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COOK COUNTY RECORD

Thursday, November 21, 2024

Opinions


After failing last time, Dems try again to get Illinois voters to say they want progressive income tax

By John Klingner and Ted Dabrowski, Wirepoints |
Illinoisans should watch out for the next try at a progressive income tax on the November ballot in the name of property tax relief, says reform advocacy group Wirepoints

Enough is enough

By Mark Glennon, Wirepoints |
Illinois should follow the example set by Michigan in dealing with dysfunction in schools in Detroit and establish a new school district in Chicago to entirely replace CPS

'Ethics bill?' Or a threat to democracy in Illinois?

By Ronald E. Andermann |
Ronald Andermann, a candidate for the Illinois House of Representatives District 53 in northwest Cook County, offers his thoughts on a new Illinois state law that Republicans and others say was designed to keep Andermann and others off the ballot this fall. Andermann is one of the co-plaintiffs challenging the law in court.

Brazen election interference: Pritzker, IL Dems blatantly rewrite law to favor Dems in November

By Mark Glennon, Wirepoints |
Illinois Democrats retroactively changed the law to knock out Republican challengers. Surely, lawsuits must follow.

Chicago Teachers Union contract demands about politics, bosses' power

A new leaked document shows Chicago Teachers Union's president may have not necessarily been joking when she said the next CTU contract would cost taxpayers "$50 billion and three cents," says the Illinois Policy Institute.

Suppose they held an election and nobody showed up? In Illinois, we’re getting there

By Ted Dabrowski and Nick Binotti |
Turnout in the 2024 primary election reveals a state in which a large and growing number of Illinois voters believe their vote doesn't matter, says Wirepoints

Illinois bill would criminalize routine discipline as 'parental bullying'

By Mark Glennon, Wirepoints |
While the bill likely will go nowhere, it’s unfathomable that it could even be proposed: In the relevant part, a bill now pending in the Illinois legislature would criminalize, as “parental bullying,” any parent who knowingly, with intent to discipline or alter the behavior of a child, says or messages anything that would coerce the child.

Pritzker's contemptuous answer to a reasonable question on judicial recusal

By Mark Glennon, Wirepoints |
Should judges who received a million dollars each from Gov. JB Pritzker for their campaigns recuse themselves from decisions on the constitutionality of two of his pet pieces of legislation — the SAFE-T Act and the assault weapons ban?

Illinois forward 2024: A sustainable state budget plan

By Bryce Hill, Illinois Policy Institute |
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Illinois’ financial health was the worst in the nation. An unprecedented influx of federal stimulus and bailouts, combined with stronger-than-expected rebounds in tax revenues, saved Illinois from financial ruin. If state lawmakers do not take advantage of this incredibly rare opportunity and pursue structural financial reforms, then state finances will return to their pre-pandemic status quo.

Illinois Labor Board says government unions cannot discriminate against nonmembers

By Mailee Smith, Illinois Policy Institute |
Illinois government unions wrote the law that gives them a monopoly over all government employees in a unionized workplace. And that means they can’t discriminate against workers who choose not to be members.

Chicago's progressive agenda has been destructive for black communities

By Matt Rosenberg, Wirepoints |
Politico says the Chicago mayor’s race highlights the importance of the “progressive” agenda for Chicago and the focus will be on crime. There are grumbles that incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot isn’t “progressive” enough. But the urban progressive agenda under her – with its emphasis on “social justice,” managed outcomes, and performative politics – has hardened the city’s horrible results for blacks around crime and K-12 public education.

Lawsuit Abuse Awareness Week gives Illinois a much-needed wakeup call

By Zach Mottl |
As our state grapples with economic stagflation with no foreseeable end in sight, fighting lawsuit abuse committed by self-interest trial lawyers would be one of the best ways to give Illinois the jumpstart we need to grow our prosperity.

Students smack down Chicago 'Disinformation' Conference panelists, exposing far more than apparent about media

By Mark Glennon, Wirepoints |
Traditional media beclowned itself last week at a Chicago conference on “disinformation.” That’s a story in itself, but the bigger story is how they covered up even that story, peddling disinformation about a conference on disinformation. The guilty include Illinois media, which is further guilty of still suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story that is part of what sparked the fireworks at the conference.

Vaccine registry proposal is tops in totalitarianism

By The Cook County Record |
Just when you think Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly could not possibly come up with anything more totalitarian than canceling elections in places where opposition to their regime is growing, a member of the super majority came up with one.

Illinois pension shortfall surpasses $500 billion, average debt burden now $110,000 per household

By Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner, Wirepoints |
Illinois just reached an alarming milestone: each Illinois household is now on the hook for, on average, $110,000 in government-worker retirement debts. That figure is the result of dividing Illinois’ $530 billion in state and local retirement shortfalls among the state’s 4.9 million households. In 2019, the burden was $90,000 per household.

Illinois bill would give ISBE authority to revoke schools' state recognition

By Patrick Andriesen, Illinois Policy Institute |
Gov. J.B Pritzker has warned district administrators since early August that ISBE would strip state recognition from Illinois schools defying his statewide mask mandate. House Bill 4135 aims to give the state board of education that power.

Left out of lawmakers' green energy package? Ordinary Illinoisans

By Ted Dabrowski, Wirepoints |
The Illinois Senate adjourned last week without calling for a vote on the state’s controversial green energy proposal.

Illinois is under 'extreme' threat of drawing another Madigan election map

By Joe Tabor, Illinois Policy Institute |
Illinois is listed as one of the states under ‘extreme’ danger of partisan gerrymandering of its state legislative and congressional redistricting maps. Gov. J.B. Pritzker can stop that threat.

You’ve been canceled!

By The Cook County Record |
Nowadays, it’s not just actors, writers, and producers on TV show that have to worry about being canceled. It can happen to anyone at any time for any reason, and going back five years in time and starting over isn’t an option.

Pritzker's pattern of lies

By Illinois Opportunity Project |
Voters rejected Gov. Pritzker’s Tax Hike Amendment because they didn’t trust him or the rest of the politicians in Springfield with more power and more of their tax dollars.