Friday, October 28, 2016

Only One Choice In The 72nd


Image result for dave gorski wi

By Jeff Simpson

Currently, the 72nd Assembly District is being misrepresented by Scott Krug.   Scott Krug is a guy who will say anything to get elected, like he wont take daily per diems(he does big time), or that he believes in the Constitution(he doesn't), or that he is being endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters(he wasn't).




Yes the League of Conservation Voters endorsed the only true candidate in the race - David Gorski!

David Gorski is the Democratic Party nominee(link is external)(link is external) for Wisconsin's 72nd state assembly district race in central Wisconsin.
The race, along with the race featuring Lynn Utesch in Assembly District One in northeastern Wisconsin, is being watched by political insiders and clean water activists as a political compass(link is external)(link is external)pointing to the power of citizen action fighting Big Ag and its Republican protectors.
Citizen groups are fighting Big Ag's practice of directing millions of tons of liquid and aerilized cow manure into the environment, while Confined Agricultural Feeding Operations, (CAFOs), deplete groundwater using industrial, high capacity water well.

David Gorski will actually do what he says, which will be a nice change of pace for our friends in the 72nd.   Please "like" his facebook page, send him a few dollars and/or give him some time.  

Since Scott Krug will say anything to get elected, it is time to make sure he gets unelected because he will say anything!

Thursday, October 27, 2016

The Bitch Deserved It

By Jeff Simpson

Most everyone not living under a rock, or in Waukesha, has seen the so called "pussy tape" of Republican Presidential Nominee The Donald, telling little Billy Bush how he likes to treat women he finds attractive.  

Our friends on the right's first line of defense was, that the Donald never actually did it but just liked to brag about committing sexual assault on random women(plus nothing like sexual assault to make little billy laugh his head off).  

However, as everyone could expect, this gave an opening for women, who Trump has actually sexually assaulted, to come forward with their story and come forward they did.

One in particular stood out, Adult Film Star Jessica Drake.  This accusation was different, because Trump did not deny doing it, he just basically said - The bitch deserved it:

Donald Trump on Monday addressed the latest accusations of inappropriate sexual contact made against him, saying of the accuser, an adult film performer, "Oh, I'm sure she's never been grabbed before."
Since she is an adult film star, The GOP Presidential nominee felt that he did nothing wrong because he is certain others have done the same.   If she chooses to do adult films she chooses to make her body public for anyone who wants to grab her.  

That is the man you are going to vote for for President?

Also, "#nevertrumper" Jimmy Wigderson finds common ground with his nemesis on the issue of attacking women whenever you feel like it,...

Wiggy just cant seem to be bothered that Trump has attacked Ms. Drake, of course we know from past instances within the WISGOP, that they have always put politics over sexual assault.  

 Wiggy being a "#nevertrump" person shows it is not politics with him, he just does not care about women.   

Finally we at CogDis are checking to see if the rumor is true that Alec Cook is in line to be The Donald's Chief-of-Staff or would rather run for Waukesha Assembly Rep.   


Christian Schneider - Zero Charm, Zero Facts

By Jeff Simpson

In the immortal words of Ronald Reagan, "There you go again" Christian.   Christian Schneider. who has an aversion to actual facts in his writing, has chosen another topic he has no knowledge of to address.

This time it is the world of college athletics.  



Within minutes, Hayes was being hailed for “speaking out” against the “injustice” suffered by college athletes.Yet this is perhaps the most obnoxious type of praise we heap on young people in modern culture.  Celebrating millennials for “speaking out” or “starting a conversation” merely praises them for exercising their right to speak — a right everyone already knows they have.  It’s a linguistic participation trophy.
An opinion writer berating other for having an opinion.   We are off to a nice start.

 Such undeserved celebration absolves the speaker from actually having to defend the position he or she is taking. 
Says the guy who broke the story about Kyle Wood and when he found out it was completely fictitious, deleted the story like it never happened.  

But his histrionic protest in this case leaves out one vital fact that he obviously can’t see. Literally, every student on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus would instantly switch places with Nigel Hayes. Every single one.
Yes, "every single one", when they were 12 years old maybe.  For instance, Kevin Stonewall has his sights set on curing cancer not shooting threes, I doubt he would want to "instantly switch places".  However in Schneider's world view minorities play sports and white people are the ones who cure diseases and run our Government.

   And last year, Hayes turned down the chance to play professional basketball for a living, where he would make millions of dollars doing what he ostensibly loves.  If he was truly living a life of abject poverty on campus, he could have easily rectified that by leaving before he graduated.(Hayes is a marginal NBA prospect, but many American players do very well overseas.)
Actually no he did not turn down millions of NBA dollars(he would not have been drafted in the first round), no he is not a "marginal NBA prospect"(he heads into this season as one of the top prospects in college),  Hayes could go overseas. but why would he go play in Turkey and not stay and get his degree and a shot at the NBA?  That involves sacrifice, hard work and a passion that is foreign to someone who has sold his soul for a paycheck.

But the bottom line is that athletes are paid — in the form of full tuition, room and board. In the case of an out-of-state student such as Hayes, this can run up to $200,000 for four years at UW. Just because this benefit doesn’t look like payment because it’s not money in his pocket doesn’t mean it’s not hard cash being shelled out by taxpayers and other students who pay their own tuition to subsidize his.
I will let Nigel respond:

 Oct 14The made nearly $450 million. My scholarship is about $160,00. If only there was enough money to pay us..

 The conference had $448.8 million in total revenue during a fiscal year ending June 30, 2015 — a figure that represents a nearly $110 million increase over what it pulled in during its 2014 fiscal year.As a result, the conference distributed roughly $32.4 million to each of its longest-standing 11 members, amounts that put those schools on par with amounts the Southeastern Conference distributed to each of its 14 member schools from conference revenue that totaled $527.4 million.

I am curious how much Mr. Schneider thinks the tuition would be if Nigel did not help bring in an extra $32 million plus.   Also, I am not sure Mr. Schneider knows, but the state only provides about 17 %  of the total funding of the UW Budget!   To think that Nigel's tuition being covered is "hard cash out of the taxpayers pockets" is downright laughable.

 And if rules mandating equity weren't implemented, this could give a major recruiting advantage to the schools that could pay the most.
There is already a major advantage to schools that pay the most.  The ones with multi million dollars facilities, the ones paying assistant coaches 7 figure salaries,  the ones with major television deals, all have a major recruiting advantages.


The unintended consequence of this would be to restrict access to those disadvantaged African-Americans who use their athletic scholarships to overcome their tough upbringings.
I recently attended a talk with Maurice Clarett and Chris Borland.  For those of you who do not know, Maurice Clarett was an All American RB and High School Player of  the year.  Clarett then took his "tough upbringing" to Ohio State where as a freshman he was a starter, and major part of the offense, on the National Championship team.  

Clarett, then successfully challenged the NFL rules of eligibility, and was allowed to enter the draft early.   The rules were in place for a reason, and he was not yet ready for the NFL and after a couple years and bouncing around leagues found himself out of football.

Clarett, ended up with no football, and no college degree and was left with major debt, and ended up in prison for 3 1/2 years for some very bad decisions.   He has since changed his life around and is a successful entrepreneur.  

However, the thing that stuck out to me, is Mr. Clarett told us that in his year at Ohio State, he took such rigorous classes as Officiating tennis and officiating swimming.  Without a strong family structure to advocate for you in college(remember the "tough upbringing" kids, then even if you graduate, your college education is not the same college education that others get.  

One interesting thing is Mr. Clarett told us that he had recently asked former LSU coach Les Miles, if he would let his kids take the same classes in their college career as Leonard Fournette was taking.  The answer was No!  

There’s a simple solution to all this, actually — any athlete who wants to give up his or her scholarship and work his or her way through college accumulating debt like every other student is free to do so.
There is even a better solution.  Allow the student athletes within the system, the ones who are living it everyday, to be students and athletes.   Let's be proud and listen when they become the student part of student athlete.

 Especially Nigel Hayes, who can say more in 144 characters than Christian Schneider has in miles of column inches!  


Wednesday, October 26, 2016

End Rashism Vote For Sarah!


Image result for Sarah lloyd wi

By Jeff Simpson 




There is a huge election in Wisconsin's 6th Congressional District.  It is currently being "represented" by national embarrassment Glenn Grothman.   Grothman is such a fool, that he recently made national news:


Yes Glenn way to represent. It is impressive that he can go be a career politician, do nothing in Washington and still catch the eye of comedians with his lunacy.  

Wisconsin can do so much better.  

As John Nichols put it recently in the Cap Times:

And Sarah Lloyd would seem to be an ideal challenger. 
A farmer who (with her husband Nels Nelson) runs a 400-cow dairy operation near Wisconsin Dells in Columbia County, Lloyd has deep roots in rural Wisconsin, where she has served as a member of the Columbia County Board. Yet she is, as well, a state and national leader regarding rural development, food policy and related economic issues. She has worked for many years with the Wisconsin Farmers Union and she represents Wisconsin dairy farmers on the National Dairy Board and the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. She’s a member of both the Advisory Board for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point College of Natural Resources and the Citizens Advisory Committee for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems.
Lloyd is, as well, one of the most internationally experienced congressional candidates Wisconsin has seen since Petri and former Congressman Les Aspin began their careers in the 1970s. With degrees from Brown University, the UW-Madison and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, she has worked on sustainable forest management and development issues in Russia, Sweden and Finland. She’s fluent in Swedish, conversant in Russian, and more prepared than most sitting members of Congress to discuss global environmental and trade policy.
Lloyd is dramatically better prepared to serve in Congress than Grothman. And she is dramatically more serious about representing the 6th District, which includes farm country, small towns and industrial centers across a vast stretch of central and eastern Wisconsin.
A Democrat and an economic realist who recognizes that the policies of Republican and Democratic presidents have failed to effectively challenge the destructive influence of Wall Street speculators and multinational corporations, she has a 21st century worldview that rejects failed approaches to trade and job creation. On trade policy, in particular, Lloyd has the experience, and the vision, to recognize: “Trade deals must be designed and negotiated so they put workers, farmers, and communities first. They must have strong provisions to limit currency manipulation, which is a major factor in creating trade deficits.”
“Congress’ authority to set trade policy must be protected,” explained Lloyd, who pointed out: “‘Fast track’ trade authority is not acceptable. It undermines Congress’ role in protecting the interest of the American people.”
Lloyd is right on the specifics. More importantly, she gets the full picture, arguing, “Now is the time for all of us, as citizens, to push back and demand an economy that works for people and communities and not just for the multinational corporations.”
That’s a populist message that is in tune with the sentiments of a district where Democratic voters overwhelmingly backed Bernie Sanders in the April 5 primary and Republican voters displayed deep skepticism with regard to the elite consensus on economics.
Help Sarah end the career politician reign of Glenn Grothman, go to her website, like her on Facebook, send her a few dollars and/or give her a couple hours of your time.  

Wisconsin and the Nation will thank you!  

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Luther Olsen: My Beliefs Are None of Your Business!


Image result for luther olsen

By Jeff Simpson 

Luther Olsen did something recently that many Republicans have refused to do - debate their opponent!   Mr. Olsen also showed why many Republicans are avoiding debates - they get exposed.

The candidates were asked a "gotcha" question of  "Do you support the Presidential candidate of your party"?  While Democratic challenger Brian Smith easily answered yes.  Then Luther Olsen, danced around the subject like he was trying to burn calories from judging a pie eating contest.

But Olsen dodged the question, essentially saying it wasn't anyone's business if he's going to vote for Trump, Clinton or someone else.
"They call it a secret ballot for a reason and really it's not my intention to tell you who I'm going to vote for honestly, because I'm running for the 14th Senate District and I think my body of work is what you need to look at and - whenever I'm asked - what I stand for," said Sen. Olsen. "What I say to people is - if we are a country of 300 million people, and if these are the best two we can come up with, I don't know what's going on here. Honestly I don't like either of them."
When asked point-blank by a second person if he supported Trump, Sen. Olsen said: "Have I endorsed him? No."
In a statement to 27 News, Smith accused Sen. Olsen of consistently lacking when it comes to transparency.
"Sen. Olsen's refusal to answer a simple question from a local constituent is just the latest example of him hiding from voters. After all of Donald Trump's attacks on women, veterans and people with disabilities, it's no surprise that career politicians like Sen. Olsen want to keep their support secret," wrote Smith.




By the way, remember when Senator Dale Ellis was the victim of an attack by the O'Keefe crew Project Veritas, and was actually forced to resign because he said this:

As O’Keefe points out in the video, candidates under state law are not allowed to coordinate the actions of a campaign with an independent group. But Ellis “appears to intend to create a PAC and not disclose his involvement” in order to attack state Rep. Penny Bernard Schaber, D-Appleton, his 19th Senate District opponent.
“I have a $400,000 committee, and Judi Rhodes will, I’m raising the money, and she will manufacture the crap,” Ellis says in the video sting. Rhodes is apparently Judith Rhodes Engels, who has handled fundraising for the Committee to Elect Republican Senators and founder of political consulting company Cross Rhodes Strategies, based in Cottage Grove.
“She’s (Rhodes Engels) good at what she does, so I told her, ‘Judi, if I raise $500,000 then you attack her,’” Ellis says in the video, again apparently referring to Bernard Schaber. “I don’t want to attack her. I want Judi, somebody else to attack.”

Guess who has hired Cross Rhodes Strategies?   Here is a hint, starts with an L ends with Uther Olsen!  



The choice in Senate District 14 is very clear.....Brian Smith will make a great Senator.   Like his Facebook page, check out his website, send him a few dollars and/or go knock some doors or make some calls for him.  

O' Darling!

By Jeff Simpson

Sen. Alberta Darling, leader of the exclusive club "Wisconsin women for Trump", gave an interview to Mike Gousha, and it was a doozy.

In a Sunday interview on “UpFront with Mike Gousha,” Darling said that Trump’s policies align with women’s interests and argued that undecided conservative voters in Wisconsin will come around to Trump as the election nears.
“When you listen to the policy discussions that Trump has, he is on point with what women want. They want a secure country for their children and for their families,” Darling said. “They think national defense is extremely important, especially since a lot of the terrorism has started to hit our streets in the United States.”
"Trump is on point with what women want"  I assume she means that women want a guy to suck on some tic tacs before they get attacked.    As The Donald let us know, that is his main strategy.  Luckily Peter Griffin was there to film it for us. 



Then Darling added fuel to the ignorance fire when she defended these comments:

Host Mike Gousha asked whether Trump’s lewd comments about women, showcased in a 2005 video, bothered Darling. She said that the comments did bother her, calling them “indefensible.” But she noted that they were made 11 years ago, and Trump has “since married and has a wonderful little child.”

I know it never stops any of the WISGOP from speaking about things they have no idea about, but a quick Google search tells us that not only was The Donald and Melania married at the time if this video, she was pregnant with that "wonderful little child"at the time.  He actually met Melania, while he was married to his second wife, and on a date with another woman. 

I wonder if Ms. Darling would feel comfortable leaving her daughter alone in a room with Mr. Trump or if her son acted like The Donald around women.   

As one of my favorite journalists, Larisa Alexandrovna, tweeted:




While this recent skit from Saturday Night Live, was brilliant, who knew that he was playing off the ignorance of our own legislators:


Let's Make Wisconsin Great Again and make sure Alberta Darling is in the minority in January!

Monday, October 24, 2016

The Creeper For President!


Image result for donald trump they live

By Jeff Simpson

As we get closer to election day, I find myself just waiting for the pain to end.   It is the worst election cycle in my lifetime.   I am not a huge fan of Hillary Clinton at all, but I can not even fathom anyone voting for The Donald.   The fact that he is the Republican nominee, says everything you need to know about the state of the Republican party.   Under Reince Priebus the party has taken a HUGE turn to the far right!    They have practiced divide and conquer successful tactics and work very very hard to make anyone who is not far right the enemy.

That has led this moment in history where our children and grandchildren will look back upon us with disgust and shame and we will deserve it!

Think that many people on the right, and Scott Walker, Paul Ryan, Scott Fitzgerald, Robin Vos, Dale Kooyenga, Reince Priebus, Mike Gallagher, Sean Duffy etc ..all endorsed and will be voting for someone for President of the United States who they would NOT leave alone in a room with their wife or daughter.

Let that sink in for a bit.

This is who they are supporting:

















This is the person they are going to give their vote too, which is one of the cornerstones of our democratic republic:




There is the married Donald, eyeing up a minor while declaring her hired for whatever job she wants and then doing his infamous kissing of her(which you can do if your a star).

Maybe to help reduce the Bush Deficit, we could have a pay per view where family values Republicans, sit their kids down and explain to them why they are voting for The Donald!

I know I would tune in!



RoJo: I Don't Respect Feingold



RoJo has likened himself to Donald Trump, so it only makes sense that RoJo would emulate Trump by disrespecting anyone that doesn't agree with him, just like Trump.

In a recent interview with the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, RoJo channeled his inner Trump and attacked Russ Feingold on a personal level:
As they reach the closing stages of their second race in six years, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson offered a blunt assessment of his rival, Democrat Russ Feingold,

"I don't respect phoniness," Johnson said Friday during a meeting with reporters and editors at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Johnson made reference to a recent article in which Feingold said the past six years have given him a chance "to feel like a guy from Wisconsin who is leading a life that is similar to other people."

"Is that really a guy who has traveled around the state and really been part of Wisconsin?" Johnson asked. "No, that's a comment from a Washington elitist, someone who went to Harvard and Oxford, who has bamboozled folks here in Wisconsin that he's this independent, little maverick guy that has their best interests at heart."

Johnson's comments on Feingold were politically unusual but reflect a heated rivalry and a vigorous campaign.

In 2010, Johnson ousted Feingold, a three-term senator. But in this race — one of the more important contests in the country — Johnson has consistently trailed in the polls.

"I'll be frank with you, I'm not particularly happy with all the false attacks, the unbelievable negativity of his campaign against me," Johnson said.

Johnson was sharply critical of Feingold setting up Progressives United PAC after leaving the Senate. Johnson said Feingold spent the bulk of money raised "on himself, his shadow campaign, a money-making machine, a donor list. Are you shocked? He sold that donor list to his campaign. I call that corruption. I call that hypocrisy. I call that totally phony."
There he goes whining about the negative tone of the race, even as he is attacking Feingold on a personal level. Well, we just covered who is the real poo-flinger in this race so there is no need to rehash that.

But yet again, RoJo outdoes himself with his charges of phoniness. Not only is this do-nothing running a campaign on a totally fictitious record of accomplishments, he is also a major scam artist.

As he cries phoniness and corruption, let's not forget that he is the one that reimbursed himself $10 million from his business to cover his campaign expenses. And it wasn't even really his business, it was his father-in-law's company.

I hope whoever gets RoJo's office after he is ousted by Feingold knows someone who can clean the stench out and maybe get an exorcism done for good measure. That much evil has probably soaked into the entire place.

Kooky Kooyenga


Image result for dale kooyenga drunk

By Jeff Simpson

Dale Kooyenga, the Assembly rep, who was drunk on the Assembly floor during the budget debate, has a problem with arrogance.   The Assembly Rep from the 14th District, which covers Brookfield, Wauwatosa,Elm Grove and West Allis came up with a plan to take over the Milwaukee Public Schools and turn two schools a year into privately held charters.  It amazes me what the WISGOP will do, to be on the good side of Scott Jensen.

Kooyenga, who no one has ever accused of being a policy wonk, found out that the way he wrote the law, and thanks to some great work from the Milwaukee Public schools, no school in Wisconsin was eligible to be taken over.   A quick profit off the MPS inner city schools will have to wait for another day.

What does the person, who has helped oversee a drop in every economic measurement available and record debt have to say about improvement in the Milwaukee Schools(of which he does not represent)?

While MPS appears to be dodging the OSPP this year, it's not clear that it will go unscathed when Republican lawmakers — angered by its unwillingness to bend to the statute — return to Madison in January. Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield), who authored the proposal with Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), said the Opportunity Schools plan was the right kind of pressure to put on the district, and that it could still be triggered if MPS slides backward in future years.
"I would think that's an incredible incentive for the district to improve its results, knowing that the consequence (for not improving) could be new governance," he said.
Kooyenga also said he would like to further embolden Driver to make changes in the district, with or without approval of the Milwaukee School Board.
"Rest assured, there will be more reforms," he said.
Why take credit for the success and promise to punish them even more, democratically elected school board be dammed.   Mr. Small Government Conservative will be back with more mandates for the Milwaukee Public Schools to follow.

But Wait there is more:

When Bernie won the state overwhelmingly this year in the primary, Dale K, was very confused.  So he did what most people do when they are confused, he wrote a column for a jibberish website that was loaded with jibberish. 

Dale, who played college basketball at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, was too busy to take an economics class but is not scared to show us he actually did skip economics.

#1 Dale Kooyenga (DK): Free College Tuition:   If Wisconsin liberals believe college should be affordable, then why do campus faculties largely oppose Wisconsin tuition freezes? Why are the Democrats in the State Senate and Assembly opposed to the tuition freeze contained in the last two state budgets? 

#1 Real World (RW):   Freezing tuition is fine, if it is accompanied with money to the University System to offset that.  As we know, costs rise every year, and while the WISGOP, have frozen tuition, they have also cut hundreds of millions of dollars of state aid from the University System,   A 5th grade average mathematician can figure out that when you drain the two main funding sources serious damage will occur.

The reality is the Dems oppose the tuition freeze because it coupled with other bad policy and costing major problems with the quality of our world class education.   Luckily the Democrats in Madison are advanced economically beyond fifth grade.

#2 DK:   Affordable Housing:    If Democrats have a monopoly on affordable housing, why is housing generally more expensive where liberal policies are strongest? Because over-regulation creates additional cost. Compare California and New York to Texas or Tennessee.

#2 RW:  Sometimes it boggles my mind the complete ignorance of right wing talking points.  Why is housing generally more expensive where liberal policies are strongest.   Umm Dale it is called this old little known (in Republican circles) called Supply and Demand.  

Why is housing more expensive in liberal bastians?  Because more people want to live there?  why do more people want to live there?  Because it usually means, more services, better schools, more local arts, lower unemployment, better jobs, better restaurants, etc...  


The fact we have to explain that to a sitting Assemblyman leaves me almost speechless.   

#3 DK: #BlackLivesMatter:  With very little fanfare or recognition, Wisconsin Republicans passed legislation that addresses a concern of the Black Lives Matter movement. Although most Republicans believe the vast majority of police officers act professionally and ethically, 2013 Wisconsin Act 348 mandates that officer-involved shootings include at least two investigators from outside the police department and require district attorneys to release the detailed reports of the officer-involved shooting to the public.

#3 RW:  Not sure what this has to do with #blacklivesmatter, but the reason that this legislation passed with very little fanfare or recognition is because Chris Taylor, one of the most Progressive members of the Wisconsin Legislature, wrote the bill.

No member of the Republican caucus is going to admit that the best legislation they passed in 6 years was written by a Progressive Democrat.  

#4 DK:  Consider Bernie's recent quote "You don’t necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants.” Imagine the response if you told all Millennials that the world of Bernie Sanders would include only one type of deodorant. The Bernie Sanders Millennials are unable to connect the fact that Socialism is government control of production. Bernie’s rationale could extend to beer, cars, etc...

#4 RW:   While Bernie has never ever been a true socialist and has always pointed out he is a Democratic Socialist, which means in no possible way does he want Government producing, deodorant, beer, shoes, etc...  Its unbelievable that Mr. Kooyenga would be so dishonest or misinformed.  The actual quote is:

You can't just continue growth for the sake of growth in a world in which we are struggling with climate change and all kinds of environmental problems. All right? You don't necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants or of 18 different pairs of sneakers when children are hungry in this country. I don't think the media appreciates the kind of stress that ordinary Americans are working on.

Bernie clearly is pointing out that we need to wake up to see that a nation that has so much wealth should not have so much want and suffering.    It has nothing whatsoever to do with Bernie wanting to be President to make Brut by Faberge the only available after shave. 

#5 DK:  Presses the issue and is even more ignorant a second time.    Take comfort in this: most Bernie Sanders Millennials didn't know what they were voting for. Test Millennials yourself. Ask them, “What Wisconsin businesses would you like the government to own?”  They may be confused because they have been taught that Socialism is good, but not what Socialism is. A credible conversation points out that Socialism replaces individual liberty and choice with government decision- making. Historically, Socialism has failed and is currently causing humanitarian crises in places like Venezuela, Brazil, and Greece. 

#5 RW:   So Dale Kooyenga is certain that Bernie won the state handily because the people who voted for him are idiots.   Then shows us he has no idea whatsoever what Bernie stands for or what socialism is.  Bernie is a Democratic Socialist, where he understands that everyone in America deserves the same chance at success instead of the system we have now where the 1% have written advantage after advantage into our laws to make sure that they continue to have every advantage.  

By the way Big Dale, Brazil and Greece are both capitalistic economy and Greece was surviving until the banks took over and initiated an austerity program which crashed the economy.   

Sorry Dale, the people who supported Bernie Sanders, the ones who felt that "Berning sensation" knew exactly what they were voting for: an end to corporate control of our elections and politicians, an end to the practice where a CEO can pay himself $10,000,000 on a whim while your neighbor can work 50 hours a week and not have the money to fix his 8 year old car,  the end to the system where a black man can go to prison for months for being caught with a small amount of marijuana while a wall st Banker can fraud their clients and crash the economy and take a golden parachute with 7 zeros and vacation in the Caymans.   

Yes Dale they knew exactly what they were voting for that you can be certain! 

That all being said, we can no longer afford as a state to send such ignorance to Madison.   It is time to bring back common sense, civility and soberness to the Capitol in Madison and send Chris Rockwood to represent the 14th Assembly district,   

If you have a few minutes, please visit his website, and like his Facebook page, send him a few dollars and spend a couple hours knocking doors for him!   \

Your fellow Wisconsinites will thank you!    

Image result for chris rockwood wi'




Sunday, October 23, 2016

Lyin' Ryan, The Great Unifier, Strikes Again

Breitbart has a seething article attacking Paul Ryan for not being supportive enough of Donald Trump's presidential bid. Most of the sniping it about Ryan not supporting The Donald's xenophobic, bigoted world view and immigration policy, for loving global economics and for not being dismissive of the Toupeed One's sexual predatory audio tape.

A taste of the vitriol:
Yet these attempts to seemingly sabotage Trump are hardly a recent development from Ryan. Over the last several months, the Speaker has made a habit of both of overtly and subtly undermining his party’s nominee.

Just prior to Trump’s cinching the Republican nomination, Ryan indicated to Capitol Hill reporters that he disavowed Trump’s campaign pledge to enforce U.S. immigration law. Ryan also made clear that he would not include Trump’s signature policy platforms on trade or immigration in the House GOP 2017 policy agenda. A recent report by The Atlantic spotlighted how Ryan, to this day, continues to oppose Trump on a wide range of issues from entitlements to infrastructure, to trade, to foreign alliances, to immigration, and to crime.

After Trump won his party’s nomination, Ryan dragged out his decision to endorse Trump for weeks—leaving voters with the distinct impression that Ryan does not consider the choice between Trump versus Clinton to be an easy one.

After he finally issued his tepid endorsement of Trump, Ryan continued to be one of Trump’s most frequent public critics—making repeated declarations in high-profile media appearances that would seem to undermine the party’s presumptive nominee.

Beyond simply what Ryan has said to seemingly undermine Trump, it’s also a matter of what Ryan has not said. For instance, Ryan has scarcely discussed the WikiLeaks revelations regarding Hillary Clinton or the pay-for-play tactics of the Clinton Foundation. Nor has Ryan forcefully spoken out against Clinton’s declaration to Goldman Sachs that Americans who want to limit immigration are “fundamentally un-American”—an astonishing statement given the fact that according to Pew polling data, 83% of the American electorate would like to see immigration levels frozen or reduced.

Instead, Ryan has seemed much more aggressive in attacking Trump during interviews about the election than he has been in going after Hillary Clinton.

In fact, Ryan has frequently given fuel to many of the corporate media’s narratives against Trump—by not only refusing to defend his party’s nominee against his critics, but also by subsequently joining in on the left’s pile on of Trump after the nominee was forced to fight back against his critics himself.
Aw, that just makes my liberal heart bleed for all of them.

Another point of interest, although it's not clear if it is factual or just based on Breitbart's wet dreams, is that Ryan isn't long for the speaker's seat.

I'd hope that he isn't long for Congress, but I'd take that as a start.

Saturday, October 22, 2016

RoJo Flings Poo In Latest Ad



In RoJo's latest ad, he goes back to exploiting his family who he has bemoaning the state of politics, especially this year, but goshdarnit, they need good old dad in Washington to clean things up.

Yeah, OK, right.

Let's just ignore the fact that the only things that RoJo had done for the last six years is use his spot as Chair of of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to repeatedly abuse his position to run political attacks against Hillary Clinton (Benghazi!!!) and unsuccessfully attempt to repeal Obamacare scores of times.

It is ironic that RoJo and kids are crying about dirty politics and false ads. Unless, of course, they are talking about the anti-Russ Feingold ad that had to be pulled by three TV stations because it was so false. Even though the ad was run by one of the Kochs multitude of dark money groups, RoJo continues to try to keep up that line of attack even to this day.

Talk about slow learners.

Then again, it might be that RoJo and his dark money masters are trying to cover up his own ineptitude regarding a scandal that happened at a VA center in northern Wisconsin, as this Feingold ad so clearly points out:



But hypocrisy, misdirection and down right lying is the norm for any Republican.

What is really shocking and disgusting is that RoJo that it was a cutesy, homey thing to fling a dirty diaper across the kitchen, including over the dinner table, which had a bowl of fruit sitting right there.

I tell ya, if RoJo ever invites you over for dinner, you might want to be have other plans that night.

Mandy Wright Under Attack


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By Jeff Simpson

I told you before that Mandy Wright was under attack by Scott Jensen.   Two years ago, Jensen spent about $150,000 smearing Ms. Wright and was able to beat her by 86 votes.   The nameless stooge that Jensen bought into office decided not to run again so now they are running former, very small market right wing radio host - Patty Snyder.




Scott Jensen got less than he bargained for and because he found such a weak candidate, he has to spend more money   This year Mr. Jensen has spent well over $200,000 of the Michigander's DeVos family money, to send their employee to Madison.

In a district that has been devastated by lay offs at places such as Wausau Papers, Federal Mogul Wausau Insurance, SNE Enterprises etc... and Scott Jensen is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to smear Ms. Wright so they can tap even more into public education funds.  

Formerly convicted felon, Scott Jensen, actually leads the organization American Federation For Children (AFC) even though he would not be qualified to work in any public school district in Wisconsin.  In other words, the guy who many people are trusting to decide what we do with our public education money, is not qualified to work with our children.  

Not only is Mr. Jensen not professionally qualified, he is not intellectually qualified either.  The ad that he is running(trust me no one spends his money without his approval) is written in his best Trumpesque, 7th grade neener neener, pee wee herman like text that, would earn a 6th grader a D-, you need to do better from any teacher in America.  

“My mom and dad taught me to always keep my promises. They say I have to if I want people to trust me. I heard them say this teacher, Mandy Wright, wants to get elected, but she doesn’t keep her promises. My mom said she promised to help schools, but she voted against giving them $300 million dollars. My dad said she promised to help veterans, like him, but she said no to extra money to help them too. They also say Mandy Wright promised to take care of old people, like my grandma and grandpa, but she said no to helping them with their medicine. And she got a fine for lying. She called in sick at her school, so the kids had no teacher, but she wasn’t even sick! So if Mandy Wright broke all these promises, I don’t think I can trust her. I bet that’s why she lost the last election. Why would anyone want to vote for Mandy Wright in this election?”
Seriously, overlooking that there is zero truth anywhere in the ad (except that Mandy Wright is a teacher), it looks like it was written by someone who lost a writing contest at Liberty University.

While the whole thing is absurd, I want to focus on one line:

She called in sick at her school, so the kids had no teacher, but she wasn’t even sick! 

I was not aware that Pat Snyder, Scott Jensen, Scott Walker etc... had their medical degrees and are able to diagnose sickness, especially from afar ( I am curious if they ever complained about Scott Walker's 3 months of drunkenness on the taxpayer dollar last summer. but that is another post).  

If anyone has ever attended Milwaukee brewers opening day, they would know that 40,000 + people are all together trying to recover from the illness they called in sick for.   Anyone that has a clue on how our schools work, know that when a teacher calls in sick, the school district calls in a sub so never in a child's school career do they "have no teacher".

It is a disgusting, childish, ridiculous ad, and anyone that would run such a commercial, does not deserve your vote for anything, but maybe a "most corrupt politician" reality TV show.  

Please, our friends in the 85th Assembly district, please send Mandy Wright back to Madison!  The rest of the state is counting on you!

Here is Mandy Wrights website and like her Facebook page, check her out, give her a few bucks, knock some doors for her and/or call your friends in the district.

Every vote counts!  


Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Scott Jensen - Trump Crazy Before It Was Cool


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By Jeff Simpson 

In the final Trump V Clinton debate, Donald Trump finished the debate, the way he began - pure craziness.


Cue the outrage, which started almost immediately.

Threatening to upend a fundamental pillar of American democracy, Donald Trump refused to say Wednesday night that he will accept the results of next month's election if he loses to Hillary Clinton. The Democratic nominee declared Trump's resistance "horrifying."
Trump had spent the days leading up to the third and final presidential debate warning voters that the election would be "rigged." Asked whether he would accept the outcome if Clinton emerges victorious, he said, "I will tell you at the time. I'll keep you in suspense."
Trump's assertions raise the prospect that millions of his supporters may not accept the results on Nov. 8 if he loses, thrusting the nation into uncharted territory. Free and fair elections, with the vanquished peacefully stepping aside for the victor, have been the underpinning of America's democratic tradition since the country's founding 240 years ago.
The Republican National Committee immediately disavowed Trump's statement. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud, and election officials across the country have denied and denounced Trump's charges.

Apparently the national press corp, Hillary Clinton and members of the RNC have never been to Wisconsin.   Once again, we were Trump Crazy before it was cool.   Although instead of Scott Fitzgerald, this time it is his boss, formerly convicted felon Scott Jensen.

 * Republican insiders discussed ginning up concerns over voter fraud in the days after then-Supreme Court Justice David Prosser narrowly defeated challengerJoAnne Kloppenburg in April 2011."Do we need to start messaging 'widespread reports of election fraud' so we are positively set up for the recount regardless of the final number? I obviously think we should," wrote Steve Baas, a senior vice president with the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, to a group of conservative operatives on April 6, 2011, a day after the Prosser-Kloppenburg contest."Yes. Anything fishy should be highlighted," wrote former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, a Republican. "Stories should be solicited by talk show hosts."

We know with the benefit of hindsight, that when Scott Jensen said "jump", Vicki Mckenna said "how high".   While she knows what side her bread is buttered on, and needs to keep her bosses happy to keep her show on the air, the end result is the same.   They wanted to make sure that if by chance Judge Kloppenburg actually won the election after the recount that no one would accept her as legit.  

How is that different exactly?  


Private School Subsidy for Special Education Raises Concerns About Quality and Cost


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By Kathleen Vinehout 

"When you write about tax money going to private schools, please tell people about special education vouchers,” a rural school board member told me. “Because of a change in state law, our school district is paying for special education students to sit at home in front of a computer.”

October is budget time for school districts. The rural school board member just saw the new budget and learned of the high cost for special needs students who are now attending an online school with $12,000 per student of school funds. The school board member asked that I not mention the district or his name to protect the privacy of local students.

The story of how school districts are paying private or online schools $12,000 per special needs student with little guarantee to parents or taxpayers of the quality of that education reads like a litany of everything wrong with state government.

The plan originated in secret. A budget amendment was made available to the public well after midnight. The vote was speedy and partisan. The document was long and complex. Many other controversial actions were included in the same amendment. The motion passed in the wee hours of the morning. Few paid attention to the details related to special education vouchers and open enrollment.

Now the cost is hitting local school board budgets.

Late last May, GOP leaders introduced a 29-page amendment to the state budget. One of the provisions, scheduled to go into effect this September, allowed special education students to attend private schools with a $12,000 public subsidy. Another provision nearly doubled the cost of open enrollment for a special education student and barred the child’s home school district from stopping the transfer due to financial reasons. 

The latter provision opened the door for local special education students to attend on-line schools like “Wisconsin Virtual Academy.”

However, press attention at the time focused on controversial changes like allowing persons without a college degree to be public school teachers or forcing public schools to accept private school students on their athletic teams. Much attention focused on the plans to take control away from the Milwaukee School Board.

A group called “Stop Special Needs Vouchers” made up of concerned parents worked against the plan. These parents raised critical questions about sending tax money to private schools. They saw risks for students who attended private schools and a drain on sorely needed resources for students who stayed in public schools.

The group warned parents that children in a private school would lose rights and protections under federal law. Special education students are guaranteed needed services. Services might include speech therapy, assistance from a reading specialist, or occupational therapy. Private schools are not required to hire special education teachers or therapists. Nor are they required to follow a student’s Individualized Education Plan. 

The families of “Stop Special Needs Vouchers” warned legislators that taking $12,000 per student away from public schools meant less money would be available for special needs students who remained in the district.

I spoke with one local superintendent whose district loses $12,000 per special education student but only received $2,400 in state aid per student. The district’s money goes to Wisconsin Virtual Academy. WVA is operated by K12, Inc. a publically traded company co-founded by William Bennett former Secretary of Education under President Reagan.

With so much money leaving a district through a variety of private school subsidies, it is hard to balance the budget.

“Why are schools going to referenda? To survive,” the superintendent told me.

Superintendents and school board members are worried the move to isolating special needs children in special schools or virtual schools changes forty years of policy to educate special needs students in the least restrictive environment.

“The biggest problem is that the kids aren’t getting much in terms of education,” said the rural school board member. “The special education student is going to suffer the rest of their lives because of a poor education.”