Political Heat

It's no exaggeration to say that there's a public health crisis when it comes to gun violence in Wisconsin (the numbers prove it) Leave it to the Republicans in Wisconsin to propose a dangerous gun bill while I’m trying to relax on vacation. The new bill would allow anyone who owns a gun to conceal their weapon in public places — without a permit — including in schools and other sensitive areas. Eliminating the permitting process would take away an important standard meant to keep families safe in Wisconsin: such classes ensure those seeking a permit are given proper guidance to be responsible with their privileges. Furthermore, allowing guns into sensitive areas (like on school grounds) would mean allowing dangerous weapons to be present mere feet from your loved ones. Republicans tend to think concealed carry will make our state safer. In fact, the idea that “deterrence” would stave off crime — that "would-be" criminals would think twice before atte...

The economic — and health — benefits of marijuana could be a boon for the state The city of Monona, which sits just to the southeast of Madison, just decriminalized marijuana use and possession for law-abiding citizens over the age of 21. By a 4-3 vote of the city council, a measure that would reduce the fine from $200 to no fine at all was approved. Mayor Bob Miller is also supportive of the measure. The fines for users under the age of 21 remains $200, a point that advocates pushed for themselves to reinforce the idea that marijuana use should only be decriminalized for adult use only. This move is the right direction to head in, and the state ought to look at its own standards as well. Other states across the nation have already decriminalized or outright legalized marijuana use. Wisconsin should follow suit: there is no reason that this drug, which is safer than alcohol consumption in most cases, should remain illegal. It should be strictly regulated, of course. Eve...

The president lacks the basic ability to think critically I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately, and I’ve come up with a definitive reason that Donald Trump is quite possibly the worst person to have serving as president of the United States — he lacks a critical mind. That isn’t to say that Donald Trump lacks opinions. He has plenty of them, visible to the world of social media through his tweets (whether we want them or not). But his opinions are rarely the result of his own thought processes. Rather, they come from other places, usually cable news programs he’s just watched or far-right wing internet websites with questionable sources for their content. Critical thinking is defined as “the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment.” We had a president with a critical mind when Barack Obama was in office. To be sure, he took advice from several of his close advisers, and had his own “presidential bubble.” But Obama was an enlightene...

Walker tries to spin excuses for why he's failed to deliver on jobs pledge In 2010, Gov. Scott Walker made a huge promise: that under his leadership, the state of Wisconsin would create 250,000 jobs in four years. It was a promise that many derided him for. 250,000 jobs was overzealous, a lot of people warned. But Walker persisted, and even doubled-down on his pledge, saying that 250,000 jobs was his FLOOR, not his ceiling, for creating jobs in the state. In other words, he fully expected to create more than that amount. Walker even said that his job depended on meeting this pledge . This week the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted that Gov. Walker has still failed to come close to his jobs pledge — more than two years after he said it would come about. So how does Walker react? By stating that he’s shifted his goal. From Chuck Quirmbach of WPR : "I qualify that now saying ... I got more people employed than ever before," Walker said. "You ask peo...

The story here is how we still don't know anything about the president's connections to foreign incomes My quick thoughts (in audio) on Rachel Maddow's revelations tonight about President Donald Trump's 2005 tax returns. Listen to "Rachel Maddow, Trump's taxes, and my thoughts" on Spreaker.

People will be economically forced into refusing insurance under “TrumpCare” plan Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is having a tough time selling his healthcare proposal. That’s because the recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scoring of the bill, officially titled the American Health Care Act, would leave 14 million additional individuals out of insurance coverage by 2018. That number increases to 24 million by 2026. But Ryan is stubbornly defending his Republican Party’s proposal for replacing Obamacare. And he doesn’t worry about those individuals losing coverage because the CBO estimates a large portion of those people are going to voluntarily forgo paying for insurance. "Of course they’re going to say if we stop forcing people to buy something they don’t want to buy they’re not going to buy it," Ryan explained . "That’s why you have these uninsured numbers, which we all expected." Expected or not, it’s still not good news. Even if people are vo...

...by changing his views on jobs reports A new installment that I'll try to do weekly. A political cartoon, drawn by yours truly. This week President Donald Trump celebrated new jobs numbers that demonstrated the U.S. created 235,000 jobs in February. Most economists would agree there is very little that Trump could have done to contribute to these positive numbers — they are more likely the result of eight years of President Obama's policies than one month of Trump's. Trump previously called similar numbers under the Obama administration "phony." But this week, he says they're "very real now," but his administration hasn't explained why . Apparently that's how we're going to make America Great Again. (Click to make larger.)

If we had kept pace with Doyle’s rate of employment growth, WI would have 31,300 more workers employed today The latest monthly jobs report for Wisconsin was released this week, and the numbers are showing some positive things for the state. Unemployment is down to 3.9 percent, a remarkably low number that shouldn’t be disregarded. However, we should put this report into context . For that, I want to start back in 2009. Former Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, signed a budget bill in June of that year with help from a Democratic-controlled legislature. The recovery in the state began shortly thereafter, and in January of 2010 the unemployment rate in the state (then at 9.2 percent) began to decline instead of climb. By the time Jim Doyle left office, unemployment was down to 8.1 percent. In all, under Gov. Doyle’s last full year in office, Wisconsin saw a rise in total employment numbers from 2,795,997 workers employed in December of 2009, to 2,824,656 workers employed by Decemb...

Raising the minimum wage would have a direct (and positive) impact on local economies In response to another dismal jobs report in the Badger State , Gov. Scott Walker did his very best to try and change the subject, to income gains, specifically in the manufacturing industry. “"If we see wages go up in manufacturing, to me, that's my ultimate goal,” Walker said . Which seems odd, because that’s the first time I’ve heard that goal said out loud by Walker, or anyone else from his administration for that matter. In 2010 Walker was saying “jobs, jobs, jobs!” was his ultimate goal. I guess being the 13th worst state for jobs growth over the past five years changes your goals a bit. Losing 4,000 manufacturing jobs in the past year might also be cause for Walker’s sudden shift on what his goal should be. But while most people would change their method of attaining their goal when they fail — perhaps seeing that what they’re doing isn’t working — Walker suggests we cha...

A bipartisan effort is needed to address lead poisoning in Wisconsin Assembly Rep. Melissa Sargent (D-Madison) penned another great op-ed in the Capital Times, in which she expresses her disgust and concern over the discovery of lead in Madison School District drinking fountains. Her whole op-ed is worth a read, but these words specifically stuck out to me (emphasis added in bold): It’s time for the Wisconsin Legislature to stop playing politics to start addressing the lead crisis in Wisconsin. As MMSD’s recent lead level tests demonstrate, even cities like Madison , which replaced all of its lead pipes 16 years ago, are not impervious to serious lead-related issues. But the fact is, most cities in Wisconsin aren’t Madison; many communities do still have lead pipes . From Douglas to Manitowoc, Milwaukee to Marathon, and Brown to Rock, counties across Wisconsin have more than 176,000 lead services lines delivering water to homes and businesses . And it’s not just our water and ...

To put it bluntly: It’s (STILL) not working. Last week, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development released its quarterly report on year-over-year jobs gains, from September of 2015 to September of 2016. As I mentioned on Thursday , the numbers weren’t that great: The DWD reports that 25,608 private sector jobs were created from September 2015 to September 2016. It sounds like a large number on its own, but don’t be fooled: that’s a very, very low number. It’s also a growth rate of just 1.03 percent — which is 26 percent slower than the previous year’s rate. Gov. Scott Walker and his administration have taken to releasing the state’s jobs report earlier than the rest of the nation, a relic of a strategy that was instituted in order to fluff up his jobs numbers before his recall election. Walker has previously called the yearly report, released each quarter, the “gold standard” of jobs reports because, unlike the monthly report, it takes a look at payroll reports from 19 o...

The conditions for why he could be wiretapped, however, don’t make him look any better President Donald Trump is making a very big accusation against his predecessor: that former President Barack Obama, during the presidential campaign, wiretapped his phone conversations! The proof of this allegation, of course, is thin. Trump provided no evidence himself, and it seems that he lifted it off of a FOX News segment where the host suggested that there may have been a possibility, maybe, of this happening, possibly. From NBC News : On Friday, Fox's Brett Baier asked House Speaker Paul Ryan whether he was concerned "that the Obama Administration may have been surveilling members of the Trump campaign in a pretty detailed investigation during the election?" Ryan’s response to that question was honest, and pretty mild mannered: Ryan responded by saying: "I don't think that's the case." Trump, however, had a different approach. The avid cable news ...

Wisconsin’s third quarter year-over-year jobs growth rate is 25 percent slower than the previous year UPDATE : The latest national report is out, detailing how Wisconsin did compared with the rest of the country. For my take on that report, please click here . I just wanted to make a short comment tonight because new jobs numbers are out for Wisconsin, and they don’t look great. In fact, they’re positively dismal . The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development released its latest report for private sector jobs growth earlier today. The result is the second worst outcome for third quarter year-over-year reporting in the past six years. The DWD reports that 25,608 private sector jobs were created from September 2015 to September 2016. It sounds like a large number on its own, but don’t be fooled: that’s a very, very low number. It’s also a growth rate of just 1.03 percent — which is 26 percent slower than the previous year’s rate. Gov. Scott Walker has been touting Wi...

The investigation into Russian interference in our elections and government requires independent, uncompromised review UPDATE: AG Jeff Sessions has recused himself "from any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for President of the United States." But he stopped short of naming a special counsel, or of saying there was the need for an independent counsel at all. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has apparently committed an act of perjury. During his confirmation hearings, Sessions told a Senate committee that he had not been in talks with Russia or agents of Russia during the time of the presidential election. When asked what he would do regarding investigations on members of President Donald Trump’s staff and their relationships with Russia, Sessions attempted to assuage several senators’ concerns by stating, “I didn’t have communications with the Russians.” Now it’s been revealed that Sessions did in fact meet wi...