By: Diane Benjamin My definition of fraud: being against some hate speech while ignoring others that don’t fit the agenda. I’ll never quit exposing Not In Our Town (NIOT) as frauds. Elected officials are threatened to sign their pledge—if they don’t, they’re inundated with calls and emails asking why they’re not against hate. NIOT isn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin At the 8/25/2025 Council meeting a LONG list of email public commenters was read. I FOIA’d the City for those emails in September. I received a response with EVERY NAME redacted. Of course that isn’t legal. Nobody at Council meetings makes an anonymous public comment. No one who emails the Council can […]
By: Diane Benjamin H/t a reader https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/local-news/community-fight-hate-bullying Not In Our Town doesn’t fight hate and bullying in Bloomington-Normal. They fight what THEY consider hate and bullying. Just in the last few months Not In Our Town said NOTHING about: NIOT are frauds and so is anyone who was coerced into signing their stupid pledge card. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The below was sent to me by a reader. Note Able’s 2021 post was on Mike Matejka’s group: Not In Our Town. If you stop by the NIOT Facebook page, it claims they exist to: stop hate, address bullying and build a safe, inclusive community. That isn’t true since nothing is posted about […]
By: Diane Benjamin Parents of students in Unit 5 consider this comment by Board Chair Alex Williams hate speech: . Alex Williams thinks Trump voters and Fox News viewers are the dregs of society. He thinks Christians are hypocrites. He thinks all white people are racist. A person willing to post this comment publicly is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Words like racist now have no meaning. Other words are rapidly suffering the same fate: Nazi, White Supremacist, Democracy, and Fascist. Throwing out labels where they don’t apply makes them immaterial and it proves those who use them are incapable of independent thought. Example: . Many people today have no idea what […]
By: Diane Benjamin Details for my Public Comment at the 9/8/2025 City Council meeting: Criminal Damage to Property because of political ideology is a HATE CRIME. Where is Not In Our Town? I am not going to identify where this property is to prevent further harm to the homeowner. It is on a major Bloomington […]
By: Diane Benjamin This is Part 1, a short Part 2 is next. Last night’s festivities were full of misinformation by citizen speakers. Of course that’s why the 1st Amendment exists. It’s vitally important for all people to have free speech and the ability to address their government. Public Comment had to be extended over […]
By: Diane Benjamin Agenda: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1021/files/agenda/6725 Justin Boyd is getting a Proclamation for serving 9 years on the Planning Commission. The documentation doesn’t say if he’s leaving or if he’s just being celebrated. My question: Is Bloomington better now because of his ‘Planning” than it was 9 years ago? Guess what’s back! . TEN YEARS ago […]
By: Diane Benjamin Using “Paint” is just an easy way to highlight whatever I want highlighted. These are some choices for highlighting: . See the story below from the local FAR leftists, Monday mornings need laughs. I bet they haven’t called “Paint” antisemitic for making the star an option. That’s all they’ve got? 😂🤣😁 https://www.niot.org/blog/bloomington-normal-responds-when-candidates-are-targeted […]
By: Diane Benjamin I found the mis/dis information last night the League of Women Voters is seeking to expose. Their members need to watch the Live Stream of the Bloomington Township meeting on the Edgar County Watchdogs Facebook page. Maybe LWV voters can ask the 28 people who voted to put the anti-Israel question on […]
By: Diane Benjamin The only “political games” being played are by the Biden administration who opened the borders to create chaos. Pritzker blames Republicans, specifically the Texas governor who has sent a tiny percent of his illegals north to states and cities who SAID they are sanctuary cities! Who is lying JB? Did JB remove Illinois sanctuary status? […]
By: Diane Benjamin Quite a show last night! Two hours of liberals calling Chuck Erickson all kinds of names, claiming the ordinance was an election stunt, and spouting false information about what the ordinance would have done. All it said is TAXPAYERS (you) won’t be forced to pay for housing and food for illegals who arrive on buses […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Public Safety and Community Relations Board (PSCRB) in conjunction with Not In Our Town conducted a survey concerning the Bloomington police and what citizens want in the next police chief. The PSCRB held a meeting Thursday, the survey was discussed. Mike Matejka (who voted yes to building the Coliseum when he […]
By: Diane Benjamin Consider: Alderman Jenn Carrillo wanted a “discussion” on defunding the police at the last Council meeting while presenting no evidence other than it’s trendy. Carrillo obviously hasn’t seen the crime statistics in cities that have taken money from the police. You can see here: https://washingtonwatch.org/democrat-run-cities-that-voted-to-defund-the-police-now-face-soaring-violent-crime-rates/ Other far left groups in Bloomington are […]
By: Diane Benjamin One lesson I learned years ago was: Get the facts before writing If you think facts come from the Main Stream Media you are wrong. They print propaganda for the Democrat Party, not truth. I’ve deleted many comments because quoting their facts is just what media wants you to do. Truth is […]
By: Diane Benjamin If written many stories about the Art and Camille Taylor incident, they are all linked in this story along with the body cam videos: https://blnnews.com/2020/08/08/was-art-taylor-attempting-to-incite-something/ More information has been received by FOIA after an earlier FOIA obviously didn’t produce all of the documents involved. It was filed by John Boch. Start with […]
By: Diane Benjamin Police reports: The Art and Camille Taylor incident These reports were received by the Edgar County Watchdogs, they forwarded them to me. If you missed all the previous stories these reports have the same information as the body cam videos. This story has links to all the previous stories and videos: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/24/in-support-of-art-and-camille-taylor-3-0-the-entire-police-interview/ […]
By: Diane Benjamin See both previous stories at this link: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/23/in-support-of-art-and-camille-taylor/ . Art Taylor, in his four-page screed complaining of his treatment during the incident closes with this: Not being accorded the respect of the “benefit of the doubt” is what hurts the most, and that is why citizens of color feel like there are […]
By: Diane Benjamin Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/17/racism-claimed-where-non-existed/ In spite of the title – this story is not “In Support of Art and Camille Taylor”. Below is the heavily redacted video released by the City of Bloomington of the incident described in the previous story. Why is it vital to know what really happened? Art […]
The body cam video has not been released. Rest assured, it will be! By: Diane Benjamin When only one side of the story is flashed all over Facebook it’s easy to assume facts that aren’t facts. Of course Mike Matejka of Not In Our Town jumped all over this claiming racism is real. Here is […]
By: Diane Benjamin I reported in this story one of the “peaceful” protesters was arrested for looting. https://blnnews.com/2020/06/09/ironic-isnt-it/ Evidently she wasn’t the only protester turned looter: h/t: a reader I wonder if the “peaceful” Sonny has turned over names to the police? Another post from Sonny’s “peaceful” page: Miller Park doesn’t have a statue of […]
By: Diane Benjamin The left is famous for “never enough”. Whatever goals they achieve they want more. The local police were supposedly so bad a civilian police review board (PSCRB) had to be established. It took forever before they investigated one complaint – they determined the police did nothing wrong. They had meetings, printed flyers […]
By: Diane Benjamin It probably isn’t possible that you missed yesterday’s story, but in case you did: https://blnnews.com/2020/05/09/chris-koos-taunts-protestors/ If you need more proof that Not In Town Town is a joke to silence free speech, keep reading. From the NIOT Facebook page – written by Matejka himself: Mike’s mission isn’t to stop bullying if the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The picture below is from the Facebook page of the downtown Bloomington business that holds Drag Queen story hour for kids. Can anybody honestly say this is not an attempt to sexualize children? Note the names of books they are reading to the kids. There aren’t other life lessons as told […]
Unless something changes before their news tonight – WEEK TV – Channel 25 will be playing the Tari Renner video. I’m told they have contacted him for a comment. I do not know which news broadcast it will be on. The story I did was put on the local Not In Town Facebook page. It […]
By: Diane Benjamin Meeting docs: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/31937 In this story about Bloomington spending: https://blnnews.com/2019/01/26/bloomington-bills-for-monday/ I listed 4 payments to the EDC for $1600 each. It looks like Renner, Buragas, Mathy, and Tyus won the One Voice trip this year to Washington DC. Buragas is leaving the Council April 30th and Tyus is the brand new Assistant […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal needs to immediately kick Mike Matejka off their Planning Commission: http://www.normal.org/401/Planning-Commission Matejka is still spreading hate on the Not In Our Town Facebook page: The entire premise of the story is based on the false narrative of what happen. Matejka evidently only gets his news from far left-wing […]
By: Diane Benjamin Not In Our Town has done nothing to correct the #FakeNews on their Facebook page. The hateful comments below are still on their page with no apologizes. Obviously this Facebook page only exists to create dissension. Videos of what really happened are all over the internet. On this Martin Luther King day, […]
Main stream media is now backtracking their reporting. This story has interviews with the kids: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/01/interview-parents-and-students-from-covington-catholic-demand-apology-from-diocese/ First hand account from the guy wearing the MAGA hat: https://www.toddstarnes.com/campus/catholic-teen-responds-i-will-not-stand-for-this-mob-like-character-assassination-of-my-familys-name/ By: Diane Benjamin Saul Alinsky tactics are alive and well in Bloomington-Normal. Not In Our Town pretends to fight against discrimination and bigotry, but more often they are […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Local Black Lives Matter group is raising money to get somebody out of jail for Christmas. Remember when they did the Mother’s Day and Father’s bailouts? Maybe it’s just me, but keeping people from getting arrested by teaching them laws matter would be a better approach. Everything in stores is more […]
By: Diane Benjamin Ms. Lunny just published a story on the Jenn Carrillo violence post and didn’t mention where the Pantagraph found it. I know where she found it: I have this sweet little program linked to my website that tells me where reads are from. Above are two of the reads, I know there […]
See bottom of story for update. By: Diane Benjamin Remember when City hall was packed with people wanting citizens to oversee the Police? Remember this new Board supposedly only had the power to review cases after all other remedy within the Police Department was exhausted? The Public Safety Community Review Board was the first wedge […]
By: Diane Benjamin Government should operate on facts, not feelings. The illegal immigration issue won’t be solved in Bloomington for the same reason it isn’t solved in DC. It has nothing to do with people not being able to make decisions. They have decided: To some laws matter, to others they don’t. The people camping […]
Let’s deface public property! Yes, that’s City Hall. I’m told it says: Separate ICE and the police not immigrants Now everybody can draw on City Hall since nothing happened to these folks!
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday a lot people rallied in downtown Bloomington to force government to limit 2nd Amendment rights. Tonight the radicals are rallying to force a vote on protecting people living in Bloomington illegally. They will show up at Council tomorrow night. One of these radicals is raising money to move to a new […]
By: Diane Benjamin This will be an anti-Trump event: No peace if they don’t their way? . . . . . . . . Only supporters are welcome: The Trump haters will be there demanding laws be ignored. I wonder why illegals and those who have over-stayed their visas want to stay in a country […]
By: Diane Benjamin Not In Our Town didn’t care when the mayor of Bloomington abused numerous citizens with vile comments. They didn’t care when he attacked an elected alderman. He used his position to intimidate people with different opinions. How is that any different than Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, and Harvey Weinstein? Because sex isn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin Not In Our Town only means some people in town are not allowed to have opinions. Any mention of ILLEGAL and immigrant together could lead to public flogging! Laws aren’t meant to be obeyed, it all in how one “feels”. NIOT proved who they really are the first time Tari attacked me […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is what the YWCA sent to elected officials. They left out the word “illegal” when describing the real agenda. Americans do not have a problem with LEGAL immigrants. Sneaking into a country or over-staying a visa means that person has no respect for laws or citizens. They are thinking only about […]
