Written by Daniel Horowitz
“So, is she lying or telling the truth?” That is the question on all the minds of the political animals, but that is not the most important question for the average citizen or for those who care about public policy. With a growing trend of sexual accusations coming forth from decades ago lodged against all sorts of people, this is about more than the two subjects of the public spectacle. The most important question is what sort of standard we are going to pursue for criminal justice, whether in a real court or a court of public opinion.… Continue Reading
Tags: Brett Kavanaugh, Christine Blasey Ford, Criminal Justice, Democratic Party, Fifth Amendment, Hollywood, incarceration, Tom Cotton, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
Federal Issues | David E. Smith | 
October 1, 2018 5:00 AM | 
Comments Off on The Kavanaugh Hearing and the Galling, Teeth-Grinding Hypocrisy of Democrats on Criminal Justice
Written by David E. Smith
It’s likely been quite a while since most of us cracked open a world history textbook or attended a political science lecture. So, if someone were to engage you in a conversation extolling the virtues of Marxism, would you be knowledgeable enough to form a response? Do you have a clear understanding of the Marxist ideals that laid the foundation for the monolith of communism?
Watch as Dr. Paul Kengor, a political science professor at Grove City College, details the inherent deception and devastating legacy of Marxism.… Continue Reading
Written by Daniel Horowitz
All things in life, even good things, have a limit to their utility and a point at which they become liabilities. Think of tasty spices in a dish or other ingredients in a melting pot. Quantities count, particularly over a specific period of time. Immigration is no different.
Recent Census data released from the 2017 American Community Survey (ACS) shows that immigration has grown to shocking, wholly unprecedented levels. Is it too much to ask that we engage in a mature policy discussion after five decades of record immigration with no end in sight?… Continue Reading
Tags: American Community Survey, balkanization, Democrat Party, George Washington, Harry Reid, immigration, Maldwyn Allen Jones, naturalization, The Great Wave
Federal Issues, Immigration | David E. Smith | September 26, 2018 9:00 AM | Comments Off on How to Fundamentally Transform a Country
Following last week’s prayer breakfast in Springfield, IFI’s Dave Smith spoke with Pastor Pat McManus of Aurora. Pastor McManus is the Illinois director of Watchmen on the Wall, an initiative of Family Research Council that works to educate and activate pastors to pray, partner, preach, and promote a biblical worldview in order to effect a change in the liberal culture and climate in which we live.
In this Spotlight podcast, David and Pastor Pat discuss the centrality of prayer, especially as we fight a spiritual battle (one we cannot afford to ignore) in our state and nation.… Continue Reading
“Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord.” ~Leviticus 19:16
Written by Jonathan Clay de Hale
Another murder by an illegal alien fails to rouse the nation
What is it going to take for Americans to overthrow the inertia of their political masters in Washington with regard to keeping illegal aliens out of the country? Apparently, more than the cold-blooded murder of its citizens by foreign trespassers.
In July, Mollie Tibbetts’ mutilated body was found after a month-long search, dumped in a cornfield in Brooklyn, Iowa.… Continue Reading
Tags: Ann Coulter, border control, border security, Border wall, Cristhian Bahena Rivera, Election integrity, Elizabeth Warren, Federation for American Immigration Reform, ICE, illegal aliens, Jenna Lynn Ellis, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, Kate Steinle, Medicaid, Mollie Tibbetts, National Center for Education Statistics, Obamacare, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Voter Fraud
Federal Issues, Immigration | David E. Smith | September 24, 2018 6:53 AM | Comments Off on Why Christians Should Support Building a Wall – Part I
Written by David Limbaugh
We’ve long known that unelected leftist bureaucrats embedded in the bowels of the federal government have been lawlessly targeting conservatives and abusing their power to thwart the agenda of duly elected Republican policymakers. The proof keeps pouring in.
The Obama administration’s IRS deliberately discriminated against conservative groups in their applications for tax-exempt status. This isn’t an empty partisan allegation from an imaginary “right-wing conspiracy.” In 2013, an IRS official admitted scrutinizing groups with right wing identifying names, such as “Tea Party” and “patriots.”… Continue Reading
Tags: Allison Hrabar, Department of Health and Human Services, Donald Trump, James O’Keefe, Jeremy Wiley, Jessica Schubel, Justice Department, Kirstjen Nielsen, Linchpins of Liberty, NorCal Tea Party Patriots, Project Veritas, Stuart Karaffa
Federal Issues | David E. Smith | September 22, 2018 5:07 AM | Comments Off on Project Veritas Catches Deep State Redhanded
Written by Robert Knight
That was the late Joe Sobran’s ironic take mostly on the courts’ blatantly unconstitutional usurpations over the past few decades.
The most powerful evidence that federal judges have eclipsed the other branches of government is the circus surrounding President Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. This should not be as big a deal as it is.
If you missed it, dozens of screaming women, some costumed, were dragged from the confirmation hearings.… Continue Reading
Tags: ACLU, American Civil Rights Union, Brett Kavanaugh, Code Pink, Donald Trump, John Adams, Ken Klukowski, Men for Choice, Neil Gorsuch, SCOTUS, Southern Poverty Law Center, U.S. Supreme Court
Federal Issues | David E. Smith | September 20, 2018 7:20 AM | Comments Off on A Constitutional Power Struggle
Written by David E. Smith
This week on Illinois Family Spotlight we welcome Star Parker, founder and president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE), a policy institute based in Washington, D.C. that promotes market-based solutions to fight poverty.
IFI’s own Monte Larrick sat down with Ms. Parker while she was attending a recent summit on violence and poverty with pastors and community leaders in Chicago. Their conversation delves into the root cause of the violence and poverty that is destroying urban communities: breakdown of the family; lack of paternal influence; the perpetual welfare state mentality of big government; excessive taxation and regulation that suppress economic development and growth in black neighborhoods and communities, and much more.… Continue Reading
Written by Walter Williams
One of the best statements of how the Framers saw the role of the federal government is found in Federalist Paper 45, written by James Madison, who is known as the “Father of the Constitution”: “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce.… Continue Reading
Written by David E. Smith
Evidently, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has learned nothing from the razor-thin primary election. Instead, he’s doubling down on his pro-abortion, pro-“transgenderism” and pro-sanctuary state policies, suggesting that signing them into law was the “right” thing to do.
In a speech yesterday, he almost admits mistakes but asserts that his mistakes were, in reality, evidence of his over-zealous commitment to courage in the pursuit of right action. In other words, he’s trying to spin his anti-conservative policy decisions as “courageous.”… Continue Reading
