Thursday, September 30, 2021

It's not about Critical Race Theory, it's about preserving and concealing Racist movement today!

After Trump made racism and "replacement theory" an open and acceptable bragging point for his cult followers, some are now trying to repair their long history of racism by banning it. 

You'd never know this was a purple voting state: Vos-Republicans in the Assembly voted to 
ban critical race theory, a course taught in law school.

Hey Republicans, this is actual Censorship! They just want to make sure kids K-12 and those attending four year colleges don't get the wrong idea about America's struggle with racism. Oh, and they included a grocery list of words and terms critical to explaining race in American history. So much for "academic freedom" and the First Amendment. I highlighted some overly broad terms that would essentially ban everything. Wisconsin State Journal:

Among those words: “Woke,” “whiteness,” “White supremacy,” “structural bias,” “structural racism,” “systemic bias” and “systemic racism.” “Social Emotional Learning,” “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” culturally responsive teaching, anti-racism, conscious and unconscious bias, culturally responsive practices, diversity training, microaggressions, multiculturalism, patriarchy, restorative justice, social justice, white privilege,” among others.

The bill would also bar “abolitionist teaching,” in a state that sent more than 91,000 soldiers to fight with the Union Army in the Civil War.

There is one positive; this will be an exceedingly uncomfortable question during the gubernatorial debate next year for the Republican candidate. Good luck with that one.

MSNBC's Chris Hayes spotlights our controling idiot's of Wisconsin again, along with a scathing critique from the founder of Equal Justice Initiative, Brian Stevenson. Hint, it's an actual threat to a functioning democracy, not that that matter to MAGAts:

Republicans continue Anecdotal Governing! What could go Wrong?: "Concerns raised by parents" and "I heard someone say" constituent comments are oddly never corrected by gutless Republicans who are too afraid to correct misinformation, or simply say they're wrong. 

Bill co-author Rep. Chuck Wichgers, R-Muskego, said the bill follows concerns raised by parents over materials being taught to their children in primary and secondary schools (and) prohibit the same concepts from being taught in universities and technical colleges.

Just as ridiculous, Rep. Robin Vos piled on with a hyperbolic fantasy..."idea"...that teachers would say what he confidently claims they are saying in our schools. Yes Robin, "That is preposterous:"

“The idea that we are going to say that one race is superior, that one religion is better than the other, that one sex has certain characteristics that make it better than the other, that is preposterous, it should never happen.”
Well, guess what, it doesn't happen!!!

Words and Concepts Banned from history: Remember when Scott Walker banned references to "climate change," like it wasn't happening, all the while it was happening and getting worse? Well, here we go again. Yet "academic freedom" is a big thing with the college group YAF. 

WisTexas Idea or Never a Republican Original Thought: The list of words Vos-Republicans put together were a copy paste job by our lazy legislature. See if you agree after looking at the following poster: 


It Could Happen Here: If you were wondering what the Republican end game is, well, wonder no more:
________________________________________________________________________

Gerrymandered Republicans have a long history of Censorship, so none of this should be a shocker. First, way back when Vos had this take on education:

How times have changed.

Example #1: Remember when a Marquette University political science professor, who doxed a graduate student by publishing all her personal information resulting in death threats, had his suspension reversed by the WI Supreme Court? This broadened the definition of academic freedom to a surreal level:

In a 4-2 ruling Justice Rebecca Bradley stressed the importance of academic freedom, saying it was being increasingly undermined on college campuses.

"Academic freedom means nothing if faculty is forced to self-censor in fear of offending the unforeseen and ever-evolving sensitivities of adversaries demanding retribution."
Sound insane? Yup, especially when you consider what the Justices overturned:
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David Hansher ruled in May 2016 that the professor was prohibited by professional standards from bringing negative public attention to a student … Academic freedom, Hansher wrote, "does not mean a faculty member can harass, threaten, intimidate, ridicule.

Example #2: Republican Rep. Dave "Academic Freedom" Murphy has encouraged similar freedoms before:
In late 2016, Murphy asked UW-Madison to cancel a course titled “The Problem of Whiteness” because he said it was inappropriate and a waste of money. School officials defended the course. Two years later it is still listed as a course offered in the spring 2019 semester.
Example #3: Educations Darth Vader, State Sen. Steve Nass:

State Sen. Steve Nass blasted a UW-Madison economics professor in a scathing email ... calling the academic's report on right-to-work legislation and economic performance "partisan, garbage research."

The email, sent to Senate and Assembly Republicans and UW System officials with the subject line "UW-Madison Professor Steven Deller Uses State Resources to Trash Right to Work," cites a two-page fact sheet written by a Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics faculty member.
"Attached is yet another example of wasted resources at the UW-Madison/UW Extension to issue a trumped up report from a partisan academic against Right to Work. Hiding behind academic freedom to issue partisan, garbage research is what we have come to expect from some of the overworked and stressed faculty at UW-Madison.

I will certainly forward this email on to UW System President Ray Cross and UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank, as just one suggestion of a faculty member with time to teach more courses. Or maybe not!"

Example #4: Gov. Scott Walker....
It’s rare for a governor to attack the flagship university in his own state. First, back in January he proposed an enormous $300 million cut to the University of Wisconsin’s budget, at a time when other state universities are finally recovering from the recession. Now he’s proposing to get rid of academic tenure, not only threatening faculty jobs but also destroying academic freedom for professors at the University of Wisconsin.

Example #5: Charlie Kirk-Turning Point USA:

Turning Point USA has put together a list of academics that they say discriminate against
conservative students and use their lectures to push their left-wing propaganda. But what about the first amendment?



Example #6: More Steve Nass...

The Progressive: Mike Konopacki, a labor cartoonist who was working on the “Art in Protest” event, is not happy about this outcome … “I’m getting e-mails from artists who are saying, ‘What the hell is going on?’ This is a direct attack on freedom of speech, on freedom of expression, on academic freedom, and on labor education,” says Konopacki. “We were celebrating all the art and creativity that people come up with at these protests. It’s beautiful stuff. We’ve had the largest outpouring of protests in the state’s history, and the School for Workers is not allowed to display this?”

Konopacki is worried that the Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature want to kill the School for Workers … “The School of Workers survived McCarthyism,” he says. “It may not survive Walker.”

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Green New Deal creating 10,000 Ford truck jobs in...Republican anti-alternative energy Tennessee and Kentucky!

Not Foxconn: Well, doesn't Scott Walker's deal with Foxconn look even more ridiculous and desperate:
Tennessee is putting up $500 million in economic incentives. Ford will spend $5.6 billion in Stanton, Tennessee, to produce electric F-Series pickups (plus a) battery factory on the same site.
Here's the deal on F-Series batteries. The story noted this is a market driven move that only Republicans are unaware of:
Democratic Gov. Beshear, who led the push that landed the state's single largest economic development project ever (battery factories), said the private sector is leading the conversion toward green jobs. “And so everybody else is going to have to get on board.” 

(There will be) twin battery plants in Glendale, Kentucky. Ford estimated the Kentucky investment at $5.8 billion. The single largest manufacturing venture in the iconic company's history will create an estimated 10,800 jobs.
Democrats weren't lying about Green Deal Jobs: The irony is that the wrong most misguided states are going to benefit:
AP: When Ford revealed plans to ramp up its commitment to the fledgling electric vehicle sector, the automaker chose to create thousands of jobs and pump billions in investments into two states where Republican leaders have vilified the push for green energy and defended fossil fuels

Choosing Tennessee and Kentucky for the coveted mega-projects created an ironic disconnect between the automaker ... and the rhetoric from many Republican leaders who have railed against a shift toward green energy and away from fossil fuels.
Bullshit Artist Republican Hypocrites: That about sums it up: 
For: On Monday, Sen. Mitch McConnell applauded Ford for giving an economic boost to Kentucky, saying it solidified his home state's position “as a world-class automotive state on the cutting edge of research and development.” 

Against: McConnell sounded a different theme two months earlier, when he took to the Senate floor to blast Democrats for wanting to “wage war on fossil fuels” and tried to turn their efforts to promote electric vehicles into a wedge issue. “They want to further expand giant tax credit giveaways for costly electric cars — when 80% of it is going to households earning six figures and up. They also want money and mandates to push the entire federal government fleet toward electric cars, too. Wouldn't you just love to see an IRS auditor pull up to your tax audit in a $97,000 Tesla?”
______________________________________________________________________________

For: Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who tweeted out his thanks to Ford for its latest investment in the state, routinely lambastes the Green New Deal. 

Against: In 2019, he condemned it as an “industry-killing, all-out assault on our way of life in Kentucky” and an attack on automobile makers.
_________________________________________________________________________________

For: Tennessee GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn said the project “will transform the landscape of West Tennessee.” 

Against: Last month, she said that Tennesseans “don’t want the Green New Deal.” In explaining her vote against a $1 trillion infrastructure plan, she said much of the legislation amounted to a “gateway to socialism — a lot of Green New Deal in there.” 
This is the one odd thing:
Ford CEO Jim Farley said he picked the Kentucky and Tennessee sites in part because of lower electricity costs...Battery factories use five times the electricity of a typical assembly plant to make cells and assemble them into packs, so energy costs were a big factor.
But...

And then there's this wildly wrong reason:
...as well as being less exposed to flooding and hurricanes than other states. 
But what about tornadoes! Hurricanes are the least of their worries, but regardless...:
To put this increase in perspective, over the past decade, a region from western Kentucky and western and middle Tennessee has experienced more EF-4 tornadoes than any other location in the country. ... 

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

WI Republicans push "boondoggle" clown show, even after Arizona audit gave Biden bigger Win over Trump!

ALERT!!! I had to include this incredible comment from Republican Robin Vos that appeared in this mornings paper. Uh, talk about shaping the "fraudit" around this predetermined outcome. WOW:

Vos said, “I am supremely confident that at the end of the day, Justice Gableman will produce a report that will show that there are issues with the 2020 election, where potentially changes could be made to make it better."
Okay then...back to the original post:

For starters, consider this:

Gableman told a group of Trump supporters in November that he thought the election was stolen.

In an interview with Upfront, Gableman "clarifies" his comment by essentially saying it was just raw meat for his audience:


Gableman: "I didn't say it was a stolen election...I can't think of anything more unjust, than a corrupt or unlawful election in a democracy. Whether that occurred here is very much a question to be examined."

Host: "So you're saying you weren't saying that after the election, at a pro-Trump rally, because you believe it was a stolen election?"

Gableman: "I try to be very careful about my words, obviously most of the attendees there had a very particular viewpoint."

Now take a look at this important detail from Matthew Rothschild's recent column, at the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign website. This major jaw-dropper about special counsel Michael Gableman's "forensic audit" says it all:

One of the most grotesque things that former Justice Michael Gableman has done recently is to team up with Andrew Kloster, an attorney from the Trump Administration. He’s the guy who sent the email to clerks from an unsecured gmail account.

 An unsecured gmail account? You can't make this stuff up...

Gableman's first email to election clerks confused many, as it came from a Gmail address under the name “John Delta” and contained an attachment. Many counties flagged it as a potential scam and it landed in the junk email folder for others.

Kloster, in an April 12 posting, glorified the Proud Boys and rightwing violence, as Patrick Marley reported in the Journal Sentinel..

Kloster: “We need our irate hooligans (incidentally, this is why the left and our national security apparatus hates the Proud Boys) and our own captured DA offices to let our boys off the hook.”
That quote alone is grounds for Gableman and Kloster to be fired immediately.


Arizona's "audit" didn't put their taxpayers on the hook like Wisconsin's audit, especially liberal and independent voters who are being forced to help pay for the partisan Vos-Republican "boondoggle:" 
Gov. Tony Evers: “It’s a $700,000 boondoggle to prove something that’s already been proven probably 100 times. You don’t have to prove a negative in court, you don’t have to prove a negative in any other place except Justice Gableman’s court here.

I hate to see an inquisition like this, especially when you're being told you have to prove it was a good election. Everybody knows it was a good election."
Even this Republican seems to have had enough:
State Sen. Kathy Bernier, chair of the Senate elections committee: “There is not a reason to spread misinformation about this past election when we have all the evidence that shows otherwise.”
FINAL WORD: Dumb Ron Johnson's know-it-all arrogance betrays the Trump lie. You gotta laugh:


Of course, what Vos-Republicans want to do is drag this to the election next year, keeping the base agitated. 

But even a forensic audit will never be good enough. Take a look at this bizarre reaction out of Arizona:

Monday, September 27, 2021

Vos-Republicans insert the Courts, Chaos, and Civics into Public Schools one QAnon parent at a time...

It took only ten years under Scott Walker and gerrymandered Republican rule for the dramatic cuts to public education to dramatically hurt students statewide. 

Oddly, one Republicans inadvertently admitted their failure as he was introducing his bill to take us back to teaching cursive writing...

Sponsor Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt said, “the state of education in Wisconsin is not good,” noting low proficiency rates in reading and math and the worst racial gap in test scores in the country
Lazy and Poorly written Walker/Vos/Republican patriotic "Civics Test" - "F"

According to the Fordham Institute, the institute recently gave Wisconsin an “F” for the content, rigor, organization and clarity of its civics education efforts.
"Wisconsin’s civics and U.S. History standards are inadequate. In general, they fail to furnish teachers and students with a solid roadmap for high-quality civics and history instruction. A complete revision of the standards is recommended."
And again, another Republican inadvertently admitted his failure implementing a knee jerk and unfunded civics test... 
Robin Vos, R-Rochester, wrote in support of the bill in testimony to the Committee on Education that the country is “facing a civics education crisis.” "We need to do a better job of informing our citizens of the vital role we all play in our government. We must fight against civic ignorance.”

 


As State Superintendent Jill Underly pointed out:
"Over the last decade, the state has failed to make up for budget cuts made during the Great Recession. As a result, “in 2020, we graduated an entire generation of kids who have known nothing but austerity in our school funding — who have known years of divestment in their future." (The new) “bill would impose a significant administrative burden on school districts, noting that there is no extra funding included in the bill.
Underly knows exactly what Vos' simple objective is, and how to stop it:
She is calling on Wisconsinites to “stand up to those who want to use our schools to distract and divide our communities."
Vos Chaos, lets Citizens Drag Schools into Courts-what could go wrong? Based loosely on Texas' vigilante use of courts against abortion providers, Wisconsin parents could sue schools for whatever they perceive to be a violation of Vos' convoluted new rules for curriculum "transparency." Note: "STATE to develop curriculum model?"


"Curriculum Transparency" the 21st Century version of Book Burning: Focusing mostly on the totally fabricated issue of "critical race theory" (CRT) that's not taught in public schools anywhere, crazy energized QAnon type parents file a claim based on CRT or the current right-wing outrage posted online by the school district. Cue up Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty attorney's please...:

Any school district resident would be allowed to file a claim that a school district is noncompliant under the bill and if they prevailed in court, the court would award the resident reasonable attorney fees up to $15,000.
This would insulate Vos-Republicans from dealing with the consequences of their new law and put to work the legislatures new legal and private tentacle, WILL. 

And don't forget school board races...

Sunday, September 26, 2021

Pandemmy Awards....

 Click the link to see the whole list of awards, it's worth it. 

Check this out from Jordan Klepper interviewing anti-mask parents, who we're supposed to include in the decision making process of our school curriculums. Love the "I don't co-parent with the Government" t-shirts

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Vos declares "Throwing even more money at the (schools) problem will not fix it." Wants Angry CRT Parents Involved!

Vos-Republicans say education and voting are local statewide issues that have always been unique to Wisconsin. 

I say, bullshit artist.

Instead of local, Vos wants to tap into those raging parents battering school boards over mythical critical race theory and mask mandates.

First: Vos Admits Funding Education a Waste of Time: After the gerrymandered Republican majority squandered a huge projected state revenue surplus on a $3.4 billion tax cut. $408 million of that became a property tax cut instead of an investment in our public schools.:

"...what appears to be an increase in state education funding but is actually a property tax cut."

A few days ago, Vos stripped away all his bullshit and let it rip...

Robin VosThrowing even more money at the problem will not fix it. Evaluating curriculum, academic testing and allowing parents to be a part of the conversation are real solutions Legislative Republicans will continue to fight for in the classroom.”
Energized CRT Opponents unique Wisconsin approach to education? As highlighted above, Vos is anxious to set up shouting matches at local school board meetings denouncing critical race theory and of course anti-mask lunacy. Sound local to you? And former state Sen. Congressman Scott Fitzgerald is working in sync with Vos:
“Decisions about what to teach students in school are being made by bureaucrats and teachers unions, often without the input from parents. As a result, parents across the country are flocking to their local school board to demand transparency and to oppose dangerous ideologies, like critical race theory,” said Congressman Fitzgerald.
Myth: Parents Know What's Best...?: Vos wants to "allow parents to be a part of the conversation." Ah, you have seen ranting parents foaming at the mouth over the fabricated non-issue CRT? And yet these juvenile low information parents should be tinkering in school curriculum? We already know the Republican answer to that, thanks to Rep. Donna Rozar:
…just as ignorant...


"Allowing parents to be a part of the conversation" is already happening, and it's breathtakingly stupid. It's not taught in schools:


Since it's NOT taught in schools, it can't be racist, abusive, discriminate against one color, oppress, commit hatred or injustice...it's a lie and is NOT in our schools. It doesn't exist!!! 

Trumpian WI Republican Rep. Scott Allen showcased his "whitesplaining" creds and gotcha legislation on Upfront. Democrat Rep. LaKeshia Myers, D-Milwaukee, wasn't having any of it:


And Rep. Allen really did say this...



Division and resentment has broad appeal too...



Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Walker Deregulated, stopped Broadband! Gov. Evers now offering Broadband State-wide, helping rural Republican areas.

It's no secret that rural farm communities vote Republican, but what is unknown is what they think their getting for that. Deregulation is big, got it, but that only makes their water undrinkable and dangerous (that's a direct anecdotal comment from a conservative farmer I talked to). Farmers and small towns are also being ravaged by local bankruptcies and mega-farm takeovers that wipeout families and over produce milk.  

Thank Scott Walker for Lousy or No Internet, hurting Jobs, Public safety, and Rural Businesses: Yup, that's the other thing rural voters are getting for their GOP loyalty. Yet even this hasn't move the needle for them to support Democratic Gov. Evers, or his plan the serve every corner of Wisconsin with fiber optic high speed broadband. 

And the media needs to do more to assign blame. It's either not brought up, or it's buried deep within the article. The following was mentioned halfway into the story, and didn't point out how legislators should have come up with new rules to meet the needs of the new technology? 

In 2011, the telecom industry in Wisconsin was deregulated under Gov. Scott Walker’s administration. Supporters said it freed companies from a maze of arcane rules based on an era of landline telephones, and that the growing popularity of cell phones and other technologies would foster competition in internet service.

The changes largely stripped the Public Service Commission's authority to hold internet service providers accountable to the general public“We don’t set rates. We cannot tell them they have to go into a sparsely populated part of the state,” said PSC Chairwoman Rebecca Cameron Valcq.
Love deregulation?

What Scott Walker did and didn't do for 8 years is haunting us now. It's especially noticeable after COVID exposed everything Republicans didn't bother to update or solve. 

It's 2021 Republicans, and the "Market Forces" didn't Work, and Republicans made it difficult for local communities to be broadband providers. 

If Gov. Evers efforts take off, this can happen...

Amelia Gagliano manages the Errand Solutions customer service center in Land O' Lakes. The Chicago-based firm was able to open an office in the small town in Vilas County, Wis., because it has high-speed internet. Many business professionals now work remotely from towns in the Northwoods, provided they can get a decent internet connection.
Gov. Evers, not Walker, is urgently trying to help farmers and rural communities survive and thrive, especially after seeing how bad things got in the pandemic. This was never on the Republicans list of must-do's, and even now, instead of increased funding for broadband rollout they opted instead for another tax cut:

If broadband isn't the No. 1 issue in rural Wisconsin, "it's got to be close to it," Gov. Tony Evers said in a Journal Sentinel interview.

The importance was cited 124 times in a state of Wisconsin rural prosperity report last December covering jobs, education, health care and other topics.

"Working-class parents can't work if they have to sit with their children in the car to access public Wi-Fi hotspots," the report said.

The pandemic cast the problem in even sharper relief. When schools went to online learning, the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance polled districts about their challenges. Dozens cited home internet access.

“This is an equity issue for rural families and has a deep impact on rural economic growth," the Adams-Friendship School District, in Adams County, said in response to the poll. "It has to become a priority like rural electrification in the early 1930s.”

The state Department of Public Instruction asked school districts to survey families about the depth of the problem. More than 400,000 people responded. In some districts, 25% of the survey respondents — one in four families — said they didn't have any home internet access, let alone broadband. It was nearly half of the families in a handful of districts.

Friday, September 17, 2021

Republican scheme to exploit "enraged" parents over School Mask Mandates; send unmasked kids to Private Voucher Schools.

Well, it didn't take long for Republicans to figure out how to double down on the QAnon parental attack on vaccine and mandatory mask policies. Covid denying Republicans have found another way to exploit this mindless war on public health; let's use the anti-mask movement to send kids to private religious schools and destroy public education.

First, radical Rep. Barbara Dittrich unknowingly revealed the Republican scheme behind her idea:

"Frustration and fear over COVID is detracting from the education of our children!” 

Ain't that the truth. 

Dittrich devised a way to have it both ways, and dissolve public education once and for all. First:

Representative Barbara Dittrich (R – Oconomowoc) said, “Parents are incredibly upset at how their school district is responding to COVID-19. Parents who believe that mandates are not the correct way to go forward are enraged when aggressive actions are taken by the district."

So let's encourage "enraged" misguided and misinformed parents to leave public schools. Yea, that's the ticket:

Representative Dittrich introduced a bill today that will allow for parents to utilize both the Open Enrollment and School Choice programs in this state to protect their children’s medical freedom. If a school introduces mask or vaccine mandates, the parents of a student may move their child to a school, public or private, that more closely holds to their beliefs. 

But wait, parents can pick a public school that "more closely holds to their beliefs...?" Wait, that doesn't make any sense... 

While parents who believe that their district should introduce aggressive mitigation standards feel betrayed when the district does not. 

Adding chaos to more chaos, and with Republican legislators attacking school boards for their mask mandates, let's not punish kids just because their school boards are being punished by Republican legislators:

This bill, also protects students’ ability to play sports once this transfer has taken place. Students should not be punished over the decisions of a school board or even their parents. Protecting the rights, regardless of beliefs towards vaccines and masks, ensures a safe and equitable environment for all. “Protecting the medical privacy and freedom of the citizens of Wisconsin should never take a backseat to frustration and fear.”
What medical privacy? Maybe we should just go to private voucher schools and do away with mandatory vaccines too, for medical privacies sake. 

The Party of Chaos! Fire every Republican on the "Assembly education committee," and fast!!!

Yes, this is stunning, with not one Republican member stepping in to correct this clueless and utterly stupid Representative's statement:

Public Education Chaos, Banning Racial History wasn't enough...: First, did anyone imagine the chaos this would create in our schools if we allowed a scattershot of subjects and topics to be opted out of at the mere whim of a parent who might be as dumb as any one of the Republican education committee members? My god!!!

Banning All LGBTQ History: Whatever happened to "academic freedom?" It was always a scam:

CapTimes: Wisconsin parents could opt their children out of educational programming "related to sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or gender expression" under a bill heard Thursday by the Assembly education committee.
"Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?" If you have to say "this is not the intent," it means this is really what you intended...
Bill co-sponsor Rep. Donna Rozar, R-Marshfield, argued the proposal does not seek to alienate students. "The perceived intent that this is to erase LGBTQ youth or to alienate those youth in any way is not an intent of this legislation. I grow kind of weary of that being thrown at every piece of legislation that is there. Parents and guardians need to know when things are being taught at all grade levels that undermine their belief system."
We're all "kind of weary" of battling censorship and the vilification certain unpopular conservative subjects in our public schools.

Proving the critics of this lunacy right about how destructive Rozar's proposal really is...
Rep. Sondy Pope, D-Mount Horeb, asked if the requirement would apply to a history lesson on Harvey Milk, one of the country's first openly gay elected officials who, with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, was assassinated in 1978.

"I'm not familiar," Rozar replied. "Is that a real person?"

The Final Word: Keeping race and bigotry at an early 1900's level for another generation or two is the apparent goal. Research warns us about that:

According to the GLSEN National School Climate Survey conducted in 2019, 66.9% of students in schools with an inclusive curriculum said their peers were accepting of LGBTQ people, compared to 37.9% of those without inclusive programming. 

LGBTQ students at inclusive schools were also less likely to miss school because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable. 

A 2020 survey by the Trevor Project found that school culture played a bigger role than home, community or work in preventing suicide among LGBTQ youth.


For Vos-Republicans, what's "Radical?"

 After all this time, nearly 3 years, and no reporter has asked the one simple question of Republicans; what's so radical about Gov. Tony Evers, or his agenda? Correct me if I'm wrong, but a majority of Wisconsinites rejected Scott Walker after 8 years of doing nothing. Evers gave voters a choice; solve a whole list of festering problems or keep Scott Walker. 

Radical Rebecca (Kleefisch), announced her run for governor with this ridiculous accusation on her webpage...

"Former Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch has officially launched her campaign to FIRE radical liberal Tony Evers."

But what fired me up was a Politico article about Vos, declaring him a smart adversary for Gov Evers. Of course Vos retweeted it...

Not exactly a badge of honor, the title described Vos this way...: 

Vos' approach is simple and offers a model for Republican legislators serving with Democratic governors in other swing states: Deny Democrats any big policy wins, thus depriving them of any major accomplishments to promote when seeking reelection.

Despite denying much needed legislation from Wisconsinites for purely political reasons...

“Today I’m keeping my word. I’m signing one of the largest tax cuts in history.” He’s fielding criticism from Republicans, who say he’s taking credit for their budget. Vos: "He took credit for the hard work that we did."

With Evers' tax cut promise accomplished and then some, he owned Republicans, sending Vos into another laughable tantrum.

Also, with a $4 billion surplus and a $2 billion tax cut with no additional spending, WI is projected to receive another surplus of $1.7 billion by June 2023. That's lots of state revenue to fix, replace, and solve growing problems brought to light by the pandemic. Nope.

Radical Liberal Agenda...? What? Reporters have never asked what Republicans think is so radical about the Evers/Democratic agenda. So what if it's a "liberal wish list?" Remember: Republicans threw out Evers budget so any duplication of policies would be credited to them, and not the Governor. They also needed a template to work from, lazy bastards... 

For Republicans, these are Radical Policies...???

1. Providing Tax Relief to Working Families: DONE. 

2. America’s Transportation Awards named the I-94 North-South Freeway Project one of the nation’s outstanding infrastructure projects for 2021 completed on schedule and under budget in 2020. Not the disaster Radical Rebecca claims.

3. Providing improved access to dental care for everyone directly impacts their overall health. 

4. Extending broadband infrastructure and affordability, $200 million help connect folks in both rural and urban areas to work from home, engage in telehealth, and access education at all levels.

5. Slow impacts of climate change, lower the costs to repair roads, crops, and communities. 

6. Investing in our agricultural industry (Farms) to promote our state from one end to the other.

7. Provide WEDC with $8 million, increase WEDC's total block grant funding by $10 million.

8. $10 million to fund worker training programs.

9. Create state tax-preferred savings accounts that would allow first-time homebuyers to subtract from their adjusted gross income.

10. Increase general operations funding for the University of Wisconsin.

11. Tuition freeze at UW, while funding UW to offset the fiscal effects of the freeze.

12. Translation of military training and credits to licensure requirements.

13. Reform the state's unemployment insurance law to make it less complicated for individuals, make necessary upgrades.

14. Support Wisconsin families, Modifying and expanding the Wisconsin Family Medical Leave Act.

15. Increase the state minimum wage for general workers.

16. Allow self-employed individuals to deduct their medical care insurance premiums against all sources of income.

17. Require the Legislature to take up the redistricting maps proposed by the People's Maps Commission.

18. Expand Medicaid providing health care coverage to 90,900 additional Wisconsinites while saving $634 million GPR.

19. Invest in a healthy women, healthy babies initiative to improve birth outcomes.

20. Create a nonrefundable individual income tax caregiver credit for family caregiver.

21. Provide a total of $565.6 million in federal and state funds for the major highway program. Provide $75 million for local multimodal transportation projects.

22. If approved by local referendum, allow counties to impose an additional 0.5 percent sales tax and allow municipalities with populations over 30,000 to impose a 0.5 percent sales tax to diversify local revenue sources and better empower local governments to fund police and fire protection, transit, roads, and other important services.

23. Make it easier for communities to work together to create cross-boundary transit corridors, and that each participating county or municipality must have passed a referendum approving the agreement.

There's so much more of course, but "radical is not something that comes to mind. The bigger issue highlighted by this list? How far behind the state is when serving the interests of Wisconsinites.  

Friday, September 10, 2021

Ironic Confederate symbolism: Jefferson Davis rises from the ashes...

 Twitter at it's best...


...and because the political pandering bar is set so low by their voters, this doesn't matter?

The response to this new WI QAnon circus act...