What's that smell? Oh, WI's GOP

Something stinks in Madison. And I'm pretty sure I know which side of the aisle it's coming from.

It's not enough that Wisconsin's GOP so severely gerrymandered districts that the matter came before the Supreme Court.

From 2011, by the brilliant Phil Hands (WI State Journal)

It's not enough that the state GOP's restrictive voter ID laws likely suppress the voting of those that are elderly, minorities, or students--those that likely vote Democratic--so much so that a one-time member even bragged to local media that the laws would make it harder for Democrats to win.

In recent days, the Wisconsin GOP has even blatantly threatened to limit the powers of the duly-elected-by-the-people-of Wisconsin governor, Tony Evers (despite the GOP voter suppression techniques). The disingenuous and insulting statement from Assembly speaker Robin Vos (retrieved today from jsonline, Nov. 8, 2018): "If there are areas where we could look and say, 'Geez — have we made mistakes where we granted too much power to the executive,' I'd be open to taking a look to say what can we do to change that to try to re-balance it," Vos told reporters.

Yet another sleazy, underhanded policy move by Wisconsin's GOP.

And it doesn't end there. In an effort to uphold their ever-slipping death grip upon state politics, Walker and his pals are discussing moving the 2020 Wisconsin presidential primary --at likely a cost of millions of dollars--away from the date of the Wisconsin Supreme Court vote because the GOP anticipates more Dems will show up on the primary voting day, lessening their chance of keeping their conservative pick in this supposedly non-partisan post.

So, what's left for the Wisconsin GOP to do to continue to try to ensure their continued domination?

If there is something, don't worry, Wisconsin's GOP will give it a shot.

And, wow, that stinks.

Doesn't it?

Walking Papers for Walker

Scott Walker is gone.

And none too soon.

Actually, about eight years too late.

Scott Walker's lies and deception were the genesis for this blog, to be honest.

Walker testifies to Congress he lied about

 his union-busting plans (2011)

In the meantime, true, there have been tax cuts (which studies have found did more harm than good), and lowered unemployment (which has traditionally trended lower than the US rate), but the cost has been high in other ways, too, for our state.

Environmentally, Walker and his forces began dismantling the incredible richness of our state's natural resources--by doing everything from prohibiting mentions of climate change to leading the DNR to alter conservation policies to favor corporate interests (the latest example from The Political Environment here).

Fiscally, Walker pushed policies that moved money from public to private education, inhibited much-needed infrastructure throughout the state, stopped the state from receiving federal funds to supplement Obamacare. His giveaways to major corporations (yes, including Foxconn) contained massive monies and concessions.

Morally, Walker and his forces reneged on an already completed deal for high-speed rail when he took office (which cost the state tens of millions of dollars and, in my opinion, a chance to move into the 21st Century), demonized public workers as "fat cats" living off the state (incorporating policies that will decimate public education--which I suspect was his plan all along), and never stood up to the hatred spewing from his conservative leader, Donald Trump.

So, it's about time that Walker's gone.

And good riddance for our wonderful state.

Into the Abyss...

Results of the midterms--in which there came no "blue wave"--are not merely disappointing. The results are not merely sad.

The results are terrifying.

With the success Republicans had nationally--especially those candidates that tied themselves closely to Trump-- they show that my fellow countrymen care more about fear than hope. They care more about selfish interests than compassion. They care more about a few extra dollars in their 401K than they care about honesty and decency.

The results embolden racists and misogynists and media-haters. They promote policies to continue destroying the environment and dismantling public education. These results ensure the continuation of the, yes, deplorable factor--including those evil trolls, including Republican officials and a President that still peddle (and believe) absurd and offensive conspiracy theories ranging from millions of illegal voters to Obama not being born in the US to Russia not interfering in the election to Democrats involved in massive pedophilia rings to the "red flags" of supposed Democrats setting up pipe bomb deliveries or the shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue.

These results show our country's horribly dark side. We are travelling into an abyss.
Hopefully, we can come back up and out after the vileness of Donald Trump has run its course.

And if we don't, as a country, end up emerging from this terrible abyss, it will not be merely terrifying.

It will mean that the nightmare for our country--and for humanity--is just beginning.

May God have mercy on us.

Vote compassion, WI: Vote for Baldwin and Evers

With the midterms coming this Tuesday, I have one of the easiest posts I've written in a long time.
Wisconsinites should cast their votes for U.S. Senate incumbent Tammy Baldwin and Governor candidate State Supt. of Education Tony Evers.

The Baldwin choice is a no-brainer.

Baldwin for Senate is the much better choice

Her opponent, WI State State Senator Leah Vukmir, is cut wholly from the cloth of her ALEC overlords, a group she chaired, which pushes private business interests--everything from moving public dollars to private schools, to promoting restrictive voter ID laws, to protecting private insurance interests from having to cover things such as pre-existing conditions--above all else.

In short, ALEC opposes everything that works toward a more compassionate and grander society.

And she isn't even honest about her well-chronicled intentions (Politifact includes only one lone Vukmir statement that tops "Half-True").

A constantly-run Vukmir ad touts her desire that she would rather "fall in front of a truck" instead of touching pre-existing conditions, despite supporting plans that would likely put many of those with pre-existing conditions at high risk of losing their coverage.

Vukmir says the elderly will

actually be thrown off a cliff.

Side note (which I think is incredible fearmongering, but also kind of hilarious, as well): Vukmir's ad also says that Baldwin's plan of "Medicare-for-all" would remove protections for seniors (actually, it would replace current Medicare coverage with more such protections) and "literally throws Granny off the cliff!" Literally? Somehow I don't really think that if Medicare-for-all ever passes, that squads will be dispatched to round up senior citizens and hurl them off cliffs. But we'll just have to wait and see, I guess...

And Vukmir is a big supporter of Donald Trump. She overlooks his numerous personal and political flaws as long as the agenda is passed. On the day the pipe bomber targeted Trump's named enemies including Hillary Clinton--the day Trump "pleaded" for civility--she smiled and laughed at the Mosinee, WI, Trump rally when the minions were chanting  about Clinton, "Lock her up."

And those will spell Vukmir's epitaph: ALEC, lies, and cozying-up to Trump.

We have enough representatives like that already.

Speaking of which, the WI Governor's race is more the same. I've not been an ardent Evers supporter (although I do think he's done a good job as state education supt.), but I simply can't abide Walker. To be honest, I think Act 10 was a short-sighted mistake (and has affected the teaching profession and my personal life tremendously). Walker, in a desperate mode, has now touted education increases (despite his defunding of public education for many years), his new plan to improve juvenile detention facility horrors (despite the fact it was his plan to consolidate and, consequently, increase such atrocities), and his support for continuing coverage of pre-existing conditions (contrary to his direction to his Attorney General to sue the federal government to help eliminate them)--not to mention his gutting environmental regulations, etc., to appease his corporate friends.

Tony Evers

Walker's new-found (and incredibly transparent) humanitarian streak should only be believed until he is elected, when he will turn again into the person he truly is, and cater to the people he truly represents.

Oh, yeah, and Walker is also one of the national GOP figures to not decry any of Trump's severe political and moral shortcomings because Walker's agenda, too, is getting passed.

Trump and his mini-me

So, Baldwin and Evers.

It's time to make sure honesty and civility--and compassion and caring--are back in this wonderful state's political offices.

Imagine How to Ruin an Organization

Imagine pouring all your energy and effort into your job. You leave exhausted everyday, still having work you take with you to finish at home. And it's agreed by superiors and stakeholders alike that you do an "amazing" job.

Now imagine never getting a raise for that performance. Ever. The system doesn't allow for it. Instead, you're required to take some of your effort and energy away from your primary job to do extra work to even be considered for a raise. Year after year. If you accumulate evidence as to the amount of extra work you perform, a group decides, then, exactly how much, if any, you should get for the extra work you do. All the while, health care costs eat up more of your wages every year, and annual inflation further erodes your salary.

Would you imagine that sounds like a profession you'd want to be in? Actually, could you even imagine a job that would do that to its employees?

Doing an "amazing" job is no longer enough (photo from teach.com)

That's exactly the scenario playing out in some of our state's school districts since Scott Walker stripped education funding, and further stripped the possibility of districts working as a team with their employees and their representative unions, when he and the Wisconsin GOP legislature enacted Act 10 in 2011.

And, quite frankly, it's going to catch up with Wisconsin's education system.

Young teachers will burn out more quickly, veteran teachers (like me) will continue to work with the insult and indignation knowing the "amazing" job they do will never bring any more money into their households.

To me, that doesn't seem like a terrifically sustainable model for success.

Some readers here, I'm sure, will say to veteran teachers in this situation, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out." But we still love teaching. And we're still good at it. We understand the system has changed from the equitable system in which we started our teaching, but the loss of that experience, and continuity, and the comfort of someone doing an "amazing" job, is incalculable.

And the next generation of dynamic teachers won't have the energy or the will, I'm guessing, to continue to fill those tremendous voids. I see it already in the stress levels of my seriously amazing colleagues.

The state is already providing alternative paths into teaching, providing people without the education or studied pedagogy the opportunity to be entrusted with educating our youth.

I mean, as much as some people might think it is, it isn't babysitting.

And, then what?

Let's just say, it doesn't seem like a great thing to imagine.

Trump, Vile and Evil?

I am sitting here waiting to hear the official US take of the bombs sent to people Trump has basically called enemies.

What will Trump say about the vile and evil terroristic efforts against former presidents and American citizens and news operations?

So far, all he had said officially was a retweet of his VP's, adding his own very heart-felt and inspiring message: I agree wholeheartedly.

Image from CNN

Wait--nothing yet...

Oh, here's MELANIA, instead. She praises her husband. She talks about her "Be Best" program (which ironically supposedly calls out bullies--unless she's married to them).

Then comes her husband.

He makes a joke about his wife that English is just one of her many languages.

He does not mention ANY of the persons targeted--including former presidents, for goodness sake. He does NOT take any responsibility for the violence he's condoned before in his comments or at his rallies. . He does not mention his proclamations that the media (including one of the targets, CNN) are enemies of the people.  He DOES NOT mention the word terrorism (that I heard).

Instead he says political violence has no place in the US. He says he is (and this is a DIRECT quote), that he is "angry, upset, unhappy" at the events that transpired and it will be investigated.

Um, then he's done. About three minutes of comfort and direction for a confused and terrorized nation.

Then it's on to opioids.

Trump does NOT say to his followers, "DON'T DO THIS!" He does NOT say that his media/enemies of the people comments are hyperbole. He does NOT say it abhors him.

Instead, it's just another dog whistle, more red meat for his crazed followers (many of whom already claim Dems did it to make the GOP look bad--like the immigrant caravan, or the Puerto Rico hurricane death tolls).

It's another call to those vile and evil Charlottesville faithful--the ones that marched to promote white supremacy (good people on both sides).

It's a call to the vile and  evil racism inherent in Trump's comments decrying African-Americans peacefully protesting in the NFL.

It's Trump's self-proclamation that he's a "nationalist," when he seems to know, but then thoroughly denies he's aware of that word's vile and evil connotations (despite EVERYONE in the country knowing those vile and evil connotations).

That's because he's a vile and evil man.

I mean, I'd really like to know, what other explanation is there?


NOTE: From the earlier post, I removed the descriptor of Trump's followers as "vile and evil." That would be unfair to many. I merely used it to highlight those that really are crazed (such as those that subscribe to the divisiveness of certain internet sites and beliefs).

Enemy of the People

Trump calls the media the enemy of the people.
Amazingly--and terrifyingly so--his minions believe him.

They believe his lies about "fake news," and they chuckle at his "jokes" about GOPers body-slamming reporters, or nod in affirmation about his dismissiveness with members of the press during a press conference (i.e., calling on "Mr. Kurd"). They silently cheer when certain news outlets are denied access to Presidential forums, they laugh when he mocks a journalist with disabilities, they jeer--actually jeer--at the journalists present when Trump spews his vile lies about the media at his rallies.
And now Trump says the explanation of the brutal murder of a journalist, likely at the hand of Saudi government forces, is credible-credible--despite logic, decency, and even now-ardent-Trump-backer Lindsay Graham saying it's not.
The country should be aghast (and many of us are).
The media (and the free speech that protects even the misguided-or-worse websites that also peddle Trump's disgusting trash) are something we need in this country. They allow us to gain access to facts instead of just taking someone's word for it (such as, "I am not a crook" or "No collusion!!"), they allow us to make informed decisions, and they are vital to keep those in power accountable.
But Trump still peddles his divisiveness and hatred.
And so sadly, for many, it's working.
But is it the media that's the enemy of the people?
Or is it Trump?