Boots & Sabers

The blogging will continue until morale improves...

Month: November 2016

Colleges Reaffirm Why Trump Won

This.

Reading all of these stories, I really have to wonder: Do any of these people realize that this kind of behavior is exactly why Donald Trump won? The initial appeal of Donald Trump was that he served as a long-awaited contrast to the infantilization and absurd demands for political correctness and “safe spaces” sweeping our society, and the way these people are responding is only reminding Trump voters why they did what they did.

Thanks, Vets

Happy Veterans Day!

America has long stood as a beacon of hope and opportunity, and few embody that spirit here at home and beyond our borders more than the members of our Armed Forces. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen are part of an unbroken chain of brave patriots who have served our country with honor and made tremendous sacrifices so that we may live free. On Veterans Day, we salute the women and men who have proudly worn the uniform of the United States of America and the families who have served alongside them, and we affirm our sacred duty as citizens to express our enduring gratitude, both in words and in actions, for their service.

Week In Review Tomorrow

I’ll be discussing the issues of the week with Christine Bremer-Muggli tomorrow morning on Joy Cardin’s Week in Review show. It airs at 0800 on your local Wisconsin Public Radio station or online at WPR.org.

It looks like it was a slow week, so if you have any suggestions for topics, feel free to send them my way.

Appeals Court Overturns Cash for Protestors

Good.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin appeals court has voided a nearly $300,000 judgment for demonstrators who were cited for holding signs during massive protests at the state Capitol over Gov. Scott Walker’s collective bargaining restrictions in 2011.

Six protesters filed a lawsuit alleging state regulations prohibiting displaying a sign without a permit in areas of the Capitol violated clearly established free speech rights. A Dane County judge awarded the protesters $289,812.
The 4th District Court of Appeals tossed out the judgment Thursday. The court found that it wasn’t clearly established at the time of the protests that the state’s regulations weren’t valid restrictions on time, place and manner of speech.
I never understood why, even if these folks were wrongly prohibited from holding signs, forcing the taxpayers to pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars was a rational remedy.

This Is What Democracy Looks Like

The overwrought protests by people who lost the election is comical, but it is also a bit scary. Of course, you can always put the shoe on the other foot. Would this kind of bigoted, violent behavior be condoned if Hillary had won?

Protests were underway in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., Portland, Ore., St. Paul, Minn. and several other cities. An estimated 2,000 protesters shouted angrily in downtown Seattle, expressing their frustration at the Trump victory over Democrat and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who won 228 electoral votes to Trump’s 279.

Police in riot gear struggled to hold back scores of protesters in some of the cities as protesters chanted “Not My President” and “No Racist USA.”

[…]

In Los Angeles, protesters poured into the streets near City Hall and torched a giant Trump effigy, the Los Angeles Times reported. Later in the night, hundreds marched onto the busy 101 Freeway which brought the highway to a complete standstill.

[…]

They chanted and yelled “Impeach Donald Trump” and toward the end yelled at police officers who stood guard at the hotel entrance.

[…]

The protesters held signs with messages such as “Love Trumps Hate,” “Not My President ” and expletive-laden repudiations.

 

[…]

In Oregon, dozens of people blocked traffic in downtown Portland, burned American flags and forced a delay for trains on two light-rail lines. Trump supporters taunted the demonstrators with signs. At one point, a lone Trump supporter was chased across Pioneer Courthouse Square and hit in the back with a skateboard before others intervened.

And what the heck is this?

Across the country, universities and even a few high schools organized post-election civil disobedience of a different sort. Some teachers sent notes to students postponing tests and offering support. Student unions offered sessions of meditation, discussions and tea.

How about our educational “leaders” tell the students that we had an election and sometimes your candidate loses… grow up. Get involved if you want to help your guy win. And what about students who might be happy about Trump’s win? Again, put the shoe on the other foot. Would these same people be offering safe spaces and counseling for students if Hillary had won? Or would they be celebrating our representative democracy and the peaceful transition of power? Where are the Liberal leaders telling their supporters to respect the system?

I didn’t vote for Trump, but the reaction of the Left is making me happier and happier about it.

 

Wisconsin Republicans Eye K-12 Spending Increase

What the

Fitzgerald said that means lawmakers may look at putting more money into K-12 schools and the University of Wisconsin System — after cutting funding from them in previous budgets. But he didn’t offer specifics Wednesday. He said part of that is a shift in attitude toward school funding on the part of Gov. Scott Walker.

“When we took over back in 2011, we pushed bold reforms. They worked,” Walker said in a statement. “Since then, we gained seats in the Legislature in 2012, 2014, and now in 2016. Looking ahead, we will invest more to help every child succeed.”

So the voters have given the Republicans a rousing endorsement of their education policies by increasing their majorities in both houses of the legislature after reelecting Walker last year, and they want to go back to the Democrats’ education policies? How does that make sense?

Furthermore, there’s this:

Of the 67 referendums held by school districts in Wisconsin, only 12 failed.

Overall, Wisconsin voters approved $803.83 million in new borrowing for capital improvements at an average of more than $23,642,000.

The taxpayers of these districts just agreed to tax and spend themselves another $803.83 million without the state lawmakers lifting a finger. As I said before, this is Act 10 working. We can reduce state spending on K-12 education and let each local district decide if they want to spend more. There is no reason that the state needs to spend more money. The districts that think they need more are already doing it.

Why would state lawmakers increase taxes on people in school districts who are holding the line on taxing and spending in order to send even more money to districts who have raised their own taxes of of their own authority? Aren’t Republicans supposed to be trying to reduce our tax burden?

State lawmakers need to listen to the voters and stay the course on the conservative reformation – including reducing government spending.

Iran Breaks Nuclear Agreement Again

Meanwhile, another Obama failure is on display.

VIENNA, Nov 9 (Reuters) – Iran has exceeded a soft limit on sensitive material set under its nuclear deal with major powers, the U.N. atomic watchdog said on Wednesday, hours after Donald Trump – who has strongly criticized the agreement – won the U.S. presidential election.

It is the second time Tehran has surpassed the 130 metric tonne threshold for heavy water, a material used as a moderator in reactors like Iran’s unfinished one at Arak, since the deal was put in place in January. It had 130.1 tonnes of the material on Tuesday, the watchdog said.

The last time Iran overstepped that mark was brief, passing without major criticism from the other countries that signed the nuclear deal last year. But there are questions about whether the incoming Trump administration will react to such incidents the same way.

Markets Surge on Trump Election

Not only did they not crash, they surged.

U.S. stocks surged more than 1 percent Wednesday with financials and health care leading after Republican Donald Trump won the presidential election, defying market expectations for a Hillary Clintonwin.

The day’s rally took the major averages within 2 percent of their all-time intraday highs, and marked a stunning recovery from a sharp plunge in stock index futures overnight. Trade volume Wednesday was roughly 12 billion shares, the highest since the surprise U.K. vote to leave the European Union in June.

Market Crash Fails to Materialize

The market hates uncertainty and they were certain that Clinton was going to win. That’s why the futures were dropping over night. But in the light of day, some folks are seeing any significant drop as a buying opportunity, thus reversing the drop.

Wall Street share markets are flat after Donald Trump’s election victory despite expectations of heavy falls.

The S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq stock indexes were little changed after the first hour of trading.

The pre-open future markets forecast dramatic sell-offs when Mr Trump’s lead became clear overnight.

Share traders had expected Hillary Clinton to beat Mr Trump to become the next US president on the back of polling forecasts.

UK and European stock markets have made back early losses, with money flowing into safe haven stocks, gold and currencies including the yen.

Electoral College

Easiest prediction ever… when Clinton is confirmed to have won the popular vote, the same media and lefty elitists who supported her will insist that the Electoral College is an antiquated relic of a bygone age.

Trump’s Acceptance Speech

Trump’s acceptance speech was everything you would hope it to be. It was gracious, unifying, filled with gratitude, and the uncaveated statement of love for this nation is so welcome after the last 8 years.

Now it is time for America to bind the wounds of division, have to get together. To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.
It is time. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be President for all of Americans, and this is so important to me. For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people, I’m reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country.
As I’ve said from the beginning, ours was not a campaign but rather an incredible and great movement, made up of millions of hard-working men and women who love their country and want a better, brighter future for themselves and for their family.
It is a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds, and beliefs, who want and expect our government to serve the people — and serve the people it will.
[…]
And I can only say that while the campaign is over, our work on this movement is now really just beginning. We’re going to get to work immediately for the American people, and we’re going to be doing a job that hopefully you will be so proud of your President. You will be so proud. Again, it’s my honor.
It’s an amazing evening. It’s been an amazing two-year period, and I love this country. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Thank you to Mike Pence.
Hillary’s concession speech was… non-existent. For all of the pre-election pressure on Trump to lose graciously, the media is giving Clinton a complete pass to act like a spoiled brat.

Wisconsin School Referendums Pass

I haven’t been able to find a full list yet, but it looks like most of the school referenda on the ballot passed – including the two in Washington County.

Voters in Madison resoundingly approved a plan to exceed school revenue limits by up to $26 million a year, while in the Dane County suburbs, huge building proposals were approved in Sun Prairie, McFarland and Belleville.

This is Act 10 working. We are able to control state spending on schools while allowing local taxpayers to increase their own taxes if they are stupid enough to do so.

GOP Sweeping Nation

The results are still coming in, but the election is shaping up to be a sweeping win for the GOP. It looks like Republicans will control Congress and the Presidency. Along the way, Wisconsin reelected Senator Ron Johnson and voted for Donald Trump – the first time we have voted for a Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan.

It may be a bit premature, but congratulations to Donald Trump. I never thought you could win. I was wrong. I hope that I am equally wrong about what kind of president you will be. I am thankful that it looks like you will have a decidedly conservative House and Senate to work with.

Subscription Cheese

During this day of consternation, let us pause to celebrate the advent of subscription cheese.

The Bright Cellars subscription cheese service will work the same way as its wine service. Using members’ answers to a short quiz to form a baseline and a machine-learning algorithm that improves its accuracy regarding users’ preferences as they interact with it over time, Bright Cellars will recommend certain cheeses from around the state to subscribers and send them a personalized cheese box each month.

“We’ve actually been quietly in beta for a few months now,” said Bright Cellars co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Richard Yau. “I think the two biggest things were the wine business has been scaling and growing really quickly and we were thinking, ‘what makes the most sense to pair with wine?’

“Since we relocated from Boston to Milwaukee last year, we were testing other things that go with wine; glasses, corkscrews, things like that. But really, what our members were most interested in was cheese. We expect to do more than $15,000 in cheese sales in November. This is kind of our official roll out.”

Can You Carry a Gun to the Polls?

Maybe. It depends on where you live and your individual polling place.

Wisconsin: Wisconsin generally allows carrying an unconcealed firearm in public, but polling place prohibitions depend on local rules. “If the municipality does not designate polling places as gun-free zones, then it is up to the owner of the building where voting takes place,” Reid Magney, Public Information Officer for the Wisconsin Elections Commission, told CNN. “There is no blanket policy for the state of Wisconsin — it’s a local decision. There are 1,854 municipalities in Wisconsin, and each of them may decide whether to set a policy on firearms.”

It is prohibited where I vote :(

Election Day

It’s election day. Get out and vote!

Unless you’re an idiot.

Then don’t.

Just… don’t.

In search of a few good people willing to serve

It’s election day, so it’s a good time to look ahead to the next election, right? My column for the West Bend Daily News is online. Here you go:

It is over. Perhaps the nastiest, vilest, most souldraining American presidential election since 1828 has finally slithered into election day. Tomorrow we will wake up and have to come to grips with the fact that we have elected a narcissistic liar with the rectitude of Manhattan pimp to the highest office in the nation. But while the campaigns for national offices are often heated, there are no campaigns at all for most local offices.

Decisions made at the national level have a substantial impact on our lives as Americans and warrant the attention and passion that they engender, but decisions made at the local level, like determining the level of local property taxes, which roads are repaired, how our schools are run, how many police officers our city has, how our drinking water is being treated, etc. have a huge impact on our daily lives.

Despite the importance of these local decisions and the relative simplicity of running for the elected offices that make these decisions, it is becoming more and more difficult to convince people to run for them. According to the 2016 State of Wisconsin’s Cities and Villages’ annual survey commissioned by the League of Wisconsin Municipalities and conducted by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, people do not have much interest in running for village boards or city councils — particularly in small communities.

According to the survey, more than half the board seats up for election had only one candidate or no candidate at all. For cities and villages with fewer than 15,000 citizens, it was more than two-thirds with one or fewer candidates. All told, only 4 percent of respondents reported “vibrant” competition where two viable candidates were actually competing for a seat. The survey also reports that the problem has been getting worst with 46 percent reporting that the number of candidates have declined over the past few years.

Washington County races bear out the results of the survey. Looking back at the April election, all 26 seats of the Washington County Board were on the ballot. Only seven seats were contested. Seventeen seats were uncontested with only one candidate on the ballot. Two seats had no candidates at all. All three seats for the Hartford Common Council were uncontested, as were all four seats for the West Bend Common Council.

The survey cites citizen apathy, lack of time and satisfaction with municipal operations as the most common reasons for the lack of competition for the local seats, but there are other reasons. Certainly people are often busy and serving on a local common council or school board is a huge time commitment. It is also true that people who are generally satisfied with their local governments are not motivated enough to take the time and energy it takes to run for, and serve in, a local elected office.

In speaking to people over the past few years about serving in local elected office, they also express the concern and frustration with how personally invasive serving in local office can be. Years ago, an alderman or member of a school board could serve and have sometimes sharp disagreements without it spilling over into their personal lives. They might get an earful in the line at the grocery store and might lose the next election, but that was the end of it. In the internet age, it is easy for political opponents to take their aggression much further. Now someone can relatively easily dig into someone else’s work history and legal history, creep through their various social media accounts, find out where their kids go to school and their spouse works, and so much more.

Then the internet provides a vehicle for unscrupulous, or just plain mean, people to take some or all of that information and trumpet it across the globe to attack their opponent. For someone considering serving on a local school board or county board because they want to make their community a better place, it is a big risk to take. An offhand stupid comment that is recorded or a misstep in someone’s personal life can now be used as a cudgel to bludgeon a person to political death. But more than that, the same cudgel can be used against a local elected leader’s employer, friends and family. It is, indeed, a high price to pay just to spend hours debating zoning regulations on behalf of the public.

While the transparency the internet provides for local officials is good from the standpoint that it is much more difficult for them to escape scrutiny for behaving badly, it is also a deterrent to good people who might consider serving. One of the consequences of that deterrent is that, too often, the only people willing to run for these offices are people with an ax to grind, people seeking personal gain, and other malcontents.

For our republic to be healthy, we need good people to run for office. Yes, it is time consuming and the possible personal consequences are real, but the consequence of good people choosing to not run are that only the bad people are left to make decisions. There are many seats up for election next April including on the West Bend Common Council and West Bend School Board. If you consider yourself one of the good people, you should put some serious thought into serving to make your community a better place for everyone.

Milwaukee County Board Approves New $30 Wheel Tax

Because taxes just aren’t high enough.

Milwaukee County vehicle owners will begin paying an annual $30 wheel tax next year, as part of a $1.1 billion spending plan for 2017 approved Monday by the County Board.

The county property tax levy for 2017 will rise 1.43%, or $4 million, to $291.07 million, to help pay for county government next year. The total levy is $96,286 less than the amount included in County Executive Chris Abele’s recommended 2017 budget, according to Steve Cady, research and policy director in the Comptroller’s Office.

The tax rate needed to generate the levy falls slightly from around $5.12 per $1,000 of equalized value this year to $5.08 for 2017, Cady said. Other revenue sources include direct charges for services, a county sales tax, state aid, state shared revenue payments, federal grants, bond proceeds and grants from private sources.

On a 10-7 vote, the board approved a $30 vehicle registration fee ordinance during its annual budget adoption meeting.

Property taxes up… new tax on cars… increasing spending with no additional value by raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour… boy, that’s a kick in the crotch for Milwaukee County taxpayers.

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