Boots & Sabers

The blogging will continue until morale improves...

Author: Owen

Illegal Aliens Getting Hurt at Border

by | 1855, 27 Nov 2323 | | 0 Comments

Why is this my problem? They are breaking into my fortified home and hurt themselves doing it. FAFO. They are lucky that we are spending untold thousands of dollars treating their injuries instead of just shoving them back over the border to find care in Mexico.

My colleague Miriam Jordan was reporting at the border this year when she noticed an unusual number of migrants in wheelchairs, bandages and casts at shelters. Jordan learned that while there was no comprehensive accounting of wall-related injuries and deaths, doctors at U.S. hospitals along the border have noticed a definite increase.

 

“Desperate people try to jump over, and they suffer much more severe traumatic injuries to the head,” Jordan said. “The falls also shatter their extremities, because of greater impact from falling farther.”

 

Problems continue even after they receive treatment. “Many migrants do not receive the follow-up care that they need after being released from the hospital,” she said, “and they may never regain the ability to work at physically arduous jobs, which they came to America to do, or lead a normal life.”

 

[…]

 

Last year, UC San Diego Health converted a postpartum unit into a ward for border-wall casualties. The sheer number has affected care for local people, too; waiting time for spinal procedures at the hospital has risen to nearly two weeks, from three days.

Tony Evers Denies Lawful Open Records Disclosures with Secret Email

by | 0805, 27 Nov 2323 | | 4 Comments

From Wisconsin Right Now

Tony Evers has a secret state email account appropriating the name of a dead baseball legend, but he doesn’t think the public has a right to know about it.

 

Gov. Tony Evers has been communicating with state workers about public business using a secret government email account in the name of a deceased Milwaukee Braves baseball legend, and over 17,000 emails sent to and from the account exist, Wisconsin Right Now has exclusively documented.

 

But the governor’s office thinks the public has no right to know the account’s name and won’t provide most of the emails. We verified Evers is using the account, first through a source who saw communications between Evers and a state worker, and then through the open records request. The response provided other details that verified it, even though the address was blacked out.

 

We can reveal: Gov. Evers writes various state workers and cabinet secretaries using the account “warren.spahn@wisconsin.gov,” a state email account in the name of the Braves’ legend.

 

The state Department of Administration explained it was blacking out the email account name, writing of the redactions, “The Governor’s non-public official direct email address. Making this email address available would significantly hinder the Governor’s ability to communicate and work efficiently. There is minimal harm to the public interest, given that there are numerous public means to communicate with the Office of the Governor.”

There are two transgressions here. First, the governor is using a secret email account to conduct public business. This practice intentionally makes it more difficult for people to find them when conducting open records requests. You can’t ask for something you don’t know about.

The greater transgression is that even after WRN discovered the email, the DOA is still refusing to disclose the emails in response to a lawful open records request. Wisconsin’s government is required by law to provide any information for the asking. It is a cornerstone of transparency that promotes good government. There are few – very few – reasons that the government is allowed to redact requested information. “Evers doesn’t want to because it might embarrass him” is not a lawful reason to deny an open records request.

Evers has a history of thwarting the public’s legal responsibility and right to see what his office is doing. What is he hiding?

Terrorists Launch Missiles at U.S. Warship

by | 2138, 26 Nov 2323 | , , | 0 Comments

Nothing to see here, I guess.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels allegedly fired missiles at a US Navy destroyer off the coast of Yemen in a ‘significant escalation’ – after American troops freed an Israeli-linked chemical tanker from them.

 

The USS Mason warship responded to a distress call on Sunday from the commercial tanker, named Central Park, in the Gulf of Aden that had been seized by armed rebels. 

 

The rebels, from Yemen’s Houthis, were officially recognized as a terrorist organization in the US under the Trump administration – until Biden removed the militants from the list in 2021.

 

[…]

 

According to Fox News citing two senior U.S. officials, the Houthi forces fired two ballistic missiles at the USS Mason after the Navy arrested the armed hijackers.

 

USS Mason tracked the missiles – which both fell short and landed in the water.

 

Asian-Americans Continue to Face Discrimination from Ivy Schools

by | 2125, 26 Nov 2323 | , | 1 Comment

Disgraceful. Given what we have seen from the Ivy schools lately, I would serious question hiring any of them. They are not admitting the best of the best and they are putting out a bunch of radicalized bigots.

The admissions consultant described what it takes to get into an elite college: Take 10 to 20 Advanced Placement courses. Create a “showstopper project.”

 

Asian American students need to be extremely strategic in how they present themselves, “to avoid anti-Asian discrimination,” the consultant, Sasha Chada of Ivy Scholars, said at the October webinar to an audience of mostly Asian parents and students.

 

[…]

 

In the first college application season since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action, Asian American students are more stressed out than ever. Race-conscious admissions were widely seen to have disadvantaged them, as borne out by disparities in the test scores of admitted students — but many feel that race will still be a hidden factor and that standards are even more opaque than before.

 

[…]

 

At seminars like Chada’s around Southern California this fall, some held in Korean or Mandarin for immigrant parents, consultants reinforced the message — even students with superhuman qualifications are regularly rejected from Harvard and UC Berkeley.

China Fading

by | 0855, 24 Nov 2323 | , | 1 Comment

While it is good that China’s economic prowess may be waning, it is also destabilizing if Communist China seek to replace their economic might with military might.

The Chinese economy’s decades-long run of tremendous growth has finally found its end, Ruchir Sharma wrote in the Financial Times.

 

Wisconsin Deer Harvest Way Down

by | 1950, 22 Nov 2323 | | 1 Comment

We’re going to be closing in on two million deer pretty fast.

MADISON (AP) — A lack of snow and warm temperatures that suppressed deer movement led to a lackluster opening weekend of Wisconsin’s nine-day gun season, with hunters killing thousands fewer deer than last year.

 

The state Department of Natural Resources released preliminary data Tuesday that showed hunters registered 92,050 deer compared with 103,623 deer last year.

 

That’s a 16% drop-off from 2022 and 10% fewer deer than the five-year average for opening weekend. Hunters also registered 51,870 bucks, down 13% from 56,638 over opening weekend in 2022.

 

The number of potential hunters didn’t vary much from last year, however. The DNR reported that sales of all deer licenses stood at 774,369 as of midnight Sunday, with 421,525 of those licenses exclusively for gun use. Overall, sales of all deer licenses were down 0.61% from the same time last year.

America’s Pig Problem

by | 2115, 21 Nov 2323 | | 4 Comments

There’s bacon in them thar hills!

What can grow five feet long, up to 400 pounds and is one of the most destructive invasive species in the U.S.?

 

Wild hogs are the correct answer! Wild hogs also called feral swine go by many names but are the same species as domesticated pigs found on farms.

 

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, feral hogs cause approximately $2.5 billion in agricultural damages each year.

Since their introduction to the U.S. in the 1500’s, the feral swine population have expanded across more than three quarters of the country. According to the Department of Agriculture, their population has grown to more than 9 million.

Lowering Standards at Schools

by | 0808, 21 Nov 2323 | , | 0 Comments

The Washington County Insider is also covering the DPI report cards today and reminds us that the DPI lowered the standards. They also point out the different spending in local districts and how spending seems to have nothing to do with performance.

November 21, 2023 – Washington Co., WI – The State Department of Public Instruction released results from the 2022-23 report card. Data from public schools across Washington County, WI, is below. Keep in mind, it was the 2020-21 report cards when Governor Evers “changed the metrics” and lowered the accountability scoring range.
Below is the Accountability Rating Category used by DPI prior to 2020. These resources are specific to the 2018-19 accountability report cards, which were released in the Fall of 2019.

Meeting expectations in Wisconsin’s schools

by | 0719, 21 Nov 2323 | , | 3 Comments

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

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has released the legally required district report cards for the 2022-2023 school year. If the results do not make you feel shame and anger, then you do not really care about education.

 

The annual report card measures school districts, and the schools that comprise them, on several factors including achievement on benchmarking exams, absenteeism, graduation rates, and relative improvement or regression from the prior year. Most of the score, however, is based on performance.

 

According to the report cards, the Milwaukee Public School District “meets expectations” with an overall score of 58. The West Bend School District also “meets expectations” with an overall score of 68.8. According to the results of the Wisconsin Forward Exam, 45.8% of students in West Bend and 15.8% of students in Milwaukee are proficient at English Language Arts. Similarly, only 55.1% of students in West Bend and 11.5% of students in Milwaukee are proficient in math.

 

Let us focus on the phrase “meets expectations.” Does the fact that less than half of the kids in West Bend can read or write meet their parents’ expectations? How about the fact that one in ten kids in Milwaukee can do math at their grade level? Does that meet their expectations? Do parents, teachers, and taxpayers in those districts look at these numbers, shrug their shoulders, and say, “meh, good enough”? Apparently, many of them do, but why does this kind of abysmal performance meet the state DPI’s expectations? And why do both districts meet the DPI’s expectations when Milwaukee’s scores are so much lower? Does the DPI’s lower expectations of Milwaukee reveal a soft bigotry?

 

The fact is that some of you have lowered your expectations so much that you are willing to accept sending ignorant, semi-literate kids into a world in which they are not equipped to be successful. The fact that that “meets expectations” is a stain on our society.

 

Furthermore, when one compares the spending per student to the report card scores, there is a slight correlation. That is, there is a slight negative correlation. The data shows that the more that a district spends per student, the more likely it is that the district’s overall score will decrease.

 

For example, the Slinger district spends about $13,730 per student and exceeds expectations. The Monroe District spends about $17,793 per student and just meets expectations. The districts are otherwise similar in terms of racial makeup, number of economically disadvantaged students, number of native English speakers, and other factors. Why is Monroe spending almost 30% more per student than Slinger to get worse results?

 

Money is not the answer to making education better in Wisconsin. In fact, the data shows that more money makes it worse. There is one thing, however, that has been providing a better education for tens of thousands of Wisconsin kids and the Democrats are trying to kill it.

 

School choice. For almost 35 years, some kids in Milwaukee have had the opportunity to escape their failed government schools where 11.5% of kids are proficient in math to go to a better school of their choice. That choice was expanded to Racine in 2011 and then statewide in 2013. These school choice programs have opened new, previously unavailable, doors to thousands of kids who are getting an education that meets their parents’ expectations – irrespective of whether or not the educrats in Madison think about their local government schools.

 

With the new leftist majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, a group of leftist Democrats have filed suit demanding that all three Wisconsin school choice programs be ended. The plaintiffs have asked for the Supreme Court to take up the case directly without letting the case work its way through lower courts. Despite the fact that school choice has been ruled legal and constitutional for over 30 years and in courts all over the nation, there is a very real chance that the leftist zealots on the Wisconsin Supreme Court may end school choice in Wisconsin by this time next year.

 

If the Wisconsin Supreme Court kills school choice, they will force tens of thousands of kids back into the government education gulags where ignorance and failure “meets expectations.” I am ashamed of our state’s poor government schools and angry that so many people find that they “meet expectations.” You should be too.

Evers Vetoes Middle Class Tax Cut

by | 1921, 20 Nov 2323 | | 0 Comments

Realize that Evers really thinks that it’s his money to spend.

Gov. Tony Evers on Monday vetoed a $2 billion Republican tax cut bill, calling it “completely unserious.”

 

Evers’ veto was expected, as he opposed the GOP plan from the moment it was introduced as a substitute to the Democratic governor’s own workforce development package. Evers has previously vetoed a similar income tax cut passed by the Legislature.

 

[…]

 

Instead, the Legislature passed a measure that would have cut income taxes, created a child care tax credit, and increased income tax deductions for private school tuition. The vetoed bill also had provisions to recognize some out-of-state professional credentials in Wisconsin, and to prohibit state examining boards from requiring counselors, therapists and pharmacists to pass tests on state law and regulations.

 

Evers, in his veto message, said the Republican bill failed to “meaningfully and sensibly address the workforce challenges that have plagued Wisconsin for a decade.”

Illegals Being Diffused Throughout Nation

by | 2142, 19 Nov 2323 | | 12 Comments

I was distinctly told that bussing illegal aliens to other cities was racist, but here we are. Realize that there is an entire infrastructure now built to quickly move illegal aliens to towns, big and small, all over America.

DENVER (AP) — As weary migrants arrive in Denver on buses from the U.S.-Mexico border city of El Paso, Texas, officials offer them two options: temporary shelter or a bus ticket out.

 

Nearly half of the 27,000 migrants who arrived in Denver since November 2022 have chosen the bus, plane or train tickets to other cities in the U.S., city data shows. In New York and Illinois, taxpayer dollars also are being spent on tickets, creating a shuffle of migrants in the interior U.S. who need shelter, food and medical assistance as they await rulings on asylum cases that can take years.

 

The transfer of migrants has gained momentum since Republican governors in Texas and Florida started chartering buses and planes to Democratic-led cities in what critics waved off as political stunts. More than a year later, some of those cities, their resources dwindling, are eager to help migrants move on to their final destinations.

Nazis Not Welcome

by | 2115, 19 Nov 2323 | , | 0 Comments

For weeks, Wisconsin’s Democrats have been mute as thousands of violent pro-Hamas Jew-haters protested, blocked roads, attacked people, damaged property, defaced our monuments, attacked the White House, disrupted government business, and called for violent resistance. But when twenty Nazis (who are most likely Feds) show up in Madison, Wisconsin’s Democratic establishment comes out of their chairs to speak out against antisemitism. Call me cynical, but I don’t believe them. 

Neo-Nazis marched in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, chanting “There will be blood,” CBS News reports.

 

Almost two dozen masked marchers walked along State Street toward the Wisconsin State Capital before ending up at James Madison Park.

 

The group, who had also chanted “Israel is not our friend,” gathered in front of a historic synagogue, per the Milwaukuee Sentinel Journal. It is not currently being used for religious services.

Antisemitism and racism are always abhorrent – even when your political allies do it. Right, Democrats? Right?

Wisconsin’s shrinking deer hunt

by | 0754, 17 Nov 2323 | , | 0 Comments

Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News earlier this week:

The fallen leaves, crisp air and smell of pumpkin spice can only mean one thing — the gun deer season is almost upon us. As legions of hunters head to the woods this Saturday, the future of the hunt is increasingly concerning.

 

The gun deer hunt is a keystone Wisconsin cultural event that binds generations together. It is also a practical and necessary function to keep Wisconsin’s deer population under control.

 

Absent most of their natural predators, controlling the deer population with hunting is important for the state. The largest reason is to protect Wisconsin’s large agricultural economy. Over the last 10 years, deer have destroyed an average of 108,158 bushels of corn per year. The deer are equally destructive to soybeans, alfalfa and other key cash crops.

 

The second most important reason why the deer herd must be controlled is to reduce vehicle collisions. Over the last 10 years, Wisconsin averaged almost 19,000 deer-vehicle collisions per year.

 

Thirdly, the deer herd must be managed to prevent them from outstripping the ability of the ecosystem to feed them, resulting in disease and suffering for the deer themselves.

 

Since the peak in 2000, there has been a steady decline in the number of deer hunters and the deer population has been rapidly expanding. The reasons are mainly demographic. Wisconsin’s population is shrinking slightly and aging rapidly. As hunters age, they eventually stop hunting for myriad reasons. Some stop because of health reasons. Some stop because their hunting groups dwindle and disband. Some stop because they change their lifestyle and hunting is no longer convenient. As older hunters increasingly hang up their blaze orange for good, there are too few younger hunters to replace them.

 

I am in the latter category. I absolutely loved the deer hunt for many years, but a change in lifestyle makes it no longer practicable for the time being. A successful hunt is one that is safe, fun and harvests some meat — in that order.

 

The statistics from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) bear out the troubling trends for the hunt. Wisconsin hunters peaked in 2000 by harvesting almost 403,000 deer. Last year, they harvested just 176,476 deer and have not harvested more than 200,000 deer since 2012.

 

Consequently, the statewide deer herd has been rapidly expanding. The DNR estimated that there were 987,300 deer in 2009. Last year after the deer hunting season, they estimated the deer herd at 1.67 million. That is a 69 percent increase in the deer population in just 13 years.

 

How big should Wisconsin’s deer herd be? That is a matter of opinion. It is a balance. It depends on what one considers to be acceptable levels of agricultural loss and vehicle collisions. At the same time, the state wants to keep the herd large enough to support Wisconsin’s hunting culture while maintaining a healthy ecosystem with deer in it. The “right” size of the herd is debatable, but as the primary herd control mechanism dwindles, the ability of the DNR to control the herd at all is slowly slipping away.

 

As the number of hunters decreases, the DNR is going to need to adjust the regulations to encourage a greater harvest per hunter in order to keep up with the growing herd. Simply, the DNR will need to make it easier and cheaper for each hunter to harvest more deer.

 

For example, the DNR may consider increasing tag requirements or waiving them completely. If the goal is to harvest deer, who does it and where they do it is less important than the total harvest. The DNR may also consider making the number and types of zones and make it easier for hunters to hunt multiple zones. Rules on baiting could also be relaxed. Finally, as a last resort, the DNR may need to consider significantly lengthening the gun deer season like many other states.

 

Those considerations, however, are looming in the future. For now, be safe out there, hunters!

Biden Judge Nominee Struggles with Basic Legal Terms

by | 0739, 17 Nov 2323 | , | 0 Comments

Ouch

Sara E. Hill, who is nominated by President Biden to be the district judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma, was grilled by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., on the Senate Judiciary Committee about basic legal and Constitutional terms and definitions — a practice that’s become usual for him in recent months after several nominees have struggled to pass his tests.

 

When Kennedy asked Hill the difference between a “stay” order and an “injunction” order — two orders frequently issued by federal courts — Hill stumbled through her answers.

 

“A stay order would prohibit, um, sorry. An injunction would restrain the parties from taking action. A stay order … I’m not sure I can, actually can, can give you that,” she said.

NY Deadbeats Get One Year to Move Out After Eviction

by | 0709, 17 Nov 2323 | , | 0 Comments

And politicians wonder why housing is scarce and rents are high. Who would want to be a landlord with these kinds of risks?

• If you lose a housing case and the judge orders your eviction, you can ask the court for up to one year to move if you can show that you cannot find a similar apartment in the same neighborhood. The judge will take into account your health conditions, whether you have children enrolled in school, the hardship on the landlord if you remain, and any other life circumstances that could affect your ability to move.

Deflation on the Way?

by | 2011, 16 Nov 2323 | | 0 Comments

Long term, deflation is much, much worse than inflation. But in small doses, we could use it to reset the baseline. Let’s hope he’s right.

On Thursday, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said deflation could be coming as general merchandise and key grocery items, such as eggs, chicken and seafood get cheaper.

He said the retailer expects some of the stickier higher prices, such as the ones for pantry staples, to “start to deflate in the coming weeks and months,” too.

 

“In the U.S., we may be managing through a period of deflation in the months to come,” he said on the company’s Thursday earnings call. “And while that would put more unit pressure on us, we welcome it, because it’s better for our customers.”

Too Big to Fail

by | 1950, 16 Nov 2323 | , | 0 Comments

Be skeptical when politicians tell you that we have to inject hundreds of millions of dollars into a private business because they are just. too. important. Important to whom? Follow the money.

Major league baseball and the Brewers are a significant and prestigious item on the State of Wisconsin and the City of Milwaukee’s resume.

 

The prestige of being a Major League Baseball town is priceless. Employers big and small use Wisconsin’s resume of Great Lakes, woods and waters, arts and entertainment, successful education systems, and professional sports teams as ways to recruit the talent needed to fill our workforce and economic needs.

 

In short, the Brewers (and other major league attractions) are too important to lose.

I have worked in with businesses in Wisconsin for decades and have never – not once – seen an employer tout the Brewers to a job candidate as a reason to take the job.

This deal is terrible for taxpayers. It’s fantastic for the owners of the Brewers and politicians.

Freedom as Effective as Tyranny in Combatting Virus

by | 1905, 16 Nov 2323 | , | 0 Comments

Interesting.

Covid lockdowns were no more effective at reducing infections than letting people adapt their own behaviour, a major Oxford University-baked study suggests.

 

A team of international researchers created a model that estimates Covid death and unemployment rates in response to different pandemic policies.

 

Results suggest that imposing shutdowns — that forced people to stay home and closed essential shops — squashed fatality rates from the virus.

 

However, leaving people to adapt their own behaviour — such as by socialising less to avoid becoming infected, an approach used in Sweden — was just as effective.

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