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Month: June 2021

Twitter Suspended After President’s Tweet is Censored

by Owen | 1905, 4 Jun 2121 | Foreign Affairs, Technology | 1 Comment

Nigeria’s government has announced an indefinite suspension of Twitter in the country, two days after the social media company removed a post from president Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish regional secessionists.

The information minister, Lai Mohammed, said the government had acted because of “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”.

Mohammed did not spell out what form the suspension would take or give more details on the undermining activities. His ministry also announced Twitter’s suspension on Twitter.

When asked about the details of the suspension, a ministerial aide told Reuters: “Wait and see how things will turn out.”

Minneapolisians (is that a word?) Suffer After Defunding Police

by Owen | 1839, 4 Jun 2121 | Crime, Culture | 3 Comments

What a shame.

Welcome to Minneapolis, a city well on the way to eclipsing the violence that once saw it called Murderapolis.

One year after the death of George Floyd saw this city become ground zero for the defund the police movement, its people are paying for it with their blood.

Last night the city erupted in violence and flames once more as news that police had shot dead a black man wanted on a warrant was met with yet more looting and riots.

[…]

There have been 36 homicides so far this year, more than double the number at this point last year and more than four times that seen in 2019.

Car-jackings are up a staggering 222 per cent. Shootings have risen 153 per cent. Eighty per cent of the victims are black.

At time of writing, 211 people had suffered gunshots wounds so far this year. This time last year that figure was 81.

Gun theft from vehicles is up more than 100 per cent while the police department has seized 100 fewer guns this year than they had at the same point in 2020.

And while crime soars Minneapolis Police Department has lost one third of its force.

Disenfranchised and de-humanized, more than 200 police officers have either permanently left the already stretched department or signed off on disability.

Variants

by Owen | 2035, 3 Jun 2121 | Culture, Politics | 10 Comments

Two points. First, the glib over-made point that we can seem to name every variant after the location in which it originated but we are told that it is racist to identify the original virus by it’s origin.

Second, after the last year, the entire public health establishment and media has blown their credibility. This variant could be the next Black Death and 70% of America won’t believe it until the bodies are clogging the rivers. That is the price America will pay for the duplicitousness of quacks like Fauci.

A coronavirus variant that first cropped up in the nation of Nepal has been detected in the U.S, a health expert claims.

Known as Delta+K417N, the variant is said to combine mutations from the Indian and South African variants.

This means that, like the Indian variant, it is more transmissible and, like the South African variant, it is more evasive of COVID-19 vaccines.

Speaker Vos Suggests That Wisconsin Enforce Job Search Requirements for Unemployment

by Owen | 0744, 3 Jun 2121 | Economy, Politics - Wisconsin | 5 Comments

If you don’t show up for a scheduled interview, can it really be said that you are “looking for work?” No, it can’t. And no, the taxpayers should not be paying for people who refuse to make even the most minimal effort to be gainfully employed.

By SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin should get tougher on unemployed people who apply for jobs to meet work search requirements but then skip out on the interview, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Wednesday.

[…]

Vos, the owner of a food packaging business, said during the pandemic that he was fearful he would go bankrupt. Now Vos said he’s also battling worker shortage problems and is offering gift cards to employees who show up to work on time five days a week.

Vos, in a back and forth with a business owner who described job applicants skipping out on interviews, questioned whether Wisconsin should do more to combat that.

“It seems like in Wisconsin we don’t do a very good job to report a no-show for an interview and doing something about it,” Vos said.

Republican legislative leaders, along with the state chamber of commerce, trade groups and local economic development groups, are advocating for the state Legislature to repeal a $300 unemployment supplement and other enhancement programs enacted during the coronavirus pandemic.

MPS Perpetuates Fear For Children

by Owen | 1831, 2 Jun 2121 | Education, Politics | 3 Comments

This is very, very far from a “return to normal” and completely unnecessary as evidenced by the thousands of schools that have been open since last year with minimal issues.

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — Milwaukee public school students will be back in the classroom full-time this fall. The school board approved the administration’s outline 9-0.

Classrooms will be set up to allow three feet of space between students where possible.

Students and staff will still be required to wear masks inside the buildings, but won’t have to outside.

“All of our problems are the same and we’re all doing everything that we possibly can to meet the needs of our students and to take them to better places,” said Superintendent Keith Posley.

He said the Milwaukee Public Schools reopening plan is designed to give students and their parents a return to normal.

Netanyahu Ousted as PM… Maybe… For Now…

by Owen | 1728, 2 Jun 2121 | Foreign Affairs, Politics | 1 Comment

When people advocate for 3rd (4th, 5th… 17th) parties instead of the two-party system… this.

Israeli opposition parties have reached an agreement to form a new government that would end Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year tenure as prime minister.

Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, announced an eight-faction coalition had been formed.

Under a rotation arrangement, the head of the right-wing Yamina party, Naftali Bennett, would serve as prime minister first before handing over to Mr Lapid.

There still needs to be a parliamentary vote before the government is sworn in.

[…]

The coalition members span the full spectrum of Israeli politics. The parties have little in common politically apart from their plan to replace Mr Netanyahu.

For all of its flaws, and there are many, the two-party system has contributed to the relative stability of the United States for over 150 years.

Yes, the Wisconsin Elections Commission is Still Weaponized for the Left

by Owen | 1138, 2 Jun 2121 | Politics - Wisconsin | 5 Comments

This story really illustrates the politicization of the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

Months after the state resolved a long-running dispute over its voter list, Wisconsin’s Elections Commission is poised to send out a routine mailer that could remove tens of thousands of inactive voters from its rolls.

The mailer — which is a postcard sent out every two years — will be delivered to more than 187,000 people who haven’t voted since November of 2016, a four-year span that covers more than a dozen elections.

In a state like Wisconsin, where the past two presidential races have been decided by around 20,000 votes out of more than 3 million cast, changes to the voting list can make national news.

That’s not the case with this latest mailer, which — at least so far — is flying under the radar.

“Generally, people who get this are people who have moved or just aren’t interested in voting anymore,” said Wisconsin Elections Commission spokesperson Reid Magney. “But we occasionally do get several thousand people out of this who will let us know, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m still here … So keep me on the list.'”

The list in question is different than the one that sparked a year-and-a-half legal fight that was resolved in April by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

[…]

The state is scheduled to send the postcards on June 15. People who receive the postcards who want to remain registered should return them to the state.

“And if they don’t respond, then they are moved from the active to the inactive list, which means that they would have to reregister if they wanted to vote,” Magney said.

Clerks will have until July 15 to update their voter lists based on who responds. The Elections Commission will then remove those voters from the state’s registration list on July 31.

This is a perfectly normal and acceptable process to maintain the integrity and cleanliness of our voter rolls. After all, if the state has an indication that someone might have moved out state or died, then why wouldn’t we want to remove them from the rolls to avoid fraud or mistakes? And if they are removed in error, Wisconsin allows people to register at the polls. It’s a tiny hassle, but negligible when balanced against the benefit of cleaning up the rolls.

Furthermore, six weeks from mailing to purge is a reasonable amount of time for people to respond and for clerks to update the rolls. All. Perfectly. Acceptable.

Yet… in 2019 and 2020 this was a major issue. Liberals and the Elections Commission claimed that this normal sanitization of our electoral process was unjust and that there wasn’t possible enough time for the clerks to make changes before the election. It went to court. People spewed spittle on the interwebs about the impropriety of the process. In the end, the names were never removed from the rolls prior to election day.

What changed?

Simple. In 2020, the Democrats were expecting heavy turnout on their side and the liberals on the Elections Commission wanted to clear the decks for every possible attempt at fraud. In 2022, the Republicans are expecting a strong turnout and the liberal on the Elections Commission are willing to return to normal processes.

The WEC should complete this routing sanitization of the voter rolls. And it never should have been an issue in 2019/2020. The fact that it was tells us everything we need to know about the people who run that commission.

UW Regents Swing to Left

by Owen | 1420, 1 Jun 2121 | Education, Politics - Wisconsin | 59 Comments

Elections have consequences. But as the legislature looks to unleash their tuition authority, this decision may have an immediate impact on thousands of Wisconsin students.

Attention this week turns to the UW Board of Regents, which finds itself at an interesting inflection point in the political power struggle over control of the University of Wisconsin System with the board holding its first contested election in nearly a decade.

Appointees of former Republican Gov. Scott Walker led the 18-member board for the past six years, but the political balance tipped this month when Democratic Gov. Tony Evers announced his newest regent picks. The board now includes nine Evers appointees, seven Walker appointees, the state superintendent and the Wisconsin Technical College System board president.

After the story has quote after quote of liberals bemoaning the influence of politics in the Regents, we get this little reminder:

There’s always been an element of political influence looming over the Regents by the very nature of their appointment and confirmation process.

In one of the most brazen examples, the Democratic-controlled Senate in the early 2000’s bottled up then-Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson’s regent nominations for so long that, after he left to become secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services, the picks remained held up for the entirety of his successor’s two-year tenure. When Doyle was elected, he withdrew the Republican appointees and then replaced them with his own.

Time for virtual state government

by Owen | 0751, 1 Jun 2121 | Economy, Politics - Wisconsin | 1 Comment

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here’s a part:

While there is a lot to balance to build a successful virtual workforce, it is not an untrodden path. State government should rapidly move more jobs to virtual for the benefits it offers the state. As the Vision 2030 report points out, a more virtual workforce will allow the state to reduce the number and size of offices throughout the state, thus reducing the cost of operating state government.

More importantly than cost, more virtual state government jobs will diffuse the Madison-centric nature of state government. By making state jobs available to people throughout the state, it allows the state to attract more diverse and more qualified employees than just the people who are within commuting distance of a Madison office. The diversity of state employees will enable state government to be more in tune with more state residents.

Finally, by making as many state government jobs virtual as possible and recruiting employees throughout Wisconsin, it is an opportunity for state taxpayers to help support communities with family-supporting jobs. According to ZipRecruiter, the average annual salary for a state government employee is $58,009 including the substantial benefits and retirement package also available to state employees. There are small cities, towns, and villages all over Wisconsin where that level of compensation would be well above the local average and would have a positive impact in the local economy.

Giant state government buildings scattered throughout Madison to house the state government workforce is an antiquated way of working. State government must accelerate the move to embracing modern ways of working for the benefit of the state and the employees.

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