About 20% of 2020 voters now claim they took advantage of election laws that loosened up because of the coronavirus crisis to commit fraud, including filling out ballots for others, according to a shocking report being unveiled Tuesday.
Some admitted they voted in states they don’t live in, and others said they let somebody else fill out their mail-in ballots, neither of which is allowed.
“For the past three years, Americans have repeatedly been told that the 2020 election was the most secure in history. But if this poll’s findings are reflective of reality, the exact opposite is true. This conclusion isn’t based on conspiracy theories or suspect evidence, but rather from the responses made directly by the voters themselves,” said Justin Haskins, director of the Heartland Institute’s Socialism Research Center.
“The 2020 election was unlike any other in history as tens of millions of Americans voted by mail due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, many experts warned that massive mail-in voting could result in widespread voter fraud. Unfortunately, these concerns were prophetic, as the results of this poll clearly show that a large number of voters did indeed fraudulently cast ballots in the 2020 election,” Heartland Editorial Director Chris Talgo added.
In 2020, as the COVID crisis grew, several states loosened election laws to allow mail-in voting, vote bundling, absentee voting, and other changes to let those concerned about getting the virus stay away from the polls.
The changes were sold as positive moves to make voting easier but have since raised red flags. Former President Donald Trump and other Republicans have claimed that Democrats took advantage of the laws to make Joe Biden president fraudulently.
Other surveys have shown that sizable groups of voters agree the election was plagued with fraud, but this is the first in which voters told a pollster they were involved.
Among the findings shared with Secrets:
Twenty-one percent of likely voters who voted by absentee or mail-in ballot in the 2020 election say they filled out a ballot, in part or in full, on behalf of a friend or family member, such as a spouse or child, while 78% say they didn’t.
Thirty percent voted by absentee or mail-in ballot in the 2020 election.
Nineteen percent of those who cast mail-in votes say a friend or family member filled out their ballot, in part or in full.
Seventeen percent of mail-in voters said they cast a ballot in a state where they were no longer permanent residents.
Among all voters, mail and in-person, 11% said a friend, family member, co-worker, or other acquaintance has admitted to them they filled out a ballot on behalf of another person in 2020.
Heartland officials said they hoped the survey would spark efforts to tighten voting rules before the 2024 election, which is less than a year away.
“It is paramount that the American people have the utmost confidence that all elections are free and fair, and bereft of voter fraud as much as possible. Therefore, states should ensure their voter rolls are up to date and accurate, encourage in-person voting, and implement commonsense measures to reduce the potential for mail-in voting fraud,” Talgo said.
Shutting Down U.S. Oil and Gas Is an Environmental Disaster
A few years ago, energy analysts at The Daily Mail reported that: “the super-ships that keep the West in everything from Christmas gifts to computers pump out killer chemicals linked to thousands of deaths because of the filthy fuel they use.”
Now we have an updated report out from our two friends, Lee Rizzuto, a former U.S. Consul General in Bermuda, and Alfredo Ortiz of Job Creators Network, which finds that the Biden war on fossil fuels may be INCREASING global carbon emissions. Here’s why:
“In 2022, the U.S. imported 8.3 million barrels of petroleum per day, including one million barrels a day from the Persian Gulf. According to the Energy Information Administration, a tanker’s one-way trip from Saudi Arabia to the U.S. takes between 32 and 51 days, meaning an average trip will burn around 2.5 million gallons of what is arguably the dirtiest fuel around.
Why do environmental activists who oppose energy development ignore the ecological impact of tankers, container ships, and cruise vessels? Only 15 of the biggest ships produce more sulfur pollution than all the world’s cars combined.
One large container ship emits the same amount of sulfur oxide as 50 million cars. New research concludes that 214 cruise ships emitted four times more sulfur than one billion cars in 2022.”
One of our favorite reads is the Political Forum Institute’s Morning Call.
They are even more irreverent than we are. Their take on the cowardly lions on the Harvard board and the indelible damage they have done to the reputation of this once-exalted university in the name of diversity and “equity” nails the whole sordid affair better than we could. We reproduced their analysis of what happened:
The Washington Free Beacon broke Harvard President Claudine Gay’s plagiarism story wide open. They “worked with nearly a dozen scholars to analyze 29 potential cases of plagiarism. Most of them said that Gay had violated a core principle of academic integrity as well as Harvard’s own anti-plagiarism policies, which state that ‘it’s not enough to change a few words here and there,'” precisely the writing method Gay used in at least 4 of her 11 career papers.
Harvard’s board voted… to retain Gay as the university’s president. Its members did so, presumably, for a variety of reasons, the most important and likely of which is that they weren’t going to let ‘those people’ – i.e. the rubes, hillbillies, and other deplorables – take her scalp as they did Penn’s Liz Magill’s. Well…good for them, we suppose. They stuck it to the…whomever.
Harvard’s board has put itself and the university in the position of appearing, at the very least, to protect an intellectual fraud specifically to poke their collective finger in their critics’ collective eye…
All it would have taken to avoid this mess is a few quotation marks here and a handful of indented paragraphs there. And it’s not like Gay had to worry about her readers tuning out. We can almost guarantee you that no one ever read anything she wrote – least of all her dissertation – unless they had to. Getting readers to “tune in” was her bigger challenge. Nevertheless, she placed posturing and personal convenience over intellectual integrity. She is, in short, contemporary American academia personified.
Postscript: The New York Post has a story out that Harvard knew of Gay’s plagiarism and covered it up. This is what happens when identity politics trumps competence and professionalism.
The Harvard story became more sordid last night when the New York Post reported that the university had engaged in a coverup, which included having its lawyers threatening The Post over the story.
According to a series in the Washington Post, parents choosing to teach their children reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic at home rather than sending them to the school down the street is a phenomenon that is worthy of in-depth research and front-page coverage.
After all, within the past six years, the number of home-taught children spiked by 51% in states with comparable enrollments. In the 390 school districts included in the Washington Post’s 2023 analysis, nationwide there is now at least one homeschooled student for every ten students in government schools.
In Illinois, overall government school enrollment continues to steadily decline. Over 1.8 million students were enrolled in Illinois public schools in 2022-23, more than 11,500 students less than the previous school year. According to WaPo’s stats, that would mean 180,000 children are taught today in Illinois homeschools.
And that’s where the rub with traditional powers-that-be begins.
For every child not enrolled in an Illinois government school district, that district loses an average of $21,000 in state and local funding. Multiply that amount by ten students taught elsewhere, and a school budget deficit quickly climbs to $210,000.
Add yet another zero to the numbers, and well, you hear the alarm.
As home schooling grows, government school resources shrink. That negatively affects administration and staff salaries, available positions, building construction and maintenance, and school-related opportunities.
That red ink draws the attention of an influential media that is a critical tool (or shall we say weapon?) of America’s Left. More often than not, they are led by angry politicians, miserable education elitists, and frustrated social activists – all of which have tried and failed for decades to eradicate America of independent, free-thinking, as well as religious, Americans that dare to homeschool their children.
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler addressed the hot topic recently in his podcast “The Briefing” with a segment entitled “The Numbers Are Staggering: The Tidal Wave of Homeschooling Surges Throughout the U.S.”
Mohler said that for homeschooling to be featured on the Washington Post’s front page, it announces
“‘This is an absolutely massive story,’ and quite frankly, it represents a clear and present threat to the entire edifice of the public schools in the United States.”
He continues,
“And as this article makes clear, homeschooling is part of a larger set of challenges and competitors that may mean a much-reduced enrollment in public schools, and that’s going to raise huge cultural and economic issues in the United States.”
Indeed.
Illinois miraculously remains one of the most tolerant homeschooling states, based on a 1953 Illinois Supreme Court decision that declared home schools to be private schools.
The Illinois School Code states,
“the primary purpose of schooling is the transmission of knowledge and culture through which children learn in areas necessary to their continuing development and entry into the world of work. Such areas include the language arts, mathematics, the biological, physical, and social sciences, the fine arts, and physical development and health.”
The School Code defines Illinois’ “compulsory school age” as being from 6 to 17 years of age.
So, as private schools, home schools in Illinois must teach areas such as language arts, math, the sciences, fine arts, health, and so on to children ages 6 through 17 for at least 180 days a year. Currently, there is no state requirement for standardized testing, curriculum approval, or reporting to local school officials.
And that is a system worth keeping just as it is.
If, indeed, the primary purpose of schooling is transmitting knowledge and culture through which children learn in areas to continue developing and eventually enter into sustaining careers, basing that expertise on a philosophical foundation reflecting the parents’ worldview is crucial.
The idea that knowledge or culture can be neutral or without an influencing philosophical basis is naïve and foolish. There is no such thing in 2023.
The government school system transmits knowledge and culture which the government approves and supports – perpetuating its belief system and worldview. While the powers that be may declare that system to be objective, secular, and unbiased, in reality, education of any type is based on a religion. In the case of public schools, the religion is secularism.
Parents who grasp and desire to pass along to their children a belief system that is atheistic, agnostic, or antagonistic towards God have a right and responsibility to send their children to secular, non-religious learning centers. Just as Christian mothers and fathers have the right and responsibility to see that their children’s education reflects a God-acknowledging, Biblical or church doctrine-based curriculum.
The days of “secular” or “non-religious” publicly funded education passed long ago, and Christian faith parents must acknowledge that sending their children to government schools confirms they believe taxpayer-funded schools will teach their children via a worldview they can support.
If they cannot support the schools’ worldview and basis for education, Christians must devise another way to pass along the knowledge and culture they embrace to the next generation.
That way is homeschooling for many, and a growing number more each year.
As more and more parents pursue careers from their home offices and dining room tables, the less unusual, adverse, and “fringe” it will be to consider teaching their children on those same tables and desks – right next to their parents.
Dramatic cultural changes are likely to take place if this develops. As Dr. Mohler suggests, such a change represents a clear and present threat to the entire edifice of the public schools in the United States.
And that will not happen without a predictable backlash from those who stand to lose power, jobs, and economic stability with a continued growth of independent homeschooling families.
Those who demand their “secular” worldview be fully accepted by the next generation will exercise their demands and power through the media, entertainment, the economy, and politics in order to squelch a system of education and religious freedom.
The battle for America’s children’s minds will be real, and it will be necessary for Christian parents to engage.
Two Chicago suburbs rejected busloads of immigrants that arrived from El Paso, Texas, over the past week as the city and Illinois as a whole continue to face an influx of illegal immigrants from the southern border.
Several buses arrived at the Metra stations in Cicero, Illinois, and Rosemont, Illinois, near the O’Hare International Airport’s remote parking area, according to the Chicago Tribune. Rosemont police allowed the immigrants to get off the bus if there was someone picking them up, but officers threatened to impound the bus and arrest the driver for endangering the passengers if he let them out, Mayor Brad Stephens said.
The Rosemont Village Board planned to consider an ordinance to support the officers’ claims. In Cicero, the town approved a measure to fine bus companies $750 per person for letting out homeless immigrants, town spokesman Ray Hanania told the outlet.
“It’s wrong to drop people on the street with nowhere to go,” Hanania said. “We think every community should do this to prevent this. They need to force the state to come up with a better plan for homeless people.”
This is the latest display of suburbs resisting the increase of illegal immigrants trickling into towns from Chicago, where almost 26,000 immigrants have arrived since August. With most of them homeless, the immigrants have taken shelter at police stations and the airport.
Suburbs such as Schaumburg, Illinois, and Elk Grove Village, Illinois, have passed ordinances preventing illegal immigrants from being housed in hotels. Elk Grove officials also passed an ordinance preventing immigrants from residing in the village without a doctor’s certification that they don’t carry infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis. The village has blocked its many factories and shopping centers from housing immigrants, bought a hotel that immigrants were staying in, and demolished it, according to the local newspaper.
“It shouldn’t be all these mayors fixing the problem,” Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said. “It’s not our job. We’re not built to handle this. Hopefully, the federal government says, OK, let’s fix this problem.”
However, Oak Park is paying to house immigrants in hotels, approving $1 million in aid using funds from a state grant and federal COVID-19 recovery funds.
“I consider it a humanitarian crisis,” Village President Vicki Scaman said, according to the city paper. “The cold weather in Chicago makes emergency temporary housing necessary.”
“It is unsustainable for any one community to do it all by themselves,” Scaman added.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced in September that he planned to move over 1,600 immigrants from police stations to permanent camps before winter. He has blamed the “international crisis” he “inherited” from former Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
The city of Chicago continues to accept busloads of illegal immigrants, but like Cicero, it is suing bus companies and seeking the ability to impound buses and fine owners $3,000 if they don’t follow Chicago’s rules limiting the time and frequency of arrivals.
However, Johnson’s plan to relocate the immigrants to tent shelters is now on pause after his pitch for a first tent shelter failed. Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) nixed the controversial plan to build a shelter at Brighton Park after a report highlighted environmental concerns. The state was set to allocate $65 million in funding for the Brighton Park site, with plans to house up to 2,000 immigrants.
The city’s other designated tent shelter in Morgan Park is now on hold, with mayoral spokesman Ronnie Reese stating that “there are no immediate plans for 115th and Halsted,” referring to the South Side site.
Reese said the reason for the immigrant camp pause is the success of housing immigrants at other locations. Seventeen churches are opening their doors to house and feed immigrants, funded by $350,000 in private donations with no cost to taxpayers, per the mayor’s Unity Initiative.
Johnson’s recent budget, passed on Nov. 15, will allocate $150 million to illegal immigrants, a decline from previous estimates that placed the cost at over $360 million. Homelessness investments also will increase to $250 million, while anti-violence programming will reach $100 million.
The Supreme Court indicated Wednesday it will take up a challenge to an obstruction law used against scores of Jan. 6 rioters — and former President Trump — this term.
Joseph Fischer, a former police officer accused of being a Jan. 6 rioter, petitioned the high court to eliminate one of the several counts he faces: obstruction of an official proceeding.
The charge criminalizes “corruptly” obstructing, impeding or interfering with an official government proceeding and carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Fischer’s case is joined with two other rioters’ cases: Edward Lang and Garrett Miller.
Hundreds of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, have faced the same charge — the “official proceeding” being Congress’ official count of Electoral College votes, the final step of the presidential election process that certified President Biden’s win over Trump in the 2020 election.
Trump himself faces the same charge in connection with his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, meaning any Supreme Court decision on the matter could affect his federal criminal case, which is expected to head to trial in Washington, D.C., early next year.
Fischer’s petition to the high court argues that hundreds of cases awaiting trial would benefit from the justices’ clarification of the statute, providing “critical guidance to district courts, prosecutors and defense counsel.” Fritz Ulrich, Fischer’s lawyer, told The Hill they are “very happy” the court decided to clarify the scope of the statute.
The charge stems from a law enacted in 2002 in the wake of the Enron scandal. The energy company went bankrupt and several top executives were imprisoned for fraud and other offenses.
Then a senator, Biden referred to the new subsection at the time as “making it a crime for document shredding” — a sentiment noted by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in his decision to throw out Miller’s obstruction charge upon finding it did not cover his conduct. Nichols also dismissed the charge in Fischer’s and Lang’s cases.
The Justice Department, now under Biden, rejected that representation in its appeal of Nichols’s decision to toss the three rioters’ obstruction charges, arguing that actions such as burning a building to conceal the bodies of murder victims would also be encompassed by the statute.
“Congress prohibited conduct that intentionally and wrongfully obstructs official proceedings,” Justice Department appellate counsel James Pearce wrote. “The ordinary meaning of ‘obstruct, influence, or impede’ encompasses a range of conduct designed to frustrate an official proceeding.”
In a 2-1 ruling earlier this year, the federal appeals court sided with the Justice Department by finding that Nichols wrongly dismissed the obstruction charge in the three rioters’ cases.
Judge Florence Pan noted in her ruling that Nichols was the only district court judge overseeing Jan. 6 cases to rule in that manner. More than a dozen other Washington district court judges agreed with the Justice Department’s portrayal of the law.
“Although the opinions of those district judges are not binding on us, the near unanimity of the rulings is striking, as well as the thorough and persuasive reasoning in the decision,” Pan wrote.
Judge Gregory Katsas, who sided with Nichols, suggested the Justice Department’s interpretation of the crime could “supercharge” minor advocacy, lobbying and protest offenses into 20-year felonies.
Several members of the extremist Proud Boys and Oath Keepers groups faced the charge and were convicted, including the leaders of each group, Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes. Dozens of other defendants with less serious cases have pleaded guilty to the charge or been convicted at trial.
If the Supreme Court sides with the rioters, it would undermine those charges in other Jan. 6 cases — including the former president’s.
Here are 64 new Illinois laws hitting the books in 2024
By James Neveau• Published December 12, 2023 • Updated on December 12, 2023 at 3:31 pm
SHE IS A PURRING MACHINE. YOU GIVE HER A LITTLE BIT OFNBC Universal, Inc.
The start of the new year is rapidly approaching, and with it comes dozens of new laws that will hit the books in the state of Illinois.
The start of the new year is rapidly approaching, and with it comes dozens of new laws that will hit the books in the state of Illinois.
According to a search of the Illinois General Assembly’s website, at least 318 laws have an effective date of Jan. 1, but of those, which ones could have the biggest impacts on the lives of state residents?
To help answer that question, we have compiled a list of 64 of the state’s new laws, which run the gamut from consumer protection to child welfare to addressing climate change and much, much more.
In the days to come, we will do deeper dives on many of these subjects, and the new laws that will impact the state in the new year, but for now, here is our list of the biggest changes coming to Illinois in 2024.
HB 0780: The Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Pilot will connect grandparents to relevant services and resources provided by state agencies. The pilot will be undertaken in Will County beginning Jan. 1 and running through 2027.
HB 1155: A person, surviving spouse or next of kin for any person who is injured or killed by a person under the age of 18 who is impaired by drugs or alcohol is eligible to pursue legal damages from a person who willfully supplied, or willfully allowed consumption of, drugs or alcohol to the minor in question.
HB 1190: The owner and operator of underground natural gas storage facilities are responsible for specified action in the event of a “verified facility release” of gas or other chemicals.
HB 1199: October will be designated as Italian-American Heritage Month in Illinois.
Nearly all workers in the state of Illinois will soon officially be guaranteed at least one week of paid leave, under legislation signed Monday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. NBC 5’s Kate Chappell has the details.
HB 1342: A massive transit bill, the law will explore expanded reduced-fare service, require transit agencies to purchase emission-free buses, and will provide free transit to victims of domestic violence.
HB 1399: This law penalizes those incarcerated in penal institutions for “lewd sexual displays.”
HB 1526: The “Outdoor Rx Program Act” will enable grants for outdoor environmental, ecological, agricultural, or other natural resource-based or outdoor-based therapy programs.
HB 1541: If gas or electricity is used as the only source of space cooling, then a utility may not terminate service on any day where the forecast includes temperatures of 90 degrees or warmer, or any day preceding a holiday or weekend when the NWS forecast includes temperatures of 90 degrees or above.
HB 2039: IDPH and DCFS shall, at the request of local health departments, make any and all public health data related to residents of that jurisdiction available for purposes of preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability.
HB 2094: All marketing materials from mortgage companies not connected to a homeowner’s mortgage company must comply with specified requirements, so as not to mislead consumers.
HB 2123: The “Digital Forgeries Act” holds that individuals have rights to legal recourse if they are the target of “deep fakes,” or digitally-altered sexual images.
HB 2245: Cook County (or any county that exceeds three million residents) will be required to establish a vehicle theft hotline to facilitate the location of stolen vehicles.
HB 2269: All estate-planning documents must be able to be prepared electronically. Previously, only wills were included.
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias testified on Capitol Hill as the state implements a prohibition on book bans. Political Reporter Mary Ann Ahern has the story.
HB 2317: Individuals 16 or older who have not purchased a resident fishing license in the past 10 years are eligible to receive a one-time license for a discounted fee of $5.
HB 2389: No vehicle shall be stopped or searched by law enforcement solely because of a violation of driving with any object placed or suspended between the driver and front windshield, rear windshield, side wings, or side windows.
HB 2431: Videoconferencing while driving will now be prohibited.
HB 2493: All employees in Illinois will be allowed up to two weeks of unpaid leave in the event a family or household member is killed in a crime of violence.
HB 2500: Animal control facilities may not charge an adoption fee for dogs or cats if the person presents a valid ID or Illinois Person with a disability card with the word “veteran” printed on its face.
HB 2503: Any person who requires a course not offered by their local community college may take that course at another community college and pay in-district fees and tuitions.
HB 2519: Hospitals must provide information and materials to voluntarily donate milk to nonprofit milk banks. Those materials must be provided to parents of newborn children upon discharge from the hospital.
HB 2531: The Department of Transportation must establish a process for prequalification for business bids to participate in the construction of a South Suburban Airport.
HB 2562: Owners or properties dedicated to residents age 55 and older must provide a common area whose temperature is maintained between 67 and 73 degrees. Properties without building-wide cooling and heating systems must provide a common gathering space where a cooling system operates when the heat index exceeds 80 degrees.
HB 2719: Hospitals will be legally required to screen patients for eligibility for public financial assistance before sending them to collections. Hospitals will also be required to refer patients to free, unbiased resources if immigration-related concerns arise.
HB 2789: In order to be eligible for state grants, a public library or library system shall develop a written policy prohibiting the practice of banning books. Alternatively, libraries may adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights.
A pilot program at Cook County Jail aims to help one of the obstacles people often face after being released. NBC 5’s Marion Brooks reports.
HB 2799: Insurance providers cannot have a higher standard of clinical evidence for the coverage of proton beam therapy than other types of radiation therapy treatments for cancer.
HB 2954: The Civil Liability for Doxing Act provides that an individual who engages in “doxing” can be subject to civil damages in addition to criminal liability.
HB 3087: The Director of Agriculture may declare a temporary halt on the sale, movement or exhibition of certain types of animals to prevent the spread of disease in the state. Such declarations can be made in increments of 30 days.
HB 3140: The “End Youth Solitary Confinement Act” prohibits the use of room confinement for discipline, punishment, and retaliation, or any reason other than as a temporary response to a juvenile’s behavior that poses a serious or immediate risk of physical harm.
HB 3203: Pharmacists may sell fentanyl test stripes over the counter. Test strips may also be distributed by county health departments.
HB 3236: Contracts, transactions and agreements where a retail outlet extends credit to a consumer to purchase a dog or cat are no longer permitted.
HB 3345: Illinois Identification Cards must be provided within 45 days to individuals who have been discharged from incarceration.
HB 3396: Any person who performs an action with the intent of interfering with, obstructing, or impeding a picket or other demonstrations or protests, or who places any object in the public way for such purpose, shall be subject to a Class A misdemeanor, with a minimum fine of $500.
With half of all Illinois counties reporting elevated COVID cases this week, state health officials are urging medical facilities to require masks on site.
December 17, 2023 at 12:00 pm CST
Will County — The Illinois Department of Public Health is now advising health care facilities to step up mitigation efforts to minimize the spread of respiratory viruses.
The department on Thursday issued a health alert to hospitals, long-term care facilities, and local health departments outlining various mitigation measures such as the use of masking and screening, especially in areas where more vulnerable patients are treated, according to a news release from the IDPH.
Half of all Illinois counties (51) are at an elevated level for COVID-19 hospitalizations, including five that had a high level of hospitalizations, according to the release.
Statewide, the number of cases increased by 22% this week, according to the IDPH
Hospitalizations across the state also are increasing for cases of the flu and RSV, which could pose a risk for crowding in pediatric intensive care units, according to the IDPH.
“As we anticipated, we are seeing an increase in respiratory viruses – including COVID-19, flu and RSV – both in Illinois and across the nation,” IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said in the release. “IDPH is closely working with our health partners to educate the public, monitor our hospital capacity and develop effective mitigation strategies as we experience this surge.”
The IDPH recommended increased precautions for people planning holiday gatherings, including practicing diligent hand-washing; making sure gathering areas are well ventilated; staying home and seeking treatment if you feel sick; and getting vaccines for COVID-19, flu and RSV if you are eligible.
These precautions are especially important if you or a loved one is older than 65, immunocompromised or has a chronic medical condition. Young children also have an increased risk for RSV.
CNBC: Citigroup Says Most Employees Can Work From Home at End of December Locally, Will County health officials are keeping an eye on the number of cases of the respiratory diseases that are affecting people of all ages.
“Similar to what we’ve seen the past few years, this is the time of year that we’re expecting to see an increase in respiratory illnesses. Flu, RSV and COVID-19 are all still circulating, and we’re expecting to see a surge with upcoming holiday travel and gatherings,” said Kevin Juday, media services manager for the Will County Health Department. “Like many counties in Illinois, Will County has seen an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations, but Will County currently remains in the low category in COVID-19 hospitalizations.”
The county health department echoed the same preventive measures as the IDPH and is urging residents to get up to date on vaccines available to help prevent the spread of illness at holiday gatherings.
“Getting a COVID-19, flu and RSV vaccines for which you or your loved ones are eligible are also important tips to stay safe and healthy at the holidays. These tips are especially important for young children and those who are over 65, immunocompromised or have a chronic medical condition and are the most at risk for severe disease,” Juday said.
The IDPH also is recommending masking in crowded public places if you feel sick or are at an increased risk for illness and is encouraging medical facilities to implement mask mandates in patient-treatment areas.
“During this critical period with hospitalizations rising, I encourage all of our residents to use the tools available to keep yourself and your families healthy and protected,” Vohra said in the release.
He reminded Illinois residents to use home COVID-19 tests if they have been exposed to or feel potential symptoms of a respiratory virus, including coughing, sneezing, sore throat, a runny nose or fever.
As of Nov. 20, every household in the U.S. is eligible to receive four free at-home tests through the COVID.gov website.
In conjunction with the warning of increased infections, the IDPH announced that it has launched a new, weekly Infectious Respiratory Disease Surveillance Dashboard, which will be updated weekly on Friday afternoons.
The report will provide the public with data on hospital visits, trends, test positivity and demographics.
Almost all of the $2 trillion of Biden’s “Economic Recovery Act” money has now been spent. We thought now would be a good time to remind readers where all the money went:
Newly released DOJ memo details top-down pressure on cops to probe vague school board threats
This newly public memo which was first referenced by the House Judiciary Committee in its March report on the DOJ’s efforts to monitor nebulous threats against school boards shows the top-down effort from Garland’s department to gather information and facilitate prosecutions with local law enforcement against parents concerned about curricula imposed on their children.
After Attorney General Merrick Garland issued an October 2021 directive calling for federal resources to investigate threats against school boards, a newly released memo shows the Justice Department pressured all U.S. Attorneys Offices to convene meetings with local law enforcement and FBI representatives to address the alleged threat.
Notably, the memo gave prosecutor offices a hard deadline and required a report back to Washington after the meeting took place, including a requirement to identify the specific local law enforcement agencies that participated.
The Oct. 20, 2021 memo, provided to Just the News by the watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust, was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
It provided directives to all U.S. Attorneys Offices across the country to implement Garland’s directives to coordinate with local law enforcement to address a “disturbing spike” in violence against school administrations, board members, or staff.
“[They] sent the memo to all the US Attorney’s offices across the country and ordered them to—it does say on the memo that its guidance on implementing the Attorney General’s memorandum—but there are required actions that…they are required to convene a meeting within the next few weeks,” Michael Chamberlain, Director of Protecting the Public’s Trust, said on the “John Solomon Reports” podcast on Wednesday.
According to Chamberlain, “The memo was sent out on October 20 of 2021 and they were supposed to have the meeting by November 3 and they were supposed to, they were required to report back. And to verify that they had the meeting and list details…such as the local officials who attended. So this was not something that was just, you know, not something that they didn’t believe was important. It doesn’t it doesn’t look like they put a lot of effort and resources into enforcing the memo.”
The memo directed each U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) to organize a meeting with local law enforcement agencies, including state, local, Tribal or territorial authorities, to address the specific issue of the spike of violence against school boards and related organizations. Specific discussion topics were provided by the DOJ that it wanted addressed in the meetings, including support for victims, reviewing local or state laws and federal laws that can address the problem, and a discussion about “training needs” for local law enforcement.
The memo also required the USAOs to notify Washington confirming the meeting was held, identify all the law enforcement agencies that attended, and forward any specific issues to the Deputy Attorney General.
This memo followed Garland’s October 4, 2021 memo directing his department to convene the meetings to address a “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff,” though the department did not cite any data showing an increase in violence or threats.
Garland’s initial memo came under scrutiny because it followed shortly after a Sept. 29, 2021 letter from the National School Boards Association (NSBA) to the Biden Administration that warned of “an immediate threat” to public schools and “education leaders” and called for federal cooperation with local law enforcement to deal with the threat.
“The National School Boards Association (NSBA) respectfully asks for federal law enforcement and other assistance to deal with the growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across the nation,” the letter said.
The NSBA specifically identified parent backlash against critical race theory in classroom instruction as a source of physical threats against public school officials.
“Coupled with attacks against school board members and educators for approving policies for masks to protect the health and safety of students and school employees, many public school officials are also facing physical threats because of propaganda purporting the false inclusion of critical race theory within classroom instruction and curricula,” the NSBA explained.
“Now, we ask that the federal government investigate, intercept, and prevent the current threats and acts of violence against our public school officials through existing statutes, executive authority, interagency and intergovernmental task forces, and other extraordinary measures to ensure the safety of our children and educators, to protect interstate commerce, and to preserve public school infrastructure and campuses,” the letter continued.
The NSBA identified some the threats, which include “threatening letters,” “cyberbullying attacks,” and “social media” posts. The NSBA labeled these so-called threats equal to “domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”
Garland’s memo was released less than a week after NSBA’s letter to the Biden Administration and caused significant uproar among Congressional Republicans who accused Garland of establishing a “snitch line” on parents. This assertion comes from the DOJ’s decision to use the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center (NTOC) national tip line to receive reports of threats against school board members and other education staff.
“It concerns us that it was issued just five days after the National School Board Association sent a letter to President Biden which referred to concerned parents as the equivalent of ‘domestic terrorists and perpetrators of hate crimes,'” Rep. Mike Johnson, now Speaker of the House, said at the time. “Given the timing of all this, your memo appears to have been motivated by politics more than any pressing law enforcement need. This is concerning to us and it’s worthy of investigation.”
After Republicans gained control of the House in early 2023, the Judiciary Committee opened an investigation into the Attorney General’s memo which concluded that “the Biden Administration misused federal law-enforcement and counterterrorism resources for political purposes,” in monitoring “threats” to the school boards. The Oct. 20 document was cited in the House Judiciary Committee report from March of this year, but was not made public by the committee.
The committee also concluded that the DOJ’s own documents showed “that there was no compelling nationwide law-enforcement justification for the Attorney General’s directive or the Department components’ executive thereof.”
As the DOJ prepared its response to congressional inquiries and questions covering the memo, the department prepared at least nine pages of probable questions and department answers on the controversy, according to the FOIA production released to Protect the Public’s Trust. However, all of these pages were redacted in the production, meaning internal DOJ deliberations about how to respond to the accusations from House Republicans and public backlash are still being kept secret.
Garland defended his memo in public, even after the NSBA retracted its original letter labeling purported threats as equivalent to domestic terrorism.
“DOJ concluded its work under the memo more than a year ago. The memo, which was issued in October 2021, directed U.S. Attorneys to convene meetings within 30 days to learn more about threats against school officials. That has long since happened,” a source familiar with the DOJ’s work told Just the News after a request to the Office of Public Affairs. “DOJ did not hold back in turning over to Congress the feedback from different US Attorney’s offices. Some offices found the meetings helpful, a few didn’t. The memo’s purpose was to open these lines of communication and that is what DOJ did.”
“That’s all it’s about,” Garland said at the time, referring to actual threats of violence or real criminal conduct. “And all it asks is for federal law enforcement to consult with, meet with local law enforcement to assess the circumstances, strategize about what may or may not be necessary to provide federal assistance, if it is necessary,” he said.
In March, Garland told the House committee that the FBI was sent 22 reports of threats against school board members following his Oct. 4 memo of which six were referred to state and local law enforcement entities and authorities.
