tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71834474612059767392024-03-17T22:03:20.524-05:00DemoCurmudgeonListen to the John & Gordy Show on WMDX 92.7 FM...John Peterson (victim/hostage).Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.comBlogger13901125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-73092660102139697942024-02-29T19:56:00.001-06:002024-02-29T19:58:53.797-06:00WI Republicans Spending Spree on Attorneys, Chesebro is the BadgerPundit, Nazi CPAC Meet, WHITE RURAL RAGE, the book.<p> Just another page in the Trump era...</p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold", sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;">1. Lame Duck Laws by Lame Gerrymandered
Republicans. </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">WI
Republicans not only took power away from the governor and AG during a lame duck
session after Scott Walker lost, but they also allowed themselves to hire their
own attorneys instead of the state justice department. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif"></span></p><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;"><a href="Redistricting suits could fuel increase in Legislature’s legal tab - WisPolitics" target="_blank">WI
GOP's lame duck </a>laws made it easier for the Legislature to hire attorneys and
indeed, WI taxpayers are on the hook for nearly $14.3M spent by WI GOP on
private attorneys between 1/1/19 & 12/31/22. Add probably $3M more for this
last redistricting fight.</span></i></blockquote><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">While the Dems have only just hired their private attorneys:</span></p><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>It must be highlighted that only in this last redistricting fight did Democrats hire their own private lawyers—at a fraction of what WI GOP attorneys charged. And WI GOP experts, like the redistricting one paid $450/hr, are additional out-of-pocket costs.</blockquote></span></i><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">Another
amazing example of “fiscal conservative policies.” Then there's this...<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3v7ixZ_i1FRagDHZFUPPqN8cJVVhG4FdMuCaRf9EUS41Bkuj0VSga5jv879RXWRuxQS2y6Bs2N-iN3VtBD0M7J7Bbt8ZHLdxN-LBv4bo1i1WAMptU_cM6Nuojjj2rsWOA7o1mWZ6VqjgoZEmhvXqQhuctQOCOzmAeqiG9AhJLkA4KEUUMhK7FpLpN/s681/Dems%20Private%20Attorneys%20bill.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="681" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3v7ixZ_i1FRagDHZFUPPqN8cJVVhG4FdMuCaRf9EUS41Bkuj0VSga5jv879RXWRuxQS2y6Bs2N-iN3VtBD0M7J7Bbt8ZHLdxN-LBv4bo1i1WAMptU_cM6Nuojjj2rsWOA7o1mWZ6VqjgoZEmhvXqQhuctQOCOzmAeqiG9AhJLkA4KEUUMhK7FpLpN/w400-h130/Dems%20Private%20Attorneys%20bill.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold", sans-serif" style="font-size: 16pt;">2. Kenneth Chesebro's private Twitter account
@badgerpundit sought to overturn the election. Okay?</span></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">Do
you call it an insurrection? Uh, yea.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif"></span></p><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;">Kenneth
Chesebro, who helped devise the Trump campaign’s fake electors plot, concealed
a secret Twitter account from Michigan prosecutors, hiding dozens of posts that
undercut his statements to investigators about his role in the scheme.</span></i></blockquote><o:p></o:p><p></p></div><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRXh6BkZpbgxCCt2_jthZT-Ps0qUWdu08x66oxABkWnCTJiCoEYFfJVjOqCxH9WVCpAwwEhD3_Op6B4GSnbpYXb5g9scspR9YasEieuYEmA8Zi1EaVmjHK0RVrc-dUn0ij6q8UzQkF8YeSLJvTDiEY5rR2wAgcRviF-3GIyAq9myEOj-BiPHJ_okBf/s578/Chesebro%20final.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="578" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRXh6BkZpbgxCCt2_jthZT-Ps0qUWdu08x66oxABkWnCTJiCoEYFfJVjOqCxH9WVCpAwwEhD3_Op6B4GSnbpYXb5g9scspR9YasEieuYEmA8Zi1EaVmjHK0RVrc-dUn0ij6q8UzQkF8YeSLJvTDiEY5rR2wAgcRviF-3GIyAq9myEOj-BiPHJ_okBf/s320/Chesebro%20final.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;">3. Nazis at CPAC know where their swastikas are welcome...</span><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">BREAKING: Despite vehement denials to the contrary, NBC News has produced RECEIPTS that Nazis were openly mingling at the CPAC event this weekend, who flashed the Nazi solute and "espoused antisemitic conspiracy theories."<br /><br />🚨Make sure everyone sees this.<a href="https://t.co/RiZZjlxx8f">pic.twitter.com/RiZZjlxx8f</a></p>— Really American 🇺🇸 (@ReallyAmerican1) <a href="https://twitter.com/ReallyAmerican1/status/1762167588719636891?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><span style="font-size: large;">4. WHITE RURAL RAGE, the book: </span></div><div><br /></div>Professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Tom Schaller and journalist Paul Waldman's new book, <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/morning-joe-guests-demonize-white-204145149.html" target="_blank">“White Rural Rage.”</a><br /><br />You might remember back in 2016, The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker by author Katherine J. Cramer.<br /><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>White Rural Rage laid out the fourfold interconnected threat that white rural voters pose to the country,” in their new book. “They are the most anti-gay, xenophobic in the country. QAnon support and subscribers, COVID denialism, Obama birtherism.” <br /><br />“They don’t believe in an independent press, free speech. They’re most likely to say the president should be backed unilaterally without checks from the courts, and the strongest white Christian nationalists. Fourth, they’re most likely to excuse or justify violence as acceptable.” <br /><br />This is the case due to the “problematic education systems,” “poorer infrastructure” and “a lack of economic opportunity” in rural areas of the country. <br /><br />“That kind of left them open to someone like Donald Trump who would come along and tell them something that was true, that there is a system that has not served them well,”</blockquote></span></i><div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rcsxO6rbhlI?si=I0PZnUEtYmvWuilN" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">5. Florida College Hit With Rare Sanction After DeSantis’ ‘Egregious’ Takeover, that was politically motivated. </span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-college-hit-rare-sanction-215423949.html" target="_blank">NewCollege of Florida</a>, the school infamously overhauled by Gov. Ron DeSantis and
his pals, was slapped with a rare sanction by a national faculty group Monday
for “egregious and extensive” standards violations during its conservative
takeover last year.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif;">The
American Association of University Professors, has placed just 12 other
universities on its sanctioned list over the last three decades.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif;">The
nonprofit wrote in a report that its decision stemmed from New College’s
“unprecedented politically motivated takeover.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif;">DeSantis
praised the moves as necessary to save the school from ruin, even though it
regularly pumped out Fulbright scholars.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif;">LeRoy
Pernell, a Florida A&M Law professor said,</span> <span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif;">“What we are witnessing in Florida is an
intellectual reign of terror. There is a tremendous sense of dread right now,
not just among faculty; it’s tangible among students and staff as well. People
are intellectually and physically scared. We are being named an enemy of the
state.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /></div>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-70962819811656557032024-02-29T19:05:00.004-06:002024-02-29T19:51:50.870-06:00MUST SEE: What Trump's American will really look like...<p>The Heritage Foundation's work on Project 2025 is a long read, so in an attempt to get the word out on our possible dystopian future, the Courier Newsroom has a number of videos that break it all down. Here's just one great example:</p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C14ceOnLAAs/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 0px 0px 1px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 1px 10px 0px; margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0px; width: calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding: 16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C14ceOnLAAs/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; width: 100%;" target="_blank"> <div style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0px;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0px auto 12px; width: 50px;"><svg height="50px" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 60 60" width="50px" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g fill-rule="evenodd" fill="none" stroke-width="1" stroke="none"><g fill="#000000" transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0px;"></div> <div style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px;"><div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px); width: 12.5px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12.5px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 14px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px); width: 12.5px;"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div> <div style="border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); border-top: 2px solid transparent; 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line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0px 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C14ceOnLAAs/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by COURIER (@couriernewsroom)</a></p></div></blockquote> <script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-31204217496591682972024-02-21T17:48:00.002-06:002024-02-21T17:48:08.643-06:00Christian Nationalism is spreading.<p><b><span style="font-size: large;">1. </span></b><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold", sans-serif" style="font-size: 18pt;"><b>Gather Around the Christian Nationalist
Flag…</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="color: #073763;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif"></span></span></i></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="color: #073763;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">Trump’s
team is preparing to fundamentally reshape America under their “Project 2025”
plan, starting with declaring America is now a “Christian nationalist” country.</span>
<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif" style="color: #073763;"><i>Christian
nationalists believe the country was founded as a Christian nation, and
Christian values should be prioritized throughout government and public life.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif"><i><span style="color: #073763;">Russell
Vought, who served under Trump could be a potential chief of staff for Trump.</span></i></span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif"><i><span style="color: #073763;"></span></i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif" style="color: red;">A list of top priorities</span></b><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">---invoking
the Insurrection Act on Day One to quash protests.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">---
refusing to spend authorized congressional funds on unwanted projects.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">---promoted
a restrictionist immigration agenda, saying a person’s background doesn’t
define who can enter the U.S., but rather, citing Biblical teachings, whether
that person “accept[ed] Israel’s God, laws and understanding of history.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">---Christian
nationalist William Wolfe, a former Trump administration official advocated for
overturning same-sex marriage, ending abortion and reducing access to
contraceptives.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">---a
constellation of conservative groups run by Trump allies constructed a detailed
plan to dismantle key agencies, that states “freedom is defined by God, not
man.” NOT THE CONSTITUTION.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">---Trump
is espousing the Christian right’s long-running argument that Christians are so
severely persecuted that it necessitates a federal response.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span face="Arial Rounded MT Bold, sans-serif">---“Marxists
and fascists” are “going hard” against Catholics, so “Upon taking office, I
will create a new federal task force on fighting anti-Christian bias to be led
by a fully reformed Department of Justice that’s fair and equitable.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">---Trump
promoted on his social media a video that suggests his campaign is, actually, a
divine mission from God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">God
made Trump <o:p></o:p></span><span face="Arial Rounded MT Bold, sans-serif">audio.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">---define
human rights based on “natural law and natural rights” derived from God that
can’t be superseded by government or judges. It’s been used to oppose abortion,
LGBTQ+ rights and contraception.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">---Trump
is also talking about bringing his former national security adviser Michael
Flynn, a vocal proponent of Christian nationalism, back into office. Flynn is
currently focused on recruiting what he calls an “Army of God” — as he
barnstorms the country promoting his vision of putting Christianity at the
center of American life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">---William_E_Wolfe’s
principles, including on immigration states: “Jesus Christ wasn’t an
open-borders socialist. The Bible unapologetically upholds the concept of
sovereign nations.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span face="Arial Rounded MT Bold, sans-serif">---Vought
defended the widely criticized practice of family separation at the border
during the Trump years, telling the audience “The decision to defend the rule
of law necessitates the separation of families.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">---policies
that support LGBTQ+ rights, subsidize “single-motherhood” and penalize marriage
should be repealed because subjective notions of “gender identity” threaten
“Americans’ fundamental liberties.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">---organized
campaigns around “culture war” issues, including curbing LGBTQ+ rights, banning
books and opposing gun safety laws.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif">---Matthew
Taylor, a scholar at the Institute for Christian Jewish Studies, said, “These
folks aren’t as interested in democracy or working through democratic systems because
their theology is one of Christian warfare.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif" style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%;"><b>2. ‘God & Country' Review: A Bracing, Rob
Reiner-Produced Primer on the Dangers of Christian Nationalism.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif" style="color: #073763;"><i><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/reviews/god-country-review-a-bracing-rob-reiner-produced-primer-on-the-dangers-of-christian-nationalism/ar-BB1ilHT6?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&cvid=d1b228016e30432690a093d84191fa62&ei=68" target="_blank">Thefilm points out</a> in exhaustive detail, Christian Nationalism is very much a
political, rather than religious, movement. The movement claims that America is
a Christian nation and that the founders intended it as such. It seeks to roll
back feminism, LBGTQ rights and abortion, and to either introduce Christianity
to public schools or substitute them with private Christian schools funded by vouchers.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif" style="color: #073763;"><i>That
a large majority of the population opposes these things doesn't faze them in
the least. But it does motivate them to prevent people from voting.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif"><i><span style="color: #073763;">The
film ends where it began, with footage of Jan. 6 insurrectionists proudly
bearing crosses, signs emblazoned with bible verses, and pictures of Jesus.
What it doesn't provide, unfortunately, is a persuasive prescription for how
we're going to prevent our country from descending from democracy to theocracy.</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><b>3. Heritage Foundation Integrates religion into Sex...not having it!</b></span></p>
</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">If Democrats can't defeat a party that wants to end recreational sex then I give up <a href="https://t.co/X8xfuDzbje">https://t.co/X8xfuDzbje</a></p>— Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) <a href="https://twitter.com/Will_Bunch/status/1760022710472581218?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-65689301067675974142024-02-20T15:46:00.000-06:002024-02-20T15:46:08.406-06:00A Media Defamation Law would be Right-wing Media's biggest Enemy but go-ahead Florida.Once a conservative now a progressive pundit Bruce Bartlett remarked: <div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>“The right spent the last 50 years building an alternative media to get out its message, while the left has doggedly relied solely on the legacy media. As the legacy media has collapsed, the right's media has remained strong, while the left's ability to communicate has died."</blockquote></span></i>Well, that might change soon in Florida:<br /><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>A GOP-backed defamation bill making it easier to sue the media in Florida will 'destroy conservative media,' says on conservative radio host</blockquote></span></i>Supposedly, Florida aims to hold the liberal media accountable. <br /><br />But right-wing radio host lie all the time. They don’t see a problem with this. <br /><br />This conservative radio host never admits right wing radio hosts lie… But he is freaking out because he knows it's true…<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-US/news/politics/gopbacked-defamation-bill-in-florida-will-destroy-conservative-media-radio-host-warns/ar-BB1izbT6?ocid=socialshare" target="_blank">in his own words:</a><br /><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>“Liberal trial lawyers are going to have a field day with “center-right” media in the state of Florida, it will destroy conservative media in this state.”</blockquote></span></i>Why, because they Lie.<br /><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>“How do you think a conservative show host is gonna hold up in deep blue Broward County with liberal judges. I believe that Republicans are acting like liberals in the way that they are legislating out of emotion. They're not thinking. They're reacting. Liberals don't even care about winning. They care about burying the voices. They care about censoring conservative voices.”</blockquote></span></i>Because they can’t stop lying? He said,<br /><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;">“They want to shut down conservative media. And the Republicans are creating a law that would make it easier for them to do so."</span></i></blockquote>Because conservative media can’t stop lying. <br /><br />This will be fun to watch, if not a little on the chaotic side.</div>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-70230096019343283092024-02-20T15:38:00.000-06:002024-02-20T15:38:23.202-06:00John & Gordy Show: Pentagon Sense of Humor, AI voices against Guns, MAGAs part with their money, Tenn. to Ban Cold Beer? <p> A look at the John & Gordy Show on WMDX 92.7 Monday....</p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">1. PENTAGON CONFRONTED WITH MOVIE CHARACTER COMPARISONS TO REAL WORLD VILLAINS: </span></p><p class="MsoNormal">As the TWEET X said: "This actually happened at the Pentagon briefing yesterday.
It is real. It really happened. Maj. Gen. Ryder @PentagonPresSec…." Who doesn't like this Maj. General now?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Context here…..Jeff Schogol<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is a reporter for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>@TaskandPurpose,
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> a</span> news, culture and analysis site for
the military community.<o:p></o:p></p>The audio starts with reporter Jeff Schogol's first question, and about 1 minute 5 sec. in his 2nd question:<p></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Updating the <a href="https://twitter.com/JSchogol73030?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JSchogol73030</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TaskandPurpose?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TaskandPurpose</a> supercut montage to include NEW references yesterday to James Bond and Red Dawn movies ... with special Gen X-flavored appearances and responses by Maj. Gen. Ryder <a href="https://twitter.com/PentagonPresSec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PentagonPresSec</a><br /><br />cc: <a href="https://twitter.com/ColbyBadhwar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ColbyBadhwar</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/brikeilarcnn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@brikeilarcnn</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/dave_brown24?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dave_brown24</a> <a href="https://t.co/XBqyVDWyby">pic.twitter.com/XBqyVDWyby</a></p>— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) <a href="https://twitter.com/HowardMortman/status/1758679173306953732?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><p><span style="font-size: large;">2. <span>AI VOICES OF TEENAGERS COMING BACK TO HAUNT REPUBLICANS:</span> </span></p><p>One of the most incredible responses yet by parents of children killed by assault weapons. If this doesn't get a politicians attention, nothing will. Horrifying, sad, and giving a voice to those who can no longer be heard...</p><i><span style="color: #073763;"></span></i><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;"><a href="https://www.engadget.com/their-children-were-shot-so-they-used-ai-to-recreate-their-voices-and-call-lawmakers-003832488.html" target="_blank">ENGADGET:</a> Their children were shot, so they used AI to recreate their voices and call lawmakers.</span></i><div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Guardian TextEgyp", serif; font-size: 18.005px;">The parents of a teenager who was killed in Florida’s Parkland school shooting in 2018 have started a bold new project called The Shotline to lobby for stricter gun laws in the country. The Shotline uses AI to recreate the voices of children killed by gun violence and send recordings through automated calls to lawmakers, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Guardian TextEgyp", serif; font-size: 18.005px;">The Wall Street Journal</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Guardian TextEgyp", serif; font-size: 18.005px;"> </span><a class="link" data-i13n="elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:1;pos:1" data-rapid_p="12" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:reported;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:1;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai-brings-back-voices-of-children-killed-in-shootings-7d72cb8d" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(154, 88, 181); border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; font-family: "Guardian TextEgyp", serif; font-size: 18.005px;" target="_blank">reported</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Guardian TextEgyp", serif; font-size: 18.005px;">.</span></span></i></div><div><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Guardian TextEgyp, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.005px;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Guardian TextEgyp", serif; font-size: 18.005px;">“I’m back today because my parents used AI to recreate my voice to call you,” says the AI-generated voice of Joaquin Oliver, one of the teenagers killed in the Parkland shooting. “Other victims like me will be calling too.” At the time of publishing, more than 8,000 AI calls had been submitted to lawmakers through the website.</span><span style="font-family: Guardian TextEgyp, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.005px;"><br /></span></span></span></i><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h3VZjuttZbQ?si=GmNfo0yZY2190Mgh" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p></div></blockquote><div><p><span style="font-size: large;">3. MAGA Cult willingly give what little money they have, living paycheck to paycheck, to pay for this former grifting president? Sure, it will happen...watch the coffers fill. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUFbIgL81bm3EqLf84pI-kqYJjoeM7FvjJeFGO9MY56TBdkLHcZRswgRtaTNPYEZZsZh6T64xI_ywZZhyphenhyphenafCQRA1CtcZvZYRGfjSqGEsU5bfhf4PvhNmjSpjmT8BEgTFu25ILYvK3lVZ53aNG96BBEt7-F9x6Omp4kjpgz-FVahsxth_sV50SM8ny5/s886/Screenshot_20240217_095603_X.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="886" data-original-width="740" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUFbIgL81bm3EqLf84pI-kqYJjoeM7FvjJeFGO9MY56TBdkLHcZRswgRtaTNPYEZZsZh6T64xI_ywZZhyphenhyphenafCQRA1CtcZvZYRGfjSqGEsU5bfhf4PvhNmjSpjmT8BEgTFu25ILYvK3lVZ53aNG96BBEt7-F9x6Omp4kjpgz-FVahsxth_sV50SM8ny5/w534-h640/Screenshot_20240217_095603_X.png" width="534" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIHape9pAnKBm2PeqO8NtEIoSM-HXRvXR_XVs5WbKCQY0q_gzzumBYaavtcjbn-cRgsoiqgRL-cCroN7QOm0q_BMuoAizAVEzGCNnSCZIJodMDPwWW1eeq-2qc61QrIZ4OR6w3BCCzzhm_TTZggotjOyPRP9Y4k7nikdhSIXkxk3OwzLKCUo0131ip/s440/Suport%20for%20Trump%20million%20dollar%20fund%20raising.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="231" data-original-width="440" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIHape9pAnKBm2PeqO8NtEIoSM-HXRvXR_XVs5WbKCQY0q_gzzumBYaavtcjbn-cRgsoiqgRL-cCroN7QOm0q_BMuoAizAVEzGCNnSCZIJodMDPwWW1eeq-2qc61QrIZ4OR6w3BCCzzhm_TTZggotjOyPRP9Y4k7nikdhSIXkxk3OwzLKCUo0131ip/s320/Suport%20for%20Trump%20million%20dollar%20fund%20raising.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(You can't make this kind of grifting up!!!)</div><br /><p><span style="font-size: large;">4. TENNESSEE MAY BAN THE SALE OF...COLD BEER? </span></p><p>I know, having an overwhelming super majority in the Tennessee legislature and having a governor willing to sign every bill, it would be tempting to exercise power that would stretch past the boundaries of reality, but who would have guessed this...in the words of reporter Phil Williams:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Yes, in Tennessee, there is a debate over cold beer! <a href="https://t.co/5oR2fJdN1K">https://t.co/5oR2fJdN1K</a></p>— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) <a href="https://twitter.com/NC5PhilWilliams/status/1758344318215979237?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>5. </span><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold", sans-serif">‘God & Country' Review: A Bracing, Rob
Reiner-Produced Primer on the Dangers of Christian Nationalism.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif"><i><span style="color: #073763;">The
film points out in exhaustive detail, Christian Nationalism is very much a
political, rather than religious, movement. The movement claims that America is
a Christian nation and that the founders intended it as such. It seeks to roll
back feminism, LBGTQ rights and abortion, and to either introduce Christianity
to public schools or substitute them with private Christian schools funded by vouchers.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif"><i><span style="color: #073763;">That
a large majority of the population opposes these things doesn't faze them in
the least. But it does motivate them to prevent people from voting.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span face=""Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif"><i><span style="color: #073763;">The
film ends where it began, with footage of Jan. 6 insurrectionists proudly
bearing crosses, signs emblazoned with bible verses, and pictures of Jesus.
What it doesn't provide, unfortunately, is a persuasive prescription for how
we're going to prevent our country from descending from democracy to theocracy.</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/reviews/god-country-review-a-bracing-rob-reiner-produced-primer-on-the-dangers-of-christian-nationalism/ar-BB1ilHT6?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&cvid=d1b228016e30432690a093d84191fa62&ei=68" target="_blank">VIDEO FOUND HERE</a></p><p><span style="background-color: #ffa400; font-size: large;">BONUS: </span>The following video came out in 2014 predicting the power of AI...my Gen Z son started playing this for me and I could not stop laughing. This guy threw every possible cliche into it. Hope you find this even remotely funny, or I'm going to think they were right, there is something definitely wrong with me....</p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xg29TuWo0Yo?si=NYTcwsB62dgpvolH" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><p><br /></p></div>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-31568135077606296842024-02-04T15:15:00.002-06:002024-02-29T19:55:35.109-06:00MAGAs should back out of cratering economy before it's too late !<p> I thought this opinion in <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/true-maga-patriots-must-remove-220049463.html" target="_blank">USA Today was spot on.</a>...</p><h1 data-test-locator="headline" id="caas-lead-header-f092c9c0-5ca9-3a04-a293-43dd0025329c" style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.46em; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px;">1. True MAGA patriots must remove themselves from Biden’s booming economy, cash out 401(k)s</h1><p style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">To all devoted MAGA patriots aboard the Trump Train:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">America’s <a class="link" data-rapid_p="13" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:economy appears to have gone woke;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/01/28/global-economy-gdp-inflation/" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f69ff; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">economy appears to have gone woke</a> and is now fully supporting <a class="link" data-rapid_p="14" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:the reelection of Crooked Joe Biden;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-breaks-two-year-record-economy-1865328" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f69ff; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">the reelection of Crooked Joe Biden</a>. I’m not sure how this happened, but no matter how much we say the economy is terrible, it keeps <a class="link" data-rapid_p="15" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:unpatriotically refusing to be terrible;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/25/economy/fourth-quarter-gdp/index.html" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f69ff; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">unpatriotically refusing to be terrible</a>, posing a direct threat to PRESIDENT Donald J. Trump in the 2024 presidential race.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">Just look at these recent headlines about the now-totally-liberal economy:</p><ul class="caas-list caas-list-bullet" style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding-left: 1.538em;"><li style="font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; list-style-type: disc;"><p style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; vertical-align: top;"><a class="link" data-rapid_p="16" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:“Consumer confidence hits highest level since December 2021.”;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://thehill.com/business/4437275-consumer-confidence-hits-highest-level-since-december-2021/" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f69ff; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">“Consumer confidence hits highest level since December 2021.”</a></p></li><li style="font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; list-style-type: disc;"><p style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; vertical-align: top;"><a class="link" data-rapid_p="17" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:“Falling inflation, rising growth give U.S. the world’s best recovery.”;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/01/28/global-economy-gdp-inflation/" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f69ff; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">“Falling inflation, rising growth give U.S. the world’s best recovery.”</a></p></li><li style="font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; list-style-type: disc;"><p style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; vertical-align: top;"><a class="link" data-rapid_p="18" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:“As doomsday predictions dissipate, Biden aides savor booming economy.”;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/01/25/biden-economy-2024-election/" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f69ff; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">“As doomsday predictions dissipate, Biden aides savor booming economy.”</a></p></li></ul><p style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">Along with all that, <a class="link" data-rapid_p="19" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:the S&P 500;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2024/01/21/s-p-500-hit-record-high/72287815007/" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f69ff; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">the S&P 500</a>, which we now know has a liberal bias, hit a record high Jan. 19, <a class="link" data-rapid_p="20" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:wage growth is beating inflation;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://www.axios.com/2024/01/06/chart-wage-growth-beating-inflation" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f69ff; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">wage growth is beating inflation</a> and <a class="link" data-rapid_p="21" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:jobless claims hit their lowest point since 2022;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/18/weekly-jobless-claims-post-lowest-reading-since-september-2022.html" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f69ff; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">jobless claims hit their lowest point since 2022</a>.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;"><span class="exclude-from-newsgate"><span style="font-weight: 600;">There must be fear! </span><a class="link yahoo-link" data-rapid_p="22" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:Good economic news forces the GOP to switch narrative to the border.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;" href="https://news.yahoo.com/good-economic-news-forces-gop-090600654.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f69ff; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Good economic news forces the GOP to switch narrative to the border.</a></span></p><h2 style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.85em; line-height: 1.33; margin: 40px 0px 16px;">2. A booming Biden economy is bad for America and worse for Trump</h2><p style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">None of this is good news if you care about President Trump or America. It’s clear Democrats are manipulating the economy and making it the strongest economy in the world in order to fool voters into thinking Biden is a competent president.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">Don’t believe me? If you <a class="link" data-rapid_p="24" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:own stocks or have a 401(k);elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/economy-better-expected-401k-probably-rcna135302" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f69ff; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">own stocks or have a 401(k)</a>, just look at your balance and you’ll see EXACTLY what these cheaters are up to. They’re trying to buy your votes by putting more money in your pockets. That’s cheating. DON’T BE FOOLED!</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">It’s clear true Trump supporters cannot be party to this kind of liberal skullduggery. So in response to this distressing spate of positive economic news, I hereby call on all MAGA faithful to remove themselves from the CORRUPTLY BOOMING BIDEN ECONOMY.</p><h2 style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.85em; line-height: 1.33; margin: 40px 0px 16px;">3. Cash out your 401(k) and invest in the Trump Train, baby!</h2><p style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">If you <a class="link" data-rapid_p="26" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:have a 401(k);elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/economy-better-expected-401k-probably-rcna135302" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f69ff; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">have a 401(k)</a>, you need to immediately cash that out and either donate the money to President Trump’s <a class="link" data-rapid_p="27" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:reelection campaign/legal defense fund;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/us/politics/trump-legal-fees.html" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f69ff; cursor: pointer; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">reelection campaign/legal defense fund</a> (he will give it back to you, with interest, once elected) or invest those funds in somethings sensible, like <a class="link" data-rapid_p="28" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:digital Trump Trading Cards;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-trading-cards-lose-value-nft-1852020" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f69ff; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">digital Trump Trading Cards</a>.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">Next, you must quit your job. It’s on us to help President Trump’s campaign by bringing those unemployment numbers back up to where we think they should be under an incompetent president who doesn’t know what day it is.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">If you aren’t willing to quit your job, you must at least refuse any pay raise you’re offered. Only a squishy lib would allow himself to get paid more while a DEMONcrat is in office.</p><h2 style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.85em; line-height: 1.33; margin: 40px 0px 16px;">4. Trump wants you to believe America is a disaster – do as he says</h2><p style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">Lastly, it is ABSOLUTELY imperative that you not feel confident about the future. America is a terrible place. It is falling apart. The economy is in shambles and your personal economic situation is a garbage fire.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">Darkness is everywhere. <a class="link" data-rapid_p="31" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="slk:Living is anguish;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" href="https://genius.com/Tarkio-neapolitan-bridesmaid-lyrics" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f69ff; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Living is anguish</a>. All hope is lost.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">Only by embracing these America-first beliefs, and believing Trump is the one person who can fix everything and make life perfect, will you be able to declare yourself a true MAGA loyalist.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">So get out there, fellow patriot, and disconnect from Biden’s economy. Sell stocks, put your retirement money in Trump’s coffers, embrace the gloom.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #232a31; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.385em; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">When it comes to Biden’s hot economy, remember this: Go broke or you're woke.</p>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-25467187033860982522023-12-20T13:20:00.005-06:002023-12-20T13:23:55.019-06:00Wisconsin's Gerrymandered Republicans continue Scott Walker's Act 10 anti-market wage restraint, a gift to the top 1 Percent. <p>I thought it might be a good idea to remind everyone what Scott Walker did as governor, how he stunted Wisconsin's wages and buying power for a generation, just to fulfil a partisan agenda free of solutions to deal with the state's current list of problems. </p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">ACT 10 Mistake</span></b>: First, Scott Walker passed Act 10, destroying public unions and lowering wages. It was a purely political solution to a nonexistent state budget problem. Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich shredded this paper-thin politician. </p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gwq-euzwymE?si=aeN_DlUAp5gcgz4A" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><p>What Walker set in motion would eventually be a devastating hit on individual incomes and business expansion for a decade. </p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Act 10 reversed century of progress. Wisconsin Supreme Court should toss law.</span></b><br /><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;"><b>Comparing Wisconsin to Minnesota, we can see how massive a hit our workers took on inflation-adjusted median household incomes. </b><br /><br /><b>Act 10 <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2023/11/30/unions-file-lawsuit-seeking-to-overturn-scott-walker-era-act-10-law/71758985007/">choked wage growth</a> for all state workers, public and private. </b>The law legislated wage decline. Public and private sector workers alike exist in a common labor market, driving down the wages of one, drives them down for all, and private sector enterprises could pay all workers less.</span></i></blockquote><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Wisconsin vs Minnesota: <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/2023/12/11/wisconsin-supreme-court-anti-union-law-act-10-republicans/71828498007/" target="_blank">It's real ugly...</a></span></b><br /><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOsUahz5W2eIyW8v6z6oAlt30NbuNUNF8QHRlKUK6r1m-APP6aIIsOMSvZRcNUNAbBxf3t0CjG11J5DGpijn_NfB70x2emQ7dOd623QmPrbM0SOR-YUAklFfPkIbvIbpgJVXUn-0bQEBn3zMt2J_8Pkv9pq4n7xNhyaBSm9rKx-EY2_vp98Ct0JvVE/s500/Red%20Scare%20Scott%20Walker%20Common%20Core.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="403" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOsUahz5W2eIyW8v6z6oAlt30NbuNUNF8QHRlKUK6r1m-APP6aIIsOMSvZRcNUNAbBxf3t0CjG11J5DGpijn_NfB70x2emQ7dOd623QmPrbM0SOR-YUAklFfPkIbvIbpgJVXUn-0bQEBn3zMt2J_8Pkv9pq4n7xNhyaBSm9rKx-EY2_vp98Ct0JvVE/s320/Red%20Scare%20Scott%20Walker%20Common%20Core.png" width="258" /></a></div>In 2012 our median household incomes were $53,079, Minnesota’s were $61,759. <br /><br />A decade after Act 10, that spread grew from $73,330 in the Badger<br /> State, to a whopping $90,390 in Minnesota. A nominal spread of $8,000 between the states was transformed into<b> a $17,060 gap. </b><br /><br />If labor had discretionary income it goes to corner taps and restaurants, hairstylists and barbers, landscapers, sports shops selling hunting rifles, fishing rods and bait, etc. <b>But if workers did not get this money the past decade, who did? The TOP “1%.”</b> Money pocketed by big business. <br /><br /><b>The “savings” from Act 10's anti-market wage restraint reduced government budgets permitting tax cuts benefiting those who already have the most. </b><br /><br /><b>The same politicians legislating less pay for labor can’t claim to be saving Wisconsin money when they made the state one of only ten to rejected the return of some $2 billion of Wisconsin’s tax dollars from Washington to expand healthcare over the past decade. </b><br /><br /><b>Wisconsin is not “saving money” with Act 10.</b> It is shrinking wage and small business growth while giving the 1% cash taken from its workers. This raw deal legislating low wages runs counter to the great New Deal that expanded our middle class. It’s more than time for <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/28/protasiewicz-says-act-10-is-unconstitutional-might-recuse-from-cases/70050211007/">Wisconsin’s State Supreme Court</a> to reverse it ending gerrymandering.</span></i></blockquote>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-80430865628430403892023-11-02T12:58:00.004-05:002023-11-02T12:58:39.317-05:00Republicans abandon farmers, offer up silence instead. <p>Do Republicans deserve the vote of rural towns and farmers? Nope. </p><p>I've been making this case for years, but the example below crystalizes that point. They have done nothing but promise no spending, while offering tax cuts. Spending would have helped farmers and small towns, and the extra money was there to finally clean up the wells and help upgrade infrastructure. But nothing was ever done. Then they messed up the tax credits too, as shown below.</p><p>First let's look for a cameo appearance of Senator Marklein, who sits on the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Tourism. Below is his district map. Pretty rural. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWIiGS4GrbpJ7oxgh2NRgLg_a6a30UMjuRed8coLqgVlxEk58NtJ1B-_ws4O-c_2LvJM0d12hJLYWpBxDevphR87_gR11v0eykETfj7UJwDyjh1hLQhijqjm7Qn1VSkfuLoOaki77ze0rWUesjuZY70T0gRfASCFScTVWzWbdgUrlXEHwr54ikU3zJ/s875/Sen%20Marklein%20District%20representing%20Farmers.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="807" data-original-width="875" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWIiGS4GrbpJ7oxgh2NRgLg_a6a30UMjuRed8coLqgVlxEk58NtJ1B-_ws4O-c_2LvJM0d12hJLYWpBxDevphR87_gR11v0eykETfj7UJwDyjh1hLQhijqjm7Qn1VSkfuLoOaki77ze0rWUesjuZY70T0gRfASCFScTVWzWbdgUrlXEHwr54ikU3zJ/s320/Sen%20Marklein%20District%20representing%20Farmers.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>In the shocking video below, not one Republican, including Marklein, offer up even the weakest excuse. Nothing...</p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/W0aWPLTWHnA?si=7RQvY_KcqNslwrIC" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><p>Any questions? </p>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-20264594842540651232023-10-26T00:19:00.004-05:002023-10-26T00:19:44.464-05:00John & Gordy Show returns...<p>We're back...Monday Oct 30, 6-8 am on WMDX 92.7. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtMMhAvbnWynTrGfF84FPmPXO-9egRO7rOYnuOTZjrox9PSp9C-5phX5XnVSQJ3OOgiRQcSV5SY67tLgUyWreTKG8RVIlRHHTzZPrU6g04m0u97mRwE6jUI4d4LdOhVu6VRTym402_IBJ0cxNBg-yB4_PDBP9wvixMg-UjjZJKBrBWk37HuqiEoV5n/s564/John%20and%20Gordy%20LOGO%20WMDX.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="562" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtMMhAvbnWynTrGfF84FPmPXO-9egRO7rOYnuOTZjrox9PSp9C-5phX5XnVSQJ3OOgiRQcSV5SY67tLgUyWreTKG8RVIlRHHTzZPrU6g04m0u97mRwE6jUI4d4LdOhVu6VRTym402_IBJ0cxNBg-yB4_PDBP9wvixMg-UjjZJKBrBWk37HuqiEoV5n/w399-h400/John%20and%20Gordy%20LOGO%20WMDX.png" width="399" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-27432366317096782082023-10-13T12:23:00.002-05:002023-10-13T12:23:30.497-05:00Universal Basic Income blocked in Wisconsin, because Republicans don't want to know. <div><b>Universal Basic Income and Guaranteed Income</b>! Wisconsin Republicans hate to give anyone a chance, despite the fact that UBI works. </div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>"Republican lawmakers held a day of back-to-back public hearings in mid-April for bills, (like) the <a href="https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2023/proposals/ab146">ban local guaranteed income programs</a>."</blockquote></span></i>Okay, we heard you, stop. WIS Republicans are loudly broadcasting that only they are in control. Not you, or parents, or "real Americans." THEY ARE IN CONTROL. For example, the recently passed ban on advisory referendums screams authoritarian control, keeping popular ideas from ever getting off the ground. These are not just popular but, in many cases, successful ideas implemented elsewhere. But they don't want to hear about it. Can you think of any other reason why they banned them? <div><br /></div><div>Like a Guaranteed Income or even Universal Basic Income (UBI). </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheNdkr8eE9hvupdxWAzNK7_5egiR84w45fzZjcvnuk6FBMD7In88d69IMw4EL0mZmOEk01ftclyBVIr2_nrazOW-KTHjsMdXm8zrTjQTlENgJmc94JjVixDNMEqF8UAITHzYo7ZCJohyNXq9g8nJ8IEN_g_rpG1vZORbT1yDUEPc6MhvkqGsmoD5J2/s1348/Universal%20Basic%20Income%20Works.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="510" data-original-width="1348" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheNdkr8eE9hvupdxWAzNK7_5egiR84w45fzZjcvnuk6FBMD7In88d69IMw4EL0mZmOEk01ftclyBVIr2_nrazOW-KTHjsMdXm8zrTjQTlENgJmc94JjVixDNMEqF8UAITHzYo7ZCJohyNXq9g8nJ8IEN_g_rpG1vZORbT1yDUEPc6MhvkqGsmoD5J2/w400-h151/Universal%20Basic%20Income%20Works.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">Republicans still living in and saying the same old 20th Century Things</span></b>: This never rang true for me: <i><span style="color: #073763;">"They didn't earn it." </span></i></div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote><b><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-u-s-could-help-solve-its-poverty-problem-with-a-universal-basic-income/" target="_blank">Universal basic income does</a> not give people something for nothing so much as equalize everyone’s share of the luck. Fair giving and taking would then take place on the basis of <span style="background-color: #fcff01;">a more equitable starting place.</span></b></blockquote></span></i><div>Question: Did a recently graduated teen from a well-to-do family actually earn an advantage over a graduated teen coming from a poor struggling family? No. This is where, in this case<b> a guaranteed income that is targeted to lower income individuals only,</b> tries to give a hand up to those unable to get started.</div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/10/24/universal-basic-income/" target="_blank">And a</a> growing <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/03/stockton-universal-basic-income/?itid=lk_inline_manual_10">body of research</a> based on the experiments shows that <b>guaranteed income</b> works — that<b> it pulls people out of poverty, improves health outcomes, and makes it easier for people to find jobs and take care of their children.</b><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"> If empirical evidence ruled the world, guaranteed income would be available to every poor person in America, and many of those people would no longer be poor.</span></blockquote></span></i><div><b>Recently I interviewed a 20-something who kept apologizing to me for having not made enough money last year to be able to buy a car so he could get a better job this year. A guaranteed income would have made a difference. </b></div><div><br /></div><div>The only thing holding up this proven policy is resentment. Someone getting something for "nothing." </div><div>UBI is also a very conservative idea: </div><div><i><b><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>Figures <a href="https://basicincome.stanford.edu/about/what-is-ubi/" target="_blank">like Martin Luther King, Jr., and Milton Friedman</a> (backed the idea)—but the conversation did not pick up much in subsequent decades.</blockquote></span></b></i>There are no examples of where guaranteed income and universal basic income didn't work. At least, I didn't find any. So here are some examples:</div><div> <br /><i><span style="color: #073763;"></span></i></div><div>Example A:</div><blockquote><div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/15/how-likely-universal-basic-income-is-in-the-us.html" target="_blank">Beginning in February </a>2019, for example, 125 residents of Stockton, California, <a href="https://www.stocktondemonstration.org/">received a monthly stipend of $500</a> over the course of 24 months through a citywide initiative. “And they did find that full-time employment increased,” says <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/about/our-staff/ladonna-pavetti-phd">Donna Pavetti</a>, vice president for family income support policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.<br /><br />“It just gave people some flexibility,” she says, “So if they were working two part-time jobs, they could cut back, which gave them time to look for a better job.”<br /><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="color: #073763;">One year into the two-year pilot, Stockton recipients had spent 37% of their allotments on food, 22% on home goods and personal clothing items, and 11% on utilities. They spent less than 1% on alcohol and tobacco.<br /><br />Beyond covering their own needs, some of the Stockton Compton recipients have<b> committed to using the funds to pay it forward. </b>That’s part of what the program’s organizers hope to demonstrate: that redistributing wealth through direct payments could improve access to education, housing and nutrition; reduce the racial wealth gap; and stimulate economic activity—which in turn can lift up a whole community.<br /><br />Already, at least two members of the Compton Pledge have used some of their funding to start their own nonprofits</span></i></div></blockquote><div>Example B: </div><div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>A study of 25 residents of Hudson, New York, who began receiving $500 per month in the fall of 2020 on behalf of research organization the Jain Family Institute, found similar results. Participants’ employment (both full and part-time) grew from 29% to 63%, and their physical and mental health improved as well.</blockquote></span></i>Example C: <br /></div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>The final results of <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/social-sector/our-insights/an-experiment-to-inform-universal-basic-income" target="_blank">Finland’s program</a> found that a basic income actually had a positive impact on employment. People on the basic income were more likely to be employed than those in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant, albeit small. Concurrent changes in other unemployment policies make it difficult to ascertain, from this study, whether the basic income, the other changes, or both were responsible for the higher employment levels. However, something about the modest level of the basic income and the lack of conditions attached to receiving it seems to have motivated recipients to seek and accept work they otherwise might not have.</blockquote></span></i>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-22655983832822436212023-08-21T14:51:00.002-05:002023-08-21T14:55:28.515-05:00WISGOP's 14- to 15-year-old child labor push exposes Kids to dangerous jobs and Sexual harassment in Bars and Restaurants. "Protecting our kids?"<p>Who thinks the three Republicans pushing legislation allowing 8th thru 10th graders (ages 14 and 15) to work without a permit or even permission from their parents is a good idea? Not only is this not a solution to our labor shortage, but a regressive idea returning our nation to the worst of the Gilded Age. </p><p>Republicans actually said child labor laws in Wisconsin are "needless administrative barriers," and excessive "government regulation." </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsiS8vKyYa4BwvaN5O9-dHtCCmkzMu1moOprRDI_lOeAoCqTRL-nvaZ_MKTnvy4-lbxgPebWXESIVQH31vJdGZRw_iSlXsD9mRps-43TvwFeXs4dhvlv1nH3jzntlwoS_K4jRY4igIIFczHQwERCgrhDmo897KH0WIyFaZeT5tCnNKm7lmd-E9Y6ph/s1637/Child%20Labor%2014%20and%2015%20WI%20Republicans.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="443" data-original-width="1637" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsiS8vKyYa4BwvaN5O9-dHtCCmkzMu1moOprRDI_lOeAoCqTRL-nvaZ_MKTnvy4-lbxgPebWXESIVQH31vJdGZRw_iSlXsD9mRps-43TvwFeXs4dhvlv1nH3jzntlwoS_K4jRY4igIIFczHQwERCgrhDmo897KH0WIyFaZeT5tCnNKm7lmd-E9Y6ph/w640-h174/Child%20Labor%2014%20and%2015%20WI%20Republicans.png" width="640" /></a></div><i><span style="color: #073763;"></span></i><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-child-labor-laws-permit-8c549598fb4ee9a8a3495e3ce17829d2" target="_blank">(AP) </a><b style="background-color: #fcff01;">Children ages 14 and 15 would no longer need a work permit or parental permission</b> to get a job under a Republican bill. This comes amid a wider <b>push by state lawmakers to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/child-labor-laws-alabama-ohio-c1123a80970518676be44088619c6205">roll back child labor laws</a>, </b><b>despite the efforts of federal investigators to crack down on a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-child-endangerment-abuse-us-department-of-health-and-human-services-children-91ad24f4cfafd03434ad83f72732b64e">surge in child labor violations</a> nationally..</b>.violation of child labor laws has increased by 37% within the last year.<br /></span></i></blockquote><p>So "parental rights" works to dismantle public education, but parental rights don't work for their teenagers getting a job while just entering high school? </p><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;"><b>Sen. Cory Tomczyk</b> and Reps. Clint Moses and Amy Binsfeld, the Republicans sponsoring the bill, called <b>youth work permits <span style="background-color: #fcff01;">“needless administrative barriers</span> </b>that slow down the hiring process. It’s important that young people have <b>the opportunity to work <span style="background-color: #fcff01;">without having to endure excessive government regulation...”</span></b></span></i></blockquote>...enforcing child labor laws?<b> Exhibit A, defining what Republicans mean by "excess government regulation." Never forget. </b><div><b><br /></b><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">WISGOP Protecting Employers from being Caught, not kidding</span></b>: While Republicans make getting unemployment benefits almost impossible to get, they're helping employers hide abuses like kids doing dangerous jobs and low wages:<div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>The bill continues to require employers to<b> keep their own records of employees’ ages and hours worked, </b>but <b>without work permits verified by a state agency, companies caught violating child labor laws can more easily claim ignorance..</b>.<b style="background-color: #fcff01;">eliminating the permit requirement makes it significantly more difficult to investigate violations because there are fewer records of where kids are being employed.</b></blockquote></span></i>Sadly, one child was killed on the job because his father worked at the same business, a legal exemption in Federal child labor law: <br /><i><span style="color: #073763;"><a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/michael-schuls"></a><blockquote><a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/michael-schuls">Michael Schuls</a>, 16, died on June 29 after sustaining injuries at the Florence Hardwoods logging company in Florence, Wisconsin. Michael was attempting to unjam a wood-stacking machine when he became pinned under machinery on a conveyor belt, resulting in what the coroner identified as traumatic asphyxiation, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-boy-dies-sawmill-child-labor-8ae0c9fc09b9355dd7f12640eaefff2d">The Associated Press</a> reported.</blockquote></span></i><div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRJb0wE876TOMWeEoLWZLGWamr92UMbJxaJAtyhC1bdzs_7_H2mLiWuVCzie60YOzW4l725V8Wy7Rb7AaHN2yDDMIaJU8IIGrg7OsKF8zxCJbGfyWa8dtVrYENswUltdvA4_IU_LSEmrbvqDOlMrvX3Mlz8Iizb0HWJilNetifc6iXOOqr9Uu5Pbs2/s640/Wi%20Labor%20law%20GOP%20style.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="640" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRJb0wE876TOMWeEoLWZLGWamr92UMbJxaJAtyhC1bdzs_7_H2mLiWuVCzie60YOzW4l725V8Wy7Rb7AaHN2yDDMIaJU8IIGrg7OsKF8zxCJbGfyWa8dtVrYENswUltdvA4_IU_LSEmrbvqDOlMrvX3Mlz8Iizb0HWJilNetifc6iXOOqr9Uu5Pbs2/s320/Wi%20Labor%20law%20GOP%20style.png" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">Note: </span></b>Sen. Cory Tomczyk's use of the word "fagot" spark a lawsuit that smacks of violating freedom of the press:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdtosPZlw368A3wfTayoCxVo3fcoNbPsNRXCucE0liYU9cnXaiQ3KkY3FO29BskJPbG4oLzsWJ5lm-TvK_nBFqi1G2Re_DKqHet-h21ZZ4w0pVH-nVmFBZZ_SQ6s_Xoarqv2Vv6Q5pHlnIYciLCA4xf71gg8wGt4qSVm9XBrQXAbBzybUcDEsZxwXn/s1813/Drive%20Feedom%20of%20the%20Press%20out%20of%20business.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="1813" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdtosPZlw368A3wfTayoCxVo3fcoNbPsNRXCucE0liYU9cnXaiQ3KkY3FO29BskJPbG4oLzsWJ5lm-TvK_nBFqi1G2Re_DKqHet-h21ZZ4w0pVH-nVmFBZZ_SQ6s_Xoarqv2Vv6Q5pHlnIYciLCA4xf71gg8wGt4qSVm9XBrQXAbBzybUcDEsZxwXn/w640-h130/Drive%20Feedom%20of%20the%20Press%20out%20of%20business.png" width="640" /></a></div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote><a href="https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2023/08/17/cory-tomczyk-wages-war-on-small-media-outlet/" target="_blank">Wisconsin Examiner</a>: Tomczyk, then just a businessman and former school board member, <b>alleged that the paper defamed him when it published accusations that he had called a 13-year-old boy a “fag” </b>during an Aug. 12, 2021, meeting. <b>The boy had spoken in favor of a resolution called “A Community for All,” which was meant to reinforce the importance of diversity and inclusivity.</b><br /><br />Digital newspaper The Wausau Review & Pilot editor and founder Shereen Siewert, said <b>she believed the purpose of Tomczyk’s lawsuit is “to bankrupt me and crush our organization.” </b>She recalled..."that even if we win, we lose, because there is no way for us to counter sue or recoup our losses in any way … because we live in Wisconsin.”<br /><br />Unlike 31 other states and the District of Columbia, <b>Wisconsin has <a href="https://www.ifs.org/research/anti-slapp-statutes-a-report-card/?gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw5_GmBhBIEiwA5QSMxAUiBOHkbljePbweuYXYAjVODjrt1FnTsYVpnWYn1FWZvgFmGTi6LBoCZTUQAvD_BwE">no laws</a> on its books to push back against what are known as SLAPP lawsuits, meant to silence critics by presenting them with crushing legal costs that cannot be recovered, even in cases where the suits have little merit.</b></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSBxl7RyXKDR0-lxShd_T6-QCJZ6A5Hpaw6TIhFwjcm3TOjTBlGcVN06gKsH1dqW-Yx-u7C_DWJu6jNGEsj27HYXIlB_948kmboEqZZ_EtYp0xUoY0qmBz0hFmAHA_TZZZbVV8Iuwia5NYVBef2KW7iSHUtk-wpt0K-UvsCzylZxNt9HcBbCJTEEz3/s1350/Tomczyk%20calls%20to%20resign%20lawsuit%20over%20press.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="253" data-original-width="1350" height="60" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSBxl7RyXKDR0-lxShd_T6-QCJZ6A5Hpaw6TIhFwjcm3TOjTBlGcVN06gKsH1dqW-Yx-u7C_DWJu6jNGEsj27HYXIlB_948kmboEqZZ_EtYp0xUoY0qmBz0hFmAHA_TZZZbVV8Iuwia5NYVBef2KW7iSHUtk-wpt0K-UvsCzylZxNt9HcBbCJTEEz3/s320/Tomczyk%20calls%20to%20resign%20lawsuit%20over%20press.png" width="320" /></a></div></span><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote><a href="https://www.wsaw.com/2023/08/18/senate-democratic-committee-calls-republican-sen-cory-tomczyk-resign-following-lawsuit-appeal/" target="_blank">In light of Senator</a> Tomczyk’s horrific, bullying comments made towards a child coupled with him attempting to stifle reporting on the incident, leading to their potential closure, the Wisconsin State Senate Democratic Committee (SSDC) is calling on Senator Cory Tomczyk to resign.</blockquote></span></i></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">14 Year Olds Serving Alcohol? That's NOT protecting kids from sexual harassment</span></b>: Again, while MAGA Republicans push their phony "protect the kids" from school library book "pornography," they're okay with subjecting 14-year-old girls to drunk or toxic manliness in bars and restaurants. After all, women dominate wait server jobs (80% of Waitresses are female, and 19% are male). Got it. </div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZGUQ-V8AlheWxnklzP-pMyxS-lDw-7Q_qmXAQXILKSbqxGEkqkAM67aj797UnnegEYUnXcLvsRP0uJDeS2GN0p3uL4QgMHJWmHsJ5OfEvtWt0H54ISFhFKI71oAgihNGQF6ZDHkDLxOe9Upp7NBiMO9ehCqGwMkdXocf14zCzzgWFIItvqyQhD_5n/s1669/14%20year%20olds%20to%20serve%20alcohol.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="236" data-original-width="1669" height="45" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZGUQ-V8AlheWxnklzP-pMyxS-lDw-7Q_qmXAQXILKSbqxGEkqkAM67aj797UnnegEYUnXcLvsRP0uJDeS2GN0p3uL4QgMHJWmHsJ5OfEvtWt0H54ISFhFKI71oAgihNGQF6ZDHkDLxOe9Upp7NBiMO9ehCqGwMkdXocf14zCzzgWFIItvqyQhD_5n/s320/14%20year%20olds%20to%20serve%20alcohol.png" width="320" /></a></div></div><div><a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2023/05/01/wisconsin-bill-allows-14-year-olds-to-serve-alcohol-in-restaurants/70170861007/"></a><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>In Wisconsin lawmakers are <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2023/05/01/wisconsin-bill-allows-14-year-olds-to-serve-alcohol-in-restaurants/70170861007/">advocating for lowering the age</a>to serve alcohol in bars and restaurants to 14. It would be a nationwide first if approved, according to the <a href="https://alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih.gov/apis-policy-topics/minimum-ages-for-on-premises-servers-and-bartenders/38/maps-and-charts#page-content">National Institutes of Health</a>.</blockquote></span></i>Let's hope voters are smart enough to decide who deserves to be reelected. The guilty parties...</div></div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>The bill sponsors Sen. Rob Stafsholt, of New Richmond, and Rep. Chanz Green, of Grandview, sent a memo seeking cosponsors.</blockquote></span></i></div>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-80640357717837542462023-08-20T16:33:00.003-05:002023-08-20T16:44:17.740-05:00Chief Justice Ziegler plays the Victim, sobs over loss of power! Remember when she took the Governor and AG's powers away!<p>Well, what do you know, what goes around comes around.</p><p>Stay with me on this. Remember this blatantly obvious partisan WI Supreme Court decision to take the Governors powers away?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZgXk82KgOElLcViqmoYcxBkXcmYXyxt_Yvxghp3y82IF6NJjxdx_zmsTSkvtYA9tl_cU1YffC-RQococ4GxM-CCVvMN93XsOKObv9uc7a8_43czq8kAoYdNmw0LwdoY1Y6nPIamHVKOpx70RT-76gn07vrr94lB2JOHXPP8caLpAJn6puPpmeNL2p/s1909/WI%20Supreme%20Court%20Curtail%20Gov%20and%20AG%20power.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="258" data-original-width="1909" height="86" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZgXk82KgOElLcViqmoYcxBkXcmYXyxt_Yvxghp3y82IF6NJjxdx_zmsTSkvtYA9tl_cU1YffC-RQococ4GxM-CCVvMN93XsOKObv9uc7a8_43czq8kAoYdNmw0LwdoY1Y6nPIamHVKOpx70RT-76gn07vrr94lB2JOHXPP8caLpAJn6puPpmeNL2p/w640-h86/WI%20Supreme%20Court%20Curtail%20Gov%20and%20AG%20power.png" width="640" /></a></div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><a href="https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2020/07/09/wisconsin-supreme-court-backs-gop-lame-duck-laws-designed-to-curtail-governor-ags-power/" target="_blank"></a><blockquote><a href="https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2020/07/09/wisconsin-supreme-court-backs-gop-lame-duck-laws-designed-to-curtail-governor-ags-power/" target="_blank">Wisconsin Examiner</a>: The lame-duck session has been described by many as ‘power grabs’ because after Gov. Tony Evers and Kaul were elected — but before they took office — the Republican-controlled Legislature and Gov. Scott Walker <b>moved quickly to diminish the incoming constitutional officer. These were powers Walker enjoyed his eight years in office, but Republicans did not want an incoming Democratic governor to have. </b></blockquote></span></i><div>In other words, some of the governors' powers were replaced by the legislature.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">Conservative Justices Fire Liberal Chief Justice Immediately</span></b>: Justice Shirley Abrahason was the court’s longest-serving member under the 126-year-old pre-amendment rules. Or were they more like guidelines...arrrrr, I'm a pirate???</div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote><a href="https://madison.com/news/local/columnists/chris-rickert/chris-rickert-conservative-high-court-justices-throw-fuel-on-shirley-abrahamson-fire/article_399e8bc7-bc4a-54f3-a36e-864222f7fefd.html#tncms-source=login" target="_blank">I tried to ask the conservative justices </a>— Michael Gableman, Patience Roggensack, Annette Ziegler and David Prosser —<b> why they thought it was important to go ahead and vote Roggensack into the chief’s spot on the same day state elections officials certified the results of the April 7 statewide vote approving the amendment.</b></blockquote></span></i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Fast forward to this week and conservative Chief Justice Ziegler's public tantrum: It's not so much fun when it happens to you...? </span></b><div><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Ziegler: "This is a complete outlier with respect to my colleagues <b>gutting the rule of the Supreme Court Chief Justice that has been long standing</b>. 40 years, since 1984, it has been defined by the internal operating procedures, and<b> they basically took everyplace it said Chief Justice, gutted it, and put sham committee in its place.</b>" </blockquote></span>Aw...again, this is the Chief Justice whining, going public, playing the victim, and appealing to MAGAs. No wonder this conservative court was considered one of the worst in the nation. <a href="https://www.wisn.com/article/chief-justice-speaks-out/44800847" target="_blank">WKOW</a>: </div><div><br /></div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6z6g6P-0INM" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><div><b>Background: Republican Justices had to ignore the Wisconsin Constitution:</b></div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote><a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/06/21/734722467/wisconsin-supreme-court-sides-with-gop-lawmakers-to-limit-democratic-governors-p" target="_blank">The court ruled</a> 4-3 in favor of the GOP, dismissing an argument that the session was called unconstitutionally. The <a href="https://www.wpr.org/sites/default/files/displaydocument.pdf">court's majority opinion</a>, written by conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley, rejected that. "The Wisconsin Constitution itself <b>affords the legislature absolute discretion to determine the rules of its own proceedings."</b><br /><br />The court's liberal justices dissented, saying the majority "subverts the plain text of ... the Wisconsin Constitution." ...the state constitution does not ascribe the power to call an extraordinary session of the legislature to lawmakers. "<b>The Legislature's ability to determine the rules of its proceedings pursuant to Article IV, Section 8 does not swallow up the meeting requirements of Article IV, Section 11 or allow it to wield unbridled power," </b>wrote Justice Rebecca Dallet.</blockquote><p> </p></span></i></div>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-37512040423372229362023-08-20T15:22:00.001-05:002023-08-20T15:22:08.788-05:00Crisis Pregnancy Center Con lowering the bar for Women's Health Care. <p> Hey, "there's so much good they do" for women, why not spend our taxpayer dollars on this...<a href="https://pbswisconsin.org/watch/here-and-now/here-now-for-august-18-2023-wpfxo8/" target="_blank">PBSWIS</a>: </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD9sDiRnUEe7LYTBWmzDuZboIKR7Rrb6bqCH3L3aDz7HkLhNRfApMn3nU5-cdmdcIYZsqGEeBjpiw13ulrn7m3bkt1Fgh9NRIgPOwWweMw0RQEyHBXNdoINfbZOh2XxtLKl1w4PNa0rp1eKssIm2L4R3NZtkNFlP8fp4XbNHGi7lTcJsBH8tgJhL1h/s488/Here%20and%20Now%20Pregnancy%20Centers%20Funding%20by%20MAGA.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="488" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD9sDiRnUEe7LYTBWmzDuZboIKR7Rrb6bqCH3L3aDz7HkLhNRfApMn3nU5-cdmdcIYZsqGEeBjpiw13ulrn7m3bkt1Fgh9NRIgPOwWweMw0RQEyHBXNdoINfbZOh2XxtLKl1w4PNa0rp1eKssIm2L4R3NZtkNFlP8fp4XbNHGi7lTcJsBH8tgJhL1h/s320/Here%20and%20Now%20Pregnancy%20Centers%20Funding%20by%20MAGA.png" width="320" /></a></div><div><blockquote style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><i><span style="color: #073763;">According to Choose Life Wisconsin, there are more than 70 pregnancy resource centers like Life’s Connection around the state. And because of their prenatal support and the fact that these organizations don’t refer pregnant people for abortions and do actively discourage abortions,<b> some Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin think they should receive state taxpayer funding.</b><br /><br />State Senator Romaine Robert Quinn has introduced legislation toT<b> fund these centers, (with) $1 million per year</b> funneled to the centers through grants administered by Choose Life Wisconsin.<b> The senator says the state should provide the money because "there’s so much good they do."</b></span></i></blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;"><b></b></span></i></div><div>Here's a clip:</div><div><br /></div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S-r7uzHt0gw" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">Another MAGA Republican Con-Crisis Pregnancy Centers</span></b>: The stream of nonstop unregulated "do-it-yourself" opportunities by the MAGA grifting class is getting ridiculous. After reading about taxpayer voucher money nationally going to "education" centers that don't have teachers but do baby sit kids while their parents are at work, I came across this amazing grift about Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Since Republicans love this kind of stuff, they'll recklessly throw money at it. <a href="https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1076&context=university_honors_program" target="_blank">The Big But?:</a> </div><div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote><b>Most Crisis Pregnancy Centers are not licensed medical clinics. </b>Most of their staff, likewise, does not include medical professionals (Bryant & Swartz, 2018). According to a report from the pro-life Lozier Foundation, Crisis Pregnancy Centers across the United States have had around 67,400 volunteers. 7,500 of those volunteers have been medical professionals,<b> meaning only roughly 11 percent of Crisis Pregnancy Center staff are medical professionals </b>(Charlotte Lozier Institute, 2018).</blockquote></span></i>The con starts at the door...<a href="https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2019/09/09/pregnancy-resource-centers-designed-to-mislead-women/" target="_blank">Wisconsin Examiner (Sept 2019)</a>:</div><div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>“These so-called resource centers are designed to mislead women and to be deceptive,” says Rep. Lisa Subeck (D-Madison). “<b>Women are tricked into entering facilities thinking they are accessing a legitimate health clinic offering services based on factually accurate medical information.” One group specifically stated their goal was to go in the wrong door,’ accessing their group when they were looking for a Planned Parenthood or other clinic with a full range of reproductive health options. </b></blockquote></span></i><p>With something this important, you would have thought Sen. Romain Quinn would have looked into the history of Crisis Pregnancy Centers? Nope: </p><p><i><span style="color: #073763;"></span></i></p><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;"><b>A student in Wisconsin
was told the abortion pill would render her infertile and a sophomore seeking STD testing was
encouraged to sign a chastity pledge and told various horror stories about sex (Gerson, 2019).</b></span></i></blockquote><b>Downgrading Womens Health Care?</b> Anecdotal health care treatment and advice is a growing right-wing industry:<br /><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>Sara Finger, the founder and executive director of the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health: “The <b>Republican majority is out of touch with what women in Wisconsin need.</b> We are perfectly <b>capable of making healthcare decisions for ourselves</b>. What we need is access to accurate information and affordable quality healthcare.”</blockquote></span></i><b>Here are more bizarre politically motivated Facts about Crisis Pregnancy Centers: These centers gained legitimacy via the conservative Roberts court and chaos Czar Justice Thomas: </b><br /><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>There has been legislation, such as <b>California’s FACT Act, that has attempted to require Crisis Pregnancy Centers to meet certain standards of accountability </b>- like telling patients that the state offers services including family planning services, prenatal care, and abortion.<b> The Supreme Court struck down this legislation in a 5 - 4 decision. </b>The majority opinion, written by Justice Thomas, argued that such legislation was <b>a violation of Crisis Pregnancy Centers’ freedom of speech</b>. <span style="background-color: #fcff01;"> Justice Breyer argued in the dissenting opinion: “If a state can lawfully require a doctor to tell a woman seeking an abortion about adoption services, why should it not be able, as here, to require a medical counselor to tell a woman seeking prenatal care or other reproductive healthcare about childbirth and abortion services?”</span> (Barnes, 2018).</blockquote></span></i></div><div>...more...</div><div><i><span style="color: #073763;"></span></i></div><blockquote><div><i><span style="color: #073763;">1. Heartbeat International also published a “List of Major Psychological Effects of Abortion” that<b> claims that women suffer from “Post-Abortion Syndrome” after they terminate their pregnancy</b> (Heartbeat International, 1997). Investigators called 25 crisis pregnancy centers that received federal funding and found that<b> 87% of the centers “provided false or misleading information about the health effects of abortion” on subjects such as the risk of breast cancer, fertility, and mental health effects of abortion</b> (U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform, 2006).<br /><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><b>2. The guide, “A Pro-Active Strategy to Defend Your Pregnancy Center Against Legislative Attacks”, </b>was meant to be a confidential resource but was easily accessible in an online PDF. In it,<b> they state a key part of the messaging and strategy of CPCs have been purposefully obscuring their connection to pro-life political activism as to not scare away those who are seeking an abortion</b>. As more and more research and attention have been brought to these centers,<b> they made a turn to instead proactively present themselves to state elected officials “[f]or the sake of God’s glory and protecting the ongoing work of pregnancy centers” </b>(CareNet, NIFLA, Heartbeat International, 2008). A big part of this initiative was counteracting plans to regulate or shut down Crisis Pregnancy Centers<br /><br /><b>3</b>.<b> The largest adoption agency in the nation, Bethany Christian Services is notorious for manipulating women to keep their pregnancies and treating “birth mothers” terribly. </b>Bethany Christain Services run a CPC-like pregnancy counseling apparatus. Critics argue that<b> they artificially produce orphans even for women that want to carry their pregnancy to term and parent and make tens of thousands from adoptive parents.</b></span></i></div></blockquote><div>And no surprise, Crisis Pregnancy Centers have failed:<br /><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote><b>There is no evidence that Crisis Pregnancy Centers are even fulfilling their missions</b>. A study published in 2018 found that there was <b>no “evidence that pregnant women regularly seek CPC services or that CPCs persuade women who are certain abortion is the right decision for them to continue their pregnancies”</b>. Prenatal patients reported receiving inaccurate information, and <b>patients generally recognized that these centers were not medical clinics. Only 3 of the 383 people surveyed reported visiting a CPC that impacted their decisions regarding abortion. </b>For organizations that center their operations on persuading women not to go through with abortion, their tactics do not seem to be very effective (Kimport, Kriz, & Roberts, 2018) As organizations that receive government assistance and taxpayer funding both federally and in a long list of states, it is fair to demand accountability from Crisis Pregnancy Centers.<b> The mission of Crisis Pregnancy Centers is not to provide resources or information to women seeking to carry to term. They are extensions of a larger political apparatus.</b></blockquote></span></i></div>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-79447094362973758772023-08-13T16:30:00.003-05:002023-08-14T14:49:27.981-05:00Vos threatens Impeachment for New Liberal Justice if she steps out of line, which must be a crime? <p>After finally gaining enough gerrymandered MAGA Republican seats in the State Senate, impeachment is now the sledgehammer they intend to use as a threat to anyone who they think is stepping out of line. <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2023/08/11/protasiewicz-must-recuse-from-redistricting-cases-or-risk-impeachment-vos-says-supreme-court/70578220007/" target="_blank">Milwaukee Journal Sentinel</a>: </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh876X5gdbl3lp3QIGl51R5HFMMcR_ODJj0Oy9QFMrA0CxwG1qAghtOoGPPRGBUSJBslRROflpMC15UcBNN2Z0M2kRKNA20q3SZezQqzsz71UosLzHpnieztk18XX9Zz-F4kDbEgceh4cNjoJdfuj7ukQ2AyzdJ7RKIqlHA5ofe4ex9apd0iF2wYMUa/s1110/Ron%20Brownstein%20Vos%20Impeachment%20Justice.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="1110" height="541" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh876X5gdbl3lp3QIGl51R5HFMMcR_ODJj0Oy9QFMrA0CxwG1qAghtOoGPPRGBUSJBslRROflpMC15UcBNN2Z0M2kRKNA20q3SZezQqzsz71UosLzHpnieztk18XX9Zz-F4kDbEgceh4cNjoJdfuj7ukQ2AyzdJ7RKIqlHA5ofe4ex9apd0iF2wYMUa/w640-h541/Ron%20Brownstein%20Vos%20Impeachment%20Justice.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DoRasMtthOM" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div>Keep in mind...</div><div><b><i><span style="color: #4c1130;"><blockquote>Article VII, section 1, of the Wisconsin Constitution provides that “the assembly shall have the power of impeaching all civil officers of this state for <span style="background-color: #fcff01;">corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors.</span>”</blockquote></span></i></b>Vos' made up "violation of office" would be considered a CRIME? Good luck with that one Robin. <br /><p>Of course, no threats of any kind were made when conservative activist Justices didn't recuse themselves despite major<a href="https://democurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2016/03/rebecca-bradley-changed-big-money.html" target="_blank"> conflicts of interest or previous social and political hardline statements in the last 15 years.</a> Because when conservatives put that "black robe on, they put opinions aside":</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1SflbNh1JW5O449BS6e3UOvzgTVcfF4ObnBI8FxANV94mEAHyrw04qkL8ccu9SDrldZgCCT2sLkONHsqweDwh1fqc-Hhza1Onwhv7V4GEj5XWomAthFi1rvqEYHCCs6EVaEpyE-C5F59vsquSsDGuLMyYhTNXvhreF0raW7ZRT4p8PYSh_ndHd16k/s1321/Rebecca%20Bradley%20Abortion%20Stand%20Doesn't%20matter%20robe.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="1321" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1SflbNh1JW5O449BS6e3UOvzgTVcfF4ObnBI8FxANV94mEAHyrw04qkL8ccu9SDrldZgCCT2sLkONHsqweDwh1fqc-Hhza1Onwhv7V4GEj5XWomAthFi1rvqEYHCCs6EVaEpyE-C5F59vsquSsDGuLMyYhTNXvhreF0raW7ZRT4p8PYSh_ndHd16k/w640-h226/Rebecca%20Bradley%20Abortion%20Stand%20Doesn't%20matter%20robe.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Bradley's argument makes Vos' point moot, but here's Bradley entire quote that includes political inclinations: <p></p><div class="lee-article-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 760px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><i><span style="color: #073763;"></span></i></p><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;"><a href="https://madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/rebecca-bradley-joanne-kloppenburg-spar-over-political-ties-bradleys-past/article_5fdfc8ab-a8bf-50b3-a8f3-d807bf48ac09.html" target="_blank">“</a><b><a href="https://madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/rebecca-bradley-joanne-kloppenburg-spar-over-political-ties-bradleys-past/article_5fdfc8ab-a8bf-50b3-a8f3-d807bf48ac09.html" target="_blank">Every judge comes to </a>the bench as a human being having opinions on the issues of the day. It requires a judicial mindset when we put that black robe on to be able to set aside those personal opinions, policy preferences and political inclinations and to always follow the law and that’s why I emphasize to the voters my judicial philosophy</b>.”</span></i></blockquote>But according to Vos, liberal Justices that believe facts conservatives refuse to believe should be stopped:</div><div class="lee-article-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 760px;"><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>Vos: "You cannot have a judge who said, you know, the maps are rigged because<b> she bought into the argument that that's why we're winning elections</b>, not the quality of our candidates..."</blockquote></span></i></div><div class="lee-article-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 760px;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">But the maps are rigged....</span></b></div><div class="lee-article-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 760px;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="lee-article-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 760px;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsz7PQvKa3Ed6ddV35ghXnHCHTg9NK2iQYkBM64w0LtZb35kspIxjFEKeRmqmbGdkOe0jV8mVOAefd8Yf6JIBe_qaDz390c5rgMFS2obD9xnLayksZE5_gws8hnvheoJxEY2zA7jgrSbGdr5I-WR0JY914D5hZZgbHziO3pvffPy7_qKRmuhUjYjma/s1468/Wis%20Most%20Gerrymandered%20state.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="1468" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsz7PQvKa3Ed6ddV35ghXnHCHTg9NK2iQYkBM64w0LtZb35kspIxjFEKeRmqmbGdkOe0jV8mVOAefd8Yf6JIBe_qaDz390c5rgMFS2obD9xnLayksZE5_gws8hnvheoJxEY2zA7jgrSbGdr5I-WR0JY914D5hZZgbHziO3pvffPy7_qKRmuhUjYjma/s320/Wis%20Most%20Gerrymandered%20state.png" width="320" /></a></div></b><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote><a href="https://www.wuwm.com/2022-05-09/report-wisconsin-legislature-maps-have-the-worst-partisan-bias-of-any-court-drawn-map-in-the-nation" style="font-weight: 700; text-align: center;">WUWM</a><span style="font-weight: 700; text-align: center;">:</span><span style="font-weight: 700; text-align: center;"> </span>The new maps, drawn by the Wisconsin State Legislature, are<b> considered the most partisan-biased, court-adopted maps in the nation. </b>That’s according to a <a href="https://statedemocracy.law.wisc.edu/featured/2022/explainer-wisconsins-new-state-legislative-maps-compare-unfavorably-to-other-court-adopted-maps-on-partisan-equity/">new analysis</a> from the University of Wisconsin Law School. The maps heavily advantage Republican politicians, all but guaranteeing Republican-rule in the state Legislature,<b> regardless of what most voters want.</b></blockquote></span></i><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote><br />The analysis looked at four metrics: partisan-bias, efficiency gap, mean-median difference and declination.<br /><br /><b>"On every one of these standard partisan fairness metrics, these new maps are the worst, court-adopted maps that we’ve seen anywhere in the country," </b>says Rob Yablon, an associate professor at the law school, who published the analysis.</blockquote></span></i><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="lee-article-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 760px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><b>Yet "Least Change" Redistricting Maps, a jaw dropping joke, Adopted</b></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">:</span></div></span></b><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>By <a href="https://planscore.org/plan.html?20220418T182910.688258000Z">multiple established measures</a>, Wisconsin’s state legislature is among the most heavily gerrymandered in the country. <b>Republicans gained an even stronger legislative advantage in the most recent redistricting cycle—but this time, the (least change) maps were chosen by the Wisconsin Supreme Court</b>...After <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21a471_097c.pdf">intervention</a> by the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/us/politics/supreme-court-wisconsin-redistricting.html?unlocked_article_code=Itq5_I8sKm-zIHiTaYryJHilqsNE-8dgUEKm_rIc6oJy2-6b0Yi4ygMTvQHfzrjCXYOmUTf67tlzyAWbh-jOQnWwHDirvZ6Bbztem77uOHOkpT8HvA3lI1nzl0S7R7g7pLAO-ch32wea8f7CXLmk9n_iZ6OVHPDGrzQ3pCJisdbTBSdoHBjjbNpg7xfXomtYWNiZQwZTVAp8QNx747Ix6x1ht1gIs-J5wIftfu0puD93m4JLQ1PApHctY6Xqh9T-R2T8ZjgNeatMBbtPgWpmEV6yauqFoQ9dvPgdwkLros6gxAXgUsK83QKj60E6qD7Gev12MgKsKsIMfupn-g0EfQZqXnacR2Hn-CTt6A_rNkC8BlK4&smid=share-url">U.S. Supreme Court</a>, <a href="https://www.wicourts.gov/sc/opinion/DisplayDocument.pdf?content=pdf&seqNo=511572">ultimately adopted</a> the assembly and senate maps drafted by the legislature—the same ones Governor Evers had previously vetoed.</blockquote></span></i></div><div class="lee-article-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 760px;"><div class="lee-article-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 760px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Wisconsin had One of the Worst State Supreme Courts in the Country.</b> </span>The recent change was a welcome change...</div><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="lee-article-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 760px;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div>The <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-destruction-of-the-wisconsin-supreme-court" target="_blank">New Yorker </a>noticed...</span></b></div><div class="lee-article-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 760px;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="lee-article-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 760px;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBq5E4zM0vI91UKPOhJSI_-PCSHBTouSLCEU0kTy8DYXB8GM_z-0mI8POF1MahWBOsEXOfGkaYfA4-hGuzeNmJpo-dauhFo1M4fJxCZAVOsFAf0wQooFb3ueZxEZDpLecXTOZyNP7HcRcT5WF66QQiC9rPSuCJNSKTgt9opBGFxBlYJX8ajydSxba/s1414/destruction%20of%20WI%20supreme%20Court%20Walker.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="1414" height="91" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBq5E4zM0vI91UKPOhJSI_-PCSHBTouSLCEU0kTy8DYXB8GM_z-0mI8POF1MahWBOsEXOfGkaYfA4-hGuzeNmJpo-dauhFo1M4fJxCZAVOsFAf0wQooFb3ueZxEZDpLecXTOZyNP7HcRcT5WF66QQiC9rPSuCJNSKTgt9opBGFxBlYJX8ajydSxba/w400-h91/destruction%20of%20WI%20supreme%20Court%20Walker.png" width="400" /></a></div></b></div><i><blockquote><span style="color: #073763;">...in a decadelong saga that,</span><b style="color: #073763;"> largely through money-fueled and often nasty judicial elections, has intensified the turn of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from a congenial, moderately liberal institution into a severely divided conservative stronghold.</b><span style="color: #073763;"> More to the point, the elections have reduced it from </span><b><span style="color: red;">one of the nation’s most respected state tribunals into a disgraceful mess.</span></b></blockquote></i><div class="lee-article-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 760px;">It was so bad (no joke), a conservative Justice wrapped his hands around a female Justices neck...it<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna44275354" target="_blank"> happened</a>:<br /></div><div class="lee-article-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 760px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgECX6EZcb9hQBNrc6vtIQoIM9Taw9P7Y3ks_G8ZiJGoRY_AD6-04CdbN4MdW0izZQlpGRC87K4Ex4GqKwprjZY8PjHbcg6zRoSn4ExXPyEJKbzd4JA_l4f1NG1bWllHv7PSx2QIN5FFb9OXGRkL0z4m1yYtm83Xdgo1tg5bfZ8OTsHBNet2LMi_krR/s1705/David%20Prosser%20choked%20colleague.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="1705" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgECX6EZcb9hQBNrc6vtIQoIM9Taw9P7Y3ks_G8ZiJGoRY_AD6-04CdbN4MdW0izZQlpGRC87K4Ex4GqKwprjZY8PjHbcg6zRoSn4ExXPyEJKbzd4JA_l4f1NG1bWllHv7PSx2QIN5FFb9OXGRkL0z4m1yYtm83Xdgo1tg5bfZ8OTsHBNet2LMi_krR/w400-h85/David%20Prosser%20choked%20colleague.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><div class="lee-article-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 760px;">It's no coincidence that Rep. Robin Vos is focusing on the two major court challenges: gerrymandered maps and an 1849 abortion ban. If there is "any semblance of honor" left after years of destroying its reputation...:</div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>"If there's any semblance of<b> honor</b> on the state Supreme Court left, you cannot have a person who runs for the court<b> prejudging a case and being open about it, and then acting on the case </b>as if you're an impartial observer, she would violate her oath of office, " Vos (said).</blockquote></span></i>But if Justice Janet Protasiewicz (prota-say'-wisz) has supposedly "prejudged" a few cases, has any other Justice done the same? Sure, but would conservative Justice Bradley recuse herself from the important 1849 abortion ban? She should...:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Om_2kj_dRQDc02wd_DDCOKMukseo3ynHdbi3JwpKJInHlWvqvYYlvDxSFrQ5K8XccAaNZSXCaTwHR7a3xXv56oTj2teeLCrdJ-PBFcnJ_MS_SCl2EjjjqgmjuUtCOyFS8suO5rEP_YvAPXKVno89Ze0NwERi8Z7z7Ss8gGPn4SYdJs7R7wHh4RxO/s1151/Rebecca%20Bradley%20Abortion%20murder%201992.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1151" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Om_2kj_dRQDc02wd_DDCOKMukseo3ynHdbi3JwpKJInHlWvqvYYlvDxSFrQ5K8XccAaNZSXCaTwHR7a3xXv56oTj2teeLCrdJ-PBFcnJ_MS_SCl2EjjjqgmjuUtCOyFS8suO5rEP_YvAPXKVno89Ze0NwERi8Z7z7Ss8gGPn4SYdJs7R7wHh4RxO/s320/Rebecca%20Bradley%20Abortion%20murder%201992.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Like the other conservative Justices, they told us how theywere going to vote by right wing policy statements of the organizations they were a part of. Check out Badley's political ties: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FdcRViqV8UU" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; padding: 10px;"><i><span style="color: #20124d;">She has served as<b> president of the Milwaukee chapter of the Federalist Society</b>, a conservative lawyers group, and has belonged to the <b>Republican National Lawyers Association </b>and the Thomas More Society, a Catholic legal group.</span></i></blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14.85px;"><i><blockquote>What's so biased about the libertarian Federalist interpretation of the law, or pushing conservative orthodoxy via the National Lawyers Association?</blockquote></i></span><div>The extreme MAGA influence is clear in the disconnect Bradley has when it comes to the government's role in PUBLIC HEALTH. This is brutal. Bradley ignores Wisconsin statutes regarding public health, especially when it comes to a deadly pandemic. <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/investigations/daniel-bice/2023/08/14/justice-rebecca-bradley-edits-out-criticism-on-wikipedia-page/70576397007/" target="_blank">Watch for...</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #303030; font-family: "Georgia Pro", Georgia, "Droid Serif", serif; font-size: 18px;"> "</span><i><span style="color: #073763;">in May 2020, Bradley <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=prev&oldid=1156484917">"compared the state's stay-at-home orders to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II,"</a> a case known as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/06/26/how-a-1944-decision-on-japanese-internment-affected-the-supreme-courts-travel-ban-decision/">Korematsu v. the United States</a>"</span></i>: </div><div><br /></div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VQ03V0XSZsg" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><b>NEW: </b>Rebecca Bradley <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/investigations/daniel-bice/2023/08/14/justice-rebecca-bradley-edits-out-criticism-on-wikipedia-page/70576397007/" target="_blank">revises her own</a> history like they all do now</span>:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-LvgmiLFH07UksOoiULT-arjtz_yxpfu_t0tRkIls5X53nz0xE9ABQhIBUB6O5KIaWCWkVWBMzpx9fyMF-pF2HchPkBfixBLbx9zqkPc6kzVFNvBUk_mzanyI9V2v4FH5wJEfpCH-y9BainvlMlpU_rIOgRzpmDePmFWQcsgXZzTBdk2eHCu_HJat/s1196/Rebecca%20Bradley%20edits%20Wikipedia%20page.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="1196" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-LvgmiLFH07UksOoiULT-arjtz_yxpfu_t0tRkIls5X53nz0xE9ABQhIBUB6O5KIaWCWkVWBMzpx9fyMF-pF2HchPkBfixBLbx9zqkPc6kzVFNvBUk_mzanyI9V2v4FH5wJEfpCH-y9BainvlMlpU_rIOgRzpmDePmFWQcsgXZzTBdk2eHCu_HJat/w400-h116/Rebecca%20Bradley%20edits%20Wikipedia%20page.png" width="400" /></a></div></b><i><span style="color: #073763;"></span></i></div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><span style="color: #073763;">"Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice @JudgeBradleyWI is <b>currently engaging in an edit war on her Wikipedia page under an anonymous username that she also uses in her personal email.</b>" The username? <a href="https://sigma.toolforge.org/usersearch.py?name=rlgbjd&page=Rebecca_Bradley_%28justice%29&max=500&server=enwiki">"rlgbjd,"</a> which could very well refer to Rebecca Lynn Grassl Bradley, J.D. According to her Wikipedia page, in May 2020, Bradley <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=prev&oldid=1156484917">"compared the state's stay-at-home orders to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II,"</a> a case known as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/06/26/how-a-1944-decision-on-japanese-internment-affected-the-supreme-courts-travel-ban-decision/">Korematsu v. the United States</a>. <b>With her Wikipedia edits, Bradley dropped what she said during oral arguments and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=prev&oldid=1156484917">replaced it with a quote from her concurring opinion</a> that overturned the stay-at-home order.</b><br /><br />She also <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=prev&oldid=1147282994">revised the description of her majority opinion</a> in the 2021 redistricting case aimed at setting new political boundary lines in the state.<br /><br /><b>Originally, her Wikipedia bio said her written decision in the case "declined to change district maps that were in favor of Republicans." </b>That sounds a lot like the Associated Press' version, which said the high court "sided with Republicans" in the redistricting ruling.<br /><br /><b>But Bradley <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=prev&oldid=1147282994">revised the section</a> to say her majority decision "declined to change district maps to achieve partisan 'fairness' and limited the court's involvement </b>in redistricting to ensuring the maps comported with the law."<br /><br />Sounds so nonpartisan, doesn't it?</span></i></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">New North Carolina Conservative Majority shows how MAGAs have Remade the Rule of Law: </span></b> Vos would have to make the case for<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/04/28/north-carolina-courts-redistricting-voter-id/" target="_blank"> NC's breathtaking reversal</a> of a Court decision made only 3 months before by a more liberal court. I guess politics had everything to do with it? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaM2_dUwjy9eiTNpkOZe3YnXAcQ5okhssDpTiMMVn0RN1Xq_wJh3umWpqOjdRQvOErMHkGoh9ZUO4zHpPs2q6xad9d1lfinrDBKGPWPFOMiJWo207g_puwGicqKAOkPbtIc7wqoeEVi2W1pAuBfoGV69ocXWkExOD2LfPl5TT3nPaxUvejZ-IdZojR/s1737/NC%20Redistirting%20map%20reversal%20by%20Supreme%20court.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="1737" height="70" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaM2_dUwjy9eiTNpkOZe3YnXAcQ5okhssDpTiMMVn0RN1Xq_wJh3umWpqOjdRQvOErMHkGoh9ZUO4zHpPs2q6xad9d1lfinrDBKGPWPFOMiJWo207g_puwGicqKAOkPbtIc7wqoeEVi2W1pAuBfoGV69ocXWkExOD2LfPl5TT3nPaxUvejZ-IdZojR/w400-h70/NC%20Redistirting%20map%20reversal%20by%20Supreme%20court.png" width="400" /></a></div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>A new majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday gave Republican lawmakers free rein to draw state legislative and congressional maps as they see fit, reversing a decision issued in December, when liberals controlled the court. “This case is not about partisan politics but rather about realigning the proper roles of the judicial and legislative branches. The new majority said North Carolina courts <b>don’t have a reliable way to determine when maps are overly partisan and so cannot throw out maps for giving one political party an advantage over the other.</b></blockquote></span></i><div>WOW! There's no way of knowing. Yes, Republicans are in the "proper roles" taking over the government. </div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>In dissent, Justice Anita Earls, a <b>Democrat, wrote that the majority “tells North Carolinians that the state constitution and the courts cannot protect their basic human right to self-governance and self-determination.”</b> Justice Michael Morgan joined in the dissent.</blockquote></span></i><br />Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-32059568732939889962023-08-07T20:18:00.004-05:002023-08-07T20:18:58.299-05:00Deep In Environmental Thoughts...<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAqtD7QhCrGK6dDuZ3n65KTmIWeI6583LbT4Y9guWlPQeaMHlo6AuL4_H_j2QVsqTRWm0S2QhUFC8lvGDpW4glSeTkmGDxkaXLdCFJnLrKSIpdLOFHUGZuzd3bdNQsvhy2PcNaXbHU4NDzLOmnl2Dkb68hNTc4aAE6jiexQHAGdBRvbuycjmbj7JTn/s1222/Brian%20Strassburg%20%20Deep%20EnVironmental%20thoughts.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="927" data-original-width="1222" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAqtD7QhCrGK6dDuZ3n65KTmIWeI6583LbT4Y9guWlPQeaMHlo6AuL4_H_j2QVsqTRWm0S2QhUFC8lvGDpW4glSeTkmGDxkaXLdCFJnLrKSIpdLOFHUGZuzd3bdNQsvhy2PcNaXbHU4NDzLOmnl2Dkb68hNTc4aAE6jiexQHAGdBRvbuycjmbj7JTn/w640-h486/Brian%20Strassburg%20%20Deep%20EnVironmental%20thoughts.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-17182122152646291142023-08-07T20:17:00.005-05:002023-08-07T20:17:24.488-05:00Hunter Orange Trump!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLj4aXY_fhjSewAu2YFSU5MxPYzYfVuVjRh_PodnseI3my4R6QXNB3G04E8lc6_z3AEfxFH-S1GiTwGI1RJRQghXjq3TQwYTOzH8XEwGuOn1YBAv7ZKziS2j_NhgV7fW6PVYEndfMVcs5y_3q_cCOo4q-9JomKbP3H0kyuBMKEJDz-0aGSyAwJOfnz/s1200/Brian%20Strassburg%20Hunter%20restrictioons.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="914" data-original-width="1200" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLj4aXY_fhjSewAu2YFSU5MxPYzYfVuVjRh_PodnseI3my4R6QXNB3G04E8lc6_z3AEfxFH-S1GiTwGI1RJRQghXjq3TQwYTOzH8XEwGuOn1YBAv7ZKziS2j_NhgV7fW6PVYEndfMVcs5y_3q_cCOo4q-9JomKbP3H0kyuBMKEJDz-0aGSyAwJOfnz/w640-h488/Brian%20Strassburg%20Hunter%20restrictioons.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-46543119662032234182023-07-20T15:54:00.002-05:002023-07-20T15:54:15.746-05:00Clarence Thomas' big robe!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSVNqtfh_zxX6TP2Ae5gal1Jb_CNwuLA6LYylUSVujdUqWcoo4e7wfNlD8Ph6Ch41emUC8GBXJPZKDcF7ITk_NihLkTNXyg39Lbzwpvfsyb0vnLf-OROhcWSqnj3QAGd8F0A512HbT7HpQlONCmVZE4GHHhJg_lyblTBOxnKKWFFLLxT9aTaH-OIpl/s1423/Brian%20Strassburg%20Clarence%20big%20robe.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1075" data-original-width="1423" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSVNqtfh_zxX6TP2Ae5gal1Jb_CNwuLA6LYylUSVujdUqWcoo4e7wfNlD8Ph6Ch41emUC8GBXJPZKDcF7ITk_NihLkTNXyg39Lbzwpvfsyb0vnLf-OROhcWSqnj3QAGd8F0A512HbT7HpQlONCmVZE4GHHhJg_lyblTBOxnKKWFFLLxT9aTaH-OIpl/w640-h484/Brian%20Strassburg%20Clarence%20big%20robe.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-81401213324503841042023-07-06T19:56:00.004-05:002023-07-06T19:56:57.116-05:00The Better Trump Boxes...<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB888EyegJJQtJoHjhGiH8SJP86Ca3Oyb9rhrpVcbR4SwF_oPd-rmykhZClIukvpbHJX8BButO59BzFCLNdMCZ0uIqnXmvX6hWP-O0bZYUZJc4OypL44siycLhjKHtKlIURYTkZDx4VUsp4jR0yamz4S6w9IpcRYTcGfMIe7x56IJ3WbxTEK6_5rDd/s1409/Brian%20Strassburg%20%20Trump%20Boxes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="1409" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB888EyegJJQtJoHjhGiH8SJP86Ca3Oyb9rhrpVcbR4SwF_oPd-rmykhZClIukvpbHJX8BButO59BzFCLNdMCZ0uIqnXmvX6hWP-O0bZYUZJc4OypL44siycLhjKHtKlIURYTkZDx4VUsp4jR0yamz4S6w9IpcRYTcGfMIe7x56IJ3WbxTEK6_5rDd/w640-h490/Brian%20Strassburg%20%20Trump%20Boxes.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-30255842498099433422023-07-06T19:55:00.002-05:002023-07-06T19:55:24.808-05:00The Grift is everywhere...<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIyTLnCog5TFJ9mmBe2EkY_NpCPVzOOFwia_sfebTSMZYuU6Lt3F5gq6fRsUt_kaPsWDUV6hi49jIIZE6Bljx72645Qx8dBr6Q5BNyddlqZCkRDMES7kau71kKUs4Sw8tK-4tsz-E3qcwOLPWuo_KzYSxomZDuaj__OriMQjLsvb5LB4COSMN9YXpU/s1414/Brian%20Strassburg%20Special%20Offer%20Gaetz.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="1414" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIyTLnCog5TFJ9mmBe2EkY_NpCPVzOOFwia_sfebTSMZYuU6Lt3F5gq6fRsUt_kaPsWDUV6hi49jIIZE6Bljx72645Qx8dBr6Q5BNyddlqZCkRDMES7kau71kKUs4Sw8tK-4tsz-E3qcwOLPWuo_KzYSxomZDuaj__OriMQjLsvb5LB4COSMN9YXpU/w640-h480/Brian%20Strassburg%20Special%20Offer%20Gaetz.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-72644532093200505182023-06-28T15:17:00.002-05:002023-07-03T12:01:18.062-05:00Not about "Protecting Kids." Republicans alone want to Own the Youth and Gain the Future!Who knew Hitler was right all along? MAGA Republicans seem to think so, using Hitler's genius to reform and weed out "woke" public education. <div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;">The Walker Youth Movement, Pre-DeSantis.</span></b> <b>Goin after the kids:</b> When voters kicked Scott Walker out as governor, he took aim at America's youth, becoming the president of the Young America's Foundation (YAF). Playing off the "liberal indoctrination" myth, he was pretty clear...</div><div><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="color: #073763;"></span></i><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhul_Xx83b1SaGXEOqdodc1yNhEATFIsoXhSd0XT6i9oW8Y5kS_tH4FoKGcO_JaC-CB4woyXIYyoVqF5Ox9h2ONhYZ44dfO2tfUyRGJXO5kaSCh03zpVVowInHxf-gGCxgTTOGhA-BETfN3uxhSHe3p4URXQUC5JtDFQNY1PVwpsD_FzmPAx9K2xT9S/s360/Hitler%20quote%20on%20owning%20youth.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="77" data-original-width="360" height="68" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhul_Xx83b1SaGXEOqdodc1yNhEATFIsoXhSd0XT6i9oW8Y5kS_tH4FoKGcO_JaC-CB4woyXIYyoVqF5Ox9h2ONhYZ44dfO2tfUyRGJXO5kaSCh03zpVVowInHxf-gGCxgTTOGhA-BETfN3uxhSHe3p4URXQUC5JtDFQNY1PVwpsD_FzmPAx9K2xT9S/s320/Hitler%20quote%20on%20owning%20youth.png" width="320" /></a></div><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="color: #073763;">Walker said another priority of his, both at the high school and university level, would be to</span><b><span style="color: #073763;"> promote more objective teaching of American history, global history, economics, and simple financial literacy: “If you just give people the facts, if you don’t put your spin on it, the facts will overwhelmingly lead people to be more aligned </span><span style="color: red;">with our point of view</span><span style="color: #073763;">.” </span></b></i><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="color: #073763;">He added that </span><b style="color: #073763;">because of </b><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">progressive professors and liberal politicians, “this generation just doesn’t believe what the facts show to be true.”</span></b></i><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></i><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></i><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="color: #073763;">“YAF has been great – but we have to <b>multiply it a thousand times over and reach more students and more campuses and earlier. Not just in college and high school, but teens and pre-teens</b>, to find more ways</span><b><span style="color: #073763;"> to expose people</span><span style="color: red;"> to the truth,</span><span style="color: #073763;">”</span></b><span style="color: #073763;"> he said he told the board.</span></i></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLh0S3qKN5pPtZicHoUgQSI4LcJa0jZkWL8INcqwe5STwzyI9z03sU_jIIvTLLQGWmYnoUGm4Gon5N1-PMzB2sUzInKmlGrmv4HXBKiaGFvCjgbD5vv8mxTJ7BHiVaZC0tnOTCI3ZnmBjjzx7YoHV2T6p-LmvieEKCICOVCb743EKjNyii5JOyDY_T/s1113/Scott%20Walker%20YAF%20many%20bad%20Leaders.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="178" data-original-width="1113" height="102" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLh0S3qKN5pPtZicHoUgQSI4LcJa0jZkWL8INcqwe5STwzyI9z03sU_jIIvTLLQGWmYnoUGm4Gon5N1-PMzB2sUzInKmlGrmv4HXBKiaGFvCjgbD5vv8mxTJ7BHiVaZC0tnOTCI3ZnmBjjzx7YoHV2T6p-LmvieEKCICOVCb743EKjNyii5JOyDY_T/w640-h102/Scott%20Walker%20YAF%20many%20bad%20Leaders.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>White Religious Nationalism Indoctrination Okay? </b>You would have thought some of the $3.5 billion proposed tax cut could have gone instead to our public schools and the UW Engineering Department, but no. Rep. Robin <a href="https://www.thecentersquare.com/wisconsin/article_a50c6718-0ae3-11ee-ada7-cbd2ad556805.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share" target="_blank">Vos bravely doubles down</a> the imagined enemy of public education, liberal indoctrination:</span></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCGg4vXH-Ue5a_5welqSJIAJ_UfmntiKSWBVSSLeAFoMRC90JNzlE0aJi2I_oSzZeO2G1nnaLZyb1abgvkVN4DOA6zBpwbCzNt2IPhjmyDFJ2brppCfgBKua_P983ZjSstuyqXZLegUUJJg98xPTYTgbabD7kom0LKvo2ZE0U2oLgQBUPUzcLU-JQb/s2028/Vos%20education%20cuts%20again%20not%20indoctrination.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="2028" height="86" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCGg4vXH-Ue5a_5welqSJIAJ_UfmntiKSWBVSSLeAFoMRC90JNzlE0aJi2I_oSzZeO2G1nnaLZyb1abgvkVN4DOA6zBpwbCzNt2IPhjmyDFJ2brppCfgBKua_P983ZjSstuyqXZLegUUJJg98xPTYTgbabD7kom0LKvo2ZE0U2oLgQBUPUzcLU-JQb/w640-h86/Vos%20education%20cuts%20again%20not%20indoctrination.png" width="640" /></a></b></div><i><span style="color: #073763;"></span></i><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;"><b>“They tell me we don’t have enough people to be in engineering.</b> We don’t have enough folks who are teaching an awful lot of careers. But. boy are they able to find millions of dollars to put into a curriculum and an ideology,” Vos added. “So,<b> if they have extra money then I think it should be taken back, and the taxpayers of Wisconsin will have a chance to use it for something better than indoctrinating kids with left-wing ideology.</b> <b>It should not be indoctrination, where you’re only allowed to have one point of view.”</b></span></i></blockquote><p>Then there's the idea that students aren't allowed to present a different opinion in class. Not true. It turns out conservative students know their view might be unpopular, so they self-censor. No one is shutting them down. From a YAF poll, mirroring a similar recent result from a UW poll:</p><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; padding: 10px;"><i><span style="color: #073763;"><b>46 percent</b> admit they "have stopped myself from sharing my ideas or opinions in class discussions." As for why these students refrained, it <b>appears that peer pressure is the dominating factor as 50 percent said they held back their opinions because they "thought my classmates would judge me."</b></span></i></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">That's not on the instructor or the other students. </span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">GOP's Religious Nationalism and Hitler's Comeback</span></b>: The following clips may be from around the country, but they clearly represent Wisconsin's gerrymandered Republican majority. Saying the quiet parts outload now, proving "liberal indoctrination" never did work if it ever did exist, here are a few amazing examples: First, openly admit what you're doing...</p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2SKwBarKFlU" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /></p><p>...and pointing out who inspired you...</p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KJyqFJo7gNo" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /></p><p>...doubling down via <b>Moms for Liberty</b>, who hope to "own the youth," which in someway "empowers parents?" </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFzO29W5iU1vfGzBNodH5Ck9bvXSLBhgYrFuBJB5kQ9GhtcCKl2HEIfQlANrXqiyBCr20dYDxwjGn9WyJFNGl4pKVqiKwJMRYEp6nO_k7ZW0v2F4wxkpewOqiiCQmeqwvNZb9US4P3zlA8aQHOWH7GtOMn4IGljDl4w77SLPYZjSE4I50RAESuKvp9/s1160/Moms%20for%20lIberty%20Quotes%20Hitler%20kids%202.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="901" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFzO29W5iU1vfGzBNodH5Ck9bvXSLBhgYrFuBJB5kQ9GhtcCKl2HEIfQlANrXqiyBCr20dYDxwjGn9WyJFNGl4pKVqiKwJMRYEp6nO_k7ZW0v2F4wxkpewOqiiCQmeqwvNZb9US4P3zlA8aQHOWH7GtOMn4IGljDl4w77SLPYZjSE4I50RAESuKvp9/w498-h640/Moms%20for%20lIberty%20Quotes%20Hitler%20kids%202.png" width="498" /></a></div><p>...to a history loving 20 year old school board candidate casually quoting Hitler to make his case to voters:<br /><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uAte7cjjhpg" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Not going to take it anymore</span></b>: What more can be said, it's all here...</p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WLtfmSCxblA" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /></p><p><b style="background-color: #fcff01;">NOTE: I thought this is something we should get an update on; the health of democracy in Wisconsin: </b></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1o9rQdhorYU/YHI2_qg-KNI/AAAAAAAA0tc/QCs2GsrWcjMz590zLlCZh3aOlZxsWhevwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1028/Republicans%2Bbad%2Bfor%2Bdemocracy.png" style="color: #334099; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="195" data-original-width="1028" height="122" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1o9rQdhorYU/YHI2_qg-KNI/AAAAAAAA0tc/QCs2GsrWcjMz590zLlCZh3aOlZxsWhevwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h122/Republicans%2Bbad%2Bfor%2Bdemocracy.png" style="border: none; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></div><br /> Here's <a href="https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Laboratories%20of%20Democratic%20Backsliding#cobssid=s&fpstate=ive&vld=cid:5a55b9f7,vid:HJUCPYhXXCc" target="_blank">what happene</a>d to democracy in Wisconsin. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/laboratories-of-democratic-backsliding/0742F08306EFDD8612539F089853E4FE" target="_blank">Surprise, it's not all "freedom and liberty</a>:"</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vdTWzyoVoyo/YHI8ucXuoJI/AAAAAAAA0t0/C9b4KyNv9tosZhPDepmPjRc-sItuSLKoQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1107/Freedom%2BDemocracy%2Bstates%2Blost%2Band%2Bwon.png" style="color: #334099; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="443" data-original-width="1107" height="256" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vdTWzyoVoyo/YHI8ucXuoJI/AAAAAAAA0t0/C9b4KyNv9tosZhPDepmPjRc-sItuSLKoQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h256/Freedom%2BDemocracy%2Bstates%2Blost%2Band%2Bwon.png" style="border: none; position: relative;" width="640" /></a></div><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="color: #073763;"></span></i></p><blockquote style="background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 10px;">The conclusions were clear: The GOP is the problem. “Results suggest a minimal role for all factors except Republican control of state government, which dramatically reduces states’ democratic performance during this period,” he writes. While many researchers have attempted to quantify the health of democracy in different countries around the world, Grumbach’s paper is the first effort to develop some kind of ranking system for US states. And it’s yet another piece of evidence that<span> </span><a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22274429/republicans-anti-democracy-13-charts" style="color: #334099; text-decoration: none;">the Republican Party has become an anti-democratic political faction</a>.</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL8NwDTCUN67MXw7nJLL0MfkTmdeJYUeKrqLDUSaI3QmUPnT1-z-bE2dNLCQug9Du381QFYmqVblMZAohfbiBoHlvvZi-dIkf1BN0-HFJ1vqrlIk3W4EJWBDNB2IBntiRFqiScDjSmxZicD5qbEpKvuh1xQbx7ywl_dI3rycngSskYhL1yhAW500b7/s1270/State%20losing%20Democracy%20WI%20graph%202018.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1175" data-original-width="1270" height="592" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL8NwDTCUN67MXw7nJLL0MfkTmdeJYUeKrqLDUSaI3QmUPnT1-z-bE2dNLCQug9Du381QFYmqVblMZAohfbiBoHlvvZi-dIkf1BN0-HFJ1vqrlIk3W4EJWBDNB2IBntiRFqiScDjSmxZicD5qbEpKvuh1xQbx7ywl_dI3rycngSskYhL1yhAW500b7/w640-h592/State%20losing%20Democracy%20WI%20graph%202018.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p> </p><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="color: #073763;"></span></i></div>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-27565195648840888602023-06-27T18:43:00.001-05:002023-06-27T18:46:23.481-05:00Stopping the Red State Grift taking Blue State tax dollars. <p>Is it intentionally ironic how Republicans are demanding we not use public tax dollars to fund DEI programs because they're part of a "WOKE" left wing agenda, while at the same time blatantly accept Blue State tax dollars to fund authoritarian one-party rule and tax breaks in Red States? </p><p>While I would have like to have seen the House Republican's cut all wasteful "spending" first in red states, just to test out their theory of austerity, I think <a href="https://hartmannreport.com/p/why-are-we-letting-the-red-state" target="_blank">Thom Hartmann's suggestion below </a>should be taken very seriously. <br /></p><p>The idea below really does hold Republican states feet to the fire:</p><blockquote><i><b style="color: #073763;">When the Biden administration tried to just slightly slow down the Red state gravy train, specifying in the American Rescue Plan could not be misappropriated and redirected to tax cuts for local billionaires, their politicians — dancing to the tune of their in-state oligarchs — went ballistic.</b><span style="color: #073763;"> As Forbes </span><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2021/04/10/the-new-civil-war-blue-states-soak-the-rich-red-states-sue-to-cut-taxes/?sh=85e3753488ca" style="color: #073763;">documented</a><span style="color: #073763;">:</span><br /><blockquote style="color: #073763;">“In a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, 21 Republican state attorneys general described it as ‘the greatest attempted invasion of state sovereignty by Congress in the history of our Republic.’”</blockquote><b style="color: #073763;">Federal policy fails to equalize revenue flowing to Red states against the tax money they send Washington DC. </b><span style="color: #073763;">This loophole in US tax law is driving this bizarre process </span><b style="color: #073763;">where citizens in Blue states are forced by law to pay for all-white “Christian” academies, enforcement of abortion restrictions, persecution of asylum</b><span style="color: #073763;"> seekers and immigrants, and political attacks on queer people.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #073763;">Red state “welfare queen” governors and legislatures are going to happily continue this grift as long as we let them get away with it. </span><b><span style="color: #990000;">Congress should pass legislation mandating that Red state revenues to DC must at least match 90 percent of the money they get back; 100 percent would be better, and help hugely with our nation’s budget deficit.</span></b><br /><br /><span style="color: #073763;"><b>It’s time to end Red state welfare!</b></span></i></blockquote><p>Here's an example:<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiI14J1FFFO4pzx0gH14HZqtQwaDzkyT2B5syUJHvDIYg-syojgCeSoJFvSPq2Sw1NoMwEKhhR5r-QvrU3NlMRb-jUydvDlZDecwMkeyBT2ov5aEe4rAR06G33EPIM2SjqCC7pLv8io6pZxvBp3xQyzZ0aKfAjLd9axVh4LamaQ8iTkzJkGuzXg2Ru/s1148/Republicans%20vote%20against%20bills%20they%20take%20money%20from.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="1148" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiI14J1FFFO4pzx0gH14HZqtQwaDzkyT2B5syUJHvDIYg-syojgCeSoJFvSPq2Sw1NoMwEKhhR5r-QvrU3NlMRb-jUydvDlZDecwMkeyBT2ov5aEe4rAR06G33EPIM2SjqCC7pLv8io6pZxvBp3xQyzZ0aKfAjLd9axVh4LamaQ8iTkzJkGuzXg2Ru/w640-h430/Republicans%20vote%20against%20bills%20they%20take%20money%20from.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-26394499820611943402023-06-27T12:14:00.005-05:002023-06-27T12:14:43.747-05:00Cartoonist found Alive!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie8TlCEVLbU-tNQj64aZqR_YDGAQg9g0BFwX_J03eKKkFMxSaO5c1LElUrztfyM-bdch7km2DuKMc-8gd_LJ1-xWn0GUww8Y4qlfT7UjdHb0ZaOmFMCEaaFPBbPBjNyHew1LnuOJVjjzJDDNxT_KtHdTN6KzLh4PIDr05OaWdEZojIB-mim-hbfG4p/s1391/Brian%20strassburg%20Brian%20Strassburg%20disappear.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="1391" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie8TlCEVLbU-tNQj64aZqR_YDGAQg9g0BFwX_J03eKKkFMxSaO5c1LElUrztfyM-bdch7km2DuKMc-8gd_LJ1-xWn0GUww8Y4qlfT7UjdHb0ZaOmFMCEaaFPBbPBjNyHew1LnuOJVjjzJDDNxT_KtHdTN6KzLh4PIDr05OaWdEZojIB-mim-hbfG4p/w640-h488/Brian%20strassburg%20Brian%20Strassburg%20disappear.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-13992917796910292902023-06-13T14:50:00.001-05:002023-06-15T15:08:02.379-05:00Vos Republicans plan to punish UW, again! Adopt fabricated MAGA policies attacking Equity and Diversity or lose funding. <p>Apparently, Republicans denying state funding for the expansion of the job creating engineering department due to high demand, wasn't enough of an economic <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2023/06/01/new-uw-madison-engineering-building-project-in-jeopardy/70279112007/" target="_blank">killer for the state</a>. </p><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;">The <a href="https://engineering.wisc.edu/">UW-Madison College of Engineering</a> receives some 8,000 applicants annually but only has the space and teaching resources to accept about 1,200. The $347 million building would allow the state flagship to graduate at least 1,000 more undergraduate engineers annually, as well as hire more faculty and expand research.</span><span style="color: #990000;"> <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2023/06/01/new-uw-madison-engineering-building-project-in-jeopardy/70279112007/" target="_blank">“Today is certainly</a> a sad day for UW–Madison, but the real tragedy is for the state of Wisconsin,”<b> Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin </b><a href="https://news.wisc.edu/legislature-withholds-approval-for-new-uw-madison-engineering-building/" style="font-weight: bold;">said in a statement</a><b>. "This building would promote the state’s economic development. It would create significant workforce opportunities. It would propel innovation. And without it, we harm businesses all across Wisconsin."</b></span></i></blockquote>Where's Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), who were big supporters of the expansion? Business was also shocked:<div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote><b>CEOs were "terrified" and confused as to why Wisconsin wouldn't fund the project, which would make it even more difficult for businesses to hire engineers ... some companies are offering jobs to students two years before graduation.</b></blockquote></span></i><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">This isn't really an Issue</span></b>: Now the ridiculously gerrymandered Republican majority wants to spew their party's racism and bigotry into the UW System by banning equity and inclusion. It's still surreal to think anyone would be against equity and inclusion, but hey, their MAGA voters will buy into anything. So, bring out the torches and pitchforks for their latest fabricated outrage.</p><p>Keep in mind, Republicans have always found some way to punish the UW System, the state's economic engine, for its liberal reputation. So, why the labor shortage? <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/republicans-cut-university-wisconsin-budget-173334420.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw&tsrc=twtr&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADfrqWsvVPXh2kHtTN2V2t7ydt7WSloFYRvjHPPICJ0WidpotCyYa_DnXlJphHINYPl7nYNSvJiNT43R4OVf7UqlQ7LAaqQAzum79qr3EGDY_Q-Bm3UBgVQ4Kgn_npDXubbw0h1h5hZyfbIj4Cxx_QQdmXVYMxgNMC4QujoebK3w" target="_blank">Gee, I don't know... </a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_GglQx5AfjwmCCFLBcfqWB6pJf9dkuSlxEo0ggdsS4rH_2-7YSjjU6LMpGkNHYQbPY_ueiezUQe8oE559bEJxuSsLcJHxAdt9Ng33_TG_jr0mzDGB_nH0_fjG45664kVGFbCSNmkErLhMMIzPo67VafEdsQCu9cVbKX8Ykiz3hRJc8wwLkjOghg/s1498/UW%20Cuts%20by%20Republicans%20over%20Diversity.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="1498" height="94" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_GglQx5AfjwmCCFLBcfqWB6pJf9dkuSlxEo0ggdsS4rH_2-7YSjjU6LMpGkNHYQbPY_ueiezUQe8oE559bEJxuSsLcJHxAdt9Ng33_TG_jr0mzDGB_nH0_fjG45664kVGFbCSNmkErLhMMIzPo67VafEdsQCu9cVbKX8Ykiz3hRJc8wwLkjOghg/w640-h94/UW%20Cuts%20by%20Republicans%20over%20Diversity.png" width="640" /></a></div><i><span style="color: #073763;"></span></i><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;"><b>The fight this year centers on issues of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/campus-diversity-university-wisconsin-free-speech-cd41d4d05bf60194bd805e52209d2e2b">free speech and UW's work to advance diversity</a> and racial equity.</b> Assembly Speaker Robin <b>Vos said he wants to cut all funding the university system would use for diversity initiatives. </b><br /></span></i><br /><i><span style="color: #073763;">“I want the university to <b>grow and succeed, but if they are obsessed with spending all the scarce dollars</b> that they have on<b> programs that are clearly divisive and offer little public good, </b>I don’t know why we’d want to support that." Republican lawmakers this year have <a href="https://apnews.com/article/diversity-equity-inclusion-legislation-7bd8d4d52aaaa9902dde59a257874686">proposed more than 30 bills in 12 states</a> to<b> limit diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in higher education. </b></span></i></blockquote>The horror, right? Maybe we should limit all those "diverse" right-wing speakers and topics at the UW? Cuts both ways.<i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>Democratic Sen. Kelda Roys said.<b> "The UW is the economic engine of the state. </b>Making any <b>cuts to the UW, especially politically motivated ones, is just going to harm every person in this state.”</b></blockquote></span></i>How bad can it get, and who will eventually pay for this? Parents and students. Sweet. "Come to Wisconsin?" Dream on.<br /><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>UW regents<b> asked the Legislature for a total spending increase of nearly $436 million </b>in state money over the next two years, citing low revenue from a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-university-of-wisconsin-business-state-budgets-c1d8fd9b270bee46e4bc118f0c2dccda">decade long tuition freeze</a> and rising costs due to inflation.<b> Vos said the budget committee plans to reject that request.</b> Tuesday's vote <b>could leave the UW System nearly half a billion dollars short of what school officials say they need.</b></blockquote></span></i></div>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-67298862995996454972023-06-08T13:51:00.009-05:002023-06-09T11:53:05.973-05:00Wisconsin, we're going Nowhere Fast...<p>The shocking lack of progress in Wisconsin has now become glaringly obvious. Anti-job legislation doesn't even get a passing glance by Republican voters anymore. Hey, it's just the way it is. Trapped in amber;</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UQTHqbXmdhwPcUTkb_QLyd3qDefVPQ89GLfTREjDIzZDtzNbXL6wr0eU1eD9NiN7_9tcoshdbPpQCv032YWxDTppRO7wct94w4VX15BXwLBvF4TLvEL7oNelYLV_fHa6MU8Ri0pSwfupaMI93VFuPx83tli7asY6Uqjh3x-Y8kRNHScda8BC4w/s769/Wisconsin%20GOP%20amber%20Red.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="602" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UQTHqbXmdhwPcUTkb_QLyd3qDefVPQ89GLfTREjDIzZDtzNbXL6wr0eU1eD9NiN7_9tcoshdbPpQCv032YWxDTppRO7wct94w4VX15BXwLBvF4TLvEL7oNelYLV_fHa6MU8Ri0pSwfupaMI93VFuPx83tli7asY6Uqjh3x-Y8kRNHScda8BC4w/s320/Wisconsin%20GOP%20amber%20Red.png" width="251" /></a></div><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">1. "Strip out All of the Milwaukee things!" </span></b>Republicans have been trashing Milwaukee for decades, so guess what? Despite being one of the top economic engines statewide...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJix4Y5hIJwyiUNUR8M87QoCgoLCKmLi57Ms8JVX6fSHrmxDXoywgvGWLwsMDp7WZzbe2kAEp091Io8Kk_z1LNJwU_L3lJwJsqjAqbkkhTLkwMCBcT1pZAh2WJLmqB6gZIQw6KQFNljdEWgZpUELnSWYbEzImxU7VBvAWLzX1ApH66SLjhEXRvA/s1270/Vos%20Remove%20MIlw%20provisions%20in%20Budget.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="1270" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJix4Y5hIJwyiUNUR8M87QoCgoLCKmLi57Ms8JVX6fSHrmxDXoywgvGWLwsMDp7WZzbe2kAEp091Io8Kk_z1LNJwU_L3lJwJsqjAqbkkhTLkwMCBcT1pZAh2WJLmqB6gZIQw6KQFNljdEWgZpUELnSWYbEzImxU7VBvAWLzX1ApH66SLjhEXRvA/s320/Vos%20Remove%20MIlw%20provisions%20in%20Budget.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>After credit downgrade, Vos smells blood in the water, and threatens to strip Milwaukee provisions from government funding bill...<i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote><a href="https://www.wpr.org/milwaukee-provisions-could-be-removed-bill-fund-local-communities-gop-leader-says" target="_blank">WPR</a>: <b>"If we do not get a deal this week, I think we should strip out all of the Milwaukee things,"</b> Vos told reporters Wednesday. "And we will just focus on the balance of the bill, which is repealing the personal property tax and<b> making sure that every community around the state is not held hostage by Milwaukee's problems."</b></blockquote></span></i>So why aren't Milwaukee's problems the state's problem? After Milwaukee's credit rating was downgraded due to inadequate funding by Republican over the last decade, now it's Gov. Evers responsibility? <br /><i><span style="color: #073763;"></span></i><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;">If an agreement is not reached, Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said the Senate would pursue <b>a shared revenue bill that does not include a sales tax option for Milwaukee</b>. "The governor has a chance to save Wisconsin's largest city and most populous county from bankruptcy. We hope he takes it."</span></i></blockquote><blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">2.</span></b><span style="font-size: large;"> <b>WI Republicans denounce progress by protecting gas guzzling machines and power equipment. <a href="https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/wisconsin-legislature-set-to-protect-access-to-gas-powered-vehicles" target="_blank">TMJ</a>4:</b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicuwuZOjPiKIvsaI9-G7S3sFWwgqYRJa3sxw3MDWlw39KTPuBY3aDLUl7SipJYoibsqrBs8rJzl1ga4rBaRgu4HaT5pJ1qfym5C-K37TWma9fBnMzzZFnHTV7xZ7zeZKJwGPWBoBiSU_v6Bg6trLfozpiFX5yKQxnibuG3iewsN3bbn8cyokBsrg/s1089/WI%20Republicans%20protect%20gas%20powered%20machines.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="1089" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicuwuZOjPiKIvsaI9-G7S3sFWwgqYRJa3sxw3MDWlw39KTPuBY3aDLUl7SipJYoibsqrBs8rJzl1ga4rBaRgu4HaT5pJ1qfym5C-K37TWma9fBnMzzZFnHTV7xZ7zeZKJwGPWBoBiSU_v6Bg6trLfozpiFX5yKQxnibuG3iewsN3bbn8cyokBsrg/w640-h133/WI%20Republicans%20protect%20gas%20powered%20machines.png" width="640" /></a></div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>The Environmental group Wisconsin Conservation Voters told lawmakers last month that the measure “is at best a solution in search of a problem” given that no community in Wisconsin or the state itself is attempting to ban any type of fuel.</blockquote></span></i><b><span style="font-size: large;">3. Public Health is Tyranny</span></b>: This is an issue? WI Republicans decided meningitis isn't a real danger after all, forget about protecting the children. But drag shows...yup, just more WOKE tyranny:<i><span style="color: #073763;"><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXKoTI1NNKIzhzwTSRy_s6nAmhyOV3RvJTScMNZHcS2FepIUcwja6Fd1Bhz1ohy7-ucEeN9OBPFol2_ycRVUEgZgCJ1bMukWlXbcL7vCt5f6fQnXM7DC6xntq3w4MLk920JEYvR2qFKPnniOhW-zIjIfN0mQ8WjrXihwF76dGqR9i42yxyQ4_kTg/s1273/Meningitis%20vax%20blocked.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="1273" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXKoTI1NNKIzhzwTSRy_s6nAmhyOV3RvJTScMNZHcS2FepIUcwja6Fd1Bhz1ohy7-ucEeN9OBPFol2_ycRVUEgZgCJ1bMukWlXbcL7vCt5f6fQnXM7DC6xntq3w4MLk920JEYvR2qFKPnniOhW-zIjIfN0mQ8WjrXihwF76dGqR9i42yxyQ4_kTg/w400-h124/Meningitis%20vax%20blocked.png" width="400" /></a></div></span></i><b><div><b><br /></b></div><a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2023/06/07/wisconsin-republicans-set-to-block-meningitis-vaccine-requirement/70297187007/" target="_blank">This is what we get </a>for trying to stop the COVID pandemic...</b><i><span style="color: #073763;"><br /><p></p></span></i><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;">The state Assembly and state Senate <b>voted to bar Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' administration </b>from implementing a <b>new rule</b> that would have required seventh graders to get vaccinated against meningitis and mandated parents to show proof their children were infected with chickenpox before obtaining a waiver from the state's chickenpox vaccination requiremen</span></i><span style="color: #073763;"><i>t...</i></span><i><span style="color: #073763;"><a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/08/gop-signals-it-will-block-requiring-meningitis-vaccine-for-7th-graders/69980303007/">voted in March to block the rule</a> after a <b>GOP members questioned the decision-making of state health officials, largely because they disagreed with their orders to shutter businesses in the weeks after Evers declared a health emergency over COVID-19</b> <b>and to wear masks during the most threatening periods of the coronavirus pandemic.</b></span></i></blockquote><b><span style="font-size: large;">4. Forget Job Creation, Republicans Punish UW System...Again, by Rejecting Engineering Expansion</span></b>: With one third already funded, all the state had to do was contribute the rest, with a massive budget surplus as a cushion. Nope. <br /><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;">UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin in February called it a “critical project” that would help boost economic development in the state. "Investing in this facility will help address a crucial workforce shortage in the state as well as enhance the world-class research that draws talent into our state and drives economic vibrancy. We will continue to champion this vital project.”</span><span style="color: #073763;"> <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2023/06/01/new-uw-madison-engineering-building-project-in-jeopardy/70279112007/" target="_blank">JSONLINE</a>:<b> The <a href="https://engineering.wisc.edu/">UW-Madison College of Engineering</a> receives some 8,000 applicants annually but only has the space and teaching resources to accept about 1,200</b>. The $347 million building would<b> allow the state flagship to graduate at least 1,000 more undergraduate engineers annually,</b> as well as hire more faculty and expand research.</span></i></blockquote><div> <a href="https://www.wpr.org/jfc-vote-uw-madison-engineering-building-state-budget-threatens-100-million-donations" target="_blank">WPR</a>:<div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote>Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) said defunding the UW engineering building “makes no economic sense” and blamed it, and other UW-related funding cancellations, on hostility toward the university by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. “It only make sense if you think about it as political retribution,” Roys said.</blockquote></span></i><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-nRXALzF5Bc8lH894z7mvKtO0GiV8o7btxtJf5mwLi55u-Ctkh4nK1IbUlGfAyKKUdjCfmTrSICVG_zh6KrDRU_p3Z3-adAlo9-WUXwzuE7O8z8HVB250-dyuQ5Qb-WmUvPnk1Sww8eOMmOMLAEaZqpi3WZ98T3qN6kaTdUpPywP2cL5N4Kc1A/s1242/Engineering%20UW%20GOP%20dropped%20funding.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="1242" height="101" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-nRXALzF5Bc8lH894z7mvKtO0GiV8o7btxtJf5mwLi55u-Ctkh4nK1IbUlGfAyKKUdjCfmTrSICVG_zh6KrDRU_p3Z3-adAlo9-WUXwzuE7O8z8HVB250-dyuQ5Qb-WmUvPnk1Sww8eOMmOMLAEaZqpi3WZ98T3qN6kaTdUpPywP2cL5N4Kc1A/w400-h101/Engineering%20UW%20GOP%20dropped%20funding.png" width="400" /></a> </div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-nRXALzF5Bc8lH894z7mvKtO0GiV8o7btxtJf5mwLi55u-Ctkh4nK1IbUlGfAyKKUdjCfmTrSICVG_zh6KrDRU_p3Z3-adAlo9-WUXwzuE7O8z8HVB250-dyuQ5Qb-WmUvPnk1Sww8eOMmOMLAEaZqpi3WZ98T3qN6kaTdUpPywP2cL5N4Kc1A/s1242/Engineering%20UW%20GOP%20dropped%20funding.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>Around $100 million in private donations for a planned engineering building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are at risk after Republican lawmakers pulled the $347 million project from the state's capital budget. <br /><br />It was first included in Gov. Tony Evers' 2021-23 capital budget recommendations. Evers included the project again in his current $3.8 billion capital budget proposal. <br /><br />But the engineering building — singled out as the top priority both for the university and for the UW System — was axed. Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said "it shouldn't be surprising" that Republicans trimmed down Evers' original request. Born said Evers' capital budget "was unrealistic and spent beyond the state's means." </blockquote></span></i><div><span><b><span style="font-size: large;">5. WI Republicans Kill High Speed Broadband Rollout, AGAIN</span></b>: This affects rural Republican voters most, but they're watching distraction TV and reading alt-right media instead. </span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSQp8yMrtT75C1iR49vFl_jkFW_z9KY4vaxPuzXCH-TXZQaFb41Oif4jiAPU7QIvTsCJSK9hn_alPtK4uGk9jOfREqmS0jG-h5it9cYE86M-d45Wj3wpXchppd65V6buSaf2SlmL4KDyq5nWWmlmVkLWTzRQmgWUC3usKsHh2rVWw0ONxUiob0DA/s2310/Republicans%20kill%20Broadband%20again.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="447" data-original-width="2310" height="78" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSQp8yMrtT75C1iR49vFl_jkFW_z9KY4vaxPuzXCH-TXZQaFb41Oif4jiAPU7QIvTsCJSK9hn_alPtK4uGk9jOfREqmS0jG-h5it9cYE86M-d45Wj3wpXchppd65V6buSaf2SlmL4KDyq5nWWmlmVkLWTzRQmgWUC3usKsHh2rVWw0ONxUiob0DA/w400-h78/Republicans%20kill%20Broadband%20again.png" width="400" /></a></div></div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote><a href="https://wausaupilotandreview.com/2023/06/05/republicans-boost-building-spending-less-than-democrats-sought-ax-state-broadband-money/" target="_blank">The GOP lawmakers </a>who hold three out of four seats on the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) rejected Evers’ proposal to put $750 million in state funds into broadband internet service expansion, saying that pending federal infrastructure money would be more than enough for that purpose through the 2023-25 budget cycle. According to a Legislative Fiscal Bureau report, the state will receive $700 million to $1.1 billion in federal broadband funds starting by July 1 from the bipartisan infrastructure law enacted in late 2021.</blockquote></span></i><b><span style="font-size: large;">6. WI Republicans may turn down Federal Money for EV Charging stations</span></b>: Republicans don't quite fit in to the 21st century, you know. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbbrxpI6TiRw2fqVipZqsvHc3W9IGL0hndFd_9AVUEH1tnrveKsREuW8LW9aAt2DKodHPme_nJtHxifIxbXnYjybwzikNb5YnVaud2K9-L6B3Ha4EVcLx5QsUdsSUAt6uZFSjx1KQaFKSgLccB1J9YA4QApxegt7F_VLDQoryNjHpc0hZpyRhT6Q/s1195/EV%20Charging%20may%20not%20get%20fed%20money.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="1195" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbbrxpI6TiRw2fqVipZqsvHc3W9IGL0hndFd_9AVUEH1tnrveKsREuW8LW9aAt2DKodHPme_nJtHxifIxbXnYjybwzikNb5YnVaud2K9-L6B3Ha4EVcLx5QsUdsSUAt6uZFSjx1KQaFKSgLccB1J9YA4QApxegt7F_VLDQoryNjHpc0hZpyRhT6Q/w400-h143/EV%20Charging%20may%20not%20get%20fed%20money.png" width="400" /></a></div><i><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote><a href="https://www.wpr.org/wisconsin-law-could-prevent-78m-federal-funds-electric-vehicle-charging-stations" target="_blank">WPR</a>: The Wisconsin Department of Transportation hopes to nearly double the number of publicly-available electric vehicle charging stations around the state with an infusion of federal dollars — <b>but an outdated state law stands in the way.</b> But federal requirements stipulate those stations need to charge customers by the amount of electricity used, also known as kilowatt-hour. In Wisconsin, only regulated utilities are allowed to charge per kilowatt-hour.<br /><br /><b>Recent attempts to change the law have failed.</b> A bill was introduced in the state Legislature last session, <b>but </b><a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/business/energy/2023/05/25/wisconsin-law-could-slow-buildout-of-electric-vehicle-charging-network/69867940007/"><b>died in the Assembly </b>after being approved by the Senate</a>.<b> The language change was included in Gov. Tony Evers' budget, but</b> <b>was removed earlier this year by the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee.</b></blockquote></span></i><b><span style="font-size: large;">7. ...and finally, illegal recreational Marijuana, WI is the island in the Midwest:</span></b><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">It's time to join our neighbors in legalizing and taxing marijuana, much like we already do with alcohol. <a href="https://t.co/DOgahR38h7">https://t.co/DOgahR38h7</a></p>— Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovEvers/status/1665517540976766976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7183447461205976739.post-31223548000418289752023-06-08T00:19:00.002-05:002023-06-08T00:29:06.574-05:00MAGAs at War with Everything, Everywhere all at Once. <p>No matter what you say or do, even with pictures, you'll never change the mind of MAGA. I sent these Biden success stories to my MAGA friend:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqndSkbIsWnIVZMwTHh1LgZpZOjbvXchdetDOncJNNz-eYWE_wCDaMFh4r2Ut3IglhYfj5UvMf-o95Yy2TYIALXkqVsh31CvotmfbxOVVxLhTx8DET3iWdtm4GQYqNl-b1YEEL0Z_sXujZuscFyJyV-OjXgxDC67-iNRSEdimnkDNznvbNzN-v0A/s1245/Biden%20Economy%20June%202023%20manfacturing.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1169" data-original-width="1245" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqndSkbIsWnIVZMwTHh1LgZpZOjbvXchdetDOncJNNz-eYWE_wCDaMFh4r2Ut3IglhYfj5UvMf-o95Yy2TYIALXkqVsh31CvotmfbxOVVxLhTx8DET3iWdtm4GQYqNl-b1YEEL0Z_sXujZuscFyJyV-OjXgxDC67-iNRSEdimnkDNznvbNzN-v0A/w640-h600/Biden%20Economy%20June%202023%20manfacturing.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>He texted back...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz3kmMgdjNrZn8gUiRTy30A-9-1GOufCDpt0tCu7Tsx2jtMPdsmwz8mjSCz16c3xlsk3lJ96btuzww519Jwe1NLvNw0-_lF36fGBwT-74cvZBFo7gzw3nT8nOeA4NpXpp-Gq01T3fUR28fyBYw49U61oD6eUHYYazxkziBIGXn6sFEWiM2vkYqOA/s1375/Vince%20never%20change%20his%20mind%20maga.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="113" data-original-width="1375" height="52" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz3kmMgdjNrZn8gUiRTy30A-9-1GOufCDpt0tCu7Tsx2jtMPdsmwz8mjSCz16c3xlsk3lJ96btuzww519Jwe1NLvNw0-_lF36fGBwT-74cvZBFo7gzw3nT8nOeA4NpXpp-Gq01T3fUR28fyBYw49U61oD6eUHYYazxkziBIGXn6sFEWiM2vkYqOA/w640-h52/Vince%20never%20change%20his%20mind%20maga.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />I know, it's hard to imagine such breathless, panting, love sick adulation. But he will believe anything Trump lie to make himself feel better. <br /><br /><div><a href="https://johnpavlovitz.com/2023/04/20/the-conservative-war-on-everything/" target="_blank">John Pavlovitz recently blogged</a> this perfect description of these proudly deplorable MAGAs:<br /><br /><blockquote><i><span style="color: #073763;">And now we find America brutalized by a group of people who are fiercely and unrelentingly at war—with everything.<br /><br />They rage against the LGBTQ community,<br />people of color,<br />against the rights of women,<br />against immigrants, and Muslims and Jewish people.<br /><br />They go to battle with scientists,<br />with medical professionals,<br />with Atheists,<br />with the FBI.<br /><br />They crusade against election results,<br />against Liberals,<br />against the Media,<br />against the Constitution.<br /><br />They mount their incessant brutal assaults upon athletes and entertainers,<br />upon librarians and school teachers,<br />upon theme parks and drag queens,<br />upon beer companies and participation trophies.<br /><br />To hell with the sick and the poor; with the evaporating natural resources and the rapidly-warming planet; with the unemployed, underserved, and underfed; with the daily mass assassinations at schools and shopping malls. To hell with sorrow and need and loneliness. Those inconveniences merit no urgency, garner no grieving, elicit no such passion. War, after all, is hell—even if it means putting others through it.</span></i></blockquote><p> A simple protest supporting LGBTQ rights at a school board meeting turned into a riot? You won't hear any MAGAs criticizing this brawl because this is how they see the future, and they're not afraid of it:</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Anti-LGBT protestors attack Pro-LGBT demonstrators outside of a Glendale, CA schoolboard meeting.<br /><br />The schoolboard is voting on recognizing June as Pride month. <a href="https://t.co/T1zqZMTn7D">pic.twitter.com/T1zqZMTn7D</a></p>— Brennan Murphy (@brenonade) <a href="https://twitter.com/brenonade/status/1666254423096455168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>Democurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16336177394503335112noreply@blogger.com0