Scott Walker no friend of Rural Conservative Voters, unless he wants to get reelected.

Rural conservative voters see something in Scott Walker and his band of plundering Republican pirates I can't. Whether it's a simple (R) next to the name or one issue voting, things in rural Wisconsin aren't getting better, and they may be getting worse.

Farm Bankruptcies most in Nation: This just hit the news today. It seems Walker was oblivious to the harsh reality of his own voters:

New federal court data shows the Western District of Wisconsin had the highest number of farm bankruptcies in the country last year. The Western District had 28 Chapter 12 bankruptcy cases filed in 2017, a chapter specifically for family farmers or fishermen. The district includes 44 counties and covers more than half of the geographic area of the state.

Walker went after Rural Farmers Estates to Fund Medicaid:

WSJ-Dee J. Hall: The state Department of Health Services has new powers under the state budget to recover money from the estates of people whose loved ones have received Medicaid funding for long-term care … the Legislature’s own nonpartisan legal and financial agencies have warned that the changes … could violate federal law. Critics say the changes could prompt some elderly couples to divorce and make it harder for children to inherit the family farm or business. A couple’s home is exempted … But proceeds from the sale of that home could be taken by the state to repay Medicaid used to pay for a spouse’s nursing home or other long-term care. An elder law attorneys said, “It greatly expands the types of property the state can go after … In the past, the state could not go after the property of the (non-Medicaid receiving) spouse.”

What? Walker Proposes $50M In Rural Economic Development, but...: It seems during this reelection year Walker is doing another 180, after cutting help for rural farmers. I wrote this back in Jan. 2016:

Scott Walker's $3.6 million budget cut to the UW Extension should get rural Republican voters riled up. It continues the Republican assault on their own rural constituents that keeps them frustrated and angry at their own government. The UW Extension "provides farmers with technical assistance, nutrient management and more," but those days are slipping away, thanks to cuts signed by Walker.

UW-Extension, which applies research and expertise across the state in myriad areas, has been forced to restructure ... cut $1.2 million from county-level programs, $1.7 million from campus programs and state specialists and $700,000 from the administration.

Monticello dairy farmer Bryan Voegeli's concern is that farmers who rely on Extension staffers to provide answers for myriad issues won’t receive the one-on-one assistance that has been an Extension trademark for decades. He said the Extension was a tremendous help when he modernized and expanded his picturesque operation ... that now includes more than 200 Brown Swiss milking cows ... a new freestyle barn in 2005 and converted its old barn that is more than 100 years old into a milking parlor. Instead of county offices fully staffed with agriculture, child development, economic development and family living agents, the Extension announced that it plans to open regional offices covering multiple counties.

Ag agents that survive the purge will be covering multiple counties and that will likely mean more time traveling and communicating with farmers via email rather than face to face. He said that’s difficult in an age where many farmers still don’t have computers.

Walker is flip-flopping again, in the hopes the following bride, and much-needed help, makes farmers forget:

Walker Proposes $50M In Rural Economic Development: The initiative would include low-interest loans for dairy businesses, more money for state marketing efforts, and a new college scholarship program for students to take agriculture classes at state colleges. Walker announced creation of a $200,000 scholarship fund to encourage students to take agriculture courses at a state technical college or the University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture.

Hard Core Rural Conservative voters will Pay more for Health Insurance: I found this health care research unsettling, because it may also apply to other rural government services:

Samuel Trachtman, U of California, Berkeley Abstract: Political scientists have only recently begun paying attention to the ways that individuals’ politics affect their participation in government programs. In particular, it has been shown that Republicans are less likely to enroll in Affordable Care Act marketplace insurance than Democrats ... these decisions are consequential not only for the coverage of individuals, but also for the cost of plans. Due to adverse selection, partisanship-motivated enrollment decisions result in the average Republican enrollee being less healthy than the average Democratic enrollee. I provide empirical evidence demonstrating that insurers have responded to these differences in enrollee composition by increasing prices at a faster rate in areas with more Republican voters. These findings have implications for the design of public policies in an environment where politics can influence uptake decisions.

Just a note:

"I linked this mechanism to political geography, arguing that as insurers receive claims data prices should rise more quickly in areas with more Republicans. To support the hypothesized causal mechanism, I demonstrated a link 29 between county-level Republican vote share and composition of the marketplaces by income, a strong proxy for health status. I then provided evidence of a robust relationship between Republican 2012 vote share and premium growth. The main analysis was corroborated using alternative data, and off-marketplace premium growth was used as a placebo check to support causal identification."

Trump and the Art of the Deal!

Dumb Ron Johnson shreds career bellowing Right Wing Media Conspiracy Theories!!!

Dumb Ron Johnson started showing signs of early dementia late last week when he devoted an entire investigation...and report over the following mind-numbing theory:

The fantasy was that Medicaid expansion is to blame for the opioid crisis in the United States. The ringmaster was Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). Johnson has been flogging this notion for the better part of a year, or longer, despite the utter lack of evidence that it’s true — and plenty of evidence that the opposite is true.

So wouldn't countries with universal health care for everyone have an even bigger problem? The fact that prescriptions for opioids are down I guess wasn't important.

Johnson wasn't done yet destroying the credibility of Homeland Security as their chairman.

The Daily Intelligencer's Jonathan Chait wrote this about Johnson's latest con over "secret society's" and "off-site" meetings the Obama deep state operatives were using to bring Trump down:

When they hacked Democratic emails, Russians were counting on a gullible mainstream news media and an unprincipled right-wing echo chamber to transform a bunch of trivial internal communications into a pseudo-scandal by wrenching them from all context. It is ironic that the current Republican effort to dismiss the very real scandal that arose from those hacks is using the exact same method.

"Secret Society" or Frighteningly Gullible Chairman of Homeland Security Ranting Hysterically? Are you kidding?

It's a stunning national transformation. What's happened to my conservative Trumpian friend in Milwaukee is now happening to every Republican; they're all spewing scattershot ramblings of disconnected conspiracy's leading to a "secret society" that meets "off-site" for the purpose of bringing down Trump. Seriously? And the drooling right-wing masses think we're still angry losers, just like they would be if Hillary had won..it's what we call projection.

Dumb Ron Johnson, a National Embarrass: NPR's David Greene wouldn't allow Johnson to wander off into Alex Jones land for a moment, and in doing so, highlighted how crazy right-wing politics has gotten. Here's Greene's interview with Johnson this morning. Jaw-dropping:



Here are Johnson's actual loud mouthed comments:



Out-of-Context Johnson BS: This tweet explains one major piece of Johnson's hyperbolic baloney pulled out of context, that "Secret Society:"

Jonathan Chait pointed out the full context and meaning of the other "misunderstood FBI emails:

1. The first wave of stories revealed that Strzok and Page had criticized Donald Trump and referred to their investigation as an “insurance policy.” It sounded extremely suspicious. In fact, a reporter who reviewed the entire context explained that they were referring to an FBI policy favorable to Trump. Strzok used the insurance metaphor — “It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40” — to describe the folly of treating an unlikely event as though it had no chance of happening.

2. Strzok and Page had advance knowledge of a Wall Street Journal story. In fact, as Ryan Reilly and Nick Baumann later explained, the story in question was harmful to Clinton, and elsewhere they expressed concern about unauthorized leaks.

3. Strzok expressed reluctance to join Robert Mueller’s team, because “my gut sense and concern is there’s no big there there.” Johnson told a conservative talk-show host that this “jaw-dropping” comment amounted to a confession that Strzok knew that Trump was innocent and joined Mueller’s investigation to smear him. But maybe Strzok simply had an open mind and thought Mueller’s probe stood a strong chance of clearing Trump. 

With 83 Percent of Voters supporting Net Neutrality, Republican Repeal a betrayal of Representation!

Another fine mess Republicans got us into. Keep in mind, this didn't have to happen.

Our "small government" Republicans have forced every state government to create a patchwork of new laws protecting net neutrality. Hoops and red tape have always saved taxpayers money...?

The Federal Communications Commission repealed the nationwide, Obama-era net neutrality rules in December of last year. At the time of the rollback, the FCC prohibited state and local governments from creating regulations of their own.

Now that's small government? And like Wisconsin Republicans eliminating local control here, our Republican Congress is suddenly a big believer in a one-size-fits-all standard:

But the FCC and net neutrality critics argue creating patchwork regulations across the country would make it difficult for these broadband companies to operate. "If there were individual states that pursued net neutrality regulations — creating a patchwork of regulations across the company — it would be difficult, if not impossible for those companies to conduct business."

Corporate GOP Servitude and Nothing Else: Thanks to Republican meddling and repeal of a regulation the public did not want to be repealed, they created this patchwork of statewide regulation.

Democrats to the rescue again:

Fifty U.S. senators have already voiced their support for a bill to override the FCC’s decision ending net neutrality. One Republican senator, Susan Collins of Maine, joined all 49 of the Senate’s Democrats to support of the bill (one vote shy). At the state level, a collection of more than 20 Attorneys General from around the country filed a lawsuit in federal court to challenge the ruling.

Montana Governor Bullock's Executive Order Model: This just might get around any possible legal problem:

Bullock’s advisors are confident that this method of regulating government contracts and not the providers directly provides a legal loophole to reinstate the spirit of net neutrality rules. The state government is not doing anything to specifically stop telecommunication companies from throttling traffic. But now, if the providers choose to do so, they are also choosing to give up any government business.

Republicans Smearing and Purging "Deep State" Political Opponents!!!

Let's get rid of the term, "creeping fascism." It's now just fascism, period.

Creeping Authoritarianism - Purging "Deep State" Opposition: The point is, Republicans are drooling over the chance to put in place a one-party authority, despite the fact that the next election could stop them cold. But it does send up a few red flags.

Federal "Deep State" Opposition Purge: Since Trump was elected, Republicans have been racing to finally delegitimize and eliminate their political opposition, what they call the "deep state," along with anyone or any entity that disagrees with them:

President Trump blasted the F.B.I. on Twitter as a biased institution whose “reputation is in Tatters - worst in History!” He is casting the men and women of the Federal Bureau of Investigation as unreliable, if not worse, just as he has previously done with C.I.A. agents, federal judges, scientists, Congressional Budget Office analysts and journalists, among others. The president wants to undercut just about anybody who is an independent source of information.

Dumb Ron Johnson's alleges Secret Society: Getting whatever mileage they can using words and phrases out of context to smear critics, Dumb Ron Johnson dumped an Alex Jones like conspiracy theory today. Hey, it's all second-hand stuff, but Johnson claims "...I have heard, from somebody who has talked to our committee..."

One cool thing about The Trump Era is people feel they can just say anything, at any time, with no evidence, even when they have an abundantly clear political motive. Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, embarked on a tale of conspiracy and woe, as he recounted how a "secret society" within the FBI and the Justice Department was meeting "off-site"—secretly—as part of a campaign to undermine President Trump.

Wisconsin "Deep State" Opposition Purge: Republicans aren't very original, so it's not surprising to see their Borg-like machine replicate the "deep state" purge at a statewide level. Walker's "legal" lackey AG Brad Schimel started the attack with a factless partisan smear campaign against the old GAB staff, accidentally and illegally releasing information about another confidential investigation. And then it snowballed from there, as planned:

(Schimel) issued a report finding the leak (to The Guardian) was a crime but that he did not have sufficient evidence to charge anyone. GOP leaders of the state Senate approved broadening an investigation into the activities of a state ethics board that they disbanded because they believed it was biased against Republicans ... Rep. Robin Vos said, “The idea that individuals who potentially are on the short list of having committed a crime are now going to be in charge of running ethics and elections seems preposterous to me.”

That led to the Wisconsin purging, a "cleaning up" based on Schimel's smear report:

Republicans in the Wisconsin state Senate have voted to fire the state's top ethics and elections administrators because of their connections to the now-defunct Government Accountability Board and its investigation of Gov. Scott Walker. "I think we have to," said Sen. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau. "I'll never have any confidence in either one of those agencies until that's cleaned up."

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald Says Republicans Will Explore Ways To Fire Other Former Employees Of GAB. "I wish they'd all resign," said Fitzgerald.

Who else will be included GOP enemies list, besides Wisconsin protesters, DNR scientists, UW faculty, election officials, anyone from Madison and Dane County, liberals, local governments, and teachers?

Walker's opposition to High Speed Rail Kills Minnesota's dream for speed between Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul!!!

Unlike all the other states in the Midwest, Wisconsin is now more painfully backward than any of us ever imagined. 

GOP legislators halt Minnesota-Wisconsin high-speed rail study...Critics say exploring route from Twin Cities to Milwaukee is pointless. 

In December Republicans Rep. Paul Torkelson and Sen. Scott Newman objected to the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) accepting federal grant money to complete the study — largely because Wisconsin opposes high-speed rail ... work on the study has stopped after just over $1 million in state and federal money had already been spent on it. 

Since 2010, high-speed rail has been a hot-button political issue in Wisconsin. GOP Gov. Scott Walker declined $810 million in federal stimulus money for a Madison-to-Milwaukee line, saying it would be too expensive to build and maintain. Walker’s opposition to the service remains unchanged, according to Torkelson. “It would be rather inappropriate for us to spend federal funds when there’s no chance of it going forward,” he said. (Walker’s office did not return phone calls.)

Generally speaking, high-speed trains are capable of sustained speeds of 150 mph or more — which is the case in Europe and Asia. Some trains in China, which has bet big on the high-speed rail, whisk along at 220 mph.

The United States has no true high-speed rail service. A report by the Midwest High Speed Rail Association attributes this to a lack of funding, the difficulty of getting state, local and municipal governments to agree on a plan, and outdated safety regulations and infrastructure. The majority of Amtrak trains share track with freight. And there’s Americans’ storied love of their automobiles.

Stopping the Minnesota high-speed project is shortsighted because it prevents what he called “a basic assessment” to understand what’s needed.

Dumb Ron Johnson's Homeland Security Opioid Fiasco Fantasy.

There's a reason why I call him, Dumb Ron Johnson. This is just another example.

click here

The fantasy was that Medicaid expansion is to blame for the opioid crisis in the United States. The ringmaster was Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). Johnson has been flogging this notion for the better part of a year, or longer, despite the utter lack of evidence that it’s true — and plenty of evidence that the opposite is true.

Just imagine if the U.S., or for that matter any other country in the world, had universal health care. The horror, where everyone is on opioids!!! Oh, other countries have universal care and they don't have the same problem as the U.S? That's our Dumb Ron Johnson.

From NPR, I caught this audio clip of Johnson's embarrassing freak out:



Johnson even put out a Homeland Security report listing coincidences and pure mumbo-jumbo all on official paper shown above with link.

Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times had a field day with Johnson's lunacy, with graphs and facts. Maybe Hiltzik should be in charge of Homeland Security:

The witnesses included one anti-Medicaid ideologue, two local prosecutors who testified that they’ve seen a lot of addicts in their work and lots of them seem to be on Medicaid, and two experts who, tactlessly, pointed out that the causes of the opioid epidemic are many and complex, that it started years before Medicaid expansion, and that it involves patients and doctors in Medicare and private insurance as well as the uninsured. As Andrew Kolodny of Brandeis University told Johnson’s committee, this was the product in part of the drug industry’s “brilliant, multifaceted marketing campaign that changed the culture of opioid prescribing.”

The Republican campaign against Medicaid could only make the opioid crisis worse. That’s because Medicaid pays for a huge proportion of opioid treatments, covering fully one-third of those with addiction problems.

Here are the charts...

A chart reproduced from a report he released Wednesday pinning the crisis on Medicaid fraud paired five Medicaid expansion states with neighboring non-expansion states, purporting to show much higher increases in opioid deaths in the expansion states from 2013 to 2015. Johnson didn’t seem to notice that the 55% increase in Maine, one of his non-expansion states, actually exceeded the increase in three of his expansion states — Ohio (41%), Maryland (44%) and West Virginia (27%).

Trump Party Predictions pt 2...

Screnock mansplains Dallet's supposed lack qualifications as next Justice.

Screnock! No, it's not the name of a troll warrior from Lord of the Rings. It's the name of a cranky conservative judge who clearly knows more about the "rule of law" than anyone else, and thinks women don't have the ability to serve the people like a man.

The law is conservative Judge Michael Screnock says; it's not liberal, it's not neutral or...whatever, and Screnock will rewrite it if it's not conservative enough yet.That's guaranteed.

It drives me crazy: But really, conservative judges interpreting laws in a conservative way are...politically conservative. Originalists are conservatives who say the law is conservative. Yet, a neutral judge who defies the conservative line, is a liberal and unqualified. 

It's time to take back this conservative garbage, as justice candidate Judge Rebecca Dallet does here. Warning: Screnock thinks this is a "shocking" comment from a woman: 

State Supreme Court candidate Rebecca Dallet laid into opponent Sauk County Circuit Judge Michael Screnock this week for using “all this rhetoric about rule of law garbage.”  

"He’s talking about all this rhetoric about rule of law garbage that is basically — it’s rule of law until it’s something you want changed and then you just go ahead and change it. When the Legislature gets it wrong and they violate someone’s rights, it’s my job to say no. I am not a rubber stamp of whatever the Legislature does or whatever the governor does."

Screnock mansplains women should settle down, know their place, know their limits, and don't use "such language." Of course, Scronock had his condescending spokesMAN backhand Dallet instead:

Screnock spokesman Sean Lansing expressed alarm over her comments. "It is shocking to hear a sitting judge, let alone a candidate for our state's highest court, use this language, and it seriously calls into question her ability to serve the people of Wisconsin as an impartial arbiter of the law."

Scott Walker's Act 10 wrecking ball lowers Teacher Standards, doubles lower quality "Emergency Licenses!!!"

We're now lowering the bar for teacher hiring in Wisconsin, thanks to Scott Walker's biggest bragging point, Act 10. It's also time for Democrats to drive this point home, now that Republicans are attempting to solve a major problem they created with Act 10 by dramatically lowering the bar for teacher hiring statewide. 

From a previous blog post, this event was a pelude to the growing teacher shortage:

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Now anyone can teach our kids, says one rural republican politician. Underfunded rural schools, struggling desperately to keep their teachers from leaving, just got the conservative kind of help they voted for. jsonline:

A rural schools leader said that's not what rural schools asked for. "Heavens no," said Jerry Fiene, executive director of the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance. "This totally destroys any licensure requirements that we have in Wisconsin. It's very concerning."

New Low in Stupidity: May I introduce you to Rep. Mary Czaja (R-Irma). But she's not alone...her fellow dullards in the assembly love the idea:

Problem solver or dimwit?

She said pursued the (following) measure...

Anyone with a bachelor's degree could be hired and licensed to teach sixth- through 12th-grade English, math, social studies or science in Wisconsin And any person with relevant experience — even a high school dropout — could be licensed to teach in any other non-core academic subject in those grades. 

Czaja agreed it might make it easier to become a teacher in Wisconsin than in any other state. Czaja couldn't name any districts that had asked for the broader flexibilities.

"The districts are going to be the ones that hire these people, and I firmly believe that they're not going to throw somebody in there that isn't doing a good job. This is just flexibilities. They don't have to use it." 

Scott Walker's Act 10 "Emergency Licenses:" Doesn't sound right...right? Sure we've got a budget surplus, but it didn't have to come at the expense of teachers or public education. These dumbed down emergency licenses are on the increase too, with no sign of slowing down:

Alan Shoho, the Dean of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said the school's enrollment is down from historical numbers. He tells us jobs that once had 120 candidates before Act 10 now fall closer to 20. "We can talk about compensation, we can talk about working conditions, but I boil it down to this one word and its respect.". He feels the lack of respect has caused detrimental changes in teacher education.

 So now we've created emergency licenses. Here's TMJ4 with the bad news:



Walker to the Rescue, Again, Fixing a Problem He Created? Here's what's worse; not only does Walker have to fix a problem he created, but like everything else, he's lowered the bar with a half-assed band-aid that's just as destructive. From WKOW a look at the teacher problem and the solution - make it easier to become a teacher?:

-Some teachers get a taste of today's workplace and leave education entirely … pressures and politics of the job have heightened in recent years … it's common to hear teachers say they feel disrespected by the public, unsupported by their administration and beaten up by parents.

-Act 10 has created an open market for teachers, which makes it harder for districts to retain staff with sought-after skills. "Everyone is talking about resignation rates, they're higher everywhere in the past several years," Johnna Noll, director of instructional services at the West Allis-West Milwaukee Public Schools said.

Walker: "Improving the Quality of the Classrooms is Priceless...:" Walker's worse than anticipated solution to hiring unqualified teachers is "improving quality?" That's what's he going to say in the state of the state address:

Walker also previewed a message he'll deliver on Wednesday, touting historic spending on K-12 education in his latest budget and the impact of his controversial 2011 Act 10 law that hobbled the ability of public teacher's unions to negotiate benefits, working conditions and wages.

"Making a historic investment in K-12 education is great, but knowing with certainty those dollars will be invested in improving the quality of the classroom is priceless," Walker said.

U.S.: "Give me your tired, Your Wealthy huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

Corporations and the wealthy got their tax cut. The euphoria over the ballyhooed employee wage hikes and bonuses were unsettling because the news hid the eventual US revenue losses and wealth inequality. The most powerful just got more powerful.

The Rise of American Privilege: If you can afford health care you can get it. If you can afford rising college costs you can get it. If you can afford a visit to our state and national parks you can get it. If you can afford public-private infrastructure improvements you can get it. And now, if you can afford to immigrate to the US you can get that too.

Paul Ryan's Democratic challenger Randy Bryce managed to expose the immigration "test" pushed by Trump Republicans as the next privilege for the wealthy. Under the qualifications below, Trump's parents would not have gained entry. Only the wealthy can escape their countries. It's the wealth protection act. PolitiFact ... The test, offered by TIME:

How old are you?
Under 18 cannot apply
18-21 6 points
22-25 8 points
26-30 10 points
31-35 8 points
36-40 6 points
41-45 4 points
46-50 2 points
Over 50 0 points


What's your highest level of education?
Less than high school diploma 0 points
High school diploma or foreign equivalent 1 point
Foreign bachelor's 5 points
U.S. bachelor's 6 points
Foreign master's in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics 7 points
U.S. master’s in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics 8 points
Foreign professional degree or doctorate in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics 10 points
U.S. professional degree or doctorate in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics 13 points


What's your English ability?
Poor 0 points
Moderate 6 points
Good 10 points
Excellent 11 points
Fluent 12 points


Do you have a job offer?
No 0 points
Yes, with a salary less than $77,900 0 points
Yes, with a salary of at least $77,900 5 points
Yes, with a salary of at least $103,900 8 points
Yes, with a salary of at least $155,800 13 points
Do you have a Nobel Prize or major international award?
Yes 25 points
No 0 points


Have you won an Olympic medal in the past 8 years?
Yes 15 points
No 0 points


Do you plan on investing money in the U.S.?
No 0 points
Yes, with foreign currency worth less than $1.35 million for a new commercial enterprise 0 points
Yes, with foreign currency worth between $1.35 million and $1.8 million for a new commercial enterprise 6 points
Yes, with foreign currency worth at least $1.8 million for a new commercial enterprise 12 points.

Red vs Blue States Public Education!

The Trump Party Predictions...

Republicans to allow Businesses to hire based on your Politics, Non-Religion, Prior Wage History...etc!!!

Scott Walker's recent ad campaign asking out-of-state young people to move to Wisconsin for jobs is just one side of the story, and a deceptive one.

"Don't Live in Wisconsin" ads? It's time the "left" fought back. We should have some well-funded group running ads to counter the deceptive ones put out by Walker. Yes, an anti-Wisconsin ad, where minimum wages are forced, benefits laughed at, mass transit discouraged, and protected class status wiped completely out so employers can mistreat and take advantage of your situation. Basically, tell the truth about the market here, and see how their policies help or hurt their state's economy.

Insulting "Equal Employment Standardization Act" does the Opposite:" See this previous blog post. Digging deeper in Rep. Chris Kapenga's big government Republican plan to establish a one-size-fits-all labor standard, it looks like employers will have the opportunity to bring back the kind of coercive serfdom they've been craving for decades.

...prohibit local municipalities from establishing and enforcing their own employment discrimination laws.The protected classes that would be eliminated include gender identity, non-religion, homelessness, source of income, lack of a social security number, physical appearance, political beliefs, student status, domestic partners, citizenship, unemployment status and credit history.

"Political beliefs?" Wow, I didn't expect that one, but then again, it makes sense since Republicans only allow businesses in Wisconsin that fit their narrow corporate agenda. Nothing overtly fascistic here.

Here again is a video showing a stumbling bumbling Kapenga struggle to explain his earlier purely ideological bill in Feb. 2014 to Dane County Executive Joe Parisi.

  

Remember, Republicans recently repealed and then rewrote a regulation that now allows 16 and 17-year-olds to work without a parents permission, while they're still in school.

Eliminated restrictions on 16- and 17-year-olds working more than 26 hours during a school week and more than 50 hours a week during vacations ... but they will not be permitted to join a union without a signed parental consent.

Democrats maintain the bill would allow children to make important life decisions that could adversely affect their educations — against their parents’ wishes.

And remember this:

Seven-day workweeks (are now) allowed and provisions for a "living wage" (were) struck from state statutes.  

Note, this will also spread into Wisconsin someday, maybe tied in with work requirements for food stamps, BadgerCare, and unemployment:

"...in Georgia, thousands of unemployed people are working without a salary in “auditions” for paying gigs."

Getting back to the current bill...:

The city could not enforce employment discrimination in Madison. Between 70 and 80 percent of all cases the civil rights department receives are related to employment. By removing the city’s enforcement ability ... the state would need to absorb over 100 cases, which would likely take longer to investigate.

This is the GOP's plan to end American progress, terminating social and economic ideas that always start at the local level:

1. Create uniform regulations across the state for employment hours and benefits.

2. Give employers the right to ask for prospective employees’ salary histories.

3. Prohibit municipalities from setting a higher minimum wage than the state for contracted employees.

4. Set a statewide standard and prohibit local ordinances regarding wage claims.

  

Scott Walker: Unemployed are Worthless Human Beings, won't get Health Care without Work.

Why aren't the Democrats pummeling Scott Walker and Trump over their plan to make unemployed Americans work so they can get medical treatment under Medicaid? Media reports have never even brought up how absurd and cruel withholding health care is for any anyone including the unemployed.

What am I missing here? What part of the following upside down comment makes any sense?

Seema Verma, head of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (said), “Medicaid needs to be more flexible so that states can best address the needs of this population. Our fundamental goal is to make a positive and lasting difference in the health and wellness of our beneficiaries."

1. Health care is Not a Consumer Product, a Free Market Privilege: Republicans are absurdly saying you have to work for health care, which firmly establishes it in law as a reward for the deserving, and affirms it as a thing we can give or take away. Ever other industrialized country in the world believes that's just morally and ethically bankrupt, especially making a profit from the sick.

2. Opposite Day Everyday-a "Positive Difference in Wellness?" How can withholding treatment from someone not working, whose health took a bad turn, be a "positive goal" that "addresses the needs of this population?"

3. Not-so-Civilized Society: It means we've lost our humanity, and abandons once and for all our sense of responsibility to treat the sick.

4. Convoluted Big Government Bureaucratic Regulation: Imagine the paperwork, off and online application, uploading or mailing requirements, especially for those ill-equipped to deal with all or part of the complicated process. 

It's not about Saving Money, getting People Back to Work: As demonstrated by the Republican tax cut adding $2 trillion to the deficit, it's only about their cruel ideological agenda:

Critics say these moves will cost taxpayers more than they save, trigger costly lawsuits and fail to boost the state’s economy the way other investments might.

Big Government Republicans to wipe out Local control over Labor Standards, praising One-Size-Fits-All "consistency" and "stability."

Would you believe...so far, Republican voters believe, and they're willing to give up local control of their own communities for the ridiculous excuse that it offers "consistency" and "stability" to employee hours, benefits, wage and discrimination claims. What, you didn't know this was a big problem?

AP: A Republican bill would prevent local governments in Wisconsin from enacting a variety of ordinances pertaining to employment matters, including limits on working hours, overtime, benefits, and discrimination and wage claims ... the measure is needed to create statewide employment standards to provide consistency and stability both for employers and employees. 

Even though "Democrats and labor unions" oppose the one-size-fits-all attack on labor, this is really a slap at every working stiff in the state, and every employer trying to compete statewide and nationally.  

Republicans aren't hiding anything anymore; it's feel-good anti-worker conservativism, with the added benefit of killing off local control:

(Part of) a movement championed by Walker, who has built his reputation by effectively ending collective bargaining and enacting a right to work law. Since 2016, at least 15 states passed 28 such laws covering everything from barring higher local minimum wages to blocking more generous paid leave provisions, based on an August report from the Economic Policy Institute.

Walker's Ad Touting Work in Wisconsin...a Lie: Have you seen that Scott Walker ad campaign telling workers in other states how much different and better Wisconsin is? Nope, Wisconsin wants to be like every other low wage state. That's not all, Republicans think workers aren't too smart and are easily confused by the different local standards. And you won't believe the line of ideological word salad bullshit from the bill's lead sponsor State Sen. Chris Kapenga:

Kapenga said the restrictions were needed in the face of cities in other states enacting ordinances covering such things as wages, benefits and other issues that result in a patchwork of requirements creating confusion. Having a variety of different local requirements would make Wisconsin a less competitive and more costly state to do business, he said.

"We're talking about doing what's right for Wisconsin knowing what's happening around the country," Kapenga said.

Doing What's Right? Kapenga isn't the only self-righteous Republican:

Rep. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield: “There are certain values that the state upholds. If the values aren’t consistent at the local level, there is an opportunity for the state to come in and say these are our principles and they are good."

Put another, better way...: 

Stephanie Bloomingdale, secretary-treasurer for the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO: "This bill is about power, the power to overreach and tell citizens in their own communities that they don't know what's best for them."

MUST SEE VIDEO: Check out this debate between Dane County Executive Joe Parisi and Chis Kapenga from Feb. 21, 2014, when Kapenga first came up with this statewide idea after the Milwaukee County Board brought up a living wage ordinance.  One guy is intellectually honest, the other struggles to make any sense. From WKOW:

Blatant Kapenga Conflict of Interest? Get this, Rep. Chris Kapenga is CEO of Integrated Time Systems, and originally wrote a similar law to protect his own company in Brookfield:

"My company is in Milwaukee and the second I saw the news story come out that there may be an ordinance put in place, I started working on this," said Rep. Kapenga, who owns a computer software business.

Here's what this amazing Republican bill does, supported by the usual list of big monied special interests, like Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce ... the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, and groups representing independent businesses, restaurants, the tourism industry, hotels and staffing services:

1. Prohibit local governments from setting higher wages in deals with contractors.

2. Prohibit labor peace agreements, which are deals in which employers agree not to resist a union's organizing attempts

3. Bar the enforcement of licensing regulations that are stricter than state's standard

4. Forbid the enactment or enforcement of employment discrimination standards.

Scott Walker's Paul Soglin Panic Attack!!!

Scott Walker's lack of ammunition against his Democratic opponents for governor is the real shocker.

As Madison Mayor Paul Soglin inched closer to making his announcement to run, Walker spewed an almost laughable and desperate tweet storm Jan. 4th (6 days ago Politifact):

And just today, Walker bashed Madison all the while promoting it: 

Soglin's successful management of Madison, it's incredibly low unemployment rate, the fact that it's always on the lists of best cities stand in stark contrast to Walker's reign as Milwaukee County Executive. He nearly bankrupted and broke up the county government. Here's what I wrote in a post from 2015...

______________________________________________________________________________________

...In 2009, when Walker decided to run for governor, he claimed the problems in Milwaukee were caused by "poor policies" from...guess who, Democratic Governor Jim Doyle. But now as governor, it can't be Walker's fault? Check out this video from Upfront with Mike Gousha, that also includes his push for "shrinking" wages. You read that right:

Walker: (On doing away with more state jobs) "Yes...we're going to have to look at shrinking the size of government, we're going to have to look at shrinking more importantly, the size of wages and benefits..."

Oh, it gets worse...:

Remember, this all happened under Walker's watch back in May, 2009. Even then nothing was ever his fault:

Mike Gousha: "There are going to be people who say look, Milwaukee county has the highest poverty rate in the state, we're losing jobs in the city of Milwaukee, your largest municipality at a rate almost unmatched by any other big city. Do you share any responsibility for that?"

Walker: "Everybody does, but the state of Wisconsin has done specific things, policy wise, that have effected jobs here...if you look at the tax increases of $1.2 billion of new taxes..."

Mike Gousha: "Do you think you bare any of the responsibility for the numbers I just mentioned for the poverty rate, for the lack of employment right now in this community?"

Walker: "No, for us that's been an issue for years...politicians don't create jobs or eliminate jobs...!"

Walker never made the situation better in Milwaukee as governor. Walker as county executive actually agreed to dissolve the county, admitting that it was essentially bankrupt. From the Journal Sentinel's Dan Bice:

jsonline: Milwaukee County government is in such dire financial shape that state lawmakers should push through legislation that would allow it and other local governments to file for bankruptcy … the powerful Greater Milwaukee Committee is looking to recommend doing away with the elected county executive's post, slicing county worker benefits and spinning off the zoo, the bus system, the parks and much else under separate commissions.

(The Greater Milwaukee Committee tried to hide their report, saying) "We don't want this to become some sort of political football during the fall election campaigns ... If these dramatic steps - or something like them - aren't taken county government will collapse," the draft report suggests.

With Walker in charge....

The report also puts it this way: "If we don't make changes today … Parks will close, bus routes will end and families in distress will not get the help they need. Our Milwaukee will grow smaller and smaller as people and companies leave."

Here's one of my favorite cartoons that should have been taken more seriously:

Kinda liked these too...

Wisconsin Republicans want to eliminate all of Wisconsin’s state air pollution regulations! They really do!!!

Seriously, I nearly spit out my coffee this morning when I heard the WPR headline below...

Under the proposal, the state Department of Natural Resources would have the option to reintroduce those regulations.

Optional? What's the big deal? One of the Senates most backward and clueless Republican legislators ever, Sen. Duey Stroebel, said this in the most nonchalant way...

"All we're asking is that our scientists at the DNR just take a look at all the things that they regulate above and beyond the EPA, and make sure that it still makes sense," said Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, one of the bill’s sponsors. "If it does, we'll regulate it. If it doesn't, based upon what the scientists say, we won't." Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute support the bill.

So what's not to like? Yup, it'll be just that easy to reinstate a regulation if our anti-science Republican legislature and depleted DNR staff think we've made a balanced decision weighing the unfair cost to business against the remotely possible environmental benefits. What's the beef?

At least we'll always have the EPA standards as a backup...?

Republicans Roll Back Environmental Protections in Wisconsin at the same time EPA Rolling Back Everything Else: Just by coincidence, this coal industry story hit the fan:

EPA's Rick Perry and Murray Hug!

The Trump administration is rolling back regulations on coal-fired power plants.

A memo written by Robert E. Murray, a longtime Trump supporter who donated $300,000 to the president’s inauguration (and) the head of Murray Energy, presented Mr. Trump with a wish list of environmental rollbacks just weeks after the inauguration ... the White House has completed or are on track to fulfill most of the 14 detailed requests:

1. Ending regulations on greenhouse gas emissions and ozone and mine safety

2. Cutting the staff of the Environmental Protection Agency “at least in half.” 

3. Overhauling the Labor Department’s office of mine safety.

Here's a look at Murray's list to Trump:

Republicans are in Charge, but not Control (of themselves): None of this is new, as you can see at this link where Paul Ryan has been passing this kind of environmental trash out of the House for years.