In an expected move, former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch on Thursday formally announced her gubernatorial bid for 2022.
The Republican and former TV news anchor, who spent eight years in office with former Gov. Scott Walker, is expected to face a contested GOP primary next fall, but Kleefisch made clear in an announcement video released Thursday that her sights are already set on unseating Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who is seeking a second term after defeating Walker in 2018.
“I am running because I have two kids who I want to choose Wisconsin to live their American dreams and one day raise families here,” Kleefisch said in a statement. “But that is only possible if we start putting the people first. We need safe communities, great education with real choice and real standards, and good-paying jobs.”
I like Kleefisch a lot. She’s smart, passionate, articulate, unapologetically conservative, and works hard. She’s everything that Evers isn’t.
Evers announced 71 additional pardons Tuesday, bringing his total since taking office less than three years ago to 263. He’s on pace to issue more pardons in three years than the nearly 300 that former Gov. Jim Doyle did over eight years. Evers has already surpassed the 262 pardons issued by Govs. Tommy Thompson and Scott McCallum over the 16 years before Doyle took office.
Evers, a Democrat, revived the dormant pardons board and made issuing pardons a priority after former Republican Gov. Scott Walker didn’t issue a single one during his eight years in office before Evers defeated him in 2018.
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Evers signed an executive order on Monday creating an expedited process for pardon applicants. Under the process, the pardon board chair may send an application directly to the governor without a hearing if the person committed a non-violent crime and sufficient time has passed since the conviction.
Also, application pardons can now be sought for multiple felony convictions. Previously, pardons would only be considered for the most recent felony and earlier ones would not be considered.
Good for them. America could use some policies like this.
Some migrants in Denmark will now be required to work 37 hours a week in order to receive welfare benefits.
It will be a requirement for those who have been on benefits for three to four years, and who have not reached a certain level of proficiency in Danish.
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The prime minister said that the rules were aimed at migrant women. The government says six out of 10 women from the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey are not in work.
“It is basically a problem when we have such a strong economy, where the business community demands labour, that we then have a large group, primarily women with non-Western backgrounds, who are not part of the labour market,” she said.
Employment Minister Peter Hummelgaard said the jobs could range from picking up cigarette butts on the beach to working in companies.
(CNN)The Taliban on Tuesday announced the formation of a hardline interim government for Afghanistan, filling top posts with veterans of the militant group who oversaw the 20-year fight against the US-led military coalition.
No women or members from Afghanistan’s ousted leadership were selected for acting cabinet positions or named to advisory roles, in spite of the Taliban’s promises of an inclusive government and more moderate form of Islamic rule than when it was last in power, from 1996 to 2001.
The Taliban named Mohammad Hassan Akhund, a close aide of the Taliban’s late founder Mohammad Omar, as acting prime minister and Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of the group’s co-founders, was appointed his deputy. Mohammed Yaqoob, a son of Omar, was appointed acting defense minister.
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The lineup of senior positions, which includes former Guantanamo inmates, members of a US-designated terror group and subjects of an international sanctions lists, presents the first snapshot of how the Taliban’s leadership of Afghanistan will begin to take shape.
Like many in the Taliban’s incoming cabinet, interim Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund is under United Nations sanctions. A long-time Taliban member, he has been leader of the group’s Shura, or Leadership Council, for about two decades.
Some analysts had originally tipped Abdul Ghani Baradar for the top role. Baradar served in the Taliban’s political bureau in Doha, Qatar, and led the Taliban’s peace talks with the US. He recently arrived back in Afghanistan after a 20-year-exile and reportedly met with CIA chief William J. Burns.
Two senior members of the Haqqani network, a US-designated terror group aligned with the Taliban and al Qaeda, will also be in the interim government. Both have been sanctioned by the UN and the US.
WASHINGTON — When congressional committees meet this week to begin formally drafting Democrats’ ambitious social policy plan, they will be undertaking the most significant expansion of the nation’s safety net since the war on poverty in the 1960s, devising legislation that would touch virtually every American’s life, from conception to aged infirmity.
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“If we get this passed, a decade from now, people are going to see many more touch points of government supporting them and their families,” Boushey said.
As far as the Madison school district is concerned, parents have no business knowing if their children are experimenting with alternate gender/sexual identities – no matter what the courts say.
Last year, the district’s official policy was to lie to parents if their children came out as transgender at school. Parents sued, and the courts struck down the district’s policy.
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Regardless of that straightforward language about not concealing information from parents, MMSD believes it has a workaround. It’s advising staff to simply not answer parents’ questions about their children coming out at school.
“If a parent asks a teacher a question about their child as to these matters, including information about the name and pronouns being used to address their child at school, the teacher CAN choose not to answer the question. The District does NOT have a policy that a teacher must choose not to answer that question if a parent asks about their own child. It is within the teacher’s discretion whether to answer the question or not,” according to guidance from the district’s general counsel.
MMSD Chief of Staff Dr. Richard McGregory sent that guidance to all staff on Aug. 30th. He did not respond to requests from MacIver News for comment.
Advising teachers to deliberately deceive parents, preventing parents from knowing about a child transitioning and denying them the basic right to have a role in that sensitive and life-changing decision is not the School District’s only example pushing sexualization and very adult discussions onto children.
Bearing in mind that the original estimate did not take into account the pandemic, the surplus tax collections are astounding. In the 2020-2021 state budget, the Republicans in the Legislature fought off Governor Evers’ attempt to raise taxes and cut them instead. The result is what we generally see when government cuts taxes — tax collections go up.
The simple reason for this is because money is taxed when it moves. When people have more money in their pockets because taxes are lower, they do not bury it in the backyard. They use it. When they spend it or invest it, the money is taxed, thus resulting in higher collections. In particular, the greatest contributor to the tax surplus was higher corporate income tax collections. Corporations took their tax cuts, invested them back into their businesses, and grew taxable profits.
There is a point at which cutting taxes will result in lower tax collections because the economy is already flush with money, but all indications are that the state of Wisconsin could still enact large tax increases and still see tax collections increase. This is because Wisconsin’s tax burden is already much higher than it should be to balance tax collections with economic movement.
The tax surpluses are an example of government and governance doing something well. The Republican tax cuts put money directly into the pockets of taxpayers and business owners without going through layers of government bureaucracy and expense. The result was that tax collections went up and the state could provide almost the same amount of relief as they received from federal taxpayers in the CRF.
The LFB’s two memos highlight how cutting taxes not only results in more taxes being collected, but they also render politicized and bureaucratic relief funds unnecessary by just letting taxpayers keep the money they earned.
The best government is the government that governs least.
Before you cheer this… think it through. If your doctor is deciding whether or not to give you care depending on your personal health decisions, then get a different doctor.
In a letter to her patients, Linda Marraccini said she will no longer continue in-person services for unvaccinated patients beginning Sept. 15, NBC Miami reported.
Marraccini wrote that her practice will “no longer subject our patients and staff to unnecessary risk.”
Americans are going to have to live with this new pandemic normal as the stilts the government built to prop Americans up during the pandemic come down, even though Democrats are simultaneously pushing forward with longer-term agenda items that would remake the economy to better support low-income workers.
Again… slush fund. This money isn’t being spent on pandemic-related costs. It’s just a gigantic slush fund and they are making up reasons to spend it.
The push-and-pull over nearly $400 million in federal pandemic relief funds has begun in earnest in Milwaukee.
Community groups and their supporters packed together outside a Common Council meeting room Thursday morning to advocate for $200 million for affordable housing just before the finance committee inside heard from Mayor Tom Barrett and approved spending $13.7 million on issues considered urgent.
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The events Thursday followed a vote of the Common Council a day earlier on a process for deciding how the first half of the funds will be spent. That process requires council members to submit requests for using the money by 5 p.m. on Oct. 1 and the compiled requests to be made public by Oct. 12.
Taliban officials have broken up a demonstration by dozens of women in Kabul demanding rights following the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.
The group say the Taliban targeted them with tear gas and pepper spray as they tried to walk from a bridge to the presidential palace.
But the Taliban maintain the protest got out of control, according Afghan media outlet Tolo news.
It’s the latest of several protests by women in Kabul and Herat.
The women were calling for the right to work and to be included in the government. The Taliban say they will announce the make-up of their administration in the coming days.
The Taliban have said women can be involved in government, but not hold ministerial positions. linking.
New York (CNN Business)General Motors will shut production at most of its North American plants for a week or two starting next week as the worsening chip shortage takes another bite out of its plans.
GM and other automakers had hoped the chip shortage would be mostly behind them by now. But the surge in Covid cases, especially in Southeast Asia where many of the chip manufacturers are based, has actually created a worsening problem for automakers.
Only a small handful of GM’s plants will remain in operation during the pause. Those plants make full-size SUVs and pickups, as well as some of its sports cars, such as the Camaro and Corvette. That’s because GM is prioritizing the chips it does have on hand for its most popular and profitable vehicles.
But in capitals across Europe, from London to Berlin, Afghanistan has soured the sweetness of Joe Biden’s honeymoon. It’s not the fact of the withdrawal itself that has rankled but the US’s lack of coordination with allies, particularly since the Nato mission at the time of the drawdown comprised troops from 36 countries, three-quarters of whom were non-American, leading to an international scramble to evacuate.
The German deployment in Afghanistan was its first major combat mission since World War II, so the frustration at how it ended runs deep. Armin Laschet, Germany’s conservative candidate for chancellor ahead of elections later this month, called the US withdrawal “the greatest debacle that Nato has experienced since its foundation”.
Czech President Milos Zeman labelled it “cowardice”, adding that “the Americans have lost the prestige of a global leader”.
“Expectations were very high when Joe Biden came in – probably too high, they were unrealistic,” Carl Bildt, Sweden’s former Prime Minister, told the BBC. “His ‘America is back’ suggested a golden age in our relations. But it didn’t happen and there’s been a shift in a fairly short period of time. The complete lack of consultations over the withdrawal has left a scar.”
A recent tweet from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner stated: “Since March of 2020, 60% percent of child suicides cited virtual learning as stressors in their life. Ages were 12 to 17.”
“The online learning really put kids in a bubble,” said Dr. Schoof.
Dr. Schoof says the pandemic was hard on kids socially as well as academically as they transitioned to online learning.
“When we see students and their academics decline, they get very low self-esteem, they don’t believe they are worth anything. Those things are incredibly linked to an increase in suicide or presentation or even ideation,” said Dr. Schoof.
I know… we’re all shocked. I guess we know now why Biden surrendered the country to a murderous gang and equipped their army with American equipment.
According to a Taliban spokesman, China will now be the group’s “main partner” and will help rebuild Afghanistan.
“China will be our main partner and represents a great opportunity for us because it is ready to invest in our country and support reconstruction efforts,” Zabihulah Mujahid said in an interview.
He said the Taliban values China’s Belt and Road Initiative, as the project will revive the ancient Silk Road. He also said China will help Afghanistan use its copper resources and give the country a path into global markets, per the Asia Today.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin regulators have backed down on demands that operators of a startup that allows private homeowners to rent their swimming pools by the hour said would kill their business.
Wisconsin regulators told Swimply in April that pools offered for rent would have to be treated the same as large, public swimming pools. That meant a pool’s owner would have to obtain a license and meet tougher construction requirements.
A recent survey of Wisconsin businesses by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s largest business lobby, found that 72% of employers said the workforce shortage is the biggest public policy issue facing the state.
Nearly 80% of employers surveyed by WMC said they plan to increase the number of employees in the next six months, and will raise wages to do so. More than 25% of businesses said they plan to raise wages by more than 4% in 2021, and 70% said they plan to raise wages by at least 3%.
The COWS report argues that workers — particularly those in low-wage service jobs — need better wages, more predictable schedules and stronger benefits.
“Since the collapse, the question has been ‘when will we get back to normal?’” said COWS associate director Laura Dresser in a statement. “But ‘normal’ for low-wage workers has long been unsustainable, leaving too many families struggling to get by. Adding jobs is important, but ensuring strong job quality and supports for low-wage workers is equally important.”
The hospitality industry also took the largest hit at the national level, but Wisconsin outpaced the national rate. Hospitality employment decreased by 18.7% in Wisconsin from February 2020 to June 2021, compared to 12.9% nationally.
Other sectors that saw significant losses in Wisconsin include government, with a 6.9% decline, and natural resources and mining, with a loss of 7.7%. Industries that saw the smallest declines included information; professional and business services; trade, transportation and utilities; and manufacturing — all with declines of 1% or less.
I truly don’t know what the best option would be. Biden is clearly failing and incapable of providing competent leadership. Harris is inexperienced and runs from all the hard issues. Pelosi is a monster. Next up is Leahy… that old goat.
Face it, America…. we’re stuck.
People have seen enough of President Joe Biden and his administration’s bumbling over the Afghan withdrawal and now want him to resign.
In the latest shocking display of the president’s polling free fall, the latest Rasmussen Reports survey found that a majority, 52%, wants Biden to resign over the withdrawal alone. Just 39% disagrees, far short of his political base.
But, as other polls have shown, likely voters surveyed do not want Vice President Kamala Harris to step in, viewing her as unqualified.
The data, shared in advance with Secrets, twins with the president’s weekly job approval rating, which also shows that the nation, for now, has given up on the aging president who sometimes appears fumbling.
