Why Choice is an Illusion?

Thursday, June 5, 2025

Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia Stalled in Illinois Senate

https://www.cilfm.com/2025/06/04/aid-in-dying-bill-stalls-in-illinois-senate-after-lengthy-house-debate

By Jim Talamonti, Illinois Radio Network

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (IRN) — Aid-in-dying [assisted suicide and euthanasia] legislation remains at the Illinois Statehouse after it failed to clear the Illinois Senate before legislators adjourned for the summer.

Lawmakers spent well over an hour on the House floor last week discussing an amended version of Senate Bill 1950, which was initially introduced as “sanitary food preparation” legislation.

SB 1950 took language from Senate Bill 9, or the End-of-Life Options for Terminally-Ill Patients Act, which was introduced by state Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora. Legislators previously spent time debating SB 9 in committee.

House members voted in favor of SB 1950 last Thursday, but senators did not take up the measure before the spring legislative session ended over the weekend.

Black, White and Moving On

Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. I’d like to talk about a more sensitive topic today, and that’s this new appearance or this growing—I would call it—reverse racism or racism among some left-wing elite black leaders, politicians, celebrities. I’ll give you a few examples.

Not long ago Susan Rice, the former top official in the Obama administration, was removed from the Defense Policy Board. That’s a group of grandees that advise the Defense Department. They’re political appointments. And traditionally, when a new president comes in, they get rid of most of the prior Defense Policy Board because they feel they’re partisans.

And in the case of Susan Rice, she was appointed in a late appointment by then-President Joe Biden, who pretty much wiped out all of the Trump appointments. So, her dismissal by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was not unusual.

And yet, she fired back at him and said he was dumb as a rock and ultra-MAGA. But what was interesting, she said, “white male, cisgender.” In other words, she attacked his race. And she said her administration would’ve fired him for the Signal chat scandal. But of course, she was the one that came out on Sunday talk shows and lied five times about the disaster in Benghazi, among other things later in her career. But why inject race into it?

At almost the same period, we had a number of Afrikaners—I should say a very small number, about 60 people—asked for refugee status, felt they had been endangered by black-on-white violence, which is demonstrable and beyond controversy in South Africa. And President Donald Trump allowed them to come in as refugees. And of course, during the prior administration, thousands of people came in as refugees. But because, apparently, they were white, this caused a storm of criticism.

Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Euthanasia Enthusiast Kills Himself After Arrest for Aiding and Abetting Woman's Death in Sarco Suicide Pod

    A well-known euthanasia activist [pictured here] has died by suicide months after his arrest in connection with the first recorded use of a Sarco suicide pod.

    Florian Willet, 47, was arrested last year in Switzerland following the death of a 64-year-old American woman who used the nitrogen-filled device to end her life in a remote cabin. He was accused of aiding and abetting suicide and, initially, strangulation.

    He was released from custody in December after officials ruled out intentional homicide. The experience left Willet emotionally distraught, according to those who knew him.

    His death by suicide was confirmed last month by Dr. Philip Nitschke, the director of Exit International, the group that developed the Sarco pods. Willet led The Last Resort, a partner organization that advocates for euthanasia rights.

    “Gone was his warm smile and self-confidence. In its place was a man who seemed deeply traumatized by the experience of incarceration and the wrongful accusation of strangulation,” Nitschke told Dutch outlet Volkskrant.

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

We Mourn the Death of Stephen Mendelsohn

By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC).*

The amazing genius and focused disability activist, Stephen Mendelsohn, age 63 [pictured right], worked tirelessly to oppose assisted suicide as a member of Second Thoughts Connecticut and as a member of the EPC - USA board, has died.

According to a media report Stephen Mendelsohn died when he was hit by a car on Sunday evening (June 1).

Mendelsohn was an incredible researcher. He would read through legislative texts and uncover specific language variations that may not have been noticed immediately. Also, the interventions that he wrote opposing assisted suicide bills often used new talking points and ways to oppose killing by assisted suicide.

Allen West: A Rendezvous with Destiny

The title of this missive comes from the motto of the 101st Airborne Division, the famed “Screaming Eagles.” The motto comes from a speech given on August 16, 1942, as the 101st Airborne Division was activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. Its first Commanding General, Major General William C. Lee, noted that the Division had no history, but that it had a “rendezvous with destiny.” The General also said that the new Division would habitually be called into action when the need was “immediate and extreme” and that it would fall on its enemies like a thunderbolt from the skies.