Nelms and Berkowitz suggest the so called “Fair Tax,” is anything but, discussing the fact that Pritzker needs $15 billion dollars a year more for his spending plans than advertised- which could result in middle class marginal tax rates climbing to as high as 14%.

Watch Andrew Nelms, Senior Adviser, AFP Action with “Public Affairs” show host Jeff Berkowitz discussing whether Gov. Pritzker’s “Fair tax,” is fair, and much more about that tax.

The show featuring Nelms airs tonight throughout Chicago proper at 8:30 pm and midnight on Cable Ch. 21 (CAN TV).  

You can also  watch Andrew Nelms, interviewed by Berkowitz, 24/7 on the web by cliicking here.

The show w/Nelms repeats tomorrow night in Chicago at 9:04 pm on Cable Ch. 21

The show w/Nelms also airs tomorrow night at 8:30 pm in 25 Chicago Metro north and northwest suburbs:  

—Comcast Cable Ch. 19 in Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, parts of Inverness, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Northfield, Palatine, Rolling Meadows and Wilmette and on

–Comcast Cable Ch. 35 in  Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Glenview, Golf, Des Plaines, Hanover Park, Mt. Prospect, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, Schaumburg, Skokie, Streamwood and Wheeling. 

You can also  watch Andrew Nelms, interviewed by Berkowitz, 24/7 on the web by cliicking here.

*********

Nelms and Berkowitz suggest the so called “Fair Tax,” is anything but, discussing the fact that Pritzker needs $15 billion dollars a year more for his spending plans than advertised- which could result in middle class marginal tax rates climbing to as high as 14%.

Moreover, Illinois, already rated by Kiplinger as the Nation’s “Least tax friendly state,” has lost 170,000 residents in the last decade. Now, Illinois could suffer another massive out-surge of productive citizens and employers if Gov. Pritzker big tax boost (aka a “Progressive income tax”  is approved by the citizen referendum in IL on Nov. 3). 

Further,  it is often emphasized that in progressive income tax states, those taxes are always accompanied by taxes on retirement income- one of the few taxes so far avoided by the “High tax state of Illinois.”

Also, Nelms discusses with host Berkowitz the likely outflow of Illinois’ citizens to “Zero income tax,” states like Florida, Texas and Tennessee- not to mention Illinois’ residents fleeing to the adjacent flat tax states of Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky.

Finally, Berkowitz and Nelms discuss various reforms to fix Illinois’ fiscal woes (which include more than $400 billion in State and local government pension liabilities), and ask if the Governor’s big tax increase does what is needed to fix Illinois’ enormous fiscal problems.   

This blog post is the 31st in a series about my (and twin sister’s) preventative breast cancer screening journey that began when we were 30 years old in July 2019. Here is a list of all of the posts written about our journey at Mayo Clinic’s Breast Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to date. To keep tabs on new posts, sign up for the “A Daily Miracle” email list at this link.

My dad met his $2,500 goal for the American Cancer Society within a week of starting! Here is the entire family supporting him in the American Cancer Society’s “Real Men Wear Pink” campaign–you can support/give to my dad’s campaign at this link: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/Althoff

It’s mid-October, and we are halfway through Breast Cancer Awareness Month!!! Here are a few highlights for us at this moment in time!:

1. Our dad has raised over $4,000 for the American Cancer Society’s “Real Men Wear Pink” Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign!! Our Dad was recently invited to take part in a fundraising campaign called “Real Men Wear Pink,” backed by the American Cancer Society. You can donate to support cancer research, treatments, and support for cancer patients on his fundraising page at this link!!! His goal was to raise $2,500 for ACS during the month of October, and he has already beat that goal, so the American Cancer Society increased his goal to $6,000! My husband, Chris Steinke, hosted a Facebook Live music event featuring breast cancer awareness on October 1st, and you can watch the replay at this link. He will go live again on Friday, October 23rd, at 7pm CST to play some more music and to raise some more awareness for breast cancer! Join us on his Facebook page!!
2. My twin sister is over halfway done with her post-operative chemotherapy regimen of T-DM1! Last October, we were just getting started with all of this breast cancer diagnosis and treatment stuff. It’s hard to believe all that can happen in a year’s time! She only has 6 infusions of chemotherapy left–and we hope and pray this is the last time she ever has to do chemotherapy EVER!!! 😀
3. My twin sister started her baseline ovarian cancer screening, and is waiting for results/interpretation from her gynecologist: My baseline ovarian cancer screening at Mayo Clinic Rochester in January 2020 confirmed a diagnosis of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), but my markers for ovarian cancer (a CA-125 blood test and an ultrasound) weren’t suspicious at all, Praise God! My twin sister is currently awaiting interpretation from her gynecologist in the city of her CA-125 levels and pelvic ultrasound imaging. We are praying there is nothing suspicious to report!
4. My twin sister’s microcystic edema isn’t getting worse, but it isn’t getting better, either! Prayers are immensely appreciated for the cysts on her corneas–that are likely caused by her daily intake of Tamoxifen and exacerbated by eye dryness caused by her T-DM1 infusions–to heal sooner rather than later!!! They “ebb and flow” in severity after every one of her T-DM1 infusions, which occur every 3 weeks.

Here is my twin sister and her husband all checked in and ready for her 8th infusion of T-DM1 at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota! In matching superhero masks, yay!!

My twin sister’s 8th infusion of T-DM1

My twin sister was a champ and knocked out her 8th infusion of T-DM1 in record time! Her husband, Paul, is an operations manager at Amazon, and recently moved over to overnight shifts. He insisted on driving her to her appointment even though he’d just finished an overnight shift with no break in between! They are the cutest couple ever!!! They even wore matching superhero masks, woohoo!!

While they were down in Rochester,

Here she is, one of the fastest infusions she’s had to date!

I got to hang out with Gizmo, my twin sister’s puppy!, while she was at chemo with her husband!

Alternative options to Tamoxifen / T-DM1: an “aromatase inhibitor”

As mentioned previously, my twin sister’s corneal cysts are likely caused by her daily intake of Tamoxifen and exacerbated by eye dryness caused by her T-DM1 infusions. Her eye doctors are hopeful this is a reversible trend that will go away when she’s done with Tamoxifen in 4 years, but there’s a small possibility it isn’t reversible. God is good and will be with us either way! My twin sister brought this up with her oncology team at Mayo Clinic, who brought up one alternative option to Tamoxifen: an “aromatase inhibitor” (AI).

Unfortunately, an aromatase inhibitor, aka the one alternative to Tamoxifen, is reserved for postmenopausal women. My sister is only 31, and is definitely premenopausal and plans to have children this decade!, so, in order for her to switch to the Tamoxifen alternative / “aromatase inhibitor,” they would have to shut her ovaries down with a Lupron shot every 30 days, which would basically send her into menopause every 30 days (making her “postmenopausal”).

When ovaries are shut down, they don’t produce estrogen, and the purpose of the AI would be to stop my sister’s testosterone from converting into estrogen, thus starving any breast cancer cells of their food (estrogen). Tamoxifen, on the other hand, simply blocks estrogen from binding to any breast cancer cell (also starving it of its food!) The main side effects of AI would be related to menopause–the member of her oncology team she talked with has never seen eye issues on an aromatase inhibitor. The member of her oncology team she talked with has seen the AI to be more effective in preventing recurrence than Tamoxifen in some cases, but is going to ask the lead oncologist for his thoughts and recommendations because the whole team doesn’t want my sister’s eye issues to keep affecting her life! My sister has a video appointment set up with her oncologist this Friday 10/23.

My twin sister’s puppy, Gizmo, loves her very much and spends a lot of quality time in her lap!

Taking all of this into consideration, there would also be a risk (again, like when she started neoadjuvant chemotherapy), that her ovaries wouldn’t wake up from being shut down, but she is optimistic they would wake up because they woke up after chemo, just last month! :)) She and her husband are currently praying about what to do–if she should stay on the Tamoxifen that is likely causing her corneal cysts for another 4 years, or if she should go down the path of monthly Lupron shots and a daily aromatase inhibitor, which also may have its own share of side effects.

Prayers are appreciated for wisdom and discernment for them as they navigate this new decision with the help of her oncologist during a virtual video appointment scheduled for this Friday 10/23!

Here is my twin sister getting all checked in for her annual gynecology exam and baseline ovarian cancer screening appointment!

My twin sister’s baseline ovarian cancer screening and annual gynecology exam

We love our gynecologist in the city! She was trained at Mayo Clinic in Rochester and was referred to us by a specialist at Mayo Clinic Rochester as specializing in high risk cancer patients in addition to pregnancy and childbirth. She takes lots of time with us and all three of us girls (including our baby sister, who is also high risk for breast and ovarian cancer). We are all seeing her now in hopes she’ll deliver all of our babies! 🙂

I accompanied my twin sister to her annual gynecology appointment where we discussed 1) my twin sister’s ovaries waking back up after her six infusions of TCHP chemotherapy; 2) the 28 eggs she has in a freezer after going through an egg retrieval procedure and coming down with ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) last fall; 3) her general well-being; 4) ovarian cancer baseline screening.

Our gynecologist was thrilled that my twin sister’s cycle came back last month, because TCHP forced my twin sister into menopause and put her ovaries to sleep. It’s never a guarantee that chemotherapy patients’ ovaries will wake back up, but my sister’s did!, which is a huge praise! Even though her ovaries are awake, birth control is of the utmost importance, because getting pregnant on chemo is not something anyone should do.

Our gynecologist was very excited also that my twin sister has 28 eggs in a freezer in the city. After everything she’s been through, our prayer has been that she’d be able to carry babies with IVF at the end of all of this. She’ll have to take a “timed break” from Tamoxifen to do so, or perhaps try to get pregnant at the end of this 5-year Tamoxifen window, but either way, we and her gynecologist are optimistic!

Here’s my twin sister all ready for her gynecological exam! Even with all the doctor’s appointments she’s been to and been through, she’s still smiling!! 🙂

“Do you ever work with cancer patients trying to get pregnant on a timed break off of Tamoxifen?,” my sister asked her.

Without hesitation, our gynecologist responded: “Yes! I have one patient right now who is on a timed break. She is currently 30 weeks pregnant!”

My sister beamed. So did our doctor. 🙂

During her examination, our doctor said my twin sister looked healthy as can be inside and out, especially after everything she’s been through.

We then went on to discussion of my twin sister’s baseline ovarian cancer screening, which involves a CA-125 blood test and a pelvic ultrasound. 

“Ovarian cancer screening isn’t great,” our gynecologist told us. “We are able to do a CA-125 blood test plus a pelvic ultrasound, but it’s not great at detecting ovarian cancers. Even if you get these annually or even every six months, ovarian cancer is likely to pop up in between exams–right now, 80% of ovarian cancers are found on physical exam or when symptoms are exhibited. But we’re going to screen you this way anyway. If we see an abnormal cyst on either of your ovaries or anything suspicious going on, we are going to look into it and, if necessary, go after your ovaries.” 

This was a sobering thought. Only 20% of ovarian cancers are detectable with a CA-125 blood test and ultrasound. Yikes! Not to mention, our gynecologist told us that CA-125 tests paired with pelvic ultrasounds sometimes create false-positives and ultimately don’t ultimately decrease death rates from ovarian cancer (a statement supported by Mayo Clinic research). This is because ovarian cancer is “sneaky”–often times when symptoms show themselves or it appears on physical exam it’s already at an advanced stage which makes it harder to treat.

So basically, the best prevention we can ask for is to remove our ovaries. But even so, our gynecologist agreed with the gynecologic oncologist I saw at Mayo Clinic Rochester earlier this year: “We can discuss removing your ovaries and/or fallopian tubes after you’ve had children. Not right now.”

So we wait, and we pray–for favorable test results, effective screening, and for the ability to have children naturally before ovarian cancer becomes an issue we need to address. God is good!

Here is my twin sister heading in to get her CA-125 blood test for ovarian cancer screening!

My twin sister’s baseline ovarian cancer screening results

My twin sister’s CA-125 levels are ready for interpretation in her patient portal, and her twin sister’s pelvic ultrasound was last Wednesday and results are forthcoming. Paired with the CA-125 results we eagerly anticipate some answers about what it all means!

As we left my twin sister’s baseline ovarian cancer screening appointment, we had to pose for a selfie outside of the hospital where they had pink fountains in honor of breast cancer awareness month!

Next steps

My twin sister made a joke recently that all she does is go to doctor’s appointments, which isn’t too far from the truth! We know she’s in good hands which is great, but it is a lot of mental and emotional energy to have to ramp up for all of these visits! Here are all of the ones she has planned for the next couple of months:

• Baseline ovarian screening results are to come back / be interpreted by her gynecologist this week sometime;
• She has a virtual video appointment with her oncologist on Friday about potentially starting an aromatase inhibitor instead of Tamoxifen;
• Her 9th infusion of T-DM1 is scheduled for Friday, November 6th; her 10th infusion of T-DM1 is scheduled for Friday, November 27th, or Black Friday / the day after Thanksgiving!; and her 11th infusion of T-DM1 is scheduled for Friday, December 18th, the same day my annual follow-up appointment with my Mayo Clinic Breast Clinic doctors is scheduled for!;
• She is also scheduled to follow up with her eye doctors in the city and at Mayo Clinic over the next couple of months in hopes her microcystic edema improves thanks to some eye drops she’s on.

Thank you for your continued prayers for her health and healing! God is good!!!!

In addition to eating healthy, my twin sister has done a great job staying active by walking on the treadmill, lifting weights, and playing pickleball! Here she is at the pickleball courts this month with her husband and their puppy, Gizmo!!

This blog post is the 31st in a series about my (and twin sister’s) preventative breast cancer screening journey that began when we were 30 years old in July 2019. Here is a list of all of the posts written about our journey at Mayo Clinic’s Breast Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to date. To keep tabs on new posts, sign up for the “A Daily Miracle” email list at this link.

Mietze is a gentle, shy and sweet, 12-year-old, ten-pound, female tuxedo tabby cat looking for a loving guardian.

Mietze was born in Berlin, Germany, and moved to Chicago with her diplomat parents four years ago. Sadly, they recently moved to Japan and couldn’t bring their cat with them.

Mietze is well-behaved in the home and uses her litter box perfectly. She has a favorite cat tree which is really the only place she scratches and that will come with her wherever she goes!

While she can easily share a home with other cats, she’d probably bond better with her humans if she’s the only feline. She’s currently living with multiple cats and really loves all the kittens that cycle through our rescue.

When she was relinquished to rescue, her best friend was the 21-year-old daughter whose family had adopted her when she was nine years old. They grew up together and they both took the separation hard.

She loves windowsills and cat trees, but she also likes to hide. She tends to choose one spot as an excellent spot for her daily meditation.

Sadly, she was adopted for a short time, but returned a couple days later because she hid too much. She does come out; she just needs time to acclimate!

She is a healthy senior, up-to-date on vaccines, spayed, microchipped and tested negative for viruses. She had full bloodwork done and had her teeth cleaned. She does take amlodipine daily for high blood pressure. She’s typically easy to medicate; in fact she begs for her daily pill pocket treat which hides her medication.

Mietze’s adoption fee of $100 benefits the rescued pets of Friends of Petraits Rescue.

If you’re interested in meeting and possibly adopting beautiful and sweet Mietze, please fill out an application at https://friendsofpetraits.com/dog-cat-adoption-application/.

She is currently being fostered in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood.

When a friend ended a get-together in a park with “I don’t know when I’ll see you next,” it took me a few seconds to realize why she said that: It may be too cold to meet outdoors again for many months. She hasn’t seen friends indoors since the pandemic struck.

Another friend who has been seeing her mother on her porch worries about how they’ll get together in the cold.

Back in March, I thought that if there was any silver lining in the pandemic, it was that it hit when spring was coming. Warm weather furthered a semblance of normality as we met people for walks and chats on park benches. Now we face five or six months of figuring out how to connect with family and friends who can’t or won’t walk on icy sidewalks and whose vulnerability to covid makes indoor visits risky. (I don’t expect we’ll all be vaccinated soon.)

I worry about whether my siblings and I will be able to visit our mother over the winter. Mom has been doing well, probably due in no small measure to seeing family and friends on the outdoor terrace of her assisted living building.

Before we were allowed to visit Mom outdoors, my feelings about her isolation were conflicted. Of course vulnerable elderly people need to be protected. But loneliness has been shown to be a health hazard on a par with obesity and smoking. Lower one risk, increase another.

My concerns abated once outdoor visits began in June. My brother, who lives a half-mile from Mom, has been visiting three times a week. My sisters and I stagger our visits so one of us goes every week.

After shivering through last Thursday’s visit, I called the facility’s director to ask about plans for cold-weather visits. She said that they’re waiting for Governor J. B. Pritzker to give the go-ahead for indoor visits.

Pritzker may resist relaxing restrictions on long-term care facilities when Illinois’s covid cases are increasing, but I hope that he looks at new federal recommendations and at what other states are doing.

In guidelines released last month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services urged nursing homes with no new covid cases for two weeks to accommodate indoor visitation. Assisted living homes generally follow nursing home guidance.

“CMS recognizes that physical separation from family and other loved ones has taken a significant toll” on residents, the announcement said. The guidance instructs facilities to “accommodate and support indoor visitation” as long as the county’s positivity rate is below 10 percent and preventive practices are followed. Many of the preventive practices — such as requiring masks, social distancing, and scheduling and limiting visits — are already in place for outdoor visitation.

Granted, CMS is part of the lax-about-covid Trump administration, but states led by Democratic governors have started to allow indoor visits at congregate-living facilities. According to information compiled by AARP, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nevada, and New York are among the states permitting indoor visits at residences that meet requirements.

If we can’t visit Mom indoors soon, I’ll push her home to help residents telechat on its computers. AARP is advocating for a federal requirement that homes support virtual visits between residents and families.

I don’t want to sound like Trump’s saying the cure can’t be worse than the disease, but emotional starvation is a health risk, too. As the cold weather arrives, we all need to determine — for ourselves and for loved ones who depend on us — how to replace the outdoor get-togethers that have kept up our spirits these last months.

If a senior citizen close to you lives in an assisted living or nursing home in Illinois, please think about contacting the governor’s office asking to be allowed to visit indoors.

*****

ANTI-TRUMP COMMENTS: 134TH IN AN ONGOING SERIES

“It’s got to end. It is dangerous, not just for me and my family but for public servants everywhere who are doing their jobs and trying to protect their fellow Americans.”

— Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, target of a right-wing kidnapping plot, accusing Trump of inciting domestic terrorism with his rhetoric

Celebrating my special needs daughter’s 21st birthday at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills was more amazing than I could have ever imagined. As the parent of a special needs child, it is challenging to think of what happens after my daughter leaves highschool, the school system, and enters the real world. There are no real answers and next steps that exist in that space. We are not always equipped to handle the challenges, but we must welcome out encounters and hopefully enjoy each birthday with a smile. 

This year, I decided to take my daughter away overnight. Because of the limited travel options based, it was important that we stay close to home. Nothing could have prepared us for the beautiful accommodations we received at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. My daughter Taylor was overjoyed to have a beautiful makeover, sit by the pool, and experience dinner the night of her birthday at the Culina Restaurant.

In the heart of Beverly Hills stands a city icon, buzzing with the energy and excitement of one of the most diverse destinations in the world. When you’re not out roaming the Hollywood Hills, shopping on Rodeo Drive and exploring our city’s notable art museums, settle in and unwind at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. Soak up the sun at our resort-style pool, savour award-winning Italian cuisine at Culina and discover a new level of wellness at our Spa – or in the comfort of your very own guest room.

I knew my daughter needed something special for her birthday. It wasn’t until I created a weekend getaway that I realized how important it was to give her more often. As a mom of a special needs 21 year old, there was so much to digest during our weekend getaway. It helped that we were staying at one of the best hotels in Los Angeles. 

“Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska issued a scathing takedown of President Trump during a telephone town hall with constituents, saying he cozied up to dictators and white supremacists.”  [Republican Sen. Ben Sasse]

Ben Sasse has lashed out against Trump who has bossed ‘im.

And if more step up it will certainly cost ‘im.

It ain’t all she wrote.

So let’s get out the vote

And we’ll be assured in a landslide we’ve tossed ‘im.

I normally come on here and share with you some general insight that has come to me through a challenge or issue that I have been faced with. Well, not today! 

Today I am just here to give y’all a quick little life update. 

And for those of you who are thinking, who cares? That is totally cool! Feel free to exit off of this page.

Anyway! You have all been following my journey here for quite some time. It seems crazy that it has been so long since I started this blog. I remember being a senior in high school trying to explain to you all my thoughts about picking a college, leaving my hometown, and starting a new chapter of my life. Since then we have had some time where I have taken a few breaks from writing to focus on my life and enjoy college. As well as sharing some insight into my overall college experience and eventually graduating and starting the next chapter of my life during COVID-19. 

You really have been here through it all. And the best part, we got a lot more life to go! But let’s not get ahead of ourselves and worry about the future – let’s focus on today. 

Today, I am content. For the first time in a very long time, I am okay with where I am, what I am doing, and where my life is headed. 

These last few months have been extremely challenging, which I have explained in previous posts. Having my senior year of college being torn away from me because of a global pandemic, having to move into my parent’s basement, looking for a job during a global pandemic, just being a 22 year old and dealing with normal 22-year-old things, and acclimating to this new way of COVID-19  ‘life’ was beyond challenging. I became discouraged and afraid. I had no idea what my future had in store for me or what my next step even was. But, I trusted myself and figured it out. 

And now I am here, content and genuinely happy. 

It took some time to get to this spot, but while I feel it I am trying to enjoy it. What do I mean by that? While I do have goals and aspirations that I want to someday reach – I am trying to focus on the word someday. And someday is not today. Understanding this allowed me to enjoy what is going on in my life now and appreciate it. 

I didn’t ever plan to come live back at home and work my first job here. However, I am now seeing it as a blessing. Not only have I been able to spend quality time with my family after being away at college for four years, but I also have been able to the comfortability of being home during this challenging time. The added bonus of having my best friends so close to me and being able to save money is kinda great!

While I know that this feeling of being content won’t last because I am the type of person to always search for my next adventure to conquer – I really am trying to just enjoy the happiness of now. The happiness of having started my career, growing as a person, loving my family time, and figuring out this ‘adulting’ thing with my best friends. 

This might all seem just a little cheesy, but oh well. If you know me personally you know that I have the tendency to dwell on the negative – but not today. Today I am happy!!

I’ve been watching our country hurting for so many reasons, and it hurt me to see… and feel it.

And, somehow, I started seeing our country as a person in pain, then an old friend.

Someone I hadn’t talked to in a while. Someone who needed someone.

Which is when I wrote Dear America,.

It’s for our country. And all of us.

Blog photo by Peter Aroner on Unsplash

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Contact me at [email protected]. Learn more about my writing, speaking and music at jameswarda.com.

Comments Note: All comments are reviewed. Any that are considered to be a personal attack or hate speech will be removed. In my blog, I always try to be respectful. I expect the same from my readers, both in responses to me, and about or to each other. And, again, thank you for reading.

@2001-2020, James R. Warda. All rights reserved.