A Republican Precinct Committeeman represents the GOP voters of his or her precinct at the County Republican Party level.

But most importantly, a Republican Precinct Committeeman is the face of the GOP within the precinct. In many cases, a Republican Precinct Committeeman might be the only party official a voter ever meets in person.

This volunteer position is really what one makes of it. Some do more than others. But the Republican Precinct Committeeman’s job is in essence all about helping to grow the GOP and working to deliver the maximum number of Republican votes from his or her precinct on Election Day. … Continue Reading

By John Lopez

On December 20, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) sent this communication to President Biden concerning the Southern Border Crisis on the eve of the Winter Solstice.

“With cold temperatures gripping Texas, your inaction to secure the southern border is putting the lives of migrants at risk, particularly in the City of El Paso.  With thousands of men, women, and children illegally crossing into Texas every day, and with the expectation that those numbers will only increase if Title 42 expulsions end, the state is overburdened as we respond to this disaster caused by you and your administration.

Written by John Lopez

UPDATEDx3 with President Biden and House Republican Leader McCarthy come & gone; final super PAC spending and Cook Political Report w/ Amy Walter ratings changes, including IL-06 & IL-14 from “Likely Democrat” to “Leans Democrat,” upgraded in Republicans favor; and results with House majority super PAC independent expenditures for broadcast TV opposing the Republican nominees. … Continue Reading

The 2022 General Election campaign is reaching the home stretch, and the start of expanded in-person early voting and local get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts are underway to ensure that all voters turn out to cast their ballots. In their GOTV messaging, everyone from the honorable precinct committeepersons on up should remind voters, “Don’t Stop at the Top!”

In the 2020 elections, Kane County saw four of its countywide offices flipped from Republican to Democrat control, including the open offices of county board chairman (elected at-large by popular vote) and state’s attorney.… Continue Reading

On Sunday October 16, the Daily Herald urged a “No” vote on the top-of-the-ballot question on Amendment 1.

Illinois Family Action, like other freedom-loving and higher-taxes-loathing conservative organizations, is grateful for the newspaper’s rejection of Amendment 1. Interestingly, the Herald‘s editorial board also skewered some proponents who tried to use the abortion issue as a reason to vote for Amendment 1.

The Daily Herald on September 29 hosted a joint endorsement session with multiple newspapers around the state. … Continue Reading

Written by John Lopez

No more lies.

Since the first buses arrived in Chicago from southern-border states in late August, both Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) have been publicly critical, even hinting at a criminal investigation into the actions of southern governors, in particular, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R).  Abbott’s “Operation Lone Star” gained national attention when it started to bus illegal immigrants from the Texas-Mexico border to the self-declared “sanctuary cities” of New York City, then Washington, D.C.… Continue Reading

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh (D, Pro-Labor Unions) stated the following when the rule was announced:

“While independent contractors have an important role in our economy, we have seen in many cases that employers misclassify their employees as independent contractors, particularly among our nation’s most vulnerable workers.

“Misclassification deprives workers of their federal labor protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages. 

On Monday morning of Columbus Day, the Chicago Tribune issued its first endorsement for the 2022 General Election, and it was a “No” vote on Amendment 1.

“We endorse a no vote.  We support the rights of unions to represent their members and to bargain collectively for the best deal they can secure.  But we do not see an Illinois threat to those rights, and we see this endorsement as an opening to skew the balance of power in the public sector to an unacceptable degree.”

The first week of October was not a very good one for IL-11 Republican nominee Catalina Lauf of Woodstock.  After being elevated by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) to full Young Guns status at the end of September, Lauf entered October with a fundraiser planned in Las Vegas and hosted by Congressman Burgess Owens (R, UT) through his Dream Big PAC.

While Lauf was doing local events before departing for Las Vegas by week’s end, Monday afternoon, Lauf came under fire by local and state media over the tweet response to a tweet and news story by Andrew Kaczynski, CNN reporter concerning a report in Minnesota litter boxes were used in schools for kids who self-identified as animals was a hoax.… Continue Reading

The crisis of the southern border is a major issue in the 2022 elections.  With the high profile programs of Republican governors of Texas, Arizona and Florida to bus asylum seekers to sanctuary cities like Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, and Martha’s Vineyard, not a day goes by when another bus with migrants arrive at a sanctuary city from one of the governors.

The left sees the actions of Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) as another way to pin the “MAGA Republican” label, when the governors, particularly Abbott and his “Operation Lone Star”, trying to prevent the asylum seekers from overrunning Texas border cities.… Continue Reading

This article continues addressing a ballot measure that Illinois voters must vote on this election cycle.
We urge voters to reject Amendment 1, a constitutional amendment that
would elevate collective bargaining rights in the Illinois Constitution,
allowing government union contracts to override state law.

Here’s a newspaper editorial one does not read everyday, especially from a 190-years-old newspaper like the Star-Ledger, the largest newspaper in the state of New Jersey.

The opening lines tells the story this is not your everyday publication by a major newspaper editorial board:

This editorial is that rare piece that presents an unavoidable conflict of interest for us, since we in the dwindling press corps are not the observers this time; we are one of the players.

This article continues addressing a ballot measure that Illinois voters must vote on this election cycle. We urge voters to reject Amendment 1, a constitutional amendment that would elevate collective bargaining rights in the Illinois Constitution, allowing government union contracts to override state law.

Creative artwork of AB5 from Lisa Rothstein, San Diego, CA

This article continues addressing a ballot measure that Illinois voters must vote on this election cycle.
We urge voters to reject Amendment 1, a constitutional amendment that
would elevate collective bargaining rights in the Illinois Constitution,
allowing government union contracts to override state law.

Thursday afternoon, the Daily Herald hosted a virtual debate including Shaw Media to discuss Amendment 1 and answer questions. … Continue Reading

This article continues addressing a ballot measure that Illinois voters must vote on this election cycle.
We urge voters to reject Amendment 1, a constitutional amendment that
would elevate collective bargaining rights in the Illinois Constitution,
allowing government union contracts to override state law.

“What if I told you there was a way you could earn real money without being scammed and without a tie…I’m talking about the gig economy…ride shares, food delivery…”

— Johnny Lawrence learning about the gig economy, Cobra Kai, “Downward Spiral”, Sony Pictures Television Studios, Netflix, 9/9/22

As shared recently on Illinois Family Action, the forced unionization of 1099 independent contractors is the hidden agenda now openly public for the proponent of Amendment 1.… Continue Reading

This article continues addressing a ballot measure that Illinois voters must vote on this election cycle.
We urge voters to reject Amendment 1, a constitutional amendment that
would elevate collective bargaining rights in the Illinois Constitution,
allowing government union contracts to override state law.

“Hundreds of trucks sit empty in California this week, exacerbating a supply chain crisis already driving the cost of food and goods for all Americans to new heights. 

Yes, I called IL-11 Republican nominee Catalina Lauf a “phony” on national radio and here’s why

by John Lopez

On September 11, 2022, I phoned in to Beyond the Beltway with Bruce DuMont, which is broadcast live across the country Sunday nights from Salem Media Group’s studios in Elk Grove Village.  Three Republican guests were talking about Donald Trump’s influence on Republican Party politics. In particular, DuMont and three guests were talking about Hispanic voters.… Continue Reading

This article continues addressing a ballot measure that Illinois voters must vote on this election cycle.
We urge voters to reject Amendment 1, a constitutional amendment that
would elevate collective bargaining rights in the Illinois Constitution,
allowing government union contracts to override state law.

Note from John Lopez:  With developments late Thursday, September 1, with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul (D) filing a civil suit against Drive Construction for violating Illinois laws, including the Illinois Employee Classification Act, this article will continue discussing Amendment 1’s hidden agenda, while on the surface is collective bargaining, but in reality Worker Classification will be implemented. … Continue Reading

No matter how often anyone claims Amendment 1 is not about Worker Classification, the paper trail of proponents proves claims as untrue

This article continues addressing a ballot measure that Illinois voters must vote on this election cycle.
We urge voters to reject Amendment 1, a constitutional amendment that
would elevate collective bargaining rights in the Illinois Constitution,
allowing government union contracts to override state law.

Southern California-based Jennifer Van Laar, managing editor for Red State a Salem Media Group publication, got me hooked on the Cobra Kai series back in 2019. … Continue Reading

This article addresses a ballot measure that Illinois voters must vote on this election cycle.
We urge voters to reject Amendment 1, a constitutional amendment that
would elevate collective bargaining rights in the Illinois Constitution,
allowing government union contracts to override state law.

The organized labor movement helped to build the United States of America to be the greatest country in the world.

Once workers were protected with laws many take for granted today, like the 40-hour work week, overtime pay and the ability for front line workers to organize, the American middle class was established and thrived through most of the 20^th Century.… Continue Reading

The controversy surrounding the UpRising Bakery & Café in Lake in the Hills (LITH) in southern McHenry County had built up for weeks concerning a scheduled “Brunch at Night” event titled “Starry Night Drag Brunch” running from 6-9PM CDT at the LITH location.

The venue, located in a strip shopping center on Algonquin Road, had been receiving anonymous threats on the door of the bakery and LITH Police had been notified of incidents in advance of the July 23 date as early as July 6. … Continue Reading

by John Lopez

Pictured above:  First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, Associated Press Photo

It started on July 11, in a speech in San Antonio, Texas, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden said the following, per the transcript from the White House with emphasis added:

“Raul [Yzaguirre] helped build this organization with the understanding that the diversity of this community—as distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio—is your strength.”

Written by John Lopez

On July 18, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) announced through National Journal‘s Erin Covey it had elevated 10 of the Republican nominees across the country to the highest level of the NRCC’s Young Guns candidate recruitment program.

In addition to IL-17 nominee Esther Joy King (R, East Moine), the two IL U.S. House nominees elevated by the NRCC are IL-06 nominee Keith Pekau (R, Orland Park) and IL-13 nominee Regan Deering (R, Decatur).… Continue Reading

Written by John Lopez

The Washington, D.C. Democrats are at it again.

After their abortion-on-demand legislation from last September failed twice in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives decided to double-down and pass, again, abortion-on-demand under the gaslighting guise of “codifying” Roe v. Wade along with a 2nd bill to ensure access to abortion-on-demand.

The House voting grid from July 15, in spite of a couple of changes to the membership of the House as well as the bill number, is identical to the voting grid from last September:

Like last September, all of the Republicans in the House opposed version 2 of the “Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022” (WHPA), and all of the Democrats, with the exception of Congressman Henry Cuellar (D, TX-28) voted for it.… Continue Reading

Early Thursday (June 23) afternoon , the venerable Club for Growth PAC, one of the leading free-enterprise advocacy groups known for spending millions of dollars through independent expenditures (IE) to elect their endorsed candidates to public office, either the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate or governorships, endorsed Catalina Lauf (R, Woodstock) five days before the Illinois primary for the 11th Congressional District.

Applying discernment to this endorsement reveals some very unusual observations, which are shared to determine why this Club for Growth PAC differs from the other current 13 U.S.… Continue Reading

Reader discretion is advised.
Some of the images contained in this article may be disturbing for some readers.  

Republican congressional candidate Susan Hathaway-Altman (R, unincorporated Geneva) had a very big June 14 as the primary campaign in the 11th Congressional District winds down to its June 28 conclusion.

Early in the morning, the Chicago Tribune published its endorsement of Altman’s candidacy in the IL-11, stating:

“…our endorsement goes to Susan Hathaway-Altman, a business executive…who supports a rollback in federal spending and jump-starting the economy through tax cuts.”

As Illinois Family Action begins looking at the Financial Disclosure statements (FD) of Republican candidates seeking the Republican nominations on June 28 for U.S. House or U.S. Senate, voters have an early look at the kind of Member of Congress they would be if nominated and elected on November 8.

Last week, the suburban Chicagoland’s Daily Herald ran articles about FDs for both congressional candidates and incumbents.

In addition to the contents of an FD, other factors will complement a congressional primary voter’s decision whom to support in an election.… Continue Reading

Remember Draining the Swamp Does Not Mean Replacing It
With Swamp Water of a Younger Vintage

In the Republican primary campaign in the 11th Congressional District, North Aurora Village Trustee Mark Carroll, who’s endorsed by Illinois Family Action (IFA) for IL-11, announced early Thursday evening, May 19, he had received the endorsement of 70th District state Representative Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore), with the following remarks from Keicher:

“It is important to understand that Mark represents adults coming to the table to solve our problems.

Friday morning May 20 in downstate Lincoln, I participated in a political roundtable hosted by the daily POLITICO Illinois Playbook column writer Shia Kapos called “Pancakes and Politics”.  About two dozen people attended for the breakfast meeting ranging from party chairs (both Democrats and Republicans), political consultants, lobbyists and journalists including retired State Journal-Register reporter Bernard Schoenburg.

Given Lincoln is within the geographic boundaries of the 15th Congressional District and the incumbent-vs.-incumbent… Continue Reading

The Republican primary race in the Illinois 11th Congressional District enters the beginning of early voting and vote-by-mail ballots hitting the street with a flurry of activity which will crescendo to its finish on June 28.

As previously written, the six Republican candidates vying to challenge Congressman Bill Foster (D, Naperville) this fall are, in ballot order:

• Jerry Evans of Warrenville
• Andrea Heeg of unincorporated Geneva
• Catalina Lauf of Woodstock
• Susan Hathaway-Altman of unincorporated Geneva
• Cassandra Tanner Miller of Elgin
• Mark Carroll of North Aurora, who was endorsed by Illinois Family Action

As shared at the end of April, while there are six candidates on the ballot, at this point, only three candidates have a legitimate chance to win and in this ranking of 1) Lauf, 2) Evans and 3) Carroll

This article is going to focus on the frontrunner Lauf since she’s the frontrunner.… Continue Reading

As originally published in late February, the Illinois 11th Congressional District Republican primary election presents the Republican Party with a solid chance to flip the U.S. House seat currently held by Congressman Bill Foster (D, Naperville).

Here on Illinois Family Action, discernment was stressed to be applied to the six Republican men and women who filed in IL-11.

The candidates include:

• Mark Carroll, 48, North Aurora
• Jerry Evans, 38, Warrenville
• Andrea Heeg, 55, unincorporated Geneva
• Catalina Lauf, 29, Woodstock
• Susan Hathaway-Altman, 55, unincorporated Geneva
• Cassandra Tanner Miller, 35, Elgin

The 11th District includes portions of 8 counties, as shown on the map above.… Continue Reading

Written by John Lopez

Back on June 25, 2019, Aurora Mayor, now “Republican” gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin, said the following:

“Aurora was built by and is still sustained by hardworking families where every dollar counts.  We applaud Congresswoman Underwood for her stalwart efforts and fully support H.R.1757 and its goal of providing tax relief to working families.”

As the quote said, Irvin applauded U.S. Representative Lauren Underwood (D-Naperville) in the context of her congressional office’s press release of 6/25/19.… Continue Reading

Written by John Lopez

On Tuesday (April 5), WTTW, in its segment “Richard Irvin’s Ex-Wife Hired by Development Firm Receiving Millions in Aurora City Incentives: Web of Politically-Connected Companies Involved in $128M Hospital Redevelopment” brought up the bad optics, though legal of Mayor (and now Republican gubernatorial candidate) Richard Irvin’s campaign fund, a charity and a former law partner’s campaign receiving contributions from a large project which won unanimous approval of the Aurora City Council.… Continue Reading

How the Kane County Clerk’s Enforcement of the PTELL caused the Illinois General Assembly to write new legislation after winning in court three times (once at Appellate level)

In the waning days of the 2022 spring session, the Illinois General Assembly passed SB 3215, “Mental Health Validation Act“.

The legislation, which passed unanimously in the Illinois Senate on February 23, was taken up in the Illinois House on Wednesday, March 30, and passed by a vote of 76 to 38.… Continue Reading

Prologue:  On February 13, 2022, John Lopez called-in to the national radio talk show Beyond the Beltway with Bruce DuMont and asked a question to Dan Ronan, associate news editor for Transport Topics, concerning worker classification in the context of independent trucking.  The relevant 2 1/2 minutes clip is cued from the YouTube livestream with the context of the question being California’s Assembly Bill 5 and unintended consequence of legislation targeting Uber and other app-based companies, and the direct impact to inflation and the supply chain challenges within the trucking industry.… Continue Reading

Written by John Lopez

The day after the United States Senate successfully filibustered the pro-abortion-on-demand H.R. 3755, the Texas primary kicked off the 2022 primary season which could have some ramifications to Illinois.

With H.R. 3755’s filibuster as a backdrop and Congressman Henry Cuellar’s lone Democrat vote in the U.S. House last September making him a target of the pro-abortion zealots, Cuellar won the most votes in the March 1 primary.… Continue Reading

Illinois Review reported Monday, February 28, former congressional candidate Kathy Salvi of unincorporated Fremont Township in Lake County, is circulating petitions to run for U.S. Senate in 2022. 

Click HERE to download Salvi’s nomination petition. Collect as many signatures as you can in the next few days and mail them to her no later than Monday, March 7th. Petitions do not have to have every line filled and every signature will help!… Continue Reading

The first primary in 2022 is Texas on March 1, and in-person early voting began on Monday, February 14.

Like Illinois, Texas has an open primary election, and voter registration in Texas does not require the declaration of a political party for a registered voter, meaning any registered voter can vote in the primary of their choice on primary election day.

But unlike Illinois, Texas’ nominating primary is not winner-take-all. The winner of the primary must earn 50%+1 of the vote. … Continue Reading

The 86th District in the Illinois House is currently represented by Representative Larry Walsh, Jr. (D) who will seek reelection to a 7th term in November of 2022.  Walsh was appointed to the 86th District seat in 2012 when his predecessor resigned due to health reasons and has won ever since, and in 2020, did not face any opposition.

The district includes Joliet, Preston Heights, Elwood, Millsdale, Rockdale, and parts of Shorewood, Ingalls Park, Channahon, and Lorenzo.… Continue Reading

Editor’s note:  Originally published on February 16, an additional candidate filing and other news in this race prompted the revision of this article.  Edited March 26 reflects the candidates who actually filed nominating petitions with the State Board of Elections. Edited April 3 upon the withdrawal of Juan “Johnny” Ramos on April 1.

The fight for control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022 includes battleground districts in the state of Illinois. … Continue Reading

There is a lot of energy and enthusiasm resonating throughout the country for Donald Trump. Most people understand that he loves our nation and wants to see it flourish again.… Continue Reading

Would you let criminals take your home and hurt your family, or would you pay for a front door that locks?

It typically costs roughly $1,500-$2,000 to purchase and install a no-frills exterior door on your home. Not cheap at all. But would you agonize over the cost for a minute when the entire cost and safety of your whole home and its occupants are on the line, especially when dangerous criminals, burglars, and murderers are specifically targeting your neighborhood for infiltration?… Continue Reading

Written by Jane Carrell and Carol Davis

OUTRAGED. That’s how most of us reacted over the Independence Day holiday, as many of our so-called “public servants” in Springfield betrayed the citizens of Illinois once AGAIN. In addition to outrage, many of us felt genuine fear: How much more will this cost me? What else will I have to cut from my budget, which is already so tight?! I don’t know about you, but as these thoughts raced through my mind, my fear was soon replaced by white-hot anger and determination.… Continue Reading

Rumors are circulating widely in Washington, D.C. that Justice Anthony Kennedy may step down from the Supreme Court this summer. He’s 81 and has been on the bench for 30 years.

While those on the left consider him a conservative, he has been an absolute disaster on issues constitutional conservatives care about. For instance, he has been on the wrong side of every single court case that deals with sexual abnormality, beginning with the Romer v.… Continue Reading

“Let me ask you some questions,” Conservative Review Editor-in-Chief Mark Levin said Monday evening on the radio.

Everywhere you look in this country, progressivism put into practice through big government is failing. Yet the progressive Democrats continue to institute their policies, and Republicans seem complicit in the growth of government. “How do we explain all this?” Levin asked. “What is this all about?”

Listen:

Hollywood wants President Trump to sleep with the fishes. They want him dead – decapitated – his bloody entrails splayed across the Rose Garden for all of the world to see.

A who’s-who of actors and directors and musicians want him to suffer the most agonizingly brutal and gory death in the history of assassinations.

Johnny Depp is the latest star of stage and screen to flirt with the idea of murdering President Trump.… Continue Reading

The essential difference between Christianity and Islam is the difference between Jesus and Muhammad. Jesus was a spiritual leader who laid down His life to save the world. Muhammad was a spiritual leader, who became a political leader, then a violent military leader. Jesus accomplished His mission by dying on the cross. Muhammad accomplished his mission (at least in large part) by ruling by the sword.

There are, of course, great similarities between the world’s two largest religions.… Continue Reading

In a recent Liberty Minute, “Charity Begins at Home,” Helen Krieble condemned the attitude of excessive reliance on the government for welfare:

Have you ever heard the old saying that charity begins at home? Now we seem to believe charity begins with the government. Whenever there is a tragedy of any kind, people look to government to rebuild homes, bail out failing businesses, and replace people’s lost possessions.

But when we look through the lens of liberty, we realize government can only provide for some people by taking from others.

On June 1, President Donald Trump announced the United States is pulling out of the Paris climate accord. While environmental scientists say the consequences could be catastrophic for the planet, many religious Americans are taking the news in stride. Indeed, the deafening silence of many people following Trump’s decision bespeaks skepticism of man-made global warming as well as the government’s ability to address the issue.

The heated rhetoric, both in favor of and in opposition to such international treaties as the Paris Agreement, is but a byproduct of the politicization of the environmental movement.… Continue Reading

U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Patrick Leahy claimed that newly confirmed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch was not in the “legal mainstream.” They were referring to the “living Constitution” approach to constitutional interpretation. That interpretative approach, still thriving today and embraced by the liberal left, says that the U.S. Constitution should be a document that judges regard as one “that evolves, changes, over time, and adapts to new circumstances, without being formally amended.”… Continue Reading

The center-right American Enterprise Institute and the center-left Brookings Institution have a new report about paid parental leave. The members of their working group disagreed about much, but they were able to put forward a compromise plan. In this plan, new mothers and fathers would be able to take eight weeks off, with 70 percent of their usual compensation paid to them by the government, up to $600 per week. The program would be funded by a small payroll tax on all workers.… Continue Reading

A statistic from the U.K. election makes one realize how far from the people our own people’s house has gotten. The House of Commons has 650 members for a population of roughly 65 million in the U.K.   That’s one member of parliament – on average – for every 100,000 people. The U.S. House of Representatives has one representative for every 759,000 people. Is it time to readjust the U.S. apportionment model to get our representatives closer to the people?… Continue Reading

Written by Dr. Michael Brown

Imagine this scenario for a moment. You are a budding novelist, and you present a new proposal to your agent. The agent looks it over and sends it back, assuring you no publisher would ever go for it. “It’s just too far-fetched,” you are told. “Best to go back to the drawing board.”

What was the scenario you concocted? It went like this.

The Plot

There was a gay private in the army who gained access to a cachet of nearly one million secret military documents.… Continue Reading

Written by Dr. Michael Brown

At some point, leaders in the West will have to recognize that they share very little in common with the worldview of Islamic terrorists. At some point, they will have to take seriously Islamic theology and the mindset of a radical Muslim. At some point, they will have to come to grips with the fact that they cannot combat Islamic terrorism with tolerance.

In his significant new book, The Islam in Islamic Terrorism: The Importance of Beliefs, Ideas, and Ideology, Ibn Warraq writes, “There are many contemporary political commentators and intellectuals who do not accept what seems an obvious starting point in trying to explain the behavior of Islamic terrorists, namely their beliefs, their ideology as laid down in tract after tract, statement after statement, interview after interview, and book after book—books that are the careful work of Muslim scholars of Islam, lavishly sprinkled with quotes from the Koran, which is the very word of Allah, the hadīth (the sayings and deeds of Muhammad and his Companions), the sira (life of the Prophet), all used to justify their heinous acts, even against civilians, including women, children, and the old.”… Continue Reading

Which came first, the bias or the search results? That’s a question worth asking after reading a (PDF) by a group of researchers looking at how search results could have affected the 2016 election.

In a short paper presenting their preliminary work, the social scientists showed that search results from Google, in particular, showed bias toward Hillary Clinton in the month leading up to the election. The same scientists, in 2015 (PDF), that biased search results may sway the results of elections.… Continue Reading

The decline and lurch to the left of the Fox News Network provides an opening for any astute conservative billionaire: create a news network specifically intended to provide news from the viewpoint of most of America, which is to say the seventy-five percent of Americans who live in Flyover Country.  While the geographic concentration of political power in America is appalling, the geographic concentration of media power is much worse.

Because the media defy elections and, in fact, determine elections, having almost all national news pass through the tiny channel of the New York-to-Washington Beltway is toxic to our national life.… Continue Reading

A “backlash” is simply a reaction to a situation, development, or political action, etc. A “backlash” maybe an adverse reaction but it can also be a just and right reaction.  “Backlashes” should not have a negative connotation for all situations; at times they are warranted and needed to enact change or justice.

The liberal/progressive groups and the media selectively “backlash” and have knee-jerk reactions when it suits their agenda. It is nauseating to see liberals and the media discuss a potential backlash against Islam in the U.S.… Continue Reading

Written by Jack Hellner

Democrats are out ripping Trump’s budget and the replacement for ObamaCare, asserting that these policies will cause people to die.

For years Democrats have supported policies which force car makers to make smaller and lighter cars. Many studies have shown what obviously happens: people in small cars are more likely to die than those in larger and heavier cars. This is just common sense, but Democrats and the media have supported these policies anyway.… Continue Reading

Written by Rachel del Guidice

Over the past eight decades, Congress has gradually relinquished its lawmaking role and left it to the administrative state, said a conservative senator at a Capitol Hill event on Wednesday.

“Many Americans now feel that they are not in control of their own government,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said during an event hosted at the Federalist Society’s fifth annual Executive Branch Review Conference. “The administrative state is designed to be insulated from the will of the people.”… Continue Reading

Written by Patricia McCarthy

The national media and the Democratic Party have gone stark raving mad over President Trump’s election victory; they refuse to accept it.  Their paroxysms of fury are evident all day long on every network and cable news outlet and every mainstream newspaper. Since Nov. 8, they have leapt like a swarm of remoras onto a whale proclaiming every little thing that they think might take the man down.  Hillary’s team concocted the “Russia collusion” hoax within twenty-four hours of her defeat.  … Continue Reading

Written by Nathan Madden

Crank up the hysteria machine, as President Trump is continuing his War on Science™ at the Environmental Protection Agency.

According to a story at the New York Times, the administration has removed five scientists from a review board, opening up the possibility of replacing them with representatives from various industries, which would fit into the President’s promises to reduce the regulatory grip of the department on the market:

Written by Jason Jones and John Zimrak

There is no more room in the Democratic party for pro-life Americans. The chairman of the Democratic National Committee has made that clear. As clear as the water Pontius Pilate used to wash his hands. Townhall reports:

Top Democrats recently told their party to get in line with their radical abortion agenda or step aside. As a way to bury the controversy over the Democrat National Committee campaigning with a Democratic mayoral candidate, Heath Mello, who once voted for pro-life legislation, DNC Chair Tom Perez and Sen.

Written by Michael Medved

Amid all the evaluations of the first hundred days of President Trump, what about considering the first hundred days of Democrats as the party of opposition?

So far, they’ve shown a destructive tendency to repeat the same mistakes that cost them the election in November.

First, they focus exclusively on attacking the president while counting on scandal to destroy their opponents. Most Americans know what Democrats are against, but they’ve received no clear message about what they’re for.

Written by Lawrence Sellin, PhD

The Pro-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) organization Human Rights Campaign vociferously opposes the confirmation of Mark Green for Secretary of the Army.

Human Rights Campaign is funded by self-indicted Nazi-collaborator and demonstrably anti-American billionaire George Soros.

“In a 1998 interview with CBS’ Steve Kroft, Soros admitted that he participated in the confiscation of Jewish property under the Nazi occupation. He also explained that he had no remorse for what he had done, and that if he had not participated, somebody else would have done it anyway…In a separate interview, Soros actually called these years, the “happiest” of his life.”… Continue Reading

Written by Robert Eno

Despite the media’s best efforts to attack conservatives and Republicans, it seems the American people aren’t buying it. After three months of wall-to-wall coverage about Russian interference in the election, and a general hostile attitude by the media, 96 percent of Trump’s voters would vote for him again, according to a new ABC News/ Washington Post poll.

But that’s not even the biggest story to come out of the poll. A staggering number of American voters think the Democratic Party is “out of touch” with “people’s concerns.”… Continue Reading

Last year, “socialism” was the most looked-up word at Merriam-Webster.com. That is hardly a surprise. It clearly reflects growing interest, especially with the remarkable surge of lifetime socialist Bernie Sanders, who won a pile of states in pursuing the Democratic Party presidential nomination. He earned over 13 million votes nationwide. Many of those voters have only a hazy idea what socialism entails, but most surely know that it gives the government more control over the so-called “means of production” as well as your wallet and your property, but not as much as outright Communists crave.… Continue Reading

Written by Robert Eno

Most people who pay attention to politics assume that George Soros is the largest financier of leftist election candidates. While he may have the largest non-profit funding network, Soros is not the person who spent the most directly helping candidates through superPACs or other organizations in 2016. That person is Tom Steyer, a former hedge fund executive who made his fortune in the fossil fuel industry. The Washington Post reported Steyer spent $66.3 million helping Democrats in the 2016 cycle, and the Washington Times reports that the final spend was north of $85 million.… Continue Reading

Written by Carol Ostrow

Even as Gov. Bruce Rauner continues to strive toward a potential state budget solution, House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) “delays and offers nothing,” the Chicago Tribune recently reported while continuing its coverage of Illinois’ hemorrhaging finances.

Editors at the newspaper have bemoaned the probability that the ringing in of the spring legislative session means “still more menacing news to Illinois,” stating that the newest proof of systemic breakdown lies neither in the impotent stopgap spending plan, nor in the recent mass outmigration from the Land of Lincoln, where population losses recently exceeded those of any other state.

Written by Patrick Moore

It was a breath of fresh air to read Jeff Jacoby’s column on Environmental Protection Agency director Scott Pruitt’s remarks about carbon dioxide, a tiny component of our atmosphere without which life on earth could not exist (“Climate science far from settled,” Opinion, March 15).

As a lifelong ecologist and environmentalist, I have seen much of the environmental movement hijacked for the purpose of alarming us about the future of the climate.… Continue Reading

Written by Joseph Curl

CNN makes no bones about being anti-Trump in every way. The cable news channel that many know as the Clinton News Network was all about Hillary throughout the election – and even though Trump trounced her, the network execs have decided to target the president at every turn.

They’ve covered non-stories galore while ignoring huge Hillary scandals. And they absolutely love fact-checking through the use of chyrons, like this and this and this.… Continue Reading

Written by Dr. Michael Brown

Whenever I hear Christian leaders talk about the inevitable collapse of the church of America (or elsewhere) I ask myself, “But hasn’t Jesus risen from the dead? Didn’t He ascend to the right hand of the Father? Hasn’t all authority in heaven and earth been given to Him? And aren’t we commanded to go and make disciples in His name and by His authority?”

If so, how then we can speak of any inevitable collapse of the church (or, specifically, of Christian society), regardless of how inevitable that collapse appears to human eyes?… Continue Reading

Written by Spencer Irvine

The American Faith and Culture Institute published the results of a survey comparing Millennials and the older demographic of Americans and they are eye-raising:

The Worldview Measurement Project, conducted by the American Culture and Faith Institute, reveals that Millennials are, by far, the generation least likely to possess a biblical worldview. While 16% of those in the Boomer and Builder generations possess such an outlook, and just 7% of Baby Busters have a biblical worldview, only one-quarter as many Millennials have a biblical worldview – just 4%!

Written by Hubert London

Where is the Democratic party? The party of political giants like FDR, LBJ and JFK is missing in action along with the letters that defined its heroes. This is now the party of Obama, Schumer, Pelosi – a facsimile of the past and a party without direction and policy guidelines.

America needs a two-party system. Differences are desirable within a Constitutional framework. Parties have served the nation well; albeit exceptions abound.… Continue Reading

Written by Aaron Bandler

The Democrats, as they are want to do, have put themselves into a logical inconsistency:

Liberals on entitlements: “The Bible says give to the poor!”

Liberals on gay marriage: “This isn’t a theocracy! Keep religion at church!”

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) March 17, 2017

Indeed, the Democrat Party likes to invoke the Bible only when it comes to imposing their agenda onto the populace; otherwise they sneer at conservatives as bitter clingers.… Continue Reading

Written by Carol Ostrow

Illinois lawmakers are using a seemingly surreptitious way to give themselves pay raises: creating new and useless committees for which they are automatically paid an extra $10,326 as chairmen, a Chicago-based think tank is arguing.

The Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) says that legislation enacted in the House in January created 12 new standing committees, bringing the total to 45.

Written by Robert Knight

A week ago, President Trump unleashed a media firestorm when he accused former President Barack Obama in a tweet of wiretapping Trump Tower in New York.

The standard portrayal: Once again, the president has shot from the hip, right into his foot, “without any evidence” whatever.

These are the same media that excitedly accused the Russians of “hacking the election,” based on a report from the CIA, FBI and NSA in early January while Mr.… Continue Reading

Written by Bryan Fisher

Well, now we know why the GOP establishment kept their ObamaCare replacement package locked in a room where not even GOP senators could read it. Everyone naturally wondered what they were hiding, and now we know. They were hiding it because it is a horrible, no good, very bad piece of legislation.

If it repeals ObamaCare in any meaningful sense (and it doesn’t), it only replaces it with something as bad if not worse.… Continue Reading

Written by Michael Haverluck

With Democratic National Committee Chair (DNC) Tom Perez now leading the Democratic Party in a new Trump era after suffering severe losses in the November election, former DNC Chair Howard Dean stressed that his party must purge itself of pro-life advocates in order to stage a comeback.

When Dean spoke with Joe Scarborough of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the co-host brought up a previous interview he had with former Gov. Steve Beshear (D-Ky.),… Continue Reading

Written by Cliff Kincaid

On “Fox & Friends,” President Donald Trump declared, in regard to the protests against him, “I think that President Obama’s behind it because his people are certainly behind it.” Once again, Trump has struck gold. It’s “gold” in the form of taxpayer money. In addition to funding from billionaire hedge fund operator George Soros, we find a federal financial connection to some of the anti-Trump protests.

The good news for Trump in this case is that his administration, supported by Republicans in Congress, can cut off the federal money.… Continue Reading

Written by Spencer Irvine

This is a follow-up to our previous post on the disruption of town halls across the nation due to left-wing protesters, who aren’t from the area where the town halls are being held, and where the liberal media praised the protesters for standing up to the Republicans and President Donald Trump. The protesters praise themselves on a MoveOn.org website and at the Town Hall Project.

So far, fourteen Republicans have seen their town halls disrupted by left-wing protesters.… Continue Reading

Written by Monica Showalter

First, President Trump refused to take their questions.  Later, he tweeted that they were a network of “fake news.”  Then they got caught in a fake news scandal, of the grossest sort, reporting some of the “golden showers” phony dossier on Trump as straight news and getting caught and discredited.  Turned out it was just the product of some disgusting left-anarchist’s febrile imagination, and only Buzzfeed made a bigger fool of itself.

Written by Noel W. Sterett

When it comes to religious liberty, America has long had the best laws. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution succinctly and powerfully states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Many state constitutions contain even stronger protections for religious liberty and recognize the God of the Bible as the foundation of good governance and the source of our liberty.… Continue Reading

Written by Steve Deace

Never be disappointed when progressives show you who they really are.

Written by Todd Starnes

Christians are under fierce attack across the fruited plain and some of the nation’s most prominent conservative leaders are urging President Trump to take immediate action.

More than 150 members of the Council for National Policy are calling on the president to issue an executive order “protecting the practical exercise of religious freedom.”

“For the last eight years, Americans of all backgrounds have suffered the loss of their religious freedoms because of destructive Obama-era policies,” the CNP wrote in a letter to the president.… Continue Reading

Written by James Barrett

Democrats consistently scoff at the suggestion that widespread voter fraud is taking place across the country, mocking the idea as a “myth” and decrying Republicans’ attempts to address it in even the most minor, unobjectionable ways as “racist” attempts to “suppress the minority vote.” The only problem with the Democrats’ dismissive claims about the “myth” is, as Ohio just demonstrated, actual facts.

“Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced an investigation has uncovered that hundreds of non-US citizens are registered to vote in the state, and dozens of them voted illegally,” NBC News-Columbus reported Monday.… Continue Reading

Written by Mary Hasson

It didn’t take long for the inaugural scientific conference of the U.S. Professional Association for Transgender Health (USPATH) to descend into an ugly display of intolerance and identity politics, with gender-confused kids as ideological pawns.

When the dust finally settled, trans bullies and their medical allies had colluded to kick a dissenting expert (Kenneth Zucker) off the program, justified their censorship by indirectly blaming President Trump (the “direct threat” to trans people from the “new political climate”), and declared victory.… Continue Reading

Written by Mollie Ziegler Hemingway

A few weeks ago, Donald Trump responded to Meryl Streep’s insults by calling her overrated. Some fact checks came out saying that Streep, in fact, had won many awards. The Associated Press’ “Meryl Streep overrated? Donald Trump picks a decorated star,” was one such example. Four of the seven paragraphs to the story listed awards and honors she’d received.

As Victor Morton noted, “‘She has won a bunch of awards’ isn’t even a prima-facie rebuttal of the claim ‘she is overrated’.”… Continue Reading

Written by Aaron Bandler

Louis Farrakhan recently spewed more anti-Semitism during his keynote address at the Nation of Islam’s national conference:

“I want to disabuse the Jews today of the false claim that you are the chosen of God — that Israel or Palestine belongs to you,” Farrakhan said, to loud cheers.

“I want to disabuse you of that. I want to make it so clear and I’m going to tell you about your future. You that think you have power to frighten and dominate the peoples of the world.

Written by Cameron Reddy

I just got a funny email about the difference between Republicans and Democrats, purportedly by Jeff Foxworthy.  It’s been around for a while and isn’t likely Foxworthy’s doing, but it’s really quite cute, as it captures the essence that distinguishes the two.

Here’s a sample:

• If a Republican doesn’t like guns, he doesn’t buy one.
• If a Democrat doesn’t like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.
• If a Republican is a vegetarian, he doesn’t eat meat.

Written by Frank Lucas

Democrats who used to work on Capitol Hill are helping to disrupt Republican lawmakers’ town hall meetings across the country through a nationwide effort to oppose and “resist” President Donald Trump’s agenda.

They call their group Indivisible Guide, a name that came from an actual guide posted online telling activists how to pressure members of Congress. Among topics: what to say when going to town halls and calling or visiting a member’s office.… Continue Reading

Written by Todd Starnes

The principal of a fancy New York City private school says the election of President Trump is worse than the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Steve Nelson, principal of The Calhoun School, fired off a hate-filled email to parents blasting the president. He also said Trump’s election would be more devastating than Vietnam, Watergate and the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Junior.

“I walked the complex inner-city streets of Cleveland during the racial unrest of the 60’s,” he wrote in an email obtained by the New York Post.… Continue Reading

Written by Rachel Alexander

Barack Obama may lose his Obamacare legacy when Congress repeals and replaces it, but he has left the nation a far bigger and more damaging legacy. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) gloated in 2014, “one of the most profound changes this Congress made was filling the bench” with Obama’s appointments of federal judges. He went on: “This will affect America for a generation, long after the internecine battles on legislative issues are forgotten.”… Continue Reading

Written by Daniel Horowitz

Anticipating a day when we would have a president who actually protects national sovereignty, I wrote a book last year warning that if Congress fails to strip the courts of jurisdiction over immigration, radical judges will give affirmative immigration rights to foreign nationals.

The thesis of my book — what was once an esoteric area of law — is now playing out in spectacular fashion. Congress and Trump’s Justice Department must fight back against the courts once and for all, or we will no longer remain an independent, sovereign, and safe country.

Written by Pat Hughes

It’s bad enough that, after decades of Mike Madigan’s leadership, the state can’t pay its bills. But now, his daughter, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, wants to take away the ability of state workers to pay their own bills.

Throughout the bitter dispute over the state budget, Madigan-Nemesis Governor Bruce Rauner has worked to keep the state government running so that core services are not completely shut down. The Governor has made clear that paying state workers for work that they do, while working to pass a balanced budget, is a top priority.… Continue Reading

Written by the Chicago City Wire

Several Illinois legislators have responded to the House’s latest capitulation to longtime Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago), decrying the body’s utter lack of independence or apparent motivation to value representation of home jurisdictions over the speaker’s sway.

Following the state House’s vote, Madigan’s standard menu of mandates was approved yet again as he keeps a three-fifths majority in the House. The results incited strong reactions among officials and members of both political parties.

Written by Fred Lucas

President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court could have a say in rulings on religious freedom, transgender bathrooms in schools, and private property rights, if he is confirmed before April 16.

Judge Neil Gorsuch of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals met with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other senators Wednesday at the Capitol less than 24 hours after Trump announced his nomination.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.,… Continue Reading

Written by the Chicago City Wire

The Illinois Policy Institute is proposing a budget conservative group leaders contend would put an end to the state’s nearly two-year impasse, closing a $7.1 billion deficit without adding any new taxes.

Written by Michael Lucci

Illinois lost 16,700 payroll jobs in December 2016, according to a Jan. 20 report from the Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES.

In addition, the state’s November jobs count was revised down from a gain of 1,700 jobs to a loss of 4,500 jobs. Illinois’ unemployment rate went up to 5.7 percent in December, even though Illinoisans continued to drop out of the workforce.

The budget plan coming out of the Illinois Senate couldn’t come at a worse time, as it depends on tax hikes that would only hinder job creation.

From the Chicago City Wire

The president of a company that moved from Illinois to Indiana said recently on a Chicago radio talk show that he looks back on Illinois and hopes one day the state will get its act together.

“It’s kind of a double-edge sword,” Hoist Lifttruck President Vincent Flaska said during a recent edition of “Illinois Rising.” “I still live in Illinois, and I want to see Illinois succeed. But the problem that they have is that they need to get rid of how their tax credits function.

Written by Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner

Illinois Senate members have a drafted a new budget plan that relies on multibillion-dollar tax hikes, but little in structural spending reforms.

The plan punishes taxpayers with more than $5 billion in additional income and other taxes, borrows $7 billion from the bond market and adds casinos in Chicago – none of which provide relief to struggling Illinoisans. The plan also leaves pensions unreformed, does little to workers’ compensation costs and burdens job creators with a higher minimum wage cost.

Written by Michael Bargo, Jr.

The 1964 Voting Rights Act and revisions addressed the right of the individual citizen in the U.S. to vote without obstruction or discrimination. The concept of one person one vote has been repeatedly upheld. While Illinois became infamous for having the dead vote and allowing multiple votes by one person, its legislature has adopted rules that seriously infringe upon the rights of all voters.

This more subtle, abstract, and far more dangerous practice implements a new method of vote theft: administratively denying voters any input into legislation; thereby violating the concept that government can only legislate with the “consent of the governed.”

Written by Daniel Horowitz

Obama’s parting gift to this country is a transformed society with $20 trillion in debt. The big question is what will Republicans do differently to curb the growth of the debt?

Given recent news about GOP plans on health care and infrastructure, there are no signs things will improve. Meanwhile, the Government Accountability Office has released a new “fiscal health” study, which portends disturbing trends for our fiscal stability.

The gross federal debt now stands at $19.94 trillion — roughly $9.3 trillion more than it was when Obama took office.

Written by E. Calvin Beisner

Okay, so most of the time here at the Cornwall Alliance we try to keep our language entirely civil, to avoid both formal and informal fallacies, and just stick to true premises and valid inferences to support our conclusions. Rational, yes. Entertaining? Well, not always. And in today’s America, lots of people—at least if their conduct reveals anything about their values—value entertainment a good deal more than reason.

So for their enjoyment—and for the enjoyment of those who really do track with us on rationality but nonetheless get a kick out of entertainment from time to time—I offer you a few tastes of Julie Kelly’s delightfully snarky column from The Hill January 6, “The hypocrisy of climate change advocates”:

So according to all the hysterical people, President-elect Donald Trump has appointed the most climate denier cabinet ever.

Written by Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner

One of the most foolish things politicians can do to an economy suffering from a weak recovery and a shrinking tax base is to pass tax hikes. Hitting residents and businesses when they’re struggling risks sending a faltering economy into a tailspin.

And for an economy edging toward recession, tax hikes are even worse.

Unfortunately, a multibillion-dollar tax hike is exactly what Illinois politicians are proposing for a state economy that’s been remarkably weak and is now showing signs of recession-like shrinkage.… Continue Reading

Written by Peter Heck

How appropriate it was that President Obama delivered his farewell address from Chicago, the crime capital of America … for it is indeed his crime against a humble group of nuns that will be forever etched in many people’s memory.

I was unable to watch President Obama’s Farewell Address last Tuesday night delivered appropriately in the crime capital of the country, Chicago, Illinois.  That didn’t break my heart because I found myself indifferent to the spectacle for a number of reasons.… Continue Reading

Written by John Biver

This is  a great series by Dennis Prager outlining the basic information more Americans need to hear. Enjoy.

Many people – including those who keep up with politics – cannot articulate the differences between the Left and the Right in a way that is fair and objective. In this five-part video series, Dennis Prager does exactly that. In under 30 minutes, you’ll understand the essential differences between the two.

* * * * *

How big should the government be?… Continue Reading

Written by Michael F. Haverluck

With actors continued bashing of President-elect Donald Trump ever since he defeated his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in November’s presidential election, actor and economist Ben Stein blasted most of Hollywood as being a “bunch of thuggish bullies” who try to silence those with opposing political views.

When reflecting on his past work in the entertainment industry, including Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Win Ben Stein’s Money, the conservative critic took on those who use acting as a stage to dictate public discussion on political matters.… Continue Reading

Written by Billy Hallowell

A new Marist Poll found that the majority of Americans — 89 percent — believe protecting religious freedom is an important undertaking, with 57 percent calling it an “immediate priority.”

While Republicans were the most likely (66 percent) to see the issue as one of immediate importance, the poll, which was commissioned by the Knights of Columbus, found that 55 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of Independents agreed. These are intriguing findings, considering the ongoing debate over the balance between gay rights and religious liberty.… Continue Reading

Christians were the most persecuted religious group in the world in 2016, according to a new study conducted by the Center for Studies on New Religions, based in Turin, Italy.

The report said that 90,000 Christians were killed last year, of which 30% were killed by Islamists. The rest were killed by state and non-state persecution around the world, including in North Korea.… Continue Reading

Written by E. Calvin Beisner

When President-elect Donald J. Trump nominated Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt for Environmental Protection Agency Administrator December 8, environmentalists went ballistic.

They called it “a win for polluters and a loss for the American public,” said “Every American should be appalled,” likened it to “the fox guarding the henhouse,” and called Pruitt a “puppet of the fossil fuel industry.”

E&E News reported, “Environmentalists are preparing for war” and quoted Center for Biological Diversity attorney Bill Snape: “We suspected it would be bad, and it’s bad.… Continue Reading

Written by Spencer Irvine

‘White privilege’ is an oft-used term at colleges nowadays, which alleges that white Americans have an internal privilege complex that demeans other ethnicities and races by exerting supremacy. Here are ten examples of anti-white rhetoric on our college campuses:

1.) Cal-Berkeley students prevented white people from crossing a pedestrian bridge on-campus

2.) University of Wisconsin runs into trouble with ‘Problem with Whiteness’ course

3.) Columbia University barred white students from going to a no-whites-allowed student retreat

4.)… Continue Reading

Written by Michael F. Haverluck

A recent survey found that approximately nine in 10 members in the incoming United States Congress proclaim themselves to be Christian.

According to the latest findings published by the Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life division, Christians form the overwhelming majority of the 115th Congress, as 90.7 percent of them identify themselves as Christians.

Congress keeping the faith…

This number, however, has not fluctuated much over the years, as Pew reports that comparing the figures with those of five decades ago, today’s percentage is not that far off.… Continue Reading

Written by Michael Brendan Dougherty

Barack Obama came into the White House in a cloud of glory and optimism.

He defined the problems that the nation faced in his first inaugural address. First, the nation was at war with a network of violence and hatred. Second, our economy was badly weakened. Homes were lost, and businesses shuttered. Health care was too expensive. Schools failed their students. And finally, “less measurable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our land; a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable.”… Continue Reading

Written by John Biver

For a number of years now, the Illinois Republican Party has been making Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan the focus of their attacks on our failed state government policies. Madigan has been in office since the early 1970s, and Speaker for all but two years since the early 1980s.

The Illinois Policy Institute’s Joe Tabor and Ted Dabrowski recently penned an extensive over-view of Madigan’s power as Speaker in the article, “Madigan’s rules: How Illinois gives its House speaker power to manipulate and control the legislative process.”… Continue Reading

Written by Bruce Walker

The American presidency has historically been accorded a unique place in national and international politics.  The office combines the head of state with the head of government, which no other major nation has done.  Moreover, we have retained the “Lame Duck” period between national elections, again something that no other major nation has done.  Finally, Congress has granted (I would argue beyond its power to grant) effective quasi-legislative powers to the president through a variety of means.… Continue Reading

Written by Kevin Jones

A federal judge has ruled against the Obama administration’s mandate that health professionals must carry out gender-reassignment surgeries even if they have medical or religious objections.

“The regulation not only forces health care professionals to violate their medical judgment, it requires them to violate their deeply held religious beliefs,” U.S. district Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas said in a Dec. 31 decision granting a temporary injunction against the Obama administration.… Continue Reading

Written by Sondra Clark

As the calendar year ends, minds quickly turn to losing weight, eating healthy, saving money, and spending more time with family. But just as 2016 caused us to rethink politics, it’s time to rethink this year’s New Year’s resolutions.

The voice of the American voters has never been louder, and with unified Republican control of the House, Senate, and White House for the first time in 15 years, there promises to be a lot happening in 2017.… Continue Reading

Written by Jonah Goldberg

Dear Reader (including all the dudes in this coffee shop with man-buns),

As Michael Moore’s proctologist says at every appointment, “I’d really rather not do this today, but it’s my job.”

I’m in Dallas, killing myself to “finish” my book. I put “finish” in air quotes (while I put actual Finnish people in a pit in my basement, “It puts the herring in the basket or it gets the hose again”) not just because there’s so much left to do and so little time to do it in, but because even after I’m “done” my editor is going to walk around this enormous pile of paper staring at it like a farmer slowly circling a meteorite that landed in his wheat field, incapable of processing why it looks like a smoking, irradiated replica of Dom DeLouise in a sailor suit.… Continue Reading

Written by Frank Newport

Religion remains an integral part of most Americans’ lives, but Gallup’s ongoing research shows how this has changed over time. The following are five important findings about religion in the U.S.:

1. America remains a largely Christian nation, although less so than in the past. Seventy-four percent of Americans identify with a Christian religion, and 5% identify with a non-Christian religion. The rest of the U.S. adult population, about 21%, either say they don’t have a formal religious identity or don’t give a response.… Continue Reading

Written by Andrew E. Harrod

Many in American political circles have long believed that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is a moderate organization-one that has embraced democratic procedures. But this fallacy was recently debunked by MB expert Eric Trager, who burst such illusions with insight that is essential for any policymakers contending with the Middle East.

The elite Society of the Muslim Brothers is supported by many throughout the Arab world and has influenced other Islamist groups such as Hamas.… Continue Reading

Written by Rod Dreher

This is extremely bad news:

Russia’s ambassador to Turkey was assassinated at an Ankara art exhibit on Monday evening by a lone Turkish gunman shouting “God is great!” and “don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria!” in what Russia called a terrorist attack.

The gunman, who was described by Ankara’s mayor as a policeman, also wounded at least three others in the assault, which was captured on Turkish video, before he was killed by other officers in a shootout.

Written by Adam Andrzejewski

Earlier this spring, at OpenTheBooks.com, we identified more than 50,000 Illinois public employees who make at least $100,000 per year.

These “highly compensated” public servants cost Illinois taxpayers over $8 billion. We found Cook County animal-control officers making $105,000; suburban school administrators at $503,000; university doctors earning $1.3 million; and 72 small-town ‘managers’ out-earning every governor of all 50 states.

This research helps explain why Illinois has a net outward migration of residents.… Continue Reading

Written by Todd Warner Huston

The watch words of the day seems to be “fake news” with liberals using the concept as a weapon to shut down all center right news and opinion outlets on both the Internet and TV. But the fact is, the liberal media invented “fake news” many decades before those on the right finally had enough of media bias and started their own news outlets.

Liberals have spent the entire month after Election Day proclaiming every non-liberal website or TV network to be purveyors of “fake news” even going so far as creating a list of sites they claim are all lies and publishing wildly biased “studies” of said sites to “prove” they are filled with “fake news.”… Continue Reading

Written by Daniel Horowitz

Trump has made his decision on the big cabinet post — secretary of State — and it’s ExxonMobil CEO, Rex Tillerson.

There is no way to sugarcoat this: Tillerson is a disastrous pick. Those who share the mentality of transnational corporate leaders like Tillerson are pre-conditioned to supporting the foreign policy establishment mindset on critical issues so as not to upset the applecart and what’s good for business.

While much of his issue portfolio is a blank slate, what we know about him and his past comments is disturbing.

Written by Chris Woodward

The head of a prominent pro-family group is reacting to a report that more than 500 American businesses have earned a top score on pro-LGBT surveys.

The surveys are part of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s “Corporate Equality Index.” HRC considers it to be the “national benchmarking tool” on corporate policies and practices pertinent to lesbian, “gay,” bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees.

In its latest report, the pro-LGBT lobbying group says 517 major businesses – “spanning nearly every industry and geography” – earned a top score of 100 percent and the distinction of “Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality.”… Continue Reading

Written by Chase Stephens

It’s nice to know not every big Hollywood entertainer is Cher-level crazy.

While out promoting his latest picture, a terrorism drama called “Patriot’s Day,” actor Mark Wahlberg sat down with TaskandPurpose.com and opened up about how out of touch Hollywood is with the average American’s life. His fellow celebrities living in the Hollywood “bubble,” he suggested, should stop cramming their political views down the viewing public’s throats.

“A lot of celebrities did, do, and shouldn’t,” he told Task & Purpose last week, concerning the long list of celebrities who had denounced Donald Trump before the election.… Continue Reading

Written by Katrina Trinko

So much for taking America’s “fake news” problem seriously.

Ever since Donald Trump was elected president, there’s been an abundance of hand-wringing over the “fake news” that supposedly is rampant on social media.

Yet missing has been any kind of serious searching among the mainstream media about whether it could learn any lessons from this election—and whether reporters and editors are holding themselves accountable to their supposed values of objectivity and rigorous reporting.

Written by Jon N. Hall

In his 2008 campaign for president, candidate Obama said that the debt run up by President Bush was “irresponsible” and “unpatriotic” and that Bush ran up the debt all “by his lonesome” (short video). Despite presiding over far more debt in his first term than Bush did in two, President Obama was re-elected by young folks. It would seem that debt doesn’t really register with millennials. Although millennials may not be interested in debt, debt is interested in them.… Continue Reading

Written by David Rosenthal

It is no secret that religious liberty is under attack.  The wedding photographer, florist, and cake baker are no longer able to practice their faith at work without fear of retribution for refusing to fall in line with the new government orthodoxy.

The Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment is designed to ensure that all Americans may freely live out their faith.  This is not limited to freedom of worship, but includes the heart, mind, and soul of religious people, thereby guiding how people act in the public square.  … Continue Reading

Written by Kenneth Artz

The energy and climate sections of the Democratic Party’s 2016 platform calls for a national mobilization to fight climate change and ending the use of fossil fuels.

Written by Dr. Michael Brown

For years I have said that gay activists and their allies would overplay their hand and that their bullying would backfire. It is happening today in front of our eyes as a Christian couple, Chip and Joanna Gaines, who recently graced the cover of People magazine, is now being attacked simply for attending a Christian church. Oh, the thought of it!

Yes, if you are a public figure and you attend a church that preaches that marriage is the union of one man and one woman and you actually believe that homosexuals can be changed by the power of the gospel, you should be shamed, ridiculed, and perhaps even fired.… Continue Reading

Written by Craig Bannister

President-elect Donald Trump’s win is “a massive repudiation of the press,” Media Research Center (MRC) Pres. Brent Bozell declared today at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

Accompanied by other top conservative leaders, Bozell warned the blatantly biased liberal media that the American public is now on to them, so their credibility may be lost forever:“The public now knows it is not getting news from the ‘news’ media.”

“Liberal media were the second-biggest losers last night,” Bozell said, noting how the “press treated Trump supporters with utter contempt.”… Continue Reading

Written by Ben Shapiro

On Monday, linguistics professor-turned-crappy socialist political commentator Noam Chomsky called the Republican Party “the most dangerous organization in world history.” Chomsky continued by explaining why this was no exaggeration:

The last phrase may seem outlandish, even outrageous. But is it? The facts suggest otherwise. The party is dedicated to racing as rapidly as possible to destruction of organized human life. There is no historical precedent for such a stand.

Of course, Chomsky is talking about Trump’s opposition to using the federal government to crack down on the fossil fuel industry in order to curb supposed man-made global warming.… Continue Reading

Written by Paul Murphy

Al Franken cast the decisive 60th senate vote passing Obamacare and virtually everyone now agrees that his initial election in 2008 was achieved through judicially assisted electoral fraud; Clinton buddy Terry McAuliffe was almost certainly elected by felons and illegals; and my personal prediction is that historians will eventually agree that Obama lost the 2012 presidential election to Romney by about 2.5% of the legal vote.

Democracy depends on the integrity of the secret ballot process and fraud, whether mostly real and extensive or mostly imaginary and minor, cannot be accepted.… Continue Reading

Written by Oren Cass

Score one for the 2012 Republican autopsy. Notwithstanding this week’s “white working-class” wave, often linked to those voters’ purported latent racism and xenophobia, the net effect of Trump’s campaign was to make substantial progress with nonwhites relative to Romney’s performance in 2012.

Early Wednesday morning, exit poll data began to circulate that showed Trump improving the GOP’s standing with both African-Americans and Latinos. Less clear was just how central a role this shift played.… Continue Reading

Written by Chris Pandolfo

Wednesday night on the “Mark Levin Show,” Conservative Review’s Editor-in-Chief addressed the historic election that swept Republicans into power and placed Donald Trump in the White House.

Levin offered his congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump, but he reminded his audience that it was not Trump who defeated Hillary Clinton. Rather, the constitutional conservatives who went forth and voted for him are the real victors.

Listen:

Written by Hoang Tran

One of the biggest victories for the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) when it scored a victory through a new four-year contract is that pension pickups were preserved, but what is good for teachers is not always what is good for everyone else as the plan stands to cost taxpayers a fortune.

The deal will cost Chicago Public Schools (CPS) close to $9.5 billion over the life of the deal, and a large chunk of the cost will be pension pickups, in which the district “picks up” the bulk of teacher pensions after a small contribution from teachers’ salaries.

Written by Robert Knight

How many voters do you know who are more than 100 years old? Or 110 years old? Or, how about 126 years old?

Hundreds of voters in recent elections in three eastern Pennsylvania counties were more than 100 years of age, with many over 110, according to official voter registration rolls open to the public.

The research, collected by volunteers working with the American Civil Rights Union, had some head-shaking surprises. According to the data, one gentleman from Montgomery County, whose birth date was listed as August 7, 1853, allegedly voted in 2008 at age 155 and in 2012 at age 159.… Continue Reading

Written by Fred Lucas

In just the last week, prosecutors pursued three voter fraud-related charges in three major battleground states—Florida, Iowa, and Virginia.

Numerous other election irregularities such as voting beyond the grave, voting more than once, voting without citizenship, and registrations by nonexistent people have occurred throughout 2016. While some cases have been prosecuted, others were discovered through various news reports.

Here’s a sampling of election irregularities that have already taken place well in advance of Nov.… Continue Reading

Written by Daniel Horowitz

Despite news percolating throughout the country about non-citizens registering to vote under loose Motor-Voter practices, the courts are refusing to allow states to verify citizenship as a condition for registering to vote. Yesterday, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court’s injunction against a Kansas law requiring those registering with federal Motor-Voter forms to show proof of citizenship. The original injunction forced the state to register 20,000 individuals who failed to show proof of citizenship.… Continue Reading

Written by Amanda Prestigiacomo

On March 7, 2015, President Barack Obama looked the American people in the eye and assured them that he had no prior knowledge of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s private email server before news hit, telling CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante that he learned about his former secretary of state’s private server “[t]he same time everybody else learned it through news reports.”

The recent WikiLeaks release of Hillary campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails suggests otherwise. … Continue Reading

Written by Justin McCarthy

With less than a month to go before the U.S. congressional elections, 18% of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing. This rating has been low for some time, and has not cracked 25% since 2009.

The latest figure, from an Oct. 5-9 Gallup poll, represents Americans’ final job approval rating of Congress before the November elections, and is similar to the ratings found in final pre-election polls in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014, when Congress approval ranged between 18% and 21%.… Continue Reading

Written by Natalie Johnson

Professors in higher education have become notably more liberal during the past 25 years, according to a recent study, and academics predict that the trend isn’t likely to slow any time soon.

During the past quarter-century, academia has seen a nearly 20-percent jump in the number of professors who identify as liberal. That increase has created a lopsided ideological spread in higher education, with liberal professors now outpacing their conservative counterparts by a ratio of roughly 5 to 1.… Continue Reading

Written by Matthew Hennessy

Neither major presidential candidate has made homeschooling an issue during the campaign. Most of my fellow homeschoolers interpret this as a good sign. We know from bitter experience that it’s best to be ignored. Without a candidate to back, however, homeschoolers are feeling anxious about the future. What will become of us?

We know Hillary Clinton’s view. She is the standard bearer for the “it takes a village” mentality, in which child-rearing is a task best left to the benevolent state.… Continue Reading

Written by Michael Gryboski

Americans are divided as to whether religious freedom or LGBT rights should be favored when the two concepts conflict with one another.

Recent findings from the Pew Research Center show the American public near evenly split on whether or not a business can refuse to service a same-sex wedding on religious grounds.

Out of a sample of about 4,500 adults, Pew found that 48 percent of respondents believed that businesses which provided wedding services should be allowed to refuse to service gay weddings if the owner has religious objections.… Continue Reading

Written by John Biver

Conservatives continue to produce so much information — too bad it doesn’t reach enough people. Here is the content from just ONE email newsletter from the Galen Institute:

Written by Tiffany Bates & Elizabeth Slattery

When Americans cast their ballots for the next president this November, they will not only select the next commander in chief and primary enforcer of the law, they will help select a new Supreme Court justice and countless other lower court judges.

Selecting judges is not an ancillary responsibility — it is a central and critical duty, with long-lasting effects. Indeed, half of the current Supreme Court justices were appointed more than 20 years ago.… Continue Reading

Written by Justin McCarthy

About six in 10 Americans are confident that votes will be accurately cast and counted in the coming election. This is similar to their confidence level in 2008, but down from levels from 2004 to 2007 when confidence ranged between 71% and 75%.

Despite the controversy over ballot accuracy in the 2000 election, Gallup’s trend shows that the highest level of voting confidence was in 2004 — the first time Gallup polled on this question — four months before that year’s presidential election.… Continue Reading

Written by Onan Coca

Across the country states have been passing laws meant to defend the First Amendment from government overreach, and simultaneously liberals and the media have been decrying these protections as “homophobic” and “bigoted.” These same liberals have argued that conservatives are being paranoid and that no protection is needed…

Sadly, Massachusetts has just proved every conservative fear accurate.

On October 1^st the most draconian “non-discrimination” laws in the nation will go into effect in the Bay State.… Continue Reading

Written by Heather Clark

Some Americans are stating this election that they do not believe that the inauguration of Mitt Romney and the appointment of Republican judges to the bench will result in overturning Supreme Court decisions such as Roe v. Wade and other critical rulings.

“Most Christians don’t have a clue that Republican-appointed judges are making bad rulings that destroy our Christian institutions in our nation,” Pastor Matt Trewhella of Mercy Seat Christian Church near Milwaukee, Wisconsin told Christian News Network.… Continue Reading

Written by Austin Berg

In a 4-3 ruling, the Illinois Supreme Court erased from November ballots a referendum on legislative mapmaking, and handed a major victory to Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan Aug. 25.

In its ruling, the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the July 20 decision from Cook County Circuit Court Judge Diane Larsen.

This stands as the second time in the last three years that Madigan’s top lawyer, Michael Kasper, has successfully sued to stop mapmaking reform in its tracks.

Written by Jan LaRue

If photo ID laws are the bane to minority voting rights that leftists and assorted federal judges claim, you’d expect the public to agree. Not even close.

Eighty percent of Americans, white and nonwhite across party lines support photo ID laws, according to a Gallup poll taken Aug. 15-16:

• Nonwhite:       77%
• Republicans:    93%
• Independents:  83%
• Democrats:      63%

Last July, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals held that Texas’ “strict photo ID law” discriminated against or disproportionately affected black and Latino voters who allegedly face hardships in obtaining the necessary documents, which include any of the following:

• Election identification certificate
• Dept.

Written by Daniel Horowitz

Anyone who has worked in immigration policy or has spoken to ranchers and border agents over the years knows that Middle Eastern jihadists have been infiltrating our southern border for quite some time. It wasn’t until today, however, that an intelligence report vouching for this reality was leaked from the U.S. Military’s Southern Command.

The Washington Free Beacon’s Bill Gertz got wind of the intelligence report and solicited an on-the-record comment from a spokesperson for Southern Command:

Written by Robert Knight

Socialism is still in vogue, regardless of its sorry record all over the world for the last century.  The Free Stuff Army is on the march, especially in the United States.

There’s something about deploying the government as a mugger to obtain the fruits of someone else’s labor that appeals to the worst in us.  But it invariably leads to poverty, dishonesty and even tyranny.

Years ago, I visited Jamaica when it was under a socialist government. … Continue Reading

Written by Richard Winchester

Sadly, we live in the era of the low-information voter. The second edition of Ilya Somin’s Democracy and Political Ignorance (2016) documents widespread political ignorance among today’s public, including voters. Although nonvoters are abysmally ignorant of politics, voters are not walking, talking political encyclopedias either. Americans are more likely to be well-informed about celebrities, such as the Kardashians, than about political leaders.

Consistent with earlier research, Somin estimates that nearly a third of the American public are “know-nothings,” who possess “little or no relevant knowledge” about public affairs.

Written by Michael Bargo, Jr.

There is a mutually supportive relationship between Hollywood elites and the Democrat Party of the U.S. It is interesting to explore this relationship, how it benefits both, and why it continues. Every election cycle, candidates for the Democrat Party go to dinner parties in Hollywood and raise money from all movie industry attendants. These Hollywood dinner fundraisers are the most successful single day events in political campaigns. This year, for example, Hillary Clinton raised $8 million in one evening.

Written by Ken Blackwell

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has many allies within the Progressive movement. Funded largely by the most liberal elements of the Left, especially those within the b network, like his Center for American Progress, BLM has been a major motivator for the attacks on police officers all over the country.

With chants like “Pigs in a blanket, fry-em like bacon” and “What do we want? Dead Cops!,” the simple fact is that BLM has created an atmosphere of anger and hatred, and has incited violence against law enforcement officers across the country.… Continue Reading

Written by Frank Schubert

Written by Paul H. Jossey

As we watch the Republican Party tear itself to shreds over Donald Trump, perhaps it’s time to take note of another conservative political phenomenon that the GOP nominee has utterly eclipsed: the Tea Party. The Tea Party movement is pretty much dead now, but it didn’t die a natural death. It was murdered—and it was an inside job. In a half decade, the spontaneous uprising that shook official Washington degenerated into a form of pyramid scheme that transferred tens of millions of dollars from rural, poorer Southerners and Midwesterners to bicoastal political operatives.… Continue Reading

Written by J. Matt Barber

There’s a reason why the Washington Post is not-so-affectionately tagged the “Washington Compost” by its fast-growing pool of distrustful detractors. That reason is embodied in both the person (and the “journalism”) of one Jonathan Capehart, homosexual activist, Washington Post mercenary-hack and editorial board member. Capehart is a liar and, by extension, so is the Washington Post.

Now, when I say that Capehart is a liar, I don’t mean it in the pejorative sense.… Continue Reading

Written by Nancy Hayes

History tends to repeat itself – good or bad. In 2012, President Obama needed a good campaign narrative to get re-elected. Obama ignored the intelligent reports, missed half of his intelligent meetings because the campaign narrative was to minimize the threat of ISIS even after all of the horrors of the Benghazi attack on 9/11. Obama needed his campaign narrative to stay on topic – Osama bin Laden is defeated and never mind the Benghazi attack.… Continue Reading

Written by Kenneth Vogel

The billionaire, who had dialed back his giving, has committed more than $25 million to supporting Hillary Clinton and other Democratic candidates and causes.

George Soros is back.

The billionaire investor, who scaled back his political giving after a then-unprecedented $27 million spending spree to try to defeat George Bush in 2004, has quietly reemerged as a leading funder of Democratic politics — and as a leading bogeyman of conservatives.

Soros has donated or committed more than $25 million to boost Hillary Clinton and other Democratic candidates and causes, according to Federal Election Commission records and interviews with his associates and Democratic fundraising operatives.… Continue Reading

Written by Jeff Stein

Hillary Clinton may have won the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, but Bernie Sanders has still left an outsize mark on its future.

Back in July, Sanders won a string of concessions on the Democratic Party platform, pulling the party to the left on the minimum wage, environmental regulation, marijuana legalization, and the war on drugs.

“I think if you read the platform right now, you will understand that the political revolution is alive and kicking,” Sanders’s policy director, Warren Gunnels, told NBC News at the time, adding that campaign got “at least 80 percent” of what it wanted.… Continue Reading

Written by Dr. Michael Brown

Is it all politics, or does Hillary understand the incongruity of her statements on black babies?

I know that you and Mr. Clinton have been considered real friends of the African-American community to the point that, before President Obama’s election, your husband was jokingly referred to as the nation’s first black president.

I also know that you have identified proudly as an “old fashioned Methodist” and that you warmly welcomed a contingent of African-American pastors who laid hands on you and anointed you as the next president.… Continue Reading

Four years after releasing a video that called for Black Christians to leave the Democrat Party, Bishop E.W. Jackson is renewing that call, and calling for Black Americans to leave the Democrat Party. “After eight years of the first black President, the black community is worse off now than it was when he was elected. The Democrat Party has become nothing more than a metaphorical slave ship, holding black voters captive, taking them where they don’t want to go, while telling them they’re on a luxury cruise.… Continue Reading

Written by Thomas Sowell

If there were a contest for the most stupid idea in politics, my choice would be the assumption that people would be evenly or randomly distributed in incomes, institutions, occupations or awards, in the absence of somebody doing somebody wrong.

Political crusades, bureaucratic empires and lucrative personal careers as grievance mongers have been built on the foundation of that assumption, which is almost never tested against any facts.

A recent article in the New York Times saw as a problem the fact that females are greatly under-represented among the highest rated chess players.… Continue Reading

Written by John Biver

This is  a great series by Dennis Prager outlining the basic information more Americans need to hear. Enjoy.

Many people – including those who keep up with politics – cannot articulate the differences between the Left and the Right in a way that is fair and objective. In this five-part video series, Dennis Prager does exactly that. In under 30 minutes, you’ll understand the essential differences between the two.

* * * * *

How big should the government be?… Continue Reading

Written by Myron Magnet

After Thursday’s terrorist slaughter of policemen in Dallas, it’s fair to say that Barack Obama might well be the worst president in U.S. history. Here’s why.

The keynote of America’s domestic politics for the last 60 or 70 years—from sometime between the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v Board of Education school desegregation decision and the 1964 Civil Rights Act—has been the nation’s effort to undo the heinous wrongs that slavery and Jim Crow perpetrated on black Americans ever since the first slave was brought here in the 1640s.… Continue Reading

Written by Billy Davis and Steve Jordahl

A variety of advocates for conservative causes are watching closely as the Republican Party completes a draft of its official party platform.

Platform committee members met Monday and Tuesday in Cleveland to finalize the party’s stance on immigration, military readiness, and other issues that will be put before convention delegates for a final vote.

Many of the debated topics were hot-button social issues, including abortion and traditional marriage.

“Emerging Republican platform goes far to the right,” a headline at the reliably liberal New York Times declared earlier this week.… Continue Reading

Written by Matthew Vadum

The far-left Southern Poverty Law Center relentlessly promotes the Big Lie, wildly popular in the media, that conservative Americans are racists and the real threat to the nation rather than Islamic terrorists.

The group claims the principal enemies of the American people are presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, conservatives like David Horowitz, and the Tea Party movement.

The SPLC is a shamelessly hypocritical leftist attack machine funded by radical speculator George Soros and a rogue’s gallery of rich people and established philanthropies that want to fundamentally transform America.… Continue Reading

Written by Kelsey Harkness

The story of the former Atlanta fire chief who was fired from his job after publishing a book that addressed marriage and sexuality from a biblical perspective took center stage at a hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill, with witnesses from both sides of the aisle voicing disapproval of the city’s decision to terminate the decorated public servant.

“I wish we had a bill to protect him,” former U.S. Representative Barney Frank, a Democrat who represented Massachusetts’ 4th District, said of Chief Kelvin Cochran.… Continue Reading

The Republican Party Platform Committee adopted draft language on Tuesday that supports defunding Planned Parenthood and extending the Constitutional “right to life” to pre-born babies.

Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue, in currently in Cleveland with #OperationRNC, which is a campaign led by Created Equal to ensure the GOP party platform remains pro-life.  Newman also served as a founding board member of the Center for Medical Progress, the group that released undercover videos last year showing Planned Parenthood officials haggling over the price of aborted baby parts.… Continue Reading

Written by Walter Williams

German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that multiculturalism has “utterly failed,” adding that it was an illusion to think Germans and foreign workers could “live happily side by side.” The failure of multiculturalism is also seen in Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and other European countries. Immigrants coming from Africa and the Middle East refuse to assimilate and instead seek to import the failed cultures they fled.

Leftist diversity advocates and multiculturalists are right to argue that people of all races, religions and cultures should be equal in the eyes of the law.… Continue Reading

Written by Allan B. West

You know I love it when we find hypocrisy emanating from the progressive socialists of the left. Yeah, I know, it’s really not that hard, and they make it easy — well, for those with the courage to go on offense against them.

In the aftermath of the Orlando Islamic terror attack, the left has been spewing forth its manufactured and fabricated narrative about gun control. Heck, they even carried a rainbow banner from the New York City pride parade that blamed Islamic jihadists the Republican Party for hate.… Continue Reading

Written by Jeffrey Jones

As the nation prepares to celebrate Independence Day, 52% of U.S. adults say they are “extremely proud” to be Americans, a new low in Gallup’s 16-year trend. Americans’ patriotism spiked after 9/11, peaking at 70% in 2003, but has declined since, including an eight-percentage-point drop in early 2005 and a five-point drop since 2013.

Americans’ declining patriotism is likely related to broader dissatisfaction with the way things are going in the U.S.… Continue Reading

Written by Cliff Kincaid

Why is the FBI missing the extremists in our midst? Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the organization consulted by the Department of Justice for information on extremists is in bed with them.

Evelyn Schlatter, the deputy director of research of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), was listed as a participant in the recent Left Forum conference, which featured an assortment of communists, 9/11 truthers, pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel activists, and other extremists.… Continue Reading

Written by Jonah Goldberg

Perhaps it’s time to bring back the American Liberty League.

Forgotten by everyone save a few history buffs, primarily on the libertarian right and the Marxist left, the League was formed early in Franklin Roosevelt’s first term by John Jakob Raskob, a former head of the Democratic Party. Its leadership comprised mostly conservative small-government Democrats, including the party’s two previous presidential nominees — Al Smith, who ran in 1928 (the first major Catholic presidential candidate), and John Davis, who lost to Calvin Coolidge in 1924.… Continue Reading

Written by Thomas Sowell

The great promise of socialism is something for nothing. It is one of the signs of today’s dumbed-down education that so many young Bernie Sanders supporters seem to think that the cost of their college education should — and will — be paid by raising taxes on “the rich.”

Socialism sounds great. It has always sounded great. And it will probably always continue to sound great. It is only when you go beyond rhetoric, and start looking at hard facts, that socialism turns out to be a big disappointment, if not a disaster.… Continue Reading

Written by Ryan T. Anderson

If it wasn’t for double standards, some liberals would have none at all. That seems to be the lesson from the past few weeks, where liberals have displayed three distinct forms of hypocrisy.

Liberal governors and mayors signed travel bans to North Carolina and Mississippi, CEOs of major corporations pledged boycotts and relocations, and Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams have canceled scheduled concerts in those states.

At issue are a Mississippi law that narrowly and carefully protects the rights of religious charities, small businesses, and select public servants and a North Carolina law that reasonably protects privacy and safety in public restrooms, while leaving private institutions free to set their own bathroom policies.… Continue Reading

Written by Leonardo Blair

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton is now facing the wrath of pro-choice activists who are attacking the former first lady for saying a baby is a “child” and an “unborn person.”

Clinton made the comment after she was asked about her position on abortion and if she believes an unborn child has constitutional rights during an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd.

“When or if does an unborn child have constitutional rights?”

Written by Casey Mattox

Touchdowns were worth 4 points, field goals were worth 5, the forward pass was illegal, and these guys were the terrors of college football.

That was the setting in 1888, the last time an opposition party controlled Senate confirmed a Supreme Court nominee to a seat vacated during an election year. President Garfield’s nominee, Melville Fuller, (coincidentally, a Harvard man who would not have liked the picture above) gained the support of a barely Republican Senate.… Continue Reading

Written by Jim Kouri

While much is being discussed in the United States regarding presidential hopeful and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s unauthorized email system and the suspicious emails discovered by inspectors general, the Congress, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and non-government groups such as Judicial Watch, nothing is being reported regarding Mrs. Clinton and Israel.

During her highly praised campaign by her news media sycophants, Hillary Clinton is portrayed as a true friend of Israel, despite having scolded the leaders of the Jewish State in her book for their treatment of the Palestinians.… Continue Reading

Written by Adam Seagrave

Any defense of constitutional originalism depends on accepting the principles of natural law and natural rights on which the Constitution was founded. Unfortunately, these principles no longer have meaning for most judges, politicians, and ordinary citizens today—which has troubling implications for the future of our republic.

Written by Brittany Klein

Earlier this week, former Rep. Ron Paul explained to CNN why a libertarian cannot endorse Donald Trump’s authoritarian approach:

My biggest beef is, from a libertarian viewpoint, there is absolutely no difference, meaningful difference, between Hillary and Trump. They both support the military industrial complex, the Federal Reserve, deficits, entitlements, invasion of our privacy. And it’s super nationalistic populism versus socialism. That is so removed from what we need to be doing.

Written by David Gunn

The 2016 presidential primary is upon us! Political advertisements and contentious pundits fill the airwaves, candidates zoom from campaign stop to campaign stop with all the frenzied energy of well-caffeinated mosquitoes, and the general public watches the unfolding events with a strange mixture of excitement, curiosity, and perturbation. Through it all, one figure has absolutely dominated the media coverage: billionaire magnate-turned-politician Donald Trump.

The Trump phenomenon has totally disrupted conventional political wisdom.… Continue Reading

Written by J. Matt Barber

Much will be written about the utter thrashing GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump took at the hands of the far-more prepared, knowledgeable, qualified and otherwise principled Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio during Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate on CNN. I will, therefore, focus, instead, on another Republican candidate who’s absolutely got to go: Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Many thanks to Hugh Hewitt for asking the question. In a campaign where the noise of myriad, and in many cases less critical, issues has drowned out the single greatest threat to God-fearing Americans’ individual liberties – the secular left’s tireless efforts to end our constitutional religious free exercise and freedom of conscience – Hewitt exposed John Kasich as an avowed enemy to the First Amendment and a devoted ally of Democratic sexual change agents.… Continue Reading

Max Lucado is a pastor in San Antonio and a bestselling author of 32 books, including the most recent Glory Days. In a 2004 piece, Christianity Today dubbed Lucado “America’s Pastor,” alluding to his broad appeal to mainstream Americans. Part of that appeal can be attributed to his approach to politics: typically, he stays out of it. He never endorsed or opposed a presidential candidate. Then Trump happened.

In a recent blog post, Lucado chose to speak out against what he calls Trump’s “antics,” insisting that, “such insensitivities wouldn’t even be acceptable even for a middle school student body election.”… Continue Reading

Written by Maggie Gallagher

I don’t know how to describe this, except to say the truth. A handful of believing Christians have sacrificed their family’s livelihoods by being unwilling to facilitate gay weddings. Gov. John Kasich describes this (falsely) as being unwilling to serve a cupcake to gay people:

“I think frankly, our churches should not be forced to do anything that’s not consistent with them. But if you’re a cupcake maker and somebody wants a cupcake, make them a cupcake,” he said.

Written by Robert Knight

What do most Republican presidential candidates have in common with dozens of Christian, pro-family and patriotic organizations?

They’re prominently featured in the Southern Poverty Law Center’s latest report, “The Year in Hate and Extremism.”

The cover has a large picture of an open-mouthed Donald Trump, under whom are a masked terrorist, the Islamist San Bernardino mass murderers, other hate crime suspects, a Nazi Swastika, columnist Ann Coulter, Center for National Security President Frank Gaffney, and, of course, the Confederate battle flag.… Continue Reading

Written by Thomas Sowell

Many people of mature years are amazed at how many young people have voted for Senator Bernie Sanders, and are enthusiastic about the socialism he preaches.

Many of those older people have lived long enough to have seen socialism fail, time and again, in countries around the world. Venezuela, with all its rich oil resources, is currently on the verge of economic collapse, after its heady fling with socialism.

But, most of the young have missed all that, and their dumbed-down education is far more likely to present the inspiring rhetoric of socialism than to present its dismal track record.… Continue Reading

Written by John Kirkwood

Imagine for the sake of argument the following: nearly 8 years ago we were out at sea when our boat was stormed by pirates led by a community organizer and we were thrown overboard.  We grouped together and began to tread water when two years later the S.S. GOP came to our rescue.  At the last minute they determined that there was no room aboard and they were running low on gas so if we’d just all donate our watches, Rolex, Movado, Timex, they would pawn our watches, fill their tanks and come back to rescue us.… Continue Reading

Written by The FAMiLY LEADER

Donald Trump remains one of the biggest stories of the year.

He also remains a bit of an enigma – a man whose pro-life, pro-family promises don’t seem to match up with his record or his behavior. And despite multiple invitations by our partners at CitizenLink to clarify the seeming contradictions, Mr. Trump has refused to resolve the very questions Americans need to have answered before they can vote for him in good conscience.… Continue Reading

Written by Charles Battig

While political pundits ponder the reasons for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’s success with his socialist message among younger voters, they might also consider the “power of myth” as evidenced by human behavior.

Historian Joseph Campbell’s reflections on the topic aired on PBS in the mid-1980s and were later published in 1988 under the title The Power of Myth.  Campbell documented and analyzed recurring basic themes embedded in the folklore and mythology of most every culture…good vs.… Continue Reading

Written by Pastor John Kirkwood

There are similarities between Trump and Cruz supporters but the prime difference is that the Trump voter is mainly actuated by one principle: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

If you despise the GOP establishment and you hate Political Correctness then Trump the “outsider,” who has challenged those things vociferously, is very appealing. The dismayed and despondent, blind with rage, just want a pound of flesh. RINO flesh. And who can blame them?… Continue Reading

Written by Dr. Michael Brown

When the legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum was challenged about the veracity of one of his past statements, he famously replied, “Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth.”

This leads to the obvious question, “But Mr. Arum, what will you tell us tomorrow?”

There is something about Arum’s line that reminds me of Donald Trump, except that: 1) Arum was not running for the office of the President of the United States; and 2) Trump could say the same thing that Arum did but it appears that many of his followers would say, “You see!… Continue Reading

Dear Trump supporters:

America hears you.

You are angry with the gridlock caused by the petty bickering of professional politicians more interested in being lackeys to lobbyists and other big-money donors than in improving the lives of average wage-earning Americans. Money, jobs and opportunities seem to flow upstream to those who already have everything, rather than downstream to those most in need. Truly, this is how most Americans feel.

The question for this election is: Which candidate will actually do something about it?… Continue Reading

Written by Elaine Donnelly

It’s 11:00 PM – Do you know where your presidential candidate stands on women in land combat?  What about registering unsuspecting girls-next-door for Selective Service, without a vote of Congress?

And will the next president continue LGBT celebrations promoting transgenders in the military, while encouraging threats to religious liberty in the military?  The 2016 CMR Quadrennial Presidential Candidate Survey aims to find out where the candidates stand.

A fierce battle for votes is going on in Iowa, New Hampshire, and other early-voting states. … Continue Reading

Written by Greg Quinlan

I’m a member of the clergy and for the past eight years have lobbied the powerful in Trenton, covering the administrations of both Governors Jon Corzine and Chris Christie.  I did much of my work on behalf of the New Jersey Family Policy Council, associated with Tony Perkins‘ Family Research Council.  I am currently the President of the Center for Garden State Families.

Those of us who are engaged in the fight to secure the right to believe, speak, and practice the Christian faith in America were all heartened by the election of a Pro-Life Governor in 2009.  

Written by Senator Mike Lee

After Republicans won a majority in the Senate and maintained their majority in the House in November 2014, I proposed that the two chambers take five modest steps to repair what had become a dysfunctional legislative branch.

This was part of my effort as the recently elected chairman of the Senate Steering Committee to put forward a vision and a plan that would guide the Republican majority toward unity and restore the public’s confidence in Congress.

Written by Jeffrey M. Jones

Gallup’s analysis of political party affiliation at the state level in 2015 finds that 20 states are solidly Republican or leaning Republican, compared with 14 solidly Democratic or leaning Democratic states. The remaining 16 are competitive. This is the first time in Gallup’s eight years of tracking partisanship by state that there have been more Republican than Democratic states. It also marks a dramatic shift from 2008, when Democratic strength nationally was its greatest in recent decades.… Continue Reading

This is not how Hillary Clinton’s run for the White House was supposed to go: full of never-ending scandals, with a close primary competitor, and two FBI investigations. There is but one week to go before the Iowa caucuses, where the first votes in this year’s presidential race will finally be cast.

While Hillary Clinton is still the clear leader in national polls and likely to receive the nomination, the numbers are extremely close in Iowa between Hillary and the democratic socialist candidate Sen.… Continue Reading

Written by Lydia Saad

Americans’ political ideology remained essentially stable in the past year, with conservatives retaining the barest of advantages over moderates in Americans’ self-identified political views, 37% vs. 35%. Liberals held firm at 24%.

Conservatives have outnumbered moderates as well as liberals in the U.S. population each year since 2009, coinciding with Barack Obama’s presidency. Before that, spanning George W. Bush’s presidency, from 2001 to 2008, the two groups were about tied. Through most of Bill Clinton’s presidency, from 1993 to 2000, moderates had a slight edge.… Continue Reading

Written by Michael Barone

The Census Bureau has delivered its annual Christmas gift to demographic junkies: its estimates of the populations of the 50 states and the District of Columbia for mid-2015.

They show where the nation has been growing since the April 2010 Census headcount, a period that follows the end of the 2007–09 recession and includes three-fourths of the Obama presidency. They show what states Americans have been moving in and out of, and what states have attracted the most immigrants.… Continue Reading

Written by Steve Deace

The Ted Cruz surge has officially arrived. Predictably, the same political class that previously didn’t give him any shot to win the nomination is now saying he’s “peaking too soon” or the “flavor of the month.”

Here are five reasons why they’re wrong (as they almost always are).

1. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Iowa does not “break late.”

Accounting for the upcoming holidays when most people tune out politics, there are about 40 days until Iowans vote in their first-in-the-nation caucuses.… Continue Reading

Written by Dr. Michael Brown

I do not believe that President Obama is a Muslim, but I have no doubt that he reveres Islam and that he is an apologist for Islam. Is there really any question about it?

I posted comments similar to this on social media December 5^th in the aftermath of the San Bernardino massacre before reading that Sen. Ted Cruz had commented that, “We have a president right now, who at times operates as an apologist for radical Islamic terrorists.”… Continue Reading

Written by Maggie Gallagher

Sen. Rubio has begun a concerted outreach to evangelicals meeting with pastors in a scene reported through David Brody, who is both widely read himself by evangelicals and the “interpreter” of evangelicals for a lot of political reporters.

Rubio is vowing never to change his beliefs on “traditional” marriage and on abortion. That is good. But the real question is: what will you do to protect the civil rights of traditional believers whom the left is redefining as racists?… Continue Reading

Written by Jeffrey Jones

Americans’ party preferences are closely divided, with 43% identifying as Democrats or leaning Democratic and 41% identifying as Republicans or leaning Republican. The parties have been essentially tied since August, representing a shift from months prior when Democrats had the party affiliation advantage.

The results are based on Gallup Daily tracking interviews with approximately 15,000 Americans each month. Gallup asks Americans to say whether they identify politically as a Republican, an independent or a Democrat.… Continue Reading

The Obama administration appears to have taken yet another terrorism-fighting tool away from U.S. law enforcement trying to screen Syrian refugees.

Written by Kyle Schideler

U.S. law enforcement officials involved in screening Syrian refugees are forbidden from asking key questions about individuals’ religious affiliations or beliefs based on policy guidance created by the Obama administration, according to a recent report published at The Daily Caller.

The piece notes that both Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) policies have increasingly restricted the ability of law enforcement to query individuals about their religious behaviors or associations.

By StacyOnTheRight

The CNBC debate is memorable for many reasons, with the complete lack of preparedness of the moderators standing out as unfortunate circumstance number one. At numerous points during the evening, candidates called out the moderators for the low quality of their questions. Becky Quick was obviously biased against the candidates and repeatedly steered the discussion to “Pay Inequality” only to be viciously rebuffed. At one point, Quick couldn’t remember where she’d heard that Donald Trump was critical of Mark Zuckerberg’s immigration stance.… Continue Reading

Compiled by Lia Annunziata

Some of the concerns with Common Core include the questionable academic quality, non-transparent creation and quick adoption, federal involvement, expansion of student data-mining and the further erosion of state and local control.

As they have learned how Common Core will affect curricula, teaching, and testing, state lawmakers and citizens have strongly objected, causing more than a dozen states to consider withdrawing and others to drop their involvement with federally funded tests.

Here’s what the 2016 Republican Presidential Candidates say about Common Core.… Continue Reading

Written by Lawrence Sellin, PhD

The two most important issues of the 2016 election are non-partisan.

(1)    The federal government and the media are, as institutions, hopelessly corrupt.

(2)    The United States has elections, but we no longer have representative government.

None of the problems facing the country can be solved effectively without first confronting those two issues. Without doing so, we are just kicking the can down the road toward national collapse and fragmentation.

Americans are no longer citizens of a republic, but subjects of a reigning oligarchy composed of a self-absorbed permanent political class, which services the interests of wealthy financiers at the expense of the wider population.… Continue Reading

From NewsMachete

I’ve never been comfortable with Carly Fiorina because she ran as a no-issues moderate for the 2010 senate race in California, and she hasn’t articulated any conservative principles before 2015.

But she has spoken up in other ways – just not very conservative-like:

Immediately after 9/11, Carly gave a speech where, in light of the 3,000 Americans who had just been slaughtered, her first concern was for… Muslims.

And as a business leader, I experienced a whole other set of emotions – first and foremost concern for the safety of our employees and their families.… Continue Reading

Written by J. Robert Smith

At Thursday night’s GOP cattle call, Bret Baier asked for a show of hands.

Gentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person.

Written by Joe Schoffstall

On Thursday, the White House came to the defense of Planned Parenthood calling the stream of damning videos against the organization “fraudulent.” The talking points used by the White House came straight from Planned Parenthood itself.

Now, according to the visitor log, it was discovered that the president of Planned Parenthood has made at least 39 visits to the Obama White House since he’s taken office.

Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards made her first trip to the White House on Obama’s first day in office.… Continue Reading

Written by Pat Hughes

The political left will say anything to deconstruct reality and advance their agenda. While political insiders sometimes dismiss this tactic as little more than a marketing ploy, in truth, their repeated efforts at misdirection are as effective as they are destructive.

Take, for example, the left’s rebranding of tax increases as “revenue.” Most people are familiar with revenue as it is commonly defined: income generated from the sale of goods or services, or any other use of capital or assets.… Continue Reading

Written by Mike “Mish” Shedlock

Chicago’s public schools are effectively bankrupt. The city’s pension plans are countless billions of dollars in the hole, the worst in the nation. And Chicago bonds carry a junk rating, the worst of any major U.S. city.

There is plenty to fix, but city leaders are fiddling while Chicago burns. Instead of addressing the enormous problems the city faces, politicians opt to nickel-and-dime residents and businesses to death, scaring away companies in the process.

By Sarah Ferris

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wants to force the Senate to vote on defunding Planned Parenthood this week, as a second undercover video unleashes a new storm of scrutiny of the organization.

Cruz’s office said Tuesday that he plans to file an amendment on the highway bill that would eliminate all federal funding for Planned Parenthood, in addition to an amendment that would fully repeal ObamaCare.

Cruz is the second senator — and the second GOP presidential candidate — who is eying the highway bill as an attempt to defund Planned Parenthood.… Continue Reading

Written by Steven Deace

As we await Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is about to become the 16^th and likely final GOP presidential candidate, the 2016 field is just about set.

It’s a strong field in terms of resume and talent. Perhaps the strongest the Republican Party has ever had. This only makes it harder for conservatives to discern who’s who and whom to support, especially coming off several cycles where the pickings were slim if you were a movement conservative.

Written By Stoyan Zaimov

Two GOP presidential candidates, former Texas Governor Rick Perry and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, have weighed in on the Boy Scouts of America’s vote last week to remove the long-standing ban on gay leaders in troops. While Perry said the ban should have stood, Walker argued the troops should decide for themselves.

“I believe that Scouting would be better off if they didn’t have openly gay scoutmasters,” Perry, who is an Eagle Scout along with Walker, told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday

Earlier in July, the BSA executive committee voted unanimously to remove the blanket ban, but said that individual scout troops will be allowed to set their own policy on whether to allow gay leaders or not.… Continue Reading

Ten Republican presidential candidates spoke about their faith and how they care for issues such as marriage, religious freedom and defeating Islamist terrorism as they addressed a big annual gathering of evangelical voters at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa Saturday.

The candidates spoke to the crowd and faced questions from the moderator, Frank Luntz, a political consultant and Fox News contributor, and the audience, with a Bible placed on the table next to them.… Continue Reading

Written by Ali Meyer

The number of beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as food stamps, has exceeded 45 million for 48 straight months, according to data released by the Department of Agriculture (USDA).

In April 2015, the latest month from which data is available, there were 45,438,832 beneficiaries of the food stamp program.

The number of food stamp recipients first exceeded 45 million in May 2011. Since then, the number has consistently exceeded 45 million, hitting a record high of about 47,800,000 in December 2012.… Continue Reading

Written by Ray Nothstine

On Wednesday, in lieu of the Supreme Court’s recent decision on gay marriage, Democratic Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, was asked about revoking the tax status of religious schools. He and other Senate Democrats claim to be undecided on the matter.

“There’s no question this was an historic decision,” said Durbin, “and now we’re going to go through a series of suggestions for new laws to implement it.”

The Weekly Standard asked Durbin Wednesday if the tax exempt status for religious schools was in jeopardy and Durbin stated there is no “quick answer.”… Continue Reading

After 11 years of hiding and hinting, the real Barack Obama is back.

The guy who spent twenty years listening to Reverend Jeremiah Wright preach the gospel of racial hostility has decided it is just too much trouble to keep his black-on-white resentment all bottled up.

So the president put it on full display last week at the eulogy for the pastor who was a victim in the Charleston mass murder.

And what we saw was quite a bit different than the fresh-faced, new-vision, ‘put race behind us’ guy who electrified the country with his speech to the Democrat National Convention in 2004.… Continue Reading

Written by the Washington Examiner Editorial Board

It is rare for news events, even as momentous as the past week’s, to drown out absolute proof that a candidate for president has lied willfully to the public and Congress. Yet precisely such proof has emerged, and it has appeared not only in this newspaper but also in The New York Times (albeit with a headline designed not to draw attention).

Americans learned this spring that Hillary Clinton, in contravention of federal records rules and current law, conducted all her State Department business using a private email address, housed in a server at her home in Westchester County, N.Y.… Continue Reading

Written by Charlie Spiering

Returning to his High School gym, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced his run for president Tuesday on a center stage surrounded by some of his most loyal supporters still proud of their native son.

It’s the moment his longtime supporters were waiting for, but perhaps a smaller event than they would have expected during the peak of the Christie-mania that occurred after winning a resounding re-election in 2013 as a Republican governor in a blue state.… Continue Reading

Written by Christopher Bedford

Next month, Ohio Gov. John Kasich is going to announce that he’s running for president for some reason.

And while Republicans can probably afford to ignore him until it’s time to consider VPs, Americans should pay attention to Ohio’s governor, and his dangerously wrong lectures on morality, Christianity and the role of government.

Conservatives first took notice when Mr. Kasich decided he was going to accept President Barack Obama’s Medicaid expansion in 2013.… Continue Reading

The head of a conservative public policy organization says he remains uncomfortable with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s commitment to defending pro-family issues if he enters the 2016 GOP race.

Frank Cannon, president of American Principles in Action, says Walker is a proven fighter who was willing to take on a “very tough fight” against public unions in Wisconsin.

But Cannon says there are a number of concerns among conservative voters about Walker’s commitment with regard to social issues.… Continue Reading

Written by Cliff Kincaid

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s speech that launched his presidential campaign on Monday noted that Hillary Clinton’s “progressive agenda” includes the admonition that traditional religious beliefs “have to be changed.” Mrs. Clinton’s entire quote, in talking about opposition to her version of feminism and demands for abortion, was that “…deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.”

Bush also said of the Democrats, “They have offered a progressive agenda that includes everything but progress.”… Continue Reading

Written by Jay Richards

Public opinion on same-sex “marriage” has shifted so quickly that major Democratic candidates for president in 2008 still had to pretend to believe in man-woman marriage (that is, “marriage”). It was only after Joe Biden gave the game away that President Obama officially endorsed same-sex marriage as soon as he did — in May 2012. By that time, a majority of Americans were just starting to tell pollsters they agreed. Now, a mere three years later, only the most stout-hearted public figures can make the man-woman marriage argument that Barack Obama was still making in April 2012.… Continue Reading

Written by Rachel Alexander

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, considered a liberal Republican on almost everything except foreign policy, announced today from his hometown of Central in South Carolina that he was entering the GOP presidential primary. A military veteran, his speech emphasized foreign policy and a muscular military stance abroad. Presently, “radical Islam is running wild,” is “large, rich and entrenched,” he said, but if he is elected president, “I will make them small, poor and on the run.”… Continue Reading

Written by John Biver

This is the last of a series that starts here.

Where is the Steve Jobs of conservative politics? Where is the innovation, creativity, and vision?

Why do things continue to get worse, despite the fact that there are countless highly paid and experienced professionals working in Republican and conservative politics? After over twenty-five years of political experience I could write a book on the topic, and maybe I will some day.

Written by John Biver

It might be a tired old cliché, but politics as we know it today is a tired old arena, so I don’t mind using the line since it applies perfectly: The definition of the word “insanity” is doing more of the same and expecting a different result.

It looks like conservatives are going to run more presidential candidates than ever — will they split the vote even more so that a rino can waltz into the nomination?

Written by John Biver

Let’s face it, the past few generations of political conservatives have been politically lazy. While the small numbers of conservatives that have been politically active can be lauded for their efforts, relatively few of them have been effective. If you think those two statements are mean, tell me — where are the signs of that energy? Where are the fruits of all that effectiveness?

Scattered policy victories here or there? I’m not impressed.

Written by John Biver

In his 1975 speech to CPAC Ronald Reagan said:

Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?

Forty years of work by conservative thinkers, think tanks and issue advocacy organizations from coast to coast have provided more than enough intellectual ammunition to accomplish the raising of that banner of bold colors on every issue.

Written by Bruce Walker

Hillary sure looks like a weak candidate.  There are a few Democrats who may challenge her, but none of these will attack her for being too liberal or for being corrupt.  Instead we hear the weary refrains of Democrats needing to get tougher on Wall Street, to redistribute wealth, and so on.  It is as if the only two divisions in the Democrat Party are the left and the radical left.

Yet Gallup reports that only 44% of Democrats describe themselves as “liberal,” while 19% of Democrats call themselves “conservative” and 36% of Democrats call themselves “moderate.” … Continue Reading

Written by David Limbaugh

I think Hillary Clinton has learned (or believes she has learned) a great deal from Barack Obama over the years, though none of it has to do with statesmanship. It has to do with how a presidential candidate positions herself with the electorate.

From all indications and a recent Washington Post article on the subject, Hillary’s strategy is to emulate Obama’s appeal to his leftist base and his arrogant disrespect for any constitutional limitations on his authority.… Continue Reading

Written by Mark Fritton

The head of the Civic Federation — a largely Chicagoland business group — on Monday gave a panel of Illinois state senators some hard advice:

Illinois has to control its spending and pay its debts, and it must do so for several years.

Laurence Msall, the federation’s president, reviewed some of the group’s recommendations for a state budget for fiscal year 2016, which begins July 1.

The overall message: Cut spending and raise revenue.… Continue Reading

Written by Cliff Kincaid

Black conservative Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson is everything Barack Obama is not. That’s why he has to be destroyed.

In a desperate move, The Washington Post ran a more than 2,500-word article on Sunday warning Carson to stop criticizing Obama.

What were Carson’s crimes?

• He offered “a conservative critique of U.S. health-care and spending policies, while standing a few feet from President Obama.”
• “In the ensuing months and years, Carson’s attacks grew sharper—deriding Obama’s signature health-care law as the ‘worst thing to have happened in this nation since slavery’ and, in the pages of GQ, likening Obama to a ‘psychopath.’

Written by Dr. Michael Brown

It is now the “gotcha” question being asked to every Republican presidential candidate: Would you attend a same-sex ‘wedding’ ceremony?”

Rick Santorum said no, since it would be a violation of his faith.

Marco Rubio said yes, even though he disagrees with it as a Catholic, just as he disagrees with divorce and remarriage, but he would attend rather than hurt someone he loves.

Scott Walker said he had previously attended a same-sex “wedding” reception but stated that marriage was the union of a man and a woman.… Continue Reading

Written by Larry Tomczak

As America enters a presidential campaign season with serious implications, we need to engage in an honest, charitable conversation on Hillary Clinton’s history and pursuit of the presidency. The stakes are high plus we also have a tendency to forget.

If you’ve seen the outstanding film, Woman in Gold, a riveting true story starring Academy award winner Helen Mirren as a Holocaust survivor, you’ll recall her haunting words, “People forget – especially the young.”

The debate over religious liberty in America presents conservatives and business leaders with a crucial choice.

In Indiana and Arkansas, large corporations recently joined left-wing activists to bully elected officials into backing away from strong protections for religious liberty. It was disappointing to see conservative leaders so hastily retreat on legislation that would simply allow for an individual or business to claim a right to free exercise of religion in a court of law.… Continue Reading

Written by John Biver

So the shutdown is over. Here’s Red State’s Erick Erickson on the topic: Advancing. Ever Advancing. Here’s the Heritage Foundation write up this morning: The Deal That’s No Deal. Here’s Rush: Conservatives are Winning on Policy. Regarding Rush’s headline — of course that’s what we thought in the days leading up to election day 2012, too.

Going into this I knew our side didn’t have the communications infrastructure needed to hold on and win.

From IllinoisReview.com

News out of the 18th CD Monday showed State Senator Darin LaHood’s bid to succeed resigned Congressman Aaron Schock solidifying as another potential GOP primary opponent dropped out and an unknown resident of Green Valley initiated a write-in bid.

Bloomington businessman Ed Brady, once considering a bid in the IL GOP special election primary endorsed LaHood.

“Darin LaHood has a proven record of being a fiscal conservative and supporting legislation that improves the business climate in Illinois, and I know he will continue that record in Washington,” said Brady.

Written by Tony Lee

Pro-amnesty, Pro-gay marriage, and pro-abortion donors are powering former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s fundraising operation.

Bush, who is reportedly aiming to raise $100 million before he formally enters the race, will not give a speech at CPAC on Friday and instead participate in a question and answer session with Fox News host Sean Hannity.

“All too often we’re associated with being ‘anti’ everything,” Bush lectured CPAC in 2013. “Way too many people believe Republicans are anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-science, anti-gay, anti-worker, and the list goes on.”… Continue Reading

Written by Robert Knight

It’s not enough to propose liberal ideas. Eventually, you must use force against your fellow citizens if they don’t embrace them. Coercion is at the heart of the liberal enterprise.

Hence, President Obama has unveiled his latest plan to fundamentally transform the United States – mandatory voting. It comes on the heels of his unconstitutional order granting legal status to five million illegal immigrants. Coincidence?

Ironically, it also landed the very same day that Hillary Clinton floated the idea that summer camps should be created for adults because we have a “fun deficit.”… Continue Reading

Written by Jonathan Allen

In 2008, Hillary Clinton promised Barack Obama, the president-elect, there would be no mystery about who was giving money to her family’s globe-circling charities. She made a pledge to publish all the donors on an annual basis to ease concerns that as secretary of state she could be vulnerable to accusations of foreign influence.

At the outset, the Clinton Foundation did indeed publish what they said was a complete list of the names of more than 200,000 donors and has continued to update it.… Continue Reading

Written by Alana Goodman

Potential presidential contender Jeb Bush is coming under fire from the pro-Israel community ahead of his foreign policy adviser’s scheduled keynote address to a left-wing Middle East activist group on Monday night.

Bush adviser James Baker, the former secretary of state under President George H.W. Bush and a long-time critic of America’s close relationship with Israel, is slated to speak at the annual conference for J Street, a lobbying group that advocates for increased U.S.… Continue Reading

Democrats want to take care of you. Republicans want you to get ahead.

It is not just that President Obama’s budget, released in February, projects an $687 billion deficit in 2025, up from $486 billion this year, and the Republican budget projects a surplus. It’s that Democratic proposals are centered on keeping people safe, and Republican proposals are focused on helping them get better jobs and higher incomes.… Continue Reading

Written by James Lewis

The radical left is never satisfied with its power.  It always wants more.  Two terms as president won’t satisfy Obama’s power-lust.

On December 12, 2014, CNN reported that “300 ex-Obama staffers” had written a public letter urging first-term senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to run for president.

Obama could have stopped that move from his homeys.  He chose not to, and probably encouraged it behind the scenes.

A few days ago, Robert Reich was quoted by our trustworthy media to the effect that “Elizabeth Warren would be a strong primary challenger to Hillary Clinton.”  … Continue Reading

The U.S. Senate was criticized for blocking an anti-human trafficking bill on Tuesday because Senate Democrats objected to the inclusion of anti-abortion language.

“Stopping human trafficking is too important a priority to be held hostage by the abortion lobby’s culture-warring,” Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said in a statement.

“I urge the Senate to think about vulnerable women and children in peril, rather than about the political maneuvers of the abortion-industrial complex.”… Continue Reading

Written by Michael F. Haverluck

While addressing one of the nation’s leading homosexual activist groups on Friday in the nation’s capital, Vice President Joe Biden used the name of Jesus Christ in vain while defending the claim of the LGBT community that homosexuality is hereditary.

What’s your reaction to Vice President Biden’s comments to the Human Rights Campaign?

Biden was challenging prospective Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson’s assertion last week that homosexuality is a choice … a learned behavior — not a gender or inherent biological state of being.… Continue Reading

Written by Chad Groening

A new conservative watchdog group dedicated to exposing unethical behavior in government isn’t confident Hillary Clinton will turn over all the emails from the personal account she used while secretary of state under Barack Obama.

Clinton’s successor, John Kerry, has pledged that the State Department will move immediately to review emails that Clinton wrote on her personal account when she was secretary of state. The former first lady had urged the State Department to release the emails in question.… Continue Reading

Written by Sean Davis

The Department of Labor announced today that the official unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent last month, the lowest it’s been since Spring of 2008. Good news, right? Well, kind of. The official unemployment rate masks a problem that’s been plaguing the economy since shortly before the 2009 recession: a continuing decline in the labor force participation rate, which basically measures the percentage of the able-bodied population that’s either working or looking for work.… Continue Reading

Written by Cliff Kincaid

When Rudolph Giuliani mentioned that President Barack Obama, as a young man, was under the influence of Communist Party member and suspected Soviet espionage agent Frank Marshall Davis, Giuliani struck a nerve. In contrast to his claim that Obama didn’t love America, his remarks about the Davis-Obama relationship were not opinion, but fact. That is why a Washington Post fact-checker has been assigned to investigate Giuliani’s claim. We shall see whether the Post, at this late date, covers a story that could have been Pulitzer Prize-winning material more than seven years ago.… Continue Reading

Written by Samuel Smith

Speaking at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday, Texas Senator and potential 2016 presidential candidate, Ted Cruz, bashed President Barack Obama for labeling the the 21 Coptic Christians beheaded by the Islamic State in mid-February as “Egyptian citizens.”

Cruz also attacked the Obama administration for continuously ignoring the fact that most of today’s international terror troubles are caused by “radical Islamic terrorists.” Cruz asserted that America needs a leader that will not just identify the radical Islamic threat from groups like the Islamic State but also protect the liberty of international Christians.… Continue Reading

Written by Carson Holloway

The right of self-government depends upon the ability of voters to give their informed consent in choosing elected officials. If candidates lie, self-government becomes impossible.

When running for the presidency in 2008, Barack Obama misled the voters about his true position on the question of same-sex marriage. This is not an accusation made by one of the president’s political enemies, but an admission made by one of his closest political advisors: David Axelrod.… Continue Reading

Written by Matt Barber

Dear candidate for president of the United States:

Congratulations on your decision to pursue a career as leader of the free world. The following exam, while in no way comprehensive, is intended to assess your basic qualifications and level of occupational competency. Though a failing grade does not automatically exclude you from being elected by low-information voters, hipster millennials, liberal yuppies plagued by white guilt and lesbian feminists with sleeve tattoos, it does strongly indicate that you are better suited for a career in an industry requiring no experience whatsoever and few, if any, measurable skills.… Continue Reading

Written by Matt Barber

Well, that didn’t take long. This summer after Barack Obama inexplicably (and illegally) freed five of the Taliban’s most deadly terrorists in exchange for army deserter Bowe Bergdahl, I asked a burning question – a question that remains unanswered: “What will it take for our spineless U.S. Congress to impeach this tyrant? This is way beyond partisan politics. This is about justice. This is about the safety of the American people.… Continue Reading

Written by Joseph Curl

One rainy evening, three people walked into a bar and sat down. One was grim, another solemn, while the sole woman among them was absolutely giddy. The bartender poured a few shots of whiskey and said to the trio, “Why so grim, so solemn, so giddy?”

The grim man with squinty eyes and a huge forehead went first. “My life is over. I ‘conflated’ a couple of war stories, said I was aboard a helicopter in Iraq that got shot down when I wasn’t.… Continue Reading

A nationwide online poll taken by the Drudge Report reveals that Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is the hands-down favorite for the 2016 GOP presidential election so far, taking nearly half the total votes – a number that almost reached half a million by the close of the poll.

With former two-time Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney now out of the running, Walker has shown great promise at the polls, which the former Massachusetts governor dominated before his departure from the race.… Continue Reading

Written by Sally Zelikovsky

Instead of being applauded for recognizing that words matter, Mitt Romney is being lambasted by Republicans who just don’t get it.

Speaking to a full house of RNC members in San Diego, Romney committed the conservative crime of using the language of the left to appeal to potential voters. While emphasizing that conservative principles will be critical in the post-Obama era, Romney articulated three maxim’s that Republicans must communicate to the American people: “[T]o make the world safer… and provide opportunity for all Americans regardless of the neighborhood they live in” and the apparently gag-inducing, oxygen-sucking notion that “We have to lift people out of poverty.”… Continue Reading

The Republican Precinct Project is the only statewide effort dedicated to reducing the committeeman vacancy rate that currently exists in Illinois.

The goal of the Republican Precinct Project is to fill every Republican Precinct Committeeman position in every county in Illinois – with truly dedicated, pro-GOP Platform, hard working volunteers. This will require the participation of thousands of reform-minded Republicans.

For more information about the role of a Republican Precinct Committeeman, including some frequently asked questions about the position, read What is a Republican Precinct Committeeman?… Continue Reading

POLITICO has run a piece citing various claims that President Obama is a practicing Christian of some sort. Nice try. But the article is entirely unconvincing.

Obama isn’t prevented from going to a Christian church and doesn’t cite security reasons for not attending. Instead, he “worries that his presence detracts from other worshippers’ experience,” the publication said. We are told he reads scripture and prays in private.

In 2008, when he first ran for president, the Obama campaign insisted he was a “committed Christian.”… Continue Reading

Of ten Republicans who may lose their U.S. Senate seats in 2016, Sunday The Hill named Illinois’ U.S. Senator Mark Kirk as #1 most likely, with a possibility of four Illinois Democrats  as potential challengers:

1. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.)

Kirk narrowly defeated a scandal-plagued Democratic candidate by less than 2 points in the 2010 Republican wave election. In the 2016 presidential election year, he will likely face a much more Democratic electorate.

The senator has worked hard to bolster his bipartisan credentials, backing immigration reform, gun control and environmental protections.… Continue Reading

Written By Bryan Fischer

Campaign consultants make bank on advising candidates how to win the independent voting bloc – those who are perceived to be the 20 percent of the electorate in the middle of the spectrum between left and right.

The theory is that the Republican candidate has the 40 percent of the electorate to the right of center locked up, and the Democratic candidate has the 40 percent of the electorate to the left of center locked up, and the issue will be decided by those in the mushy middle.… Continue Reading

By Matt Barber

“When the sacred months are over slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them.” ~The Quran, Surah 9:5

Islam is anything if not ironic.

“A teenaged bomber on Thursday targeted a Kabul auditorium packed with people watching a drama condemning suicide attacks,” reports Reuters. “Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the bomber targeted the event because it was staged ‘to insult Islamic values and spread propaganda about our jihad operations, especially on suicide attacks.’”… Continue Reading

Written By  Kelsey Harkness

Jeb Bush has long advocated for all 50 states to adopt Common Core national standards.

Now that the former Florida governor has all but confirmed his plans to run for president in 2016, the issue threatens to overshadow his likely campaign.

Bush’s name, matched with consistently high polling numbers among potential 2016 Republican candidates, makes landing a seat in the Oval Office feasible. But in order to reach the general election—to perhaps take on Hillary Clinton—Bush must first overcome concerns about Common Core with conservative primary voters.… Continue Reading

Written by Cliff Kincaid

Steve Malzberg of Newsmax TV calls people like CNN’s Margaret Hoover “phony Republicans” or RINOS (Republicans in Name Only). I prefer the term “fake conservatives.” Whatever we call them, the effect is still the same. By spouting liberal nonsense, they misrepresent the views of most Republicans or conservatives. Hoover joined her fellow CNN panelists in a “Hands up, don’t shoot” display based on the fiction that thug Michael Brown was surrendering to the police when he was shot.… Continue Reading

Many of the newly empowered Republicans understand the deeper meaning behind last week’s historic election. It was a wholesale rejection not only of Barack Obama, but also of the worldview he represents.

By Robert Knight

Tuesday’s Republican wave election was not just about the economy, repealing ObamaCare, illegal immigration, failed foreign policy or the nation’s nearly $18 trillion debt.

It was about all of that, but it was really about electing adults to escort America safely off Mr.… Continue Reading

Written by Don Irvine

After blowing back-to-back opportunities in 2010 and 2012 to retake control of the Senate—thanks to numerous gaffes by inexperienced candidates—Republicans decided that the 2014 group of candidates would get mandatory media training under the direction of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).

According to Politico’s Edward-Isaac Dovere, Manu Raju and John Bresnahan, the NRSC had trackers meet the candidates at the airports as soon as they emerged from security, and whisked them away to begin the media boot camp.… Continue Reading

The 2014 General Election is this Tuesday and voters in Illinois will head to the polls to elect a Governor, U.S. Senator and numerous other legislative offices. One section, however, that is often overlooked are judicial candidates. With recent onslaught of pervasive rulings that have come from the various judicial rulings, it is painfully clear that cannot overlook this portion of the ballot.

Though it would be an enormous endeavor to seek out information on every judicial election throughout the state, Illinois Family Action is recommending several resources to help voters make informed decisions.… Continue Reading

Click Here for Printable Version… Continue Reading