No more Coca-Cola for Venezuela–there’s not enough sugar. Diet Coke is still around–until the country runs out of aspartame–but the disappearance from store shelves of an icon of globalization is the latest blow for an economy on the edge. In April, the country’s largest private company, Empresas Polar SA, which makes 80% of the beer that Venezuelans consume, closed its doors. The government now rations water, so Venezuelans have begun stealing it from tanker trucks and swimming pools.
Electricity is also in short supply, and President Nicolás Maduro has ordered public offices to conserve energy by remaining open just two days a week. An ongoing drought only makes matters worse. About 65% of the country’s electricity is generated by a single hydroelectric dam that’s now in serious trouble. Blackouts, scheduled and otherwise, have become common.
This isn’t just bad luck. Supermarket shelves are often empty, in part because price controls have discouraged production of staples, and Maduro is threatening to seize closed factories and nationalize them.
Then there is the government’s oil addiction. Venezuela depends on oil for about 96% of export earnings and nearly half its federal budget. When prices were high, policymakers could have created a rainy-day fund. Some of that money went toward lifting poor people from poverty, but much was stolen: Venezuela is the most corrupt country in the Americas and the ninth most corrupt in the world, according to Transparency International. To balance its budget, Venezuela would need to sell oil for $121 per barrel, more than twice the current price. The inflation rate is expected to hit 481% by year’s end and 1,642% by next year.
Month: May 2016
Inspector General Slams Clinton’s Use of Private Server
Clinton and her aids stonewalled the IG too.
The report draws attention to two staff members in the Office of Information Resources Management, who back in 2010 “discussed their concerns about Secretary Clinton’s use of a personal email account in separate meetings with the then-Director” of their office.
The report says, “According to the staff member, the Director stated that the Secretary’s personal system had been reviewed and approved by Department legal staff and that the matter was not to be discussed any further.” The same director reportedly “instructed the staff never to speak of the Secretary’s personal email system again.”
But the report notes that interviews with officials from the Under Secretary for Management and the Office of the Legal Adviser found “no knowledge of approval or review by other Department staff” of the server.
Growing Power
The growing, unconstitutional power of the chief executive under Obama continues apace, a frightening trend likely to be augmented by Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, constitutionalists neither.
Have all of those liberal who are cheering Obama’s unconstitutional overreaches sat down and considered what Trump would do with that power?
If our Founders knew anything, it was that the concentration of power into a single person was the surest path to tyranny.
Rick Wiley Off the Trump Train
That was quick. No doubt he made a lot of friends.
Milwaukee Transit System On the Ropes
Bruce Murphy has a telling story about how the stupid decisions of the liberal Milwaukee County Board are destroying the county bus system. One would think that someone could have foreseen the consequences… oh wait, someone did. The county board decided that economic laws didn’t apply to them.
The Transit System estimated the loss of half-priced fares would cost the county some $4.2 million, yet Dimitrijevic and the board allocated just $822,600 to pay for the program, leaving a likely $3.3 million shortfall. An alarmed Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele vetoed the proposal, but was overridden by the board. As Dimitrijevic declared, “The time is now to take the largest transit system in the state to the next level.”
It’s almost shocking how cavalierly Dimitrijevic and company proceeded, despite the fiscal warning signs. The likely $3.3 million shortfall was documented in a story by my colleague Jeramey Jannene in November 2014, long before the plan was passed. Urban Milwaukee did a follow-up story in September 2015 showing how the GO Pass system, was running up a huge deficit as predicted, and Jannene did a March 2016 story documenting how the program was bleeding the county transit system.
Meanwhile the number of free riders keeps rising. In the program’s first year, from April 15, 2015 through April 14, 2016, there were 5.3 million free rides given, and about 60 percent of them were to disabled riders. But the number has steadily grown, month by month: in April there were 629,000 free rides, which annualized would equal 7.5 million. In April free riders accounted for 21 percent of all rides, and that percent keeps rising, meaning there are fewer and fewer fares being collected and less and less revenue to support the transit system.
What’s likely happening is more and more people are getting doctors excuses claiming a disability. In Chicago, the level of fraud (for both senior and disabled riders) eventually raised costs to the point where the system was unaffordable. As free riders continue to increase, Milwaukee’s transit system will have to raise the fare for others or cut back routes or do both.
Wisconsin joins Lawsuit Against Obama Title IX Overreach
MADISON – Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel joined attorneys general and school districts from across the United States today in challenging the Obama Administration’s new Title IX policy. In the latest example of the Obama Administration’s unlawful executive overreach, which re-interprets the word “sex” to include “gender identity,” Wisconsin’s sovereignty and independence have once again been undermined by the federal government.
“President Obama’s attempts to re-write the laws of our country without congressional consent and approval are not going to be tolerated by the State of Wisconsin,” said Attorney General Schimel. “After discussing with Governor Walker, I have decided to join my colleagues from across the country in challenging the Obama Administration’s latest power grab, which will have a significant impact on Wisconsin, particularly at the University of Wisconsin and Department of Public Instruction.”
Earlier this month, the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) issued a “significant guidance letter,” which forces all recipients of Title IX funding to treat an individual according to their “internal sense of gender.” According to the guidance, “gender identity [is] the [individual’s] sex for purposes of Title IX and its implementing regulations.” USDOJ argues that Title IX requires those government agencies receiving federal funds under Title IX to treat an individual according to their “internal sense of gender.” While this policy most notably applies to bathrooms and locker rooms at educational institutions, it would also apply to athletics, single-sex classes, and single-sex housing (i.e. dorms).
On the merits, this new policy conflicts with the plain language of Title IX, and is therefore an unlawful interpretation. Title IX does not prohibit “gender identity” discrimination, but sex discrimination.
Walker’s Third Term
So?
MADISON — Gov. Scott Walker sent conflicting signals this week by putting off for at least a year his final decision about whether to run for a third term as governor.
Walker said he plans to wait until after the 2017-2018 state budget is completed, a process that will likely wrap up next summer. He had previously said he would take the rest of this year to make a decision and announce it sometime after that.
“I think it`s important to stay focused on the budget, to get that through and put the time and energy needed in for that, but it won`t be long after that,” Walker said.
Analysts were conflicted about why Walker would build in the additional time. A Republican strategist said it allows the governor to focus on the state budget and the repayment of his presidential campaign debt, while a Democratic strategist saw it as proof that Walker would not run for a third term.
Whether he is on the ballot or not, the framework for the next election is already set. The question will be, does Wisconsin want to continue the policies of Walker or not?
I am a bit baffled by all of the media pressure for Walker to announce whether or not he intends to run for a third term. The election isn’t for another two-and-a-half years! Why does he need to decide now? He doesn’t. It just gives the media something to write about every few weeks.
Baldwin Wants More Money for TSA
Heh.
Senator Tammy Baldwin is one of 23 lawmakers calling for increased TSA funding to help alleviate long wait times at airports.
“Recent reports indicate that some TSA security lines have stretched for several hours, in extreme cases, causing individuals to miss their flights. Security is absolutely paramount and these long wait times indicate not only a discomfort to our constituents, but more importantly a severe lack of security resources at some of the busiest airports in the country,” the lawmakers wrote. “For this reason, we urge continued funding to ensure TSA has an adequate number of staff and resources to meet the needs of the traveling public.”
The funding would increase staffing levels, reinforce screenings, and expand security programs to ensure passenger safety.
This is a typical liberal government response. We have an agency that is failing in one of its core missions, so what does Baldwin want to do? Throw more of our money at them! Baldwin wants to reward the TSA’s poor performance with budget increases. Why? Because it gives the politician the cover that she “did something” without actually doing the hard work of taking corrective action.
If Baldwin gets her wish, the TSA will simply continue to fail while spending more money. The money isn’t the problem, so more of it can’t fix it. The problem is the leadership and policies at the TSA.
Madison School District Struggles with Budget
It’s pretty difficult to feel sorry for them, but I feel sorry for the kids.
District officials are calling this year’s budget cycle especially challenging because of a one-two punch. There’s limited funding growth allowed by formulas that mix state aid with the amount the district is allowed to collect from local property taxes. And there’s no unused money carried over from previous years.
“When it comes down to it, if there’s something that I think is a priority that is inadequately funded, essentially, in order to fund that, something else has to be cut,” School Board treasurer TJ Mertz said. “That’s what makes this year different.”
The district is taking $1.6 million out of its reserves and cutting staff to balance the 2016-17 school year budget that’s projected at $496 million. Some fear that’s the new norm in an environment where money and increases in tax levy authority from the state are in short supply.
Public school funding in Wisconsin is dictated by revenue limits, the enrollment-driven amount of money that a district is allowed to collect. The state budget provided no increase in that level for 2016-17, five years after Gov. Scott Walker cut the base per-pupil revenue limit by 5.5 percent, an average of $529 per pupil statewide, as part of changes to public school funding.
In 2011, Walker’s Act 10 gave school districts “tools” by which they could balance the funding decrease by reducing expenditures on staffing. Madison has shown a hesitancy to pass on those costs to its employees.
Here’s the crux of it:
“When it comes down to it, if there’s something that I think is a priority that is inadequately funded, essentially, in order to fund that, something else has to be cut,” School Board treasurer TJ Mertz said. “That’s what makes this year different.”
Yes. Exactly. In the real world, there are scarce resources and we have to prioritize what is important and what is not. To date, the Madison School Board has made it clear what they consider most important with their refusal to have employees do things like pay a reasonable share for their insurance and retirement.
They have the tools to fund what they consider important. Now it’s just a matter of them deciding what is actually important and what is not.
Appeals Court Reinstates Wisconsin Right to Work Law
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals on Tuesday granted a stay of a Dane County Circuit judge’s decision to strike down the state’s Right to Work law, reinstating the law for now while an appeal is pending.
The order by the state District 3 Court of Appeals, based in Wausau, overrules a decision made earlier by Dane County Circuit Judge William Foust to not issue a stay of his own ruling throwing out the law on the grounds that the law unconstitutionally takes property from unions without compensation.
In issuing the stay, presiding judge Lisa Stark said “we conclude the State has established there is sufficient likelihood of success on appeal to warrant the grant of the stay” and that the lower court erred in concluding unions would suffer harm if a stay was issued.
Obama Lifts Arms Embargo on Vietnam
Once again, Obama acts unilaterally.
Yet it’s just bizarre that Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry seem to think that our embargo was more of a problem than the Communism itself. Even if Red China is itching for a war in the South China Sea.
Arms to Vietnam have a certain logic. It’s like Winston Churchill saying, when the Nazis entered Stalin’s Russia, that if Hitler invaded Hell he’d at least make a favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.
In Southeast Asia the theory is that the Communists in China are more of a threat to American interests than the Communists in Vietnam, China’s traditional foe. Yet Obama is denying that the end of the arms embargo is linked to China.
It was, he insisted, based on “our desire to complete what has been a lengthy process of moving towards normalization with Vietnam.” But he has brushed aside all sorts of red flags about the nature of the regime.
Human Rights Watch sent him a letter nearly a month ago, warning of what he was dealing with in Vietnam’s Communist camarilla. It called Vietnam’s government “one of the most repressive in the world.”
Here’s the thing… I support the selling of arms to Vietnam, but not for the reasons Obama states. As the column above mentions, China has been aggressively expanding into the South China Sea. They are creating islands and placing military bases on them in order to exert control over one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. They have threatened the United States and other nations who venture into their new “territorial waters.” China is clearly a large geopolitical threat that is emerging into a superpower at the expense of America.
Allowing the Vietnamese, who have historically opposed China, access to advanced American weaponry makes sense as a counterweight in the region. Of course, doing so is to accept the likelihood that the Vietnamese government will continue to do what it it does – oppress the Vietnamese people.
So we have this odd situation where Obama, whose philosophy should lead him to defend the right of the oppressed, is making a decision to oppress them more. Why? Because another part of Obama’s philosophy likes Communism and hates American global dominance. Obama is making the decision to lift the arms embargo as a salve to what he views as America’s wrongs. His rationale is offensive and idiotic, but his decision is correct.
Diversity a must in state government
My column for the West Bend Daily News is online. Here you go:
In about 1832, former Federal Judge James Doty and two partners purchased more than 1,000 acres of land on the isthmus between Lakes Mendota and Monona for $2,400. He intended to build a city in the Four Lakes region centrally located to the strategically important ports of Prairie du Chen and Green Bay and the lucrative lead-mining area.
When Wisconsin became a territory in 1836, one of the first tasks for Gov. Henry Dodge and the territorial convention as they met in a cold wood building in Belmont was to choose a site for the capital of the territory. Doty quickly jumped into action.
Doty arrived in Belmont with the plans for a new city built on the isthmus. It would be named after President James Madison, the Father of the Constitution who died earlier that year. The streets would be laid out emanating from the central square with the principal streets being named for other signers of the U.S. Constitution. And the grand capital of the new territory, which everyone assumed would eventually become a state, would rest on the highest point of the isthmus with a grand view of the beautiful lakes.
Of course, there were differences of opinion and other people who wanted the capital located elsewhere. But after a month of wrangling as autumn gave way to winter in 1836, Doty was not to be denied. He brought warm buffalo coats for the delegates and gave them generous plots near the center of the city. Eventually, Doty won the delegates over and Madison became the capital. Doty and his investors eventually brought in $35,510 for their investment of $2,400 — more than 1,400 percent profit — through the sale of land to the new government and people who wanted to be near it.
Madison is the capital of Wisconsin because someone stood to profit from that decision and nothing has changed since. It remains our capital because people profit from it being so.
State Treasurer Matt Adamczyk highlighted a small example in a memo to the joint Finance Committee last week. Adamczyk showed that the Department of Children and Families and the Government Accountability Board lease three floors of a building a block from the capitol for prices ranging between $17.86 and $22.94 per square foot. Neither agency needs to be near the capitol and, in fact, it imposes an inconvenience on citizens visiting those agencies as parking is scarce and expensive. By simply moving the agencies to the east side of Madison, they could halve the taxpayers’ lease expenses. There are ample locations for as little as $10 per square foot and they include free parking.
Why are these two agencies spending twice as much as necessary for a building near the capitol? Somebody is making money off that decision and the taxpayers are paying for it.
While Adamczyk brings to light a very salient example of waste and a way to reduce it, we should go one step further. Why must those agencies be in Madison at all? Instead of moving them to the east side of Madison, why not move them to the east side of Appleton? Wausau? Racine?
In 1836, when our capital was selected, it made sense for all government functions to reside in the same city. Roads were poor and it took days or weeks to traverse the state by horseback, wagon, or on foot. In order for one unit of government to coordinate with another, they had to physically meet in the same room or engage in a lengthy and time-consuming exchange of letters.
It isn’t 1836 anymore. In the 21st century, we are conducting business across the globe without leaving our desks. There is simply no longer a rational basis for all of our government to reside in the same city and there are several great benefits to diversifying the agencies.
The obvious benefit is cost. Real estate and housing for employees are less expensive in other areas of the state. For example, plenty of great office space is available in West Bend for less than $14 per square foot. Multiply a savings of 10-50 percent for hundreds of state government leases and the savings add up quickly for the taxpayers.
Beyond the actual monetary savings is the benefit to the areas of the state outside of Madison. Roughly $30 billion tax dollars flow through Madison every year. That money flows out in the form of salaries for employees, construction, rent and countless other expenses. Madison has rightly benefited from such a large, stable industry in its borders. Imagine the benefit to a community like Manitowoc, for example, if the Department of Revenue located there with its hundreds of good, middle-class jobs. By locating various agencies in communities around Wisconsin, those communities could receive some tangible benefit from their tax dollars.
Finally, perhaps the greatest benefit from decentralizing our state government would be cultural. Gov. Lee Dreyfus was accurate when he described Madison as “77 square miles surrounded by reality.” That reality is Wisconsin.
Madison has a separate and distinct culture that has grown out of decades of stable, well-compensated government workers at the state government and University of Wisconsin-Madison. The vast majority of our state government agencies are staffed by Madisonians who share their common culture. By diversifying the geography of state government, we would also diversify the culture of state government. Instead of being dominated by Madisonians, our state government would also be staffed by folks from Milwaukee, Waupun, Green Bay, Waukesha, Hudson and many other regions of the state. This diversification of culture will help our state government be more understanding and responsive to everyone in the state. If we truly value diversity, we should welcome it into our state government.
Since Madison was founded, we have invented automobiles, airplanes, telephones, computers, the Internet, video conferencing, webcasts and countless other advances that render the centralization of our state government both unnecessary and counterproductive to the advancement of the state. It is time for the state government to venture out of Madison.
USCCA Breaks Ground on New Headquarters
It’s great to see a great growing business in West Bend!
Hillary’s Active Support of Bill’s Sex Life is On the Table
Yup.
This is the forgotten part of the interview in 1998 where Hillary Clinton described the “vast right wing conspiracy” she said was after her husband. In this segment of the interview, she very clearly threatens Bill’s accusers and lets other potential ones know in the most public way possible what they will face. She said:
I think that when all of this is put into context, and we really look at the people involved here, look at their motivations and look at their backgrounds, look at their past behavior, some folks are going to have a lot to answer for.
Hillary Clinton’s role in trying to intimidate or suppress the stories of women her husband had affairs with is a legitimate topic of conversation and inquiry, given that a foundation of her campaign is women’s rights and that she would be the first woman president.
Remember that it’s not that Hillary tolerated Bill’s extramarital sex life. She was an active participant in demonizing his prey and protecting him so that he could continue doing it.
Trump Would Allow Guns in Schools
Of course, it’s a state issue, but I agree with Trump here.
“I’m not advocating guns in classrooms,” Trump said. “But remember, in some cases … trained teachers should be able to have guns in classrooms.”
Obama’s Salary Regulation Cuts off Upward Mobility
Yep.
Scholz predicted employers will restructure, moving salaried people to hourly wages and then strictly enforcing their hours.
“The other thing is: You (as an employer) will lose your middle management,” Scholz said. As former managers’ responsibilities are spread around, “you have weakened the management of your company.”
And if those things happen, Scholz added, “You have taken away a career path,” for those who would have worked their way through lower-paid salary positions to higher ones.
Oklahoma Considering Religious Exemption to Omnigender Bathrooms
The can of worms is spilling out.
Oklahoma lawmakers have introduced a bill that would allow students to request on religious grounds that their public schools provide a bathroom or other facility that bars transgender people.
The bill appears to be one of the first state-level legislative actions tochallenge the Obama administration’s directives, issued last week, that said students must be allowed to use the facilities that match the gender they identify as, even if that is different from their anatomical sex.
The Senate bill introduced on Thursday in Oklahoma defined “sex” as the “physical condition of being male or female, as identified at birth” by an individual’s anatomy.
It says any student can request a “religious accommodation” from a school for restrooms, athletic changing facilities or showers that are exclusively used by people with the anatomical sex at birth that is similar to their own. This means that a male student could request that the school provide facilities only for use by other students who were male when they were born.
It said a student can do so based on “sincerely held religious beliefs.”
The proposed legislation says single-occupancy facilities would not be considered an allowable accommodation.
This is the start of a good thing. One thing that seemed to get lost in this manufactured issue is that there are people besides the transgendered folks who have right too. But I disagree with the bill on the need for a religious exemption. If we have decided that transgendered folks can use whatever bathroom they please based on their feelings, then why can’t students insist on a monogender bathroom based on their feelings? Do they need a religious justification, or is the fact that they are uncomfortable sharing a bathroom with a transgendered person enough of a justification? Obama and the Left has told us that transgender people should be able to use the bathroom they are most comfortable in. Why isn’t that good enough for non-transgender folks?
See how complicated this gets when we abandon distinctions based on the scientific differences in sex and move to subjective classifications of gender?
Questionable Language Choices
Since it was so absolutely beautiful in Wisconsin this weekend, I took the opportunity to enjoy one of our many fantastic state parks and went to Harrington Beach. In doing so, this sign caught my eye:
Does anything jump out at you? What got my attention is that there isn’t any English. In order to make sure I wasn’t missing anything, I did take note of the same sign in several other places and it was the same thing. There isn’t an English version posted.
Now, it is obviously a safety sign of some sort. I assume that green is good and red is bad. But since I can’t read the writing, I really don’t know what it is about. I don’t mind safety signs being posted with multiple languages because it is in our interest for everyone to be safe, but shouldn’t one of those languages be the predominant one in our state?
Just askin’…
America’s Newest Destroyer Delivered
I’m sure that this guy has waiting his whole life to be a Captain.
“Zumwalt’s crew has diligently trained for months in preparation of this day and they are ready and excited to take charge of this ship on behalf of the U.S. Navy,” said Capt. James Kirk, commanding officer ofZumwalt in a statement. “These are 143 of our nation’s finest men and women who continue to honor Admiral Zumwalt’s namesake with their dedication to bringing this ship to life.”
Sean Penn’s Movie Invites Laughter
Something about Sean Penn being laughed at brings me joy.
Sean Penn lost the audience for his newest directorial effort, The Last Face, less than a minute into its debut press screening this morning at Cannes. As the opening title cards, laid over an educational map of Africa, prepared us for action set during the second Liberian Civil War in 2003, a second set of title cards in a more lyrical italicized font flashed onscreen, comparing that crisis with the vicious tribal rebellion in South Sudan a decade later, and that conflict to “the brutality of impossible love shared by a man” — fade to black, wait for it — “… and a woman.” There was a millisecond pause for shock before much of the audience burst out laughing.
[…]
The overwrought language of Erin Dignam’s script moves right from the title cards to the opening scene, set in 2013, with Theron’s humanitarian doctor, Wren, getting ready for a big speech as her lover, Miguel (Javier Bardem), whispers reassurance that her words are “just to remind them what human nature is capable of.”
[…]
I counted at least two more times the audience broke into shocked snickers: first, when Wren jokes that she needs to “grab” someone to marry, and a fellow doctor, played by legend Jean Reno and named, really, Dr. Love, shouts back, “It is not grabbing! It is loving!” Second, when Miguel apologizes to Wren for an affair by saying, “I did tell her I loved her, but I never meant I loved her the way I love you.” There should also be a drinking game for every time Wren yells at Miguel some variant of “Love me? You don’t even know me!”
Hat tip Althouse.