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Wednesday, February 28, 2018

How Trump plans to make Mexico pay for the wall. Yes, really.

How Trump plans to make Mexico pay for the wall. Yes, really.

WASHINGTON — Mexico will never cut a check to the U.S. Treasury, but President Donald Trump is zeroing in on a plan so that the president can argue America’s southern neighbor will indeed fund the border wall, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.
The plan aides are piecing together would force Mexico to pay for the wall in indirect ways, including through remittance fees and tapping Mexico’s trade surplus with the United States.
“He will find a way,” said a former Trump adviser who is in close contact with the White House. “The wall will be funded partially or all by an additional revenue stream.”
Publicly, the priority is getting the $25 billion or so that Trump says is needed to fund the wall as part of a package deal that would protect so-called Dreamers and reduce family migration. Privately, the White House is mulling over various proposals to ensure U.S. taxpayers are reimbursed for the wall’s initial costs — or at least some of the price tag.
While Trump’s team has not reached a consensus, leading proposals include adding a small percentage fee on money sent by individuals in the United States to recipients in Mexico. Another is directing a surplus in revenue from a revised trade agreement with Mexico and Canada. White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short has also spoken favorably of a proposal presented by Republican members of Congress to have foreign tech workers, though largely not Mexican, pay for part of the wall, according to a U.S. source familiar with the conversations.
Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, has shared a proposal on remittances with the White House.
“There are many, many proposals in the hopper,” she said. “They’re going through a process.”
Politically, Trump needs to make good on his campaign promise before he begins stumping for Republican candidates this fall, not to mention when he runs for re-election in 2020. In each case, Democrats are likely to attack him for squandering taxpayer money on a needless border wall — a structure he insisted he would force Mexico to pay for.
Chris Chmielenski, NumbersUSA’s director of content and activism, said it’s probably not so much of an issue for Republicans running in the midterm elections, but that Trump likely wants to “save face” before his own re-election campaign.
“I could see from a political point — for 2020 — them saying, ‘We may have to think of some ways,’” Chmielenski said.
Trump repeatedly promised during the 2016 campaign that he would build a wall along the southwest border and force Mexico to pay for it. But Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has made it clear Mexico would never fund the wall and efforts to get the funding from Congress have yet to materialize.
More than a year into his presidency, Trump has not backed down on the promise, although the size, cost and source of funds for the wall have shifted.
“The Wall will be paid for, directly or indirectly, or through longer term reimbursement, by Mexico,” Trump tweeted on Jan. 18.
He raised the pressure Tuesday, saying he’d be willing to shut down the federal government this week if Congress does not approve his border security proposal, which includes the wall.
The White House didn’t respond to specific questions about administration planning, but staff directed McClatchy to comments Trump gave last month about the wall to The Wall Street Journal.
“There are many forms of payment,” Trump said, citing NAFTA trade agreement as an example. “I could name 10 right now.”
One of those is remittance money being sent to Mexico. Remittances sent to Latin America and the Caribbean rose to $74.3 billion, a 7.4 percent increase in 2016, according to the Pew Research Center. Mexico received the largest chunk of the money, $28.6 billion, which was a 9.3 percent increase from the previous year.
Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies has proposed a small fee similar to one being used in Oklahoma. The fee is refundable as a tax credit provided the person includes the payment in his or her taxes. According the state of Oklahoma, the fee raises roughly $12 million a year from those who don’t request a refund. Vaughan said those here illegally, at least some of them, won’t file their taxes and seek the refund.
The administration is also looking at a proposal floated by Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder of Kansas that could help raise $4 billion toward payment of the $25 billion border wall. Foreign tech workers here legally, largely from India, say they’d gladly kick in an extra $2,500 each or more in green card fees if it meant they could get their green cards faster.
Some of Trump’s closest advisers said forcing Mexico to pay for the wall is less important than the wall actually being built. Trump’s voter base would be ecstatic regardless of who paid for the wall as it’s seen as the most visible sign of the border actually being closed down.
Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and an informal adviser to Trump, said it’s significant to Trump himself since he made it a central theme of his campaign. The vow that Mexico would pay for the wall generated some of his loudest applause lines.
“He wants to keep his word to American people,” Gingrich said.
Mexican leaders from the president to ministers to former presidents have made it clear that Mexico will never pay for Trump’s wall. Alex Nowrasteh of the conservative Cato Institute, said there is really no way to make Mexico pay for it.
As good as taxing remittances may sound to some conservatives, Nowrasteh said, it is likely migrants will simply send their money by bitcoin or via the black market.
“Even if it’s indirect, it’s as likely as we end up paying for it,” Nowrasteh said. “Let’s say we put tariffs on Mexican goods. That just means that we’d pay high prices so American goods pay for it.”
It’s not the first time Trump has floated the idea of taxing remittances. While he was running around the country as a candidate in 2015 and 2016 promising that Mexico would pay for the wall without equivocation or nuance, Trump in fact had a six-step plan anticipating opposition and compromise.
“On day 2 Mexico will immediately protests,” the campaign wrote in a two-page briefing. “They receive approximately $24 billion a year in remittances from Mexican nationals working in the United States. The majority of that amount comes from illegal aliens.”
Trump made his feelings clear on the importance politically to him in a Jan. 27, 2017, call with Pena Nieto in which Trump acknowledged conceding Mexico would never explicitly pay for a wall along the shared border.
According to a leaked the transcript of the call, Trump pleaded with Pena Nieto to not say publicly that Mexico wouldn’t pay.
“Believe it or not, this is the least important thing that we are talking about,” Trump said, “but politically this might be the most important talk about.”
———
-Franco Ordonez and Anita Kumar, ©2018 McClatchy Washington Bureau, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Homer School District 33C Board of Education Meeting February 27, 2018


Summary of the Homer School District 33C
Board of Education Meeting
February 27, 2018
___________________________________________________________________________
    Deb Martin, President      Elizabeth Hitzeman, Vice President      Karen DeFilippis, Secretary
Adam Briner, Member  Kevin DeSchaaf, Member  Christine Marcinkewicz, Member  Russ Petrizzo, Member                                                                                     


At the February 27th Board of Education meeting:

     Teachers Union representative Cathy Clayton reported the Council is seeking direction regarding special education procedures, aggressive student behavior in the classrooms, and staffing levels for next school year

     Support Staff Union representative Stella Kapusta reported staff members have been completing the comprehensive needs assessment survey and that they hope their needs and the needs of students are put into consideration

     Member DeSchaaf reported the Board’s Facility Committee met last week and that preparations are on schedule to replace the HVAC system at Homer Junior High School this summer. Staff cooperation will be needed to make sure the work is completed in a tight timeframe

     Member DeFilippis reported she and Hitzeman attended the recent DLT meeting and heard an update on the District’s new Student Information System -- PowerSchool. Each school who has a lead teacher who will help roll out the system

     The Board approved the following personnel recommendations:
            Resignations
     1. Sandy Parus - Reading Specialist, Butler School, effective at the end of the 2017-2018 school
         year
                 2. Gina Suggs - 1st grade teacher, Goodings Grove School, effective at the end of the 2017-2018
                     school year
     3. Becky Cortesi-Caruso - Director of Special Education, effective June 30, 2018
     4. Concepcion Marquez - bus driver, Transportation, effective January 28, 2018
     5. Patricia Malzone - 0.5 FTE District Media Center/Classroom Volunteer Coordinator, Schilling
         School, effective February 15, 2018
     6. David Trella - head custodian, Butler School, change in effective date for retirement from June 29,
         2018 to May 31, 2018
     7. Laurie Moroz - clerical aide, Hadley Middle School, change in effective date for retirement from
        June 30, 2019 to December 3, 2018
     8. Sandy Parus - Butler School Differentiation Facilitator and Butler School Head Mentor, effective
          at the end of the 2017-2018 school year

 Letter of Intent to Retire
1.    Nancy Lahey - dispatcher, Transportation, effective December 31, 2018
     
 Requests for Leave of Absence (Beginning and end dates open to modification)                
1.    August Deuser - 7th grade English teacher, Homer Junior High School, FMLA leave request effective April 28, 2018 through May 18, 2018 and will return on May 21, 2018
2.    Jerilyn Brumfield - 6th grade teacher, Hadley Middle School, FMLA leave effective May 22, 2018 through the end of the 2017-2018 school year and will return at the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year
3.    Jennifer Donahue - special education co-teacher, Hadley Middle School, FMLA leave effective intermittently from February 5, 2018 through June 1, 2018
4.    Scott Masen - paraprofessional, Homer Junior High School, FMLA leave effective intermittently from January 19, 2018 through the end of the 2017-2018 school year

 Employment Recommendations
1.    Giuseppina Reifel - building secretary, Young School, effective February 28, 2018
2.    Aldona Urba - lunchroom monitor, Hadley Middle School, effective February 28, 2018
3.    Lynda D’Antonio - bus driver, Transportation, effective March 27, 2018 pending successfully completing her criminal background check and obtaining her CDL for driving a school bus

     Assistant Superintendent for Business Christi Tyler presented a mid-year budget update. Expenditures are tracking $1 million higher than this time last year due to bus leases, switches (which allow different devices on a network to communicate), the PowerSchool purchase and food expenses. Revenues are also tracking higher -- about $5.1 million higher -- due to the sale of district buses and timely receipt of state payments. FY18 is the first year school districts are receiving state revenue on the Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) model

     Human Resources Director Michael Portwood presented the 2018-2019 Enrollment Projections, Registration Overview, & New Construction Updates. Based on current projections, the District may need to add:
     Two sections at Schilling (grades 1 and 3)
     One section at Butler (grade 1)
     One, possibly two, sections at Young (grades 1 and 2)
     One section (possibly) at Goodings Grove (grade 1).
It’s too early to tell if the district will need to retain 17 sections of kindergarten. Kindergarten registration is March 15th. Space is getting tight throughout the District, especially at Goodings Grove and Schilling.

Parents of ALL students -- including returning students -- will be required to establish residency each year. Documentation MUST include an Illinois driver’s license or state ID with current address. Instructions will be mailed and emailed to parents of returning students in April

     The Board approved issuing debt certificates

     The Board approved a recommendation for +6 FTE’s to regulate class sizes (+4 FTE and +2 provisional). The provisional employees will be hired if/when the pre-identified classroom sections rise above the historical “+1 over target” threshold

     The Board discussed school safety and what the District is doing to keep students and staff safe. In addition to installing security cameras and door systems at each school, the District will need to look at how the buildings are used after hours and what procedures are in place to identify who’s in the building and when

     The Board accepted bus driver Sharon Pearson’s retirement date of June 30, 2020 subject to compliance with the terms and conditions of the District’s one-time IMRF retirement incentive program

     The Board adopted the 2018-2019 school calendar. The first day of school (for students) is Wednesday, August 22, 2018. Teachers will report August 20th and August 21st for a two-day Teacher Institute. The last day of school will be Monday, June 3, 2018 (if no Snow Days are used). Winter Break will be Monday, December 24th through Friday, January 4th (with students returning to school Monday, January 7th). Spring Break will be Monday, April 1st through Friday, April 5th (with students returning to school Monday, April 8th).

     The Board reviewed and approved a Farm Lease agreement with Konow’s Farm, which rents the District’s property at Bruce and Cedar roads

     The Board approved a resolution authorizing the sale of a 1996 Ford F250 pick-up truck

     The Board approved the purchase of a 2018 Ford F-250 XL 4X4 pick-up truck in the amount of $36,458.000


The Next Regular School Board Meeting is March, 14, 2018 at 7:00 p.m.

The most-ignored common denominator in mass shootings

The most-ignored common denominator in mass shootings

It’s as predictable as day following night that when a mass shooting occurs, the propaganda media and gun-grabbing politicians will immediately blame the gun and the NRA. Their ravings will be echoed by the mindless lemmings on the left. But there is a common denominator that the media and the politicians never touch: psychotropic drugs.
If mentioned at all, the mass shooter’s drug use is just a footnote in media reports. But it is all-important.
The latest shooter is no exception. Gleaned from the bottom or near the bottom of media reports digging into the shooter’s background are snippets that he was possibly autistic, that he had emotional problems and mental difficulties, that he was suffering from depression and that he was on or had been on some type of medication for it. Media reports claim he would bang his head against a wall if he didn’t want to go to school.
He made threatening posts on various internet sites. His social media contained photos of him posing with his guns. He had been suspended from the school for violence. Beyond that, fellow students suspected he may one day act on his repeated threats and shoot up the school.
The top medications for prescribed to help manage symptoms of autism have side effects of agitation, confusion, depression, mania, irritability, aggression, anger, abnormal thoughts, psychotic disorder and schizophrenia.
The Aurora movie shooter, the Columbine killers, the Charleston church shooter and the Garland church shooter were all on psychotropic drugs.
According to a study published in the journal PLoS One and based on the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System, the following mind-altering drugs are most frequently linked to violence:
  • Desvenlafaxine (Pristiq) is an antidepressant associated with 7.9 times more violence than many other drugs.
  • Venlafaxine (Effexor) is related to Pristiq and is an antidepressant also used in treating those with anxiety disorders. Effexor is 8.3 times more associated with violent behavior than other drugs.
  • Fluvoxamine (Luvox) is an antidepressant that affects serotonin (SSRI), and is 8.4 times more likely to be linked to violence than other medications
  • Triazolam (Halcion) can be addictive and is a benzodiazepine that supposedly treats insomnia. It’s 8.7 times more likely to be associated with violence than other medications.
  • Atomoxetine (Strattera) is often prescribed to tread ADHD and is 9 times more likely to be associated with violence.
  • Mefoquine (Lariam) treats malaria and sometimes products bizarre behavior, and is 9.5 times more likely to be linked to violence.
  • Amphetamines come in many forms and are often used to treat ADHD (even to children not diagnosed with ADHD). They are 9.6 times more likely to be linked to violence.
  • Paroxetine (Paxil) is an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) antidepressant. Many users experience severe withdrawal symptoms and are more likely to produce children with birth defects as well as 10.3 times more likely to be linked to violence than other medications.
  • Fluoxetine (Prozac) is a household name for a powerful SSRI antidepressant linked with 10.9 times more violence than other drugs.
  • Varenicline (Chantix) is administered to smokers to supposedly help curb cigarette cravings, but it’s a whopping 18 times more likely to be linked to violent behavior than other drugs.
The website SSRIstories.org  has a collection of more than 6,000 stories from various media documenting the link between violent incidents and mind-altering drugs.
The Food and Drug Administration, which approves these drugs, recognizes that more 100,000 adverse drug reaction (ADR) deaths occur each year. ADRs is the fourth leading cause of death, ahead of pulmonary disease, diabetes, AIDS, pneumonia, accidents and automobile deaths.
Yet the MSM talking heads and trend setters and their mindless lemming followers say politicians won’t touch gun laws because of the NRA and its deep pockets. But Big Pharma spends far more buying politicians and advertising in the mainstream media than does the NRA.
So if the left wants to blame someone other than the killer, perhaps it should focus its attention on Big Pharma, its vaccine schedule (which creates autism spectrum disorders and other mental health issues), its mood altering drugs and the doctors prescribing them.
Also, let me remind you that 327 million Americans did not shoot anyone Wednesday. But the gun grabbers want to take away our guns anyway.

Former Trump Economic Advisor: “There’s a real buzz around the country about Jeanne Ives.”

For Immediate Release
 
Former Trump Economic Advisor: “There’s a real buzz around the country about Jeanne Ives.” 
 
February 28, 2018 – Stephen Moore, CNN Senior Economist and former economic advisor to the Trump Administration, called into the AM 560’s “Chicago’s Morning Answer” to discuss the federal tax cuts and their impact on Illinois’ economic policy.

During the conversation, Moore, a free market economist, commented on the Illinois Governor’s race saying he had met with conservative reform Republican candidate for Governor Jeanne Ives saying, “I was extremely impressed with her. You know, there is a buzz going…I don’t know about in Illinois… but around the country, there is a buzz going on about Jeanne. And how there’s this Conservative, who has free-market, conservative solutions for the problems of Illinois... I don’t know, is she catching on there? Because there is a real buzz around the country about her.”


Hear Moore's Comments on Ives. 
###
For more information or to book Jeanne Ives, contact Kathleen Murphy at 630-329-4680 orkathleenemurphy26@gmail.com

ISRA URGENT ALERT – YOUR HELP NEEDED

Letterhead
ISRA Urgent Alert - February 27,  2018

URGENT ALERT – YOUR HELP NEEDED

ONE STEP CLOSER TO A MASSIVE GUN GRAB

 
We will keep this short and sweet.  Most of you know what happened today in Springfield.  The Chicago Gun Grabbing Machine rammed several ridiculous gun control bills through committee.  If signed into law, they would result in the banning and forcible confiscation of most of the guns you own.

TWO THINGS YOU NEED TO DO TO HELP SAVE YOUR GUN RIGHTS

#1 – The ISRA needs money to carry this fight to the floor of the General Assembly.  Please send a generous donation to ISRA, Box 637, Chatsworth, IL  60921 or click on the following link: http://www.isra.org/Participate/MakeaDonation.aspx   Please do it today!

#2 – The ISRA needs to swell its membership rolls.  Please make a personal commitment to bring at least 2 of your friends and family into the ISRA.  Have them call the ISRA Membership Hotline at (815) 635-3198  or join online:  http://www.isra.org/Participate/YourMembership/JointheISRA.aspx.  Please do it today!

PLEASE…
1.  Forward this alert on to all your friends and family and ask them to do the same.
2.  Post this alert to any Internet bulletin board or social media site to which you belong.

REMEMBER – GUN CONTROL IS A DISEASE AND YOU ARE THE CURE!


-------------------

Help the ISRA protect your rights:  Recruit two members.

Check out ISRA's webite at www.isra.org! Tell us what you think!
 
Follow the ISRA on Twitter and Facebook.
 
Give the gift of an ISRA membership.   Not an ISRA Member?  Join Today

 

Ives Campaign Releases New Book Detailing Rauner’s Betrayals


For Immediate Release 

 
Ives Campaign Releases New Book Detailing Rauner’s Betrayals
Authored by Chicago GOP Chairman with a Foreword by State Rep. Tom Morrison

February 28, 2018 – The campaign of conservative reform candidate for governor State Rep. Jeanne Ives today released a book entitled The Governor You Don't Know: The Other Side of Bruce Rauner.





The book provides Republican primary voters a factual history of Governor Rauner’s tenure, bumping his rhetoric up against his policy choices and connecting the dots between the candidate who promised “no social agenda” and an “Illinois Turnaround” with his numerous betrayals.

Authored by Chicago GOP Chairman and Ives Campaign Chairman Chris Cleveland with a foreword by respected conservative State Representative Tom Morrison (R-Palatine), the book provides a succinct and substantiated nine-chapter distillation of an extreme leftist record that Rauner has been able to obfuscate for some with his checkbook.

The book was fact-checked by veteran journalists. It is a straightforward memorialization of the facts on Rauner.
  • Why Rauner went 0 for 44 with his “Turnaround Agenda.”
  • His insider deal with Rahm Emanuel that made both men very rich.
  • The real reason he forced you to pay for abortions in Illinois.
  • The implications of making Illinois a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants.
  • How Rauner’s bailout of Chicago Public School pensions giving Rahm everything he wanted “and more” took money from your children's schools and raised your property taxes.
  • How Rauner’s absenteeism resulted in the largest structural income tax increase (32%) in Illinois history and why Rauner wanted it.
  • Why Rauner simply can't win the election against any Democrat.
Republicans didn’t know what they were getting when they elected Rauner in 2014. Thanks to The Governor You Don’t Know, they’ll know exactly what they got. So, in 2018, they can make an informed choice: return Rauner or retire him.

Download a copy of The Governor You Don’t Know: The Other Side of Bruce Rauner here.
###
For more information or to book Jeanne Ives, contact Kathleen Murphy at 630-329-4680 orkathleenemurphy26@gmail.com

Sign the petition to put God back in our schools


LIBERTY DEPENDS UPON VIRTUE
www.RestoreAmericanLiberty.com
America Cannot Remain Free Unless Her Citizens Are Governed by Virtue




ACTION ALERT:  Sign the petition to put God back in our schools(FULL ALERT TEXT BELOW)



The Florida House of Representatives just passed a bill that calls for every school in the state to display a sign, reading: "In God we trust."  If the Florida Legislature approves the measure, this will be a victory.  Hopefully this effort will spread to every state in the union.

Our youth especially, will benefit from a renewed focus on restoring God and morality in our society.

After you sign the petition to put God back in schools, please forward this alert to everyone you know who might be willing to join this noble campaign.

Regards,


James Michael Francis Komaniecki
President, CEO
www.RestoreAmericanLiberty.com, Inc.
LIBERTY DEPENDS UPON VIRTUE

Social Issues ARE Fiscal Issues
Aborted Future Taxpayers & Sterile Homosexual "Marriages" Undermine Our Prosperity




“What is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without restraint. Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites;........  Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free."

- Edmund Burke

"He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections."

- Samuel Adams

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TFPStudentAction_email
                                                                 



TFP STUDENT
                                                  ACTION tradition •
                                                  family • property

If God is not allowed in our schools, will we ever find real peace?

Sign petition to put God back in our schools
Dear friend,

You already know about the tragedy in Florida, right?

Where a crazed gunman killed 17 innocent people -- mostly students -- at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

What will stop these shootings from reoccurring?

Some say "more gun control."  Others say schools should have airport security.  With armed guards and armed teachers.  Or more psychiatrists.  Or better FBI follow up.

But few mention God.

Few have the courage to say...

As long as God is expelled from our schools and our culture, peace is only a pipe-dream.

But there is good news:  The Florida House of Representatives just passed a bill that calls for every school in the state to display a sign, reading: "In God we trust."

If the Florida Legislature approves the measure, this will be a victory.

So please:

Click here to urge Florida's Legislature to approve the bill.

You see, prayer was common in schools up until 1963.  But not any more -- because of the Godless activism of the ACLU and other radical atheists groups that want to totally erase God from daily life.

Rep. Kimberly Daniels who sponsored the bill to put "In God we trust" in every school in Florida, said:  God is the light.  And "our schools need light in them like never before."

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Rep. Daniels said:

"We cannot put God in a closet when the issues we face are bigger than us."

Hopefully this effort will spread to every state in the union.

After you sign your petition to put God back in schools, please send this alert to everyone you know who might be willing to join this noble campaign.

With Christ as King, there is true hope.

With God, indeed, true peace can reign in the family and society.

Thank you for fighting the good fight.
John Ritchie
TFP Student Action, Director
www.tfpstudentaction.org