WISGOP Voters believe Vos lie about $300 Bonus Unemployment payment...

Whining and complaining while they can: Vos-Republicans are purposely ignoring the states long standing worker shortage so they can target another punishment, this time at the COVID unemployed, by eliminating the $300 bonus unemployment payment. They say it's keeping lazy Wisconsinites "on the couch," not looking for work. A bit condescending to their voting constituents? 

Yet a number of other bigger factors are having an impact on the worker shortage, and Republicans are not in a big hurry to change those elements, like child care. 

Evers has argued Republicans could help draw more workers to the state if they invested in education, transit, health care or child care.

Two crazy things: Republicans never believed in shutting down businesses during a global pandemic. And second, Republicans see a chance to blame what was a preexisting labor shortage, on statewide restrictions Gov. Evers put in place for the COVID pandemic along with the $300 bonus unemployment benefits he won't repeal.

Here's what Robin Vos' mistake ridden press release said:

“Governor Evers refuses to acknowledge the facts. People will not go back to work when the government continues to pay them to sit on the couch.

#WrongRobin -  Vos uses "alternative" facts based on anecdotal comments from Vos business supporters who won't pay enough to get workers. Also, repealing the $300 bonus takes that money out of the local economy where it would have been spent. States that repealed the $300 bonus didn't see an improvement:

The New York Times reported that in Missouri when federal pay for the unemployed was scrapped, workers still were being choosy. Gov. Mike Parson (R) proudly proclaimed that his state would be among the first to kill unemployment benefits. It still hasn't worked, however.

"Work-force development officials said they had seen virtually no uptick in applicants since the governor's announcement, which ended a $300 weekly supplement to other benefits," said the report. "And the online job site Indeed found that in states that have abandoned the federal benefits, clicks on job postings were below the national average."

A recent labor report begs to differ with Vos too.

Many hard-hit sectors are rebounding faster than anecdotal evidence would suggest. The ADP National Employment Report on Wednesday showed hiring in the leisure and hospitality sector accounting for nearly half of the increase in private payrolls this month. Manufacturing payrolls growth slowed.

We're now seeing major pay increases everywhere, $15 or more an hour...wait, Democrats have been pushing this same increase for years. Guess they were right. 

Low wages just weren't cutting it anymore:

In April, food and accommodation services saw a record 5.6% of workers quit in April up from 5.4% in March. A record high of 4 million people (2.7% rate) quit their jobs in April, with the largest in retail (106,000) and professional business services (94,000).

…even more...

Melissa Swift, global leader of workforce transformation at consulting firm Korn Ferry, tells Axios. "We basically burned out the global workforce over the last year. One of the ways people deal with burnout is switching employers." More than 4 in 10 workers say they're considering leaving their jobs, according to a study by Microsoft, while Pew has found that 66% of unemployed Americans have seriously considered changing their occupation.

CHILDCARE? Hey Vos, why not demand aid for Child care too? If Republicans are so obsessed with repealing the $300 to get people back to work, why don't they help pay for child care? 

Quick take: Analysts at Morgan Stanley wrote in a report this month that supplemental government benefits "are likely no more of a factor than other impediments to workplace re-entry."

The analysts cited the Federal Reserve's latest Beige Book (a snapshot of economic conditions in Fed districts), in which child care, transportation, and health care were widely cited in addition to unemployment benefits as holding back potential workers. The extra benefits roll off in September, coinciding with school re-openings, which will help solve serious childcare issues.

NOTE: Vos is also very wrong to withhold food stamps, tying them to work registration requirements: 

“If the goal is to encourage people to work, then this is not a policy that is working as intended,” said Adam Leive, a professor at the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, who worked on the study.

And on top of that, work requirements “are indeed a direct cause of many people leaving SNAP,” said Elena Prager, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and another of the researchers. “Almost a quarter of people who are on SNAP end up losing their SNAP benefits as a direct result of work requirement implementation,” she said.

WI Vos-Republicans and Dumb Ron Johnson pass QAnon red meat out to Cultists!

Well, our embarrassing gerrymandered and unaccountable Republican authority is once again thrust into the national spotlight. 

MSNBC's All in With Chris Hayes put it all out there, from dumb Ron Johnson's obsession with trying to get us to understand a problem first before ever taking action, to Sen. Chris Kapenga's amazing adoration of Trump:  

Watch the full open here: https://t.co/IlQXDlQDCp

— All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) June 30, 2021

Kapenga is just as sociopathic as Johnson, especially for his lack of empathy and Scrooge like drive to put everybody in workhouse or prisons. Here's something from an earlier post about the Republicans lack of pandemic action all year. It's brutal: 

It's not Critical Race Theory, it's the Rufo Theory of race...

Scary CRT, Critical Race Theory, will get you! From Sharia Law to Critical Race Theory, same old fear mongering, same old scheme, and it works. The QAnon base can't stop themselves from soaking in the hate.  

The Rufo Theory Exposed! Who is Christopher Rufo? He's the guy marketing CRT as the one-size-fits-all brand that encompasses the entire liberal vision of America, turning it he hopes, "toxic."

MSNBC's Joy Reid gave everyone a chance to hear Rufo defend his scheme, but he crashed and burned like the Hindenburg: 

#RacistRebecca building creds in run for Governor: Jumping right into CRT, Rebecca Kleefisch used a random site pushing defunding the police posted and later unposted at UW Riverfalls as an example, blew it out of proportion with no insightful analysis whatsoever, and then solved our racial problems by saying the Constitution protects the rights of everyone. So what was that slavery, racism, Civil War thing all about anyway? 

Oddly, #racistRebecca must have forgotten "academic freedom" of speech on campus? Weren't unpopular or "different" points of view, the kind you are complaining about here, now protected by the UW's rules on campus free speech?

Remember the often forgotten "implied" constitutional right...

Co-Founder of Critical Race Theory...the Truth:

The truth about ‘critical race theory’: co-founder breaks down GOP gaslighting https://t.co/KhQGzUBcip via @MSNBC

— John Peterson (@democurmudgeon) June 21, 2021

Banning Critical Race Theory Disaster: There is one thing for certain; bashing, defunding, and privatizing education does NOT qualify Republicans to design curriculum. 

This horror story could be playing out in a classroom near you:

...and just for laughs, Sen. Ted Cruz....

One more thing, check out this CRT legislation from Pennsylvania: Here's the most egregious authoritarian Republican censorship:

1. A license to be openly racist:

Penalty prohibited--No employee, contractor, staff member or student in a Commonwealth, county or municipal agency, school district or public postsecondary institution shall face a penalty or adverse treatment due to a refusal to support, believe, endorse, embrace, confess, act upon or otherwise assent to an racist or sexist concept.

The following shall apply: (1) No instructor, teacher or professor at a public school district or public postsecondary institution shall: (i) teach or (ii) penalize or treat adversely a student who refuses to adopt or express any racist or sexist concept.

2. Academic Freedom-Ban Speakers…yes, ban speakers and racist historical literature, the Civil War?:

(2) No public school district or public postsecondary institution shall: (i) host, pay or provide a venue for a speaker who espouses, advocates or promotes any racist or sexist concept; or (ii) require a student to read, view or listen to a book, article, video presentation, digital presentation or other learning material that espouses, advocates or promotes a racist or sexist concept.

3. Get A Reward for Spying on your Neighbor, Teachers, Schools, and Businesses.  

Private cause of action. The following shall apply: (1) A resident of this Commonwealth shall have standing and a private cause of action to file a civil complaint in a court of common pleas against a Commonwealth, county or municipal agency, school district entity or public postsecondary institution claiming that the entity or institution has violated a provision of this act.

The court shall enjoin the violating entity or institution from receiving funding from the Commonwealth in the following fiscal year and shall award costs and attorney fees to the complainant.

Yes, it never ends. Here's today's discovery and helpful poster for those unsure of just how repressive the Republican Party has become. Seriously, "equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-racism, social justice" all bad, must be rejected:

 

Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis, a serious presidential contender, is already creating his vision of America, with the "red scare" formula vilifying "critical race theory" that's only taught in law schools:

DeSantis signed the latest in a series of measures aimed at chilling political conversation on college campuses and crimping what teachers in Florida’s classrooms can say about racism or other troubling aspects of America’s past. The new law mandates that Florida’s public universities conduct an annual survey of students’ views on “viewpoint diversity” — with the governor suggesting that campuses not open to right-wing ideas (like his own) could lose government funding. DeSantis said colleges that appear to be what he called “hotbeds of stale ideology” are “not worth tax dollars and not something we’re going to be supporting moving forward.”

The new law came just days after the Florida Board of Education — at the urging of DeSantis, moved to ban the teaching of what it called “critical race theory.” Educators say the ban will make them fearful of suffering consequences for any teaching around America’s historic racism. Party insiders say hysteria over discussions of race in classrooms among white suburban parents is fast becoming a 2.0 version of the Tea Party revolt that propelled the GOP a decade ago.

Robert Dahlgren — a former Florida academic and teacher who studied that state’s wars over academic freedom from 1945-60 said Florida schoolchildren will likely face mandatory testing on the patriotism-oriented curriculum developed by DeSantis’ allies, and he worries that more extreme measures like loyalty oaths for teachers and professors could come in the near future.

The Pandemic Affect...

 

Will we ever see Governor Evers vision of Wisconsin?

 

Republican Tantrums Rewarded, the Big Lie and Judicial Activism by former WI Justice Gableman.

We don't have a civil society anymore, thanks to a deteriorating Republican philosophy that has morphed into daily manufactured points of outrage that stoke political tantrums that energize their base. They are bullies dead set on testing limits proudly, receiving encouragement from those they've "owned." 

This is what has replaced governing. In fact, their "convictions" are now based on whiny petulance ("the quality of being childishly sulky or bad-tempered")

The "Digging in his Heels" Tantrum: Scott Walker appointed Natural Resources Board member Frederick Prehn is digging in his heels and won't leave his expired seat because newspapers criticized him. Belligerent arrogance was his answer to a problem he created. Here's his response. Keep in mind these are the rantings of  a supposed "adult:" 

"Now I'm choosing to run with my convictions. When I get backed in a corner, I get trenched in. I've listened to a lot of constituents. Many want me gone, but many want me to stick with my convictions. I've had attacks on my personal character. And if the extremists think they'll get their way, they don't know me very well. When you say stuff like this you're singling me out as a second-class citizen. And I am not a second-class citizen. I will vacate that board when I'm ready to, or I've had enough or can't contribute anymore or the Senate confirms someone else. Then Evers can have his board."

Vos Crumbles after Trump Criticism, and How Unbiased are Judicial Activists? Thank you Robin Vos, for showing us what an authoritarian government looks like. Wow. State Journal: 

A day before Saturday’s Republican state convention, Trump lashed out at Assembly Speaker Robin Vos,; Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu; and Senate President Chris Kapenga, for not conducting a forensic election audit, particularly in Milwaukee. Vos said Trump was “simply misinformed.”

"Misinformed," Trump? Love the irony that Trump's bullshit is now raining down on WI Republicans. Welcome to our world.

Lying is what Trump does best! Republicans are now saying what liberals and the press has been saying for 5 years. But also keep in mind that no matter what Vos might say: “Don’t fall for their lies!” Trump said. 

“I think this is one of those cases where the president was just misinformed by his staff or he didn’t see the media reports,” Vos said

LeMahieu said Trump’s statement was “really unfortunate. I don’t know where he got that information from,” he said. “We’re auditing the election results.”

Vos thought this would help convince Trump:

Vos announced that former conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman will serve as the attorney who will oversee the election probe. Gableman was in the majority in a pair of 2014 cases that upheld Wisconsin’s voter ID law.

Exposed! Former WI Supreme Court Justice Gableman another rightwing Judicial Activist: You won't even believe what the former conservative "constitutional originalist" said to the fawning Republican convention crowd. Did you know liberal Democrats are evil?

Gableman: "I'm glad to be here — glad to see so many friends. When I fought evil every
day at the state Supreme Court for 10 years, I fought for you."

Gableman's history is also something you just can't make up:

1. He knew a lot of people at the convention were disappointed with how the presidential election was run. "And you didn't just grumble about it...you recognize that this one is where we draw the line."

2. Gableman attended a Nov. 7, 2020 rally supporting Trump.

3. Gableman was a former chair of the Ashland County Republican Party and relied on GOP support to win his 2008 state Supreme Court race against incumbent Justice Louis Butler. and later went on to uphold major pillars of former Republican Gov. Scott Walker's agenda.

4. Gabelman himself wrote opinions that upheld Walker's Act 10 collective bargaining law and shut down a semi-secret John Doe investigation involving Walker's campaign.

5. Gableman ran a false attack ad against Butler (who is black) during his 2008 campaign that prompted an investigation by the Wisconsin Judicial Commission. While staff at the agency alleged that Gableman ran the ad "with reckless disregard for the truth," Gableman's colleagues on the Supreme Court split 3-3 on whether to pursue the complaint, and it was dropped.

Republican voters did choose another crazy person, bigot, and QAnon poser Rebecca Bradley, so it's still a very activist court. 

Cult of Scott Walker...

 

Critical Race Theory pushed out from the shadows growing Racist movement.

I have so had it with the "critical race theory" gaslighting and phony outrage. It's being used as an excuse to violate the First Amendment but also distract. Surprised?

 

I hate to take this much space up to a QAnon created outrage, but here it is.

1. Campus Free Speech/Academic Bill of Rights: How many years did we have to endure poor victimized conservative students whining about being afraid to say anything in class for fear of rejection, or how they were silenced, and how tstudents and teachers penalized them for their crazy opposing views?  

Now, the rightwing is silencing subject matter like racial injustice and equality they don't like in classrooms, by passing state laws banning the topic outright with threats of fines and firings. Where the hell are the lawsuits claiming academic free speech or a violation of the First Amendment? Guess this was always bullshit scheme from the start. But we already knew that.

2. If they get away with this...? By passing CRT through rightwing propaganda machine on maximum overload, will they realize they can do this with anything? Here's a tweet by a Republican operative saying just that:

If that wasn't enough proof (let's face it, MAGAt's probably never took the time to read it), here's an interview with the person who co-created Critical Race Theory, Kimberle Crenshaw, who explains what it is and isn't, and what's really going on. 

“We’re basically just asking questions and looking at the way that law has been a conduit for racial inequality and what we need to do about law,” co-founder of Critical Race Theory Kimberlé Crenshaw says what Republicans are getting wrong about her work. https://t.co/WpY5oK88SF

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) June 21, 2021

“Its connotations are all negative to most middle-class Americans, including racial minorities, who see the world as ‘creative’ rather than ‘critical,’ ‘individual’ rather than ‘racial,’ ‘practical’ rather than ‘theoretical.’ Strung together, the phrase ‘critical race theory’ connotes hostile, academic, divisive, race-obsessed, poisonous, elitist, anti-American.” - Rufo

CRT, taught in colleges, provided a way to question how laws over time have affected racial inequality. Historian and author Kevin Kruse:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) promised to “make sure there’s not a single school board member who supports critical race theory.”

Knowing what CRT really is, this clip of Ted Cruz should now look like a comical exaggeration, absolute buffoonery;  

Charlie Sykes, The Bulwark: "But if we are banning this sort of thing, why stop there? If CRT derives from Marxism, why not ban Marxism too? (Or would that smack too obviously of censorship, cancel culture, and the attack on free speech?)

If critical race theory is beyond the pale, where are the bills banning or restricting all of the other criticals, like critical social theory, critical legal theory, (or anything developed by the Frankfurt School.)

If conservatives really want to take on political correctness in education, why not also ban post-modernism, deconstructionism, moral relativism, and anything written by Jacques Derrida?

And since Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are so concerned about Oppression Studies, where is the legislative push to ban Radical Feminism, including arguments that science is deeply aligned with “sexist, racist, classist, and imperialist social projects.”

 

WILL's Rick Esenberg loses debate over Nonpartisan Redistricting Maps to State Sen. Jeff Smith. It was so easy too.

The Wisconsin "Institute" for Law and Liberty (WILL) brags they have an amazing winning track record of cases in Wisconsin's Supreme Court, only because it's one of the most activist conservative courts in the country. Take a look at our own Margery Taylor Greene of Justices, Rebecca Bradley, offering what no one would seriously called a "legal" opinion about COVID-19's statewide restrictions; 

"(She) referred to the order as “tyranny” and later compared it to the internment of Japanese Americans in camps during World War II."

WILL can only win cases in a overtly biased court, spouting logic that echoes conservative conspiracy theories, resentment, and trash talk.

Democrats to End Gerrymandering : The "Institute" is well represented by word-salad lawyer Rick Esenberg, who in the video clip below, easily loses his argument against a Democratic legislator. It wasn't even close. Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Eau Claire), who co-authored the bill, effortlessly unraveled Esenberg's down-the-rabbit-hole meanderings. From WKOW's Capitol City Sunday:  

Party of Political Punishers: Republicans replace school funding with...a Tax Cut?/Republican Lock in Police Funding, shred Local Control!

1. The school funding hoax that's really a tax cut scheme by Vos-Republicans deserved some attention today.

After a suffering a year long pandemic, that's all school districts need right now is to work through a punishing defunding scam.

The best and simplest explanation for this insult to every referendum voting parent in their school district was neatly compiled in this string of tweets from Wisconsin Budget Project's Tamarine Cornelius:

2. Punishment Politics, Police Funding-Style: After 11 years of gerrymandered Republican rule, local control is but a fading memory. Disconnecting Police departments from accountability even more than they are now, comes this brutal punishing stranglehold white Republican will have locally. Thanks to Tamarine Cornelius again:

Trump MAGAts get Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse spotlight!

The declining social fabric in Wisconsin will continue as long as the gerrymandered Republican authority governs as if hugely popular policies in poll after poll don't exist. Sure Gov. Evers campaigned on Medicaid expansion, total statewide broadband coverage, fully funding schools and the UW...but despite the popularity of these programs, they're not going to happen.

If the last 5 months since the insurrection is any indication, total Republican decline will be complete by years end, if that long.

The Daily Show's Jordan Klepper interviewed a group of Trump social outcasts cut off from their families at a recent GOP event "The MAGA Frank Rally," in of all places, Wisconsin:

Jordan Klepper meets the My Pillow Guy Mike Lindell. This is good TV. pic.twitter.com/W58cq2YeHM

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) June 18, 2021

Election Reform via Stacy Abrams and Computers? Mitch McConnell outraged.

Election reform has hopefully moved closer to passing in the Senate after roadblock Joe Manchin offered his own watered down but still important reform points:

I'm bringing this up because two major Republican points gushed from this breaking news, (1) one blatantly racist comment sure to please QAnon cultists, and (2) one BIG lie.

1. Stacy Abrams is black, right? Joe Manchin's list of demands met Stacy Abrams approval, which seemed to muster racial anger in Sen. Mitch McConnell. Roll the video below please:

McConnell: "A revised version produced by one of the Democrats yesterday, which has been endorsed by Stacy Abrams..." 

...because she's black?

“When Stacey Abrams immediately endorsed Sen. Manchin’s proposal, it became the Stacey Abrams substitute, not the Joe Manchin substitute,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)

2. You don't want Computers Drawing up Redistricting Maps, do you?: In the video clip above, McConnell actually warned Americans that Democrats want to draw redistricting maps with "computers." 

McConnell: What Democrats want to do is "...remove redistricting from state legislatures and hand it over to computers, equally unacceptable, totally inappropriate, all Republicans would oppose that as well..."

...but that's how its done now. For low information heavy breathing aging MAGA's, who have never accepted the computer age, this is a "big tech" steal. It's also another BIG LIE.

McConnell knows this. Computers have been meticulously slicing and dicing districts for Republican advantage for years. I tracked down just a few "computer" references...:

Wisconsin Democracy Campaign: The Republican leadership hired demographic specialists and computer experts to employ the latest mapping technology to create maps that were more rigged than almost any in modern history. 

FiveThirtyEight: We drew six of these sets by hand — Nos. 2-6 and No. 8 — using a tool called Dave’s Redistricting App. The districts for No. 7 were designed by a software engineer named Brian Olson.

Science News: Tests that have emerged over the last few years, known broadly as ensemble methods, rely on computers to generate thousands, or even millions, of possible maps. The programs draw myriad boundary lines around a given district and estimate which party would win that district under each scenario. 

WisconsinExaminer: State Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Eau Claire) in a recent column, said in recent years, partisan gerrymandering has become even more targeted using technology and data on people’s political leanings — a process so partisan it makes the incumbent undefeatable.

If it Quacks like a Racist...

Whitesplaining away Racism!

What does Vos-Republican racism look like in the 21st century? It's ugly. No wonder they don't want anyone to even think about "critical race theory."

1. Background; when our bright white safely gerrymandered Republican legislators knew more about Black History Month than black legislators, picking their own nominees while rejecting the Wisconsin Legislative Black Caucus' choices. Republican "whitesplainers" were so offended, they decided not to recognize Black History Month month altogether. 

 
2. Steineke's Race Card Scheme: Shifting the focus away from Robin Vos's breathtaking racist agenda the past 10 years, Republicans passed that baton to Jim Steineke, so he could build up his whiteness creds for heavy breathing Trump trash:

Democrats contacted Rep. Jim Steineke’s office seeking votes on recognizing LGBTQ Pride Month (AJR 45), Wisconsin Motherhood Month (AJR 51) and Gun Violence Survivor Day (AJR 55). Steineke’s office responded: “Acknowledging receipt of your scheduling request. Please see the attached and consult with your leadership team...”

Assembly Democrats explained; “the attachment has been a copy of the May 11, 2021, statement by Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, (who) referenced Assembly Republicans’ refusal to schedule the Black History Month resolution for a vote.”

…so...:

Steineke took offense and started punishing his Democratic colleagues.

3. This is how racist Vos-Republicans are! Example two obliterates a Trump-cult talking point that "racist" Democrats, through abortion, are purposely killing black babies. I can't count how many times have I been told this by my "right-to-life" QAnon friend in Milwaukee. Soooo explain this (WI is projected to have massive revenue surpluses of $4.4 billion over 3 years):

The governor’s plan would have also provided $7 million over two years to fund grants addressing Black women’s health and infant mortality. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the mortality rate for infants of non-Hispanic Black women in Wisconsin was 14 percent from 2013 through 2015, the highest in the nation.

The GOP plan did not include funding for that program.

Republican Joe Sanfelippo's solution to Milwaukee's Gun violence...bring in the WI National Guard! Forget Regulation. Hello Police State!

Let's get this right; we should send in the WI National Guard because people in Milwaukee are using guns to settle their differences. No one could have seen that coming.

Rep. David Bowen (D-Milwaukee) said, “I hope that Rep. Sanfelippo is aware that sending the National Guard into our communities — literally imposing an occupying force on our neighborhoods — will do nothing but escalate already tense situations. This knee jerk reaction of sending in actual military forces without any training in community relations would make an already bad situation even worse.”

But Republicans own these shootings and the civil decay gun madness has brought with it. 

Rep. Joe Sanfelippo's press release betrays the death party's madness over firearms; the word "gun" got one mention:

Sanfelippo's solution; continuing the tough on crime "fill the prisons" slop. 

It's another problem Sanfelippo and Vos-Republicans have created. These arrogant gerrymandered freeloaders gleefully made sure Wisconsin voters saw their antics at the Capitol.

Republicans Gavel in, Gavel out, Gov. Evers Special Session on Guns: 

Sanfelippo's solution is basically asking for a WI National Guard presence...forever...I guess?

Anyone Listening to Democrats? Who? The echo of Democratic legislators comments are barely audible above the right wing noise machine. Similar to the pandemic...: 

"This is an epidemic," State Sen. Melissa Agard said. "It's a public health crisis and has to stop. It's time to get serious about real, life-saving gun reform policies right now. We must treat these domestic terrorists who are inflicting gun violence on all of us as if it's a national crisis. Legislative action has been proven to save lives.

…Democratic Gov. Evers...

...in 2019 called a special legislative session to expand background checks … Republican lawmakers shut down the special session seconds after convening it.

For anti-regulation Republicans, dying comes first, and then tough on crime "justice:"

"I have not seen exactly how in the circumstances that they described that the guns were obtained, but if they were done lawfully, it seems like we already have a process and if someone chooses to break the law, there is very little that we can do besides arrest them after they’ve committed the act." -Vos

Republicans Hate Milwaukee: Oddly, both Milwaukee and Madison are the biggest revenue contributors to the state coffers. Maybe the rest of the state can do without their help? 

Sanfelippo blames local officials for the spike in crime in Milwaukee, but experts are less sure about the reasons — pandemic related stress, increases in unemployment, schools closing, high profile incidents of police violence and massive protests against the police are all possible theories.

Milwaukee officials are also facing a budget crunch after decades of decisions by Republicans at the state level to given less in resources to Milwaukee. Republicans in the Assembly also recently passed a — likely unconstitutional — bill that would exempt Wisconsinites from federal gun laws.

Sanfelippo also isn’t the only Wisconsin Republican using incidents of gun violence in the state’s urban areas for political reasons. Former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch was tweeting on Tuesday about increases in homicides in Milwaukee and Madison.

“This is tragic, deadly failure,” the likely Republican candidate for governor in 2022 wrote.

He didn't Know!!! Dumb Ron Johnson pushes "crucial" Motorcycling Freedom riding a Harley after Trump Jeopardized that companies sales with Boycott!

Dumb Ron Johnson has highlighted what many of us here in the dairy state consider the tragic dumbing down of the Republican Party and their low information voters in Wisconsin. So here we are again...

…and yet, that "crucial" involvement and "future of motorcycling across the nation" was jeopardized when Johnson's hero Trump wanted Wisconsin's own Harley-Davidson to tank in the marketplace. Here's an idea, let's give Trump a seat at the table? So much for your "rich history" of cycling freedoms:

Despite Vos-Republicans 300 day Hiatus during the Pandemic, they claim Gov. Evers record "abysmal failure and absent leadership." Projection.

How different things in Wisconsin would have been if just two Democrats agreed to rush the ratification of labor deals with public unions in 2010, before Scott Walker took office (try finding any reference of this online). Now another two Democrats are blocking the parties agenda, this time nationally with  Sen. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. 

Democrats have not been able to roll out their vision of government, so who's to know? 

1. Biggest Win by Republicans? Stopping Democratic Agenda: By stopping Democrats, Americans will never know if Democratic policies work, if they are better, or if they would fail. With no way of knowing, Republicans can make up anything they want, and manufacture fear around socialism and communism. When Gov. Evers said he was seeking a second term, he pointed this out. WSJ:

“The one predictable thing about this pandemic — and heck, ever since November of 2018 — is that Republicans will do everything in their power to stop our success, to keep us from getting things done, to keep Wisconsin headed in the right direction.”

2. Wisconsin's own QAnon Cultists: Yes, it's a cult of mass deception and manufactured lunacy currently pushing "communism" and a weird kind of "multi-level" projection. Vos-Republicans love it and are exploiting it.

Thing is, you can't begin to reason with them, or you would be the one projecting. Here are a few examples from my wacky friend in Milwaukee. You might be getting a lot of this same stuff from people you know as well:

But he does sent me stories that alert me to the QAnon crisis building nationwide. I don't think we have much time left as a democracy. Not kidding.

3. Nearly a Year, Republicans took a 300-day hiatus from passing COVID-19 legislation, yet Evers was Slow to Respond? Informed that Evers was running for a second term, Republicans want you to forget how they did nothing. Even under Republican majority rule at the Capitol, it's all Evers fault, blame him. But the reality and nuance of each issue below, even help from outraged Vos-Republicans...out the window:

WISGOP: “Over the past three years, Wisconsinites have suffered the consequences of an administration fraught with mismanagement, incompetence and a governor who has been asleep at the wheel. (1) Tony Evers had no plan to handle unemployment claims after shutting down our state’s economy, (2) no plan to address the violence in Kenosha after refusing federal assistance, (3) no plan to reopen schools while students were struggling, and now (4) has no plan to address the labor shortage while business owners are begging him for help. Evers has nothing to run on except a record of abysmal failure and absent leadership.”

 And yes, grotesque projection:

(5) “His only record of accomplishment is he’s really good at blaming Republicans.”

Blaming Republicans for taking a 300 day hiatus during the pandemic, THAT'S unfair? 

Here's a little reality poking through the web of lies: (1.) The system handling unemployment needed replacing, Evers begged for that, but Republicans just canceled funding for it. (2.) He properly responded to Kenosha's request for help. (3.) Evers had a plan to reopen schools but Republicans fought against treating the pandemic like it was real. (4.) The labor shortage predates Evers and unemployment rate is now nearly the same as it was before the pandemic. (5.) Looks who's blaming who.

Another Relaxing Dumb Ron Johnson Memorial Day Weekend

 

QAnon Universe warps reality...

Republican Party of Wisconsin is desperately trying to contrast Democratic convention guest preview with their own stellar lineup. The Onion, right? Nope: 

VS

Vos-Republicans want to repeal $300 UC benefit as cover for growing WI Labor Shortage they Ignored!

The one common theme coming from Vos-Republicans; weaponizing the very problems they've created or refused to solve - like broadband, immigration, and now the pandemic - by incoherently blaming the Democratic governor.

We saw this same ploy used against Obama's slow but steady economic recovery from the Republican created Great Recession. Any one see a change under Trump? Nope, the pace of growth was the same:

Hyperbolic Anger toward "lazy workers" is another Manufactured Outrage, but it  makes them feel good: There is a worker shortage, yet Wisconsin is already near the unemployment rate just before the pandemic:

After the state’s unemployment rate skyrocketed to about 14% in April 2020 due to the pandemic and subsequent shutdowns or restrictions on several industries, it began to slowly fall last year. As of March, the unemployment rate was 3.8% — near the 3.5% rate in February 2020, according to the state Department of Workforce Development.

After a global pandemic and major business adjustments, Republicans expect economy and employees to come back immediately, like flicking a light switch?

The reopening of the economy, fueled by substantial federal aid and rising vaccination rates, has released pent-up demand among consumers to eat out, travel, shop, attend public events and visit with friends and relatives. Companies can't hire people fast enough.

"It’s a (job) applicant’s world right now,” said Tom Krist, majority owner and president of Wisconsin job placement agency WFA Staffing. But even prior to the pandemic, there were tens of thousands of unfilled jobs in Wisconsin. Tony Sarsam, CEO of SpartanNash, a Michigan-based grocery distributor and retailer said, "What everyone seems to have forgotten was that pre-pandemic, the number one, two and three issues employers had was finding talent,"

Vos-Republicans Blame Gov. Evers/Biden and $300 UC funding for Worker Shortage: Vos-Republicans oddly keep telling us how business owners are complaining to them that they aren't doing enough to force workers back. But are they also hearing complaints from workers? Will reporters ask? Note: Taking away $300 UC funding would hurt gig workers, and take away money that would be spent locally to jumpstart the our state economy: 

“There probably was a time when it made some sense to pay the supplemental benefits,” Sen. Howard Marklein told reporters. “To me, that time has lapsed and the government needs to quit competing with our local employers. We need a reset here.” Currently, enhanced federal benefits are slated to run through Sept. 6. 

The GOP legislation follows a growing number of business organizations … 50 chambers of commerce, including Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), sent a letter to Evers again asking that the state stop participation.

Below you'll notice how WMC panicked back in 2017, not blaming Scott Walker of course, saying this was "Wisconsin mega-issue." 

Blame Gov. Evers for Decade old Workforce Shortages and Unfriendly Worker Laws: Under Scott Walker's watch, he did all he could to keep wages and benefits low, not budging on a minimum wage hike, and blocking local communities from creating their own minimum wage requirements. Here's my tweet:

From a Wisconsin State Journal story in 2017:

We were warned about this problem, but as usual, Vos-Republicans focused on tax cuts and not the growing labor shortage. And this was all before the pandemic made things much worse:

…symptoms of a growing worker shortage that is expected to worsen over the next decade, according to Wisconsin State Journal interviews with dozens of employers, economists, advocacy group experts and state political and economic development officials.

"We are right at the brink of the crisis," said Ann Franz, director of the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance in Green Bay. "There just aren't enough human beings in Wisconsin with baby boomers retiring."

Did Republicans do anything about the growing shortage besides running ads in Illinois trying to poach job seekers there? Of course not. Again, these comments below were made in 2017, and another example proving Republicans can't govern:

"I would call it Wisconsin's mega-issue," said Kurt Bauer, president of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's largest business group, which recently found 77 percent of members surveyed had difficulty finding workers, up from 53 percent two years ago." Many of the jobs advertised pay so low that they can't support a family or even sustain a single person. For some a low-wage job isn't worth the loss of government benefits.

Susan May, president of Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton. "The more we lose our economic base, it affects education and transportation and everything else. … It really presents a scary future for our state."

Are you sitting down? Here's Scott Walker downplaying his biggest problem and a "scary future":

"It's a good problem to have, but it's a challenge for sure," Gov. Scott Walker said in an interview.

Trump Stopped, even vilified much Needed Immigration:

Other factors contributing to the worker shortage in Wisconsin may include national immigration policy

And Biden is trying to end this obvious but ignored Republican problem:

Low-income workers might lack access to transportation and child care, making it harder to work or receive training. In some cases the potential loss of public benefits or garnished child support payments make working for $10 to $12 an hour less appealing.

Vos-Republican Power Play, Again: The current scheme by WI Republicans is to defund everything in the state budget so they can force the Governor to spend COVID relief funding the way they want. Yes, a pouty tantrum. Here's just one example of their transparent and grotesque power play:

Vos-Republicans take over schools, design Cancel Culture curricula changing US History on Racism!

What we're seeing now coming from the dangerously gerrymandered Vos-Republican authority is an attempt to tear apart our current social structures in our state for something resembling planned chaos with the threat of retribution. Oh, and then there's this reminder...

If you thought the unabated passing of laws by Republicans to overturn any future election was scary, Republicans are now fundamentally changing US history and how it's taught. With of course, punishments:

Critical of Critical Race Theory, so Republicans push Post Racism Theory: Think about this; QAnon's network of mind bending memes exploding on the national radar could be policy in Wisconsin if it weren't for Democratic Governor Evers. That said, a few dangerously troubling comments from Vos-Republicans have sent a chill to teachers everywhere.

Under one bill, teachers at public and independent charter schools would be barred from teaching "that by virtue of the individual's race or sex, bears responsibility for acts committed in the past by other individuals of the same race or sex."

Republicans are clearly saying we have a clean slate now, that it was somebody else's fault, that we're in a post racial nation despite still accusing liberals of being racist, but that's a whole different topic. Note; never-mind those same past generations are still with us today, passing along their racist views to family and friends and who voted for Trump again. 

Check this out:

So, Republicans are making this comparison: school boards and charter schools are prohibited from requiring training that teaches race or sex stereotyping...with "advocates or promotes race or sex stereotyping." Huh? Can't. make. this. stuff up.  

Snowflakes Republicans? We must protect our children K-12 and those in college. I can't even describe how frightening this concept is:

Rep. Chuck Wichgers, R-Muskego, argued the proposal would protect children from discrimination in the classroom.

"Children should not face state-sanctioned or psychological distress in an educational environment based on immutable characteristics (like race)."

Chaos Governing with Punishment: Doling out punishment is the driving force behind the Republican authoritarian style of governing. And it all will be based on anecdotes and hearsay:

School boards or private school operators who violate those requirements would lose 10 percent of their state funding.

Chaos, Lawsuits, Parental Threats, and Orchestrated Teacher Attacks: This Republicans provision is beyond words...

The proposal also gives parents or guardians the power to bring a legal challenge against a school district or private school operator that violates the law and requires school boards to post online all curricula used in the school district.

Online? What about low income families and rural communities with no/slow internet or don't have a computer? Oh, and can you say "small government" now that local control is gone? 

State Superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor said in a prepared statement: "This legislation strips away a founding principle in Wisconsin education — that local school boards, closest to and elected by their communities, are best positioned to determine and approve the curriculum necessary to enable students who graduate from their schools to be critical thinkers, college and career ready," 

Just as bad, limiting how race is taught would keep students from feeling obligated to improve relations, while blocking the very mention of those historical leaders who inspired us to keep fighting for racial equality. 

Confederate Flag White Supremist Republicans the real teachers:  Despite all the right-wing white  nationalist groups and militias, we've got to focus on...teachers?

The bill barred from teaching "that one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex."

...in rebuttal:

Angela Harris, who is part of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association’s Black caucus, said the bills are an uninformed and harmful attempt by lawmakers to involve themselves in the education system. "This is just another attempt to silence the truth rooted in white supremacy and to perpetuate the white dominant narrative as well as white comfort. There are no educators that we are aware of (in) K-12 that are teaching that any sex or race is inherently superior than any other race."

Who thinks like This? I found this comment troubling because it's based on projection, where paranoid QAnon victimhood is flipped suggesting students will actually be the victims: 

"As parents, we must protect our kids from the psychological distress in an educational environment which divides them into villains and victims," said Scarlett Johnson, a Hispanic parent in the Mequon-Thiensville School District who has previously been involved in advocacy about race education in Wisconsin.

Trump Decay continues... why?

Former President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning federal contractors from conducting racial sensitivity trainings. President Joe Biden rescinded the order shortly after taking office.

Here are two comments left for the bills author Republican Rep. Chuck Wichgers on Facebook:

It's always good to keep this in mind now with QAnon calling the political shots: