Vukmir campaign saving best for last...

Trump, Walker, Viewk-marrrr...and there's no way Republicans will fund coverage for preexisting conditions.

Trump hit the stump in Wisconsin yesterday for Scott Walker, Leah Viewk-Mar (as Trump would say), and messed it up beautifully, really beautifully, you know what I'm talking, it's a great thing. Right? (lets have a talk like Trump day?)

Trump dragged Walker and Viewk-marrrr up to the mic and each one promised to cover preexisting conditions, with Viewk-marrrr saying she would fall in front of a truck before she let people go without coverage.

Well, we all might have to watch her public suicide, especially when things grind to halt after Republicans refuse to pay for such a costly "entitlement." We'll hang their words around their necks, and that's a promise:

Walker: "I want to reinforce it to everyone here in this state and across the country, we will always cover people like my wife with preexisting medical conditions, don't believe the lies...don't believe the lies, we will cover people with preexisting conditions." 

Viewk-marrrr: "The big lie that Scott Walker talked about, Tammy Baldwin is saying that same lie over and over and over again. We support taking care of people with preexisting conditions. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'll fall in front of a truck before I let people go without coverage for preexisting conditions." 

My favorite part, besides talking like a pirate, arrrr, was Trump's imagined "conversation" if Walker lost the election:

Trump: "He'll call up if he doesn't make it. "Hello, is the president there?" "Oh, who's calling?" "Scott Walker." "Didn't he lose? Yea, I'll talk to him in a few months."

Republicans were so opposed to the ACA that they didn't bother to learn one thing about health care and the major issue writing ObamaCare; covering preexisting conditions. Obama settled on the actual insurance model of spreading the risk by pooling everyone together into the largest group possible.

If Republicans require insurance coverage, with no rate increase, insurance companies will go bankrupt. MSNBC's Business Insider Josh Barro summed it up this way about what we'd have to do for mandated coverage; require a whole list of other safeguards to prevent insurer bankruptcy:

Barro: "...so you have to impose all these other rules, layer them on top of each other, and when you've done it, you've basically rebuilt ObamaCare...if you want the preexisting condition protections, you have to take a lot of the other big government stuff the Republican hate." 

Republican Empty Promises over Preexisting Conditions they'll never want to pay for!!!

Republicans can't seem to shake their biggest issue in 2016 that gave us Trump; repealing ObamaCare.

They failed badly at repeal because they never got close to an agreement on a replacement plan that didn't take 20 to 30 million Americans health care away, according to the CBO.

Desperate Election Year Hail Mary: They're now promising to support coverage for preexisting conditions, a very expensive requirement that even the ACA had a problem reigning in. Paul Ryan's disturbing and scary looking clone Bryan Steil doesn't mean a word of his support. By the way, Trump is trying to do away with coverage:

Bryan Steil is running to bring Wisconsin style solutions to Washington:1. Protect Pre-Existing Conditions

Republican Howard Marklein pretends he doing something about preexisting conditions, rural broadband, and fixing roads...nice try:



Where would the funding come from? High-risk pools were funded by taxing insurers who then passed that cost onto everyone's monthly premiums. And that made health insurance even more unaffordable to even healthy Americans. It even gave birth to those unaffordable high deductibles HSA's.

Covering Preexisting Conditions Impossible under Republicans, and they know it: WPR put together the best report detailing this GOP created mess, a mess they hope their voters never catch onto:

Republicans have been campaigning against the law known as Obamacare for nearly a decade. Despite all of its difficulties, for many people, the law is better than the health care system it replaced. 

"In so many ways, change aimed at creating more and lower prices for millions of Americans," said Trump during a White House ceremony last October. But short-term plans don't cover much because they don't have to. They're not even considered insurance under the ACA. They were meant to be temporary, used by people in between jobs.

Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin has called them "junk plans" and the Wisconsin Medical Society is against them, saying the coverage often isn’t adequate.

Short-term plans don’t have to take people with pre-existing medical conditions or provide benefits like coverage for maternity, mental health, prescription drugs and substance abuse treatment. They can last up to 364 days and be renewed for up to 36 months. 

Republicans say they'd bring back a health care option known as high-risk pools. These high-cost plans were often the only option for people with expensive medical problems before the ACA. Wisconsin Republican U.S. Senate candidate Leah Vukmir says they worked before and they could work again. "I support protecting people with pre-existing conditions. We did it here in Wisconsin before it was even part of Obamacare. I support bringing health care decisions back to the states," said Vukmir during an interview on Wisconsin Public Television’s Here & Now special on the U.S. Senate race.

Wisconsin had a high-risk pool until 2014 that was touted as a national model. But it had high premiums and a lifetime limit on benefits. That worried cancer groups. 

Going back to that system could be especially difficult now, said Nancy Wenzel, the CEO of the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans. That's because more people have pre-existing conditions today compared to when Wisconsin's high-risk pool went away. "If we’re talking about the population today, it’s 10 times that amount. So we can’t just plug and play a solution of the past," she said.

The numbers bear that out. Wisconsin's high-risk pool covered 24,000 people at its peak.Today, 200,000 Wisconsin residents use the ACA's private marketplace today.

Republican Senate Candidate Leah Vukmir defends and takes side of Abusive Men!

Bear with me, this is a setup for the latest lunacy from Sen. Leah Vukmir, comparing Kavanaugh protesters to Act 10 protesters.

Let's start with the supposed grassroots tea partiers who showed at townhalls protesting TARP and ACA:

The Tea Party protests were a series of well-funded protests throughout the United States that began in early 2009. The main investors included big tobacco, big oil and the Koch brothers.

Paid Kavanaugh Protesters?: Unlike those "unpaid" tea party protesters, George Soros appears to be paying millions across the nation to destroy Brett Kavanaugh. Trump lied again to agitate his drooling hoards:

Thankfully Trump Party believers are the real Americans, just speakin' their simple minds:

Vukmir Supports Sexual Assaulters: Which brings us to Leah Vukmir's latest shredding of the First Amendment, eliminating making "no law ... abridging the freedom of speech ... or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." She'll help Trump get his wish...

The wise and wonderful Trump knows all this, without proof, casting aside any assumption of innocence.

Trump: "You can't go around and whether it's making up stories or making false statements about such an important position, you can't do that. You can destroy somebody's life."

Vukmir is right there Trump and Gov. Scott Walker. To them protesting is really - intimidation - not a chance to "peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances." Walker's book "Unintimidated," makes that quite clear.

In an opinion piece on Fox News, Vukmir marches in Borg-like lockstep with Walker's thinking, a far cry from what the founding fathers intended. Over a million people protested in Madison and throughout the state, and all were "paid?" Maybe a check to my whole family got lost in the mail:

Senators walked out on hearings to create a media spectacle. Countless delaying tactics were employed to obstruct. Virtue signaling, smears and hyperbole caused widespread chaos. Paid protesters were instructed to corner and confront the so-called “enemy.”

You may think I’m talking about the latest in the saga of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and how extremist Democrats are doing everything in their power to block his confirmation. You are correct. But what we’re seeing today with the Kavanaugh nomination are the same intimidation schemes those on the left implements whenever their ideas don’t win at the ballot box ... they’re making this confirmation process their all-or-nothing championship game. We saw the full force of what liberals are willing to do when our state Capitol was under siege in 2011 during the debate over collective

Besides a few myths and lies, like these...

Our Capitol building endured incredible amounts of damage that required significant restoration and repair (nope, mostly yard work repairing the lawn) ... Town hall meetings were hijacked by people who thought being belligerent was more important than participating in reasonable dialogue (you know, saying something they don't like and won't change).

Vukmir is now changing an altercation between two Supreme Court Justices that can easily be disproved with a simple Google search. This is an incredible and unnecessarily stupid lie, in a grotesque attempt to call into question a female Justice's choking claim to protect a physically abusive male Justice:

Vukmir: "The state courts weren’t immune to these ridiculous and slanderous attacks. In 2011, during an election that was largely seen as a referendum on our reforms, extremely liberal state Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley accused Justice David Prosser of choking her. In the end, this was just another smear. No charges were filed, but sadly his legacy has been blemished."

The poor guy.

Said in true authoritarian fashion, from a party whose votes represents just under a quarter of the population, there are no other legitimate parties:

I won’t buckle, and I will force other weak-kneed elected officials to buck up, do the right thing, and ignore the absurd shenanigans of the extreme left.

Vukmir admits: Okay with out-of-state billionaire buying her off!!!

"Lying Leah" Vukmir hoped no one would remember. The story below from AP remembers.

This time, while now groveling at the feet of Illinois billionaire Dick Uihlein, she's pretending to have never bashed him for supporting her former opponent Kevin Nicholson (Uihlein spent $3.3 million to support Nicholson). Now all of a sudden, an interfering "out of state mega-donor" is good? Wow, "leaves a bad taste in the mouth...," and it pretty much says she was lying, feigning phony ourtrage over being bought off by Uihlein.

This is just too sweet to pass up. What a train wreck (not that GOP voters care):

A week after accusing a billionaire donor of attempting to buy a Wisconsin U.S. Senate seat, Republican nominee Leah Vukmir is now hoping to persuade the same Illinois businessman to open his wallet for her campaign against Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin ... megadonor Dick Uihlein spent nearly $11 million on the race for Nicholson and now ... "I hope that he will want to continue with his commitment ... Let's face it: He wants to defeat Tammy Baldwin."

Ready for it...

That's not what Vukmir was saying last week on "The John Muir Show." "I think it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of a lot of people that a particular out of state donor is spending as much money as he is to, in essence, almost try and buy a Senate seat and that's not what Wisconsin politics is about."

Nothing saves lives like possibly kicking 20 million off insurance?

The Amazing Lying Leah!!!

As State Sen. Leah Vukmir battles it out with a primary opponent who trashed his own parents for exercising their right to max out their campaign donations to Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Vukmir just got caught in a lie; she appears to have been against Trump, before she was for Trump.

Lying must be a campaign thing now made readily acceptable by Trump and his grunting unquestioning voters. Here are 3 clips, together, showing her major jaw-dropping flip-flop:

A new video has emerged of Wisconsin U.S. Senate candidate Leah Vukmir holding her nose when describing how she and others would feel voting for then-likely GOP presidential nominee now President Donald Trump and saying that Trump is “offensive to everyone.” Vukmir herself was also exposed as mocking Trump supporters ... as “Trumpkins.” And she appeared on Fox Business Channel with Stuart Varney on Tuesday, who pressed her on whether she supports the president. In the video appearance, she lied again:“

I have always been there with him, I have stood with him, I continue to stand with him,” Vukmir said, leaving out when she refused to endorse Trump after he became the likely nominee for president.

Vukmir's wrong about ICE: "...false and ridiculous...Vukmir's claim Pants on Fire!"

Just what we need besides a clueless Trump, a Senator who doesn't understand how government works. A little research would have taken too much time?:

But enforcing the border is not even ICE’s job. Rather, the federal agency pursues unauthorized immigrants who are already inside the country. A different federal agency is responsible for patrolling the border, so border enforcement would continue even if ICE were eliminated. And, in any case, Pocan is not proposing to end border enforcement.

For a statement that is false and ridiculous, we rate Vukmir’s claim Pants on Fire.

If you're a liberal constituent, Vukmir might just reach for that gun out on the table!

Living up to her name "Nurse Ratchet," the not so popular State Sen. Leah Vukmir is now desperately trying to drive up her conservative creds with personal death threats, a popular right-wing tactic used by conservative college speakers so they could demand the big bucks for supposedly risking their lives.

Really, like those in the public eye haven't all gotten one or two "death threats?" To top it off, she saved an old 2011 threat so she could use it in a job interview, like say for Senator?

Anyone else comfortable with their representative flashing heat on a table top? Sure cuts down on unhappy voters. Vukmir's got a theme going; taking on those murderous, terrorist union thugs:



It's a scary liberal terrorist gun-toting world out there filled with government protesters, so we need this kind of authoritarian Senator:



The unhinged terror sympathizing left wing politics of Tammy Baldwin?

Republicans run against "liberal terrorists" again, running away from tax cuts and trade wars!

We hear disenfranchised Republican voters say it all the time; they want to be heard and be on the winning side of an improving economy.

But first, we have to destroy the American liberal terrorists.

"Not Backing Down" is GOP Weapon against Liberal Terrorists: Republicans, confronted with publically lying to voters, are now just doubling down, portraying the truth as "politically correct" speech. The horror.

War crimes supporter State Sen. Leah Vukmir attacked anti-torture Sen. Tammy Baldwin for her vote against Trump's pick to head the CIA, Gina Haspel, who helped set up "black sites" used to detain and torture individuals accused of being "terrorists," along with destroying videotaped evidence.

While Vukmir still stubbornly supports torture, learning nothing from history, Haspel said she changed her mind...:

"...With the benefit of hindsight and my experience as a senior agency leader, the enhanced interrogation program is not one the CIA should have undertaken. The United States must be an example to the rest of the world, and I support that."

Not Vukmir, who appears loyal to the Trumpian extremes mirroring Dick Cheney.

Odder still is Vukmir calling out liberal outrage over this and that...you know, stuff like her campaign ad shown below. Yet Vukmir claims that she and Walker's "positive success story" has been the focus...using the same picture?

Asked point blank by Mike Gousha if she still stands by calling Baldwin a terrorist, Vukmir said yes via a convoluted word salad. For the record, Baldwin never said anything about Sheikh Mahommed's attacks on Haspel, what Vukmir describes as Baldwin "disappearing:"

Vukmir: “When the 9/11 mastermind — Khalid Sheikh Mohammed attacks Gina Haspel, an eminently qualified woman who would be an excellent and historic choice to lead our CIA, Senator Baldwin is nowhere to be found. If this is what it takes to get people talking about Tammy Baldwin’s liberal record and her tendency to disappear and not represent us then so be it."

Looks like Vukmir is the one who believes Sheikh Mohammed should be taken seriously, not Baldwin. 9/11 is still being exploited by Republicans despite happening under a Republican administration.

Here's what a desperate ideologue looks like under stress, smiling her way through some very ugly territory about the outraged unhinged left...:

Wisconsin Republicans embrace Walker's kind of "optimistic vision for the future?"

Scott Walker decided to present his "optimistic vision" of the state with a few recent tweets trashing policy criticisms on the "anger and hate" filled "liberal Far left:"

So let's take a look at the what Walker calls an "optimistic vision for the future," along with a few other examples that are anything but.

Vukmir's "Positively" Blatant Lies: When you can't find much in Sen. Tammy Baldwin's hate-and-anger filled record to criticize, State Sen. Leah Vukmir came up with this positive whopper:

...or this positive swing and a miss...

...or "outsider" and challenger Kevin Nicholson's positive view of Democratic veterans...:

The Democrat Party has wholesale rejected the Constitution and the values that it was founded upon. So I'll tell you what: Those veterans that are out there in the Democrat party, I question their, their cognitive thought process. Because the bottom line is, they're signing up to defend the Constitution that their party is continually dragging through the mud."

...or Wisconsin's own retiring Paul Ryan, whose vision of the future does not include tackling the problem of mass shootings in our schools:

Dumb Ron Johnson's Positive Vision of the Future sees "families, renewed faith" as the solution to mass shootings in schools: Hey, it might take awhile - a half-century or so - but cultural norms might "likely" change?

(On) gun control, in the wake of the high school shooting in Texas that left 10 dead and 10 injured ... Johnson said federal legislation is not the answer, because gun violence is a bigger cultural issue.

"Solutions that will have some impact are going to more likely come from families, renewed faith, communities, from states than anything the federal government's going to pass."

Republican Leah Vukmir says Tammy Baldwin on "Team Terrorists" with 9/11 planner Khalid Shaikh Mohammed!!!

We thought it was crazy when GOP Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson said that serving in the military is "something conservative," and that the "battlefields in Iraq" prepared him for Main Street America. Well....

Surely the Republican base won't be duped by this jaw-dropping, bizarre, Onion-like graphic put out by State Sen. Leah Vukmir, declaring Democratic Americans like Tammy Baldwin are terrorists working with KSM?

That "safe place" for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed? The US vacation spot and prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Surprise...can you believe...?

The conservative outlet "Right Wisconsin" harshly criticized the image, calling the attack "an irresponsible campaign blunder."

I should mention that Vukmir's "Team America" is an insane film from the creators of South Park, made up of puppets (marionettes) (appropriate?) fighting terrorist to the memorable theme song linked here...(WARNING: explicit lyrics) The "F" mentioned below is part of the phrase, you guessed it, "F**k Yeah."

Vukmir's total embrace of Trump's America and the use of the war crime torture tells you just how far right and radicalized these uber-Republican candidates are now. As cartoon-like as they make themselves look, nothing is too extreme. Promising to be another Trump rubber stamp, Vukmir praised nuking the Obama Iran deal, ripping Tammy Baldwin, and indirectly France, Britain, and Germany;

Vukmir digs in...but don't all Republican blunderers?

Vukmir: “When the 9/11 mastermind — Khalid Sheikh Mohammed attacks Gina Haspel, an eminently qualified woman who would be an excellent and historic choice to lead our CIA, Senator Baldwin is nowhere to be found. If this is what it takes to get people talking about Tammy Baldwin’s liberal record and her tendency to disappear and not represent us then so be it."

Looks like Vukmir is the one who believes Sheikh Mohammed should be taken seriously, not Baldwin.

Obama's reaction? While Trump's move played to his "base" again (who are these people), Obama offered up these two remaining nightmarish possibilities:

Trump Republicans have basically erased everything America's first black president did:

Vukmir loves Trump's Merit Based Immigration plan, after her own family benefited from chain-migration.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin...you gotta laugh at this one.

Wisconsin's ALEC State Sen. Leah Vukmir, Republican, is supposedly challenging Baldwin with the following mind-bending example of cognitive dissonance. The Star Times:

State Senator Leah Vukmir made stops in Mauston and Reedsburg to make her case ... Vukmir says she is strongly supportive of President Trump and his agenda.

Oh, like on immigration, as detailed by this Trump policy tweet?

Did jaws drop in Mauston and Reedsburg when Vukmir gave the following heartwarming story about...and I'm not kidding, her own chain immigration family members becoming U.S. citizens?  Yup, Vukmir strongly supports the wall and merit-based immigration...just not for real Americans like Vukmir's family;

“My childhood memories are watching my aunts and uncles come to this country, my father came from Greece, my mom was from here but her parents were from Greece,” Vukmir said. “I watched them go through a legal process of becoming citizens. I helped them around the kitchen table study for their naturalization and citizenship tests.”

She feels that experience has shaped her conservative views on immigration today.

“The wall has to be first and foremost,” Vukmir said.

She is obviously not connecting the two ideas. That's the kind of thinking we need in Washington?

Vukmir's fight against Union Thug Teachers, but wants to arm them?

With one son in 10th grade and another a UW freshman, I know more about schools than most Republican legislators. They're still acting out in anger over how it was "way back when" when they were in school. Uh, no comparison...lots have changed.

Leah Vukmir, warrior against Union Thugs-Teachers: Believe it or not, Republicans have unearthed the image of union thug teachers again, even after the teacher heroics we saw during a number of school shootings.

AP: Wisconsin Next PAC, with close ties to Gov. Scott Walker, has launched a $575,000 television advertising campaign running statewide in April. The TV spot also credits Vukmir with leading the fight to pass Walker's Act 10 law in 2011 ... The ad calls opponents who protested against it "union thugs" who tried to "bully Wisconsin conservatives."

Poor Wisconsin conservatives, bullied by "self-esteem" "protecting" teachers...

Five months after Columbine, Vukmir wrote that massacres would continue until educators and parents overcame their “preoccupation with protecting [teenage] self-esteem.”

Check out Lawrence O'Donnell's piece on the "union thug" teachers who became the frontline defense for OUR students. A powerful piece that is still sad and difficult to watch. Wisconsin Next PAC and Vukmir are shameless:



Oh, and Walker isn't endorsing Vukmir?

...but his wife Tonette Walker backs Vukmir and their son works for her campaign.

Vukmir against "Self-Esteem"? It's must make Vukmir angry to see these confident, civic-minded outspoken students simply trying to feel safe within their schools:



Wait, Students Love Vukmir's Plan? Vukmir tried to distract from this nationwide movement with this, despite public opposition to arming teachers and having guns in schools:

...rather than heeding the students' calls for commonsense gun safety reforms ... Leah Vukmir endorsed arming teachers and putting guns inside classrooms -- a position opposed by 56% of Americans. Vukmir doesn't believe that guns are a leading factor in school shootings. Instead, Vukmir insists, the real problem is "school programs aimed at coddling teens" and what she calls the "self-esteem movement."

Oh wait...

Vukmir is simply echoing the following incredibly surreal position of hard-right conservatives below who want the benefits of being an "adult," but none of the responsibilities:



Yikes, Vukmir already outraged over Kindergarten Reading, wanted Proof it Worked? State Sen. Vukmir's own Facebook video shows her superficial and skewed impression of public education. She voice outrage over a reading program for...kindergarteners? Really? Vukmir already knew more about the childhood reading curriculum than the school's educators.

Leah first became politically active when her daughter was learning to read. As an involved parent, Leah asked her daughter’s kindergarten teacher a question that seemed like common sense: “Can you show me the research behind this reading program?” That question landed her in the principal’s office, and then the superintendent’s.

With privatization on her mind, she apparently never respected or understood the teacher explanations that may have conflicted with her own agenda. And by the way, what Vukmir describes is the kind of public accountability we expect from teachers, principals, and superintendents, and they came through with flying colors despite Vukmir's lack of appreciation.

The Scary Desperate Scott Walker Twitter Tantrum; What is it with Liberals and Blacks?

The juvenile Trump-like tweet storm spewing out from the fingertips of Gov. Scott Walker is the first truly honest look at who this career politician is behind those sleepy sociopathic eyes.

Walker's casual off-handed rejection of holding special elections for two vacant legislative seats because it was a "waste of taxpayer resources" flipped representative government on its head, and the judicial branch reacted quickly:

After a three-month delay, a lightning-quick lawsuit and three orders from as many judges, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker called two special elections Thursday and GOP senators dropped legislation to block the contests.

The Divider and Conqueror Tantrum blames Liberals and Blacks: The lingering question; why did it take former AG Eric Holder to go to challenge Walker in court?

Having not learned anything about his legal obligations, a Walker tweetstorm started off by questioning all three of the court's independently reached decisions, using every dog whistle in his holster; "Obama" "Eric Holder," the fact they're both black, and "D.C. based special interests (that Republicans oddly don't have?):

That's fundraising gold right there, and Walker is on it! Especially when you pair that up with a wagging finger and the angry face below:

Reinforcing the idea that only conservatives work hard and have personal responsibility, send money now...:

...because those bad old liberal Democrats are now trying to use the law to raise campaign funds, nothing like the righteous Republican Party?

Unlike Republicans who took control in 2010 and gerrymandered safe voting majorities for the last 8 years, Democrats are scheming to do the impossible; "permanently change" districts! Ah, a little projection there maybe? Oh, and dog whistle "Nancy Pelosi?"

Here's hoping even Republican voters are seeing through this bizarre (hopefully) career ending and costly Walker fiasco, I know my conservative Trumpian friend in Milwaukee has:

Tone Deaf Republican Senate Candidate Leah Vukmir: After all the horrible nationwide press, voter anger and bad political optics, imagine a Republican candidate jumping onboard this titanic disaster. Yet it happened:

Democratic Challenger: Take a look at who is running for that senate seat:

Less than an hour after Walker called the special election, Door County Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Caleb Frostman announced he would run as a Democrat in one of the open seats. The 1st Senate District includes Door and Kewaunee counties and parts of Brown, Manitowoc and Calumet counties.

"Frostman," really, up north there on the frozen tundra?

Compare his photo to De Pere Rep. Andre Jacque, who is such an ass***e not even many Republicans want to have anything to do with him:

Leah Vukmir's Deep State Conspiracy!!!

Republican voters now have big choice to make in the midterms; elect Leah Vukmir for trying to manipulate and playoff their anger, or not. They could stay with what got them their legislative majorities and megalomaniac and narcissist Trump.

State Representative and ALEC executive Leah Vukmir running on the "deep state" conspiracy theory suggesting public employees - or "agents" holding opposing political views, are our enemy.

She joins Dumb Ron Johnson who also fears a "secret society," plotting and planning to overthrow their supposed permanent majority.



The Party of Sweet Nasty Revenge: Getting back at your "enemies" is catching on I guess. Two days away from completing 30 years of public service work and getting a well-deserved pension, Republicans now think it's a badge of honor to pull the rug out from hard-working Americans. Heck, they never liked the idea of pensions anyway.

It's those "deep state" liberal Republicans who aren't getting in line with blowhard Trump. Vukmir would be great, like Paul Ryan, as a check and balance to the Executive Branch?

Leah Vukmir ripped into U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan Monday for offering a job to fired FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe and proposed making it illegal to hire a federal employee to pad a pension.

Then again "Deep State" paranoia may be just what the election ordered after seeing this head-scratching poll:

The Monmouth University Polling Institute found that 74 percent of respondents believe in a “deep state” when it is described as a collection of unelected officials running policy. Twenty-one percent said they do not believe this kind of group exists. Thirty-one percent of Republicans and 33 percent of independents say they believe a deep state “definitely exists,” while 19 percent of Democrats believe this.

But wait, how can that be if...

Pollsters also found that a majority of those polled, 63 percent, said they were “not familiar” with the term deep state, however.

ALEC's Vukmir says her principles of Limited Government and Free Markets led us to Foxconn???

Nothing says local like "model legislation" cranked out by ALEC:

Through the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, global corporations and state politicians vote behind closed doors to try to rewrite state laws that govern your rights. These so-called "model bills" reach into almost every area of American life and often directly benefit huge corporations. In ALEC's own words, corporations have "a VOICE and a VOTE" on specific changes to the law that are then proposed in your state.

The biggest laugh? They're...:

...dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets and federalism

Who's the national chairperson of ALEC? Our own Republicans Sen. Leah Vukmir.

Vukmir's Free Market Corporate Welfare? Vukmir doesn't think twice about taking on Sen. Tammy Baldwin, all the while maintaining her position as ALEC's national chairperson. First off, you've got to be some kinda crazy to be given the chairmanship. With her connections to the Koch brothers and other big monied interests, "local" isn't quite the word I'd use!

On Upfront with Mike Gousha, after Vukmir glows about the outrageous corporate handout to Foxconn, she then effortlessly pushes ALEC's mission for limited government and free markets:

Vukmir: "And then of course Act 10...to be a part of this historic reform, that quite frankly laid the groundwork for all of the other reforms that we've been able to do, leading up to Foxconn today...I'm proud of my association with an organization that believes in limited government, free markets and federalism. Anyone who knows me those are the principles that got me elected."

Absolutely no self awareness at all. Vukmir supporters, are you catching on?



Here's Vukmir's press release that will blow your mind. This is what getting government out of the way means?

___________________________________________________________________________________________

So do you want to elect ALEC Chairperson Vukmir to continue our slow decline, peppered with poisonous Republican solutions?

It's not just me trashing supply side ALEC garbage, conservative columnist Tom Still did too:

Wisconsin business columnist and conservative Tom Still took a look at ALEC's new state by state report "The 2016 ALEC-Laffer State Competiveness Index, named in part for supply-side economist Arthur Laffer," and courageously told the truth; the more we're like ALEC, the worse our state output becomes. 

The results of a 50-state index ... put Wisconsin in a positive light for selected economic inputs. The economic output picture painted by ALEC, however, was a bit more restrained.

ALEC's Miserable OUTPUT - Cause and Effect: Proof is in the ALEC report, as Tom Still explains:

When it came to measuring economic performance, however, ALEC looked at “outputs” that placed Wisconsin where other rankings often do – toward the bottom of the 50-state class.

Wisconsin’s overall economic performance rank of 41st included a ranking of 35th for growth in state domestic product for the 10 years ending in 2014; 40th for non-farm payroll employment during the same cycle; and 38th in absolute domestic migration ... (which) measures how many people are leaving or entering the state, the so-called “brain drain” phenomenon. It showed a net loss ofnearly 67,000 people over 10 years, with the peak coming in the recession year of 2010.

Economists on the political right and left ... generally believe there is a correlation between migration and economic prosperity. 

______________________________________________________________________________________

I couldn't pass this up...

A recent story in Milwaukee Magazine by Matt Hrodey reports, fellow Republicans “sometimes called Vukmir ‘Nurse Ratchet’ … The Shepherd Express did a 2009 story entitled “Why Republicans Dislike Leah Vukmir,” complete with a cruel caricature that managed to make the attractive legislator look like a gorgon. Earlier that year Marc Eisen interviewed a range of Capitol insiders to pick the state’s best and worst legislators for Milwaukee Magazine and Vukmir made the list of the ten worst.

ALEC's Free Speech Legislation: This is perhaps the funniest and most revealing down-the-rabbit-hole double-speak yet:

The FORUM Act does not punish students for expressing themselves on campus—in fact, discipline is not even part of the model policy. The only “punishment” in the FORUM Act is in Section 9 that allows victims whose free speech rights have been violated to bring suit ... The FORUM Act protects speech. It does not punish speech.

Representative Taylor is wrong about the FORUM Act when she says it “punish[es] political speech and protesting on campus.”

Yea, Chris Taylor got it so wrong? 

ALEC Chairwoman...and oh yea, Republican State Sen. Leah Vukmir includes Faculty, Regulating "Free Speech."

I guess I'll have to wait a little bit longer to hear a talk show host introduce State Sen. Leah Vukmir as not just a Republican, but the national chairwoman of ALEC, a group that writes and promotes extreme right wing legislation nationwide. Her influence and position at ALEC isn't something we should ignore.

Especially since ALEC is now targeting our First Amendment free speech rights on public college campuses, with Chairwoman Vukmir's own proposed ALEC legislation. Here are just two ALEC topics from their site:

ALEC Chairwoman Leah Vukmir offered these purely anecdotal "reasons" for regulated free speech (sounds weird doesn't it?), reasons Republicans have called 'mob rule" since the 60's protests. Her press release states:

“Across the country, free speech rights are under assault. Students, professors and administrators are using intimidation tactics to silence those they disagree with. Now is not the time to treat this issue lightly; well thought-out legislative action is required. This must end.”

BIG GOVERNMENT REPUBLICANS: Unconstitutional, yes, but requiring "legislative oversight" with a "strict disciplinary system?" Vukmir is not just the targeting of protesters, but campus faculty as well:

The proposal would explicitly outline protections for free speech in statute for students, faculty and staff on both university and technical school campuses. With legislative oversight, the UW Board of Regents and Technical College System Board would implement a strict disciplinary system for those who infringe on others’ free speech rights.

From Upfront with Mike Gousha (goo-shay), Vukmir feigned concern with her urgently framed second-hand anecdotally based talking points of "victimized" conservatives afraid to speak out on campus. Someone should ask for proof sometime, that isn't subjective:

Vukmir: "And I've talked to college kids across the state of Wisconsin on the campuses...now we have students who are fearful of speaking..."

Turning Government into a Racket: Besides allowing conservative speakers to sue colleges so they can receive thousands of dollars in taxpayer money just to settle, Vukmir's bill drains taxpayers pockets again for "security," a scheme many speakers use to boost their conservative reputations.

UW System President Ray Cross testified there are circumstances where a university might not allow an invited speaker on campus because they couldn’t protect his or her safety. This bill also creates a statute to preserve a speaker’s ability to come to campus in those cases.

Here's the legislation that forces taxpayers to pay for right wing security:

The bill also requires administrators to make all reasonable efforts and make available all reasonable resources to ensure the safety of individuals invited to speak on campuses. If administrators determine that they cannot ensure an individual's safety, the bill requires that the individual must be allowed to speak in spite of that determination. 

And even though you might have a right to protest...well, probably not (highlighted below as separate issue):

The bill also prohibits a person from threatening an invited speaker or threatening to organize protests or riots or to incite violence with the purpose to dissuade or intimidate an invited speaker from attending a campus event.

Not only does a protester lose the right to oppose a speakers appearance, but it normalizes radical politics, with no way to alert the public.

Looking up a little background on ALEC chairwoman Leah Vukmir, I found this at Urban Milwaukee:

A recent story in Milwaukee Magazine by Matt Hrodey reports, fellow Republicans “sometimes called Vukmir ‘Nurse Ratchet’ … The Shepherd Express did a 2009 story entitled “Why Republicans Dislike Leah Vukmir,” complete with a cruel caricature that managed to make the attractive legislator look like a gorgon. Earlier that year Marc Eisen interviewed a range of Capitol insiders to pick the state’s best and worst legislators for Milwaukee Magazine and Vukmir made the list of the ten worst.

Only 14 percent of her huge campaign war chest of $446,910 came from donors living in the district.

In June 2013, the liberal Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) sued Vukmir, contending she had violated Wisconsin’s open records law by not turning over records related to her involvement with the American Legislative Exchange Council, the conservative group bankrolled by corporations that creates and promotes model legislation to benefit these companies. Vukmir stonewalled and then responded to the CMD suit by claiming she could not be sued while in office. As the Wisconsin State Journal reported, a process server hired to notify Vukmir of the lawsuit says “a Vukmir aide assailed him with abusive language, chased him and pushed him to the ground outside the Capitol.”  The emails showed Vukmir was championing a model ALEC bill opposing the expansion of state Medicaid programs under Obamacare. 

Vukmir led the effort to eliminate the nationally acclaimed non-partisan Government Accountability Board with one controlled by legislative leaders.

ALEC’s Campus Free Speech “Resentment” Campaign: Since the 60’s war protests, conservatives have wanted to right that wrong and end once and for all any signs of public protest. They think they’ve found a way to do that with their massive state majorities across the country:

Taxpayers hand over their hard-earned money each year via appropriations to pay the salaries of university presidents, directors of student services, and campus police chiefs in every state. Until legislators hold university presidents, administrators and campus police accountable, they will continue to live the same day over and over again, just like Phil Conners in the 1993 film “Groundhog Day”. It is time to get it right and end the nightmare.

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) seems to be more interested in turning education majors into liberal activists … a required class for students wishing to become teachers … to persuade students to a certain political view. The course will feature … discussions regarding the vocation of teachers, social justice, dis/abilities, bilingual education, social class, poverty, sexuality, gender, race and community membership.

Sounds good…except ALEC thinks social justice, social class, poverty, sexuality, race, and community membership aren’t conservative values at all.  

Thus, the class is intended to change the self-perception of these future educators … as advocates of progressive ideas. UNCG forces future educators to study a political agenda disguised as a lesson on education.

ALEC Confused, Contradicts Own Agenda: While ALEC loves the idea of using vouchers in religious schools teaching Christianity as the only religion, it trashes that same idea below. In a head spinning contradiction, ALEC even suggests a political bias where there is none:

One of the class assignments (at the end of the semester) is to write a “Personal/Professional Commitment Statement” … to social justice (7-8 pages), given all the new knowledge(s) that the course participants generated every week. What stood out? What did you learn about yourself … what’s your personal/professional commitment to social justice? 

Heck, a conservative as well as a liberal could answer that in any way they want, yet to ALEC…

These future educators must act like liberal social activists … flies in the face of academic freedom.  

To make their point, ALEC makes this contradictory argument, which by the way makes a great case against taxpayer funded vouchers to religious schools:

To put this issue in another context, it would be equally outrageous if a world religion teacher required students to exclusively read material meant to promote the viewpoint that Catholicism is the only true religion. Then, in order to pass the class, the students have to write a paper about how this class has brought them closer to the Catholic Church.