Congress Fails to Repeal Johnson Amendment in Tax Bill

Written by Michael Gryboski

A measure within the federal tax overhaul bill that would end the IRS regulation barring churches from endorsing political candidates has been removed from the proposed legislation.

The U.S. Senate’s parliamentarian struck out the language overturning the Johnson Amendment, with the Hill reporting last week that the reason was because it “did not meet Senate rules that require elements of the tax bill to have something to do with the budget.”

“The Senate is seeking to move a House-Senate conference report under special budgetary rules that prevent Democrats from using a filibuster,” explained The Hill.… Continue Reading

Laurier University and the Transsexual Pronoun War

Written by Ben Cohen

Wilfrid Laurier University teaching assistant Lindsay Shepherd, never anticipated she would be at the center of a media firestorm. Earlier this year, Shepherd showed her class an excerpt of a panel discussion on gender neutral pronouns and Canadian anti-discrimination law. The panel featured five guests, including Canadian psychologist Jordan B. Peterson.

After one or more students complained, the university reprimanded Shepherd for creating a toxic environment. When Shepherd leaked secretly recorded audio of two professors and an administrator reprimanding her, the university faced widespread condemnation and apologized to Shepherd.… Continue Reading

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

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GOP Gubernatorial Primary 2018: Competent Uniter v. Incompetent Divider

Here is the WBEZ headline and lede for an article about one of the big news stories this week in Illinois:

Surviving War, But Not The Veterans’ Home
Since July 2015, 13 residents of a veterans’ home in west central Illinois have died
from Legionnaires’ disease. Eleven families are suing the state for negligence.

Typically this kind of governmental failure cannot be blamed on a guy who just took office less than three years ago. However, among the most publicized accomplishments of the Bruce Rauner administration is that fact that state-funded social services got short shrift during the two-year state budget impasse.… Continue Reading

WHERE is Congress on Court’s (Self-)Mutilation of the Military?

Written by Daniel Horowitz

IS THERE A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO SERVE IN THE MILITARY?
FOR THE “TRANSGENDERED,” APPARENTLY YES.

Throughout our series on judicial tyranny, I’ve been trying to conjure up analogies and metaphors to describe the absurdity of judicial supremacism. Yet, no degree of absurdity or hyperbole could capture what was just promulgated from the mouth of a federal district judge.

Forget about legislating from the bench or even nullifying the Constitution; D.C. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued an order Monday changing the laws of biology and ordered the Pentagon to admit anyone who decides to castrate themselves into the military by Jan.… Continue Reading

Release the Names

Written by Rob Chambers

The Congressional swamp has surrounded itself with a legal apparatus known as the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995. This law was designed to protect sex offenders in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and other federal agencies from public scrutiny. Congress has also been funding a U.S. Treasury account to pay claims for congressional acts of sexual harassment and other discrimination claims.

Until recently, the political establishment on both sides of the aisle kept the morally problematic aspects of the law from the public.… Continue Reading

The Root of Sexual Scandals

Written by Teddy James

It seems every week there is another accusation and admittance of sexual misconduct. It is discouraging, disheartening, and disgusting to learn the men we welcomed into our homes through television and movies were doing these things.

On a personal level, I think these stories should come to light. Men who violate women should face justice and be held accountable.

But as these stories develop and new stories are told, we must remember these are fruits of much bigger and deeper problems.… Continue Reading

Sexual Misconduct, the Loss of Virtue, and the Rise of Careers

Written by Dean Abbott

The worst, and therefore most likely, outcome of the current rash of sexual misconduct accusations is that people will continue to think they are primarily about bodies, about who touched whose body, about who exposed his body when he shouldn’t have.  That most of us currently already assume that such incidents are mostly about bodies itself indicates our lack of vision.

Such interactions are really about souls – about the collective soul of our nation, and the sickness infecting it.… Continue Reading

SPOTLIGHT: Q & A for Panel on Radical Islam and Sharia

Written by David E. Smith

In October, the Illinois Family Institute and local ACT for America Citizen leaders hosted a panel of experts to answer questions about radical Islam and Sharia in America. This panel includes Philip Haney, former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) whistleblower and counter-terrorism expert; Anni Cyrus of the Glazof Gang. A child bride in her home country of Iran, abused and imprisoned as a teen, she escaped to America and now advocates for women and girls, suffering under Sharia; and Pastor Usama Dakdok, an Egyptian-born Christian who worked for four years to translate the Koran into perfect English.… Continue Reading

National Review: Rauner is the Worst GOP Governor in America

Written by John Biver

Illinoisans have a lot to be proud of — we live in a beautiful state in the heart of America. Our people are hardworking, our soil is among the most productive in the world, our transportation systems are first rate, we have a world-class city and hundreds of great small towns. The list could go on and on.

But to our shame is our state government. Illinois is at or near the top on a lot of bad lists: corruption, tax burden, unfunded liabilities, and debt.… Continue Reading