Beware of Trackers

By Jeff Simpson

For those who do not pay that close attention to politics and hardly know the inside workings of campaigns.  There is a fairly consistent phenomena of campaigns sending a kid to video their opponents hoping to film them doing or saying something dumb so that they can make an ad/issue out of a misstep during the election. 

It is so much easier to use millions to smear your opponent for a misstep, than it is to let everyone judge you on your policy positions.

Mahlon, had a "tracker" following him around with a camera and decided to turn it around and film the tracker(Video here). 

Mitchell started filming Republican operative Ben Stelter, and asking him a couple questions:

The video shows Stelter videotaping Mitchell. Mitchell starts asking him who he works for and how much he’s paid. Stelter responds that he doesn’t make as much as Mitchell makes as a firefighter and president of the state firefighter union.
Stelter then climbs into his car and drives off as Mitchell asks why he follows him around.

 You can say that it is just the way politics works, but I would submit that I am curious why it took Mitchell so long to confront him and that allowing these guys to follow you around is downright dangerous. 

In the era of concealed carry, if the "tracker" does not have to identify themselves, how would you know who he was?

Do you just assume that he is assigned by the opposition.  What if he is someone that has believe the hype and believes that Democrats are the enemy of the people and is there on his own?  What if something Mitchell says while having conversations at the doors triggers him?  Has anyone done a background check on Ben?  How much does he agree with Ted Nugent?  Gabby Giffords showed us that it is dangerous to be a Democrat in public.  

We also were witness recently to the Stand Your Ground/Castle Doctrine GOP law in action.  

Markeis McGlockton was shot and killed July 19 outside a convenience store in Clearwater by Michael Drejka, sheriff's detectives say, after McGlockton shoved Drejka to the ground for confronting McGlockton's girlfriend over a parking space.Drejka was not arrested, with the Pinellas County sheriff saying the "stand your ground" law appears to give him immunity because he feared a further attack.
Sheriff's detectives said Drejka, 47, approached Jacobs while McGlockton and the couple's 5-year-old son went into the store. Drejka and Jacobs began arguing about her parking in a handicapped parking space.Jacobs concedes she parked in a handicapped spot outside the Circle A Food Store in Clearwater, and told "Good Morning America" this week that Drejka pulled up in a silver SUV and began yelling and cursing at her."(McGlockton) comes out and sees a guy yelling at me and I'm sitting in the car. So, by this time, my man is defending me and defending his children so he pushes the guy down," she told the ABC show.Jacobs said her two younger children were in the car with her.

We see in the video that Mahlon Mitchell took, when he asked Stelter, who he was working for, Stelter cowered in fear and ran to his car and drove away.  

How long until they send a kid who when he gets acknowledged, or asked a question, feels his life is threatened and takes steps to "defend himself"?  How long until a crowd gathers around the tracker and he slips and pulls his gun?   A privileged white boy introvert, following a Democrat of color who he has learned to fear and conditioned to think of as the enemy, in a diverse or less affluent neighborhood. while concealed carrying could lead to disaster.

While I personally believe that its a lowlife, TMZ thing to do by following someone around perpetually with a camera, I also realize that politics is a unique sport and logic and common sense is not allowed.

My suggestion would be that if a political party, or politician, sends someone to be a "tracker" they should be vetted and have to wear ID that is out in the open.  Or we will end up with this soon:  

When you have this happen at a rally for the GOP Presidential nominee and his response is he promises to pay the legal bills of anyone else who does so, you can not be to careful. 

Hopefully we look back upon Mahlon Mitchell confronting his tracker as a break water point in making candidates safer as they run for office.


Edit note: How could a guy who feels he needs security with him at all time send some young introverted possible psycho to follow Democratic Candidates wherever they go? 

Allen Wrench

By Jeff Simpson

Last week, we brought you the story of Benjamin Riche, one of the many Gnatsie's in WI whose sole purpose in life is to sit behind a computer and support Scott Walker anonymously.  Riche was exposed and still tried to deny his involvement in the BS, racism, bigotry and harassment that the Knot My Wisconsin(gnatsies) crew are known for.  


I recently received some information that shows that they are more annoying, immature, petty, uneducated and dangerous than I originally thought!   It seems that Mr. Riche, having no life of his own, has created multiple personalities on facebook.

 Here is Riche talking to himself:

One in particular he calls himself Allen Wrench(seriously)! As you can see by perusing his profile, he even gave himself a family and calls himself a retired union ironworker(the signs of a disturbed individual).   I truly hope that Mr. Riche does not have a CCW license!

It turns out that while Mr. Riche has serious issues that need to be dealt with, he is not very creative.  Allen Wrench is his secret agent name?  That is the best he could come up with?

Considering yourself some sort of facebook secret agent is one thing, but to then try and be creative with it and fail so massively is an entirely different story.

Riche makes Maxwell Smart look like James Bond!

 Cockroaches never play very well out in the bright sunlight and the more we expose them the mold of the gnatises will fade away with time.  

My advice to Mr. Riche and the rest of the gnatsies....take a vacation!  I recommend Pahrump, Nevada where the Chicken Ranch is waiting for you! 

Seriously Benny, spend the money(or put it on your credit card and pay later)...it will be the best 15 seconds of your life and will help you realize how ridiculous your life has been up until now!

Kenosha Unified School District

By Jeff Simpson

The Kenosha Unified School District has an important election coming up for School Board.   There is a candidate running, named William Mauer III that might be the single worst candidate in WI(at least since David Vanderleest) . 

As Dan Bice reports:

Every election brings a new crop of questionable political wannabes.
But William Mauer III appears to be single-handedly lowering the bar for school board candidates across the state.

Just look at his rap sheet: 

Records show Mauer, one of four candidates vying for two seats on the Kenosha School Board, has three disorderly conduct convictions since 2002, two drunken-driving offenses and a citation for possessing marijuana. 

Beyond that, police reports from the past 20 years lay out a disturbing range of alleged behavior by Mauer. He has been accused of wielding a gun during a tiff over a lawnmower, grabbing an 18-year-old female roommate by the throat during a spat over marijuana and calling a hospital security guard a "faggot."

Good thing there's no zero-tolerance policy for school board candidates. The election is Tuesday.

As Capper likes to say - "there is more, there is always more"....

If you have a couple hours, you can peruse his rap sheet:  There is so much more to this story than just a crazy school board candidate.   In reality this story shows us exactly how the republicans feel about education in our state and how they will do anything to win!

1.   What exactly are Mr. Mauer's credentials and motivation in running for school board?

 Mauer -- a critic of the teachers union and supporter of Gov. Scott Walker (why do so many people who have mugshots also have private shots with Scott Walker?  Why is the Governor so comfortable around people with such ethics deficits?)  

 

2.  Despite his extensive rap sheet, numerous OWI's and disorderly conducts amongst many other things, it doesn't matter to the local republican and tea party!  Support Scott Walker and your golden! He has the FULL backing of the Kenosha Republican party! 

3. Sadly, despite Bice's excellent report, he feels some sad pull to "balance his reporting" and compares Mauers opponent's 2009 bankruptcy(hardly unique in America) to the shameful behavior of Mauer.   This did not belong in the story!

4.  Once again, another republican victim.  It wasn't his fault.

"You are being used in an attempt by the KEA to retake control of the (Kenosha United School District)," Mauer wrote. "I’m running because I know I can help the kids and because I can make sure that the resources provided by the taxpayers are being used in the best interest of their education."

 I do however, have to give him some credit, he knows how to get his tax dollars out of the Kenosha Police Department!

5. Finally, why do so many republican men in Wisconsin, "inadvertently" choke women?

 In 2005, Mauer said he was cited for disorderly conduct and fined $5 after he was initially accused of domestic violence. 
Mauer told police he had taken items that he owned from his 18-year-old roommate's room, prompting her to try to "get his weed" from his closet. While seeking his marijuana, she reported that Mauer grabbed her by the neck. He claimed he may have inadvertently done this while trying to take the woman by her shoulders.
Mauer said this week that the incident was overblown.
"Even the police knew there was no threat, but they were following Wisconsin law by arresting me," he said. "I represented myself and I put (her) on the stand. She told the judge all the things I had done for her and how I had been the only positive influence in her life."

I hope this disgraceful debacle has you rethinking republican backed candidates and lets you see exactly, how little, what our friends on the right, think about public education!

If you are in Kenosha, PLEASE vote for Rebecca Stevens and Kyle Flood!

Your children are counting on you!

PS:  The WI Knot-sies are so cowardly and immature that they have stolen Mr. Floods pictures and tried to create a fake profile for the young and upcoming candidate.   Please punish this childish behavior by voting Mr. Flood into office!

PS:  Mr. Mauer speaks volumes to what the republicans have done in our state via their CCW law:

 Mauer, 55, noted that he has cleared three background checks in the past six months, one each in Wisconsin and Utah so he could carry a concealed weapon in the two states and the other to buy  a subcompact 9 mm pistol. 

If that doesn't help you sleep better at night, nothing will!  

guns, Guns, GUns, GUNs, GUNS!

Some time has passed now since the horrific massacre of students and teachers in Connecticut.  This brought out the discussion on guns and what we need to do to start curbing some of the incredible gun violence that goes on every day in America.  

Gun suicides (nearly 19,000 a year in the U.S.) outnumber gun murders (more than 11,000), and a gun in the home increases the risk that someone in the home will commit suicide. The reason is that suicide attempts with pills or razors often fail; with guns, they succeed. When Israel moved to have many soldiers store guns on base rather than at home, its military suicide rates plunged.

With the passage of time, we realize that our friends on the right are incapable of having an adult conversation about anything much less guns.  Prime examples being here, here and here.  We even have people wanting to arm everyone, although anyone who says that is also not serious about this debate!

There are others on the right who also like to turn it into a straw man argument about the left wanting to repeal the second amendment, and that is also ridiculous.   The 2nd amendment is already limited!  

Immediately after the shootings, the cowards at the National Rifle Association(NRA) immediately went silent, even shutting down their facebook page.   After a few days, they issued a generic press release wanting in on the debate.   Which is a major improvement from Columbine when shortly after that horrible incident, the NRA held a party near by where this was the head of the NRA's famous distasteful quote:

Nice, so it would also be wise to limit the input of the NRA, unfortunately they have alot of money to give to people like we have been discussing who then do as they are told and muddy the waters.  

The problem is, we are shooting each other all too often and it has nothing to do with "protecting ourselves". 

A Florida man defended his decision to shoot an impatient pizza customer over the weekend, citing the state’s infamous “Stand Your Ground” law.
Michael Jock, a 52-year-old resident of St. Petersburg, was standing in line behind 49-year-old Randall White at a local Little Caesars on Sunday when Jock grew angry over White’s complaints about the speed of service. The two began to shove one another, prompting Jock to pull out a .38 Taurus Ultralight Special Revolver that had been concealed on his person and fire twice, hitting White both times in the lower torso.

Let's also never forget Bo Morrison! 

As William Rivers Pitt writes in TruthOut, guns are big business and its killing us!

An 11-year old boy in Utah brought a .22 pistol to school with him on Tuesday. His parents apparently gave it to him "for protection" in the aftermath of the Newtown massacre. His teacher found out he had it after he put the gun to the head of a classmate at recess and threatened to kill her.

Only two weeks ago, on December 4th, 11 people were shot in one night in Chicago, but that news barely jiggled the wires, because at the time everyone was encompassing the murder-suicide perpetrated by NFL player Jovan Belcher, who shot his girlfriend to death in front of her mother before killing himself in front of his coaches in a parking lot. At the time, everyone said it was terrible, something that really makes you think, and Bob Costas went so far as to lament the deadly nature of America's gun culture during the national broadcast of a football game. He was roundly attacked for speaking out of turn, for "not having all the facts," and for generally intruding upon everyone's enjoyment of the game.

Between 2003 and 2010, 247,131 Americans died of gunshot wounds. Since 1982, there have been more than 60 mass shootings in America. In almost every case, the weapons used were obtained legally. The number of households with guns has been declining, with a few upticks here and there, since 1990, and yet gun sales went through the roof in the aftermath of the Newtown massacre, which means more people aren't buying guns, but the people who buy guns are buying more of them.

The gun business in America is booming, despite the decline in households that own guns. As the Washington Post glibly noted this week, "The U.S. gun industry has been one of the brightest spots in the U.S. economy in recent years, even through the recent downturn. This year, it racked up $11.7 billion in sales and $992 million in profits, according to the research firm IBISWorld." Almost 17 million people applied for a background check to purchase a gun in 2012. More than 156 million people have applied since 1998.

Now that every state but Illinois has CCW and 17 million people are applying to purchase guns, is it too late to let everyone know that carrying a gun does not keep you safer?

 Let's hope that Joe Biden can hear better from his left side than his right!