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.

WI Republicans ignore VP Harris' local Business and Jobs plan for our Tech Industry, telling her to go to Texas first!

Oh my god, can we really run a state like this?

Isn't it a good thing to see VP Kamala Harris visiting Wisconsin's university and business leaders/teachers touting an infrastructure plan that targets funding for research and development of new technologies. Jobs right? Nope.

Harris said the U.S. has fallen behind in recent years and that it must be able to compete — with universities playing a big role — to pursue innovation that will improve the lives of American families.

Yet safely gerrymandered Republicans didn't see a business and jobs opportunity for our state, but instead, wanted Harris to visit Texas first and solve immigration. Question; do you think Republicans constantly telling the world that the borders are open, and people are pouring in, would purposely be inviting a rush to the border? I think so. 

Dumb Ron Johnson said Biden's job creation will...kill jobs? It's that not so "radical leftist agenda." Oh, and a northern state like Wisconsin is instead focused like laser on the Texas southern border? In fact, that's the talking point theme:

Jim Steineke

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson called Biden’s plan a “boondoggle” and said he was interested to see how Harris justifies the spending. “Instead of creating more opportunities, it will kill people’s jobs, increase their taxes, and further implement radical leftists’ agenda. Happy to have her visit Milwaukee, but she really ought to inspect the crisis President Biden created at the border.”

Two Wisconsin Republican legislative leaders sent Harris a letter criticizing her for not visiting southern border states. “We appreciate the visit to Wisconsin; but, respectfully, you have much bigger problems to deal with right now,” Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke, R-Kaukauna, and Speaker Pro Tempore Tyler August, R-Lake Geneva, wrote. “As the person who is supposed to be the most qualified to address this issue, we implore you to start taking action now to help our southern border.” They called on Evers to do more to help secure the border, including sending aid.

Yea, why do anything about Wisconsin's economy when we could distract ourselves with Texas immigration, like under Trump: 

They said it would affect Wisconsin and the entire country because people trying to enter there spread out nationwide.

Labor Shortage, Low Birthrate Problem? That's right, Republicans are limiting immigration as our population declines, negatively affecting our future workforce in 16 to 30 years from now. 

The U.S. population grew 7.4% from 2010. Those may sound like big numbers, but it’s actually the second slowest rate of population growth the census has ever recorded, just behind the 7.3% growth in the 1930s. Birth and fertility rates in the United States dropped to record lows again last year, according to a new report. The number of U.S. births in 2020 fell 4% from 2019, the lowest level since 1979. The figure marks the sixth consecutive year that the number of births have dropped. Last year's total fertility rate "was again below replacement -- the level at which a given generation can exactly replace itself," 

But there's a current Shortage of Small Businesses too: Employees may not have a place to work anymore: 

Missing employers: We’ve seen around 15% of all companies with less than 100 employees have gone away entirely during this pandemic. And adding companies that can hire new employees will take time.

Economist David Berson at Nationwide Insurance said that in regard to the current employment market, “we’re about 8 million below when the COVID recession hit, and it’s going to take some time to fully employ those 8 million workers.” And many Republicans have largely turned against the idea of immigration, legal or illegal, a new political barrier to the country adding more population quickly.

Labor Shortage Slowly Coming Back: Marketplace: 

1. Employers and trade groups are complaining they can’t find workers to hire. Some workers are still scared of returning. Or they have schooling. Maybe they’re not vaccinated or have kids stuck at home. Baby boomers have left the workforce altogether.”

2. The return of workers is going to be gradual, so there’s a mismatch between what employers want and the speed with which people are going to come back to the labor market.

There’s another mismatch, said Heidi Shierholz at the Economic Policy Institute, “If an employer posts a job and then they can’t find the workers that they need, that just means there’s a labor shortage of people who will work at that wage.” 

Republicans will never solve Transportation Funding Problem: Can't raise taxes, can't stop cutting taxes.

You know, maybe we should study the problems created by Republican lawmakers who've delayed road building projects around the state, resulting in much higher costs to taxpayers later on. Studying is good, because we've seen how well that's worked solving our algae bloom problem in Green Bay, not to mention our rivers and lakes. Study, study, study. 

Republicans will never solve these problems, period. They can't raise taxes, and they can't stop cutting taxes. End of story. It's just a matter of the public catching on sooner rather than later.

Democrats aren't afraid to tell taxpayers that something has to be done, noting the consequences for inaction. And yes, a new taxing formula is inevitable. Rep. Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, clearly gets it, while Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke, R-Kaukauna, has no intention of committing political suicide raising taxes or ending tax cuts. So who's the grownup? Who's the leader?

Steineke doesn't even see how the state would have $300 million more to spend on transportation if they just took the Medicaid expansion deal. I have to admit, that pretty much said it all.

Upfront with Mike Gousha: