Wi Politics - Recycle, Rinse, Repeat

By Jeff Simpson

Time to clear out my open tabs and catch up on sme news stories that might be flying under the radar a bit. 

* Politifact Jumped The Shark: 

Randy Bryce, candidate for the 1st CD, recently said:

McKinnon: So you're not a politician?
Bryce: No, and I think that's what people like. But I mean, people voted for Trump because he was seen as a non-establishment type guy.

One thing our WImedia does not like, is anyone talking bad about the Golden Boy - Paul Ryan,   Bryce has done that,  so Politifact decided to "test" Bryce's statement that he is not a politician. 

Their findings - because he has run for previous elected positions, that saying he was not a politician was mostly false! 

Bryce, a single father who has lost every election he has ran in, is considered a politician?  I researched politifact and Tom Kertscher, and find them to be a right wing leaning political tool. 

This is the same outfit that said it was false that Scott Walker cut a billion dollars from education and "fact checked" his claim that he paid $1 for a shirt from Kohl's and gave it a "True" rating without any evidence of seeing a receipt or the actual price tag of the sweater.    Perpetually protecting the right wing in Wisconsin. 

Recycle, Rinse, Repeat! 

*  Hariah Hutkowski, proud Walker supporter, former alderman from Sun Prairie and long time political staffer(for Jeremy Thiesfeldt), was recently fired - for being creep. 

"A Republican legislative staffer was fired amid harassment concerns this month — the same day an open records request was filed asking for information about complaints against the aide. Hariah Hutkowski, a staffer for state Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R-Fond du Lac), was dismissed May 3, Assembly Chief Clerk Patrick Fuller said. That was the day the Journal Sentinel filed an open records request for employee complaints against Hutkowski as well as documents from investigations prompted by any complaints.   

Another long time Republican and predator, was kept on until his actions became public then was thrown under the bus.   
 
Recycle, Rinse, Repeat! 

Who is this long time "conservative" player in WISGOP politics?  Exactly who you would expect him to be.

 council member Hariah Hutkowski stands out for his far-right agenda. He has a degree in political management from the Pat Robertson School of Government at Regent University in Virginia and works as a legislative aide to Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R-Fond du Lac), who led the charge to repeal the state's comprehensive sex education law. Hutkowski worked previously for Wisconsin Family Action, the socially conservative group that championed Wisconsin's constitutional gay marriage ban and is currently fighting to overturn the state's domestic partner registry.

*  An almost daily headline that does not make anyone even blink anymore:

White supremacist on probation for assaulting a woman at a Trump rally headed to jail for attacking his wife 

I would say that headline is all you need to see, but as we say:

There is more, there's always more! 

Louisville, Kentucky’s WDRB reported Tuesday that white nationalist Matthew Heimbach will serve 38 days in jail after he attacked his wife in front of their two small children over a bizarre love triangle with the TWP’s other co-founder.
The TWP dissolved after a March incident in which Heimbach attacked his own wife after Matt Parrott, the group’s co-founder (who was also his son-in-law), found out he’d been having an affair with his wife. Parrot’s wife is the mother of Heimbach’s wife, and when their affair was discovered, the soon-to-be-jailed white nationalist attacked his co-founder.

#MAGA  #itsafamilyaffair  #recyclerinserepeat #wonderiftheyarerelatedtothepalins

*   Another school shooting, this time in Texas where a junior, killed 10 people and injured another 10.   The tone deafness of the media in our country is on full display here. 

From the story: 

The teen had no previous criminal history and there were no warning signs of the attack, he said.

Also from the same story 

  -  There also is a search warrant out for Pagourtzis' vehicle. He had written in journals and on his computer that he wanted to commit the shooting and commit suicide afterward, Abbott said.     -  Pagourtzis, a junior, shared photographs on a now-defunct Facebook page of a T-shirt that said "born to kill" and clothes adorned with German nationalist iconography.

I know we have gotten to the point where we think, white nationalists are "very fine people" and that they have a right to speak in any platform they want without repercussions, heck we even legislated that in WI(thanks Robin Vos).   
It would seem simple enough to me that if someone is worshipping German Nationalist, you would know what their intentions are.
However, since 1/3 of Americans do not believe 6 million Jews were slaughtered during the Holocaust, we see that the Republican attacks on education are having a real effect on our country and it is not a positive one. 

Recycle, Rines, Repeat!

*  As I have stated numerous times, hate talk radio and far right TV Stations, and even the Donald, squawking 24/7 about how the Democrats are the enemy and coming to take our freedoms and guns away is having deadly consequences. 

As the Las Vegas Shooter was reported to have said:

Less than a month before he killed 58 people and injured hundreds more at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas, Stephen Paddock ranted to a new friend about a supposed government plot to confiscate guns from the American public. The man, whose statement is among many released by investigators this week, told authorities that he met Paddock just weeks before the massacre after the 58-year-old answered an online ad for “schematics to convert semi-automatic guns to fire automatically,” the AP reports.
The man, whose identity is redacted, spoke to authorities in a jailhouse interview after getting arrested on a “possession charge.” He told police during the interview that he was an unemployed chef who’d become desperate for cash after his trust fund ran dry.
The man said in their conversations Paddock ranted about a popular right-wing conspiracy theory that claims FEMA’s actions after Hurricane Katrina were “a dry run for law enforcement and military to start kickin’ down doors and … confiscating guns.”
“Somebody has to wake up the American public and get them to arm themselves,” Paddock said, according to the man. “Sometimes sacrifices have to be made.”

The only thing that has been sacrificed, with the takeover of public airwaves by Republican Hate Talk, is the truth and logic. 

Recycle, Rinse Repeat!   

* Everytime that you skip a rock on the water, you are speeding up our demise! 

"What about erosion?" Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), offered during the exchange. He added: "Every time you have that soil or rock, whatever it is, that is deposited into the seas, that forces the sea levels to rise because now you've got less space in those oceans because the bottom is moving up.

It has nothing at all to do with Global Climate Chang but everything to do with the waves crashing into the shore and rocks being brought back into the water. 

It is incredible that the country that was first to the moon.  The Country that stepped up when our President challenged us:

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

We met the challenge to be the first one on the moon, now we elect people who ridicule NASA and send the least smartest people in the state to Congress and have them decide the career paths of our most brilliant.   

Recycle, Rinse, Repeat! 

To be fair though, in case 97% of the Scientists are all wrong and this guy is right, I will be starting a letter writing campaign to make peeing in waterways illegal.   #dontpeeinthewater

* Finally, just to show that this is bipartisan(even if heavily weighted to the right), the Democrats are working hard to snatch defeats from the jaws of victory. 

Running against Sean Duffy, is Margaret Engebretson. Engebretson is a solid progressive, great on the issues and everything that is good about the Democratic Party. 

Then she announces that she has hired Kristen Hansen:

Margaret Engebretson for Congress is with Joel Sipress.
May 14 at 7:35am ·
We are pleased to announce that Kristin Hansen has joined Margaret's campaign in the role of Campaign Director. Kristin is a veteran of Wisconsin politics who has served in a multitude of campaigns for congressional, senate, and presidential candidates. She will be developing strategies for voter engagement, fundraising, and volunteer action for Margaret's campaign. Please join us in welcoming Kristin on board!

Whis Kristen Hansen, this pillar of Democratic politics in WI?  She used to be the WISDEMS chair of the 5th CD and took to twitter, when Bernie Sanders won the Wisconsin Primary:

 - Can we get hair and makeup into this Sanders event? Thanks.
-  There's only 1 Democrat running for POTUS -  @HillaryClinton. I'm done pretending this is a primary. It's a hostile takeover. #fightback
-  Things I am no longer doing: pretending the Dem race isn't over, being nice to Bernie Bros, nod and smile at misogynists. #emancipation
- You know why we have superdelegates? Because people who are NOT Democrats and don't give a shit about the party can run AS Dems and fuck us.
 - Dear Sen Sanders: I will not let you destroy our party. You were never with us: 'It will be a contested convention'  Ok

Nothing like hiring someone to develop strategies to reach out to voters with that kind of record.   "Hello, I know i told you to FOFF after the primary and liked to ridicule you but would love to sit down and have a conversation about how we can work together to fix the state". 

Not sure that is the best pitch.   At least there is always Bon Iver:

If you want to win elections as a progressive, stop recycling the same people that have been largely responsible for the Democrats demise. 

Recycle, Rinse Repeat! 

 

  

Scott 'Stalker' Walker

By Jeff Simpson

Scott Walker recently wrote an Op-ed for the Des Moines Register:

In 2010, Megan Sampson was named an Outstanding First Year Teacher in Wisconsin. A week later, she got a layoff notice from the Milwaukee Public Schools. Why would one of the best new teachers in the state be one of the first let go? Because her collective-bargaining contract requires staffing decisions to be made based on seniority.

Oops sorry, that was 2011 Wall Street Journal,  apparently the Statute of Limitations have passed because he plagiarized his own past article, ina new one for the Des Moines Register:

  In 2010, Megan Sampson was named an Outstanding First Year Teacher in Wisconsin. A week later, she got a layoff notice from the Milwaukee Public Schools. Why would one of the best new teachers in the state be one of the first let go? Because her collective-bargaining contract requires staffing decisions to be made based on seniority.

Hmmm, I guess Plagiarizing is the old = IOKIYAR.    However if you wonder what is wrong besides the plagiarism, the fact that the story is NOT true.    I mean it is really NOT true.   

But wait there is more!!   There is always more!:

Not only is there a plagiarism and a lie, but the teacher(private citizen) he is lying about,  has begged the public official to please STOP using her....

Likely presidential candidate and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) regularly touts his education policies by citing a local teacher who long ago asked him to stop including her in his speeches and writings.
The teacher, Megan Sampson, repeated her opposition to Walker using her name in an email to Business Insider on Wednesday.
"I would like Walker to stop using my story as a political narrative for his campaign," the English teacher wrote.

It gives a new meaning to the term Walker Stalker. 

 




 

PolitiFact Gives Reince Priebus A Pass

Last week, GOP chief weasel, Reince Priebus, was squawking about Hillary Clinton and how she allegedly gotten all this money from the kings of other countries, which would, of course, be illegal.

The supposedly unbiased PolitiFact decided to look at his claims. Their findings:

Priebus said Clinton took "money from kings of Saudi Arabia and Morocco and Oman and Yemen."

The monarchies of Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Oman have contributed to the Clinton Foundation, but Yemen, which does not have a king, has not.

And although Priebus’ claim was made during a discussion of the foundation as well as contributions to political candidates, his phrasing could have left the impression that Clinton herself, rather than the foundation, received the money.

For a statement that is partially accurate, our rating is Half True.

So, not only did he lie about the King of Yemen, who doesn't exist, but they also found that he lied about whether any of the money went to Clinton. Yet, despite the evidence that they found proving Priebus a liar, they couldn't bring themselves to state it and gave him a half-true rating.

Journalism is dead. All that we have left is the corporate media who is nothing more than an extension of the GOP propaganda machine.

Cross posted from Crooks and Liars

Scott Walker Republican Extremist!

By Jeff Simpson

Scott Walker recently made headlines by trying to rewrite the Wisconsin Idea.  He wanted to strike truth from our state(he already has a very good start) but was caught and called on it!

After his typical pass the buck, it wasn't me explanation, even Scott Walker friendly Politifact gave him a pants on fire!

Walker said fundamental changes to the language describing the Wisconsin Idea in the University of Wisconsin System's mission statement were the result of a "drafting error" in his state budget proposal.
But Walker’s administration had insisted to UW System officials on making the changes, giving detailed instructions on passages to be removed from state law. And eventually Walker himself acknowledged that the UW System had objected to the changes before his budget was put into final form.
His original claim was not only inaccurate, but ridiculous. Pants on Fire.

Mr. Walker has already shown that the people of Wisconsin do not care that the truth and facts are his mortal enemies, they love him anyway.  However that will change when he steps outside his Waukesha safe zone.

The New York Times has been paying particularly close attention:

All of that may be red meat for conservative zealots in the caucus and on the presidential primary circuit. Yet it is hard to see such a clumsy attack on education going far with a general electorate concerned about their children’s chances in life. If nothing else, Mr. Walker is sharpening the debate within the Republican Party about whether it can win despite its own extremists.

Why yes, that is the National paper of record calling Scott Walker an "extremist".  his days of hiding behind friendly and timid "press" are behind him.  As he steps on the national stage, we will see that the Emperor truly has no clothes!  

 

Scott Walker Confesses

By Jeff Simpson

Scott Walker has told so many tall tales, that he can not keep them straight.  This weekend he clarified one of them for us.

At one point, Mr. Walker was whining that the people who dared to oppose him were actually all from out of Wisconsin.

When it comes to protesters in Madison, "almost all" are now from outside of Wisconsin.
— Scott Walker on Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011 in a secretly-recorded prank telephone call

He was very generously given a false rating on this, but we now know where he was coming from. Walker actually was correct about Wisconsin being infiltrated with out of state people trying to influence the WI elections, he just had the candidate wrong.  The people from out of state were coming to help Scott Walker.

This from his latest "Freedom Summit" presidential campaign stop:

 SO MANY OF YOU HELPED US OUT LAST FALL WHEN WE ARE -- WERE FACING A TOUGH ELECTION. PEOPLE WERE MAKING PHONE CALLS IN MY STATE. YOU KNOCKED ON DOORS. YOU CAME OVER TO MISSISSIPPI AND HELP US KNOCK ON DOORS AND HELP THE CAMPAIGN ALONG THE WAY. I WANT TO TELL YOU HOW MUCH WE APPRECIATE THAT. I THOUGHT OF YOU HERE LIKE OTHER PEOPLE IN THE STATE AND AROUND THE COUNTRY, HELPED US OUT FINANCIALLY AS WELL. THAT MADE A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE. WE HAD TO TAKE ON THE BIG GOVERNMENT UNION BOSSES IN WASHINGTON. I WANT TO THANK YOU BECAUSE THE RETURN WE HAVE PEOPLE NOW IN IOWA, AND IN ALL 50 STATES, WHO HELPED US OUT. A WOMAN IN WATERLOO HELPED US OUT THREE TIMES. WE ARE PEOPLE HERE IN DES MOINES AND ALL ACROSS THE STATE THAT SAID WE WILL PUT UP A -- SOME OF OUR MONEY. I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU. MOST OF ALL, THANK YOU BECAUSE SO MANY OF YOU HERE AND ACROSS THE STATE IN THIS COUNTRY PRAYED FOR US. I HAVE TO TELL YOU, ON BEHALF OF MY WIFE AND I, AND MY SONS, WE COULD FEEL THOSE PRAYERS. IN THE DARKEST OF DAYS, I CAN'T TELL YOU WHAT A DIFFERENCE IT MADE

I guess Mr. Walker should have listened to Mark Twain's advice:

Scott Walker Has Himself To Thank

By Jeff Simpson - Cross posted at Purple WI.

 In the wierd world of Wisconsin Politics. Governor Scott Walker took to social media, to slap himself on the back.   

"My property taxes went down largely because my technical college portion went down 35.5% because of the money we put in at state."
— Scott Walker on Friday, December 12th, 2014 in a tweet

In what has also become commonplace in Wisconsin Media, Politifact rushed to give him cover.   

In a tweet, Walker said: "My property taxes went down largely because my technical college portion went down 35.5% because of the money we put in at state."

He’s right. We rate his claim True.

A deeper look at the numbers, and we see why the Wisconsin Budget is in such a mess.  Scott Walker's property taxes did go down this year $118.
 

The governor owns and lives in a $360,000 home on a busy street in suburban Wauwatosa in Milwaukee County. An online database shows his total bill fell $118 or 1.4 percent this year.

His total bill: $8,364.

Of course last year, not so much - up $1100.  

Walker had less to brag about last year at this time, when his property tax bill jumped more than $1,100. It coincided with the 2013 citywide property revaluation in Wauwatosa. Walker’s property assessment rose 11 percent that year. 

OUCH.  By the way, in the four years Walker has been Governor - his property taxes(even after the massive$118 deducation) have went up $1300!  
 

Our Mathmatically challenged Governor consider taxes going up $1300/yr as a win.   he has himself (and maybe a really poor math teacher in high school) to thank for this.   

I know that the "amen chorus" will attack because the tax increase came from the city of Wauwatosa.  Of course it did, when the State Government starves municpalities and school districts as a way to pretend they cut taxes, the money has to be come from somewhere.  The streets of wauwatosa do not plow themselves.   

Cutting these payments is not saving taxpayers money, it is passing the buck. 

By the way while Scott Walker has his self to blame for his own MASSIVE tax increase, there have been a couple other things in the news that he also has himself to thank -  or blame.  

Thanks to massive cuts to the UW System our friends to the north are paying a steep price:

University of Wisconsin-Superior announced on Friday that it’s suspending five academic programs.

The following programs will no longer be offered at the school as of this Monday:

Educational Specialist Degree
Applied Discrete Mathematics concentration
French minor
French education minor
German education minor

Thanks Scott, now the students at UW Superior will be less prepared to tackle our world economy when they graduate.    

Then of course there is Wisconsin falling further in debt than we already are:

Over the next two years, the state's costs to keep up its current services will outstrip its expected tax collections by more than $800 million, according to the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office.

The brief analysis by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau provides the sharpest picture yet of the challenge that Gov. Scott Walker and lawmakers face as they try to keep the state's main account balanced while weighing competing concerns such as schools, health care and the pocketbooks of taxpayers.

Thanks Scott, sorry I missed your tweet on this piece of "great" news or I could have congratulated you sooner.   

Buckle up, I have a feeling there will be many many more things like this that we get to "thank" Scott Walker for in the next four years.   

Scott Walker - Soothsayer

By Jeff Simpson

Scott Walker ran around the state telling anyone who would listen that the state was over $3 billion dollars in debt and Wisconsin was broke.  Which led to yet another a Pants on Fire rating for Scott Walker from Politifact.


It turns out Politifact was premature!   It seems like, after four years of republican rule, we will be lucky to escape with only a $3,000,000 deficit! It is bad, and getting worse.  The republicans and Robin Vos, have a plan though on how to address it(emphasis mine) ------  RUN!

 LA CROSSE – As Wisconsin’s budget situation continues to deteriorate, legislators and state residents have struggled to get straight answers from Gov. Walker’s administration and Republican leaders. Public anxiety and suspicions regarding the state’s $3 billion budget deficit have intensified after the only scheduled meeting of the Joint Finance Committee was hastily cancelled late last week.

Democrats have asked Republican leaders to explain how the committee planned to move forward and address the immediate budget deficit crisis. Some Republican lawmakers have indicated a budget repair bill will be needed. Others have said they intend on making millions in unspecified cuts over the next several months. Others have said nothing at all.

See if Politifact had just waited until Walker's first term was done they could have given him a 100% true rating!   Scott Walker was just telling us what he had in store for us after four years of his rule!

No need to talk of the true damage that republicans have wrought until after the election.  Luckily we at COGDIS were able to snap a quick picture of the republicans on the joint finance committee when asked about the huge deficit that we will face in January! 

Scott Walker Sucked Some $3 Billion From Wisconsin's Economy

By Jeff Simpson

Politifact looked into the claim and rated it mostly true.   In an economy that runs on supply and demand, Scott Walker's policies have taken some $3,000,000,000 out of the Wisconsin economy!

Wisconsin has paid, and paid, and paid, and paid the price! 

Politifact Forgot The Rating

By Jeff Simpson

Politifact looked at Scott Walker's ridiculous claims that he created 17,000 job - producing  new businesses. However, they forget to give his statement a rating.  Let me help.  





 

The facts are, the deeper we get into Scott Walker and the republican's policies, the worse we are off. 

Seriously though, if you are the Governor of a State, where your slogan is "Open for Business" and you have delusions of grandeur of think you are qualified and popular enough to be President of the United States, would you really think you were successful because Wauwatosa started a new little league team and girl scout troop?   

I am sure his peers at the G8 summit would be very interested in hearing about his success of forming the Montello little league.   They would be longing for the good ole days of dubya.

PolitiFlunked

 

By Jeff Simpson

Recently, Politifact checked out a statement that Mary Burke made, well kind of anyway, and called it "false". 

The Statement:

Says Gov. Scott Walker’s repeal of a 2009 law has left Wisconsin as "one of five states without an equal pay law protecting women from gender discrimination in their paycheck."

Their Rating:

Our rating
Burke said that Walker’s repeal of a 2009 law has left Wisconsin as "just one of five states without an equal pay law protecting women from gender discrimination in their paycheck."
But while Walker reversed an attempt to toughen up Wisconsin law, its protections against gender discrimination in workplace pay date back decades. The governor’s 2012 action left those in place, albeit without tougher penalties for employers.
We rate Burke’s claim False.

The problem is, in doing their research, the JSonline Politifact, should have checked with Karen Herzog of JSonline:

 Wisconsin is one of five states that have no equal-pay laws on the books. The other states are Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and Utah.

Two major errors in two weeks, Politifact, you are going to have to do better than that!