ObamaCare proves, Insurers can't make money when they have to compete.

The fantasy that health care will ever become competitive under the ACA or a Republican market based plan is proving to be complete nonsense. Insurance companies are proving that point over and over again, inadvertently admitting they have no desire to compete under any scenario.

Irony: When Republicans tell us how horrible ObamaCare is, they're also admitting to the failure of the insurance based system. It didn't work before ObamaCare, it's hardly working now. And the GOP's market based plans assume insurers will stand by letting Americans buy cheaper policies, which is just plain crazy. They've got share holders to answer to.

In another article about the impending collapse of the ACA's marketplaces, the focus is always on insurer profits, and not on health care. Notice that? The Hill:

Insurance companies can't make money competing, it's that simple:   

Insurers warn losses from ObamaCare are unsustainable: Insurers say they are losing money on their ObamaCare plans at a rapid rate, and some have begun to talk about dropping out of the marketplaces altogether ... some observers have not ruled out the possibility of a collapse of the market, known in insurance parlance as a “death spiral.”

Pricing is a problem for insurers when people can easily shop and compare plans in one place. That won't be possible buying insurance across state lines or through advertising from junk mail. 

The line that says it all? 

Larry Levitt, an expert on the health law at the Kaiser Family Foundation said, “There are enough people enrolled at this point that the market is sustainable. The premiums were just too low.”

Yea, thanks to competition! Am I crying alligator tears for prices that are too low? Are you kidding?

Another risk, should regulators reject large premium increases, is that insurers could simply decide to cut their losses and drop off the exchanges altogether.

Like my conservative friend in Milwaukee said, single payer is trouble free and easy, a lesson he learned after being on BadgerCare for awhile.

Scott Walker serving up the Deer Hunter treat: Diseased Venison

Long before Scott Walker destroyed and basically dismantled the DNR, he went out and hired a game farm advocate to break Wisconsin away from our traditional deer management practices to hunter driven policy based on demand and pet peeves. 

This can be a serious problem when you're trying to control the spread of chronic wasting disease. Anyone want to eat venison contaminated with it?

I've been blogging about this for some time (search CWD in the upper left corner). We're now faced with a nearly out-of-control problem.WPR:

More Wisconsin deer are testing positive for chronic wasting disease ... more than 9

percent, according to state figures. But the number of deer being tested is down from years past ... 3,138 deer, down from 5,465 in 2014. The situation has some lawmakers arguing that the governor and DNR should be more active in fighting the problem.

DNR Wildlife Management Bureau director Tom Hauge (said) hunters didn’t have to visit a deer registration station last hunting season ... (do to) electronic registration system ... funding for testing has also decreased since the disease was first discovered in 2002.

Would you Eat CWD infected Deer? Sure, why not...

A team of researchers from universities in the United States and France say they’ve found new evidence that it’s possible for humans to contract the agents that cause CWD. They injected mice, whose DNA had been modified to resemble humans, with mutated proteins called prions. Testing showed two out of 20 mice tested positive for prion infection.

But former Wisconsin Natural Resources Board Member Dave Clausen advised the results are not cause for alarm. "This study does not mean that human infection is a foregone conclusion," Clausen said. "All it does is demonstrate that it is possible."

That's all it does. Feel better?

Democratic criticism Politics, or actual Criticism? And while Democrats want to deal with this and other problems, they're not being taken seriously, because well they're...the "left." Scott Walker said as much, when he lied about the states commitment, and redefined the Democrats honest fact based criticism as gotcha politics:

Walker said science will drive future deer management decisions – not politics. Walker said the state is committed to a healthy deer herd: "We’re ready and willing to hear their recommendations. They made a call to be more aggressive, but they didn’t give us specifics. If they’ve got specific ideas, we’d be more than happy to work with them or anybody else."

No specifics? Oh god where do we start unpacking that load of BS? First let's see what Walker has done "specifically," besides propose leaving road kill to rot on the side our state highways:

1. The DNR has half the CWD testing budget it had last year.

2. Last year the DNR stopped using the term “CWD management zone” … “In the absence of having any management strategies or tools to deal with it, it is basically an endemic area … endemic means: It’s here to stay.”

3. George Meyer, a former DNR secretary said, “It is going to spread further and further out and eventually ... biologists in the department ... are not allowed to talk about it and not allowed to bring forth proactive measures to deal with it.”

4. The agency will solicit samples at only two locations in southern Wisconsin ... down from between 15 and 20 locations in recent years.

5. Janesville Gazette Xtra: Wisconsin deer farmers can opt out of the state's chronic wasting disease monitoring program without upgrading their fences under an emergency rule the state DNR adopted Wednesday despite concerns the move could spread the disease ... spare deer farmers extra expenses. The DNR recorded 29 escapes this year (2015) alone ... "The DNR fencing requirement is the last safeguard to prevent further CWD contamination of the wild deer herd," Meyer said.

6. Walker says Gov. Jim Doyle and the DNR have engaged in "political games" and "put bureaucrats in Madison ahead of hunters of the state."

7. Trustee Dr. James Kroll said people who call for more public hunting opportunities are “pining for socialism.” He further states, “(Public) Game management is the last bastion of communism.”

8. AP: A state board voted to limit a new law ... The Sporting Heritage Bill ... expanding hunting rights in state parks ... after Wisconsin residents said they wouldn't feel safe ... DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp said the board should remember that lawmakers passed the law with the intent that hunting be expanded. “Ours is not to debate what the elected officials decided,” she said.

As for the Democrats offering specific ways to deal with CWD? Well, other state's are doing just the opposite of Scott Walker:

1. DNR Is Unlikely To Act As Deer Herd Faces Possible Starvation: Minnesota Starts Emergency Deer Feeding Fund, But Wisconsin's DNR Can't Follow Suit Without Legislative Approval.

2. In Illinois, where officials continued to reduce the herd in diseased areas, there has been no increase, University of Illinois researchers found in a 2014 study. The prevalence of the disease is much lower in northern Illinois, where targeted sharpshooting has been used by Illinois wildlife officials since 2002. The prevalence rate is under 1% in Illinois' 12-county CWD area. In 2007, the DNR defended the use of sharpshooters as an "efficient and effective tool in reducing deer numbers and removing diseased deer," because the shooters were killing more antlerless deer than hunters were.

Ted Cruz' not so secret Right Wing Socialist agenda.

UPDATE- 4/16/16: Good news, Ted Cruz promises not to ban dildos if he becomes president, how silly! The Hill:

WABC radio host Curtis Sliwa asked Cruz if he would ban “the sale of sexual toys, dildos, or anything that sexually stimulates you,” after Mother Jones revealed that Cruz defended a ban on the sale of dildos as Texas’s solicitor general.

“Look, of course not, it’s a ridiculous question, and of course not,” Cruz added.

The headline in Mother Jones was enough to get my attention:

The Time Ted Cruz Defended a Ban on Dildos: His legal team argued there was no right "to stimulate one's genitals."

David Corn chronicles the tortured logic of right wing social engineering. Here's a condensed version:

In one chapter of his campaign book, A Time for Truth, Sen. Ted Cruz proudly chronicles his days as a Texas solicitor general … Yet one case he does not mention is the time he helped defend a law criminalizing the sale of dildos.

In 2004, companies that owned Austin stores selling sex toys and a retail distributor of such products challenged a Texas law outlawing the sale and promotion of supposedly obscene devices. Under the law, a person could go to jail for up to two years. But a federal judge … ruled that selling sex toys was not protected by the Constitution. The plaintiffs appealed.

Cruz's solicitor general office had the task of preserving the law. In 2007, Cruz's legal team, working on behalf of then-Attorney General Greg Abbott (who now is the governor), noted, "The Texas Penal Code prohibits the advertisement and sale of dildos, artificial vaginas, and other obscene devices" … Cruz's legal team asserted "any alleged right associated with obscene devices" is not "deeply rooted in the Nation's history and traditions." 

The brief insisted that Texas, in order to protect "public morals," had "police-power interests" in "discouraging prurient interests in sexual gratification, combating the commercial sale of sex, and protecting minors." There was a "government" interest, it maintained, in "discouraging…autonomous sex." The brief compared the use of sex toys to "hiring a willing prostitute or engaging in consensual bigamy," and it equated advertising these products with the commercial promotion of prostitution.

My favorite line?

Cruz's office declared, "There is no substantive-due-process right to stimulate one's genitals for non-medical purposes unrelated to procreation or outside of an interpersonal relationship."

In a 2-1 decision issued in February 2008, the court of appeals told Cruz's office to take a hike. No, government officials could not claim as part of their job duties the obligation to reduce masturbation or nonprocreative sexual activity. And the two judges in the majority slapped aside the solicitor general's attempt to link dildos to prostitution: "The sale of a device that an individual may choose to use during intimate conduct with a partner in the home is not the 'sale of sex' (prostitution)."

“Whatever one might think or believe about the use of these devices, government interference with their personal and private use violates the Constitution."

But Abbott and Cruz wouldn't give up. Abbott and Cruz quickly filed a brief that argued "engaging in consensual adult incest or bigamy" ought to be legal because it could "enhance their sexual experiences." 

Walker not governing, Fails to solve Lincoln Hills misconduct; poor treatment, racial slurs, inappropriate use of restraints, slow medical care...

What happens when you put people in charge of managing government who hate managing government? You get the kind of negligence and incompetence we’re seeing from the Walker administration.

If you didn’t already know what was really happening, then this headline today might be deceiving:

"State Officials Reaffirm That Protecting Youth At LincolnHills Is A Top Priority" … amid news that placement of troubled youth from Milwaukee at the northern Wisconsin site hasn't slowed much.

AG Brad Schimel, the bumbling Scott Walker lackey who oddly promised total allegiance to him when he ran for office (see video below), lied about improvements at Lincoln Hills:

Doh!

"Schimel said concerned relatives should know the state's priority is youth safety. We have no higher responsibility as government that to take care of juveniles who are in our care."

But a little over a week ago the Journal Sentinel reported the following story that got little attention:

"Chief judge says poor treatment of youths continues at Lincoln Hills" … despite staffing and policy changes at the facility amid an ongoing federal probe of alleged abuses.

Walker, who's off flying around the country right now, apparently doesn't have time to be troubled by the less desirable youths of our state. Little has changed, as witnessed by health officials: 

Members of the county's mental health professional team interviewed Milwaukee County youths in the facility. White says the team either witnessed or received reports from youths about staff's use of racial slurs to youth; lack of therapy provided to at least one youth who has repeatedly requested it; overuse of solitary confinement, particularly for youths with mental health issues; lack of timely medical attention; and inappropriate use of restraints.

Walker's changes at Lincoln Hills were more rhetorical than real:

Corrections officials said the department has not been able to substantiate any of the incidents in her letter. "If Chief Judge White can provide additional details regarding her allegations to the Department of Corrections, DOC will investigate fully," department spokesman Tristan D. Cook said in an email.

Department spokesperson Cook isn't trying to hard:

One county team member was interviewing a DOC staff member when a youth reported hearing another inmate potentially overdose on pills. The staffer indicated a supervisor would be notified. About 15 minutes after the county member finished the interview, she heard another youth call out about the same possible overdose. The county team member said it didn't appear any DOC staff responded to the incident. Other observers have reported slow responses from staff at the youth prison. 

Here's Brad Schimel's jaw dropping promise to actively and politically carry out Walker's agenda. His challenger, Susan Happ, sadly reminds us what a real grasp of the issues was like once upon a time in Wisconsin:

Christian predators lure Middleton High School minors with food at bizarre "Jesus Lunch."

The following story isn't much different than letting strangers hang out at schools offering minor students candy.

Next year I'll have two sons at Middleton High School, and I don't appreciate uncooperative predator adults who refuse to work with administrators, foisting their agenda using food to lure students off school grounds to indoctrinate them with a message I don't have any control over. These are minors for Gods sake!

While the school's principal gave a number of policy reasons the "Jesus lunches" should stop, one big one was left off the list; the school is my surrogate during the day for my minor children. Filling these young influential minds with whatever fringe religious message they concoct is not happening if I can help it.

Officials are trying to work with these lawsuit seeking zealots to find some way to make the Jesus lunches function under the watchful eye of the school district, which is insane. Instead, Middleton should make the park off limits, and ban students from hanging out there. I don't know who these "moms" are and why they decided to target kids, but they did that, and it's creepy to say the least.

Here's WKOW's  coverage of these Jesus freaks:

Their attorney Phillip Stamman (said) “the question here is not us being in opposition to the school, but rather that we have a right to be in Fireman's Park. Fireman's Park - a public park owned by the City of Middleton - remains accessible to everyone in the public for the purposes of assembly and free speech.

The five mothers who started Jesus Lunch declined an interview with 27 News. They have obtained permits to use the park from the city of Middleton and have hired an attorney to represent them as they move forward with plans to host more events, saying it's well within their First Amendment rights.

Just what we need, a Jesus carnival sideshow next to the school. 

Scott Walker's Rube Goldberg Voting System may just get more complicated...for all the right reasons this time.

Republicans don't like to make anything easy. Imagine how much extra time we'd all have if we didn't have to shop for health insurance every year. I'm also convinced Republicans want to make voting so hard or inconvenient that people will eventually just lose interest.

As the title suggests, there's a possible change coming to the voting process, and this time as Martha Stewart would say, "it's a good thing." I can't wait to see what Scott Walker and the Republican legislature will do next, since this puts them in a tough spot. If they don't go along with it right away...it just confirms what Rep. Glenn Grothman said was true. JS:

Wisconsin and other states have adopted voter ID laws more stringent than Indiana's. For instance, Indiana's law allows people who can't get IDs to sign affidavits at the polls instead of showing IDs. Wisconsin has no such provision — a point the appeals judges noted Tuesday.

"Indeed, one may understand plaintiffs as seeking for Wisconsin the sort of safety net that Indiana has had from the outset. Under Wisconsin's current law, people who do not have qualifying photo ID ... cannot vote, even if it is impossible for them to get such an ID. Plaintiffs want relief from that prohibition, not from the general application of (the voter ID law) to the millions of persons who have or readily can get qualifying photo ID. The right to vote is personal and is not defeated by the fact that 99% of other people can secure the necessary credentials easily."  

But the panel of appeals judges on Tuesday ... noted instances where government agencies have lost birth certificates in fires or where people have been told they can't get an ID without a Social Security card and they can't get a Social Security card without an ID. The three judges who issued Tuesday's ruling — Easterbrook, Diane Sykes and Michael Kanne — were all appointed by Republican presidents.

The almost laughable argument yet, came from Walker's AG lapdog Brad Schimel. Only a total incompetent screw-up would offer up this excuse, and I'm paraphrasing; a record number of people, mostly Republicans, turned out voter! So hey, what's the problem?  You can't make this stuff up:

Johnny Koremenos, a spokesman for Attorney General Brad Schimel, emphasized, "Given the overwhelming success of the DOT program, and the fact that our state's recent primary elections involved record turnouts, we are confident that we will prevail on the narrow issues that the court remanded on." Koremenos ... noted voters can get IDs for free from the state Department of Transportation.

Of course that has nothing to do with the problem, but it'll probably sufficiently fill the dead still air between the voters ears who are dying for another order.

Check out the Nation's story on one victim of voter ID:

Scott Walker cuts result in Skyrocketing College Costs, Longer Graduation Times, Increasing Student Debt. Thank you?

Republican cuts to the UW have done more to increase tuition than any "federal" student loan program, but that won't stop Scott Walker and his band of plundering pirates in the legislature from bullshitting their constituents. JS:

The first big-picture look at how state funding cuts have affected higher education in Wisconsin's public universities, while most other states have increased funding for higher education.

Busted: In real time, after Walker's $250 million cut, we now have proof. Keep in mind, Walker wanted to cut $300 million. The results are stunning, and will cost the parents and students of the UW a whole lot more money due to longer graduation times, which takes money out of the consumer based economy for years...oh and it's a job killer: 

Larger class sizes, fewer course offerings, cuts to academic advising, potentially increasing how long it takes to finish a degree, loss of student jobs on campus, inability to grow high-demand programs and outdated academic facilities not being maintained.

So did these stunning reality based cuts give Walker second thoughts, or at a reason to reexamine the states priorities? Are you kidding? After spending $8 million more just to keep instructors after Walker's budget cuts, what's behind all this complaining...

Spokeswoman Laurel Patrick responded that the UW System's total annual operating budget this year was the largest in state history. "In fact, the UW System recently passed a budget that spent nearly $100 million more than it did last year," Patrick said. "With a budget that spends that much, the UW should be able to fund its priorities."

And since it can't, a fact the governors office chooses to ignore, the UW might lose a few of its schools:

At UWM, officials report that larger class sizes and reductions in faculty could threaten the accreditation of four of its schools: Lubar School of Business, Peck School of the Arts, Helen Bader School of Social Welfare and School of Education.

How about one more year of college...?

Eight campuses, in addition to UW Colleges, said fewer academic advisers could mean more students taking longer to complete a degree ... at least five advisers below the minimum needed to serve students effectively, according to UW-Madison's budget cut summary.

...and jobs, Republicans love jobs don't they?

Fewer student jobs on campuses:UW-Madison reports it has drastically reduced student employment positions across campus. Human Resources cut more than 6,500 hours of student employment, while Research and Sponsored Programs cut about 6,300 hours of student employment.

...in the age of information technology jobs....

Less support for IT: UW-La Crosse reported significant reductions to its operating budget for information technology services. UW-Madison reported its Division of Information Technology reduced its array of services to students in 2015-'16. Labs are updated less frequently as a result of computer lab support reductions. Students now must pay for services elsewhere because a digital media lab closed.

 ...in the age of rising medical care staffing, engineering and business...

Inability to expand enrollments in areas of increased demand: UW-Madison reported it hasn't been able to expand enrollment in business, engineering and nursing because of budget cuts — programs that are high-demand and high-value.

And like our roads and bridges, Republicans want to foist the cost of updating the UW onto the backs of the next generation: 

Lack of state funding for facilities repair and maintenance: Campuses say it could mean having to redirect money away from education ... UWM has two failing buildings: Chemistry and Engineering. It also has underutilized and inaccessible buildings. For example, UWM can use only 340,000 of the 880,000 square feet available in the former Columbia St. Mary's Hospital complex purchased in 2010 because it hasn't received state funding to renovate it and bring it up to safety codes.

UW-Platteville reported faculty are attempting to teach industry standard biology in a 1977 facility that's unchanged except for a campus-funded project in 2010. And faculty are trying to teach cutting-edge mechanical and civil engineering in a 1966 facility, the university reported.

ObamaCare premiums increased 4%, because Americans shopped for a better deal on the Exchanges.

I’ve been reading massive amounts of misinformation, from the Wall Street Journal to the Business Insider, about ObamaCare's supposed huge premium increases. Every one of these articles falsely portrays insurers as having an important roll in our nations health care system, which they do not. They're even crying alligator tears over insurers dwindling profits. 

The ghoulish idea that business should make a profit on human pain and disease is at the heart of the Republican free market health care plan.

In an attempt to straighten out the facts once and for all, I found this accurate report from Huffington Post's health care reporter Jonathan Cohn. Here’s the shortened version:

If you follow the news or listen to the Republican presidential candidates, then you’ve probably heard that premiums for some Affordable Care Act plans went way up last year.

But now the Obama administration is saying that, for the vast majority of people buying coverage through healthcare.gov, premiums are only 4 percent higher than they were last year.

Approximately 9.7 million people got insurance through healthcare.gov this year. 

85 percent of healthcare.gov consumers got at least some assistance. They are the ones who, on average, are paying just 4 percent more for their insurance than they were last year. 

For that small portion of consumers not eligible for assistance, and paying full price, premiums this year went up by more — 8 percent, to be precise. 

But by historical standards, that’s hardly outrageous. In the years right before passage of the Affordable Care Act, the average annual increase for individual coverage was more than 10 percent, according to research by MIT economist Jonathan Gruber and the Commonwealth Fund.
 So why all the fuss about skyrocketing premiums now? One reason is that Obamacare critics don’t mention the law’s tax credits, which can discount the price of coverage by hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year. In addition, the numbers in the HHS report represent averages. They include some big premium hikes (which the law’s critics hype) as well as some reductions (which those critics largely ignore). 

But there’s another big reason: More than 40 percent of returning customers shopped around, dropped the plans they had in 2015, and decided to pick new ones for 2016.

You could argue, credibly, this is what competition is supposed to look like — with insurers vying for market share, consumers hunting for bargains, and the whole process putting pressure on the providers of medical care to lower their prices. In the old days, most people couldn’t shop for plans, because lack of standard benefits made it difficult to compare plans and insurers didn’t want to cover people with serious medical problems (Republicans want to go back to this-jp). But while some insurers have threatened to withdraw from Obamacare marketplaces, and one carrier, UnitedHealth, recently pulled out of Arkansas and Georgia, others remain committed to the program. They say they expect the market to stabilize once they develop a firmer sense of the kind of people buying insurance and the policies they prefer. In the meantime, if premiums keep rising, consumers will probably keep switching, seeking out lower prices from whatever insurers provide them.

Note: Imagine what would happen under the GOP's free market version of health care; will insurers be happy when Americans buying only their cheapest plans. That's what Republicans say will happen, "buying what you can afford." Insurers will quickly game the system and raise premiums on junk policies that will cover very little, jacking up co-pays and deductibles to unaffordable levels. They're already finding loopholes in the exchanges.

My conservative friend in Milwaukee called me about the movie The Big Short, and ironically told me about how the Wall Street banks gamed the system, never thinking the same could said about health insurers, big oil etc.. I'll bet he still thinks getting government regulation out of the way is the solution.

Boston Globe's Trump's America Satire ignored by outraged Conservative Critics.

NPR's On Point host Tom Ashbrook took an interesting look at what Donald Trump's America would look like, according to a recent Boston Globe editorial that used Trump's own words.

Personally, this should be done more often in the media, as a service to those who are easily blinded by their ideology. Yes, for Democratic and Republican candidates. The fact that this creative satire was roundly criticized by conservatives everywhere as deceptive and misleading, despite using Trump's own words and ideas, pretty much says it all:

It is not April 10, 2017, and the U.S. presidential election is still well in play. But that didn’t stop the Ideas section of the Boston Globe from imagining a future under President Donald Trump. Their scathing editorial and satirical front page mock up drew many eyes this weekend ... 

Kathleen Kingsbury, the deputy managing editor of the Boston Globe editorial page and editor of the paper’s Ideas Section, joined us ... “We did this an exercise in taking Donald Trump at his word,” Kingsbury said. “Frankly, his vision of America promises to be as appalling in real life as it does in black and white on the page. This is one way we are doing our jobs — we are commenting on the news through opinion to get people talking about what the future of America looks like with Donald Trump in the White House,” Kingsbury said.

Among the imagined future headlines? Mass deportations and broad public riots, a global trade war and even an Ambassador Kid Rock.

WISN News Director Herrera: "I will never...set foot in Dane County...liberal bastion...avoid giving money to the libs who have businesses there."

With never an original thought in their Borg-like heads, the Republican talk radio machine now wants to copy the growing business boycott of bigoted North Caroline, by boycotting Dane County. 

After right-to-work was struck down by an enemy of the state, a “liberal” judge, WISN Radio's news director Ken Herrera hatched the idea. Of course it goes without saying that conservative judges are almost always right. And if their not, they're purged from the system (see Kansas Supreme Court).

What's most appalling is that a radio station’s NEWS DIRECTOR is pushing this by making it public. Which begs the question; what else is Herrera choosing to spin, ignore or censor in the station’s coverage of news?

What is he directing WISN News to ignore or spin?

Outdoing his own authoritarian right wing talk show bloviators, Herrera just opened a whole new can of worms; are the talkers just a distraction from the more silent subversive nationwide movement toward an extensive network that's dedicated to right wing propaganda…via our public airwaves?

It’s interesting to note the hypocrisy; Republicans have always opposed boycotts, going so far as to protect campaign donor names and employee contributors to ward off a possible public backlash effecting their businesses bottom line. Another “principled” flip flop?  

Personally, it's hard to imagine a more outlandish statement coming from someone the public assumes is unbiased and fair. Nice catch by the Devil’s Advocates, who wrote:

Dom: "I wonder if his opinions on 'libs' and Dane County impact decisions on what 'news and information' he is employed to direct."

Here's Herrera's Facebook comment, where he even hates businesses owned by liberal job creators:

Ken Herrera: "No surprise here...it's a Dane county judge...I am happy to say that in the 12 years I have lived in Wisconsin...I have never...and will never, set foot in Dane county. I don't want to spend even one penny in that liberal bastion. It's sort of a personal thing…but my wife and I agree we will never enter Dane county as long as we live. We have actually taken routes WAY around the county to avoid giving money to the libs who have businesses there...this has been my personal boycott for as long as I've lived in WIsconsin...and I'm quite sure I will never, ever spend a penny in Dane county...because I will never, ever visit... I wish every conservative in the state would adopt the same pledge... avoid this county... when you spend money there you are only helping the liberal cause..."

Herrera went on to highlight his stations influence on public perception, especially when it came to the raw pro-Ted Cruz propaganda, like it was a bragging point:

Herrera's Facebook supporters like Andy Smith are proving the slide into right wing authoritarianism is on the fast track:

Andy Smith Slap! Frap! Zowie! Oooof! Bam! GOOD JOB, KEN. I listened to you on WBBM, I had the pleasure and honor of working with you at both WTMJ and then-Clear Channel. You label what's news and what's comment . . . they merely resent that everyone doesn't listen to CLEARLY Left Wing "public" (translate: government radio), which NEVER distinguishes "news" from Leftist agenda setting and active Leftist agenda advancement.

After that twisted rant, the liberal enemies of the state reacted with humor and criticism:

Andy Smith's response made it clear humor, speech and dissent will not tolerated, in another bad case of projection:

“Amazing (well, actually not a surprise) to read the red-hot hatred firing from the typing fingers of all those, tolerant, accepting, kind, thoughtful Leftists in Dane County who CANNOT STAND anyone whose attitudes, opinions and behavior are not in LOCK STEP with their own. It's disgraceful, but as we've learned in so many ways, it is also predictable and consistent. So filled with vile hatred!”

UPDATE: WISN News Director Ken Herrera is now officially a victim, thanks to his own right wing commentary. Herrera's attempted to save his credibility ranks right up there with "former" bigot and political partisan Justice Rebecca Bradley, insisting his personal beliefs don't influence his job:

Ken Herrera No... it's a personal boycott...to answer your question about whether my personal beliefs interfere with my news judgment.. The left is always holding boycotts that are highly publicized.. mine has been, until now, a quiet, personal one that has nothing to do with my selection of news stories to run...or the "slant" of any story. I think any listener to WISN will know I run stories that are pro-left.. and anti-left just as much as those that are pro-right or anti-right. I just personally don't agree with much of what the left holds out, so I choose, as an individual, not to contribute my money to the left. That's just a personal decision and has nothing to do with my profession... one I have followed for almost 40 years now and I believe you won't find anyone in the country who would question my ethics as a journalist. Except, of course, you... based on a simple Facebook post. But I'm not surprised because that's usually the way folks on the left operate... 

Constitutional Conservative Scott Walker's Right-to-Work Law Unconstitutional!!!

Scott Walker's attempt to create "free riders," well paid non-union employees under "right to work, was dealt a setback today. Seems there's a conflict between our state constitution and the one-size-fits-all right to work legislation:

A Dane County judge struck down Wisconsin's so-called right-to-work law Friday. Attorney General Brad Schimel said he would appeal. Last year, Gov. Scott Walker and his fellow Republicans in the Legislature made Wisconsin the 25th right-to-work state. Such laws bar businesses and unions from reaching labor deals that require workers to pay fees to the union.

Supporters of the law say workers shouldn't have to make such payments if they don't want to belong to a union. Unions argue they should be able to negotiate contracts to require fees from all workers who benefit from the wages and job protections they provide.

The law was struck down by Dane County Circuit Judge William Foust in a lawsuit brought by the state AFL-CIO and unions representing steelworkers and machinists.

Here's the relevant passages of Judge Foust's decision:

A Wisconsin labor organization, or a union, is any employee organization in which employees participate and that exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of engaging in collective bargaining with any employer concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, hours, benefits, or other terms or conditions of employment." Wis. Stat §1U.02(9g).

In sum, a Wisconsin union must engage in collective bargaining; to engage in collective bargaining, it must represent a majority of the employees in a collective bargaining unit, which is a majority of all employees in the workplace. For an employer to bargaining collectively with a union representing anything less than a majority of employees is prohibited. §111.06(l)(e).

The State argues, and Amici agree, that "neither federal nor state law requires a union or other entity to become an exclusive bargaining representative." (Defs.' 0pp.Br. 5;Amicus Br. 3 ("Unions voluntarily choose to become exclusive representatives.")).
That statement is disingenuous. A union makes no election to become the exclusive representative; if the union exists at all, as statutorily defined by§ 1n.02(9g) (i.e. to engage in collective bargaining), and is chosen by a majority of the employees voting in a collective bargaining unit, then it must be the employees' exclusive representative. It cannot decline exclusive representative status unless it declines to be voted in at a workplace to begin with. Neither the State nor Amici have substantiated their argument with any way in which a union could evade this status. The deliberate interplay of Wisconsin statutes and case law make it so.

Because there may be only one group representing a majority of employees in a given workplace, a union, once elected, becomes the sole—or exclusive—representative of all employees in the workplace.

The Court finds Act 1 effects a taking of Plaintiffs' property without just compensation in violation of Article I § 13 of the Wisconsin Constitution. Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment is granted, Dated this 8th day of April, 2016.

Washington Post now says Walker's Justice Bradley isn't against Contraception, doesn't believe it terminates life, or is Murder?

The supposed “Pro-life” movement is against two things; abortion and contraception. Their biggest weapons supporting their cause; conservative judicial courts and passing the “conscience clause.”

I would argue real pro-lifers would be battling for universal health care, but that's a whole different blog about a completely inept Democratic Party.

The Washington Post just ignored the pro-life movements repressive agenda so they could give a pass to Rebecca Bradley’s recent comments comparing contraception to murder. Yes, she did make that comparison, using the Roman Catholic churches guidelines and the pro-life terrorists own language. She's the courts scary religious foot soldier for Walker.

But the Post went out of its way to make a surreal case against “choice” advocates like Hillary Clinton. They started out by reprinting Bradley's outrageous comments from 2006...saying she wasn't specific enough. But history tells us something different, like the comments pictured here...:

“Proponents of ‘choice’ oppose such conscience clauses because they interfere with the elevation of women’s convenience over pharmacists’ objections to being a party to murder…. Notably, patients do not have the right to demand abortions, sterilizations or euthanasia from Roman Catholic or other morally guided hospitals or providers … law certainly should protect pharmacists who choose not to be a party to the morally abhorrent termination of life.”

Generally speaking we’re talking the pill here, pretty basic stuff, which WaPo decided to ignore, or worse, obscure. Their tortured logic starts by actually making an argument against their own final conclusion:

Bradley ... directed readers to an organization known as Pro-Life Wisconsin for more information. Its website at the time listed birth-control pills as potentially “causing chemical abortions in the earliest stages of life” … Saying that the birth-control pill may lead to an abortion is controversial even within the Pro-Life movement … (medical community) members saying the pill is not an abortifacient and other members arguing that it is one.

And yet, even after all that, somehow, they made these startling conclusions (my comments in bold)?

But there’s no indication in it that she was opposed to all forms of birth control (REALLY?)… A fair reading of Bradley’s 10-year-old column is that she is describing and defending the views of pharmacists who object to prescribing chemical ways of terminating a pregnancy, including possibly a birth-control pill (AGAIN) But Bradley is not writing about all forms of birth control (YES SHE IS), as Clinton suggests (“birth control, which millions of women use every year”) nor does Bradley specifically write that women using birth control are a “party to murder.” (Yes she does infer that) If Bradley actually believed all birth control was tantamount to murder, as Clinton claims, then it’s doubtful she would find obtaining contraceptives from another location so reasonable.

Amazingly, the Post completely missed Bradley’s argument using the language of right wing extremists and terrorists, to chip away at contraception’s availability.

Any wonder why were drifting as a nation to the extreme right? 

"Voter ID Fraud" Exposed, "stand with Walker" suckers!!!

Oddly, the day after the election, media coverage of the primary made no mention of long lines and waiting periods to vote.

Thankfully, the national coverage still thinks it's an important issue, especially after the disaster in Arizona that still boggles the mind. Here's a collection that includes Chris Hayes, Glenn Grothman, Todd Allbaugh, and WKOW's Greg Neumann's reporting:



Voter ID suppression is back, thanks to Glenn Grothman (growth-men). CNN noted TMJ4's reporter didn't somehow red flag that statement, and ask a followup question:

Grothman pivoted back to praising Cruz and the interview moved on without any follow-up.

Voter ID law is the fraud. I wonder how "stand with Walker" dupes now feel having bought into the "voter fraud" con? In the weekly Isthmus, chief of staff for former state Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center), Todd Allbaugh blasted the ID law:

"I was in the closed Senate Republican Caucus when the final round of multiple voter ID bills was being discussed. A handful of the GOP Senators were giddy about the ramifications and literally singled out the prospects of suppressing minority and college voters." 

Allbaugh saw the suppression first hand:

The truth? There was almost no fraud. Oh wait, GOP Speaker Robin Vos' estranged wife allegedly voted in both Idaho and Wisconsin, and a GOP staffer was caught voting twice. But it was good rhetoric.

Yesterday, one of my employees, born in California, went to get a Wisconsin ID. He was told he couldn't use his California ID to get a Wisconsin ID without his birth certificate, which is back in California. The result? He's not able to vote. Here's a young man in his early 20s, who is interested in voting for the first time in his life. He was excited to go to the polls. What kind of a state, a legislature, a political party is it that denies this young man his right?

All In's Chris Hayes interviewed an energized Allbaugh who made it amazingly clear:

Allbaugh: "These people in the Capitol, forget about Robert M. "fighting Bob" La Follette, dhe was a Republican. His wife Belle Case La Follette moved women's suffrage forward in this state. Republicans used to fight for voting rights, and here they're taking it away."  

Lines, Lines and More Lines: Dripping with Democratic suppression in Arizona, Helen Purcell fell on the party sword acting surprised there would be lines after going from 200 polling places to 60. Stunning and transparent, you can't help but feel embarrassed for Purcell:

Maricopa County's top elections official, Recorder Helen Purcell, cut the number of polling places in the presidential primary from 200 in 2012 to just 60 on Tuesday, although those were larger voting centers where any registered voter could cast a ballot. During the last high-turnout presidential primary, in 2008, there were 400 polling places in the county of 4 million residents. Purcell took responsibility for Tuesday's foul-up and acknowledged she made a mistake. She said she relied on voter turnout expectations, the fact independents could not vote in the primary, and that most Arizonans are mailed early ballots. But she said the problems at the polls were in no way intended to suppress participation.

"When you see people who are still willing to cast that vote and wait in line until well after the polls close, I don't think that's voter suppression," Purcell said.

Check out more coverage at the Huffington Post

PayPal kills expansion in N. Carolina over LGBT Law.

It's so nice to see something like this happen....sadly, can't say Wisconsin's a better choice. Now, what do we do about Mississippi's new law..?

PayPal will no longer move forward with its planned new global operations center in Charlotte, North Carolina, after the state passed a law that eliminates anti-discrimination protections for lesbians, gays and bisexuals and keeps transgender people from using the bathroom of their chosen gender.

“The new law perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal’s mission and culture. As a result, PayPal will not move forward with our planned expansion in Charlotte,” a statement released by PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman said Monday.

“This decision reflects PayPal’s deepest values and our strong belief that every person has the right to be treated equally, and with dignity and respect. Our decision is a clear and unambiguous one … As a company that is committed to the principle that everyone deserves to live without fear of discrimination simply for being who they are, becoming an employer in North Carolina, where members of our teams will not have equal rights under the law, is simply untenable.”

Welcome to the 2 Hour wait to vote...in a primary for God's sake...

Esquire's Charlie Pierce just posted this...

Madison Mayor Paul Soglin made sure that the polls were fully staffed; the city clerk put on 2,500 new employees to work the various tables at the various polling places. There were new tables this time around. And the obstacle course that Walker and his pet legislature have made out of voting in Wisconsin has hidden tricks and traps that few people ultimately escape.

"The other thing, and this is where we're getting longer lines, the machine, which kind of looks like a large copying machine, the machine that accepts the ballot, the scanner, has been reprogrammed by the state and it's taking longer to accept the ballots. Under the old programming, I would walk up to the machine, put it in like this, and it would suck it in and I would just walk away. Now, you put it up there, and it very slowly accepts it, and you're, like, 'Ohhh.' And the machine devours the ballot and the screen comes up and it says you voted. Where it used to take about three seconds, it takes about 30-45 seconds depending on how nimble the person is who's putting in the ballot.

When I voted this morning, it took me a little longer, because of my ID, but, of course, I know what I'm doing. I go to the station and fill it out, and that was fine. Normally, I would have been out of there in 30 seconds, I'm now out of there in 5-10 minutes, having stand in this line while everybody inserts their ballots. And of course, everybody waits there to make sure their ballot gets counted. I don't know how bad this is going to be by the end of the day."

Here's the Wisconsin primary coverage an hour before polls closed, showing long lines, people leaving discouraged, and the lack of student IDs. One thing, many student may have voted early.  MSNBC:



Here's a demographic breakdown, where Democrats are not "liberal" again;

"Unprincipled:" Walker's focus group tested opposition to the Minimum Wage revealed!!!

It's pure politics: It looks like business executives don't mind lifting the minimum wage after all. The shocking truth is, everybody's on board with higher wages...except for Scott Walker and his uber partisan legislature. 

The real impediment to helping struggling Americans rise out of poverty is the ideologically driven need to punish the "takers;" embarrass them, take their food, suggest they use drugs, all the while forcing them into jobs that don't pay much.

The survey of 1,000 business executives across the country was conducted by LuntzGlobal, the firm run by Republican pollster Frank Luntz, and obtained by a liberal watchdog group called the Center for Media and Democracy. (The slide deck is here, and the full questionnaire is here.) Among the most interesting findings: 80 percent of respondents said they supported raising their state's minimum wage, while only eight percent opposed it. "That’s where it’s undeniable that they support the increase,” Luntz told state chamber executives in a webinar describing the results,

Walker used Frank Luntz's messaging scheme to its fullest. See if this sounds familiar:

Luntz then provided some tips on how to defuse that support, such as suggesting other poverty-reduction methods like the Earned Income Tax Credit. “Where you might find some comfort if you are opposing it in your state is, 'how big of a priority is it against other priorities?'” he said. "Most folks think there are bigger priorities ... So when you put it up against other issues, you can find other alternatives and other things to focus on. But in isolation, and you ask about the minimum wage, it's definitely a winner.”

Let's look at all the times Walker played off the verbal frame Luntz concocted around the minimum wage, and how well the distraction worked for him:

Scott Walker: "The left claims that they're for American workers and they've just got really lame ideas — things like the minimum wage. Instead of focusing on that, we need to talk about how we get people ... the careers that pay far more than the minimum wage."

Scott Walker: "Said the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education and skills they need..."I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did....The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage."

Scott Walker: “It is a job-killing agenda. It’s done for political expediency. It’s a cheap headline.”

International Business Times: The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, and issued a statement saying: "Governor Walker wants jobs in Wisconsin that pay two or three times the minimum wage.

Earned Income Tax Credit Hypocrisy: Walker's Wisconsin did the unthinkable, it raised taxes!!! Yes, Republicans raised taxes on the states poorest. And they did it by cutting the EITC. While Luntz suggested increasing the EITC as a way to distract from the minimum wage, our extreme Governor Walker went the other way with it:



Walker and his base of voters are steadfastly against solving problems that make life better for everyone, because they won, get over it. Sticking it to someone else is also damn easy:

Here's just one story for meat heads like Tom O'C, who probably has a "support the troops" bumper sticker on his car:

Video of an Iraq War veteran's emotional testimony before the Atlanta Wage Board is going viral. The video of the former Marine has garnered nearly one million views on Facebook and more than 23,000 shares.

"I don't want my son to look at me like I'm something less because I have to work for $7.25. And I bust my butt every day, and I take pride in what I do, gentlemen," Derrell Odom said in the video.

Odom, who works at Kentucky Fried Chicken, said that he served two tours in Iraq, was wounded in combat, and was awarded the Purple Heart. Now, he struggles to make ends meet.

"I worked 45 hours this week and my manager pulled me over to the side and told me that you can't have these five hours of overtime at time-and-a-half," Odom said. "She told me she was going to take my five hours and put them on next week's check so she wouldn't have to give me my time-and-a-half."

Walker takes credit for "same day registration," meaning that old "voter fraud" excuse isn't making sense anymore.

Thanks to Wisconsin's primary action, the national media is picking up on, and featuring, the mess Scott Walker has made of our elections process. For his rabid fans, jumping through hoops, unreasonable exemptions to the list of acceptable forms of ID, and inconvenient times to vote are okay as long as Republicans can say "we win" on election day. They do know suppression experts aren't done yet, right, and that they're next?

All In host Chris Hayes dissected Scott Walker’s claim voting is not just easier in Wisconsin, but it's also much harder to cheat at.

When Walker hauled out same day registration as a bragging point...I'm not kidding, you know he's grasping at straws. Note: In other Republican states, same day registration has a big target on it. Is it on Walker's list of future reforms?

Walker: "We make it easy to vote, you can vote, same day voter registration, you just have got to have that voter ID along with, but we also make it hard to cheap and that's the difference. He should look at the facts."

The facts??? Since when did they matter? The Nation's Ari Berman explains:

Voter impersonation is virtually nonexistent in Wisconsin. “The defendants could not point to a single instance of known voter impersonation occurring in Wisconsin at any time in the recent past,” wrote Judge Lynn Adelman of the US District Court in Wisconsin. “It is absolutely clear that Act 23 will prevent more legitimate votes from being cast than fraudulent votes.” (Adelman was reversed by the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, who ruled that Wisconsin’s law was “materially identical” to the Indiana voter-ID law approved by the Supreme Court in 2008, even though Wisconsin’s bill is significantly stricter and impacts many more voters. See Judge Richard Posner’s dissent for more detail.)

There's no logical explanation why voting times needed to be reduced either. Rep. Dewey Stroebel insisted small communities couldn't afford longer early voting times, so big cities had to lose theirs. Now high population areas have to squeeze everyone into the polling places within the limits imposed by small rural towns. I know, dumb right? The fact that they played stupid on that issue and got away with it still pisses me off.

Another inconvenient fact: It hurts Democrats! That spewed out of the mouth of conservative wacko Phyllis Schlafly:

In a column for right-wing clearinghouse WorldNetDaily, Schlafly acknowledged as much with a defense of North Carolina’s new voting law:

“The reduction in the number of days allowed for early voting is particularly important because early voting plays a major role in Obama’s ground game. The Democrats carried most states that allow many days of early voting, and Obama’s national field director admitted, shortly before last year’s election, that ‘early voting is giving us a solid lead in the battleground states that will decide this election ... so early voting is an essential component of the Democrats’ get-out-the-vote campaign.” She later adds that early voting “violates the spirit of the Constitution” and facilitates “illegal votes” that “cancel out the votes of honest Americans.”

It doesn't make sense but does sound scary.

But the obvious targeting of student voters and DMV generated voter ID's makes it clear they want to suppress voting. I predict someday, if Republicans stay in power long enough, voting will lose its relevance and be more trouble than its worth:

Student IDs from most public and private universities and colleges are not accepted because they don’t contain signatures or a two-year expiration date (compared to a ten-year expiration for driver’s licenses). “The standard student ID at only three of the University of Wisconsin’s 13 four-year schools and at seven of the state’s 23 private colleges can be used as a voter photo ID,” according to Common Cause Wisconsin. That means many schools, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, are issuing separate IDs for students to vote, an expensive and time-consuming process for students and administrators. Students who use the new IDs will also have to bring proof of enrollment from their schools, an extra burden of proof that only applies to younger voters.

Right now, the dirty little open secret of Wisconsin is that just 31 of our 92 DMVs maintain normal Monday through Friday business hours. Forty-nine of them operate only two days a week. One, in Sauk City, is open for just a few days a year. Only two are open at 5 p.m., and just three are open on weekends. For the whole state.

Weather Tantrum???

What in the hell is happening to weather in Wisconsin? Sure it's Scott Walker's fault, and it's insane? Every blue splotch in the picture is a white out blizzard, broken up by sunny blue skies:

Trolls Angry too: Since the mindless "stand with Walker" trolls don't find anything in life interesting unless they can rub your face in it, let's take a look at their reaction to this post. Yes, they found a way to make this fun and bizarre weather pattern political...I wish I were kidding:

Voter Suppression Cancer Spreads to Federal Government...

Is there really an effort to suppress voting in the U.S.? Of course.

As I’ve written before, voter suppression laws attack constituents on both ides of the aisle, but it impacts typically dense urban areas that vote Democratic the most. That's worth a few less rural GOP voters. 

Scheme to Suppress Votes!!! Thanks to open records requests, the curtain has been pulled away, and Republicans can no longer deny it.   

What happened: 

AP: An email provided to AP through open records requests offers a glimpse into the mindset of Brian Newby, executive director of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, who decided — without public comment or approval from bosses — that residents of Alabama, Kansas and Georgia can no longer register to vote using a national form without providing proof of U.S. citizenship.

The Problem, it's legal, resulting in a lawsuit: 

The U.S. Supreme Court has said that states must accept and use the federal voter registration form, and an appeals court ruled in 2014 in a lawsuit filed by Kansas' Republican Secretary of State Kobach that states could not force the commission to require residents to provide proof-of-citizenship documents on the national form.

The Courts Don't Matter. So Kobach managed to see one of his guys, Newby, into the federal agency via fellow Republican commissioners. Way to work the system:

1. As a finalist for the job of executive director, Newby said in a June email to his benefactor, Kris Kobach, that he was friends with two of the commissioners at the federal agency, and told Kobach: "I think I would enter the job empowered to lead the way I want to. I wanted you in the loop," Newby emailed Kobach.

2. Kobach said he spoke to one, and possibly two of the Republican commissioners, about Newby prior to his hiring. "I told that person I thought Newby would be excellent and he was one of Kansas' most talented county election officers.

Kobach Lied: Newby wasn't just under investigation, it turned out he fraudulently spent taxpayer money and threw a "conference" for the Republican commissioners who hired him: 

3. But documents from open records requests show that as early as April 2015 ... Kobach met with county officials to discuss concerns about Newby's job performance ... Those concerns led officials to call for an audit of the Johnson County election office Newby led.

4.The audit found Newby intentionally skirted oversight of government credit card expenses, wasted taxpayer funds and improperly claimed mileage and travel expenses while at his former job in Kansas. Newby has called the audit inaccurate and misleading.

5. Among the questionable expenditures was more than $18,000 that county taxpayers spent for a conference in Kansas City ... it was organized by Newby and all three federal commissioners spoke at that conference, which was in September while Newby was under consideration for the job.