Recording of the Martin McLaughlin/Maria Peterson Candidate Forum held on Tuesday, Sept 22, for Illinois General Assembly 52nd District have been posted. The link can be found here.
Archive for the ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)’ Category
Juliana Stratton is using her campaign money to fund Abdul El-Sayed
Posted in 9/11 Ceremonies, Animal Welfare, Democratic Socialists of America, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Elections, Ethics, Immigration, New Normal?, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Wirepoints, WTF on September 29, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Juliana Stratton
By Mark Glennon* | Wirepoints
Abdul El-Sayed is unquestionably the most controversial and radical major party candidate in memory to run for the United States Senate, which he is doing in Michigan as a Democrat. He is disavowed even by some fellow Democrats, and his critics on the right routinely call him a jihadist, terrorist, radical Islamist or the like.
Juliana Stratton is now using her campaign fund to help El-Sayad win. She is Illinois’s Democratic candidate for the Senate facing Republican Don Tracy.
Linked here and here are recent campaign blast emails signed by El-Sayed but sent by Stratton’s organization and clearly marked, “Paid for by Juliana Stratton for Illinois.” Unknown at this point is how much further financial support she is providing, but Stratton is clearly helping El-Sayed, financially and otherwise, to some degree.
In the case of El-Sayed, any amount of support would have been unthinkable for Democrats and Republicans alike until the left became the nightmare it is today.
To top it off, Stratton is funded mostly by Gov. JB Pritzker, who has long purported to be a rock solid supporter of Israel’s right to exist. El-Sayed is anything but.
Some background on El-Sayed
For starters, El-Sayed has likened Oklahoma’s Sharia law ban to the Trail of Tears and said that ban and the Oklahoma City bombing are products of “white supremacy.” He is repeatedly criticized for dismissing the importance of the 9/11 attacks on America, saying the war on terror that ensued should have been directed to domestic programs.
He opposes Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and consistently refuses to say it has a right to exist at all. He would end all military aid not just for Israel but Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. He often condemns terrorism but proceeds to explain it away. After a Muslim terrorist drove a truck full of explosives into a Jewish temple in Michigan this year, for example, he condemned it but said “hurt people hurt people.” He is not a member of the Democratic Socialist party, but supports much of its most controversial agenda, including abolishing ICE (which he says “cannot be reformed”), Medicare for all, ending all military aid for Israel, and housing as a right. “When they go low, we don’t go high. We take them to the mud and choke them out,” Piker has said.
It gets worse: El-Sayed and Hasan Piker
El-Sayed has regularly platformed and campaigned with Hasan Piker, a prominent and open America-hater, radical Islamist and fan of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong “I say I hate America all the time,” Piker has said. “A lot of motherfuckers want to kill me over that take, but at least I say it with my fucking chest.”
Article continues here.
*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.
Moseley-Braun, Part II? Democrat U.S. Senate hopeful Stratton refuses debates, claims to be “dancing” her way to Washington
Posted in Commodius Maximus, Deception, Democratic Socialists of America, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Elections, Ethics, Look For The Union Label, Politics, Prairie State Wire, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Unions on September 28, 2026| 1 Comment »
Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (left), the Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate, and former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun (right), who served Illinois from 1993 to 1999. | Illinois Office of the Lieutenant Governor; U.S. Senate Historical Office
Illinois U.S. Senate candidate Juliana Stratton has turned down nearly every debate and interview request of the general election, prompting comparisons to Carol Moseley Braun, the last Illinois Democrat to embarrass the state on the way to the Senate.
Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (left), the Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate, and former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun (right), who served Illinois from 1993 to 1999. | Illinois Office of the Lieutenant Governor; U.S. Senate Historical Office
Illinois U.S. Senate candidate Juliana Stratton has turned down nearly every debate and interview request of the general election, prompting comparisons to Carol Moseley Braun, the last Illinois Democrat to embarrass the state on the way to the Senate.
Stratton, the Democrat lieutenant governor running to succeed Sen. Dick Durbin, has deliberately avoided policy in her campaign, repeatedly posting “dancing videos” on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram while refusing debate and forum invitations extended by news organizations and civic groups.
CBS 2 Chicago, Fox 32 Chicago, the League of Women Voters of Peoria, the Illinois Farm Bureau, the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, the Technology and Manufacturing Association and the Illinois Municipal League all sought to host a debate between Stratton and her Republican opponent, Don Tracy.
Tracy accepted every one of them.
Stratton agreed to just one, a forum hosted by Democrat-friendly Chicago PBS affiliate WTTW set for October 20, weeks after early voting begins in Illinois.
She also declined an interview request from The Center Square in July.
Dancing videos instead of interviews
Instead of interviews, Stratton has frequently posted photos and videos of herself dancing on social media.
Juliana Stratton hasn’t conducted public interviews, but she has frequently published photos of herself dancing on social media. (Facebook)
Stratton campaigned in multiple primary debates earlier this year, but only against fellow Democrats who largely agreed with her on the issues.
The “F— Trump” ad
The debate avoidance follows an episode that gave Stratton her widest public exposure of the race.
In February, Stratton released her first general-election television ad, opening with six people, including U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, exclaiming “F— Trump.”
Gov. JB Pritzker, who has endorsed Stratton, made a cameo in the same ad.
Article continues here.
Editorial note: Who needs debates when she’s guaranteed union votes?
DSA platform could cost up to $212T over a decade, analysis finds
Posted in Democratic Socialists of America, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Fox News, Immigration, Look For The Union Label, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes, Unions on September 19, 2026| Leave a Comment »
A Cato Institute analysis says the DSA agenda leaves a gap of up to $169T even after taxing all billionaires
By Eric Revell | FOXBusiness
The policy agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) would cost between $71 trillion and $212 trillion in fresh spending over a decade, according to a new analysis.
The progressive wing of the Democratic Party has had electoral success recently, with some candidates backed by the DSA advancing in primaries in the wake of Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City.
Angie Nixon, a DSA member in Florida, won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. Progressives who have touted similar policies as those in the DSA platform have also found recent success in Democratic primaries for U.S. Senate races, with Abdul El-Sayed winning in Michigan and Peggy Flanagan prevailing in Minnesota.
Adam Michel, the director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute, wrote in the New York Post that the “DSA promises a world of plenty, paid for by somebody else. Simple math says otherwise.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, center, celebrates with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. | Andres Kudacki/Getty Images
Michel analyzed the DSA platform and found that while the platform is “thin on details,” he was able to estimate the spending policies would total between $71 trillion and $212 trillion in new spending over the next decade.
He noted that, at the high end of that estimate, the total government spending would reach as high as 92% of U.S. economic output.
“The socialists claim their plan will do away with rent. They’ll make healthcare free and forgive student loans. Their system will provide utilities, college and food at no cost to the consumer,” Michel wrote.
Report continues here.
Legislative panel weighs in on children’s mental health, data centers and state vs. local control
Posted in Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce, Daily Herald, Data Center, Democratic Socialists of America, Dinky, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Economy, Education, Elections, Ethics, New Normal?, Politics, Property Taxes, Resident Spotlights, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes on September 17, 2026| 1 Comment »
By Steve Zalusky | Daily Herald
A panel of Republican and Democratic state legislators came together Wednesday in Barrington to discuss a variety of topics, including the impact of social media and technology on children’s mental health and whether data centers should be under state or local control.
Two Republicans, state Rep. Martin McLaughlin and state Sen. Darby Hills, both of Barrington Hills, and two Democrats, state Reps. Nabeela Syed of Inverness and Anna Moeller of Elgin, fielded questions during the Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce legislative breakfast, held at the Barrington Park District headquarters.
Barrington Area Unit District 220 Superintendent Craig Winkelman, one of the moderators, asked what role the state should play in helping school districts support children’s mental health.
He cited figures provided by Lurie Children’s Hospital that 49% of Illinois youth are experiencing worsening mental health.
Syed, who represents the 51st District, said the state has taken action by passing a law mandating mental health screenings in schools, with parents able to opt out.
McLaughlin, who represents the 52nd District, echoed Syed on the impact of technology but focused less on what the state can do and more on channeling children into activities that encourage social interaction and team building.
“You cannot spell team with ‘I,’ but you can certainly spell ‘iPhone,’ with an ‘I,’” he said.
Panelists also weighed in on data centers.
McLaughlin criticized the governor and the Democratic majority for passing hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives to attract data centers. He said he supports local communities retaining zoning and planning controls.
Although he agreed data centers are needed, he said, “That doesn’t mean that we should stick data centers in Algonquin next to residents in Barrington Hills, which I oppose. That doesn’t mean we should put data centers across the street from South Barrington residential units, which I oppose.”
Read the full article here.
Forest Preserves spent extra $40 million yearly on expanded conservation, maintenance
Posted in Animal Welfare, BACOG, Bicyclists, Chicago Tribune, Citizens for Conservation, Cook, County, Crabtree Nature Center, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), E-bikes, Education, Elections, Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation, Flint Creek/Spring Creek Watersheds Partnership, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, Friends of Forest Preserves, FRVPC, Horizon Farm, Horse Boarding, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Massbach Hounds, Politics, Preckwinkle's Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Spring Creek Stewards, Taxes, Unions on September 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Mark Kolasa, a teaching assistant for a restoration ecology class, uses his binoculars during a tour through Deer Grove East Forest Preserve in Palatine on Sept. 23, 2025, as part of a celebration of the completion of the habitat restoration project. The restoration project, funded by the O’Hare Modernization Mitigation Account, restored acres of native habitat and wetlands at this site. | Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune
By A.D. Quig | Chicago Tribune
Cook County Forest Preserves has used a $40 million yearly windfall from voters to buy up and conserve more land, pay for maintenance and add programming while bolstering its pension funds, the district reported Tuesday.
Voters overwhelmingly gave the preserves the OK to raise property taxes by 0.025% in a 2022 referendum. While at the time it cost the average homeowner about $20 a year, it was a “watershed moment” for the district, according to a new progress report on the district’s spending since then.
Because the new money was commingled with other preserve funds, it’s not possible to trace the improvements dollar for dollar, but the report puts some hard numbers on the “impressive and undeniable” benefits.
Among them: $11 million spent on ecological restoration projects, buying $4 million in new “greener” vehicles and equipment, and spending $2.4 million to expand the district’s “Conservation Corps.”
Revenues have grown only modestly after the referendum infusion. President Toni Preckwinkle is expected to roll out the 2027 budget for the preserves to the forest preserve board — which is the same as the County Board — on Oct. 7.
“The leap in capacity from increasing the budget in 2023 by nearly a third, and continuing that investment, has paid dividends for us all,” Preckwinkle said in a release.
District General Superintendent Adam Bianchi, hired in July 2025, inherited the district’s goals to ecologically restore 30,000 acres and expand the preserves from 70,000 to 90,000 acres by 2039. In the first three years after the referendum, the district added an “unprecedented” nearly 3,000 acres to its restoration work, Bianchi said at the district’s monthly board meeting Tuesday. Between 2023 and 2025, the district added 558 acres overall.
The district also spent $4 million to improve 64 miles of trails, $2.5 million to repair 43 picnic sites and $1.2 million to fix up more than a dozen bathroom buildings across the county. It planted 815 trees at preserves picnic groves, golf courses and campgrounds and created an accessible canoe and kayak launch at Beaubien Woods.
Report continues here.
Juliana Stratton is hiding from Illinois voters. That tells you everything.
Posted in Cost of Living, Deception, Democratic Socialists of America, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Economy, Education, Elections, Ethics, Fat Bastard, Flock Cameras, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Immigration, Look For The Union Label, OP/Ed, Open Meetings Act, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Taxes, The Center Square, The Chicago Way, Transparency, Unions, WTTW News on September 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Juliana Stratton (left)
By Mark Glennon | Wirepoints
The balance in the United States Senate after November’s elections is likely to be razor thin, making each Senator’s competence critical in what is among the most dangerous periods America has faced, both internationally and nationally.
Juliana Stratton wants a promotion to the Senate from lieutenant governor — a mostly ceremonial post in Illinois. She’s asking for that promotion from behind a curtain, denying voters any opportunity to see whether she has even a meager understanding of the issues she will face.
Multiple debates and forums would be the best means to learn about Stratton — as well as about Don Tracy, her Republican opponent, whose Senate credentials are also little known to Illinois voters. Tracy accepted offers to no fewer than seven such events from CBS2 Chicago, FOX 32 Chicago, the League of Women Voters of Peoria, the Illinois Farm Bureau, the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, the Technology and Manufacturing Association and the Illinois Municipal League.
Stratton, however, refused all but one , and it will be very late, set for October 20. Early voting starts September 24 in Illinois, nearly a month before that. And with Chicago’s PBS affiliate, WTTW, being the moderator, we should expect no tough questions for Stratton.
How about a long interview by a fair reporter versed on national issues?
Forget it. You will find none. For that matter, you won’t find one on any matter for the entire duration of her political career in Illinois. When asked for an interview in July by one source that can be reasonably expected to ask hard questions, The Center Square, Stratton declined. Tracy, in contrast, has given multiple interviews to sources both left- and right-leaning.
In fairness, Stratton did participate in multiple debates and forums when running in the Democratic primary. However, that was against fellow progressive Democrats who largely agreed with her and she was never challenged on the major issues that divide the country and would be important to undecided and swing voters.
What do we know about Stratton, aside from her record of complete allegiance to Gov. JB Pritzker on Illinois issues?
On her web pages and elsewhere you can find the standard list of the far left’s policy positions. They include abolishing ICE, which she says is unfixable; a national $25 per hour minimum wage, even in rural areas; Medicare for all, with no cost analysis provided; and ending the 51-year old Senate filibuster rule.
Her top priority, however, is fighting back against President Trump, she has emphasized. We might therefore expect some substance in her views about Trump, right?
Her most notable words about Trump were in an ad that did get her national and international attention, but it was ridiculed for its vacuous crudeness, even by left-leaning sources like Britain’s The Guardian. It was a 30-second ad in her primary race with a string of “F— Trump.”
Article continues here.
Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.
Chicago mayor bets progressives will turn out for him in announcing reelection bid
Posted in Cook, County, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Elections, Immigration, Look For The Union Label, News Media, Politics, Taxes, The Chicago Way, Unions on September 13, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Mayor Brandon Johnson talks to reporters at a news conference in Chicago. | Nam Y. Huh/AP
By Shia Kapos | Politico
Mayor Brandon Johnson is launching his reelection campaign Sunday despite daunting approval ratings, betting the progressive coalition that helped elect him in 2023 is stronger now than it was four years ago.
The mayor confirmed his plans to POLITICO ahead of the announcement at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center on the city’s South Side. He plans to argue that his administration has followed through on policies he pitched when he first ran for office and that there is still unfinished business ahead.
“I made a promise four years ago that I would work every day to build the safest, most affordable big city in America by investing in people, and that’s exactly what we’ve done,” Johnson said, pointing to investments in affordable housing, infrastructure and mental health clinics, along with declining crime rates.
But the mayor also faces high disapproval ratings, with support for a prospective reelection bid at just 13.6 percent, according to a recent University of Chicago Mansueto Institute poll. He’ll also have to take on a field of strong Democratic challengers, including Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, Rep. Mike Quigley and state Comptroller Susana Mendoza – all of whom tack closer to the ideological center than Johnson.
Article continues here.
(Democratic) League of Women Voters of the Palatine, Barrington and Schaumburg Areas Launches Voter Preparation Tools Ahead of November 3, 2026 General Election
Posted in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Elections, Immigration, League of Women Voters, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Taxes, Unions on September 10, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The (Democratic) League of Women Voters of the Palatine, Barrington and Schaumburg Areas (DLWVPA) is proud to offer six in-person local candidate forums, an important resource to help voters prepare for the upcoming November 3rd general election. Three of those covering parts or all of Barrington Hills follow.
Registration for the forums is open now at lwvpalatinearea.org.
2026 Candidate Forum Schedule
Jennifer Davis (R) and Melissa Bean (D)
Date: Saturday, September 19, 2026
Time: 2:00 PM
Location: Schaumburg Township District Library, 130 South Roselle Road, Schaumburg, IL 60193
Martin McLaughlin (R) and Maria Peterson (D)
Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Barrington Area Library, 505 N. Northwest Highway, Barrington, IL 60010
Darby Hills (R) and Nabeela Syed (D)
Date: Saturday, September 26, 2026
Time: 1:00 PM
Location: Wojcik Conference Center at Harper College, 1200 Algonquin Road, Palatine, IL 60067
The DSA’s socialist plans carry a $212T price tag — and every one of us will pay
Posted in Democratic Socialists of America, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Elections, Immigration, League of Women Voters, Look For The Union Label, New York Post, OP/Ed, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Springfield, Taxes, The Other Half, Unions, Village Code on September 5, 2026| Leave a Comment »
By Adam Michel | New York Post
It started in New York, but now democratic socialism is on a winning streak around the country.
Months after Zohran Mamdani became mayor, candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America nearly swept the city’s June Democratic primaries.
In Florida, DSA member Angie Nixon won the Democratic Senate nomination over the establishment favorite.
And it’s not just the DSA’s own candidates: Socialist ideas are being laundered into the mainstream Democratic Party.
In the upper Midwest, Abdul El-Sayed and Peggy Flanagan rode Sen. Bernie Sanders’ endorsement to win Democratic Senate primaries, campaigning on Medicare for All and expansive Green New Deal-like policies.
So I took the DSA platform — dubbed “A Day Without Capitalism,” it’s long on rhetoric and thin on details — and tallied up the costs.
The bottom line: The DSA wants somewhere between $71 trillion and $212 trillion in new spending over the next decade.
Continue reading here.
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