Paul Blount, head of Palmyra's public safety department, wants to collaborate with the ICEtapo and turn the city's police into stormtroopers:
It goes beyond other local law enforcement agencies' cooperation agreements with ICE, which deal with people already in jail. The other models generally allow jails to hold inmates for 72 hours beyond the time state law would require them to be released to give ICE time to pick them up. Fourteen Wisconsin county sheriff's offices have a version of those jail agreements in place.
The task force model was previously in place but came under fire for racial profiling concerns and civil rights violations. In 2012, the Obama administration suspended the task force model after, among other incidents, an investigation found that Maricopa County Sheriff's Office deputies in Arizona were four to nine times more likely to pull over Latino drivers than non-Latino drivers.
In reality, Palmyra is a hodunk town with only 1,700 people, which means they probably have one diner, a couple of gas stations and ten bars. There's no reason to go there, much less spend money there. And that last thing a good, patriotic American would want to do his support a bunch of Nazi wannabes.
The plaint from the right has been that our universities indoctrinate our students with liberal left wing woke ideology. If college professors were that skilled at indoctrination the first thing they'd enforce is showing up for class everyday and then putting down phones during lectures. But I digress.
And the lead hecklers are: and why aren't THEY flaming liberals
Donald Trump : University of Pennsylvania
Donald Trump Jr. : University of Pennsylvania
JD Vance : Ohio State University
Pam Bondi : University of Florida
Pete Hegseth : Princeton University
Marco Rubio : University of Miami
Scott Bessent : Yale University
Kristi Noem : South Dakota State University
Linda McMahon : East Carolina University
Ted Cruz : Harvard Law School
Mike Johnson : Louisiana State University
John Thune : University of South Dakota
You get the picture? Yes, we see!
By the way, if this is such a nefarious controversy, why is Barron Trump attending a branch of New York University?
President Pedo lousy, miserable, no damn good term just got worse. Despite all his witness tampering, his con games, his threatening congressmen and congresswomen in his effort to keep the Epstein list from becoming public, there was one major factor he forgot - the vicitms:
"Epstein's reach went to the very top of fashion, arts and entertainment," Phillips said. "This did not just happen to underage girls in Florida, in New York City, hundreds of young, ambitious women were abused by him. Epstein was not just a serial predator, he was an international human trafficker, and many around him knew. Many participated and many profited and yet he was protected, so I stand here today for every woman who has been silenced, exploited and dismissed. We are not asking for pity, we are here demanding accountability, and I'm demanding justice. Congress must choose: Will you continue to protect predators or will you finally protect survivors."
"Also, I would like to announce here today, us Epstein survivors have been discussing creating our own list," she added. "We know the names. Many of us were abused by them. Now, together as survivors, we will confidentially compile the names we all know who regularly and who were regularly in the Epstein world, and it will be done by survivors and for survivors. No one else is involved. Stay tuned for more details."
It's already pretty obvious that Trump is in poor health, from the cankles to the bruises on his hands to his prolonged abscences. I'm sure that all this stress can't be helping him.
Then again, his victims are struggling, too. I feel as bad for him as he feels for them.
The Wisconsin version of the pre-holiday weekend news dump came in the form of soon to be former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Becky Bradley giving her concession screech 14 months early. Showing as much class as Dan Kelly when he lost to Justice Janet Protasiewicz, Bradley moped about partisan politics:
"The conservative movement needs to take stock of its failures, identify the problem, and fix it," Bradley said in an Aug. 29 statement. "I will not seek reelection to the Wisconsin Supreme Court because I believe the best path for me to rebuild the conservative movement and fight for liberty is not as a minority member of the Court."
[...]
"For years I have warned that under the control of judicial activists, the court will make itself more powerful than the legislature, more powerful than the governor," she wrote. "That warning went unheeded."
Bradley's statement mentioned concerns about "bitter partisanship, personal attacks and political gamesmanship."
That's pretty high hypocrisy coming from a Federalist who was politically appointed by former governor Scott Walker to every single judicial seat she's been in to serve as a rubber stamp for the Republicans and their deep-pocket, dark-money, special-interest owners, like the Bradley Foundation and the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.
Bradley's concession comes as no big surprise since Bradley's campaign plan was to get appointed by the Orange Sphincter to the 7th Appellate Court. When she got snubbed by TACO Don, she had no where to turn. She had raised no money because she knew it was a lost cause. People were turning on fascists like her and she had a whole shit ton of fascist luggage she was toting.
I just hope that if Bradley gets an offer from somewhere in the right wing welfare system, that she doesn't hesitate to take it. Nobody, and I mean nobody, needs her kind of negativity, hostility and toxicity in the workplace.
Just as they did in 2017, the Republicans pulled off another big tax scam with the OBBB. For example, this false "No Tax On Tips" gimmick makes a lot of promises it doesn't keep, or can't even keep.
Of the more than 2 million food servers across the country, half earn less than $37,000 a year, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Those workers can largely claim the standard deduction, reducing their tax burden, Crandall-Hollick said. But they also likely can claim other forms of tax relief, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC).
More than a third of tipped workers didn’t make enough money to pay federal income taxes last year, Yale Budget Lab found, even before tax credits like the EITC or the CTC.
“You can’t go negative with taxable income. Exempting any more income from taxation is not going to help those individuals,” Crandall-Hollick said.
And even those very few who will see a modicum of benefit from it better not get too used to it, because it sunsets at the end of President Pedo's term in 2028.
Unfortunately, Wisconsin Republicans think that people are stupid enough to fall for the same tax scam twice.
Spearheaded by State Rep Ron Tusler, a guy who's never had a critical thought, he really insulted the intelligence of every working man and woman in the state with this load of crap:
Tips "never should have been taxed" in the first place, state Rep. Ron Tusler, R-Harrison, said during the Aug. 21 hearing.
"The folks that receive tips are not wealthy people, they're not usually middle-class people. Usually, they’re working-class people that are trying to get themselves to that middle-class level, to get themselves their American dream," Tusler said. "As representatives, these are great folks for us to target, and as Christians, we should always be trying to help the poor."
If Tusler really wanted to help the poor, how about doing away with subminimum wages and raise the actual minimum wage. The last time the minimum wage was raised, Tusler probably still had hair. But doing a gimmick that won't help the majority of hospitality workers isn't going to help them or the state financial situation. In fact, it will do more harm than good.
And then Tusler's good pal, State Senator and COVID poster child, Andre Jacque, wanted to demonstrate his lack of critical thought with this:
"This is something to help retain those workers that we already have in that sector of the economy, to recruit others … but fundamentally, tips are supposed to be something that are freely given … something in exchange for excellent service," said Sen. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere.
Restaurants are already starting to close due to the failing economy caused by Tariff Man. They can't afford to pay the taxes Trump has put on food and other commodities. Not that it matters much because they aren't getting as many customers as Trump also made sure that people are going to have to choose between food, housing and medication.
As I said earlier, the Republicans think we are stupid. We can prove them wrong next year by voting them out.
Shortly after Governor Tony Evers announced that he was not running for reelection, Lt. Governor Sara Rodriguez became the first Democrat out of the gates. And she is off to quite an impressive start.
She started with this introductory video:
In just two and a half minutes, she gives you her entire bio without losing your interest. She is also impressive with her focus and directness but keeping it homey and relatable at the same time. (Hi Sara's mom!)
And her last line about "earning" our votes was just the chef's kiss.
While Rodriguez was impressive in her introductory video, her first campaign event was something special.
Most candidates have big, flashy campaign kickoffs, with other politicians to show their support, lots of speechifying, and of course, their palms out. But Rodriguez did none of those things. Her first campaign event was to go to Milwuakee and hold a listening session with veterans. A listening session!
Many candidates kick off their campaigns with big launch parties where they do most of the talking.
Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez decided to listen instead.
Rodriguez, the first Wisconsin Democrat to announce a campaign for governor in the 2026 race, had a discussion with about a dozen veterans in Milwaukee on Aug. 14. It was her first public campaign event in the Milwaukee area since she announced in late July that she was running for the state's highest office.
In all the time I've been watching politics, I have not seen one candidate do this. How absolutely refreshing it is to have a politician actually listen to the people. Republicans don't even pretend to listen to people, dodging town halls and only doing very strictly controled events at companies that support them. And too many Democrats only pretend to listen until they tell you to shut up and vote the way they tell you.
The more I think about it, the more refreshing her campaign is.
And just because she was a nurse, a mother, says Hi to her mother, don't think for one second she is a pushover. Shortly after she started her campaign, some sleazebuckets went after her husband, questioning his immigration status. She not only fired point blank at them, she reloaded and fired again!
Click to embiggen
I'm not ready to make an endorsement quite yet because it's still early. But I will say that I would have no problem supporting Rodriguez. She's obviously very intelligent and she's repeatedly proven herself. She not afraid to speak plainly and directly without pulling punches (and she is correct about the maniac in the White House). But most impressive to me is that she listens. It's so unusual, it's hard to believe. It's almost too good to be true.
I sincerely hope she continues on the path she is on because so far, she is doing everythng picture perfect.
To learn more about Sara Rodriguez, including how to help her, please visit her website.
The Milwaukee Country Transit System is a hot mess right now. It is nearly $11 million in the hole right now. MCTS officials blame their deficit on unexpected overtime, lower ridership, people getting on board without paying their fare and private contractors not meeting their obligations.
To make matters worse, transit officials have known about this for months, but have only just now come clean on it. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the finger pointing game is already ridiculous:
"It's like they're way too reactionary. They're way too slow moving, and the fact it takes weeks to notify us that you're starting to see a problem, that is an issue," Supervisor Steve Taylor, the finance committee's vice-chair, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after reviewing the timeline.
The report also shows on June 23, following the agency's release of its May financial report, the County Executive's Office shared concerns with MCTS that it had not communicated the "severity of the budget situation" with supervisors prior to notifying the public, and "acting independently regarding major implications of service changes."
Days later, county Comptroller Liz Sumner said she was "stunned to learn through the media" of MCTS' projected deficit for 2025, given the reports she had been receiving projected a "balanced budget" for the end of the year. Sumner called for an audit of the agency as well as an analysis of the agency's finances to be carried out by her own office.
On July 1, Donna Brown-Martin, executive director of the county transportation department since 2018, resigned. A week later, Interim President and CEO Julie Esch resigned from MCTS
OK, so the two top MCTS officials resigned. That's just a start though.
I need more answere from Summer on how she didn't know and only learned it through the media. Where was she for the past six months? Maybe we should do an audit on her office as well as MCTS.
The fact of the matter is that this has been a long time coming. There once was a time when this sort of thing would never have gotten this big or gone on for so long before the Milwaukee County Board would have caught it and taken action.
Their ability to do that ended about ten years ago, when then Milwaukee County Executive and Plutocrat Chris Abele colluded with Republican state legislators to pass Act 14, which gutted the county board and made them less than half-time employees. Act 14 also decimated the system of checks and balances that exists in functional governments.
While most of the damage was done, the voters approved of this by large numbers, thanks to a strong advertising blitz by Abele, the Republicans, and people like Bruce Murphy, editor of Urban Milwaukee.
It should be noted that current leaders like the current county executive, David Crowley, hasn't lifted a finger to fix the problem, or even pretend to care.
Remember this when we go to vote next year. All levels of government needs a good cleaning and purging of thos that serve the wealthy and not the people.
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