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.

Republicans in the tank for Cruz and Bradley, Democrats should take on Conservative Talk Radio.

The Democratic Party has for some time looked like a football teams defense that's been out on the field too long. That never ends well. But it's their own damn fault, because unlike a football team, they came out to play without an offense. Big problem.

That leaves our Borg-like Republicans lots and lots of time to do whatever they want.

Cruz? Yes, that's what their Leaders Want: At first, I thought it was odd how every Republican I talked to backed the flaccid candidacy of Marco Rubio, the absent Senator. But odder still, ever since he's dropped out, Wisconsin Republicans are now suddenly behind Ted Cruz. Just like that. Isn't it funny how conservatives who rattle on and on about freedom and liberty, can't wait to take their orders from their leaders - vote Cruz.

Mean Girl Rebecca Bradley's bigoted, divisive, politics...they like it!!!  The new Marquette University Poll showing Bradley pulling ahead in the race for supreme court justice was due mainly for her hatred of gays and Democrats. As it turns out, Bradley hit all the right notes saying what conservative voters have been thinking and talking about for years. Her short tempered nasty demeanor and victimhood made her the undisputed choice for the states highest court. Right wing "originalism" is now the generally accepted interpretation of the Constitution, having received no criticism by our intimidated "fair and balanced" media and Democratic Party.

These are just two examples that speak volumes about the R.I.P. Democrats. But like Supernatural's Sam and Dean, there's always a way to come back from the dead. Here's just one idea...

Democrats should Demand Radio Time, put the pressure on Conservative Talkers: Talk show hosts Sly and The Devil's Advocates are the only liberal alternatives in Wisconsin, and both programs feature Republican guests. That doesn't happen in conservative talk.

When I did my own talk show, WIBA management insisted I have a conservative co-host to counter what they thought were my anti-American liberal ideas. I ended up loving the idea because it gave me an insight into how conservatives think and how they argue. Just ask State Sen. Frank Lasee, who sat in the studio a number of times, and endured a few heated but respectful debates. Former Rep. Steve Nass, now a senator, once got so angry after an interview he blasted me a few minutes later on the floor of the Assembly.

Most surprising to me was their desire to come back for another debate. Funny still, they thought they had won their often disjointed silly debate with me. Heck, maybe they did with their voters. My objective was to expose what I thought were flawed ideas and logic, by using their own words against them.

My point; Democrats should go on the offensive, demanding radio time on conservative talk stations. They should publically challenge them to a debate, publically ask them why they're not being invited on their shows. And never let up. Why wouldn't they want to try and win the argument? What's the problem with letting callers ask their own questions, gain some insight into how Democrats think, where they're coming from, encourage critical thinking?

OFFENSE: A Democratic offense would force Republicans to spend time fighting back, cutting into the time they have to hatch their next dystopian one size fits all edict. Democrats may stand for something, it's just that voters don't know exactly what that is.

Trump vs Right Wing Radio

Conservative talk radio is suffering from stage four political cancer. And only a few hard core right wing patients are willing to die from it. Many listeners just can't stand the pain anymore...

President of iHeartMedia Pittman is begging a San Antonio judge to give him a restraining order. But the radio stations’ owner doesn’t have a stalker or a crazed ex-wife. No, he wants a restraining order to keep his creditors from putting the hate-radio company in default and bankruptcy.

It seems his 850 radio stations, spread out across the country, are in danger of going under, because Pittman owes $20 billion to his creditors. It is impossible to feel sorry for the “hate radio” generator of mass racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and misogyny. Pittman is responsible for spreading incredibly ignorant ideas across the country, ideas that have caused untold damage between family members and other groups of people ... corporate owner of hate salesmen like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and Glenn Beck

So it wasn't a big surprise when the unlikable Donald Trump made the rounds and took a few lumps from right wing hosts who are used to getting away with murder on Milwaukee radio stations. You’d think station owners would care just a little about the quality of their product, and demand their hosts back up their endless steam of on air fictional bloviating…guess not. 

The biggest purveyor of mindless rambling bullshit is WISN/WIBA-AM's Vicki McKenna, my cohost for the one year I was inside the right wing bubble. Rude and detached from reality as ever, McKenna didn't impress Trump:  

“Obviously you’re not going to vote for me, ” Trump told WISN talker Vicki McKenna. After 25 minutes of sparring, he signed off with a sarcastic, “Best of luck to you, Vicki,” and hung up on her, according to McKenna.

The reason for Trump's abrupt exit? McKenna, like Charlie Sykes, are drunk on the Scott Walker supply side Kool-Aid. To them, failure is success, divide and conquer is healthy:

“You’re in Wisconsin, where it’s a different state, sir, than you might be used to.m This is a state that pulled together Republican coalitions. Scott Walker didn’t win or get the incredible reforms that we were actually able to pass through in a blue-state-turned-purple-state like Wisconsin by dividing Republicans.”

WTMJ's Charlie Sykes continues to crank out great fiction, imagining "civility,""decency," and sticky to flip floppy "principles." Check out this god awful projection:

“Here in Wisconsin, we value things like civility, decency and actual conservative principles,” the talk show host declared before ripping Trump for his campaign behavior, comparing him to “a 12-year-old bully on the playground,” and suggesting his claim to be a conservative was a “giant fraud.”

Trump at least has a handle on the states declining business and job creation, which are fighting words for in-the-tank "stand with Walker" radio brownshirts:

McKenna fiercely defended the health of the state’s manufacturing sector and derided Trump’s view that trade is killing jobs. “Wisconsin is actually fourth in the Midwest in terms of manufacturing growth. We’re not losing manufacturing in Wisconsin!”

Trump told McKenna, “I don’t think fourth in the Midwest is very good, because the Midwest is not doing particularly well.”

After all the interviews Trump has given, he seemed surprised by Wisconsin's biased talk losers:

Trump sounded perplexed by the talk radio buzz saw he ran into Monday. “I’m a little surprised that talk show hosts would be supporting somebody. You’d think there’d be a certain impartiality,”

Yea, you'd think.

To hear McKenna and Sykes talk up unity in Walker's Wisconsin, treating the 2011 protests & recall like something the Democrats started, you'd have to declared them mentally incompetent:

“Look, if you’re going to be the presidential candidate, you have to find a way to unify a whole bunch of people right now who are at each others’ throats,” McKenna told Trump. “And we feel it viscerally here because we went through the (protest) occupation in 2011 and a recall election in 2012. That’s the landscape you’re facing here when you’ve got Republicans acting like ‘recallers’ to other Republicans.”

That whole picking your presidential candidate thing...yea, just like a recall?

Trump trashes Walker's Wisconsin.

Credit Donald Trump for telling fellow conservatives the truth about Scott Walker's Wisconsin. Things aren't going well here, despite the fact that stand with Walker voters approve of the job he's doing now. The new Marquette University Poll shows an improvement, up from 39% to 43%.

I'm hoping conservative voters are more informed than the right wing trolls who seem preoccupied nationwide with correcting grammar and spelling in news articles. Content not so much, if at all.

Trump's stay in Wisconsin will help expose Walker's lies as only Trump can explain them:

WSJ: At the rally, Mr. Trump accused Mr. Walker of overstating the strength of the state’s economy, a criticism that fell on receptive ears of an audience that booed at the mention of their governor’s name.

"He’s not doing such a good job, Scott Walker, but he’s convinced you there’s no problem. Both Walker and Cruz want TPP — that would hit Wisconsin so hard.”

Trump was point blank about Walker's Wisconsin:

Trump then read a long list of economic data points to make the case that Walker has failed: total state debt $45 billion, 20,000 fewer people in labor force than 7 years ago, 800,000 food stamp recipients; middle class hit hard due to loss of manufacturing; 15,000 jobs lost to NAFTA and more.

“He’s not doing such a good job, Scott Walker, but he’s convinced you there’s no problem.”

Trump's $45 billion number includes a whole bunch of debt, including the states healthy pension fund. The real number is around $14.1 billion, up about $860 million from his first day in office. Walker 's Wisconsin was also coming up $2.2 billion short in revenue, prompting the huge cuts to the UW and state parks, among other things. Trump continued:

"You had a $2.2 billion budget deficit and the schools were going begging and everything and everything was going begging because he didn't want to raise taxes because he was going to run for president.

"So instead of raising taxes he cut back on schools, he cut back on highways, cut back on a lot of things. And that's why Wisconsin has a problem and you're losing jobs all over the place."

Here's Trump on right wing radio WROK:



No Love for Paul Ryan: 

The audience also surprised Mr. Trump by booing the mention of a local luminary, House Speaker Paul Ryan, whose hometown is Janesville. “How do you like Paul Ryan?” Mr. Trump said, and when the crowd booed, he said, “Wow. I was told to be nice to Paul Ryan. He is the Speaker, he is very nice. Wow, are you sure you are all Republicans? Are you mostly conservatives?”

I especially liked Trump's honesty about the Republican hypocrisy about eminent domain:

Trump called the Club for Grow (he donated $15,000 to them for Scott Walker recall election) a“crooked outfit.” Trump said that a representative of Club for Growth had met with him and written to him asking for $1 million and now the group is running ads against him in Wisconsin.

“He writes me a note asking for $1 million dollars. Now they are doing ads all over Wisconsin on eminent domain. By the way without eminent domain you would not have schools roads or hospitals... but they are complaining about eminent domain which is kind of funny because these people love the Keystone pipeline... which is all about eminent domain,” he said.

But the latest flap might be his downfall as a candidate; abortion, where women are prosecuted and men go free:

When continually pressed for what the answer is regarding punishing women who would break any theoretical ban, Trump said the “answer is that there has to be some form of punishment, yeah.” 

When pressed on if the United States should change the law of the land on abortion as set by the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade Trump responded: “You’ll go back to a position like they had where people will, perhaps, go to illegal places.” Still, he maintains “you have to ban it. This issue is unclear and should be put back into the states for determination.”

The MSNBC host followed up wondering if a man should bear responsibility for abortions as well, to which Trump said “no” he didn’t think so. 

Here's a bit of analysis featuring Trumps reversal a few hours later:

Bradley's "Originalist" Constitution does not protect or promote "a more equal society!!!"

I never thought Rebecca Bradley would be partisan enough to highlight, and go after, JoAnne Kloppenburg for her promise to promote a more equal society. I was wrong.

The Constitution doesn't promote a more Equal Society? Apparently "originalists" have decided all rights have already been doled out, end of story. Forget any new challenges and efforts to discriminate.

Bradley's "originalist" Constitution believes "a more equal society" is a return to the days when the middle class fought back and threatened the status quo. She made that clear in the editorials she wrote at Marquette University. In a recent partisan rant, Bradley proved once again she hasn't moved an inch from her bigoted, partisan, condescending comments of the past:

In a March 21, 2016 interview on Wisconsin Public Radio’s "Joy Cardin Show," Bradley said:

"Given her judicial philosophy, JoAnne Kloppenburg has told us she thinks it's her job to promote a more equal society. She will most definitely introduce her social and political beliefs into her decision making."

But as PolitiFact pointed out, it wasn't Kloppenburg's idea so much as something the courts have emphasized over centuries:

"...my decisions are based on the law and the facts, not on ideology or partisan politics. I am faithful to the court’s role as an independent check and balance on the other political branches of government. My duty is to uphold the Constitution, a sacred document that represents the will of the people and which contains the fundamental principles that define our democracy, protect individual rights and promote a more equal society."
Kloppenburg’s statement is more broad than Bradley suggests.

If Bradley doesn't like the idea of "a more equal society," or thinks it's partisan to expect that from our courts, then by all means let's make sure voters know what she won't do...

"...JoAnne Kloppenburg has told us she thinks it's her job to promote a more equal society." 

Amazing. But there's a reason Bradley doesn't agree with a more equal society; because it's part of a "living breathing" reading of the Constitution, the opposite of her originalist philosophy.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Chief Justice John Marshall had lectured the American people to always remember that the Constitution is intended "to be adopted to the various crises of human affairs." This notion of a "living constitution" is not accepted by all scholars or judges, but the history of the Equal Protection Clause in the last half-century would indicate that its applications, and possibly its meaning as well, have changed over time.

Tax Time Nightmare another gift from corporate America.

Check out the following expose from Ezra Klein about the tax software scheme by Intuit and H&R Block to make lots of money from an unsuspecting publilc. This is something I didn't know anything about.

For most Americans every dollar made, including our current family status, is already known by the IRS. It would be simple for the IRS to send you your tax form already filled out, waiting for your signature. You could also check the box and opt to do it yourself.

But the big financial software companies have successfully lobbied to kill that option. Here's a great video where Klein spills the beans on another corporate ripoff:

If I'm not itemizing deductions (like 70 percent of taxpayers), the IRS has all the information it needs to calculate my taxes, send me a filled-out return, and let me either send it in or do my taxes by hand if I prefer. This isn't a purely hypothetical proposal. Countries like Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Chile, and Spain already offer "pre-populated returns" to their citizens. 

The United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan have exact enough tax withholding procedures that most people don't have to file income tax returns at all, whether pre-populated or not. California has a voluntary return-free filing program called ReadyReturn for its income taxes.

Obama and Reagan both backed this idea:

The Obama administration supports return-free filing, and Ronald Reagan touted the idea in a 1985 speech:

"We envision a system where more than half of us would not even have to fill out a return. We call it the return-free system, and it would be totally voluntary. If you decided to participate, you would automatically receive your refund or a letter explaining any additional tax you owe. Should you disagree with this figure, you would be free to fill out your taxes using the regular form. We believe most Americans would go from the long form or the short form to no form."

The Republican talking point for decades plays on the myth liberal Democratic Americans like taxes in general, and don't mind paying more. Without this silly caricature, they can't make the argument that freeloading off the work and legacy of generations before them is okay:

Rebecca Bradley Changed? "...big money liberal elites...vicious, they lie...dirtier than ever." Not so much.

The ad below is..."Paid for by Citizens for Justice Rebecca Bradley, Patrick Knight, Treasurer."

Hey, She hasn't changed!!! The partisan, decidedly negative ad Rebecca Bradley approved and paid for proves she hasn't changed since 1992. What she said 24 years ago about queer loving, flag burning, radical, socialist, pot smoking liberals who voted for Bill Clinton when she was at Marquette University... 

"...We've just had an election which proves the majority of voters are either totally stupid or entirely evil..."    

...applies today. The "vicious" lies against Bradley mentioned in the ad below by crazy Sheriff Clarke were direct quotes from her own writings.

Bradley: "The PC movement is entirely the agenda of feminists, gays, liberal extremists and 1960's radicals who never left school and consequently are largely ignorant of the real world."

Proof - She's still the same Rebecca Bradley!!! "Paid for by Citizens for Justice Rebecca Bradley," repeats the theme she made against Clinton voters: 

"I’m Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. I know a little something about what it’s like when the Big money liberal elites come gunning for you. They’ve got the media in their back pocket. They’re vicious, they lie, and this time, they’re out to get Justice Rebecca Bradley. I’d call it mudslinging but it’s dirtier than that."

I’m Justice Rebecca Bradley. It’s no surprise my opponent and her partisan allies are running a false, viciously personal smear campaign against me.

Her peers aren't impressed either:

Milwaukeee Bar Association Releases 2016 Judicial Poll Results regarding the qualifications of judicial candidates that appear on the ballot in Milwaukee County. 

Yikes, 138 say she's not qualified, compared to JoAnne Kloppenburg's 48. Not even close.

Or we could do what the press in Wisconsin has been doing for years, acting like it's so hard to know...

Walker admits defeat on Job Creation, now attacks the number of help wanted ads.

I'm off to Easter with the family, but there's something I'm looking into that lies at the very heart of Scott Walker's desire to fill the jobs already open, and not create new ones.

Word salad Walker offered up this down-the-rabbit-hole logic:

Walker: "One of my top priorities has shifted from job creation to filling jobs, which really in turn becomes a form of economic development going forward because for a lot of employers in this state if they don’t have confidence they can fill vacant positions now, that becomes a barrier to adding more jobs in the future."

Will we be able to survive 3 more years of this Bizarro World approach to managing the state?

What is the historical average of the open jobs market? It seems likely that number would be pretty consistent. So is it ridiculous to change what might be unchangeable, all those help wanted ads that persist no matter what happens, because of the ebb and flow of the marketplace (hint: Jake?)?

One thing I do know, Walker is now marketing a new product for a third term, smaller in size, gluten free, but at a more expensive price; last in the Midwest in almost all jobs and business creation categories.

Republicans oppose Pipeline...that is, Wind Energy Pipeline through Arkansas.

After years of vilifying judges and justices who's decisions they disagree with as "liberal activists legislating from the bench," Republicans are admitting what they really wanted was "conservative activists legislating from the bench." Got it, loud and clear.

Republicans are about to blow up another myth, this time on jobs, energy pipelines and energy independence; Arkansas Republicans just came out against jobs and a 705 mile energy pipeline because it crosses right through their state and...wait for it, supplies electricity from WIND and not big oil. ArkTimes:

Wind Energy in 1923?

The Arkansas congressional delegation, all Republicans, quickly issued a statement decrying the decision. They said it usurped state control over transmission lines. They've been trying to pass legislation to prevent this.

The same Arkansas Republicans have been supportive of a pipeline carrying dangerous Canadian tar sands through the Great Plains in the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, despite local opposition in those states. That line doesn't pass through Arkansas.

What happened to job creation and making the U.S. energy independent? 

The electrical pipeline will move wind energy produced in Oklahoma and Texas through Arkansas to Tennessee. First, let's shine a light on a few Republican hypocrites:

Arkansas Republican Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton, who are to the right of the right wing of the Republican Party and supporters of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, have filed a bill in Congress that would give the states veto power over electric lines, ostensibly to stop the federal government from exercising eminent domain. Given their position on Keystone, it's possible their financial support from the oil industry motivates them and others who oppose the project.

I'm not arguing for or against the wind pipeline, I just wanted to point a finger at the hypocrites who are in the back pocket of big oil, and the vacuous nature of their "principled" arguments. 

What happened to job creation and making the U.S. energy independent?

Opposition is coming from the Cherokee Nation and one specific and unlucky wind energy supporter. On the latter, I thought her story was oddly funny;  

Clara Dotson's 80 acres north of Dover is crisscrossed by utility easements: a natural gas pipeline, HVAC power line and an Arkansas Valley Cooperative electric distribution line. Last year, she learned that Valero/Plains All American planned run its pipeline shipping crude oil from Oklahoma to Tennessee through her property. Utilities have the power of eminent domain in Arkansas, which means that landowners can't stop them from building on their land. They can dicker over compensation, but that's it.

Still, you would think getting forever utility payments to use her property would more than make up any loss in property value to Dotson, or any future land owners, right? 

Millsaps and others — including the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma — believe the line will lower their property values a full 30 percent. (Clean Line says studies indicate that 10 percent is a more accurate figure) … The company will offer "the full market value" for acreage in its easement and would also pay the landowner $500 for a "mono" pole and $1,500 for a lattice pole, which requires a larger base. He said easements would be between 150 and 200 feet wide.

Jobs, jobs, jobs, Republican want to kill all the jobs....

Three Arkansas companies will get working making components of the line ... Also, a converter station will be built in Arkansas so that power can be supplied in the state, not just carried through to others.