Securing Our Future
By Thomas Hampson   |   02.09.24
Our ability to protect children from sexual exploitation is declining every day.  The environment has become sexually saturated.  Prime-time programs on broadcast television promote casual sex, even for teens.  Pornography is impossible to avoid short of disconnecting all electronics.  Standards of dress and conduct have become eroticized.  Societal taboos about sexual experimentation have severely eroded, and internal inhibitions have steeply declined.
Unsafe
By Thomas Hampson   |   01.31.24
There are 341,000 students in the Chicago Public Schools, divided among 638 schools—476 elementary schools and 162 high schools. According to the recent report by the Chicago Public Schools Office of Inspector General (OIG), there were 446 sexual misconduct allegations reported to the OIG during the calendar year 2023.
Local Focus
By Thomas Hampson   |   01.25.24
Why are local elections so uninteresting to voters? Local elections in Illinois generally draw about 16% of registered voters. This is compared to the average turnout over the last 20 years for presidential elections in Illinois of 63% and the average turnout in the off-year elections of 44%.
Freedom Versus Foolishness
By Mae Arthur   |   01.17.24
As of January 1, a new Illinois state law is in effect that removes grant funding from public libraries that ban books “because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.” House Bill 2789 was signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker last summer and is just the latest in a string of policies advanced by this administration and motivated by its apparent obsession with indoctrinating kids into sexual orientation and gender identity ideology.
Who is Welcome?
By Thomas Hampson   |   01.16.24
Recently, I noticed an online post of a local church that read: “Everyone is welcome! No exceptions. Period.” Really? Everyone?
The Transgender Trap, Part 2
By Ecce Verum   |   01.09.24
In part one of this article,, we looked at a brief recently filed by 21 attorneys general from around the country. The attorneys general are urging the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to strike down a commonsense Idaho law that would keep boys out of girls' bathrooms, and among the brief’s signatories is Illinois' own Kwame Raoul. One sentence in the brief stood out in particular, as it compared "transgender" youth to their "cisgender counterparts."
The Downfall of Scholastic Books
By Kenna Rose   |   01.05.24
Stories are powerful and incredibly influential. Almost everyone can point to at least one story, if not more, that have deeply changed the way they think, act, or live. Even without meaning to, we tend to base our perception of reality around the stories we know, love, and tell.
The Illusion of Action
By Thomas Hampson   |   01.03.24
How we spend our time and money reveals what we care about. That principle applies not only to individuals, but to groups, to corporations, to governments. What people say means very little. It’s what they do that counts.
The Transgender Trap, Part 1
By Ecce Verum   |   01.02.24
Illinois, your attorney general is trying to defeat an Idaho law that would keep boys out of girls' bathrooms.
Ideology Is Not Science
By Thomas Hampson   |   12.15.23
Most people have never heard of Harry Hay, yet his actions, starting in the 1940s, profoundly impacted our culture and continue to do so today, long after his death. If you don’t know who he is, you should. He was one of the founders of the homosexual activist movement along with his sometime lover, Will Geer.
Anti . . . Social Media
By Thomas Hampson   |   12.06.23
Three years ago, Exposure Labs created and released the documentary “The Social Dilemma,” exposing the dangerously manipulative technology that drives the wildly popular social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter (now X), Instagram, and all the others. Between 2011 and 2013, researchers began to see a disturbing trend emerging. Depression and anxiety among young people began to increase.
The Reality of Social Media: Part 1
By Kenna Rose   |   12.04.23
Everyone knows social media has negative effects. It’s the topic of countless articles, films have been made on it, people constantly discuss it, and it’s generally considered a bipartisan issue. Warning cries about social media have been sounded so often that they have become background music, even though it isn’t even 50 years old.
Who is Responsible?
By Thomas Hampson   |   11.15.23
There are 1.85 million public school students in grades K to 12 in Illinois. Of those, 1.2 million of them, 65 percent, cannot read at grade level, and 1.4 million, 76 percent, do not have math skills at grade level. Did you know that?
Which Side?
By Thomas Hampson   |   10.31.23
Which side are you on? Do you know? There are only two. From the moment you get up in the morning until you go to sleep at night, you take one side or the other.
Different Perspectives?
By Thomas Hampson   |   10.18.23
Several essential characteristics separate humans from other mammals. The most significant among them is our complex reasoning ability. We can solve problems throughout the full range of our current awareness. We have a powerful capability to observe, collect, and analyze facts. We can formulate theories and design meticulous studies to test them out. And we can debate the meaning of the findings of those studies.
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