Leftists have redefined “hate.” To them hatred refers to ideas and moral beliefs that they think harm others. So, using that definition, how do leftists hate people? Let’s count the ways. Well, not all the ways. That would suck dry the wellsprings of hope from which we draw at the beginning of each New Year and which are granted to us by a gracious God who has jobs for us to do—with joy.

Let’s look at just one way leftists demonstrate their hatred of humans: legislation pursued in California and the California-Wannabe State: Illinois.

Scott Wiener is an infamous, middle-aged California state senator representing San Francisco and most notable for his erotic lust for men and for his abuse of position, power, and taxpayer money to promote sexual degeneracy. In other words, he is California’s Kelly Cassidy—Illinois’ lesbian State Representative from Chicago who routinely makes a mockery of decency, compassion, and justice.

Wiener’s latest assault on human rights and dignity is SB 107, which took effect on January 1, 2023, making California the first “trans”-sanctuary state in the country. The childless Wiener along with Equality California and Planned Parenthood—which now profits handsomely from cross-sex hormone-doping—conspired to lure sexually confused minors to California to be experimented on by profiteering quacks who masquerade as healthcare professions.

Gender-dysphoric minor children who live in states that prohibit dangerous, experimental chemical and surgical interventions to treat disordered feelings about their biological sex are now incentivized to hightail it to California where greedy doctors will eagerly harm their healthy bodies for money, money, money.

The law, deceitfully titled the “Gender-Affirming Healthcare Act,” allows minors to receive such “treatments” no matter who brings them across state lines. A minor brought across state lines by a parent about to lose custody can access such “treatments” in defiance of the wishes of a parent soon to be granted custody. A minor brought to California by a non-custodial, non-parent can access such “treatments.” A resourceful runaway can access such “treatments.”

Equally frightening, this law permits California courts to terminate parental rights granted in other states via “temporary emergency jurisdiction.”

Moreover, this blow to parental rights prohibits the state from sharing any medical information about minors with parents who oppose chemical and surgical procedures that disrupt the normal bodily processes and maim the bodies of their own children.

Don’t be surprised when an underground service a là the Jane Collective is created to ferry troubled children to California in search of transtopia where mutilated children cavort gaily in blood-red fields of discarded body parts. It will be called the Rachel Levine Collective.

Of the 13 co-authors of this bill, at least seven are homosexual and one is bisexual.

Unfortunately, Illinois too is plagued with Democrats who are as hell-bent on destroying the bodies, minds, and hearts of children as they are in destroying the nuclear family, publicly subsidized schools, and urban communities.

While Kelly Cassidy has a long history of using the government to normalize disordered eroticism, somehow another homosexual lawmaker got the jump on her with regard to a “trans”-sanctuary bill for Illinois. That lawmaker is State Senator Michael Simmons (D-Chicago) who was appointed to the office in February 2021 when another disastrous leftist lawmaker—Heather Steans—retired.

On November 29,2022 Simmons—who has no children—introduced SB 4245, the “Gender-Affirming Health Care Protection Act,” which prohibits the “State,” “law enforcement,” and the “Governor” from complying with statutes and subpoenas issued by other states regarding experimental and ghoulish medical “interventions” with which leftists like to maim minors’ bodies.

Simmons bill defines “gender-affirming care” as “medically necessary health care that respects the gender identity of the patient, as experienced and defined by the patient” (emphasis added). Simmons wants troubled, immature minor children, many of whom suffer from co-morbidities like depression, anxiety, and autism and who are vulnerable to social contagion, to be free to access risky chemical and surgical interventions without the knowledge or consent of their own parents. And he wants Big Brother to facilitate this whole nightmarish project.

While leftists like Simmons and Wiener want the government to help children align their healthy bodies with disordered feelings by mutilating them, they want government to prohibit helping children align their disordered feelings with their healthy bodies through counseling. Former Illinois State Representative Tom Morrison couldn’t even get a hearing for his “Youth Health Protection Act” proposed in Feb. 2019, the first bill in the nation that sought to protect minors from experimental “interventions.”

If passed, Simmon’s bill would protect the legal ability of children to access “interventions to align the patient’s appearance or physical body with the patient’s gender identity.” Some of the procedures cross-sex identifiers pursue to mask their biological sex include surgical removal of breasts, uteruses, ovaries, penises, and testicles.

Some lesser known “interventions” include the following for men who seek to masquerade as women: the construction of neovaginas that have to be regularly dilated mechanically to prevent closure, tracheal shaves, hairline “advancements” to create smaller foreheads, lips and cheekbones augmentation, lip lifts, neck liposuction, and jaw and chin “contouring.”

Some lesser known masculinizing “interventions” for women who seek to masquerade as men include the construction of non-functioning “neopenises” from skin grafts taken from forearms or thighs, forehead lengthening/augmentation, browbone implants, cheek implants or grafts, rhinoplasty, chin implants, jaw implants, and thyroid cartilage “enhancement” (i.e., Adam’s Apple implant).

Because lawmakers habitually lie, it’s important to ignore what a bill’s sponsors claim is the intent of their bill. Instead, proposed bills must be carefully read to understand how the language could be interpreted and applied.

California and Illinois seek to be meccas not only for human slaughter but also for sterile non-reproductive homoeroticism and the sterilization and mutilation of children. Leftists who sanctimoniously fume about animal-hunting hold brutally dim views of human life. Their policies expose their hatred of their fellow men, women, and children—a hatred fomented by the father of lies whose deceitful and deceived minions like Wiener and Simmons try to gussy up with sophistry about love, dignity, and rights.

There is a spiritual war roiling the world, causing incalculable human suffering:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12)

These spiritual forces of evil are targeting children with an incomprehensible fervor. Christians must put on the whole armor of God and wage war against this evil with even greater fervor.

Well, well, well, a recent news story pokes a hole in the leftist media portrayal of crossdressers as paragons of virtue and mental health who must never be criticized.

The story emerges from Chicago where LaSaia Wade, a crossdressing man who spends his days trying to normalize sexual deviance, has been fired from Brave Space Alliance, the “LGBTQ” center he founded and which, according to The Blaze, reportedly “grew during the pandemic into a multimillion-dollar operation.” Mr. Wade has allegedly been “diverting the organization’s funds to ‘unknown’ bank accounts.”

Biological male, “LaSaia” Wade

IFI readers, particularly those who live in Township High School District 211, may be familiar with Wade who in 2017 colluded with current school board member, the presumptuous Kim Cavill (who hosts inappropriate sex podcasts for minors with titles like “All About Anal” and “Let’s Talk About Porn”), to thwart the election of three outstanding school board members. That fascinating story bears retelling:

In the spring of 2017, three exceptionally well-qualified candidates who opposed co-ed private spaces for minors in public schools were running against three people who supported co-ed private spaces for minors. The three well-qualified challengers were,

Jean Forrest, a Chinese-American woman with an MA in economics who works as an actuary

Katherine Jee Young David, a Korean-American woman with a BS in Business Administration from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Ralph Bonatz who has a degree in electrical engineering and is a global quality control manager for an international corporation

On March 22, 2017, just 13 days before the 2017 election, Chicagoan LaSaia Wade and Daye Pope, another biological male who masquerades as a woman, set up a Super PAC called Trans United Fund Illinois. Pope is the organizing director for a 501(c)(3) called Trans United Fund.

Just two days later, on March 24, 2017—11 days before the 2017 election—Kim Cavill and her sister Lindsay Christensen also set up a Super PAC called Parents and Neighbors for Quality Education (PNQE).

Just days after the founding of Trans United Fund Illinois, some surprising donations came pouring in from people outside of District 211:

• Matrix Director “Lana” Wachowski, a biological man who pretends to be a woman and lives with his dominatrix wife in Chicago, donated a whopping $10,000.

• Far left former Illinois State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago), who has a son who pretends to be a woman, also donated $10,000.

• Homosexual Clark Pellet, a retired attorney and development chair for the “LGBTQ” Center on Halsted who lives in Chicago, donated $5,000.

• Executive director of Gender Rights Maryland, Dana Beyer, a man who pretends to be a woman and lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, donated $1,000.

• Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) who lives in Brooklyn, New York donated $500.

• Homosexual Douglas Hattaway, president and CEO of a Washington D.C. strategic communications firm who lives in D.C., donated $500.

• Architect Kira Kinsman, a biological man formerly known as Kyle Kinsman who lives in Wilkes Barre, PA, donated $250.

The more than $26, 000 in donations for a school board election from donors who don’t live in District 211 then went to—you guessed it—Cavill’s Parents and Neighbors for Quality Education.

Enquiring minds may wonder why Cavill and her sister set up PNQE, since Trans United Fund Illinois was already established. Why the extra step to fund the defeat of conservatives? The answer to that question might be found in mailers and yard signs.

State law requires that campaign mailers and yard signs identify the groups that pay for them. Signs must say “Approved by ….” Which sounds better—and by “better” I mean less likely to arouse suspicion: “Approved by Trans United Fund Illinois” or “Approved by Parents and Neighbors for Quality Education”?

Flush with filthy lucre, the Cavill sisters got busy smearing good people with nary a backward glance.

As reported by the “LGBTQ” newspaper Windy City Times, a local mom (Who could that have been?) reached out to Trans United Fund, “a national trans-led advocacy group,” who agreed to help them defeat the three candidates who supported single-sex locker rooms:

Trans United Fund (TUF) and a group of local parents, youth, and allies, worked together to launch the first trans-led, trans-focused independent expenditure in history. TUF assembled a powerful team of thoughtful allies to quickly build and execute a research-informed and strategic plan to help the parents and youth get their message out. TUF supported the parents’ efforts through digital, mail, phone banking and helping to train volunteers to reach their neighbors at the door.

The Windy City Times made clear this campaign was a smear campaign in which good people who believe locker rooms and restrooms should correspond to biological sex were vilified. District 211 community member Tracey Salvatore, spewing venomous lies, said this about the good people who were defeated:

We are fed up with this small group of vocal, transphobic people guided by a national hate group [Alliance Defending Freedom] wreaking havoc in our community…. Our District 211 community will not tolerate adults bullying kids or intimidating us for one more day. The ADF-inspired slate of candidates ran with the agenda of inserting a hate-based, national agenda into our schools. They didn’t care that their policy changes would increase bullying and violence against kids…. So we reached out to Trans United Fund and they helped us to get our message out to our neighbors and community members. (emphasis added)

Neither Salvatore nor anyone affiliated with PNQE felt the ethical obligation to provide evidence that the three candidates feared or hated “trans”-identifying students, or that they bullied kids, or that they intimidated community members, or that ADF has a “hate-based agenda,” or that single-sex private spaces for minors increase “bullying and violence.” Why try to provide impossible-to-find evidence when hate-mongering rhetoric does the job.

This bizarre and troubling story was picked up by no one in the press. No story in the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, or Daily Herald.

Then in 2019, the dishonest Cavill ran for the school board and won. Still to this day ideological groomer Kim Cavill sits on her school board. Some District 211 taxpayers should ask her publicly about her collusion with scammer and skimmer Mr. LaSaia Wade.

District 211 School Board Member Kim Cavill, May 2022

Unfortunately, Brave Space Alliance remains operational—for now—headed by other mentally and morally unfit persons, like interim CEO, “Jae” Rice, a woman who pretends to be a man and uses the pronouns he/him. She spends her time “creating safe spaces in Chicago that center all Black LGBTQIA+ Women, Femmes, AFABS, and Queers.” For those who lack the time to learn all the neologisms “trans”-cultists invent to socially construct and impose their metaphysical beliefs, “AFAB” means “assigned female at birth.” Of course, only science deniers believe physicians “assign” sexes or genders at birth.

Then there’s Brave Space Alliance COO “Stephanie” Skora, a man who masquerades as a woman and boasts about his many-faceted life on Brave Space Alliance’s website:

Stephanie Skora is a writer, educator, speaker, organizer, and non-profiteer based in Chicago, Illinois. She lives as a femme lesbian, trans woman, and working-class anti-Zionist Ashkenazi Jew, and mobilizes her identities to work in solidarity with Palestinians, to queer Jewish spaces, and to fight for justice and liberation for all trans people. Stephanie is currently the COO of Brave Space Alliance, serves as Board President for the Midwest Institute for Sexuality and Gender Diversity, and is the author of the “Girl, I Guess” Progressive Voter Guide. When not working or organizing, Stephanie can be found enjoying the pleasures of life for a Virgo: food, love, and being right.

Biological male “Stephanie” Skora

Clearly, Skora’s strengths lie more in the area of imagination than clarity. He says he is a “trans woman,” which means he’s a man. He says he is a “femme lesbian,” which means he’s an effeminate heterosexual man who is sexually attracted to women and likes to cross-dress.

I’m not sure how he defines “working class,” unless he just means he works. He attended University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he earned his BA in “Gender & Women’s Studies and Political Science, with minor concentrations in Sociology and LGBT/Q Studies.” He claims to be not only a writer, speaker, and COO, but also a “renowned educator,” and “lesbian reclamationist,” who practices Jewish Anarchism, none of which connotes “working class” to most people.

Maybe, just maybe, some good can come from the sorry tales of LaSaia Wade and Kim Cavill. Maybe both will lose their positions and Brave Space Alliance will collapse under the weight of its lies.

Two administrators and five school board members in District 211, the largest high school district in Illinois, are being sued by Judicial Watch on behalf of a teacher who was fired for expressing criticism of the 2020 BLM/Antifa insurrections that devastated American cities. The defendants are director of human resources, James A. Britton; District 211 superintendent, Lisa A. Small; and board members, Robert J. LeFevre Jr., Anna Klimkowicz, Steven Rosenblum, Edward M. Yung, and the worst of the worst, Kim Cavill.  Two board members, Mark Cramer and Peter Dombrowski, had the good judgment to vote against the teacher’s termination. If the other five board members had exercised similar good judgment, the district would have avoided this costly but important lawsuit.

Jeanne Hedgepeth, a tenured teacher who was employed in D211 for twenty years, was fired for four posts on her private Facebook page. The lawsuit details both the posts and their context:

In late May and early June 2020, Plaintiff was vacationing in Florida after the end of the 2019-20 school year when violent street protests, rioting, looting, and shootings erupted in Chicago and many other U.S. cities in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 by Minneapolis police officers. In Chicago alone, 82 persons were shot, 19 fatally, over the May 30-31, 2020 weekend. On May 31, 2020, which the Chicago Sun Times described as the most violent day Chicago had seen in 60 years, Mayor Lori Lightfoot asked Governor J.B. Pritzker to deploy the Illinois National Guard in the city. That same day, May 31, 2020, Plaintiff posted … the comment, “I don’t want to go home tomorrow.  Now that the civil war has begun I want to move.”

An individual responded, “Follow your gut!  Move!!!!!!!!!”  Plaintiff answered, “I need a gun and training.” The individual replied, “me too!”

Another individual posted a meme that same day suggesting that the riots could be stopped with a septic tank truck and a pressure cannon.  Plaintiff reposted the meme, obviously in jest, adding, “You think this would work?”

On or about June 1, 2020, Plaintiff posted the following comment on Facebook in the course of an exchange of posts begun the previous day with a third individual:

I am about facts, truth seeking and love. I will speak on any topic I choose because I live in a free country. I find the term “white privilege” as racist as the “N” word. You have not walked in my shoes either so do not make assumptions about me and my so called privilege. You think America is racist? Then you have been hoodwinked by the white liberal establishment and race baiters like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.  Travel the world and go see that every nation has racism and some more than others but few make efforts such as we do to mitigate or eliminate it. I have lived and seen.  The people I am informed by about the black experience in America are actually some of the smartest people in America. And it so happens they are black. I highly recommend studying Thomas Sowell, who is now retired and in his 80’s. A treasure.  A truth seeker. [D]oes REAL research and analysis. Candice Owens is one of the smartest and most courageous women in America and Larry Elders speaks the truth with a great sense of humor and FACTS not feelings. They are who I listen to when it comes to facts about the black experience in America. Don’t you think there is a deeper problem than racism when 50% of murders in America are committed by 13% of the population? Do you think there might be a subtle genocide of black babies when most planned parenthoods are put in poor neighborhoods and that 30% of abortions are black babies. [B]lack women only make up 7% of the U.S. population.  The greatest power you have is what you believe about yourself. [W]hat have Democrats, mainstream media and intellectuals in ivory towers been telling the black community to believe about themselves for forty years? Wake up and stop believing them, then things will change.

Does anyone believe that if tenured teachers in D211 condemned Trump-voters, conservatives, or the Jan.6 rally on their personal Facebook pages they would be fired? Does anyone believe that if left-leaning D211 teachers made critical comments about Trump-voters, Republicans, conservatives, or the Jan. 6 rally in class they would be disciplined?

Conservatives who work in public schools are well aware of the de facto double standard for “progressive” and conservative teachers regarding the expression of moral or political views. They’re well aware of the systemic, institutional bias against conservative viewpoints. They’re well aware of the open intolerance of leftist teachers and administrators who self-identify as “tolerant.” Conservatives are well aware that their moral beliefs on homosexuality and cross-sex impersonation are openly (and falsely) called hatred by “progressive” teachers who suffer no consequences.

Perhaps the most egregious aspect of this sorry event was that arrogant board member Kim Cavill, who until very recently, has expressed her political views with impunity, voted to fire Hedgepeth, accusing Hedgepeth of “lacking professionalism.” Maybe someone should ask the four remaining anti-First Amendment board members who voted to fire Hedgepeth how they view these tweets from Cavill:

April 12, 2021 retweet: 

“Nothing like a police shooting to demonstrate conservatives’ most strongly held belief: With great power comes no responsibility.” 

April 13, 2021, she tweeted this quote from an Atlantic article: 

“For the past 30 years, the GOP has pursued a consistent strategy: Find a misunderstood or marginalized group, convince voters that the members of that group pose an existential threat to society, and then ride to victory on the promise of using state power to crush them.” 

August 28, 2020 retweet:

“It sounds absurd to say it, but America is in the process of choosing whether to be a white nationalist fascist state or an inclusive democracy. That’s not hyperbole, that’s just where we are”

August 23, 2020 Retweet:

“Here is what I would like for you to know: In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body – it is heritage.” — Ta-Nehisi Coates

D211 Board of Education policy says, a “Board of Education member should honor the responsibility which membership demands by representing at all times the entire school community.” Shouldn’t Cavill resign from the board?

And how do the four anti-free speech board members view Cavill’s creepy sex podcasts for children on anal sex, porn, and her recent one on polyamory, during which Cavill fawned over all the allegedly good things polyamorous family structures confer on children? Cavill labels this a “level one” podcast, which are topics that “cover the basics,” making it “perfect”—in Cavill’s perverse and unprofessional view—”for people of any age.”

As a far leftist, Cavill has the super-power of finding racism everywhere:

It’s pretty obvious that [the fact that polyamory is seen as a white movement] is part of a larger pattern of white supremacy.

How long before Cavill starts agitating for D211 curricula to endorse polyamory?

Cavill has a history of unethical behavior, perhaps the most corrupt of which was her scheme to solicit outside money to interfere with the 2017 school board election.

Prior to being elected to the D211 board in 2019, Cavill colluded with her sister to defeat the 2017 slate of excellent candidates by bringing in outside money from wealthy homosexuals and cross-sex identifiers that was laundered through a sham PAC.

Three exceptionally well-qualified people who opposed the sexual integration of private spaces for minors were running against three people who supported such privacy-violating practices. The three well-qualified challengers were,

Jean Forrest, a Chinese-American woman with an MA in economics who works as an actuary

Katherine Jee Young David, a Korean-American woman with a BS in Business Administration from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Ralph Bonatz who has a degree in electrical engineering and is a global quality control manager for an international corporation

On March 22, 2017, just 13 days before the 2017 election, LaSaia Wade, a 29-year-old “black trans woman” (i.e., a biological man), and Daye Pope, another biological male who passes as a woman, set up a Super PAC called Trans United Fund Illinois. Pope was the organizing director for a 501(c)(3) called Trans United Fund.

Two days later, on March 24, 2017—11 days before the 2017 election—Kim Cavill and her sister Lindsay Christensen set up a Super PAC called Parents and Neighbors for Quality Education (PNQE).

Just days after the founding of Trans United Fund Illinois, donations from some surprising people came pouring in:

• Matrix Director “Lana” Wachowski, a biological man who pretends to be a woman and lives with his dominatrix wife in Chicago, donated a whopping $10,000.

• Far left former Illinois State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago), who has an adult son who pretends to be a woman, also donated $10,000.

• Homosexual Clark Pellet, a retired attorney and development chair for the “LGBTQ” Center on Halsted who lives in Chicago, donated $5,000.

• Executive director of Gender Rights Maryland, Dana Beyer, a man who pretends to be a woman and lives in Chevy Chase, MD donated $1,000.

• Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) who lives in Brooklyn, NY donated $500.

• Homosexual Douglas Hattaway, president and CEO of a Washington D.C. strategic communications firm who lives in D.C., donated $500.

• Architect Kira Kinsman, a biological man formerly known as Kyle Kinsman who lives in Wilkes Barre, PA, donated $250.

The more than $26, 000 in donations for a school board election from donors who don’t live in District 211 then went to—you guessed it—Cavill’s Parents and Neighbors for Quality Education.

Enquiring minds may wonder why Cavill and her sister set up PNQE, since Trans United Fund Illinois was already established. Why the extra step to fund the defeat of conservatives? The answer to that question might be found in mailers and yard signs. State law requires that campaign mailers and yard signs identify the groups that pay for them. Signs must say “Approved by …”

Which sounds better—and by “better” I mean less likely to arouse suspicion: “Approved by Trans United Fund Illinois” or “Approved by Parents and Neighbors for Quality Education”?

Flush with filthy lucre, Cavill and her sister got busy smearing good people with nary a backward glance.

As reported by the “LGBTQ” newspaper Windy City Times, a local mom (Who could that have been?) reached out to Trans United Fund, “a national trans-led advocacy group,” who agreed to help them defeat the three candidates who supported single-sex locker rooms:

Trans United Fund (TUF) and a group of local parents, youth, and allies, worked together to launch the first trans-led, trans-focused independent expenditure in history. TUF assembled a powerful team of thoughtful allies to quickly build and execute a research-informed and strategic plan to help the parents and youth get their message out. TUF supported the parents’ efforts through digital, mail, phone banking and helping to train volunteers to reach their neighbors at the door.

The Windy City Times made clear this campaign was a smear campaign in which good people who believe locker rooms and restrooms should correspond to biological sex were vilified. District 211 community member Tracey Salvatore, spewing venomous lies said this about the good people who were defeated:

We are fed up with this small group of vocal, transphobic people guided by a national hate group [Alliance Defending Freedom] wreaking havoc in our community. … Our District 211 community will not tolerate adults bullying kids or intimidating us for one more day. The ADF-inspired slate of candidates ran with the agenda of inserting a hate-based, national agenda into our schools. They didn’t care that their policy changes would increase bullying and violence against kids. … So we reached out to Trans United Fund and they helped us to get our message out to our neighbors and community members. (emphasis added)

Neither Salvatore nor anyone affiliated with PNQE felt the ethical obligation to provide evidence that the three candidates feared or hated “trans”-identifying students, or that they bullied kids, or that they intimidated community members, or that ADF has a “hate-based agenda,” or that single-sex private spaces for minors increase “bullying and violence.” Why try to provide impossible-to-find evidence when hate-mongering rhetoric does the job.

Yep, with the exception of two stand-out school board members, the D211 school board is the worst in Illinois. The district deserves to lose this lawsuit.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/The-Worst-School-Board-in-Illinois-Gets-Sued.mp3

Between now and Labor Day, you can double the impact of your tax deductible donations to IFI!

A group of donors are working with us to offer a $40,000 dollar-for-dollar matching challenge
to help us raise $80,000 for “Rescuing the Children” initiative here in Illinois!

Late last week we sent an email alert about a dangerous Illinois House bill (HB 4870) mandating that ALL 6th grade students in Illinois receive the unnecessary and highly controversial HPV vaccine – both boys and girls. Politicians have no business mandating medical treatment for all children to prevent a disease that’s contracted solely through sexual activity. Parents should be outraged! But it gets worse.

On Friday the other shoe dropped, as Illinois Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) introduced SB 3668, which repeals all religious and medical exemptions for school immunizations and authorizes minor students, 14 years of age or older, to be vaccinated without parental consent. It also eliminates protections for parents who adopt children. From the synopsis of the bill, parents who do not immunize their children could be considered neglectful or abusive:

Removes language providing that the [Communicable Disease Prevention Act] does not apply if a parent or guardian of a child objects to immunization of his or her child for conflicting with his or her religious tenets or practices.

…

Removes language providing that a child shall not be considered neglected or abused for the sole reason that specified persons failed to vaccinate, delayed vaccination, or refused vaccination for the child due to a waiver on religious grounds.

The Illinois Department of Public Health lists 12 vaccine requirements for “Entering a Child Care Facility or School in Illinois, Fall 2019“: Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, Measles, Rubella, Mumps, Haemophilus influenzae type b, Pneumococcal Conjugate, Hepatitis B, Varicella and Meningococcal Conjugate.

We cannot cede more authority to the state over the lives of our children and families, and we cannot remain silent in the face of these overt attacks on parental rights and religious liberty. This is not an issue for politicians! This is a decision that should be made by parents and their pediatricians.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to your Illinois state lawmakers (House and Senate) to ask them to reject SB 3668 and HB 4870. Ask them to uphold parental rights and the right to freely exercise our federal and state religious civil rights. In addition to sending this email message, please also call the offices of both your state representative and state senator and leave a message stating your opposition to both of these bills.  Look up their phone numbers HERE.

It is interesting to note: according to a Pew Research article, all states except Mississippi, California, Minnesota, West Virginia, Maine and New York allow parents religious exemptions for vaccinations. Illinois must fight to not become the seventh state to severely diminish parental and religious liberties.

IFI is hosting our annual Worldview Conference on March 7th at the Village Church of Barrington. This year’s conference is titled “Thinking Biblically About Our Corrosive Culture” and features Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Rob Gagnon. For more information, please click HERE for a flyer or click the button below to register for the conference.

What was Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton thinking when she purchased recreational marijuana in Chicago on the first day of its legal sales in Illinois? Does she not understand that as a public official she is setting a reckless and foolish example, especially for children and teens?

Illinois policy makers continue to send a dangerous message to our young people. First, they called marijuana “medicine.” Now, they call it “recreational.” Do you know of any other drug that’s used for both medicine and recreation? The hoax has worked.

Gone are the days of “this is your brain on drugs.” Instead, public officials like Stratton are celebrating drug use by welcoming the marijuana industry to communities throughout the state. Their feckless example will mislead citizens, old and young, into a diminished understanding of the dangers of drug use until it affects them personally. As the perception of risk plummets, drug use (and addictions) will climb.

Not only have lawmakers failed to do their due diligence before passing this marijuana law, but they also failed to heed the compelling research that indicates how regular use of marijuana affects young people, including an increased risk of psychiatric illnesses and a permanent loss of IQ points.

Parents, grandparents, teachers, and religious leaders would do well to counter Stratton’s irresponsible example by returning to the sensible message, “just say no to drugs.”

Myths and Misconceptions

There has been much talk about the so-called “equity” part of the Illinois Recreational Law. The legislative sponsors and their allies in the media are celebrating how this new law will supposedly help create a “clean slate” by righting the wrongs of the so-called “war on drugs,” which they believe disproportionately impacted those who chose to use or deal drugs.  When Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the bill into law, he proclaimed it to be the most “equity-centric in the nation.”

The social equity portion of this new law is so important to Illinois regressives that on New Year’s eve, Gov. Pritzker granted more than 11,000 pardons, clearing marijuana misdemeanor offenses from people’s records. This is only the first wave of such expungements, as it is estimated that 116,000 convictions involving 30 grams or less of marijuana are to be erased.

Is this a good thing? As Christians, we believe in second chances and redemption. Proponents rightly point out that erasing drug-based criminal records will make it easier for thousands of Illinoisans to get jobs, housing, guns* and loans. Regressives want us to believe that they are helping victims of an unjust system that unfairly targeted users. But is that really the truth?

Back in May 2016, retired longtime Cook County State’s Attorney Ed Ronkowski wrote an exclusive for IFI pointing out that “first time cannabis users don’t go to jail or prison.” He goes on to explain that that even the third and fourth time offenders don’t go to jail or prison. It is “only after the fifth arrest will judges start giving out jail or prison because probation did not work.“ Mr. Ronkowski points out that (in 2014), only 1.4 percent  of Illinois’ prison population was a result of a marijuana violation.

Progressives and the media are not telling you that the vast majority of expungements are being given to repeat offenders. Furthermore, according to Mr. Ronkowski, many of that 1.4 percent are serving time with a marijuana conviction on their record because they plea-bargained down from a more serious offense.

And there’s more to this destructive law. Lawmakers have made sure that those who have been in the illegitimate drug selling business be offered low interest loans to open their own “legitimate” drug-selling businesses.

What else are they not telling you? State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) and State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) want us to believe that Illinois’ new marijuana law is cutting edge, a model for the nation. They promised their colleagues in the General Assembly that they would institute a responsible cap on THC levels that are available for purchase. But even after “legal” marijuana sales have begun, no cap has been instituted by any of our state agencies. This is as foolish as it is dangerous. High concentrate marijuana products are highly addictive and are linked to higher rates of psychosis.  (Read more HERE.)

Take ACTION: Click HERE to contact your state lawmakers to demand that they either repeal this marijuana law or cap the THC level on marijuana products to 15 percent or less. In parts of Europe, marijuana with 15 percent or higher THC levels are considered hard drugs such as heroine and cocaine, due to its highly addictive nature. This is a minimum safegaurd for this foolish law.

*The federal government still classifies marijuana as an illegal Schedule 1 Drug. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says it is a dangerous intoxicant that has “a high potential for abuse.” Regardless of Illinois’ new recreational marijuana law, federal law still prohibits the sale, possession, purchase, and use of marijuana plants and products. According to USACarry.com:

Federal law, supported by administrative orders and court rulings, prohibits marijuana users from owning, possessing, or buying firearms. It also prohibits anyone from selling or giving firearms to a person they know or suspect to be a drug user or even the owner of a medical marijuana card.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) warns would be gun owners “the use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside.”

Ironically, while marijuana use clearly disqualifies citizens from gun ownership, Illinois’ expungement of criminal drug offenses may actually qualify repeat offenders.

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Last Thursday night, District 211—the largest high school district in the state with 12,000 students and five high schools—held a board meeting to discuss Superintendent Daniel Cates’ boneheaded proposal to allow students who “identify” as the opposite sex to have unrestricted access to the locker rooms of opposite-sex peers. Expecting a large crowd, the district moved the meeting to Palatine High School. The Daily Herald reported that 25 speakers were randomly selected, 16 of whom opposed the proposal, which is well over 50 percent.

Several years ago, when the district was first sued by a biological boy who was self-“identifying” as a girl, Cates allowed him to use the girls’ locker room as long as he changed clothes behind a privacy curtain. Cates steadfastly opposed this boy’s request for unrestricted access to the girls’ locker room. That was then, this is now. Now Cates proposes allowing boys and girls who pretend to be the sex they aren’t to have unrestricted access to the locker rooms of their opposite-sex peers. Perhaps Cates is spineless and follows the path of least resistance, which now leads into darkness. Perhaps he has morally devolved as so many school administrators have. Or perhaps his retirement at the end of this school year has freed his authentic inner corrupt self to emerge.

Cates couldn’t do this dirty work alone. It takes a village and at least four board members to indoctrinate children with an incoherent, irrational, and harmful ideology. One of those sorry villagers is the newly elected, morally corrupt, and unpleasant District 211 board member Kim Cavill, who is a sex “educator” when she’s not promoting feckless locker room policies.

If her name rings a bell, it’s because I mentioned her in an article about former District U46 school board member Jeanette Ward, a fearless, wise, and gracious woman who endured egregiously disrespectful treatment from fellow board members Traci O’Neal Ellis, Veronica Noland, and Melissa Owens. In an online post, Cavill referred to Jeanette Ward as the “High Priestess of the Order of Moron.” Oddly, that comment has been scrubbed from the Internet. Maybe she thought such a comment wouldn’t help her get elected to the District 211 board. Sounds a wee bit intolerant and hateful.

The curious story of the April 2019 election of Kim Cavill actually goes back to the even curiouser story of the 2017 school board election. Three well-qualified people who opposed co-ed private spaces for minors were running against three people who supported co-ed private spaces for minors. The three well-qualified challengers were,

Jean Forrest, a Chinese-American woman with an MA in economics who works as an actuary

Katherine Jee Young David, a Korean-American woman with a BS in Business Administration from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Ralph Bonatz who has a degree in electrical engineering and is a global quality control manager for an international corporation

On March 22, 2017, just 13 days before the 2017 election, LaSaia Wade, a 29-year-old “black trans woman” (i.e., a biological man), and Daye Pope, another biological male who passes as a woman, set up a Super PAC called Trans United Fund Illinois. Pope is the organizing director for a 501(c)(3) called Trans United Fund.

Two days later, on March 24, 2017—11 days before the 2017 election—Kim Cavill and her sister Lindsay Christensen set up a Super PAC called Parents and Neighbors for Quality Education (PNQE).

Just days after the founding of Trans United Fund Illinois, donations from some surprising people came pouring in:

• Matrix Director “Lana” Wachowski, a biological man who pretends to be a woman and lives with his dominatrix wife in Chicago, donated a whopping $10,000.

• Far left Illinois State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) also donated $10,000.

• Homosexual Clark Pellet, a retired attorney and development chair for the “LGBTQ” Center on Halsted who lives in Chicago, donated $5,000.

• Executive director of Gender Rights Maryland, Dana Beyer, a man who pretends to be a woman and lives in Chevy Chase, MD donated $1,000.

• Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) who lives in Brooklyn, NY donated $500.

• Homosexual Douglas Hattaway, president and CEO of a Washington D.C. strategic communications firm who lives in D.C., donated $500.

• Architect Kira Kinsman, a biological man formerly known as Kyle Kinsman who lives in Wilkes Barre, PA, donated $250.

The more than $26, 000 in donations for a school board election from donors who don’t live in District 211 then went to—you guessed it—Cavill’s Parents and Neighbors for Quality Education.

Enquiring minds may wonder why Cavill and her sister set up PNQE, since Trans United Fund Illinois was already established. Why the extra step to fund the defeat of conservatives? The answer to that question might be found in mailers and yard signs. State law requires that campaign mailers and yard signs identify the groups that pay for them. Signs must say “Approved by….”

Which sounds better—and by “better” I mean less likely to arouse suspicion: “Approved by Trans United Fund Illinois” or “Approved by Parents and Neighbors for Quality Education”?

Flush with filthy lucre, the Cavill sisters got busy smearing good people with nary a backward glance.

As reported by the “LGBTQ” newspaper Windy City Times, a local mom (Who could that have been?) reached out to Trans United Fund, “a national trans-led advocacy group,” who agreed to help them defeat the three candidates who supported single-sex locker rooms:

Trans United Fund (TUF) and a group of local parents, youth, and allies, worked together to launch the first trans-led, trans-focused independent expenditure in history. TUF assembled a powerful team of thoughtful allies to quickly build and execute a research-informed and strategic plan to help the parents and youth get their message out. TUF supported the parents’ efforts through digital, mail, phone banking and helping to train volunteers to reach their neighbors at the door.

The Windy City Times made clear this campaign was a smear campaign in which good people who believe locker rooms and restrooms should correspond to biological sex were vilified. District 211 community member Tracey Salvatore, spewing venomous lies said this about the good people who were defeated:

We are fed up with this small group of vocal, transphobic people guided by a national hate group [Alliance Defending Freedom] wreaking havoc in our community…. Our District 211 community will not tolerate adults bullying kids or intimidating us for one more day. The ADF-inspired slate of candidates ran with the agenda of inserting a hate-based, national agenda into our schools. They didn’t care that their policy changes would increase bullying and violence against kids…. So we reached out to Trans United Fund and they helped us to get our message out to our neighbors and community members. (emphasis added)

Neither Salvatore nor anyone affiliated with PNQE felt the ethical obligation to provide evidence that the three candidates feared or hated “trans”-identifying students, or that they bullied kids, or that they intimidated community members, or that ADF has a “hate-based agenda,” or that single-sex private spaces for minors increase “bullying and violence.” Why try to provide impossible-to-find evidence when hate-mongering rhetoric does the job.

The belief that biological sex is the source of feelings of modesty and the right to privacy when undressing does not constitute hatred of persons no matter how many times people like Salvatore and Cavill spread their repugnant lies.

I wonder if Salvatore spreads these same ugly and false lies about feminists—including lesbians—who oppose biological males in women’s private spaces. Perhaps Salvatore is unaware of the growing schism in the “LGBT” alliance. Just a week ago, a group of influential supporters of the “LGB rights” movement in the United Kingdom, including Stonewall UK founder Simon Fanshawe, published an open letter in the Sunday Times in which they criticize Stonewall and suggest it’s time for the formation of a new organization that is “committed both to freedom of speech and to fact instead of fantasy.” Here’s an excerpt from that letter that Salvatore, Cavill, and Cates should ponder:

Last October a group of LGB rights supporters asked Stonewall to “commit to fostering an atmosphere of respectful debate rather than demonising as transphobic those who wish to discuss, or dissent from, Stonewall’s transgender policies.” Since then, Stonewall has refused repeated requests to enter into any such dialogue…. We believe it has made mistakes in its approach that undermine women’s sex-based rights and protections. The most worrying aspect of this is that all primary-school children are now challenged to review their ‘gender identity’ and decide that they may be the opposite sex if they do not embrace outdated gender stereotypes.

Does Salvatore demonize teens as hateful transphobes if they don’t want to undress in the presence of male peers? What about female teachers who don’t want to undress in front of male colleagues? Does she accuse them of hate-based bullying?

Almost immediately after the school board election and defeat for all three good candidates, Cavill and her sister deactivated their Super PAC. Malignant Mission Accomplished.

And now we return our story to the school board election of April 2019. Kim Cavill, the person who orchestrated the ugly and deceitful campaign smear of three good people by creating a Super PAC front for a Super PAC financed by “LGBTQ” donors from out of the district, ran for the District 211 board and won. Is she really an emblem of good government and transparency?

If you are not yet convinced of her unfitness for serving on a school board or her unfitness to serve as a role model for children, here are just a smattering of quotes from her sex ed podcasts for children and teens.

From her podcast for tweens and teens on anal sex titled “All About Anal”:

Before trying anal sex, people need to talk about their own and their partner’s boundaries like any other type of sex. It should be preceded by a conversation about what the people participating in sex are consenting to, what they aren’t consenting to, how they’re expecting sex to go, and how they’re going to communicate during sex to make sure everyone’s still on the same page. Anal sex also requires a lot of lube.

From her podcast for “tweens and teens” titled “Let’s Talk About Porn”:

Porn can certainly cause relationship problems but so can a lot of other things. Porn causing relationship problems isn’t inevitable, it depends on the relationship and it depends on how the people in that relationship feel about porn…. [T]he evidence says that if you think porn’s bad, it is, and if you think porn’s fine, then it is.

One thing notable from sexpert Cavill’s podcasts is how studiously she avoids the words boy, girl, man, and woman. Even in her podcast explaining how babies come into existence, she never mentions men and women. Instead, she describes a “grown-up with a penis” and a “grown-up with a vagina.” Huh. I wonder what those are.

There are two lessons to be learned from this incredible story:

1. Local communities no longer control their own school boards and, therefore, their schools.

2. Cultural regressives are targeting the hearts, minds, and bodies of other people’s children—your children—and they’re using your money to do it.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Incredible-Story-of-District-211-School-Board-Elections_AUDIO.mp3

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-and, please-

Last month, on June 25th, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed legislation to approve so-called “recreational” marijuana for persons 21 years old and older. When this law (HB 1438 Senate Amendment 2) takes effect on January 1, 2020, it will allow the licensed growth, sales, possession and use of marijuana. The Land of Lincoln becomes the 11th state to legalize this dangerous intoxicant for recreational purposes.

The federal government still classifies marijuana as a schedule 1 drug, which means it remains illegal. According to the DEA website, “Schedule I drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

There is, however, a way to mitigate the consequences of this destructive policy. The bill that was passed by the General Assembly and hastily signed into law by our governor allows villages, cities and counties to opt out of marijuana retail sales. If you do not want marijuana addicts and recreational users driving in and out of your community regularly to purchase drugs, this important option must be considered.

Take ACTION: Ask your local mayor, village trustees, aldermen and county board members to pass an ordinance prohibiting marijuana dispensaries and marijuana businesses in your community. The Village of Morton in central Illinois is the first municipality to pass such an ordinance. Their ordinance can serve as a template for other communities: Click HERE for this sample ordinance.

Once it is introduced, ask local pastors, local law enforcement officials, doctors, counselors, fire chief and emergency personnel, teachers, school administrators, activists and others in the community to write letters and speak at public hearings in support of a ban on marijuana sales. Cover this entire process in your prayers. Pray especially for the wisdom of local officials who must vote on this proposal.

Background

Today’s high potency marijuana is linked to increases in addiction, psychosis, schizophrenia and violence. States that have legalized it have seen an increase in emergency room visits, hospitalizations, poison control center calls and an increase in use in every age category, including youth. There has also been a dramatic increase in a condition called Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome.

As perceived risks are blunted by this law, we fully expect an increase in users, addicts, unqualified employee candidates, intoxicated drivers, work place accidents, disabilities, homelessness, mental illness and social welfare dependency. We expect to see marijuana use among people 25 and under—those whose brains are still developing and whose brains are most susceptible to the harms of marijuana use—dramatically increase.

Please take action to diminish the consequences of recreational marijuana in your community.

It is important to note that Gov. Pritzker worked diligently for this legislation, working with the Illinois Senate and Illinois House sponsors of this bill to secure it’s passage. NPR Illinois even highlighted the “Marijuana Moms” who led the charge: Illinois State Senators Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and Toi Hutchinson (D-Olympia Fields), and State Representatives Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) and Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-Peoria). How mothers of any political persuasion could promote this dangerous policy is baffling.

Furthermore, it is important to point out that six Republicans also supported this regressive policy to make our highways less safe and to enslave our neighbors to addiction and mental illness: Illinois State Senators Jason Barickman (Bloomington), Neil Anderson (Moline), Steve McClure (Jacksonville), and Illinois State Representatives Allen Skillicorn (Crystal Lake), Lindsay Parkhurst (Kankakee), and David Welter (Morris) voted in favor of this anti-family policy.

In their desperation to find a new revenue source to fix the financial mess they created (and/or to promote a so-called “social justice” antidote), these lawmakers failed sorely in their job to protect Illinois citizens.

IFI Fall Banquet with Franklin Graham!
We are excited to announce that at this year’s IFI banquet, our keynote speaker will be none other than Rev. Franklin Graham, President & CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Christian evangelist & missionary. This year’s event will be at the Tinley Park Convention Center on Nov. 1st.

Learn more HERE.

State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) have spent 2 years developing and promoting their proposal to legalize “recreational” marijuana in Illinois. On May 7th, their 533-page bill (SB 7) was introduced in the Illinois Senate.

Last week the Senate Executive Committee held a 2.5 hour subject matter hearing on this bill, and it was alarming to hear how many concerns and questions they were unable to lay to rest.

Michele Ratini, a social worker from a Leyden High school District 212 in Northlake, testified in opposition to legalization, pointing out that teenagers are not smoking cigarettes anymore, but are instead smoking and vaping tobacco and marijuana. She said she is seeing an increased number of students exhibiting paranoia and psychosis.

Dr. Albert Mensah, who runs the Mensah Medical Center, corroborated her statements. But Illinois State Senator Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights), a strong proponent of legalization, thinks that that is the very reason we should legalize, tax and regulate it.

If students are easily getting the high potency stuff now, how much easier will it be for them to get it once it’s legalized?

To give you a reference point to digest the following information, keep in mind that the Woodstock marijuana of the 1960s and 1970s contained 1-3 mg. of THC (what gets you high). And people back then got plenty high. Today’s marijuana contains 20-25 mg. of THC.

A question was raised in the committee hearing: Will expungements of felony convictions for marijuana allow for someone filling out a Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) or Conceal Carry form to indicate “No” on whether they have ever been convicted of a felony? (Keep in mind that the vast majority of inmates in prison for possession charges have plea-bargained down from more serious felony crimes.) Illinois Deputy Governor Christian Mitchell, who was representing the governor’s office, answered “Yes.” In other words, convicted felons, whose more serious crime charges were significantly reduced, will have their records automatically expunged.

Also, once you read what the bill will allow, keep in mind that today’s high potency marijuana is directly linked to an increase in mental illness such as psychosis, schizophrenia and violent behavior.

The bill is huge, but here’s a small picture of what SB 7 will do:

• Allow possession of 30 grams of cannabis by anyone 21 and older. By the way, thirty grams is equivalent to 75 joints.

• Allow marijuana-infused edibles containing 500 mg of THC. Colorado limits the THC in edibles to 100 mg.

• Allow possession of 5 grams of concentrates which contain upwards of 99 percent pure THC.

• Allow homes to grow up to 5 plants. One plant can yield ½ lb (226 grams) and can be harvested 4 times per year. Five plants times 4 harvests would yield 10 lbs. or over 11,000 joints. There is absolutely no way to regulate this, per law enforcement who testified. This is why Colorado’s black market is surging.

• Provides $20 million in low-interest loans for “social equity applicants” who have been “disproportionately impacted” by discriminatory drug policies. These are your recently convicted felons. Based on their point system, if you have been convicted of any offense eligible for expungement, you automatically have 25 points.

• Provides a waiver of 50 percent of startup costs for “social equity applicants” who have been “disproportionately impacted” by discriminatory drug policies.

• Identifies disproportionately impacted areas (i.e., minority communities) for dispensary locations.

• Institutes a cannabis purchaser tax (note: it’s the regulations and taxation that cause the black market to thrive by selling it cheaper):

10 percent on cannabis with a THC level at or below 35 percent

20 percent on cannabis infused products

25 percent on cannabis with THC level above 35 percent

3 percent Municipal Purchaser Tax

0.24 percent County Tax

3.5 percent Unincorporated Area Tax

• No marijuana dispensaries or advertising within 1,500 ft of a school, playground, hospital, park, childcare center. (That’s only about 1 ½ blocks, but they could keep it a mile away and kids and teens would still be exposed.)

• Allocation of revenue:

35 percent General Revenue Fund

25 percent Restoring Our Communities Fund (Apparently, once you flood the “disproportionately impacted” communities with more drugs, you throw some money their way. But I digress.)

20 percent Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

10 percent Budget Stabilization Fund (There’s an oxymoron if I ever saw one.)

8 percent Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board

2 percent Drug Treatment Fund for public education and awareness

• Local Ordinances – Municipalities may enact reasonable zoning restrictions pertaining to licensed cultivation centers, craft growers, processing organizations, and dispensaries. (The definition of “reasonable” has not been defined, according to last week’s hearing.)

Major Omission

There are no limits to THC levels in what SB 7 will allow. The Dutch government has walked back their liberal drug policies because of the problems they have encountered with high levels of THC. They now consider 15 percent or higher as a hard drug, alongside opioids and ecstasy. That should tell us how serious and dangerous it is to legalize high potency marijuana as “recreational.”

SB 7, as you can see from the proposed taxation schedule, has no limits. High THC levels are linked to an increase in mental illness, especially psychosis and schizophrenia, as well as being responsible for the increase in hospitalizations and ER visits. SB 7 also allows for concentrates, or extracts, which are sticky substances produced via distillation and containing upward of 99 percent THC.

Take ACTION: Please click HERE to send a message to your state senator and state representative to urge them to reject the push for legal marijuana.

Additionally, PLEASE CALL your lawmakers to make sure they know that many people oppose this disastrous policy. Click HERE for their names and phone numbers, which you will find at the end of the state list. Please make the calls!

Watch more:

Please visit IFI YouTube channel and this video playlist dedicated to the opposition of marijuana legalization.

Read more:

Thinking Biblically About Recreational Marijuana

Cannabis Myths Exposed

Medical Doctor from Peoria Opposes Legal Pot

ER Doc Says “Recreational” Pot Has Ruined My Town

IFI Resource Page on Marijuana

Former State Rep. Jeanne Ives Address Marijuana & Illinois’ Economic Crisis (podcast)

More info:

NoWeedIllinois.com

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

Click HERE to learn about supporting IFI on a monthly basis.

Once again, high potency marijuana is in the news. Governor J.B. Pritzker and several state lawmakers held a press conference this past Saturday to announce their bill (SB 7) to legalize marijuana for “recreational” use in Illinois. This legislation is sponsored by Illinois Senators Heather Steans (D-Chicago), Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights), Kimberly Lightford (D-Westchester) and Patricia Van Pelt (D-Chicago).

Illinois Family Institute continues to present overwhelming evidence of the high costs and consequences of this onerous public policy, and Illinois voters must speak out if we hope to turn the tide on their plans. Many of our friends and neighbors simply do not understand what this policy means for their families, communities, schools, workplace and roadways. If we hope to stop this legislation from becoming law, we must quickly educate and activate parents and grandparents.

It doesn’t take much to turn the tide!

As you are aware, the most extreme abortion legislation to date was introduced in Illinois this year. With a super majority of Leftists in both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly and an extremely anti-life governor, it appeared to be a slam dunk for abortion activists. But these bills are now stalled! You did that!

Pro-life advocates made calls, visited their lawmakers, wrote letters and sent emails, and urged others to do the same. God used your efforts to push these bills back!

Earlier this year, the push for marijuana legalization in New Jersey fell apart. According to an article in the New York Times:

“[the] effort to legalize marijuana in News Jersey collapsed… after Democrats were unable to muster enough support for the measure, derailing a central campaign pledge by Gov. Philip D. Murphy and leaving the future of the legalization movement in doubt.”

Our goal is to derail the push here in Illinois with strong evidence coupled with strong opposition from concerned citizens like you. We can stop this from becoming law in the Land of Lincoln!

The evidence of harm couldn’t be clearer. This crazy social experiment has been going on for years in Colorado, California and Washington, and the data is extremely alarming. Consider our top 10 reasons to oppose legal weed in Illinois. And please share the linked graphics on your social media pages.

10 Reasons to Oppose High Potency Marijuana Legalization:

1.) Increased THC Levels. It’s Not Your Daddy’s Weed!

The TCH (tetrahydrocannabinol) levels in today’s marijuana products are much higher than the marijuana of the 60’s and 70’s. This high-THC content has been linked to an increase in serious mental health issues and addiction. A recent Cambridge University study found that the use of today’s high-THC products was associated with a higher risk of addiction than lower potency forms of marijuana and that the association was found to be even higher in younger cannabis users.

This includes the alarmingly high THC Content in Concentrates (oil, wax, dab, shatter).

2.) Increased Risk of Psychosis, and even more alarming is Youth Suicide; more here.

Several studies have linked marijuana use to increased risk for psychiatric disorders, including psychosis (schizophrenia), depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders. A recent study published in the The Lancet Psychiatry shows that consuming pot on a daily basis and especially using high-potency cannabis increases the odds of having a psychotic episode later.

This is also closely related to the homelessness problem that is increasing in Colorado due to the weed. Please also watch and listen to PGM Pastor Phil Kwiatowski‘s concerns in this short video presentation.

3.) Increased Marijuana-Related Hospitalizations and Poison Control Center Calls. 

Dr. Karen Randall, an ER physician and a resident of Pueblo, Colorado, spoke at a recent town-hall meeting in Des Plaines. Her testimony about how legal weed has negatively affected her hospital and community is powerful. Watch and listen to what she has to say here.

Washington state also has a huge problem with calls to poison centers as well.

4.) Increased Marijuana-Related Exposures in Children 0-5 Years Old. 

“A study in the December 2018 Pediatrics found that nearly half of hospitalized children in Colorado whose parents enrolled in a smoking cessation program tested positive for marijuana exposure. Authors of the study, “Marijuana and Tobacco Co-Exposure in Hospitalized Children” (published online Nov. 19), said findings suggest prevalent co-use of tobacco and marijuana in the state that could expose children to harmful effects of both.” Read more here and here.

5.) Increased Violent Crime in Legalized States; more here.

Are you surprised to learn that research published in the journal Psychological Medicine concludes that continued use of cannabis causes violent behavior as a direct result of changes in brain function that are caused by smoking weed over many years? Read more here.

6.) Increased and Potential Serious Brain Alteration; more here.

Medical research has revealed altered brain activity in young adults with cannabis addiction. The findings suggest a mechanism that may explain why the risk of depression and other mental health issues is higher among those who use the drug. Read more here, from the journal Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.

7.) Increased Heroin and Opioid Deaths in Illinois After “Medical” Marijuana is Legalized in 2013.

Would you be surprised to know that legal weed is also linked to increased alcohol consumption? More here, from Dr. Kenneth Finn.

8.) Premature Aging of the Brain.

“By studying a large number of imaging scans, researchers have identified conditions and behaviors that could make the brain age prematurely, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, alcohol use, and the use of cannabis.” (Medical News Today)

9.) Increased Marijuana-Related Traffic Fatalities; more here. 

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety issued a report in October 2018 claiming that “Colorado, Washington, and Oregon experienced a 5.2% higher police-reported crash rate overall than would have been expected had they not legalized recreational marijuana.”

10.) Increased Social and Economic Costs Outweigh Tax Revenue by $4.50 to every $1. more here and here.

Given the facts above, you can see how the social costs for the state’s first responders, welfare system, health care system, traffic fatalities, violent crime, increased use in all age categories, and addiction – are costs Illinois cannot afford.

Take ACTION: Please click HERE to send a message to your state senator and state representative to urge them to reject the push for legal marijuana.

Additionally, PLEASE CALL your lawmakers to make sure they know that many people oppose this disastrous policy. Click HERE for their names and phone numbers, which you will find at the end of the state list. Please make the calls!

Watch more:

Please visit IFI YouTube channel and this playlist of 16 videos (and growing) dedicated to the opposition of marijuana legalization.

Read more:

Thinking Biblically About Recreational Marijuana

Medical Doctor from Peoria Opposes Legal Pot

ER Doc Says “Recreational” Pot Has Ruined My Town

IFI Resource Page on Marijuana

Former State Rep. Jeanne Ives Address Marijuana & Illinois’ Economic Crisis (podcast)

More info:

NoWeedIllinois.com

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

Click HERE to learn about supporting IFI on a monthly basis.

Illinois Senate Bill 7 to legalize and commercialize passed out of committee this week as a “shell bill”.  The sponsor said they are still working on the language for the bill and will file an amendment by the end of April.

Preliminary recreational cannabis plan – SB 7

Illinois State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) said she and other stakeholders are looking to allow people 21 and older to have a little more than an ounce at a time. They are also considering proposals to add three new licenses to the state’s existing medical marijuana program’s cultivation and dispensary licenses.

“So keeping the cultivation centers in place, but adding a craft grow license for a smaller footprint that could be loaded more flexible and have smaller capital entry requirements, a processing license, a transportation license and then the dispensary license,” Steans said.

A state-regulated cannabis marketplace in Illinois would open up potentially lucrative business opportunities for growers, sellers and other ancillary businesses.

. . . Lawmakers have also talked about making sure there’s diversity among those who have legal pot industry licenses, including efforts to get communities and groups that have been most affected by the prohibition of the drug involved in the legal industry.

. . . Lawmakers are still discussing whether the bill will allow adults to grow their own cannabis at home, Steans said. Law enforcement groups have raised concerns about a possible provision to allow five plants per household.  “There is discussion about maybe limiting that to just medical patients, which certainly may be an easier way of enforcing it,” Steans said.  Read more

NOTE:  With the expansion of the medical marijuana program, almost anyone could register for medical marijuana and then grow it!

State Senate passes SB 2023 for marijuana and banking

Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs has championed the bill, which would bar the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation from going after banks and credit unions that serve cannabis-related businesses, according to a statement from the treasurer’s office.

. . . While marijuana has been legalized in a growing number of states – for medical use, recreational use or both – the drug is still considered a controlled substance by the feds, making it illegal for banks to do business with the cannabis industry. Read more

Smoking cannabis as teenager increases risk of depression by 40 per cent, Oxford study finds

“Regular use during adolescence is associated with lower achievement at school, addiction psychosis and neuropsychological decline,” he said.

Fellow researcher Dr. Gabriella Gobbi, from McGill University, said teenagers often thought cannabis was safe because it was derived from plants.

Young people with mental health disorders are 3 times more likely to have tried smoking or taking drugs: See chart HERE.

For Immediate Action

1. Call your State Senator and ask him/her to OPPOSE and Vote NO on SB 7. (Capitol switchboard, 217-782-2000)
2. Share this Alert with your faith community and ask them to PRAY.
3. Forward to 10 others.

“Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
(Proverbs 22:6)

“Progressives,” also known as cultural regressives, have long had their sights on the hearts, minds, and bodies of other people’s children. Now that they control Big Government schools, regressives can control the ideas to which children are exposed. And boy, oh, boy are regressive Illinois lawmakers going for broke—morally speaking. They’ve already achieved fiscal bankruptcy.

Regressives in the ethical swamp known as Springfield are stampeding forward to impose the “LGBT” indoctrination bill regardless of whether it makes Orthodox Jewish, Muslim, theologically orthodox Christian, or secular conservative kids feel “unsafe” or whether it deeply offends those children’s parents. To heck with inclusivity. It’s the leftist low way or the highway.

If passed, this bill (HB 246)—which was created by three homosexual activist organizations—will require all students in k-12 public schools to be taught about the “roles and contributions” of homosexuals and opposite-sex impersonators and that textbooks purchased include discussions of the roles and contributions of homosexuals and opposite-sex impersonators. A quick, thoughtless skim of the bill might lead someone to think it’s innocuous. Critical analysis and deeper reflection—not the strengths of Springfield swamp creatures—expose the noxiousness of the bill.

The notion that homosexuality is the ontological flipside of and morally equivalent to heterosexuality is an arguable, leftist assumption—not an inarguable, objective fact. Others believe homosexuality represents a disordering of the sex drive. Government schools—supported by the hard-earned money of all taxpayers—have no ethical or pedagogical obligation or right to base curricular decisions on arguable, controversial assumptions—not even assumptions leftists really, really, really believe are true.

In order to teach all children in grades k-12 about the roles and contributions of homosexuals and cross-dressers, lawmakers and school leaders must have first determined that there is nothing morally questionable about homosexuality and cross-sex impersonation. To prove that’s the case, ask yourselves if Illinois lawmakers would pass a bill that requires schools to teach about the roles and contributions of polyamorists, polygamists, kin-lovers, or zoophiles.

We all know they wouldn’t. If there were a polyamorist, kin-lover, or zoophile who had contributed something monumentally significant—so significant that it must be discussed—educators would talk about the contribution, while remaining mum about the contributor’s sexual peccadillo. If the peccadillo were brought up, teachers  certainly wouldn’t describe it positively.

Why not? Surely, there are some kids who experience unchosen, powerful, and persistent sexual attraction for multiple people at the same time, or for a relative, or for animals. Why wouldn’t lawmakers require that the contributions of polyamorists, kin-lovers, and zoophiles be taught and that their sexual proclivities/identities be positively affirmed? Is the reason that they’re judgmental, puritanical, non-inclusive, intolerant, or hateful bigots?

Homosexual and “trans” activists reading this are likely to be at this very moment consumed by anger that derives from the kind of “judgmentalism,” “intolerance,” “hatred,” and “bigotry” of which they constantly accuse conservatives. Leftists become apoplectic when homosexuality and cross-sex identification are compared to the “sexual minorities” of polyamory, kin-loving, and zoophilia—”sexual minorities” that they view as morally offensive. Leftists are unwilling to grant to others the right to object to positive teaching about homosexuality and cross-sex identification on the same grounds that they—leftists—object to positive teaching about polyamory, polygamy, consensual incest, or zoophilia.

To be clear, I believe nonconsensual incest between adults and children and bestiality are more grievous moral errors than homosexuality and cross-sex impersonation, but I believe homosexuality and cross-sex impersonation are far more grievous moral errors than polyamory, which public schools would not present positively to students—at least not yet.

Schools have long taught about the contributions of important historical figures who experienced homoerotic attraction, people like Oscar Wilde, Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin, and Sally Ride, so why do Springfield swampsters want this bill? The reason is that their central concern is not that contributions be taught but that the sexual predilections of cultural contributors be explicitly taught. And what would be the reason for that?

Leftists will say this bill is needed in order to provide role models for students who experience same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria. Equality Illinois, one of the homosexual activist groups that created this odious bill, says that an “LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum can have a positive effect on students’ self-image and make their peers more accepting.”

First, is improving self-images and promoting acceptance of homosexuality and the “trans” ideology the task of government employees charged with educating other people’s children?

Second, why aren’t “progressives” pushing a bill that would require curricula to teach about the roles and contributions of polyamorists, polygamists, kin-lovers, and zoophiles? To be consistent , shouldn’t they want curricula to positively affect the self-images of students who so identify? Shouldn’t they want peers of those students to be more accepting?

Now we’re getting to the dark heart of the matter. Leftists aren’t concerned centrally or solely with acceptance of persons. They’re centrally concerned with fostering approval of particular sex-related behaviors—not all sex-related behaviors—just the ones they have concluded are moral.

They want to use cultural contributions as a means to transform the feelings and moral beliefs of students about homosexuality and cross-sex identification. Homosexual and “trans” activists know that if positive contributions are associated with homosexuality or cross-sex impersonation, the good feelings students have about contributions will transfer to homosexuality and opposite-sex impersonation.

Since the goal of these propagandists is not to ensure that children learn about the most important contributions in literature, science, and math but, rather, that curricula be used to transform feelings and beliefs about homosexuality and cross-sex impersonation, curricula will elevate lesser contributions of homosexuals and cross-dressers to the exclusion of more significant contributions by heterosexuals.

Leftists use public money and public schools to promote arguable assumptions as if they’re unassailable, objective truths, and they censor with shameless arrogance all assumptions they reject. They rationalize their censorship by declaring that if children were to study the ideas Leftists don’t like, some would feel “unsafe,” by which they mean uncomfortable. Oddly, they’re willing to expose other children to ideas that make them feel “unsafe.”

Christian parents need to think seriously about whether their children can be properly trained up in the way they should go by adults who believe homosexuality is morally equivalent to heterosexuality; who believe marriage has nothing to do with sexual differentiation; and who don’t believe that the differences between boys and girls are profound, meaningful, and must be respected.

Churches need to think seriously about how they can facilitate the exit of Christian children from government schools hell-bent on destroying their hearts, minds, and bodies.

Springfield swamp creatures want to infect all Illinois children with a diseased sexuality ideology via indoctrination centers identified as schools. Cunning, perhaps even demonic, wouldn’t you say, to get parents to pay for the blighted indoctrination of their own children?

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” 3 John 1:4

Please, fight this bill, and while you’re doing that, plan an escape route for your children from government schools.

Take ACTION: Send a message to your state representative to ask him/her to reject this effort to politicize curricula in order to advance biased beliefs about sexuality to children in government schools.

**UPDATE: This legislative mandate passed the Illinois House by a vote of 60-42 on March 13, 2019 and then in the Illinois Senate by a vote of 37-17 on May 23, 2019. It was sent to Governor Pritzker’s desk on June 21st. He is expected to sign it into law. Read more about the 2019 Spring Session HERE.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/HB246.mp3

IFI Worldview Conference

On Saturday, March 16, 2019, the Illinois Family Institute will be hosting our annual Worldview Conference. This coming year, we will focus on the “transgender” revolution. We already have commitments from Dr. Michelle Cretella, President of the American College of Pediatricians; Walt Heyer, former “transgender” and contributor to Public Discourse; Denise Schick, Founder and Director of Help 4 Families, and daughter of a man who “identified” as a woman; and Doug Wilson, who is a Senior Fellow of Theology at New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho, and pastor at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho .

The Transgender Ideology:
What Is It? Where Will It Lead? What is the Church’s Role?
Click here for more information.

While conservatives squeak “uncle” about the “social issues” from the dark recesses of their homes and churches where they hide, the jackbooted Left marches boldly forward obsessed with making the “social issues” the central plank of everything. They’re especially obsessed with transforming the hearts and minds of other people’s children using taxpayer-funded government schools in which they have an audience of cultural captives.

The newest brazen effort to exploit public money in the service of propagandizing Illinois children is a creation of Equality Illinois and the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance, two of Illinois’ dubious “LGBTQQAP” activist organizations, and their most reliable allies in Springfield, State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and State Representative Anna Moeller (D-Elgin) who have sponsored SB 3249 and HB 5596 respectively.

If passed, this “Inclusive Curriculum” bill will require that any “book or book substitute that will be used as a text or text substitute” include the “role and contributions” of homosexuals and of men and women who adopt opposite-sex personas (also known deceptively as “transgender”). In other words, all materials used in schools must address the roles and contributions of people who define themselves by their disordered sexual desires.

In addition, this bill will require that “the teaching of history of the United States in public schools shall include a study of the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history of this country and this State.”

But, wait, the activist sponsors aren’t done:

This instruction shall be designed to teach that LGBT individuals have a rich history and have made substantial and valuable contributions to society, including government, arts, sciences, mathematics, sports, education, and in the economic, cultural, and political development of society. The instruction shall teach about the rich advocacy among the LGBT community and the LGBT community’s allies to be treated equally. Instruction shall reinforce that all people, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression [i.e., cross-dressing], have a right to be treated with civil, legal and human rights, and as full human beings above all else.

When possible, adults, including school district employees who openly identify as LGBT and other openly LGBT adults in the community that the school district may decide to consult with, should be involved in the development and delivery of this instruction at the discretion of the LGBT individuals.

This bill applies to kindergarten through 12^th grade. You read that right. Leftists seek to mandate that five-year-olds be exposed to positive portrayals of perverse sexuality, and they want this exposure to be reinforced every year for the next 13 formative years.

Don’t be deceived by the language of “civil rights,” “legal rights,” or “human rights.” Neither homosexuals nor “trans”-identifiers are being denied any civil, legal, or human rights. To be clear, men and boys have no civil, legal, or human right to use women’s or girls’ private spaces, and women and girls have no civil, legal, or human right to use men’s or boys’ private spaces.

Equally deceptive is the reference to “full human beings.” “LGBT” activists relentlessly assert that disapproval of homosexuality or opposite-sex impersonation constitutes treating those who identify as homosexual or “trans” as less than full human beings. This language and this bill are intended to use cultural accomplishments to transform children’s view of homosexuality and biological-sex rejection and to silence dissent.

This bill’s advocates seek to use cultural achievements to suggest without stating that homosexuality and biological sex-rejection are good because people who affirm homosexual or “trans” identities did great things. The strategy employs a kind of false syllogism that goes something like this:

Sally Ride was a physicist, astronaut, and the first American woman in space.

Sally Ride was a lesbian.

Therefore, homosexuality is good.

Rational people who have developed the ability to think properly about morality will not be duped by this propaganda technique. Mature people who have been trained to think rationally about morality recognize that people can be kind, creative, brilliant, funny, and/or generous and yet at the same time experience disordered feelings and engage in immoral acts.

The problem is that children, teens, and even many adults have a poorly developed moral compass. Children and teens are especially predisposed to thinking that those they love or admire are perfect in every way.

Can those who choose to place their unchosen same-sex attraction at the center of their identity do great things? Of course they can. And so too can people who experience other disordered desires and engage in other types of immoral acts. But subjective sexual feelings and the volitional acts impelled by those feelings have nothing to do with their great achievements. So, why mention them?

Leftists seek to associate homosexuality and opposite-sex impersonation with achievement in order to transfer the positive feelings people have about achievements to homosexuality and gender confusion. Leftists want to inculcate young minds and hearts with arguable propositions without actually having to make an argument with evidence and without allowing dissenting arguments to be made. The Left treats their arguable assumptions about the morality of homosexuality and biological-sex rejection as if they were unassailable objective moral truths. And they’re counting on no one noticing or addressing what they’re sneakily doing.

An NPR reporter asked me how I would respond to a homosexual teen who complains that he’s not seeing himself represented in curricula. I responded that I would ask the teen what he thinks should be done about a polyamorous student who complains that he doesn’t see himself  represented in curricula, or the girl who’s in love with her brother (remember, love is love, and who are we to judge) and doesn’t see herself represented in curricula, or the girl who embraces promiscuity as central to her identity and complains that she doesn’t see herself represented in curricula.

Lawmakers, administrators, and school board members would never allow teachers to present to students resources that include the role and contributions of polyamorists, sibling-lovers, or promiscuous persons. Or rather, they wouldn’t allow teachers to identify the polyamorous predilections, incestuous identities, or promiscuous propensities of men and women whose achievements are shared with students. And why not?

Because—at least for now—lawmakers, administrators, and school board members believe polyamory, consensual incest, and promiscuity are immoral and unhealthy. And therein lies the problem: Many people—including Orthodox Jews, Muslims, Protestants, Catholics, and the Eastern Orthodox—believe that homosexual activity and opposite-sex impersonation are equally immoral. Public schools—which are funded by all taxpayers and serve a diverse population—have no business treating homosexuality or opposite-sex impersonation as if it were objectively and inarguably moral.

Furthermore, this bill puts homosexuals–both inside and outside schools–in charge of curricula, and it requires that “LGBT” activism be taught. Obviously, such activism is to be taught positively. Schools are expected to teach about “LGBT” activism as they would teach about the Civil Rights Movement. But it’s not like the Civil Rights Movement because homosexuality per se is not analogous to race per se.

If this indoctrination bill is passed, “agents of change” (formerly known as teachers) will base their text selections not on the quality of a text but, rather, on whether it was written by a homosexual or by someone who adopted an opposite-sex persona or on how it depicts homosexuality and the “trans” ideology. Curricula will become–even more than it is already–a political tool.

If this bill is passed by the Illinois Senate and House and lands on “No-Social-Agenda” Rauner’s desk, is there any doubt that he will sign the bill into law? Remember, he just attended a swanky fundraising soiree hosted by Equality Illinois (which, by the way, was honoring Planned Parenthood). “No-Social-Agenda” Rauner spoke at and donated $15,000 to Equality Illinois to help it in its effort to eradicate moral truth about sexuality from the public square.

Former intelligence analyst and senior contributor at The Federalist, Stella Morabito, warns about the harms done to children through the kind of politicized curricula that Equality Illinois, Steans, and Moeller are pushing:

Identity politics and leftist politicization in the schools is pervasive these days…. Radical education reform has gutted school curricula of meaningful content, replacing it with identity politics, fads, and political activism.

…

The highly politicized nature of today’s public schools serves to draw virtual targets on the backs of students whose beliefs don’t align with its own. A bully is free to target with the taunt “bigot” any child who comes from a traditional Christian home, and the curricula will back them up.  

While conservatives are badgered relentlessly to shut up about the “social issues,” Leftists rub their hands in glee. Unrestrained by anyone in their own party and with conservative obstacles largely removed, “LGBTQQAP” activists and their Leftist toadies advance their perverse positions on the “social issues.”

So, fight this bill, and while you’re doing that, plan an escape route for your children from government schools.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to both your state representative and state senator to ask them to reject this effort to politicize curricula in order to advance biased beliefs about sexuality to children in government schools.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Wait-Till-You-See-What-LGBTQQAP-Activists-Have-Planned-for-IL-Schools.mp3

RESCHEDULED: IFI Worldview Conference May 5th

We have rescheduled our annual Worldview Conference featuring well-know apologist John Stonestreet for Saturday, May 5th at Medinah Baptist Church. Mr. Stonestreet is s a dynamic speaker and the award-winning author of “Making Sense of Your World” and his newest offer: “A Practical Guide to Culture.”

Join us for a wonderful opportunity to take enhance your biblical worldview and equip you to more effectively engage the culture.

Click HERE to learn more or to register!

Illinois State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and Illinois State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) believe that legalizing marijuana for recreational use will be good for Illinois so they have introduced introduced SB 316 and HB 2353 and, as part of the public relations push, formed the Coalition for a Safer Illinois.

Yes, Safer. It’s hard to imagine how adding more drugged drivers on the roads and putting more drugs into the hands of our children could possibly make Illinois safer.

The bills before the General Assembly would legalize the possession of up to 28 grams of marijuana and allow facilities to sell marijuana products for adults over 21 and tax and regulate those sales “in a manner similar to alcohol.”

“Safer?”  Hardly.  We just have to look to the examples of Colorado and Washington State to see the consequences.  Both states legalized marijuana for recreational use in 2013 and 2012 respectively.

Colorado now has more pot shops than Starbucks and McDonald’s combined. [1]

Keep reading, parents, because you can help stop this!

Impact on Kids

Each year two-thirds of new marijuana users are under 18. [2]

Colorado Youth (ages 12-17) rank #1 in the nation for “past month” use, and 74% higher than the national average. [3]

During the 2015-2016 Colorado school year, 62% of all expulsions or suspensions were marijuana violations. [4]

In 2016, 82% of the 103 Colorado school resource officers surveyed reported an increase in marijuana-related incidents since legalization. They reported 45% obtained it legally, 24% obtained it from black market, 22% from their parents. [5]

In Colorado, College-age (18-25) “past month” use increased 17% in the 2-year average after legalization, while nationally it increased 2%. [6]

Colorado school officials say the #1 problem in schools is marijuana. [7]

Impact on Road Safety

Marijuana-related traffic deaths increased 62% by 2015, two years after Colorado’s legalization. By 2015, 21% of drivers involved in all traffic fatalities in Colorado tested positive for marijuana. [8]

Colorado has seen a 67% increase in operators testing positive for marijuana who were involved in a fatal traffic accident since recreational marijuana was legalization in 2013. [9]

By 2014, Spokane Valley (Washington State) youth marijuana DUI’s increased 1700% and youth accounted for 64% of all confirmed marijuana DUI cases in Spokane Valley.[10]

In Spring Valley (Washington State) from 2012 to 2014 marijuana-related DUI’s increased 400% and marijuana–only DUI’s increased 460%.[11]

According to the NHTSA FARS (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Fatality Analysis Reporting System) data, the “rate of marijuana involvement in fatal car crashed will soon rival alcohol as the #1 preventable traffic problem.” [12]

Impact on the Workplace

An increase in marijuana use makes doing business costly and challenging. The pool of drug-free workers will be in decline. “Marijuana use impairs the ability to function effectively and safely on the job and increases work-related absences, tardiness, accidents, compensation claims, and job turnover.”  [13]

Safety, absenteeism, turnover rate, tardiness, productivity, work quality, and lawsuits are significant liabilities for employers with marijuana-using employees.

Colorado companies are encountering job candidates who fail pre-employment drug testing. As a result, many are actively recruiting from other states and many have moved their business to other states.

Illinois has a severe exodus of businesses and people. Can we afford more leaving the state?

Because the Arizona churches got involved, recreational marijuana was defeated at the ballot box last November. They realized that you can’t be a good husband, father or worker if you’re stoned.

You can STOP this!

Call or email your state representative today and urge him/her to oppose any attempts to legalize or decriminalize marijuana. CLICK HERE to find your state rep and senator. Your state rep and senator will be listed as the last 2 entries on the page, once you fill in your zip code and address. Simply click on their names. CLICK HERE to send them an email.

Read more:  Resources on the Truth and Consequences of Marijuana

Footnotes:

[1] The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado: The Impact (Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, Volume 4, September 2016, page 4) www.rmhidta.org.
[2] Hall and Degenhardt, 2009, SAMSHA, February 22, 2013.
[3] The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado: The Impact (Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, Volume 4, September 2016, page 4) www.rmhidta.org.
[4] Ibid. page 43
[5] Ibid. pages 46, 47
[6] Ibid. page 63
[7] http://tinyurl.com/pzkf7qq
[8] The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado: The Impact (Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, Volume 4, September 2016, page 1) www.rmhidta.org.
[9] Ibid. page 14
[10] Washington State Marijuana Impact Report, March 2016, Impaired Driving, Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
[11] Ibid.
[12] Al Crancer, M.A., Phillip Drum, Pharm. D., Data: NHTSA FARS encyclopedia: http://www- fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx
[13] National Association of Drug Court Professionals statement at http://goo.gl/G82YIN.

What exactly is the meaning of feminism? It sounds innocuous enough, like something akin to feminine. Declaring a man masculine or woman feminine is a good thing, not a pejorative. That is unless you are an ardent, radical feminist.

According to Webster feminism is:

1. the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes

2. organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests

The radical feminists of the 60’s and 70’s departed the pro-life moorings of the suffragette movement, which concentrated its efforts on the right to vote for women. The Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in August 1920:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Thus it would seem the suffragette goal had been realized, their dreams come to fruition. But not according to Gloria Steinem and her modern feminist pals, none of whom advocated for anything resembling femininity. The bra-burners of the 60’s and 70’s, like the pro-abortion, pro-sexual perversion, pink-hat-wearing feminists of 2017, sought extreme change in society. The Left’s hue and cry of “DIVERSITY” only matters if they want to impose morés which differ from the long-accepted, Judeo-Christian worldview.

Far be it for any person to advocate diversity between the sexes: masculine men and feminine women have been harangued and replaced with manly women and effete men.

What is the point of feminists and their protests? What do they really want to accomplish?

Perhaps the book of Judges describes present day America:

In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Judges 21:25

The feminist protestors shout, “My body, my choice!”

But “it’s” not their body. And it should not be their choice.

And there’s the rub.

The modern day feminist movement is not about voting rights or land ownership or equal pay for (exactly) equal jobs. In fact, our marvelous Declaration of Independence states:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The noun “men” denotes the universal meaning of “all men and all women.” The Founders firmly believed that each and every one of us is endowed with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Where did those early Americans learn that notion? From the pages of Holy Scripture. Christendom was the first faith system to truly “liberate” women.

Paul expounds in his letter to the Galatians:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

And in the Apostle’s letter to the church at Ephesus:

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it… Ephesians 5:25

The Bible admonished something quite extraordinary — revolutionary even. Women have equal worth in God’s eyes. And men were told to love women as Christ loved the church, so much that he gave Himself as a sacrifice.

The Founders knew the Scriptures and were informed by biblical precepts. Those precepts undergird our founding documents. It is that biblical wisdom which makes our U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence so very unique.

Again, what is the point of the feminists and their protests? What do they really want to accomplish?

What are the “equal rights” that radical protestors dressed in heinous costumes of “lady parts” clamor for? The only “right” modern feminists fear losing — now that Republicans control both houses of the U.S. Congress and the White House — is the “right” to lawfully kill unborn babies.

Amber Phillips writes at The Washington Post:

Fairly or not, many women, especially on the left, feel like their rights could be under attack now that Washington is controlled by Republicans who are opposed to abortion and want to cut off funding for national women’s health care clinic Planned Parenthood.

The only “right” that might be terminated is the “right” to terminate a pregnancy, aka murdering the unborn. This new wave of anarchistic protests, full of x-rated costumes and vulgarity, is about abortion and Planned Parenthood and doing “what is right in their own eyes.”

The Washington Post article concludes:

A quick history/civics recap: Changing the Constitution is one of the most difficult things in all of governing, but Equal Rights Amendment supporters have come tantalizing close. In 1972, after a decade or so of debate, Congress passed it and sent it to the states for ratification. (Under one process to change or add a constitutional amendment, 38 states — or three-quarters — must ratify it, whether via their legislatures or a state convention.)

Congress gave the states an entire decade for 38 states to get that done. In the end, 35 did.

The amendment has been introduced in Congress off and on ever since, but it’s fallen flat. States haven’t bothered to touch it.

Until now. The Democratic-controlled Nevada State Senate passed it mostly along party lines on Wednesday. The Democratic-controlled State Assembly will pick it up from there, where it’s expected to sail through on party lines.

“It’s like a no-brainer. Equal Rights Amendment,” said state Nevada Sen. Pat Spearmen (D), the author of the bill. “Equal rights. That’s what it is. It’s just equal rights.”

And Illinois, ever eager to lead the “progressive” parade, has introduced legislation to approve the U.S. Constitution Equal Rights Amendment in  SJRCA 4. This bill is sponsored by Illinois Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago), and includes these provisions:

Section 1. Equality of rights under law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce by appropriate legislation the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This Amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.”

Note the verbiage, “The Congress shall have the power to enforce by appropriate legislation the provisions of this article.” So the U.S. Congress, where laws are created and passed, has the power to enforce this amendment.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to your state representative, urging him or her to vote AGAINST the Equal Rights Amendment. It’s essential for us to let our state representatives know that this amendment harms women, their families, and our society. Your calls and emails are vital tools for fighting this destructive proposal.

The feminists are attempting to codify abortion more stringently: they fear conservatives may attempt to overturn the wrongly decided Roe v. Wade and in a preemptive move are pushing this equal rights amendment.

It all comes down to life, not equality. A pro-life president and pro-life vice president are regarded as a threat to their most “sacred” tenet of abortion.

Don’t be deceived: the Left calls the blessing of children a curse. The radical feminists call good evil and evil good.

We must be informed. We must be radical, fervent prayer warriors. We must make our voices heard in defense of those who have no voice.

And we must always, without ceasing, choose life.

BTW — You can also call your state representative to ask him/her to vote NO to SJRCA 4 by calling the Capitol switchboard number at: (217) 782-2000.

IFI Text Alerts!

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Stay in the loop with IFI by texting “IFI” to 555888 to be enrolled right away.

This bill will put more impaired drivers on the road,
more impaired employees in the workplace
and more children at risk.

Before the regular session ended on May 31st, State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) and State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) were able to pass legislation to decriminalize marijuana. The bill passed in both the Illinois House and Senate. Any day this dubious bill (SB 2228) will be sent to Governor Bruce Rauner, who will then have 60 days to sign it into law or veto it.

SB 2288 reduces criminal penalties from possession of 10 grams or less of marijuana to a civil law violation of $100 to $200. There are no limits to the number of civil law violations a person can receive, plus their record will be expunged every January 1st and July 1st.

What these lawmakers have done is removed a deterrent to drug use and addiction. They are moving full steam ahead toward full legalization. “Medical” marijuana and incremental decriminalization are the first necessary steps.

“The key to it is medical access, because once you have hundreds of thousands of people using marijuana under medical supervision the whole scam is going to be bought. Once there’s medical access…then we will get full legalization.” Richard Cowan, former director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana.

Take ACTION:  Click HERE to send an email or fax to Governor Rauner.  Please urge him to veto SB 2228. Also, please call his Springfield office at (217) 782-0244. A tally report is given to the governor at the end of each day. There is a huge liability issue at stake that the governor should be concerned about. Who will assume responsibility for the increase in road fatalities, psychotic incidents, youth addictions, not to mention employer liability?

Too many lawmakers have been erroneously led to believe that our prisons and judicial system are overrun with “petty” marijuana offenses.  This is NOT the truth.  Please read a former Will County and Cook County Assistant State Attorney as he exposes this myth in an article he wrote exclusively for Illinois Family Institute: Cannabis Myths Exposed

This legislation was co-sponsored by State Representatives Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), Carol Ammons (D-Champaign), Sonya Harper (D-Chicago), Michael Zalewski (D-Riverside), Ed Sullivan (R-Mundelein), Christian Mitchell (D-Chicago), Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-Peoria), and Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago).

In the Illinois Senate, this legislation was co-sponsored by State Senators Michael Noland (D-Elgin) , Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago), Jason Barickman (R-Pontiac), Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights), Don Harmon (D-Chicago), Pam Althoff (R-Crystal Lake), Karen McConnaughay (R-West Dundee), Linda Holmes (D-Aurora), Napoleon Harris (D-Harvey), Emil Jones III (D-Chicago), Patricia Van Pelt (D-Chicago), Donne Trotter (D-Chicago), and Iris Martinez (D-Chicago).

Background

Contrary to one of the reasons lawmakers give for decriminalization, prisons are NOT overcrowded with marijuana users. Click Here and Here  and Here.

Marijuana is NOT Harmless. Cannabis Use is classified as a Disorder in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).

The American Academy of Pediatrics opposes medical marijuana outside the regulatory process of the FDA and opposes legalization because of the potential harms to children and adolescents.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s policy statement warns of the negative effects on children.

The American Academy of Neurology warns that medical marijuana legislation is not supported by medical research.

The American Society of Addiction Medicine recognizes “there are several potential medical and public health consequences of marijuana use that require further research.”

Fatal car crashes involving marijuana double after states legalize the drug. States that have relaxed their laws are seeing a 24.4% increase in car fatalities.

Psychotic incidents increase with marijuana use. Click Here and Here and Here and Here and Here.

Children will be affected. As perceived risk decreases, use increases. Colorado has seen a jump in school drug cases.  Click Here and Here. Furthermore, a diminished IQ and cognitive performance and even brain abnormalities have been detected with “casual” use.

Drug use will become a big problem for employers.

With the state our state is in, why would lawmakers make it worse?

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