Thursday, February 29, 2024

WI Republicans Spending Spree on Attorneys, Chesebro is the BadgerPundit, Nazi CPAC Meet, WHITE RURAL RAGE, the book.

 Just another page in the Trump era...

1. Lame Duck Laws by Lame Gerrymandered Republicans.

WI Republicans not only took power away from the governor and AG during a lame duck session after Scott Walker lost, but they also allowed themselves to hire their own attorneys instead of the state justice department.

WI GOP's lame duck laws made it easier for the Legislature to hire attorneys and indeed, WI taxpayers are on the hook for nearly $14.3M spent by WI GOP on private attorneys between 1/1/19 & 12/31/22. Add probably $3M more for this last redistricting fight.

While the Dems have only just hired their private attorneys:

It must be highlighted that only in this last redistricting fight did Democrats hire their own private lawyers—at a fraction of what WI GOP attorneys charged. And WI GOP experts, like the redistricting one paid $450/hr, are additional out-of-pocket costs.

Another amazing example of “fiscal conservative policies.” Then there's this...



2. Kenneth Chesebro's private Twitter account @badgerpundit sought to overturn the election. Okay?

Do you call it an insurrection? Uh, yea.

Kenneth Chesebro, who helped devise the Trump campaign’s fake electors plot, concealed a secret Twitter account from Michigan prosecutors, hiding dozens of posts that undercut his statements to investigators about his role in the scheme.



3. Nazis at CPAC know where their swastikas are welcome...
4. WHITE RURAL RAGE, the book: 

Professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Tom Schaller and journalist Paul Waldman's new book, “White Rural Rage.”

You might remember back in 2016, The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker by author Katherine J. Cramer.
White Rural Rage laid out the fourfold interconnected threat that white rural voters pose to the country,” in their new book. “They are the most anti-gay, xenophobic in the country. QAnon support and subscribers, COVID denialism, Obama birtherism.”

“They don’t believe in an independent press, free speech. They’re most likely to say the president should be backed unilaterally without checks from the courts, and the strongest white Christian nationalists. Fourth, they’re most likely to excuse or justify violence as acceptable.”

This is the case due to the “problematic education systems,” “poorer infrastructure” and “a lack of economic opportunity” in rural areas of the country.

“That kind of left them open to someone like Donald Trump who would come along and tell them something that was true, that there is a system that has not served them well,”

5. Florida College Hit With Rare Sanction After DeSantis’ ‘Egregious’ Takeover, that was politically motivated. 

NewCollege of Florida, the school infamously overhauled by Gov. Ron DeSantis and his pals, was slapped with a rare sanction by a national faculty group Monday for “egregious and extensive” standards violations during its conservative takeover last year.

The American Association of University Professors, has placed just 12 other universities on its sanctioned list over the last three decades.

The nonprofit wrote in a report that its decision stemmed from New College’s “unprecedented politically motivated takeover.”

DeSantis praised the moves as necessary to save the school from ruin, even though it regularly pumped out Fulbright scholars.

LeRoy Pernell, a Florida A&M Law professor said, “What we are witnessing in Florida is an intellectual reign of terror. There is a tremendous sense of dread right now, not just among faculty; it’s tangible among students and staff as well. People are intellectually and physically scared. We are being named an enemy of the state.”


MUST SEE: What Trump's American will really look like...

The Heritage Foundation's work on Project 2025 is a long read, so in an attempt to get the word out on our possible dystopian future, the Courier Newsroom has a number of videos that break it all down. Here's just one great example:




Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Christian Nationalism is spreading.

1. Gather Around the Christian Nationalist Flag…

Trump’s team is preparing to fundamentally reshape America under their “Project 2025” plan, starting with declaring America is now a “Christian nationalist” country.

Christian nationalists believe the country was founded as a Christian nation, and Christian values should be prioritized throughout government and public life.

Russell Vought, who served under Trump could be a potential chief of staff for Trump.

A list of top priorities:

---invoking the Insurrection Act on Day One to quash protests.

--- refusing to spend authorized congressional funds on unwanted projects.

---promoted a restrictionist immigration agenda, saying a person’s background doesn’t define who can enter the U.S., but rather, citing Biblical teachings, whether that person “accept[ed] Israel’s God, laws and understanding of history.”

---Christian nationalist William Wolfe, a former Trump administration official advocated for overturning same-sex marriage, ending abortion and reducing access to contraceptives.

---a constellation of conservative groups run by Trump allies constructed a detailed plan to dismantle key agencies, that states “freedom is defined by God, not man.” NOT THE CONSTITUTION.

---Trump is espousing the Christian right’s long-running argument that Christians are so severely persecuted that it necessitates a federal response.

---“Marxists and fascists” are “going hard” against Catholics, so “Upon taking office, I will create a new federal task force on fighting anti-Christian bias to be led by a fully reformed Department of Justice that’s fair and equitable.”

---Trump promoted on his social media a video that suggests his campaign is, actually, a divine mission from God.

God made Trump audio.

---define human rights based on “natural law and natural rights” derived from God that can’t be superseded by government or judges. It’s been used to oppose abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and contraception.

---Trump is also talking about bringing his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, a vocal proponent of Christian nationalism, back into office. Flynn is currently focused on recruiting what he calls an “Army of God” — as he barnstorms the country promoting his vision of putting Christianity at the center of American life.

---William_E_Wolfe’s principles, including on immigration states: “Jesus Christ wasn’t an open-borders socialist. The Bible unapologetically upholds the concept of sovereign nations.”

---Vought defended the widely criticized practice of family separation at the border during the Trump years, telling the audience “The decision to defend the rule of law necessitates the separation of families.”

---policies that support LGBTQ+ rights, subsidize “single-motherhood” and penalize marriage should be repealed because subjective notions of “gender identity” threaten “Americans’ fundamental liberties.”

---organized campaigns around “culture war” issues, including curbing LGBTQ+ rights, banning books and opposing gun safety laws.

---Matthew Taylor, a scholar at the Institute for Christian Jewish Studies, said, “These folks aren’t as interested in democracy or working through democratic systems because their theology is one of Christian warfare.”

2. ‘God & Country' Review: A Bracing, Rob Reiner-Produced Primer on the Dangers of Christian Nationalism.

Thefilm points out in exhaustive detail, Christian Nationalism is very much a political, rather than religious, movement. The movement claims that America is a Christian nation and that the founders intended it as such. It seeks to roll back feminism, LBGTQ rights and abortion, and to either introduce Christianity to public schools or substitute them with private Christian schools funded by vouchers.

That a large majority of the population opposes these things doesn't faze them in the least. But it does motivate them to prevent people from voting.

The film ends where it began, with footage of Jan. 6 insurrectionists proudly bearing crosses, signs emblazoned with bible verses, and pictures of Jesus. What it doesn't provide, unfortunately, is a persuasive prescription for how we're going to prevent our country from descending from democracy to theocracy.

3. Heritage Foundation Integrates religion into Sex...not having it!

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

A Media Defamation Law would be Right-wing Media's biggest Enemy but go-ahead Florida.

Once a conservative now a progressive pundit Bruce Bartlett remarked: 
“The right spent the last 50 years building an alternative media to get out its message, while the left has doggedly relied solely on the legacy media. As the legacy media has collapsed, the right's media has remained strong, while the left's ability to communicate has died."
Well, that might change soon in Florida:
A GOP-backed defamation bill making it easier to sue the media in Florida will 'destroy conservative media,' says on conservative radio host
Supposedly, Florida aims to hold the liberal media accountable.

But right-wing radio host lie all the time. They don’t see a problem with this.

This conservative radio host never admits right wing radio hosts lie… But he is freaking out because he knows it's true…in his own words:
“Liberal trial lawyers are going to have a field day with “center-right” media in the state of Florida, it will destroy conservative media in this state.”
Why, because they Lie.
“How do you think a conservative show host is gonna hold up in deep blue Broward County with liberal judges. I believe that Republicans are acting like liberals in the way that they are legislating out of emotion. They're not thinking. They're reacting. Liberals don't even care about winning. They care about burying the voices. They care about censoring conservative voices.”
Because they can’t stop lying? He said,
“They want to shut down conservative media. And the Republicans are creating a law that would make it easier for them to do so."
Because conservative media can’t stop lying.

This will be fun to watch, if not a little on the chaotic side.

John & Gordy Show: Pentagon Sense of Humor, AI voices against Guns, MAGAs part with their money, Tenn. to Ban Cold Beer?

 A look at the John & Gordy Show on WMDX 92.7 Monday....

1. PENTAGON CONFRONTED WITH MOVIE CHARACTER COMPARISONS TO REAL WORLD VILLAINS:  

As the TWEET X said: "This actually happened at the Pentagon briefing yesterday. It is real. It really happened. Maj. Gen. Ryder @PentagonPresSec…." Who doesn't like this Maj. General now?

Context here…..Jeff Schogol is a reporter for  @TaskandPurpose,  a news, culture and analysis site for the military community.

The audio starts with reporter Jeff Schogol's first question, and about 1 minute 5 sec. in his 2nd question:

2. AI VOICES OF TEENAGERS COMING BACK TO HAUNT REPUBLICANS: 

One of the most incredible responses yet by parents of children killed by assault weapons. If this doesn't get a politicians attention, nothing will. Horrifying, sad, and giving a voice to those who can no longer be heard...

ENGADGET: Their children were shot, so they used AI to recreate their voices and call lawmakers.

The parents of a teenager who was killed in Florida’s Parkland school shooting in 2018 have started a bold new project called The Shotline to lobby for stricter gun laws in the country. The Shotline uses AI to recreate the voices of children killed by gun violence and send recordings through automated calls to lawmakers, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“I’m back today because my parents used AI to recreate my voice to call you,” says the AI-generated voice of Joaquin Oliver, one of the teenagers killed in the Parkland shooting. “Other victims like me will be calling too.” At the time of publishing, more than 8,000 AI calls had been submitted to lawmakers through the website.

3. MAGA Cult willingly give what little money they have, living paycheck to paycheck, to pay for this former grifting president? Sure, it will happen...watch the coffers fill. 


(You can't make this kind of grifting up!!!)

4. TENNESSEE MAY BAN THE SALE OF...COLD BEER? 

I know, having an overwhelming super majority in the Tennessee legislature and having a governor willing to sign every bill, it would be tempting to exercise power that would stretch past the boundaries of reality, but who would have guessed this...in the words of reporter Phil Williams:


5. ‘God & Country' Review: A Bracing, Rob Reiner-Produced Primer on the Dangers of Christian Nationalism.

The film points out in exhaustive detail, Christian Nationalism is very much a political, rather than religious, movement. The movement claims that America is a Christian nation and that the founders intended it as such. It seeks to roll back feminism, LBGTQ rights and abortion, and to either introduce Christianity to public schools or substitute them with private Christian schools funded by vouchers.

That a large majority of the population opposes these things doesn't faze them in the least. But it does motivate them to prevent people from voting.

The film ends where it began, with footage of Jan. 6 insurrectionists proudly bearing crosses, signs emblazoned with bible verses, and pictures of Jesus. What it doesn't provide, unfortunately, is a persuasive prescription for how we're going to prevent our country from descending from democracy to theocracy.

VIDEO FOUND HERE

BONUS: The following video came out in 2014 predicting the power of AI...my Gen Z son started playing this for me and I could not stop laughing. This guy threw every possible cliche into it. Hope you find this even remotely funny, or I'm going to think they were right, there is something definitely wrong with me....


Sunday, February 4, 2024

MAGAs should back out of cratering economy before it's too late !

 I thought this opinion in USA Today was spot on....

1. True MAGA patriots must remove themselves from Biden’s booming economy, cash out 401(k)s

To all devoted MAGA patriots aboard the Trump Train:

America’s economy appears to have gone woke and is now fully supporting the reelection of Crooked Joe Biden. I’m not sure how this happened, but no matter how much we say the economy is terrible, it keeps unpatriotically refusing to be terrible, posing a direct threat to PRESIDENT Donald J. Trump in the 2024 presidential race.

Just look at these recent headlines about the now-totally-liberal economy:

Along with all that, the S&P 500, which we now know has a liberal bias, hit a record high Jan. 19, wage growth is beating inflation and jobless claims hit their lowest point since 2022.

There must be fear! Good economic news forces the GOP to switch narrative to the border.

2. A booming Biden economy is bad for America and worse for Trump

None of this is good news if you care about President Trump or America. It’s clear Democrats are manipulating the economy and making it the strongest economy in the world in order to fool voters into thinking Biden is a competent president.

Don’t believe me? If you own stocks or have a 401(k), just look at your balance and you’ll see EXACTLY what these cheaters are up to. They’re trying to buy your votes by putting more money in your pockets. That’s cheating. DON’T BE FOOLED!

It’s clear true Trump supporters cannot be party to this kind of liberal skullduggery. So in response to this distressing spate of positive economic news, I hereby call on all MAGA faithful to remove themselves from the CORRUPTLY BOOMING BIDEN ECONOMY.

3. Cash out your 401(k) and invest in the Trump Train, baby!

If you have a 401(k), you need to immediately cash that out and either donate the money to President Trump’s reelection campaign/legal defense fund (he will give it back to you, with interest, once elected) or invest those funds in somethings sensible, like digital Trump Trading Cards.

Next, you must quit your job. It’s on us to help President Trump’s campaign by bringing those unemployment numbers back up to where we think they should be under an incompetent president who doesn’t know what day it is.

If you aren’t willing to quit your job, you must at least refuse any pay raise you’re offered. Only a squishy lib would allow himself to get paid more while a DEMONcrat is in office.

4. Trump wants you to believe America is a disaster – do as he says

Lastly, it is ABSOLUTELY imperative that you not feel confident about the future. America is a terrible place. It is falling apart. The economy is in shambles and your personal economic situation is a garbage fire.

Darkness is everywhere. Living is anguish. All hope is lost.

Only by embracing these America-first beliefs, and believing Trump is the one person who can fix everything and make life perfect, will you be able to declare yourself a true MAGA loyalist.

So get out there, fellow patriot, and disconnect from Biden’s economy. Sell stocks, put your retirement money in Trump’s coffers, embrace the gloom.

When it comes to Biden’s hot economy, remember this: Go broke or you're woke.

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Wisconsin's Gerrymandered Republicans continue Scott Walker's Act 10 anti-market wage restraint, a gift to the top 1 Percent.

I thought it might be a good idea to remind everyone what Scott Walker did as governor, how he stunted Wisconsin's wages and buying power for a generation, just to fulfil a partisan agenda free of solutions to deal with the state's current list of problems.  

ACT 10 Mistake: First, Scott Walker passed Act 10, destroying public unions and lowering wages. It was a purely political solution to a nonexistent state budget problem. Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich shredded this paper-thin politician. 

What Walker set in motion would eventually be a devastating hit on individual incomes and business expansion for a decade. 

Act 10 reversed century of progress. Wisconsin Supreme Court should toss law.
Comparing Wisconsin to Minnesota, we can see how massive a hit our workers took on inflation-adjusted median household incomes.

Act 10 choked wage growth for all state workers, public and private. The law legislated wage decline. Public and private sector workers alike exist in a common labor market, driving down the wages of one, drives them down for all, and private sector enterprises could pay all workers less.
Wisconsin vs Minnesota: It's real ugly...
In 2012 our median household incomes were $53,079, Minnesota’s were $61,759.

A decade after Act 10, that spread grew from $73,330 in the Badger
State, to a whopping $90,390 in Minnesota. A nominal spread of $8,000 between the states was transformed into a $17,060 gap.

If labor had discretionary income it goes to corner taps and restaurants, hairstylists and barbers, landscapers, sports shops selling hunting rifles, fishing rods and bait, etc. But if workers did not get this money the past decade, who did? The TOP “1%.” Money pocketed by big business.

The “savings” from Act 10's anti-market wage restraint reduced government budgets permitting tax cuts benefiting those who already have the most.

The same politicians legislating less pay for labor can’t claim to be saving Wisconsin money when they made the state one of only ten to rejected the return of some $2 billion of Wisconsin’s tax dollars from Washington to expand healthcare over the past decade.

Wisconsin is not “saving money” with Act 10. It is shrinking wage and small business growth while giving the 1% cash taken from its workers. This raw deal legislating low wages runs counter to the great New Deal that expanded our middle class. It’s more than time for Wisconsin’s State Supreme Court to reverse it ending gerrymandering.

Thursday, November 2, 2023

Republicans abandon farmers, offer up silence instead.

Do Republicans deserve the vote of rural towns and farmers? Nope. 

I've been making this case for years, but the example below crystalizes that point. They have done nothing but promise no spending, while offering tax cuts. Spending would have helped farmers and small towns, and the extra money was there to finally clean up the wells and help upgrade infrastructure. But nothing was ever done. Then they messed up the tax credits too, as shown below.

First let's look for a cameo appearance of Senator Marklein, who sits on the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Tourism. Below is his district map. Pretty rural. 


In the shocking video below, not one Republican, including Marklein, offer up even the weakest excuse. Nothing...

Any questions? 

Thursday, October 26, 2023

John & Gordy Show returns...

We're back...Monday Oct 30, 6-8 am on WMDX 92.7. 



Friday, October 13, 2023

Universal Basic Income blocked in Wisconsin, because Republicans don't want to know.

Universal Basic Income and Guaranteed Income! Wisconsin Republicans hate to give anyone a chance, despite the fact that UBI works. 
"Republican lawmakers held a day of back-to-back public hearings in mid-April for bills, (like) the ban local guaranteed income programs."
Okay, we heard you, stop. WIS Republicans are loudly broadcasting that only they are in control. Not you, or parents, or "real Americans." THEY ARE IN CONTROL. For example, the recently passed ban on advisory referendums screams authoritarian control, keeping popular ideas from ever getting off the ground. These are not just popular but, in many cases, successful ideas implemented elsewhere. But they don't want to hear about it. Can you think of any other reason why they banned them?  

Like a Guaranteed Income or even Universal Basic Income (UBI). 


Republicans still living in and saying the same old 20th Century Things: This never rang true for me: "They didn't earn it." 
Universal basic income does not give people something for nothing so much as equalize everyone’s share of the luck. Fair giving and taking would then take place on the basis of a more equitable starting place.
Question: Did a recently graduated teen from a well-to-do family actually earn an advantage over a graduated teen coming from a poor struggling family? No. This is where, in this case a guaranteed income that is targeted to lower income individuals only, tries to give a hand up to those unable to get started.
And a growing body of research based on the experiments shows that guaranteed income works — that it pulls people out of poverty, improves health outcomes, and makes it easier for people to find jobs and take care of their children. If empirical evidence ruled the world, guaranteed income would be available to every poor person in America, and many of those people would no longer be poor.
Recently I interviewed a 20-something who kept apologizing to me for having not made enough money last year to be able to buy a car so he could get a better job this year. A guaranteed income would have made a difference. 

The only thing holding up this proven policy is resentment. Someone getting something for "nothing." 
UBI is also a very conservative idea: 
Figures like Martin Luther King, Jr., and Milton Friedman (backed the idea)—but the conversation did not pick up much in subsequent decades.
There are no examples of where guaranteed income and universal basic income didn't work. At least, I didn't find any. So here are some examples:
 
Example A:
Beginning in February 2019, for example, 125 residents of Stockton, California, received a monthly stipend of $500 over the course of 24 months through a citywide initiative. “And they did find that full-time employment increased,” says Donna Pavetti, vice president for family income support policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

“It just gave people some flexibility,” she says, “So if they were working two part-time jobs, they could cut back, which gave them time to look for a better job.”

One year into the two-year pilot, Stockton recipients had spent 37% of their allotments on food, 22% on home goods and personal clothing items, and 11% on utilities. They spent less than 1% on alcohol and tobacco.

Beyond covering their own needs, some of the Stockton Compton recipients have committed to using the funds to pay it forward. That’s part of what the program’s organizers hope to demonstrate: that redistributing wealth through direct payments could improve access to education, housing and nutrition; reduce the racial wealth gap; and stimulate economic activity—which in turn can lift up a whole community.

Already, at least two members of the Compton Pledge have used some of their funding to start their own nonprofits
Example B: 
A study of 25 residents of Hudson, New York, who began receiving $500 per month in the fall of 2020 on behalf of research organization the Jain Family Institute, found similar results. Participants’ employment (both full and part-time) grew from 29% to 63%, and their physical and mental health improved as well.
Example C: 
The final results of Finland’s program found that a basic income actually had a positive impact on employment. People on the basic income were more likely to be employed than those in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant, albeit small. Concurrent changes in other unemployment policies make it difficult to ascertain, from this study, whether the basic income, the other changes, or both were responsible for the higher employment levels. However, something about the modest level of the basic income and the lack of conditions attached to receiving it seems to have motivated recipients to seek and accept work they otherwise might not have.

Monday, August 21, 2023

WISGOP's 14- to 15-year-old child labor push exposes Kids to dangerous jobs and Sexual harassment in Bars and Restaurants. "Protecting our kids?"

Who thinks the three Republicans pushing legislation allowing 8th thru 10th graders (ages 14 and 15) to work without a permit or even permission from their parents is a good idea? Not only is this not a solution to our labor shortage, but a regressive idea returning our nation to the worst of the Gilded Age.  

Republicans actually said child labor laws in Wisconsin are "needless administrative barriers," and excessive "government regulation." 

(AP) Children ages 14 and 15 would no longer need a work permit or parental permission to get a job under a Republican bill. This comes amid a wider push by state lawmakers to roll back child labor laws, despite the efforts of federal investigators to crack down on a surge in child labor violations nationally...violation of child labor laws has increased by 37% within the last year.

So "parental rights" works to dismantle public education, but parental rights don't work for their teenagers getting a job while just entering high school? 

Sen. Cory Tomczyk and Reps. Clint Moses and Amy Binsfeld, the Republicans sponsoring the bill, called youth work permits “needless administrative barriers that slow down the hiring process. It’s important that young people have the opportunity to work without having to endure excessive government regulation...”
...enforcing child labor laws? Exhibit A, defining what Republicans mean by "excess government regulation." Never forget. 

WISGOP Protecting Employers from being Caught, not kidding: While Republicans make getting unemployment benefits almost impossible to get, they're helping employers hide abuses like kids doing dangerous jobs and low wages:
The bill continues to require employers to keep their own records of employees’ ages and hours worked, but without work permits verified by a state agency, companies caught violating child labor laws can more easily claim ignorance...eliminating the permit requirement makes it significantly more difficult to investigate violations because there are fewer records of where kids are being employed.
Sadly, one child was killed on the job because his father worked at the same business, a legal exemption in Federal child labor law: 
Michael Schuls, 16, died on June 29 after sustaining injuries at the Florence Hardwoods logging company in Florence, Wisconsin. Michael was attempting to unjam a wood-stacking machine when he became pinned under machinery on a conveyor belt, resulting in what the coroner identified as traumatic asphyxiation, The Associated Press reported.

Note: Sen. Cory Tomczyk's use of the word "fagot" spark a lawsuit that smacks of violating freedom of the press:

Wisconsin Examiner: Tomczyk, then just a businessman and former school board member, alleged that the paper defamed him when it published accusations that he had called a 13-year-old boy a “fag” during an Aug. 12, 2021, meeting. The boy had spoken in favor of a resolution called “A Community for All,” which was meant to reinforce the importance of diversity and inclusivity.

Digital newspaper The Wausau Review & Pilot editor and founder Shereen Siewert, said she believed the purpose of Tomczyk’s lawsuit is “to bankrupt me and crush our organization.” She recalled..."that even if we win, we lose, because there is no way for us to counter sue or recoup our losses in any way … because we live in Wisconsin.”

Unlike 31 other states and the District of Columbia, Wisconsin has no laws on its books to push back against what are known as SLAPP lawsuits, meant to silence critics by presenting them with crushing legal costs that cannot be recovered, even in cases where the suits have little merit.
In light of Senator Tomczyk’s horrific, bullying comments made towards a child coupled with him attempting to stifle reporting on the incident, leading to their potential closure, the Wisconsin State Senate Democratic Committee (SSDC) is calling on Senator Cory Tomczyk to resign.
14 Year Olds Serving Alcohol? That's NOT protecting kids from sexual harassment: Again, while MAGA Republicans push their phony "protect the kids" from school library book "pornography," they're okay with subjecting 14-year-old girls to drunk or toxic manliness in bars and restaurants. After all, women dominate wait server jobs (80% of Waitresses are female, and 19% are male). Got it.

In Wisconsin lawmakers are advocating for lowering the ageto serve alcohol in bars and restaurants to 14. It would be a nationwide first if approved, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Let's hope voters are smart enough to decide who deserves to be reelected. The guilty parties...
The bill sponsors Sen. Rob Stafsholt, of New Richmond, and Rep. Chanz Green, of Grandview, sent a memo seeking cosponsors.

Sunday, August 20, 2023

Chief Justice Ziegler plays the Victim, sobs over loss of power! Remember when she took the Governor and AG's powers away!

Well, what do you know, what goes around comes around.

Stay with me on this. Remember this blatantly obvious partisan WI Supreme Court decision to take the Governors powers away?

Wisconsin Examiner: The lame-duck session has been described by many as ‘power grabs’ because after Gov. Tony Evers and Kaul were elected — but before they took office — the Republican-controlled Legislature and Gov. Scott Walker moved quickly to diminish the incoming constitutional officer. These were powers Walker enjoyed his eight years in office, but Republicans did not want an incoming Democratic governor to have. 
In other words, some of the governors' powers were replaced by the legislature.

Conservative Justices Fire Liberal Chief Justice Immediately: Justice Shirley Abrahason was the court’s longest-serving member under the 126-year-old pre-amendment rules. Or were they more like guidelines...arrrrr, I'm a pirate???
I tried to ask the conservative justices — Michael Gableman, Patience Roggensack, Annette Ziegler and David Prosser — why they thought it was important to go ahead and vote Roggensack into the chief’s spot on the same day state elections officials certified the results of the April 7 statewide vote approving the amendment.
Fast forward to this week and conservative Chief Justice Ziegler's public tantrum: It's not so much fun when it happens to you...? 
Ziegler: "This is a complete outlier with respect to my colleagues gutting the rule of the Supreme Court Chief Justice that has been long standing. 40 years, since 1984, it has been defined by the internal operating procedures, and they basically took everyplace it said Chief Justice, gutted it, and put sham committee in its place.
Aw...again, this is the Chief Justice whining, going public, playing the victim, and appealing to MAGAs. No wonder this conservative court was considered one of the worst in the nation. WKOW


Background: Republican Justices had to ignore the Wisconsin Constitution:
The court ruled 4-3 in favor of the GOP, dismissing an argument that the session was called unconstitutionally. The court's majority opinion, written by conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley, rejected that. "The Wisconsin Constitution itself affords the legislature absolute discretion to determine the rules of its own proceedings."

The court's liberal justices dissented, saying the majority "subverts the plain text of ... the Wisconsin Constitution." ...the state constitution does not ascribe the power to call an extraordinary session of the legislature to lawmakers. "The Legislature's ability to determine the rules of its proceedings pursuant to Article IV, Section 8 does not swallow up the meeting requirements of Article IV, Section 11 or allow it to wield unbridled power," wrote Justice Rebecca Dallet.

 

Crisis Pregnancy Center Con lowering the bar for Women's Health Care.

 Hey, "there's so much good they do" for women, why not spend our taxpayer dollars on this...PBSWIS

According to Choose Life Wisconsin, there are more than 70 pregnancy resource centers like Life’s Connection around the state. And because of their prenatal support and the fact that these organizations don’t refer pregnant people for abortions and do actively discourage abortions, some Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin think they should receive state taxpayer funding.

State Senator Romaine Robert Quinn has introduced legislation toT fund these centers, (with) $1 million per year funneled to the centers through grants administered by Choose Life Wisconsin. The senator says the state should provide the money because "there’s so much good they do."
Here's a clip:


Another MAGA Republican Con-Crisis Pregnancy Centers: The stream of nonstop unregulated "do-it-yourself" opportunities by the MAGA grifting class is getting ridiculous. After reading about taxpayer voucher money nationally going to "education" centers that don't have teachers but do baby sit kids while their parents are at work, I came across this amazing grift about Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Since Republicans love this kind of stuff, they'll recklessly throw money at it. The Big But?: 
Most Crisis Pregnancy Centers are not licensed medical clinics. Most of their staff, likewise, does not include medical professionals (Bryant & Swartz, 2018). According to a report from the pro-life Lozier Foundation, Crisis Pregnancy Centers across the United States have had around 67,400 volunteers. 7,500 of those volunteers have been medical professionals, meaning only roughly 11 percent of Crisis Pregnancy Center staff are medical professionals (Charlotte Lozier Institute, 2018).
The con starts at the door...Wisconsin Examiner (Sept 2019):
“These so-called resource centers are designed to mislead women and to be deceptive,” says Rep. Lisa Subeck (D-Madison). “Women are tricked into entering facilities thinking they are accessing a legitimate health clinic offering services based on factually accurate medical information.” One group specifically stated their goal was to go in the wrong door,’ accessing their group when they were looking for a Planned Parenthood or other clinic with a full range of reproductive health options.

With something this important, you would have thought Sen. Romain Quinn would have looked into the history of Crisis Pregnancy Centers? Nope: 

A student in Wisconsin was told the abortion pill would render her infertile and a sophomore seeking STD testing was encouraged to sign a chastity pledge and told various horror stories about sex (Gerson, 2019).
Downgrading Womens Health Care? Anecdotal health care treatment and advice is a growing right-wing industry:
Sara Finger, the founder and executive director of the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health: “The Republican majority is out of touch with what women in Wisconsin need. We are perfectly capable of making healthcare decisions for ourselves. What we need is access to accurate information and affordable quality healthcare.”
Here are more bizarre politically motivated Facts about Crisis Pregnancy Centers: These centers gained legitimacy via the conservative Roberts court and chaos Czar Justice Thomas: 
There has been legislation, such as California’s FACT Act, that has attempted to require Crisis Pregnancy Centers to meet certain standards of accountability - like telling patients that the state offers services including family planning services, prenatal care, and abortion. The Supreme Court struck down this legislation in a 5 - 4 decision. The majority opinion, written by Justice Thomas, argued that such legislation was a violation of Crisis Pregnancy Centers’ freedom of speech.     Justice Breyer argued in the dissenting opinion: “If a state can lawfully require a doctor to tell a woman seeking an abortion about adoption services, why should it not be able, as here, to require a medical counselor to tell a woman seeking prenatal care or other reproductive healthcare about childbirth and abortion services?” (Barnes, 2018).
...more...
1. Heartbeat International also published a “List of Major Psychological Effects of Abortion” that claims that women suffer from “Post-Abortion Syndrome” after they terminate their pregnancy (Heartbeat International, 1997). Investigators called 25 crisis pregnancy centers that received federal funding and found that 87% of the centers “provided false or misleading information about the health effects of abortion” on subjects such as the risk of breast cancer, fertility, and mental health effects of abortion (U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform, 2006).

2. The guide, “A Pro-Active Strategy to Defend Your Pregnancy Center Against Legislative Attacks”, was meant to be a confidential resource but was easily accessible in an online PDF. In it, they state a key part of the messaging and strategy of CPCs have been purposefully obscuring their connection to pro-life political activism as to not scare away those who are seeking an abortion. As more and more research and attention have been brought to these centers, they made a turn to instead proactively present themselves to state elected officials “[f]or the sake of God’s glory and protecting the ongoing work of pregnancy centers” (CareNet, NIFLA, Heartbeat International, 2008). A big part of this initiative was counteracting plans to regulate or shut down Crisis Pregnancy Centers

3. The largest adoption agency in the nation, Bethany Christian Services is notorious for manipulating women to keep their pregnancies and treating “birth mothers” terribly. Bethany Christain Services run a CPC-like pregnancy counseling apparatus. Critics argue that they artificially produce orphans even for women that want to carry their pregnancy to term and parent and make tens of thousands from adoptive parents.
And no surprise, Crisis Pregnancy Centers have failed:
There is no evidence that Crisis Pregnancy Centers are even fulfilling their missions. A study published in 2018 found that there was no “evidence that pregnant women regularly seek CPC services or that CPCs persuade women who are certain abortion is the right decision for them to continue their pregnancies”. Prenatal patients reported receiving inaccurate information, and patients generally recognized that these centers were not medical clinics. Only 3 of the 383 people surveyed reported visiting a CPC that impacted their decisions regarding abortion. For organizations that center their operations on persuading women not to go through with abortion, their tactics do not seem to be very effective (Kimport, Kriz, & Roberts, 2018) As organizations that receive government assistance and taxpayer funding both federally and in a long list of states, it is fair to demand accountability from Crisis Pregnancy Centers. The mission of Crisis Pregnancy Centers is not to provide resources or information to women seeking to carry to term. They are extensions of a larger political apparatus.

Sunday, August 13, 2023

Vos threatens Impeachment for New Liberal Justice if she steps out of line, which must be a crime?

After finally gaining enough gerrymandered MAGA Republican seats in the State Senate, impeachment is now the sledgehammer they intend to use as a threat to anyone who they think is stepping out of line. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel




Keep in mind...
Article VII, section 1, of the Wisconsin Constitution provides that “the assembly shall have the power of impeaching all civil officers of this state for corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors.
Vos' made up "violation of office" would be considered a CRIME? Good luck with that one Robin. 

Of course, no threats of any kind were made when conservative activist Justices didn't recuse themselves despite major conflicts of interest or previous social and political hardline statements in the last 15 years. Because when conservatives put that "black robe on, they put opinions aside":


Bradley's argument makes Vos' point moot, but here's Bradley entire quote that includes political inclinations: 

Every judge comes to the bench as a human being having opinions on the issues of the day. It requires a judicial mindset when we put that black robe on to be able to set aside those personal opinions, policy preferences and political inclinations and to always follow the law and that’s why I emphasize to the voters my judicial philosophy.”
But according to Vos, liberal Justices that believe facts conservatives refuse to believe should be stopped:
Vos: "You cannot have a judge who said, you know, the maps are rigged because she bought into the argument that that's why we're winning elections, not the quality of our candidates..."
But the maps are rigged....

WUWM: The new maps, drawn by the Wisconsin State Legislature, are considered the most partisan-biased, court-adopted maps in the nation. That’s according to a new analysis from the University of Wisconsin Law School. The maps heavily advantage Republican politicians, all but guaranteeing Republican-rule in the state Legislature, regardless of what most voters want.

The analysis looked at four metrics: partisan-bias, efficiency gap, mean-median difference and declination.

"On every one of these standard partisan fairness metrics, these new maps are the worst, court-adopted maps that we’ve seen anywhere in the country," says Rob Yablon, an associate professor at the law school, who published the analysis.
Yet "Least Change" Redistricting Maps, a jaw dropping joke, Adopted:
By multiple established measures, Wisconsin’s state legislature is among the most heavily gerrymandered in the country. Republicans gained an even stronger legislative advantage in the most recent redistricting cycle—but this time, the (least change) maps were chosen by the Wisconsin Supreme Court...After intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court, ultimately adopted the assembly and senate maps drafted by the legislature—the same ones Governor Evers had previously vetoed.
Wisconsin had One of the Worst State Supreme Courts in the Country. The recent change was a welcome change...

The New Yorker noticed...

...in a decadelong saga that, largely through money-fueled and often nasty judicial elections, has intensified the turn of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from a congenial, moderately liberal institution into a severely divided conservative stronghold. More to the point, the elections have reduced it from one of the nation’s most respected state tribunals into a disgraceful mess.
It was so bad (no joke), a conservative Justice wrapped his hands around a female Justices neck...it happened:


It's no coincidence that Rep. Robin Vos is focusing on the two major court challenges: gerrymandered maps and an 1849 abortion ban. If there is "any semblance of honor" left after years of destroying its reputation...:
"If there's any semblance of honor on the state Supreme Court left, you cannot have a person who runs for the court prejudging a case and being open about it, and then acting on the case as if you're an impartial observer, she would violate her oath of office, " Vos (said).
But if Justice Janet Protasiewicz (prota-say'-wisz) has supposedly "prejudged" a few cases, has any other Justice done the same? Sure, but would conservative Justice Bradley recuse herself from the important 1849 abortion ban? She should...:


Like the other conservative Justices, they told us how theywere going to vote by right wing policy statements of the organizations they were a part of. Check out Badley's political ties: 


She has served as president of the Milwaukee chapter of the Federalist Society, a conservative lawyers group, and has belonged to the Republican National Lawyers Association and the Thomas More Society, a Catholic legal group.
What's so biased about the libertarian Federalist interpretation of the law, or pushing conservative orthodoxy via the National Lawyers Association?
The extreme MAGA influence is clear in the disconnect Bradley has when it comes to the government's role in PUBLIC HEALTH. This is brutal. Bradley ignores Wisconsin statutes regarding public health, especially when it comes to a deadly pandemic. Watch for... "in May 2020, Bradley "compared the state's stay-at-home orders to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II," a case known as Korematsu v. the United States"


NEW: Rebecca Bradley revises her own history like they all do now:

"Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice @JudgeBradleyWI is currently engaging in an edit war on her Wikipedia page under an anonymous username that she also uses in her personal email." The username? "rlgbjd," which could very well refer to Rebecca Lynn Grassl Bradley, J.D. According to her Wikipedia page, in May 2020, Bradley "compared the state's stay-at-home orders to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II," a case known as Korematsu v. the United States. With her Wikipedia edits, Bradley dropped what she said during oral arguments and replaced it with a quote from her concurring opinion that overturned the stay-at-home order.

She also revised the description of her majority opinion in the 2021 redistricting case aimed at setting new political boundary lines in the state.

Originally, her Wikipedia bio said her written decision in the case "declined to change district maps that were in favor of Republicans." That sounds a lot like the Associated Press' version, which said the high court "sided with Republicans" in the redistricting ruling.

But Bradley revised the section to say her majority decision "declined to change district maps to achieve partisan 'fairness' and limited the court's involvement in redistricting to ensuring the maps comported with the law."

Sounds so nonpartisan, doesn't it?
New North Carolina Conservative Majority shows how MAGAs have Remade the Rule of Law:  Vos would have to make the case for NC's breathtaking reversal of a Court decision made only 3 months before by a more liberal court. I guess politics had everything to do with it? 

A new majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday gave Republican lawmakers free rein to draw state legislative and congressional maps as they see fit, reversing a decision issued in December, when liberals controlled the court. “This case is not about partisan politics but rather about realigning the proper roles of the judicial and legislative branches. The new majority said North Carolina courts don’t have a reliable way to determine when maps are overly partisan and so cannot throw out maps for giving one political party an advantage over the other.
WOW! There's no way of knowing. Yes, Republicans are in the "proper roles" taking over the government. 
In dissent, Justice Anita Earls, a Democrat, wrote that the majority “tells North Carolinians that the state constitution and the courts cannot protect their basic human right to self-governance and self-determination.” Justice Michael Morgan joined in the dissent.