me because I accepted that offer, d) since 1974 when my Democrat IRS superiors refused to promote me beyond GS-12, d) since 1980 when my Democrat GAO superiors forced me to take a $23,699/year (21%) pay cut in today’s dollars to transfer to from IRS to GAO, e) since 1980 when my Democrat GAO superiors delayed my promotions and refused to promote me beyond GS-13, f) since 1989 when my Democrat GAO superiors always ranked me in the bottom half of my coworkers for pay-for-performance, and g) since 1997 when my Democrat GAO superiors forced me to retire.
https://www.thejournal.ie/your-stories-what-can-you-no-longer-afford-cost-of-living-high-prices-7208638-Oct2026/

CREATORS SYNDICATE
— DD: Democrats and RINOs use DEI to get rid of Republicans.
https://www.creators.com/read/bonnie-jean-feldkamp/10/26/universities-caved-to-anti-dei-threats-now-they-must-answer-for-the-damage

19TH NEWS
— Who is electable? DD: If you ran for an office, what would your critics/opponents use against you? My critics/opponents would stress my promoting planks in the Republican Party platform that they reject. They would stress the adverse actions that they have had their operatives and their dupes take against me. They would stress my Democrat superiors in the federal government wasting my career and forcing me to retire when I was 49 in 1997. They would stress my wife and I giving up trying to have children. They would stress my avoiding the Vietnam War draft. They would stress the lawsuits that I have filed. They would stress my demographics. They would stress Money Magazine’s 4-page February 1978 article on my wife and I at https://gopillinois.com/documents/ .
https://19thnews.org/2026/07/michigan-senate-primary-democrats-electability/

FROM FOREIGN SOURCES

WORLD TRIBUNE
— Can socialists who want to tear down the Constitution take an oath to ‘support and defend’ it?
https://worldtribune.com/can-socialists-who-want-to-tear-down-the-constitution-take-an-oath-to-support-and-defend-it/

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.