Corrupt, Incompetent, and Treasonous Administration

Bruce Springsteen rails against ‘corrupt, incompetent and treasonous’ Trump administration

Bruce Springsteen calls Donald Trump 'incompetent and treasonous' at 2025 tour kickoff.

Wait...Who Made A Bad Choice For Their Nominee?

Forget Hunter. Investigate Ivanka, Jared, and Don Jr.!

Culture-War Cabal

Rule of Law?

Vote Democrat

If you were on the fence, if you were thinking of voting Republican, if you were thinking of not voting at all, here is a glaring example of why the majority of Americans should vote Democrat.

Protests Erupt Nationwide To Support Abortion Rights After SCOTUS Draft Leak

Ocasio-Cortez Torches Collins And Murkowski: 'They Don't Get To Play Victim Now'

George Carlin Nailed Conservative Hypocrisy On Abortion More Than 25 Years Ago

Wisconsin Abortion Rights Could Be Set Back Nearly 200 Years

How We Know It Wasn't A Liberal Who Leaked SCOTUS Decision

VP Harris: Overturning Roe 'A Direct Assault On Freedom'

Republicans only care about power and cronyism. And, this latest Supreme Court leak shows they definitely do not give a shit about women. 

Upcoming Elections:

Fall Primary - Tuesday, August 9

General Election - Tuesday, November 8

Supremely Unethical

Republican Obstruction & The Filibuster

Screenshots of Wisdom

 

Rife With Corruption

Trump Supporters

Weekend Reading

Hosting G-7 At Trump's Resort Is 'Profound' Emoluments Breach
Newly Uncovered Tax Documents Show Trump Kept 2 Sets Of Books And May Have Committed Financial Fraud
Andrew Yang Is Full Of It
GOP Group Uses Trump's Own Words On Corruption Against Him In Searing New Fox Ad
High Court Will Review Evers Veto Power
Private School Vouchers Cost $350 Million
Think Trump's Cruelty Is Unique? Meet Robin Vos
What Walker Cost Wisconsin

Where's The Report?

If the Mueller report exonerates Donald Trump, why isn't William Barr releasing it in it's entirety?  What's with the delay?  You can't really say the report clears Donald Trump of any wrongdoing and then keep the report hidden. If the report clears Trump, why would you redact anything from it unless you're trying to hide something.

So shameless that the supposed party of law, order and values has such malleable principles.  Or should I say no principles at all.  What an embarrassment.

Corrupt America

Fox News Personalities Slam Obama And Praise Trump Over The Same Thing

[source]

Backdrop Boy Involved In Another Possible Backdrop

Milwaukee Police Union Accused Of Peddling Plan Like Infamous County Backdrop Scheme

Okay. Can we agree that it's time to rein in the Milwaukee Police Department?

Neither the County or the City needs another retirement scandal.

And, the "Backdrop Boy," Tony Zielinski, who voted for the County pension backdrop, has been involved in this latest scheme:

At the union's request, Ald. Tony Zielinski asked city attorneys in November if Milwaukee could increase the city's property tax levy to help defray the city's pension obligations. 

City Attorney Grant Langley said the only way to exceed the levy limits was through a vote of city residents in a referendum. But doing this, Langley wrote, could jeopardize how much money the state gives to Milwaukee each year.

Two days after the city issued its opinion, the Milwaukee police union endorsed Zielinski in his mayoral bid against Barrett in 2020.

But Zielinski said there was no connection between the endorsement and the letter, labeling the notion "preposterous." He said his support for Milwaukee cops is well known. 

Zielinski said the city attorney's letter was "off my radar" since November.
"Did I do anything with this?" he asked. "I didn't do anything with this." 

Reminded that he twice voted for the backdrop program as a county supervisor — a sore spot with the alderman — Zielinski said the staffer who created the Milwaukee County plan was convicted of misconduct in office. Also, he said, supervisors were misled by the county's pension actuary, which later paid the county $30 million to a settle a lawsuit.

Zielinski criticized the mayor and his people for trying to tar him by making an issue of the deferred retirement plan. He said Barrett should focus on his poor record on crime, not Zielinski's letter to the city attorney. 

"I do my due diligence," Zielinski said.

Two things we now know for sure: 1) the City of Milwaukee needs to restructure and rein in the salaries, pensions and costs of the Milwaukee Police Department and 2) Tony Zielinski is, by all appearances, sleazy and corrupt, and the last person Milwaukee should elect mayor and allow to guide the City budget.

Government For Sale or: How The Republicans Stole Democracy

1 in 3 of Walker’s Donations from Out of State

Walker’s latest campaign finance report filed with the state by his campaign committee, Friends of Scott Walker, showed he raised nearly $7.2 million, including nearly $6.6 million from individual contributors. About $4.2 million – or 64 percent – came from Wisconsin donors and nearly $2.4 million – or 36 percent – came from individuals outside the state. 

Looking back further than 2017, Walker raised even more from out-of-state individuals. Since the start of Walker’s second four-year term in January 2015, through December 2017, Walker raised more than $13.9 million in individual contributions. About $8.1 million – or 58 percent – came from out-of-state donors and about $5.8 million – or 42 percent – came from Wisconsin contributors.

Walker’s Hands Dirty on Political Purge

Walker repeatedly refused to offer an opinion on whether Elections Commission administrator Michael Haasand Ethics Commission administrator Brian Bell should be removed from their positions, as the Journal Sentinel’s Patrick Marley recently reported. “I’ll leave that up to them,” Walker said, referring to Fitzgerald and state senators. 

You might think this is the governor deciding not to meddle in a legislative issue. Except that it is just as much the governor’s issue. It was Walker, after all, who, along with Republican legislative leaders, decided to overthrow the Government Accountability Board (GAB). Never mind that Republicans were part of a bipartisan legislative majority that created that entity, with the law getting overwhelming GOP support. Never mind that its board members were retired judges, more than half of whom had Republican backgrounds. Walker, Fitzgerald and other GOP politicians were convinced the GAB was somehow running an anti-Republican agency. 

So the Republicans, with no support from Democrats, replaced the GAB with the Elections and Ethics Commissions, and Walker signed this measure into law. As governor, Walker also appoints two (of six) board members who serve on each commission. These were commissions the governor and legislature structured not to be answerable to legislators or any politicians, but to be independent agencies whose bipartisan boards set policy. Could anything be more important to the Wisconsin governor than the proper functioning of citizen boards entrusted with overseeing the state’s electoral system and enforcing ethical behavior by politicians? 

So why then was Walker staying on the sidelines in this controversy? Recall that the reason for replacing the GAB was because it was assisting the John Doe probe of his campaign. In short, no one had more reason to be angry at the GAB than the governor and more reason to welcome the recent report attacking the Doe investigation by Attorney General Brad Schimel.

So, Big Money is basically buying their talking heads, their puppets. These puppets then perform Big Money's bidding (tax cuts, deregulation, etc.) whilst rigging the game - squelching any push-back or opposition or defeat.

Weekend Reading

Passing Through To Corruption
Trickle Down? Not Now, And Not For A While At Best
The Uninsured Are Overusing Emergency Rooms - And Other Health Care Myths
8 Bad Science And Health Ideas That Should Die With 2017
The Places That May Never Recover From The Recession
In A 30-Minute Interview, President Trump Made 24 False Or Misleading Claims
How America Got Addicted To Road Salt - And Why It's Become A Problem
Does Social Media Make People Less Social?
Ex-Sheriff David Clarke To Receive $100,000 Per Year Government Pensions
City May Contest Foxconn Electricity Deal
City Kills Contract With American Sewer
Why Inequality Predicts Homicide Rates Better Than Any Other Variable
Economists Are Obsessed With "Job Creation." How About Less Work?
How Market Competition Really Works
Most Wealth Isn't The Result Of Hard Work. It Has Been Accumulated By Being Idle And Unproductive
If You Look Behind Neoliberal Economists, You'll Discover The Rich: How Economic Theories Serve Big Business

Wisconsin Reading

Wisconsin Ranked 29th In Job Growth During 2nd Quarter
Should Milwaukee Annex Part Of Racine County For Foxconn-Related Housing?
Hey, Scott Walker: I Have A Few Ideas About Why Millennials Don't Want To Live In Wisconsin
Foxconn Subsidy Now Exceeds $4 Billion
Seattle Adds People Without Adding Traffic

Wisconsin Reading

Leaked Documents Show Waste Of Millions Just To Stir GOP Voters

In the piece written by Daniel Bice (“John Doe leak offers insights”), a leaked document (email) has Baas discussing making up concerns about voter fraud in an effort to stir up the Republican base immediately after then-Supreme Court Justice David Prosser barely squeaked by challenger Joanne Kloppenburg in April 2011. 

In the April 6, 2011 email Baas states: “Do we need to start messaging ‘widespread reports of election fraud’ so we are positively set up for the recount regardless of the final number? I obviously think we should.”

Scott Walker Confronts Alarming New Allegations In Wisconsin

Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP-controlled Legislature approved a measure aimed at retroactively shielding paint makers from liability after a billionaire owner of a lead producer contributed $750,000 to a political group that provided crucial support to Walker and Republicans in recall elections, according to a report released Wednesday. 

Citing leaked documents gathered during a now-shuttered investigation into the governor’s campaign, the Guardian U.S., an arm of the British newspaper, reported that Harold Simmons, owner of NL Industries, a producer of the lead formerly used in paint, made three donations totaling $750,000 to the Wisconsin Club for Growth between April 2011 and January 2012.

Scott Walker Put Wisconsin Up For Sale

Among the documents are several court filings from the case, as well as hundreds of pages of email exchanges obtained by the prosecutors under subpoena. The emails involve conversations concerning Walker, his top aides, conservative lobbyists, and leading Republican figures such as Karl Rove and the chair of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus. Trump also appears in the files, making a donation of $15,000 following a personal visit from Walker to the Republican nominee's Fifth Avenue headquarters. In addition to Trump, many of the most powerful and wealthy rightwing figures in the nation crop up in the files: from Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone, hedge-fund manager Paul Singer and Las Vegas casino giant Sheldon Adelson, to magnate Carl Icahn. "I got $1m from John Menard today," Walker says in one email, referring to the billionaire owner of the home improvement chain Menards.

Walker Wants To Start New Projects, Delay Others

In a series of four events that began alongside I-39/90 south of Madison, Walker plunged ahead with his no-new-gas-tax pledge, betting his next budget on his belief that voters prefer delays on some major projects to pennies more at the pump per gallon.

GOP Operatives Discussed Ginning Up 'Voter Fraud' Reports

The mining firm Gogebic Taconite secretly donated more than $1.2 million to two conservative political groups in 2011 and 2012. 

The Journal Sentinel had previously reported that Gogebic Taconite had given $700,000 to Wisconsin Club for Growth, a pro-Walker group then headed by one of his campaign advisers. After that contribution, the GOP-controlled Legislature and Walker approved legislation aimed at streamlining regulations for an iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin. 

But the figure actually turns out to be higher. According to one of the John Doe records, the mining firm gave at least $930,000 to Wisconsin Club for Growth and another $300,000 to the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce -Issues Mobilization Inc. — another conservative dark money group — during 2011-'12.

Republican Wisconsin senator disputes 'pay-to-play' allegation regarding lead paint vote

In a statement, Shilling said that both Olsen and Harsdorf used their positions on the committee "to push through controversial changes in 2013 that shielded lead paint manufacturers after receiving secret financial help in their 2011 campaigns."

"We knew Gov. Walker was at the center of this ‘criminal scheme’ to coordinate efforts with dark money special interest groups," Shilling said in a statement. "What we didn’t know was how closely Senate Republicans worked with these special interests and how favors were doled out to lead paint manufacturers that bankrolled these secret campaign efforts. These new documents clearly highlight a disturbing pay-to-play scheme between out-of-state lead paint manufacturers and Senate Republicans."

Because Scott Walker Asked

Scott Walker was under pressure. It was September 2011, and earlier that year the first-term governor had turned himself into the poster boy of hardline Republican politics by passing the notorious anti-union measure Act 10, stripping public sector unions of collective bargaining rights. 

Now he was under attack himself, pursued by progressive groups who planned revenge by forcing him into a recall election. His job was on the line. 

He asked his main fundraiser, Kate Doner, to write him a briefing note on how they could raise enough money to win the election. At 6.39am on a Wednesday, she fired off an email to Walker and his top advisers flagged “red”. 

“Gentlemen,” she began. “Here are my quick thoughts on raising money for Walker’s possible recall efforts.” 

Her advice was bold and to the point. “Corporations,” she said. “Go heavy after them to give.” She continued: “Take Koch’s money. Get on a plane to Vegas and sit down with Sheldon Adelson. Ask for $1m now.” 

Her advice must have hit a sweet spot, because money was soon pouring in from big corporations and mega-wealthy individuals from across the nation. A few months after the memo, Adelson, a Las Vegas casino magnate who Forbes estimates has a personal fortune of $26bn, was to wire a donation of $200,000 for the cause.