Wisconsin's Own Fake News

By Jeff Simpson

David Haynes, the editorial page editor at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, has had a problem with fake news on the internet lately.  

David D. Haynes

Yesterday at 6:01am · Whitefish Bay · 

From the biggest purveyer of fake news on Facebook comes this:

Honestly, people are definitely dumber. They just keep passing stuff around. Nobody fact-checks anything anymore — I mean, that’s how Trump got elected. He just said whatever he wanted, and people believed everything, and when the things he said turned out not to be true, people didn’t care because they’d already accepted it. It’s real scary. I’ve never seen anything like it.

While I agree with Mr. Haynes, that fake news(beyond the onion) really does not help anyone and is partly to blame for the horrendous politicians we keep electing.   

However, the editorial page editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, has never once addressed this, which happened under his watch:

Although to say Mr. Haynes has never addressed this, is not exactly right.    He promoted Schneider from blogger to "columnist" shortly after he posted this.   I would supply the link, but JSONLINE scrubbed it from their website without a word.

You can however read more about the Schneider fake news incident here and here.

Some fake news is better than other fake news apparently!

In case you are so inclined you can reach Mr. Haynes here:

Email: david.haynes@jrn.com. Twitter: @DavidDHaynes

Christian Schneider can be reached at:

 Email cschneider@jrn.com. Twitter: @Schneider_CM

The Journal Sentinels Schneider Problem

By Jeff Simpson


Christian Schneider is a columnist for JSonline. He is also a paid shill of the Bradley Foundation and for some reason the Journal Sentinel has decided to keep giving him column inches to spread his ideas propaganda.

Schneider was a blogger for the JS and broke the Kyle Wood story.  Wood was a troubled kid who said Mark Pocan's husband beat him up because he worked for his opponent. The right wing echo chamber, led by Schneider, could not get that story out fast enough.  The problem though is it was not true.   Schneider then did the responsible thing and recanted his story with an apology deleted the story from the Purple WI website like it never happened.  For reasons unbeknownest to anyone, Schneider was then promoted to columnist.

Recently, Schneider called Senator Feingold worse than a child predator in a column to no repercussions, as David Haynes feels that helps advance the marketplace of ideas(Scott Walker is the only untouchable political figure in WI).

Now Schneider is out with one of his regular, public education sucks and vouchers are the way to go columns.   As is typical Schneider, facts do not matter.

While it is all gobbledy gook, one paragraph was particular telling:

Finally, let's suppose Wisconsin had an educational system rife with racism and bias. Wouldn't the best idea be to get those minority kids out of the existing framework and into schools that can better address their specific needs? In other words, exactly what the private school choice program does for poor children? If one thinks the achievement gap is caused by the status quo, simply pumping more dollars into that educational system would seem to only exacerbate the gap.

Let us break it down.

Finally, let's suppose Wisconsin had an educational system rife with racism and bias.   - Our public education system is absolutely NOT rife with racism and bias and there is not any evidence that Schneider can point to that would say it is.   

Wouldn't the best idea be to get those minority kids out of the existing framework and into schools that can better address their specific needs? 

The best idea would be to address the fact that under Scott Walker and Republican gerrymandered rule, Wisconsin is the worst state in the country to be African American in and poverty is increasing all over the state.    The best way to address minority kids specific needs is to bring jobs back to WI and address the poverty problem. 

In other words, exactly what the private school choice program does for poor children? 

The private choice program is not whatsoever, nor has it ever, been designed to address the specific needs of minority children.  Ever.   It is designed simply to be able to allow some people to cash in on the public education money that previously went to the kids.   The Education Reformers are just mining to fill their panning equipement with public education dollars.   

It is no small irony that Schneider wrote his column on the same day that a Federal Report was issued about the million dollars of fraud and waste in charter schools.  

The report, titled “The Tip of the Iceberg: Charter School Vulnerabilities To Waste, Fraud, And Abuse,” was released jointly by the nonprofit organizations  Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools and the Center for Popular Democracy. It follows a similar report released a year ago by the same groups that detailed $136 million in fraud and waste and mismanagement in 15 of the 42 states that operate charter schools. The 2015 report cites $203 million, including the 2014 total plus $23 million in new cases, and $44 million in earlier cases not included in last year’s report.
It notes that these figures only represent fraud and waste in the charter sector uncovered so far, and that the total that federal, state and local governments “stand to lose” in 2015 is probably more than $1.4 billion. It says, “The vast majority of the fraud perpetrated by charter officials will go undetected because the federal government, the states, and local charter authorizers lack the oversight necessary to detect the fraud.”

 If one thinks the achievement gap is caused by the status quo, simply pumping more dollars into that educational system would seem to only exacerbate the gap.

How would we know?  Scott Walker and the Republican legislature, have cut funding to schools more than any other state in the country.   Maybe "pumping more dollars in the educational system" might now work, but it is something that has never been tried so how would we know?

It is unfortunate that someone with such blatant disregard to the facts and who is pushing a blatant agenda is given such prominent column space.   It is also not surprising that when they highlight shills like Schneider that it would lead to a not very good business climate.   

Luckily it is a new era and while mainstream media lets you down, the real information is readily available.  

Remember in the future Christian Schneider is not your friend, and he has a very hard time with the truth.  Instead of reading through his column, maybe take the time to thank a teacher!   

Schneider's Simplicity

By Jeff Simpson

To quote the B Movie Actor Ronald Reagan - "There you go again, Christian Schneider".

Sschneider is back using his unexplained pulpit, to spread misinformation and outright lies about our public education system.

But these claims are wildly misleading and lack important context. Indeed, when Walker took over in 2011, he lessened state aid for schools and reduced revenue caps so districts couldn't just make up the reduction in property taxes. But the spending reduction was offset by the reforms in Act 10, Walker's plan requiring higher pension and health care contributions from public employees. To call Walker's school plan a drastic cut, you have to pretend Act 10 never happened.
In 2013, the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance assessed the total effect of Walker's plan on school districts. In 2011-'12, Walker reduced district revenues by $450 million, which shows up on the books as a spending cut. But the higher teacher benefit contributions canceled out those cuts; in 2012, district benefit costs dropped 15.6% because teachers were kicking in more for their own health and pension benefits. That helped districts raise $451.1 million in additional revenue, saving them from the catastrophic scenario Democrats are now trying to pass off as reality.
Thus, the idea that schools were drastically cut only applies if your memory has a four-year expiration date. If one were to consider teacher benefits as per-pupil spending and add that money back to the pot, Wisconsin would be faring much better in the national rankings. (The ECS numbers, incidentally, come from the National Education Association — the nation's largest teachers union — and not the more universally accepted National Center for Education Statistics.)

Jake has already universally debunked this BS, which is probably why the Bradley Foundation gave this assignment to Schneider.

It is especially noteworthy that these districts are having financial difficulties 3 years after Act 10 was put into effect in many of these places. Walker and WisGOP honks may talk up the “savings” from Act 10’s “tools”, and sure, they did lower costs to the general taxpayer in the short-run (by raising the costs to that certain group of taxpayers called school district employees), but those haven’t been nearly enough to make up for the continual cuts to public education, especially in rural Wisconsin. Add in the problems in attracting and retaining teachers in many districts, with the huge amount of retirements in the field over the last 3 years and fewer UW System students entering teacher training programs after seeing the denigration of the profession, and you can see how imperiled the quality of our state’s education system is. 

Debunking Schneider is the easy part, getting him to actual answer for his BS is the hard part,

However the point of this column is to touch on something that is a Republican talking point(which is why it made Schneider's column.

 For instance, now districts can hire and fire on the basis of merit rather than seniority; students get a better education and it has nothing to do with per-pupil funding numbers.

I have yet to be able to find any of my friends on the right that can define merit in terms of teaching evaluations.   If you look at school districts who are basing pay on a merit based system, then you will look long and hard as only a small handful of schools are even trying this.

Most people also understand that the longer you do your job, the better you become at it.  

Things are not as cut and dried in education as they are in journalism.

For instance, if someone makes up a story that a Congressman's husband assaulted someone from his opponents campaign. you know they failed as a journalist and should be in a different profession.  

 So I am open to all suggestions. Please tell me how we can judge "merit" in our schools.

Sanctimonious Salamanders

By Jeff Simpson

Yesterday we brought you the pure unadulterated hypocrisy of the Governor and the Journal Sentinel showing unbelievable outrage towards Ryan Braun for lying to the public.    

Today, as expected, there is so much more.  


1.  We start at the top with the biggest hack in Wisconsin - Christian Schneider:

 Even after getting popped, Braun has apparently learned nothing, as his prepared statement on Monday was equally smarmy and oleaginous. "I realize now that I have made some mistakes," he wrote, as if some mad scientist cooked up the concepts of "lying" and "cheating" in a test tube last week. "I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions."

 But Monday's revelations about Braun expose him as a thief as well as a liar and a cheat. And his burgling of home runs and salary alike could affect baseball in Milwaukee for a decade.

Not ONLY is Schneider, a servant of the Bradley Foundation, he is a known liar, who was one of the most viciferous conduits of misinformation in the Kyle Wood fiasco.   Yet his way of a mea culpa when Wood was exposed as a fraud was to delete all stories pretending it did not happen.   Mark Pocan and his husband are still waiting for a public apology!   I wont even get into his defense of a well known woman abuser!  

2,   Another Bradley servant, Kevin Binversie who thinks the biggest thing to come out of the Braun suspension is it makes the democrats look bad.

 a) Will state Democ­rats try to embar­rass them­selves as they did last year, when they tried to pull the Braun saga into the Walker recall?  (Time will tell.)

This of course is the same Kevin Binversie whounexplicably libeled and smeared a fellow blogger, and championed shooting recall petitioners and wished for the death of Mark Pocan.   

 3.   Finally Dave Blaska, took time out from venerating daily his love for Scott Walker, to tell us how bad Ryan Braun is.  

The real gravamen of the case against Ryan Braun is the lying, the dishonesty. Ryan Braun is a liar.

Say Whaaa??? 

4.  Jimmy Wigderson, no preview of his post because I morally cant support White Wisconsin, another Bradley Employee also weighed in!

The Foibles of the ridiculous James Wigderson are well documented, here and here!   It appears that his hypocrisy is the only thing that exceeds his lies or his ego!   


These four talking about Ryan Braun being a liar, would be akin to Kim Kardashian tweeting "NO Justice" after the George Zimmerman was declared not guilty for hunting down an unarmed boy!


The Sanctimonious Hypocrisy of the right, gets wearing at times!   

Kyle Wood's Remorse

By Jeff Simpson

 "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

An event happened recently that flew under everyone's radar - Kyle Wood was sentenced to 30 days in prison.  

Kyle Wood, who claimed to have been beaten in his apartment because he is gay and did not support Mark Pocan for Congress, was sentenced to 30 days in jail Wednesday after pleading guilty to obstructing police.
Wood, 30, of Madison, took up valuable time that police and emergency medical personnel could have been using for real emergencies, Dane County Circuit Judge William Hanrahan said.
“You concocted the story and corroborated it with injuries,” Hanrahan said. “This is quite simply bizarre and outrageous.

 While it is sad that Mr. Wood was so in need of help mentally that he injured himself in such a way, it is even sadder how the right wing media and hack bloggers were all to ready to capitalize on this story that everyone knew from the beginning had holes in it bigger than Scott Walker's College transcripts!

Three of the more well known righty bloggers were the ones to band together and get Wood's fake story out there as often as possible.   Charlie Sykes from White Wisconsin and  Brian Sikkkma from mediatracKKKers could not tell the story quick enough or loud enough.  

 Although Sikma has since deleted the post and put up a different one in its place, here is a flavor of what he wrote, thanks to Google Reader and another right wing blogger who was one of the many that fed into the story, but like Sikma, deleted their post:

A series of shocking text messages purportedly from Philip Frank, the partner of Democratic State Representative and Madison-area Congressional candidate Mark Pocan, threatened a volunteer for Pocan’s Republican opponent days before the volunteer was found beaten.

Last Wednesday, Kyle Wood, a full-time volunteer with Republican Chad Lee’s Congressional campaign, was beaten inside his home in Madison by an unidentified attacker who claimed that as a gay man Wood should be supporting the gay candidate for Congress.

The text messages obtained by Media Trackers allegedly show Philip Frank, Pocan’s partner, making sexually-charged comments to Wood before threatening him and making racist statements about the spouse of Chad Lee. The messages were apparently sent two or three days before the Wednesday beating, according to Wood, who is alleging to investigators that the messages came from Frank.

After mocking Wood for supporting the Republican candidate, Frank is accused of writing, “Remember your station in life and remember not to cross the husband of a powerful man. You are on shaky footing as it is, push much farther and you won’t have a future in this town, or any other.”

The news was so big that Sikma was breathless on Monday morning as he shared his story with Charlie Sykes on Sykes' squawk radio show.

But guess what. Even though Sikma claimed that he had verified the story, and the thing had taken off nationally, it turned out to be another lie.

 OOPS....then Wisconsin's biggest paid hack, who perpetually tries to claim he is a journalist, Christian Schneider used his column space in JSOnline(since deleted with no apology) to perpetuate this same lie:

Science Fiction Writer and WPRI paid hack Christian Schneider wrote a fable the other day, one of his best pieces of work.

Beaten for being a gay republican!  Over 1300 words of pure republican bliss!

The story however had one major tell:

To date, Wood has been reluctant to talk to any media, especially on-camera.   “I’m not going to win Princess Kay of the Milky Way or anything anytime soon, I look a little rough,” he joked.

Wood was reluctant to talk to the media because he knew he was lying, however his fake story had to be told so he chose people who were NOT the media.   Schneider of course, The Daily Caller and mediatrackers for some examples to make sure and get their message out to as many people  as possible before the house of cards fell!

This was yet another great example of how the echo chamber works.  They make up a story and a couple people run with it, allowing fellow paid and unpaid hacks to repeat repeat repeat!   Wisconsin reporter, Crazy Fred Dooley , Alpha Male Randy Hollenbeck and  Boots and Sabers(owen deleted the story like it never happened- no apologies or retractions) to name a few!   

The sad thing is that Kyle Wood is remorseful and is spending 30 days in prison.   The three stooges of Sykes, Schneider and Sikma all are still pushing BS propaganda and not a single one was even slapped on the wrist.  

Sad day for Wisconsin.

How Right Wing Sausage is Made

Science Fiction Writer and WPRI paid hack Christian Schneider wrote a fable the other day, one of his best pieces of work. 

Beaten for being a gay republican!  Over 1300 words of pure republican bliss!

The story however had one major tell:

To date, Wood has been reluctant to talk to any media, especially on-camera.   “I’m not going to win Princess Kay of the Milky Way or anything anytime soon, I look a little rough,” he joked.

Wood was reluctant to talk to the media because he knew he was lying, however his fake story had to be told so he chose people who were NOT the media.   Schneider of course, The Daily Caller and mediatrackers for some examples to make sure and get their message out to as many people  as possible before the house of cards fell!

This was yet another great example of how the echo chamber works.  They make up a story and a couple people run with it, allowing fellow paid and unpaid hacks to repeat repeat repeat!   Wisconsin reporter, Crazy Fred Dooley , Alpha Male Randy Hollenbeck and  Boots and Sabers(owen deleted the story like it never happened- no apologies or retractions) to name a few!   

This was an excellent example of the republican noise machine.

* Make up a story.

* Get it out there to as many people as possible in the 24 hour news cycle(shame on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for giving Schneider a forum).  Extra credit here for being incredibly upset and emotional about this story!

*  When story is proven to be false, either pretend you knew it all along or pretend nothing ever happened.

* Lather, Rinse, Repeat!   

This is how right wing sausage is made, and it is as ugly as regular sausage!  The thing to know is when there is a story spreading through the right wing blogosphere and hate radio squawkers, wait a couple days for the actual truth to come out! 

PS:   In case your wondering about how Schneider addressed his ridiculous fable as being false.  He amended his 1300+ story to add this at the end.

UPDATE: on October 29, Wood recanted his allegations to the Madison Police Department.

Yes he is THAT dishonest!


Much more on this story here and here!