Boots & Sabers

The blogging will continue until morale improves...

Owen

Everything but tech support

Jed

Tech support

California Bans Schools from Telling Parents About Their Kids

When the government refuses to tell you information about your own minor children, they are not acting in the interests of the children or the parents. The government is acting in the interests of someone else. Do not endanger your children by trusting these people with their care.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California became the first U.S. state to bar school districts from requiring staff to notify parents of their child’s gender identification change under a law signed Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

 

The law bans school rules requiring teachers and other staff to disclose a student’s gender identity or sexual orientation to any other person without the child’s permission. Proponents of the legislation say it will help protect LGBTQ+ students who live in unwelcoming households. But opponents say it will hinder schools’ ability to be more transparent with parents.

NBC Runs Cover for Biden’s Lethargy

If you believe this narrative from unnamed sources, I have a bridge to sell you. We all saw Biden’s responses after the assassination attempt and it was neither fast nor competent.

WASHINGTON — Within an hour after the first shots were fired in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden had been briefed on what had unfolded, he was preparing a written statement condemning it and planning an address the nation, and he had tried to call his rival in the election.

 

Biden’s swift response Saturday to fast-moving developments is uncharacteristic for a White House that tends to react more slowly to crises than even some of its allies would like. The pace was designed to leave no question about how seriously Biden was taking the attempt to assassinate his political opponent and to set the tone for how he wants to be seen by the country as he navigates one of the most horrific moments in American history.

 

“This is a commander in chief moment,” a Biden aide said. “He wants to reduce the temperature.”

 

[…]

 

Biden’s quick series of decisions and appearances comes during one of the most consequential periods in any recent campaign for the White House.

Trump Chooses Vance for VP

Meh.

The first-term senator from Ohio is now by Trump’s side as vice-presidential running mate – and, by extension, an early frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2028 – with a reliably conservative voting record and Midwestern roots that Republicans hope will boost support at the ballot box.

What I like: he’s a veteran, young, smart, appeals to middle and lower-class Americans, has a beautiful all-American family, and he’s quick on his feet.

What I don’t like: he’s more populist than conservative and is more of a mini-me Trump.

In general, the VP pick matters little. The election will be decided at the top of the ticket. Vance will be an effective communicator of the Trump message. But he doesn’t broaden the appeal.

One thing this pick does confirm is that the Republican Party has moved decidedly into the more populist direction. Trump no longer feels a need to pick a classic conservative or libertarian Republican to unify the party. It’s already unified behind him.

Guns Allowed Near RNC Convention

Yes, because it’s not about the gun. It’s about the person. Tyranny is not the correct response to evil. Tyranny is evil.

Inside the Fiserv Forum and the immediate security perimeter around the Republican National Convention, which kicks off Monday night, guns are not allowed. However, guns will be allowed immediately outside the convention center in the outer perimeter surrounding the Secret Service-controlled area due to Wisconsin state law.

 

The situation is facing increased scrutiny in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania.

 

Due to Wisconsin state law, people will be allowed to openly carry guns and can conceal-carry with a permit inside the so-called “soft perimeter,” which surrounds the Secret Service patrolled inner “hard perimeter.” City officials tell ABC News they are frustrated following Saturday’s developments but don’t expect a change.

Biden’s Response to Assassination Attempt

One thing that really struck me in the aftermath of the assassination attempt was the ineptness of Biden’s response. While comments and condemnations were pouring in from foreign leaders, political leaders, former presidents Obama and Bush, etc., there was nothing coming from the White House. Silence. It was almost two full hours from the time of the attempted assassination until Biden said anything. And then he said it in a post on X.

Why so long? It is the weekend, so Biden was in Delaware like usual. His weekly retreat from public life. We have long speculated about why he needs so many days of seclusion. And when something big happened, he was silent. He didn’t step outside the door and express condolences to the gaggle of reporters. He didn’t immediately address the nation. He didn’t issue a statement. For almost two hours, there was nothing.

What if it wasn’t a failed assassination attempt? What if Russia had dropped a nuke on Poland? If it’s a Saturday evening, is Biden capable of mustering the energy and mental acuity to respond in moments? In hours? I don’t think he is.

On Saturday he finally went to the podium for about four minutes to read some comments off the teleprompter. He didn’t take any questions. He flubbed some of the reading. But the most striking thing was watching him leave the podium. His lower arms were extended and his hands flopping toward the ground. He moves so, so slowly with the shuffle of a much older man. He hesitated. He twisted a bit. His movements were hesitant and confused. Biden is not a well man.

Yesterday we got the Oval Office address. Again, he was just reading. He still flubbed multiple times and seemed to get a bit lost. Irrespective of the content, which was not good, the delivery was a mess. He does not inspire confidence. He does not project competence. I’ve seen Biden talk in various settings for my entire adult life. He knew how to do these things once. He no longer does. He is no longer capable.

When the proverbial 3 AM call came, Biden was not able to pick up the phone.

Assassination Attempt

Wow… take a few days off…

There is so much to say about the attempted assassination of former President Trump. For the moment, I just want to do my small part to ensure that the hero who was killed and the other two injured men are remembered. RIP, Mr. Comperatore.

BUFFALO TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — The former fire chief who was killed at a Pennsylvania rally for Donald Trump spent his final moments diving down in front of his family, protecting them from the gunfire that rang out Saturday during an assassination attempt against the former president.

 

Corey Comperatore’s quick decision to use his body as a shield against the bullets flying toward his wife and daughter rang true to the close friends and neighbors who loved and respected the proud 50-year-old Trump supporter, noting that the Butler County resident was a “man of conviction.”

 

“He’s a literal hero. He shoved his family out of the way, and he got killed for them,” said Mike Morehouse, who lived next to Comperatore for the last eight years. “He’s a hero that I was happy to have as a neighbor.”

 

Comperatore died Saturday during an attempt to kill Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. At least two other people were injured: David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, Pennsylvania, according to the Pennsylvania State Police. Both were listed in stable condition as of Sunday.

Madison Radio Station Admits to Editing Biden Interview

As if you didn’t think that the media was bad enough, their willingness to cover for powerful liberals is shameful. They have lost any remnants of credibility. In a different era, catching a powerful person saying something stupid in a live interview would be coveted as “news.” Now they are just a propaganda arm.

Civic Media, a progressive talk show based in Madison, Wisconsin, admitted that it agreed to edit parts of its interview with Biden after the campaign called and demanded changes.

They took out a portion where Biden claimed he had ‘more blacks in my administration than any other president, all presidents combined.’

 

The station revealed the decision fell short of ‘journalistic standards’ and did not ‘meet the expectations’ of their listeners.

It sparked allegations the media have played a part in covering Biden’s cognitive decline for years and comes days after another scandal involving WURD radio in Philadelphia.

West Bend Awarded Federal Money to Repave Paradise Drive

I have questions

WEST BEND — The city announced on Tuesday that it will receive federal funding, in the amount of $1.25 million, for the resurfacing of Paradise Drive from Main Street to the Eisenbahn Trail through the Surface Transportation Program-Urban that is administered by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

 

Through the STP-U program, 80% of the resurfacing cost will be covered by federal funds, with West Bend covering the remaining 20% of project costs. According to a news release, of the $1.25 million in federal funding, $91,084 will go toward the design phase of the project and $1,158,917 will go to the construction phase of the project.

Here is the route that this is about:

0.6 miles. Roughly 1,000 feet. Ten football fields. $1.56 MILLION to just resurface it. Let’s start with that. That’s expensive. Why is it so expensive? Yes, asphalt is petroleum-based and the cost of materials is high. But we’re not talking any underground work or changes. It’s just resurfacing. That’s $1,500 per YARD of road.

And what is this?

$91,084 will go toward the design phase of the project

That’s just the federal contribution, so over $100k to design… what? It’s resurfacing an existing road. What the hell are they designing? Who is being paid to design it? The city has a city engineer on staff. What the hell is he doing?

Furthermore, why are our federal dollars going to this at all? Why is it the interest of taxpayers in any other town or state in our nation to resurface half a mile of a local road in West Bend, Wisconsin? There is an insane amount of filtering that that money goes through before getting to the project and it comes with all sorts of strings. It’s an incredible amount of waste and not the role of the federal government or the national taxpayers.

Then, the cherry…

“We are excited about the approval of this federal funding,” City Engineer Max Marechal said in the release. “This funding is crucial for improving our city roads. We thank WisDOT for their support and look forward to starting construction in 2028.”

2028!?!? FOUR YEARS FROM NOW!?!? TO START!?!?

If you want a perfect example of how dysfunctional and wasteful our government is, I give you the resurfacing project for a half-mile stretch of road in West Bend, frickin’ Wisconsin.

 

Parkinson’s Expert Visits Biden Multiple Times

I, for one, am glad that he is getting the medical care he needs. I just wish he would respect our nation enough to admit his frailties and step down. Yes, I realize that some want him to remain the candidate because Trump would have an easier time beating him, but I’m more concerned about our nation having an addled invalid at the helm.

An expert on Parkinson’s disease visited the White House eight times over an eight-month span between last July and March of this year, including one visit with the president’s personal physician, according to White House visitor logs.

 

The doctor, Kevin Cannard, is a neurologist and “movement disorders specialist” who works at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. According to the logs, prior to July 2023 he had visited the White House only once, in November 2022.

 

The White House would not confirm if he was advising on the president’s personal care, saying only in a statement “a wide variety of specialists from the Walter Reed system visit the White House complex to treat thousands of military personnel who work on the grounds.”

International Perspective

I’m traveling out of the country for a few weeks. This morning I was at a little ice cream shop and the young worker (17? 20?) asked where I was from and I said, “the States” (as if my accent didn’t give it away). She asked who I was supporting for President. It was an impertinent question but asked in what seemed genuine curiosity. I shared that I was not happy with our choices, but I was leaning Trump. She gasped and said, “really!?!?” I explained that while Trump certainly has his problems, our lives were better when he was president in terms of the economy, crime, immigration, world affairs, etc.

While she was surprised, she did share that she asks every American and every one of us had said “Trump” and it worried her.

The conversation ended there as she served me a double scoop in a waffle cone, but it was a curious conversation. While Americans who might travel to where I am represents a varied subset of Americans in terms of geography and socioeconomic class, it would be predominately middle-class folks from the Midwest. For what it’s worth…

Declaration of Independence of the United States of America

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Leftists on Wisconsin Supreme Court Finally Make Move to Allow Abortions

Here we go.

Madison, Wis. — The Wisconsin Supreme Court decided Tuesday to consider two challenges to a 175-year-old law that conservatives maintain bans abortion without letting the cases wind through lower courts.

 

Abortion advocates stand an excellent chance of prevailing in both cases given the high court’s liberal tilt and remarks a liberal justice made on the campaign trail about how she supports abortion rights.

Persuading the court’s liberal majority to uphold the statutes looks next to impossible. Liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz even went so far as stating openly during her campaign that she supports abortion rights, a major departure for a judicial candidate. Typically such candidates refrain from speaking about their personal views out of concerns they could appear biased on the bench.

While this case is about abortion, it really isn’t about abortion. Even though the law banning abortion was written in 1849, it is quite clear that it bans abortion. People in 1849 were not Neanderthal rubes who did not know how a baby was made. They knew what they were doing.

Here in 2024, the Democrats want Wisconsinites to be able to abort babies up until birth (and some even after that). The problem is that Republicans control the legislature and Republicans want to regulate abortions. The Republicans have repeatedly offered compromises to the Democrats to regulate abortions more along the lines of Roe or even just ban late-term abortions, but the Democrats have rejected all compromises. Democrats do not want any restrictions whatsoever for abortions.

To get their way, the Democrats and their Leftist base elected radical pro-abortion justices to the Supreme Court with the express mission of usurping the power of the legislature on this issue to impose their will on abortion. Click the link and read the whole story above. Even the AP isn’t pretending that the Leftists on the court are anything other than activists who have publicly, vocally, and repeatedly said that they will use the power of the court to impose their favored policy on abortion.

Again, this case is not really about abortion. It is about the Leftists on the Wisconsin Supreme Court tearing down our tri-branch form of government by using the High Court to impose policy against the express will of the Legislative Branch – with the collusion of the Executive Branch.

The timing is telling. The Leftists took over the court a year ago. The abortion issue was their #1 agenda item as they took power. Why has it taken this long? The lawsuits were filed almost immediately. Why did the Leftist majority wait this long to take it up?

Once again, it’s not about the law. It’s about politics. The Leftists want to keep their pro-abortion base angry and activated for the election in November. They need those angry pro-abortion mobs to swarm into the polls and elect Democrats. They need voters who don’t pay attention to think that Republicans are keeping them from aborting babies when it is the Democrats who have refused to compromise.

The court took up the case now because it is five months from the election. Holding the hearings and filing the briefs will help fills some news cycles about this issue leading up until the election. It will keep it top of mind and keep people from thinking about inflation, illegal immigration, high taxes, corruption, and all of the other issues that more directly impact their everyday lives.

Then, probably shortly after the election irrespective of the outcome, the Wisconsin Supreme Court will unconstitutionally invalidate a perfectly legal statute and allow unfettered abortions throughout the state. The result is inevitable, but the activist Leftist on the Supreme Court are going to milk the issue for every vote they can this year.

Mequon Schools Increase Spending Despite Decreasing Enrollment

This is happening all over Wisconsin.

The budget, as of now, assumes the following: An increase in equalized values of 2.5%, a decrease of 40 resident students, $325 per pupil increase on the revenue limit, a continuation of service for personnel and educational programming, as well as salary increases that include a 4.12% cost of living increase applied to teacher base wages, 4% increase for support staff and 3.5% for all other groups.

 

It calls for a general fund budget of $52,718,149, a 6.9% or $3,418,913 from the previous year. The total budget of all funds — excluding Fund 73 — is roughly $70.6 million and net total expenditures are $65,040,309.

Most districts are educating fewer and fewer kids and spending keeps increasing. There’s always an excuse. Inflation. Old buildings. Whatever. At some point, should spending decrease with the student population? No, it’s not linear, but I don’t think I’ve seen a single district actually lower their spending even though many of them have lost well over 10% of their previous attendance. It’s not like this is a temporary bubble. All of the projections show the decline in students to be a widescale trend that will continue for at least another 10 years.

I’m tired of hearing excuses for why school districts can’t scale spending to their customer base like every other private entity in the universe.

Tanny Baldwin Snubs Joe Biden

Can you blame her?

WASHINGTON – If Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin wanted to show her support for President Joe Biden following his shaky debate performance last week, she’d have her chance Friday.

But the Madison Democrat, in a tight reelection race that will help decide the balance of the Senate, will not appear with Biden when he visits her hometown later this week, according to her campaign. Instead, Baldwin will be in northeastern Wisconsin on a pre-planned statewide tour.

Her absence Friday will mark the fourth time this year that Baldwin did not appear with Biden on one of the president’s visits to the state. She last visited the president when he stopped in Superior in late January, then did not join him for his subsequent visits in March, April and May. Baldwin’s campaign noted she was in Washington during those previous visits.

To be fair, ol’ Joe won’t have any idea she’s not there anyway. Although it is telling that she supports his agenda nearly 100% of the time but still doesn’t want to be associated with him.

Stripper Sues Over Florida’s New Age Law

I’m not going to comment on the merits of the case, but that is a stripper name for a very specific kind of patron.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A 19-year-old and the club where she worked as a stripper have sued Florida’s attorney general and two local prosecutors to stop enforcement of a new state law prohibiting adult entertainment businesses from employing people who are under 21, claiming it violates their constitutional rights.

 

Serenity Michelle Bushey claims in the lawsuit that she lost her job at Cafe Risque in the Gainesville area after the law took effect on Monday since she is younger than 21. The purpose of the law was to deter human trafficking, according to Florida lawmakers.

Half of Student Loan Borrowers are Deadbeats

We’ve cultivated a generation of deadbeats.

At the end of March, six months after the hiatus ended, nearly 20 million borrowers were making their payments as scheduled. But almost 19 million were not, leaving their accounts delinquent, in default or still on pause, according to the latest Education Department data.

“The nonpayment rate really is emblematic of a system that’s not doing its job,” said Persis Yu, the managing counsel for the Student Borrower Protection Center, an advocacy group.

 

Some 7 million borrowers with federally managed loans were at least 30 days overdue on their payments at the end of 2023. That’s the highest delinquency rate since 2016, as far back as the department’s public records go. Because of a policy adopted by the Biden administration, those borrowers will face no penalties for their nonpayment until October at the earliest.

 

Millions more had their accounts frozen through deferment or forbearance (which allows borrowers to temporarily stop making payments), and nearly 6 million borrowers remain mired in defaults that began before the pandemic.

Trump’s Sentencing Delayed

I’m not a lawyer, but I don’t see how the SCOTUS ruling would impact a state case about something that candidate Trump allegedly did. Even if one accepts the facts of the case, it would not be an official act of a president.

A New York judge has delayed Donald Trump’s sentencing until September as his lawyers seek to challenge his conviction after a Supreme Court ruling.

 

Trump was initially scheduled to be sentenced on 11 July.

 

His legal team asked for his conviction in a hush-money case to be overturned after the nation’s highest court ruled Monday that former presidents had partial immunity for “official” acts during their presidency.

 

Justice Juan Merchan said on Tuesday that he would issue a decision on the motions by 6 September.

 

If sentencing is necessary, the judge wrote, it will take place on 18 September.

Call me cynical, but I believe that the sentence will be in direct correlation to Trump’s position in the polls at that time.

Biden Proposes New Regulation For People Experiencing Room Temperatures

80 degrees? 80!?!? Isn’t that what these same Lefties tell us to set our ACs to in the summer to “combat global warming?”

Despite increased awareness of the risks posed to human health by high temperatures, extreme heat protections — for those routinely exposed to heat index readings above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) — have lagged.

 

“The purpose of this rule is simple,” a senior White House administration official told reporters. “It is to significantly reduce the number of worker-related deaths, injuries, and illnesses suffered by workers who are exposed to excessive heat … while simply doing their jobs.”

 

Under the proposed rule, employers would be required to identify heat hazards, develop emergency response plans related to heat illness, and provide training to employees and supervisors on the signs and symptoms of such illnesses. They would also have to establish rest breaks, provide shade and water, and heat acclimatization — or the building of tolerance to higher temperatures — for new workers.

 

Penalties for heat-related violations in workplaces would increase significantly, in line with what workplaces are issued for violations of Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules, a senior White House administration official said.

“Absolute Immunity”

SCOTUS made this ruling today. It gave me pause.

Held: Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.

Affirming that any person in our United States has “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution” is a very, very serious thing. In this case, however, I think the court got it right.

Go read the whole opinion and the dissents. It’s an informative read and fairly easy to follow.

Such an immunity is required to safeguard the independence and effective functioning of the Executive Branch, and to enable the President to carry out his constitutional duties without undue caution. At a minimum, the President must be immune from prosecution for an official act unless the Government can show that applying a criminal prohibition to that act would pose no “dangers of intrusion on the authority and functions of the Executive Branch.” Fitzgerald, 457 U. S., at 754. Pp. 12–15.

(3) As for a President’s unofficial acts, there is no immunity.

In any system of government, the Executive is granted immense power and authority precisely to do things that regular citizens can’t do. We give the Executive the power to wage war, use violent power to strip people of their rights, enforce the collection of taxes, and so much more. Any of these powers, if exercised by an ordinary citizen, would be a crime. An ordinary citizen is not permitted by law to kill someone except in self defense. An ordinary citizen may not lock up their neighbor in prison. An ordinary citizen may not legally take their neighbor’s money to spend on other people.

Since the Executive is empowered and charged by the People to exercise these extraordinary powers on the People’s behalf, the Executive must be free of the threat of criminal prosecution for executing their charge within their official capacity. The People have ceded their right to exercise violent authority on their fellow citizens in exchange for an orderly society enforced by the government to which they ceded their power. It’s a trade.

In our system of government, the proper remedy for correcting an Executive who is using their extraordinary power inappropriately is found at the ballot box. In exceptional cases, an Executive can be removed from office via the Constitutional impeachment and removal process. Our Founders thought this out.

No, it’s not perfect, but no representative government is. It is merely the least objectional form of government necessitated by the pervasive evil imbued in our fallen race.

Once again, this court got it right. It is worth noting that no previous court has ever had to consider and opine on this issue because no previous DOJ had ever sought to prosecute a former president for acts done in office. But here we are…

A Different Future for Jackson’s School?

An astute reader reminded me of this post I wrote some five years ago. As the West Bend School Board continues to wrestle with declining enrollment and is thinking about a $100+ MILLION referendum, this map is worth reconsidering.

Jackson is a growing community. Currently, the West Bend School District has an elementary school in Jackson. There are two Lutheran High Schools in Jackson and the village sits at the intersection of three districts. It is actually closer for many of Jackson’s kids to go to Germantown HS than West Bend HS. There is a substantial percentage of Jackson’s kids who leave the West Bend School District when they get to high school because of all of the options they have through Open Enrollment and School Choice.

So… given that the West Bend School District is bleeding students and trying to cut costs, wouldn’t this be the perfect opportunity to engage in some multi-district cooperation? Could Jackson set up a K-8 school of their own and rely on the neighboring districts for the higher grades? Wisconsin has a number of districts that only serve the lower grades and feed neighboring high schools. Could it be done here?

Something to consider if this School Board is interested in anything more than just shoveling more tax money into a shrinking district. Is it about best serving the kids or is it about school board members feeling important by spending a crap-ton of someone else’s money?

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