Boots & Sabers

The blogging will continue until morale improves...

Author: Owen

Why was Tim surprised at the loss if internal polling showed them behind?

From the same article:

Talking to local Minnesota outlet Kstp-tv on Thursday, the Minnesota governor admitted he was “a little surprised” by the election results.

 

“It felt like at the rallies, at the things I was going to, the shops I was going in, that the momentum was going our way, and it obviously wasn’t at the end,” Walz said.

 

“So yeah, I was a little surprised. I thought we had a positive message and I thought the country was ready for that,” he added.

and…

According to one senior adviser for the Harris campaign, internal polling never actually saw Harris defeating Trump.

Presumably the campaign’s internal polling was being shared with Walz, no? If it was, then why was he surprised? They never had a lead. Why would it be surprising that they lost.

Alternatively, if Walz was surprised, does that indicate that the bad internal polling was being held so closely that even the VP candidate was not told? Or did the campaign lie to Walz so that he thought they were going to win? Or did Walz see the internal polls and not believe him because of his anecdotal experiences and contrived campaign events?

Someone should try to dig a bit deeper on exactly how deep the fraud of the Harris campaign ran. Were they just lying to big donors and supporters or where they lying to themselves too?

Biden Leaves America in Shambles

Per my last post, this is the mess that the American people elected Trump to clean up.

What an incredible mess Joe Biden will be leaving for Donald Trump on Jan. 20.

 

It isn’t just the $36 trillion in federal debt (up $13 trillion since 2020), which has increasingly (and foolishly) been financed by short-term borrowings; it is also inflation that refuses to die despite slumping energy prices, a Strategic Petroleum Reserve that has been drained to perilous levels, a weapons stockpile that is dangerously low, a Department of Justice that has lost the confidence of Americans, billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars that have been invested in losing enterprises (here’s looking at you, Intel), an educational curriculum that teaches kids to hate their country but fails to deliver youngsters able to read and write, a housing crisis, a manufacturing slump and so much more.

 

Biden also leaves Trump the nightmarish task of extricating the U.S. from Ukraine’s war with Russia and — once again — having to restore a sustainable balance of power in the Middle East.

 

No wonder Trump is preparing to hit the ground running.

 

If Joe Biden were a decent fellow and a patriot, he would be using his remaining weeks as president to fix some of the disasters he has created. Instead, he is doing just the opposite.

House Works on Deal to Extend Obamacare Subsidies

Just look at how the Washington Post frames this issue.

A one-year deal to extend the expiring ACA subsidies would avoid what was expected to be a bruising battle for both parties. Democrats, who crafted the subsidies and have fought to defend them, are set to lose control of the Senate and the White House next year, complicating their ability to make policy. Republicans, who are set to gain control of Washington, are wary of being punished by voters for any perception that they are rolling back health-care coverage, with the backlash to their ACA repeal efforts still fresh in many lawmakers’ minds.

 

GOP leaders have repeatedly said they are skeptical of the subsidies, which expanded long-standing ACA tax credits to millions of Americans, and the influential House Republican Study Committee has called to end the nearly four-year-old initiative.

 

It is not yet clear whether Republican leaders, who control the House, will agree to any of the proposals. Spokespeople for Republicans on the House Ways and Means and the Senate Finance committees declined to comment.

If House Republicans really worried about “being punished by voters for any perception that they are rolling back health-care coverage, then they are worried about the wrong thing. The American People just elected a change agent in Trump and Republican majorities to help him do it. We are sick and tired of all of this massive spending just being continued and expanded to no perceivable end to the utter ruin of our nation. Obamacare is a disaster and the federal government is squandering the wealth of our nation. If they can’t start saying “no” to something, then House Republicans should fear being cast from office at the earliest opportunity.

Manslaughter Charge Dropped Against Penny

The only crime in this case is that this hero is being prosecuted. In a world of Floyds, we need more Pennys.

A judge granted a motion from Manhattan prosecutors to dismiss the more serious charge of second-degree manslaughter against Daniel Penny on Friday in his trial over the chokehold death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway last year.

The ruling clears the way for the jury to consider a remaining lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide. It came after a Manhattan jury said they were deadlocked twice on the manslaughter charge and Penny’s defense attorneys renewed their motion for a mistrial.

Over defense objections, Judge Maxwell Wiley agreed with prosecutors, who argued that dismissing the first count of second-degree manslaughter eliminates the defense’s concern about a compromise verdict.

Drug Trade Expands in Wisconsin

Awesome. I’m envisioning a bunch of chubby Wisconsinites making weight loss drugs and it brings me joy.

Eli Lilly said on Thursday it will invest $3 billion to expand the manufacturing plant it bought in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin earlier this year, as it scrambles to meet soaring demand for its weight-loss and diabetes drugs.

 

The new investment in the factory, which it acquired from Nexus Pharmaceuticals, will help boost production of Lilly’s powerful weight-loss drug Zepbound as well as its diabetes treatments and other medicines, the company said.

“Today’s announcement represents our single largest U.S. manufacturing investment outside our home state of Indiana and will add to our ability to expand capacity to make both our existing and future pipeline of medicines,” said Edgardo Hernandez, Lilly’s president of global manufacturing.

 

[…]

 

Lilly, which has become the world’s most valuable healthcare company worth over $790 billion, said it plans to start construction on the expansion next year, and previously said it expects production at the facility to begin at the end of 2025.

The company said it expects to add 750 jobs to the Wisconsin plant, which already has more than 100, including operators, technicians, engineers and scientists.

Obama Touts the Benefit of Pluralism. History Laughs.

Remember that this is the man who rammed through his destructive signature achievement, Obamacare, at Christmas without a single Republican vote. He does not believe in pluralism.

In a speech at a “Democracy Forum” sponsored by his foundation, the former president said he was convinced that a renewed commitment to pluralist principles was essential to ensure the survival of democracy.

“The alternative is what we’ve seen here in the United States and in many democracies around the globe – not just more gridlock, not just public cynicism, but an increased willingness on the part of politicians and their followers to violate democratic norms, to do anything they can to get their way.”

 

Obama discussed the “power of pluralism” with thousands of live and online attendees at a deeply divided time in U.S. history and an unsettling one for Democrats as Republican Donald Trump returns to the White House.

 

Building lasting majorities that supported justice required “framing our issues, our causes, what we believe in, in terms of ‘we’ and not just ‘us and them,'” he said.

 

But that did not mean rolling over when opponents abused power, he said. “That’s a problem. And when that happens, we fight for what we believe in.”

Bezos Backs Deregulation

Someone wants to make more money.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said Wednesday that he is “optimistic” about President-elect Donald Trump’s second term and expressed some excitement about potential regulatory cutbacks in the coming years.

 

“I’m actually very optimistic this time around,” Bezos said on stage during a wide-ranging interview at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York. “He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation. If I can help do that, I’m going to help him.”

 

“We do have too many regulations in this country,” Bezos added.

Hackers Hack Government Surveillance System

Any system can be hacked. The fact that this exists is a risk to the privacy and security of all Americans. TBF, it poses the same risk even if it wasn’t hacked.

The third has been systems that telecommunications companies use in compliance with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which allows law enforcement and intelligence agencies with court orders to track people’s communications. CALEA systems can include classified court orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which processes some U.S. intelligence court orders. The FBI official declined to say whether any classified material was accessed.

South Korea in Turmoil

Sheesh. The world seems to be coming apart at the seams. South Korea plunged into civil disarray after Yoon declares martial law, but then immediately backs down when the Parliament rescinds the order. There are a lot of Americans serving in South Korea protecting their border and they are a significant economic partner. We are living in very dangerous times.

“I am declaring a state of emergency in order to protect the constitutional order based on freedom and eradicate shameful pro-North Korea anti-state groups, that are stealing freedom and happiness of our people,” Yoon said on the country’s YTN news channel. He added that this would protect the country “from the threats of North Korea’s communist forces.”

 

“While the imposition of martial law may cause significant inconvenience to the law-abiding citizens who uphold the constitutional values of the Republic of Korea, I will strive to minimize these disruptions,” he added.

 

Yoon’s address was quickly followed by a proclamation from Martial Law Commander, Gen. Park Ahn-soo.

 

It said that “all political activities” would be banned, and that “all media and publications will be subject to the control of the Martial Law Command.”

 

“Strikes, work slowdowns, and gatherings that incite social disorder are forbidden,” it added. It also ordered “all medical professionals” to return to work within 48 hours.

 

“Violators of this proclamation will be subject to arrest, detention, and search and seizure without a warrant under Article 9 of the Martial Law Act,” it said.

Dane County Judge Strikes Down Act 10

FFS

MADISON, Wis. – A Dane County judge struck down on Monday, Dec. 2 parts of Act 10, a Wisconsin law that placed limits on government workers’ unions.

 

The judge already ruled in July that the law broke the Wisconsin Constitution. Now on Dec. 2, 2024, Judge Jacob Frost released his decision laying out what parts of Act 10 should be struck as unconstitutional.

 

“This gets to the heart of the Court’s July Decision –the unconstitutional creation of the “public safety employee” group and differential treatment of it without a rational basis – so I strike these sections,” Frost wrote in the new decision.

I can’t tell you how exhausting I find the prospect of litigating Act 10 again. We did this ten years ago. The law is clearly, unequivocally, irrevocably constitutional and the policy has had a tremendously positive impact on the state.

But none of that matters. The Leftist judges in Madison – especially the ones on the Supreme Court – are going to gut it anyway for brazen political purposes. It is the absolute worst manifestation of a corrupted judicial system that rules to ideological outcomes instead of allegiance to the rule of law.

Biden Pardons Hunter to Protect the Family Business

We all knew it was coming, but that doesn’t make it any less scummy. The Bidens are dirtbags to the core and prove it again and again.

WashingtonCNN — 

President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he has pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who faced sentencing this month on gun crime and tax convictions, marking a reversal as he prepares to leave office.

“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” the president said in a statement. It is a “full and unconditional pardon,” according to a copy of the executive grant of clemency.

[…]

By pardoning his son, Joe Biden has reneged on a public promise that he made repeatedly before and after dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. The president and his top White House spokesperson have said unequivocally, including after Trump won the 2024 election, that he would not pardon Hunter Biden or commute his sentence.

The pardon means Hunter Biden won’t be sentenced for his crimes, and it eliminates any chance of his being sent to prison, which was a possibility. Once the judges overseeing his cases are notified of the pardon, they’ll likely cancel the sentencing hearings, which were slated for December 12 in the gun case and December 16 in the tax case.

The pardon covers any potential federal crimes that Hunter Biden committed “from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024,” which, importantly, covers his entire tenure on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma. He had faced scrutiny for his controversial foreign business dealings.

Zelenskyy Pushes for NATO Membership

No.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — An offer of NATO membership to territory under Kyiv’s control would end “the hot stage of the war” in Ukraine, but any proposal to join the military alliance should be extended to all parts of the country that fall under internationally recognized borders, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a broadcast interview.

 

Zelenskyy’s remarks on Friday signaled a possible way forward to the difficult path Ukraine faces to future NATO membership. At their summit in Washington in July, the 32 members declared Ukraine on an “irreversible” path to membership.

 

However, one obstacle to moving forward has been the view that Ukraine’s borders would need to be clearly demarcated before it could join so that there can be no mistaking where the alliance’s pact of mutual defense would come into effect.

 

“You can’t give an invitation to just one part of a country,” Zelenskyy said in an excerpt of the interview with Sky News. “Why? Because thus you would recognize that Ukraine is only that territory of Ukraine and the other one is Russia.”

First, Russia, and more specifically, Putin, will not stand for it. Ukraine joining NATO is a red line for him and the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO helped precipitate this war. To understand why, look at a map. For centuries, Russia has feared invasion from the West. That fear is not without basis. See: Adolphus, Napoleon, Hitler, and many others who would have liked to try.

Russia’s western border is very long with few natural boundaries. To counter this, Russia’s traditional foreign policy has been to create and manage a buffer zone by conquering territory or leveraging allied buffer states. It has been this way for centuries.

Ukraine has a long border that juts into the southwest corner of Russia. Russia, and more specifically, Putin, views a NATO country that close to Moscow to be an existential threat. You may disagree with the argument that Putin’s fears are unfounded because NATO is a defensive organization. Your disagreement does not matter to Russia. Put yourself in their shoes. If China or Russia formed a military alliance with Canada or Mexico, we’d be a bit skittish too.

Second, there is nothing but downside for NATO countries to allow Ukraine to join. That math may have been a bit different before the war, but we must deal with the realities before us. Ukraine’s military capacity has been severely depleted. They bring nothing to the alliance. Instead, Ukraine would be outsourcing their military defense to the other NATO countries. They would be a military welfare state.

At the same time, allowing Ukraine into NATO dramatically increases the threat of a violent confrontation with Russia. See above. Put together, Ukraine joining NATO would obligate NATO countries to defend it while increasing the likelihood of needing to do so. It may not happen right away, but it will happen. The geopolitical realities don’t change even if we reach a temporary peace in Ukraine. It’s all upside for Ukraine. It’s all downside for every other NATO country.

Zelenskyy is looking for a way out of the war with the prospect of the military gravy train drying up. We should not let the prospect of a near-term peace doom us to a long-term war with a nuclear power.

World Beekeeping Awards Removes Honey From Awards

People will cheat at anything.

The World Beekeeping Awards have announced that there will not be any prizes for honey next year because of concerns about fraud in the global supply chain.

 

It’ll be the first time that the popular cupboard staple has been excluded from the event.

 

Apimondia – the International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations – said in a statement that the change was “necessitated by the inability to have honey fully tested for adulteration”.

 

This decision comes after previous years’ events proved that “adequate testing was impossible” as well as recent investigations which showed the sticky situation that importers have found themselves in.

Actress Lectures Americans

Sure. Uh huh. We haven’t had enough of the elite lecturing us rubes about how stupid we are for not voting for Marxism. Whatever.

Stone said her fellow Americans elected Donald Trump because they are ‘uneducated’ and don’t travel enough.

‘My country is in the midst of adolescence. Adolescence is very arrogant. Adolescence thinks it knows everything,’ the Basic Instinct actress said.

 

‘Adolescence is naïve and ignorant and arrogant. And we are in our ignorant, arrogant adolescence.

 

‘We haven’t seen this before in our country. So Americans who don’t travel, who 80 percent don’t have a passport, who are uneducated, are in their extraordinary naivete,’ she continued.

Ceasefire in Lebanon

May peace take hold.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, over 60 days Hezbollah will remove its fighters and weapons from the area between the Blue Line – the unofficial border between Lebanon and Israel – and the Litani river, about 30km (20 miles) to the north.

 

Hezbollah fighters will be replaced by Lebanese army forces in that area, who will ensure that infrastructure or weaponry is removed and that it cannot be rebuilt, according to a senior US official.

 

Over the same 60 days, Israel will gradually withdraw its remaining forces and civilians, Biden said, adding that it would enable civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes.

Universities Warning Illegal Alien Students

Um, what?

US universities have been emailing international students and staff advising them to return to campus before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, amid concerns over his plans for mass deportations.

 

“All international students are worried right now,” University of Colorado Denver professor Chloe East told the BBC.

 

Trump, a Republican, has pledged to enact the largest deportation operation in history, and use the US military to help.

 

More than 400,000 undocumented students are enrolled in US higher education, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal.

400,000 illegal aliens in our universities!? Our tax dollars are paying for that. American students are being denied admission for that. We are all paying more for higher education because of that.

Yes, deport them. Deport them all.

Mauston School District Eyes Third Referendum Within a Year After Voters Say “No”

This is going to be a long post, so buckle up. It is just one example of how Wisconsin government school districts cry poor and threaten kids’ education even when they are swimming in cash and how the data shows exactly where the money is going. Let’s go…

The Mauston School District is threatening to dissolve after an operational referendum was rejected by the voters this month. But wait, there’s more… the failed referendum in November was after they had another failed referendum just seven months ago in April. But wait, there’s more… despite the voters telling the school board to live within their means twice within a year, the school board is considering putting ANOTHER operational referendum on the ballot in February. But this time, they are threatening to dissolve the school district if they don’t get more cash. They just can’t possibly see a way forward without getting more money. They are blaming the usual suspects: declining aid with declining student population, rising expenses, and that dastardly equalization aid formula. You can read their agony in this story by WPR, but that’s the gist.

What’s really going on?

All of the data used in this post is found in various reports publicly available from the state DPI. I prefer longitudinal data and the data set takes us to the 2022-2023 school year. I’ll refer to school years going forward by the year when the school year ended. All good? Let’s dig into the Mauston School District and their alleged woes.

ENROLLMENT:

For the past 10 years, enrollment in the district has been relatively flat with an average enrollment of 1,448 students. In 2013, they had an enrollment of 1,462. In 2023, they had an enrollment of 1,410. Over a 10 year period, that’s an enrollment decline of 3.6% over a decade. This is actually better than most school districts that are facing steeper enrollment declines due to the overall demographic trends in the state.

So let’s lick apart the superintendent’s statement from the WPR story:

“It’s so enrollment driven, which is a challenge in rural areas,” Heesch said. “You’re seeing declining enrollments, your revenues are either flat or decreasing based on those enrollments, while your expenditures, especially through an inflationary period, have increased dramatically.”

Enrollment is down. A bit. A little bit. But a 3.6% decline over a decade is very, very manageable. It is not a precipitous collapse. So let’s look at revenue and costs.

REVENUE:

Over the same 10 year period, from 2013 to 2023, Total comparative revenue is up 28.7% from $20,795,476 to $26,757,154. In per-student terms over the same period, revenue increased 34.5% from $14,114 per student to $18,977 per student.

In inflation adjusted dollars, $18,977 in 2023 was worth about $14,814 in 2013 dollars according to the CPI calculator from the federal BLS.

So, the conclusion is that revenue on both a total and on a per-student basis has kept up with inflation and then some. District revenue has exceeded the inflation rate by about 5%. That’s not an excessive amount, but it does show that the taxpayers have provided increasingly more funding to the Mauston School District in excess of the rate of inflation.

COSTS:

Enrollment is flat to a slight decline. Revenue is increasing in excess of inflation. So why is the school districts claiming a financial crisis that may require them to dissolve without even more money?

It’s the costs. It’s always the costs. Let’s take a look:

In the report titled “Audited Annual Report Comparative Cost” for Mauston in the longitudinal reports (it downloads as an excel sheet), we can see the spending for every line item over time. The thing to look for is which line items are increasing in excess to inflation or are new expenditures. Here are some key cost drivers (note that I am going to use per-pupil numbers to normalize the spending to enrollment):

  • Total Instructional Expenditures are up 22.4% from $6,983 per student to $8,544 per student. That’s not bad. It’s actually lower than the rate of inflation over the same period.
  • Operational/Administration/Other expenditures are up 51.1% from $2,793 to $4,220 over the 10-year period. That is double the rate of inflation.
  • That doesn’t tell the whole story of the cost of administration. Beginning in 2015, all Wisconsin districts broke out Administration costs into its own category (thank you, Republicans) so we can see them better, Between 2015 and 2023, just Administration expenses went up 37.5%. Over the same period, Operational expenses increased 47.5%. Both categories were increasing well in excess of the rate of inflation.
    • The big drivers in these categories were “Operation Administration,” “Other Support Services,” and “Purchased Instructional Services.”
  • Interestingly, between 2013 and 2023, transportation costs went up less than 1% – well below the rate of inflation. So the excuse that many rural districts use for spending is the cost of transportation in a geographically large, population sparse, district does not apply here.
  • Facilities costs went up 77% between 2013 and 2023 from $1,838 per student to $3,259 per student.

SUMMARY:

The story of the Mauston School District is similar to so many other school districts in Wisconsin. Student enrollment has been flat to declining, but their revenue has been increasing to match the rate of inflation and then some. The spending on direct student instruction – the money spent on actual teachers in the classrooms – has increased, but not as quickly as the rate of inflation. Meanwhile, spending on administration and facilities has far exceeded the rate of inflation – soaking up all of the additional revenue, and then some, and squeezing out spending on teachers.

The alleged financial struggles of the Mauston School District are entirely self-inflicted by wasteful spending on administration and facilities. Meanwhile, the students and the teachers are left wanting. The taxpayers are right to deny them more money through an operational referendum and the school board and administration are utterly incompetent and/or corrupt if they can’t manage the district’s finances any better than this.

Massive Chinese Hack of Networks Threatens National Security

We shouldn’t have to say it, but China is not our friend.

(CNN) — Top telecom executives met with US national security officials at the White House on Friday as concerns mount over a long-running Chinese cyber-espionage campaign that has targeted some of the most senior US political figures in the country.

The hackers burrowed deep into some major US telecom providers to spy on phone calls and text messages and have proved difficult to kick out of some networks, people briefed on the matter said.

[…]

The hack is shaping up to be one of the biggest cyber and national security challenges facing the incoming Trump administration.

It is “by far” the “worst telecom hack in our nation’s history,” Sen. Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia and chairman of the intelligence committee, told CNN.

But the full scope of the hack, who it affects and its impact on national security are still being investigated.

The FBI has notified fewer than 150 victims, most in the Washington, DC, area, according to Warner. But all of those victims have likely called or sent texts to numerous people, meaning the number of records accessed by the hackers is likely far greater. The hackers could listen to the calls of specific targets for certain periods of time, according to Warner.

US officials and private cyber experts are keeping a running tally of the number of telecom firms breached. US broadband and internet providers AT&T, Verizon and Lumen have all been targeted in the hacking effort, CNN previously reported.

School District Punishes Parents for Wearing XX Wristbands

The Trans crowd won’t tolerate any dissent – even the silent and non-aggressive wearing of a wristband.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — School district officials who punished two parents for wearing pink wristbands marked “XX” during a soccer game featuring a transgender player defended their decision Friday at a hearing on whether they can take similar action while they are being sued.

 

Kyle Fellers and Anthony Foote were banned from school grounds after the September game by officials who viewed the wristbands as intimidation or harassment of a transgender player. They later sued the Bow school district, and while the no-trespass orders have since expired, a judge is deciding whether the plaintiffs should be allowed to wear the wristbands and carry signs at upcoming school events, including basketball games, swim meets and a music concert, while the case proceeds.

 

Both men testified Thursday that they didn’t intend to harass or otherwise target a transgender player on the opposing team, and their attorneys have argued they did nothing more than silently express their support for reserving girls’ sports for those born female. But school officials testified Friday that they had reason to believe the men wouldn’t stop there.

 

[…]

 

Kelley also pushed back on the idea that the plaintiffs were simply expressing support for their daughters and their teammates in general, noting that they chose the one game involving a transgender player to begin wearing the wristbands.

 

“This was organized and targeted,” she said. “If we were to allow harassment, we’re liable.”

Laken Riley’s Murderer Sentenced to Life in Prison

A small amount of justice for a murder that would not have happened if we had a secure border. May her family find some peace.

The man accused of killing Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, at the University of Georgia in February was found guilty of murder on Wednesday. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

 

Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, is a Venezuelan citizen who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in 2022. He was released by border officials while his immigration case was awaiting review, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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