Walker takes on State Constitution with Activist Supreme Court justices, hoping to reverse past rulings, take control of public education.

Now that the Wisconsin Supreme Court is stacked with activist conservative justices who have unapologetically legislated from the bench, Republican Governor Scott Walker can now centralize power by legally wiping out past decisions to fit in with his new authoritarian state.

How and what our kids are taught in school is the next important step in holding power, and the movement to control curriculum is gathering steam. Walker wants the constitutional office of the state superintendent to march to his edicts, tossing small government out the window, and replacing a qualified educator with partisan legislative freeloaders who failed in the private sector.

Most importantly, this is a redo, and a real test for the activist court; will it unashamedly rule in the governors favor, throwing out a fairly recent court decision. The only things that's change in Wisconsin is the radicalized party in charge.

(A) 1996 Supreme Court ruling stopped then-Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) from placing the education department under his control.

Walker's style, to win and then destroy his opponents, rolls on this time targeting the state's Constitution:

AP: The Wisconsin Supreme Court is considering whether to overturn a nearly 20-year-old ruling that protected powers of the state superintendent of schools from being taken away by the Legislature or governor.

The court heard arguments Tuesday in a case challenging a 2011 law that gives the governor the power to approve and block administrative rules being enacted by the state superintendent. Lower courts have struck down the law as it applied to state Superintendent Tony Evers and the department he oversees.

WISC

Feingold pushes Republicans to get off their ass and fund Foreign Intelligence & Information Commission to monitor the globe for terrorism.

Journal Sentinel blogger Christian Schneider apparently doesn’t read his own newspaper. He missed a recent article about Russ Feingold's call to increase security. And that just made his attack piece ridiculous and irrelevant.   

Schneider’s article, “Feingold's bad bet on intelligence” is all wrong, and based on right wing rhetoric already circling around the talk radio drain:

Now a candidate to regain the Senate seat he lost in 2010, Feingold was back this week calling for better funding and more focus on intelligence gathering in the wake of last Friday's terrorist attack on Paris. It makes sense that Feingold would want to remake his image by pretending now that he's been for strengthening U.S. intelligence all along. It wouldn't be the first time he's tried to rewrite the past…”

Maybe Schneider skipped this part of Feingold's story:

In the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold is calling for better funding and … the revival of a dormant oversight commission. The Foreign Intelligence and Information Commission Act was put forward by Feingold, a Democrat, and passed into law in 2010 but has not been funded, nor has the commission been put in place. The commission was meant to ensure that the nation is looking across the globe for terrorist havens and threats and doing so by every means, whether covert spies or foreign diplomats.

Hell, Feingold even worked with Republican Rep. Chuck Hagel:

Feingold worked on the commission proposal with then Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, who later served as secretary of defense under Obama. In 2008, Hagel said of an earlier version of the proposal that it would ensure that the U.S. isn't solely focused on the "threat of the day."

Schneider is another conservative who's willing to leave out huge parts of stories and facts to make what he's saying seem logical, in a down-the-rabbit-hole kinda way. 

Oh, and here's another little nugget of truth:

Feingold blamed the rise of the Islamic State group on the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, which he opposed then as a U.S. senator. Whatever actions the U.S. takes next, the nation needs better intelligence, he said.

Separately Monday, Feingold's 2016 opponent, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), called for invading territory held by the terrorist group the Islamic State.

Dumb Ron Johnson must have an extra $2 trillion sitting around for a new war in the Middle East.

Xenophobic GOP Presidential hopefuls want to screen out and welcome Syrian Christians only.

I haven't seen the Republican fear level this high since 9/11. Our run for cover, freedom and liberty loving gun toting conservative "leaders" can't retreat fast enough from the looming ISIS terror.

Sen. Ted Cruz: "There is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror. If there were a group of radical Christians pledging to murder anyone who had a different religious view than they, we would have a different national security situation."

Even though it received almost no coverage yesterday, Jeb Bush's comment about identifying Christian refugees stands out as one of the most scary and embarrassing positions yet. Remember, this is an "adult" running for president:

Reporter: "So what does the focus on Christian families actually look like?"

Bush: "What, you're a Christian, you can prove you're a Christian, it's..."

Reporter: "How?"

Bush: "I think you can prove it, if you can't prove it than you know...you err on the side of caution."

And of course there's always xenophobic Donald Trump with his more tempered approach:

Trump: "I'm gonna bomb the shit out of them. It's true...I don't care...I don't care, they've got to be stopped."

And this Instagram comment:

Trump: "Refugees are pouring into our great country from Syria, and we don't even know who they are. They could be ISIS, they could be anybody. What's our president doing, is he insane? 

As for both Cruz and Bush's comment "there are no Christian terrorists in the Middle East..." they're strongly suggesting Christian terrorism doesn't happen, even in the U.S.. Homegrown Christian terrorists exist, whether they're using religion as a justification or just your typical conservative anti-government extremist. Here are just a few examples:

Wisconsin Sikh Temple massacre  ...  The murder of Dr. George Tiller  ...  Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church shooting  ...  The murder of Dr. John Britton  ...  The Centennial Olympic Park bombing, The murder of Barnett Slepian by James Charles Kopp  ...  Planned Parenthood bombing, Brookline, Massachusetts 1994  ...  Suicide attack on IRS building in Austin, Texas, Feb. 18, 2010  …  The murder of Alan Berg, June 18, 1984  …  Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing, April 19, 1995  ...  The Knoxville Unitarian Universalist Church Shooting Everything  ...  The Ku Klux Klan Has Ever Done  ...  The Massacre At Zion Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C..

Radical Islam vs Radical Christian: "Radical Islam," a favorite xenophobic term used by Republicans everywhere, is meant to challenge political correctness.

But when I used the term "radical Christian" on my conservative friend in Milwaukee, he blew up, justifying past Christian killings.

Try using the term "radical Christian" sometime. I guarantee a heated irrational reaction.

Presidential candidate Marco Rubio made this bizarre and clueless leap; comparing the Islamic religion with Nazism, a political ideology. Surprise, Rubio's comment went unchallenged by George Stephanopoulos:

Walker agenda exploits Fear and Xenephobia with ban on Syrian Refugees. What next protesters?

Scott Walker has turned Wisconsin into something so conservatively radical that that he truly believes the states remaining liberal Democrats are not much different than ISIS terrorists. Hey, Walker said so...

Audience member question: "Should you become commander and chief, how would you deal with threats like ISIS?"

Walker: "If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the globe,"

Walker is unintentionally doubling down on that idea, despite his denials, with his recent ban on Syrian refugees. WSJ:

Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday wrote U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to say that state officials would not aid any federal attempt to resettle Syrian refugees in Wisconsin. "Our state will not facilitate the coordination or provision of benefits or services for individuals whose presence could pose a potential risk to our people."

If Walker's statement wasn't enough, get a load of Paul Ryan's contradictory comment pushing the right wings xenophobic panic attack, while bragging about being a welcoming country to immigrants...just not this time. WKOW's Greg Neumann:

Paul Ryan: "Our nation has always been welcoming, but we cannot let terrorists take advantage of our compassion. This is a moment when it's better to be safe than to be sorry. So we think the prudent, the responsible thing is to take a pause, in this particular aspect of this refugee program, in order to verify terrorists aren't trying to infiltrate the refugee population." 

Dumb Ron Johnson has the typical do-nothing GOP response down cold...we "have a lot of questions." Next issue please....

Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said "Americans have a lot of questions" about the issue and "our first task is to keep Americans safe."

Add Walker to the other 31 frightened governors giving ISIS just what they want. Scared to death of challenging terrorist tactics, Walker could just be helping ISIS stop the flow of refugees with planted "evidence:"

WaPo: Security concerns have increasingly been cited as a justification for keeping borders closed and refusing to resettle migrants ... after a Syrian passport with the name Ahmad al-Mohammad, a 25-year-old born in Idlib province, was found near the body of a suicide bomber. French authorities say fingerprints from the suicide bomber match those of someone who passed through Greece in early October.

Refugees and migrants reaching Europe do represent some kind of security threat However, it is not only deeply unfair to paint all of those arriving with the same brush — it is also self-defeating. If Muslim refugees come to Europe and are welcomed, it deeply undercuts the Islamic State's legitimacy. 

Some have suggested that the Islamic State deliberately sent someone along this route to help sow discord. Given the availability of fake Syrian passports in Turkey and other places ... the passport found near the body of one of the Paris bombers was planted there to further inflame a tense Europe — an idea strengthened by reports that a different man was found traveling with the same passport in Serbia.

The anti-immigration right wingers like Scott Walker are only strengthening ISIS:

What seems almost certain is that the Islamic State wants you to equate refugees with terrorists. In turn, it wants refugees to equate the West with prejudice against Muslims and foreigners.The screening process can take years, leaving legitimate refugees in limbo. It's worth remembering that making that welcome worse may be exactly what the Islamic State wants.

No broken hearts from our armed conservative authority, who oddly, still don't feel safe.

ACLU of Wisconsin was among the groups to criticize Walker's remarks Tuesday. The group said in a statementthat "the U.S. already has an extremely rigorous and multi-layered security screening program in place for refugees seeking to resettle here. Attempting to shut out refugee resettlement in Wisconsin blames refugees for the very terror they are fleeing, and erodes our own civil liberties," the group said.

Here's what Sen. Elizabeth Warren had to say about a fear mongering GOP leaders:

“These events test us. It is easy to proclaim that we are tough and brave and good-hearted when threats feel far away -- but when those threats loom large and close by, our actions will strip away our tough talk and reveal who we really are."

"We face a choice. A choice either to lead the world by example or to turn our backs to the threats and the suffering around us.”

Voxdotcom put out this nice piece on the conflict in Syria and the rise of ISIS. It offers Republicans food for thought...I'm kidding of course, that's not possible. The reality; we don't control what other countries do or end up creating due to their own policies, not including our own constant meddling: 

There's still more, Media Matters:

La Opinión -- one of the leading Latino daily newspapers in the U.S. -- also noted that "[t]his type of reaction does nothing but feed internal fears, granting a victory to terrorists, whose goal is precisely to shake the feeling of safety in free societies":

"The Paris attacks carried out by ISIS are being used to sustain the Republican Party's nativist, anti-immigrant discourse. It is sad to see that the reaction to terrorism is to build border walls and ignore a humanitarian crisis out of fear. Terrorism triumphs when it succeeds in intimidating governments and civilians. Leadership is shown by rising to challenges posed by the situation, not by taking advantage of them to feed existing fear and resentment against immigrants and foreigners among the electorate."

High Deductibles not ObamaCare's fault - blame Greedy for Profit Insurance Industry.

If you have problems with the Affordable Care Act, then you have problems with the private U.S. health care insurance system. The ACA is just waking people up to the costly flaws.

And to prove how dumb the media has been about how it covers health insurance, not actual health care, the following "no sh**" headline appeared in the Financial Times:

Obamacare Enrollees Are Reeling from High Deductibles

It's dumb because that's what the individual market had been selling for nearly two decades, well before "ObamaCare," Pushed mainly by Republicans as the answer to lowering monthly premiums in a "free market" system, high deductible plans forced people to self ration, discouraging sick people from "over-consuming" on their treatments. You know, like when we spend too much on treating life threatening cancer or heart disease.

Living longer & healthier? Pay more!

You may have heard of Health Savings Accounts (HSA)? They've been around for years. That's a tax deductible account consumers use to pay down part of their catastrophic high deductible plans. It pays only part of the deductible because nearly 15 years ago, when I had an HSA, my deductible reached $10,500. Crazy huh? And get this, you could only deduct around $5,000 or so on your taxes, nothing over, prompting a wave of medical bankruptcies.

And that's all before your insurers pays one cent.

But the media wants to blame the Affordable Care Act, instead of giving the ACA credit for finally exposing the horrors of the U.S. health care system to the public. Yea, it's bad,  real bad.

Ironically, Republican outrage over these high deductibles plans better check their own replacement proposals for ObamaCare. Every one of them relies on high deductibles too.

So the following analysis isn't anything new:

The median rate increase for the lowest priced, highly popular “Silver” plan will rise by 11% – compared to just a 7% increase in 2015 … increases that in many cases will neutralize the benefits of their health care plans or discourage some from purchasing coverage. “That these deductibles are so high is clearly one of the reasons people aren’t buying a plan—they simply don’t see themselves getting anything for the money,” - Health Policy & Strategy Associates. Health care policy experts say insurers designed their plans with substantial rising deductibles and other cost-sharing measures as a way to encourage low and moderate income Americans who qualify for federal subsidies to try to hold down their medical costs. 

Nothing new. That's why so many people don't have health insurance, they're not "getting anything for their money." And besides the individual market, those who don't get employer provided insurance, employers are shifting more of the costs to workers:

The average annual out-of-pocket costs per worker increased nearly 230 percent between 2006 and 2015 - Kaiser Family Foundation. An eye-opening report by The New York Times found that many of the newly insured are “feeling nearly as vulnerable as they were before they had coverage.”

The ACA is an online marketplace of private insurers, that's all. Blaming government instead of insurance company greed is still something I can't wrap my head around.

Get it through your head: High deductibles have nothing to do with health care, they have everything to do with insurance company profits. 

A survey by the Commonwealth Fund published last November found that three in five low-income adults and about 50 percent of adults with moderate incomes believe that deductibles are “difficult or impossible to afford.”

And that's the way insurance companies want it; easy money from people that can afford it.

Wisconsin anti-science DNR and Republicans let Chronic Wasting Disease Spread through Midwest.

Deer hunters left the sport in droves after chronic wasting disease spread through Wisconsin like a California wild fire. Wisconsin State Journal:

Fear of eating CWD-tainted venison initially scared many hunters and made owners of hunting land in southern Wisconsin concerned that their property would lose value if the hunt died off, said Jeff Schinkten, national president of Whitetails Unlimited.

But instead of fighting the disease like neighboring states, Scott Walker hired a Deer Czar who couldn’t wait to play down the threat with massive defunding and anti-science opinions.

Hoping people would forget about CWD and deer hunt again, Walker hopes hunting enthusiasts will soon be placing diseased meat on the tables of unsuspecting Wisconsinites. And it could be working. Republicans are now doing “at least some testing,” you know, going through the motions. And without in-person registration and testing, they’re thinking the problem will just go away:

Wisconsin is taking steps this year to continue at least some testing to keep tabs on a deadly disease that is spreading through the state’s deer herd, even though hunters no longer need to bring carcasses in for registration. But the number of tests is dwindling while prevalence of chronic wasting disease in Wisconsin grows and neighboring states fight to control it, the DNR has half the CWD testing budget it had last year and enough resources to analyze tissue from 4,000 carcasses, down from 7,500 last year, said Tami Ryan, the agency’s wildlife health section chief.

Scott Walker's anti-science movement within the DNR resulted from feedback by "unhappy" hunters who never got deer. Of course the disease might have killed a few of them...

The state is following wishes expressed by the public in dozens of forums since the disease was discovered near Mount Horeb in 2002 ... "then monitoring and now not monitoring but doing surveillance to give the information to hunters who want it,” Ryan said.

 And like everything else reeling out of control in Republican states, the best solution is no solution:

The warning signs are there... 

Last year the DNR stopped using the term “CWD management zone” for the southern Wisconsin region encompassing the worst infestations. “In the absence of having any management strategies or tools to deal with it, it is basically an endemic area,” Ryan said. “We know it’s there and it’s not likely to go away. That’s what endemic means: It’s here to stay.”

How does that sound hunters? Real hands on American know how at work. 

“It is going to spread further and further out and eventually have an impact on the number of deer in the state,” said George Meyer, a former DNR secretary “What is really troubling to me is that the biologists in the department know this is the case but they are not allowed to talk about it and not allowed to bring forth proactive measures to deal with it.”

Read the following and weep sports men and women, this is how Republicans manage a state's tourism and sporting economy:

Czar James Kroll

CWD prevalence in the Wisconsin has doubled since the state became less aggressive in 2007, while in Illinois, where officials continued to reduce the herd in diseased areas, there has been no increase.

The agency will solicit samples at only two locations in southern Wisconsin ... down from between 15 and 20 locations in recent years ... Plans also call for staff members to collect samples from about 10 venison processors ... Current budgeting is in line with the simpler and more passive stance recommended by James Kroll, a Texas wildlife biologist chosen by Gov. Scott Walker in 2011 to find ways the state could mollify hunters who blamed the DNR when they didn’t bag a deer. 

The number of samples testing positive for CWD ballooned from 219 in 2010 to 331 last year even though fewer samples are being analyzed. Near the boundary between Dane and Iowa counties the prevalence of CWD in male deer has increased to over 25 percent from about 9 percent in 2002, the DNR estimates.

Vos' Revenge on Democrat's recusal on Campaign Finance vote?

Revenge and raw bully power now the overriding rule in Walker's Wisconsin. An empty threat maybe?



Democrats make their move...?

Sheriff Clarke thinks GOP should politicize Terrorist Attack in France to win White House.

The right wing freak out over the terrorist attacks in France was scary. Is it a red flag when gun toting "responsible law abiding" patriots reach for their semi-automatic security blanket in a panic?

Triggered the conservative Fear Center: My conservative friend in Milwaukee called last night, sounding very angry, and then hung up on me after blaming liberals and Obama for not taking ISIS seriously. I'm assuming French citizens, armed to the teeth, could've somehow stopped lunatics with bombs wrapped around their chest.

Hypocrite Opportunists: After an endless flurry of conservative fear mongering tweets, one stood out as the most hypocritical, from phony "Democrat" Sheriff David Clarke. Often critical of anyone supposedly exploiting shooting rampages with politically motivated calls for tougher gun laws, Clarke wasn't afraid to make his point ghoulishly political:

Journal Sentinel's Dan Bice had this reminder:

Other tweeters noticed too....

Check out Political Heat's story.

DNR can't do anything about the effects of High Capacity Wells on our Water Supply.

Water is now there for the large dairy farms to take, regardless of what it might mean to anyone else, now or in the future. "The days of regulating by fiat are over," said WMC's Scott Manley. Yes, we're getting the feeling...a sinking one, that he may be right:

WPR: Judge Rules DNR Has No Authority To Monitor High Capacity Well: Two Wells Will Pump 500 Gallons Per Minute For Large Dairy Farm. A judge in Outagamie County has ruled the state Department of Natural Resources doesn't have the authority to monitor high-capacity wells at a large dairy in central Wisconsin. The New Chester Dairy plans to install two high-capacity wells that will each pump 500 gallons a minute to provide water for more than 8,600 cows. The judge ruled the DNR can't require a dairy to measure how that much pumping would affect ground water.

Scott Manley, of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, calls the ruling a victory for employers and an endorsement of the current Legislature's efforts to roll back regulations that burden businesses. WMC fielded amicus briefs in support the suit brought by New Chester Dairy challenging the DNR's authority to require the monitoring wells. Manley said the ruling is a sign that "the days of (government agencies) regulating by fiat are over."

Sen. Duey Stroebel's Takeover of Local School Referendum a defunding Con!

Meddling where no idiot ideologue should meddle, Sen. Duey Stroebel is forging ahead with his big government takeover of local referendums. Here's what he wants to see happen:

A Republican bill in the State Senate would require school boards to hold referendums during traditional fall and spring elections. It would also prevent school boards from going back to voters for two years following a referendum’s rejection. Senator Duey Stroebel says his proposal protects taxpayers and restores integrity in the referendum process.

But he's also play tricks on parents and school districts, who will fall victim to his little con...and there won't be a thing they can do about it. Urban Milwaukee:

Bill Forces 3-Year Wait for School Referendums: Fine print shows schools whose funding referendums fail must wait 3 years to relaunch ... significantly longer than the minimum two-year wait specified in the bill.

Currently, school districts have significant flexibility in when they ask voters to approve new resources. Some lawmakers are seeking to reduce that flexibility, by requiring districts to wait at least 730 days – two years – after an unsuccessful referendum to put another referendum before voters.

The combination ... could be forced to wait as long as three years after an unsuccessful referendum to attempt another. For example, a school district that held an unsuccessful referendum in 2015 would be required to wait until 2018 to hold another one if the restrictions had been in place. That’s because only 729 days pass between the April 2015 election and the April 2017 election – just shy of the 730 day requirement – and there is no fall election in 2017, pushing the next potential referendum election into 2018.

Hate America Crowd of GOP candidates say it’s “beaten,” in “economic downturn,” “entrepreneurship is crushed,” “nothing that we do now to win,” “wages are too high.”

Republicans have always accused liberals of not liking America; whining about it and always trying to change it. But as you can see by the title, it's really a bad case of Republican projection.

Voxdotcom compared the GOP presidential candidates view of America with reality, and it’s not even close:

Anyone watching the fourth Republican debate we would be excused for thinking America is mired in a deep recession — that the economy is shrinking, foreign competitors are outpacing us, more Americans are uninsured, and innovators can't bring their ideas to market.

"We are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily," sighed Donald Trump. "There is nothing that we do now to win." Ted Cruz said. "How do we bring back economic growth?" "We have to take our government back," said Carly Fiorina, "because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code" and "Obamacare isn’t helping anyone." "What we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn," said Marco Rubio. "We are living through a massive economic transformation." Ben Carson said, "Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job who are looking for one," he said, "and that’s because of those high wages."

They would be surprised to find that unemployment is at 5 percent, America's recovery from the financial crisis has outpaced that of other developed nations, the percentage of uninsured Americans has been plummeting even as Obamacare has cost less than expected, and there's so much money flowing into new ideas and firms in the tech industry that observers are worried about a second tech bubble.  

Republicans still can’t offer a definitive plan that would make the numbers work. If anything (see the graph) they're promising to make things a whole lot worse. But that's probably just another way to justify even bigger cuts:

Republicans are increasingly focused on economic problems they don't really know how to solve, and don't have much credibility to say they will solve.

Republicans have entered into a disastrous arms race of ever more expensive tax plans that they have no way to pay for. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget released this graphic, which is based on the often optimistic estimates of the conservative Tax Foundation but still gives you a sense of how much these plans might cost:

Iowa Oscar Mayer deal takes corporate welfare to a new level!

It was part of Scott Walker's “Open for Business” policy; take neighboring states businesses away with taxpayer supported handouts and tax cuts.

But corporate giveaways like this just went off the Richter scale with the relocation of Oscar Mayer to Iowa, and the Des Moines Register noticed, with the following scathing opinion. Make no mistake, this is a Republican policy spurred on by special interests and irresponsible tax cuts. WSJ:

If you needed another sign that Iowa’s economic development incentives are out of whack, get a load of this baloney. Kraft Heinz is closing the world’s largest bologna plant, which employs about 1,400 workers at the Oscar Mayer works in Davenport, Iowa. The company plans to build a $200 million, state-of-the-art plant that will need just 475 workers.

In return, the company could get $20.75 million in state and local assistance. That works out to nearly $43,700 for every job Kraft Heinz agrees to keep. (About 200 of the jobs pay less than $37,000 a year, according to the state’s contract with the company.)

The deal represents a new low in the out-of-control race to keep or attract employers.

Incentives were once solely used to reward companies that actually created jobs. But then the state gave aid to companies for “retaining jobs,” such as investing in new equipment for their factories, even if no jobs were added. Now the state is giving Kraft Heinz $4.75 million, and the result is a net loss of 900 jobs. But Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority, declared victory and argued that without the incentives, Iowa would have lost everything.

Iowa also awarded Kraft Heinz $750,000 in research and development tax credits. For what? To build a better bologna? This company produces such nutritionally rich “food” as ketchup, Lunchables, Velveeta and Jell-O. Or will the R&D investment go toward increased automation to reduce the number of processing jobs?

Our congressional delegation can work together to end the national bidding wars. We can ask presidential candidates their plan to stop the madness.

We can stop feeling helpless, as Davenport Mayor Bill Gluba sounded on Thursday as his city considered a $16 million incentive package: “It’s a sad commentary on modern-day capitalism that you have to give up property tax money, which is used to fund our schools, for jobs. But if you don’t do it, we don’t have the jobs to pay our taxes.”

A winner of a deal? More like a wiener.

After Democrats gave up on gas tax, vote to borrow transportation funding, Republicans now back tax and argue against borrowing.

Well, how about that, now that the Democrats went along with the lunacy of borrowing even more money for transportation funding, Republicans have decided to steal away their call to increase the gas tax. Checkmate.

While Republicans are willing to shut down the country to pass their austere agenda, Democrats are just trying to "get together," getting another black eye from their abusive political partner. Even deep red Republican states are raising gas taxes. But no, our spineless Democratic Party folded their tents, letting Republican state senators take the principled stand against borrowing, even backing a tax increase.

By actually siding with Scott Walker on borrowing, Democrats took the “outrage” out of the five-year-old road funding disaster. Seriously, when you don't even have a westbound exit for interstate traffic at the zoo interchange to Madison or Minneapolis, you've got a major league problem.

And yet, the Democrats didn't have enough fight left in them: 

Sen. Darling

WSJ: Republican leaders of the Legislature’s budget panel, after green-lighting borrowing to fund highway projects the next two years, say they’re serious about finding a long-term funding fix for roads in the next state budget.

“We can’t kick the can down the road any longer,” said Sen. Alberta Darling, co-chairwoman of the committee. “I know we’ve said that before – but we can’t.” Darling and the committee’s co-chairman, Rep. John Nygren, said lawmakers must consider a controversial fix: increasing the state’s 30.9-cent-per-gallon gas tax. “Many people look at a gas tax as a user fee. I think we should have all the options on the table,” said Darling, R-River Hills.

“We might need to revisit where ours is at,” Nygren said, noting that neighboring states Michigan and Iowa recently increased their gas tax rate. Darling and fellow Senate Republicans on the budget panel voted against the additional borrowing last week, saying it’s irresponsible to put more road projects on the state’s credit card.

 Yet Democrats don't have a strong hand to play here?

A recent U.S. Department of Transportation report found 71 percent of Wisconsin’s roads are in poor or mediocre condition — the third-largest percentage of any state. A spate of major highway expansion projects, including part of Verona Road in the Madison area and Interstate 39/90 from the Madison area to Illinois, have faced delays (2 additional years).

Another odd nonsensical position: With all the tax and spending cuts over the last 5 years, how can this Walker position make any sense?

Walker has said he won’t increase gas taxes or registration fees without a corresponding decrease in other taxes and fees — a stance that his spokeswoman, Laurel Patrick, reiterated this week.

Trump, Carson, Fiorina, and Christie would describe the Civil Rights movement today as “disgusting…infantile behavior…we’re being a little too tolerant…much further toward anarchy…political correctness!”

The idea is stunning. Did we just see the GOP presidential candidates inject themselves into a local campus’ problem with racism?

Yes, in the most bizarre way too. Here’s what happened:

The two frontrunners for the Republican presidential nomination criticized protests at the University of Missouri Thursday, arguing that the university administrators who resigned in the wake of racially-charged incidents may have set a harmful precedent by acquiescing to students' demands.

"I think it's disgusting," Donald Trump said in an interview on Fox Business Network. "I think the two people that resigned are weak, ineffective people. I think that when they resigned, they set something in motion that's gonna be a disaster for the next long period of time."

Republican candidate Ben Carson also said Thursday that students at the school were giving in to "infantile behavior. We're being a little bit too tolerant, I guess you might say, accepting infantile behavior. I don't care which side it comes from. To say that I have the right to violate your civil rights because you're offending me is un-American," he said on FOX News' The Kelly File. "The officials at these places must recognize that and have the moral courage to stand up it. Because if they don't, it will grow, it will exacerbate the situation and we will move much further toward anarchy than anybody can imagine, and much more quickly," he added.

Fellow Republican Carly Fiorina echoed concerns about "political correctness" on college campuses, telling reporters Thursday evening that the phenomenon is "choking candid conversations in this nation. One of the things you see going on, on so many college campuses now is kids are taught, you know, if anything offends their sensibilities that they should stand up and say, 'oh don't talk to me that about that.'" she said.

Speaking in Iowa, New Jersey Republican Chris Christie blamed the unrest on an atmosphere of "lawlessness" fostered by the president. "When people think justice is not applied evenly and fairly, they take matters into their own hands," he said during an appearance in Iowa.Democratic presidential candidates have been generally supportive of the protesters, emphasizing the students' fight to address the racially-charged incidents that originally prompted the tensions in Missouri and at other institutions nationwide.

Bernie Sanders said in a tweet that "it's time to address structural racism on college campuses."

Media Matters put it this way:

Only on Fox News are armed militia members protesting federal law "patriotic," while university students and faculty speaking out against racism are labeled as anarchists.

But that's not all, as you'll see in this story from Rachel Maddow about a Trump crowd reaction to another protester:

Johari Osayi Idusuyi, who received internet acclaim when she was seen on camera reading Claudia Rankine's “Citizen: An American Lyric,” a book of poetry about race, at a Donald Trump rally, talks with Rachel Maddow about what happened in the seats...

Republicans squeeze Snowmobile Trail fees out of Wisconsinites now, just like out-of-staters.

Snowmobilers are going to be paying a hefty price for their fun little sport this year, thanks to a new "fee" passed by Republicans.

Fees come out of the same pocket as taxes, but sound better to conservatives, and have the benefit of maintaining a political pledge made to an out-of-state special interest group by Republican legislators. Everybody wins.

Oh and it makes us look better on the chart of high tax states, moving us down a few notches as we shift from taxes to fees.

Snowmobile registration is now $30 for 3 years, up from 2 years. But Wisconsin residents for the first time have to pay a trail fee of $30. In the end, snowmobilers will be spending an extra $75 over three years...where there once was no fee. Out-of-state snowmobilers will be tapped for $50.

This is all part of the new user fee structure in the state, where residents don't share in what Wisconsin offers anymore. As Wisconsinites, we no longer have skin in the game when it comes to our parks and trails, no pride of ownership. And isn't it fun not being responsible? That's what the Republican Party is all about.

Republicans are offering a discount if you belong to the states snowmobile lobby though, which isn't coercive in the least.

Here's WKOW's report:

GOP War on Workers, Trump: "Wages too high!!!" Rubio: "You're going to make people more expensive than machines!!!"

The GOP opened their debate in Milwaukee with the most revealing and truthful answers yet about their disdain for the middle class and the value they put on labor.

The Nation's John Nichols laid it out clearly today. Here's the video:

Moderator Neil Cavuto: "As we gather tonight—just outside, and across the country—picketers are gathering as well. They’re demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. As the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters’ cause, since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year?”

Trump responded: “I can’t be, Neil. [Taxes] too high, wages too high, we’re not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave [the $7.25-an-hour minimum wage] the way it is."

Carson also made up another mind bending theory:

"It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, or are looking for one. You know that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages that comes down."

So if we just had low wage jobs in the inner city, black teenagers would have jobs? Better paying jobs will only make things worse?

The Ugly Truth Is Out: Wow, wages are too high in the U.S. for this country to compete globally. This could be a news flash for tea party voters...or they just didn't notice. I think the latter. 

Nichols also pointed out another calmly delivered pathological lie from Ben Carson:

Dr. Ben Carson trotted out the favorite fantasy that raising wages leads to unemployment. “Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases,” Carson claimed.

But...

“That isn’t true,” responded Politico’s fact-check site. “Multiple studies have observed instances in which the minimum wage rose and unemployment did not rise.”

Welders...again? Marco Rubio sang the same sweet Scott Walker song about the dream job of welding. Supposedly the nations turning out too many philosophers, more than corporate American needs right now. It's welding, welding, welding!!! Rubio and Walker's preoccupation with welders got the Yglesias treatment:

Interesting note about a welders income and that of a philosophers, from WaPo:

PayScale, a firm that analyzes compensation, put the median mid-career income for philosophy majors at $81,200 in 2008, with welders making $26,002 to $63,698. And Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce said in a 2014 analysis that median incomes were $68,000 for people with an advanced degree in philosophy or religious studies

Minimum Wages are a Disaster in the 21st Century? Yes, that's what Marco Rubio said when he was asked:

Rubio: “If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn’t. In the 21st century, it’s a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you’re going to make people more expensive than a machine. That means all the automation that is replacing jobs and people right now will be accelerated.”

Did he just object to people having more value than a machine? Folks, we have reached that turning point. Can “Terminator: Revenge of Rubio” be next?

Perhaps the Republicans need to brush up on their party's origins:

In a forum that Lincoln would not have recognized as a debate, they rejected the mantle of the radical founders of a party formed to fight the reactionaries who Lincoln warned would “place capital on an equal footing with, if not above, labor, in the structure of government.” 

“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital,” Abraham Lincoln told the Congress in 1861. “Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”

GOP Debate Crowd hates protecting Americans from Wall Street Banks.

Nothing says "moral bankruptcy" more than the Republican audiences booing over the idea we would protect retirees life savings from another Wall Street Banks collapse. Have we become so cold and callous we now value "philosophical concerns" - small government and deregulation - that we're okay with plunging Americans into poverty due to greed and irresponsible Wall St. banks?

Apparently yes. Business Insider took a look at pollster Frank Luntz's crowd reaction to Gov. John Kasich's defense of saving families from losing it all, especially for something as bizarre as "philosophical concerns:"

Kasich aggressively defended his position that he would bail out banks in the event of a potential financial collapse. Kasich was interrupted by a booing audience after he criticized Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) …

“When a bank is going under and people are going to lose their life savings, you don’t say you have to deal with philosophical concerns. Philosophy doesn’t work when you run something.”

It wasn't just audience members who didn't seem to appreciate Kasich's message: Veteran pollster Frank Luntz said that Kasich registered the "lowest score ever" in his focus group.

Truly jaw dropping. But Cruz and Carly Fiorina seemed to care more about the closing of smaller banks than recovering the public's money. Just a reminder; those smaller banks closed because of their own risky loans; and because Americans made a consumer decision to go elsewhere, like their local credit unions. The banks burned us and the public acted accordingly.

Challenging Racism is Racist say Race Card Republicans.

Tea party conservatives hate fighting racism. It's so divisive.

In a perfect example of pretzel logic, with a dash of white supremacy thrown in, I thought these political hit pieces stood out. Example one.

Challenging racism is racist: Check out how the Daily Caller reporter below blatantly turned "speech" into "policing thought:”

Is America Starting to Target Thought Crime? Last week, Michelle Obama made headlines when she exhorted graduating high schoolers in a commencement address to monitor their families for politically incorrect thoughts and behaviors. "First lady Michelle Obama is encouraging students to monitor their older relatives, friends and co-workers for any racially insensitive comments they might make, and to challenge those comments whenever they’re made."

“Comments,” not "thoughts," right? But conservatives don't see a difference…

Oh, if only we could control what other people think and feel. But until that magic day arrives, all we can do is set people against each other based on race, under the guise of “fighting racism.”

Don’t fight racism. It only divides people.

Scott Walker is a Racist: Let's just be honest about Walker and not sugar coat this or give him the benefit of the doubt. You don't try to leave racism alone or act like it doesn't exist if you're not okay with it. As I blogged back in September:

Walker is fixated on banning dissent, which he sees as a divisive “tone,” and wants to replace it with positive messaging and happy talk. In other words, ignore the problem.

“Instead of focusing on what divides us, we need to concentrate on what brings us together. We need to change the tone in America from chants and rallies that fixate on racial division." -Scott Walker

We can only unite the nation if we don't make racists angry. 

Michelle Obama, not like Laura Bush…who’s white.

Michelle Obama just disgraced America once again by complaining about unnecessary issues as the First Lady. Laura Bush would’ve never done this!

This is racist reporting. And our great defenders of the Constitution and free speech don’t like some free speech, especially a black person denouncing racism:

Look who's now calling people racist.

Michelle recently spoke at the Tuskegee University graduation in Alabama and instead of focusing on an inspirational message, she took the time to vent out her frustrations as the First Lady. She took the trendy route of racism as the root of the criticism she received during Obama’s 2008 campaign.

“As the first African-American First Lady, I was also the focus of another set of questions and speculations; conversations sometimes rooted in the fears and misperceptions of others. Was I too loud, or too angry, or too emasculating? Or was I too soft, too much of a mom, not enough of a career woman?”

Fighting racism is racism; leave us racists alone?

With all of the tragedies our society is facing today, you would think our First Lady wouldn’t perpetuate racism- especially not when speaking at a graduation to individuals full of so much potential. Look at the crowd listening to her—it is predominantly young, impressionable African Americans who are about to embark on their new careers and contributions to society.

When will black people like Michelle Obama be grateful and know their place:

Our First Lady should appreciate the honorable role she has received and not constantly complain about petty issues or create a stronger divide in America racially. If you’re tired of Michelle’s unnecessary complaints, share this article!

"War on Christmas" Crowd Demand, Commercialize Christmas or else!!!

If retailers don't find a way to turn consumer products into the blessings of Christmas, the American Family Association wants to vilify and run them out of the marketplace.

If you thought the petting bickering by Republican candidates for president was ridiculous, see what conservative voters are spending their days fuming over. It isn't Scott Walker, government secrecy, money from billionaires, corruption, cronyism, jobs or health care, that's for sure:

American Family Association: Criteria - AFA reviewed up to four areas to determine if a company was "Christmas-friendly" in their advertising: print media (newspaper inserts), broadcast media (radio/television), website and/or personal visits to the store. If a company's ad has references to items associated with Christmas (trees, wreaths, lights, etc.), it was considered as an attempt to reach "Christmas" shoppers.

If a company has items associated with Christmas, but did not use the word "Christmas," then the company is considered as censoring "Christmas."

What seems like an incredible joke is an actual conservative Republican tea party distraction from the real issues their party refuses to solve. 

Isn't it time we all commercialize and exploit the spirit of Christmas gift giving with a little crass intimidation? 

Obama's Recovery Act's Energy Program saved $5.2 billion, and created 62,902 jobs.

If American wants to lead, why not in clean energy, it's a no brainer. And yet, the facts below won't mean anything to anti-environment, anti-government, anti-American, anti-job creating freeloaders who are happy with fossil fuels. Republicans are still saying the Recovery Act was a failure:

This document presents findings from an evaluation of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program ...

 from 2009 to 2015. It was funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA or Recovery Act) and was a one-time program.

Labor impacts ... EECBG produced a net total job gain of 62,902 job years for the BPAs studied. 

EECBG saved $1.7 billion in social costs of carbon due to energy savings alone and an additional $62 million in social costs avoided from displaced energy as a result of renewable generation. 

Bill Savings and cost-effectiveness ... produced $5.2 billion of total cumulative savings on energy bills, 70% of which were realized by residential consumers, 29% in the public institutional sector, and 1% the commercial and industrial sectors. 

Here are some graphs: