Showing posts with label immigration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label immigration. Show all posts

Saturday, September 13, 2025

Charlie Kirk In His Own Words

From the Guardian:

On race

If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified. – The Charlie Kirk Show, 23 January 2024

If you’re a WNBA, pot-smoking, Black lesbian, do you get treated better than a United States marine? – The Charlie Kirk Show, 8 December 2022

Happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact. It’s happening more and more. – The Charlie Kirk Show, 19 May 2023

If I’m dealing with somebody in customer service who’s a moronic Black woman, I wonder is she there because of her excellence, or is she there because of affirmative action? – The Charlie Kirk Show, 3 January 2024

If we would have said that Joy Reid and Michelle Obama and Sheila Jackson Lee and Ketanji Brown Jackson were affirmative action picks, we would have been called racists. Now they’re coming out and they’re saying it for us … You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously. – The Charlie Kirk Show, 13 July 2023

On debate

We record all of it so that we put [it] on the internet so people can see these ideas collide. When people stop talking, that’s when you get violence. That’s when civil war happens, because you start to think the other side is so evil, and they lose their humanity. – Kirk discussing his work in an undated clip that circulated on X after his killing.

Prove me wrong. – Kirk’s challenge to students to publicly debate him during the tour of colleges he was on when he was assassinated.

On gender, feminism and reproductive rights

Reject feminism. Submit to your husband, Taylor. You’re not in charge. – Discussing news of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement on The Charlie Kirk Show, 26 August 2025

The answer is yes, the baby would be delivered. – Responding to a question about whether he would support his 10-year-old daughter aborting a pregnancy conceived because of rape on the debate show Surrounded, published on 8 September 2024

We need to have a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor. We need it immediately. – The Charlie Kirk Show, 1 April 2024

On gun violence

I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the second amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational. – Event organized by TPUSA Faith, the religious arm of Kirk’s conservative group Turning Point USA, on 5 April 2023

On immigration

America was at its peak when we halted immigration for 40 years and we dropped our foreign-born percentage to its lowest level ever. We should be unafraid to do that. – The Charlie Kirk Show, 22 August 2025

The American Democrat party hates this country. They wanna see it collapse. They love it when America becomes less white. – The Charlie Kirk Show, 20 March 2024

The great replacement strategy, which is well under way every single day in our southern border, is a strategy to replace white rural America with something different. – The Charlie Kirk Show, 1 March 2024

On Islam

America has freedom of religion, of course, but we should be frank: large dedicated Islamic areas are a threat to America. – The Charlie Kirk Show, 30 April 2025

We’ve been warning about the rise of Islam on the show, to great amount of backlash. We don’t care, that’s what we do here. And we said that Islam is not compatible with western civilization. – The Charlie Kirk Show, 24 June 2025

Islam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America. – Charlie Kirk social media post, 8 September 2025

On religion

There is no separation of church and state. It’s a fabrication, it’s a fiction, it’s not in the constitution. It’s made up by secular humanists. – The Charlie Kirk Show, 6 July 2022

From Zeteo:

Black people

“Happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact. It’s happening more and more.” (source)

Black pilots

“If I see a Black pilot, I’m gonna be like, ’Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’” (source)

Black women

“They're coming out, and they're saying, 'I'm only here because of affirmative action.' Yeah, we know. You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person's slot to go be taken somewhat seriously." (source)

Civil rights

“We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the mid-1960s.” (source)

The death penalty

"[The death penalty] should be public, should be quick, should be televised… I think at a certain age, it’s an initiation… At what age should you start to see public executions?" (source)

Democrats

“The Democrat Party supports everything that God hates.” (source)

Empathy

"I can't stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made up new age term that does a lot of damage." (source)

Feminism

“Reject feminism. Submit to your husband, Taylor. You're not in charge." (source)

Gay people

“You might want to crack open that Bible of yours. In a lesser referenced part of the same part of scripture, is in Leviticus 18 is that, ‘thou shalt lay with another man shall be stoned to death.’ Just sayin’! So Miss Rachel, you quote Leviticus 19… the chapter before affirms God’s perfect law when it comes to sexual matters.” (source)

George Floyd

“This guy was a scumbag.” (source)

Great Replacement Theory

“It's not a Great Replacement Theory, it's a Great Replacement Reality. Just this year, 3.6 million foreigners will invade America. 10-15 million will enter by the end of Joe Biden's term. Each will probably have 3-5 kids on average while native born Americans have 1.5 per couple. You are being replaced, by design.” (source)

Guns

“It’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment.” (source)

Jews

“Jewish donors have been the number one funding mechanism of radical open-border, neoliberal, quasi-Marxist policies, cultural institutions and nonprofits. This is a beast created by secular Jews and now it’s coming for Jews, and they're like, ‘What on Earth happened?’ And it's not just the colleges. It's the nonprofits, it's the movies, it's Hollywood, it's all of it.” (source)

Martin Luther King Jr.

“MLK was awful. He's not a good person. He said one good thing he actually didn't believe.” (source)

Muslims

“They aren’t even hiding their intentions. Muslims plan to conquer Europe by demographic replacement. Will Europe wake up in time?” (source)

Palestine

“I don’t think the place exists.” (source)

Transgender people

“You’re an abomination to God.” (source)

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

A Vote For Trump Is A Vote For Project 2025

Project 2025: A wish list for a Trump presidency, explained

1) Concentrating power in the presidency: Trump’s allies believe that his first term failed because he couldn’t get enough “loyal” appointees in place and because the “deep state” bureaucracy sabotaged him. So a main recurring theme of Project 2025 is how to bend the executive branch to a conservative president’s will.

2) Longtime conservative priorities: The vast majority of Project 2025’s policy plan is focused on longstanding conservative priorities — with some tweaking and elisions for the Trump era. Though some are indeed quite extreme, they’re not all that new or specifically tied to Trump.

There are far too many to list here, but just as a flavor:

Education: Eliminate the Department of Education, give every parent a voucher-like option they could use to send their child to private school, zero out federal funding to low-income schools over the next decade, greatly cut “wasteful” school meal programs, and end Biden’s student loan forgiveness programs

Energy and environment: Deprioritize fighting climate change, repeal Biden’s clean energy subsidies, further unleash oil and natural gas production, roll back various environmental regulations

Health care: Majorly cut and overhaul Medicaid, roll back the recent law banning surprise medical billing

Immigration: Deny loan access to students at “schools that provide in-state tuition to illegal aliens,” ban non-citizens from living in federally assisted housing (even if they live with a citizen), reinstate and expand the horseback-mounted Border Patrol

On a few issues — trade, antitrust, the Export-Import Bank — the plan states that the conservative movement is divided, and lays out the thinking of two different sides on each issue. On the question of Social Security and Medicare, which Heritage has long supported overhauling but Trump does not, the document is basically silent.

3) A hardline religious-right agenda: There are also parts of Project 2025 that, while not exactly surprising for conservatives, are quite extreme in ways that are politically problematic for Trump. The plan calls for:

Revoking FDA approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, which is used in about half of US abortions (“Abortion pills pose the single greatest threat to unborn children in a post-Roe world,” the document states)

Using an old law known as the Comstock Act to prosecute people who send abortion pills through the mail

Ending the mandate for insurance to cover the “week-after” contraceptive pill Ella (which the document argues is a “potential abortifacient”)

Crack down on “abortion tourism” in liberal states by requiring states to report where women seeking abortions live and cutting federal funds if they refuse

Ending subsidies for stem cell or fetal cell research

In a fiery introduction by Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts, Project 2025 also calls for banning porn:

Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered.

Roberts also adds that pornography is “manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children,” suggesting that he may define “pornography” much more broadly than is typical — that he may view any attempt to explain or teach about trans people as worthy of outlawing and imprisonment.

This is reflective of a broader push from religious and cultural conservatives. (The demand for porn prohibition does not show up in the document again after Roberts’s introduction, making it unclear how it would be implemented.)

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Scott Walker Is A Creep

Scott Walker says Wisconsin needs a break from 'massive new interchanges in Milwaukee'

Isn't it odd how Wisconsin has $5 billion for Foxconn, but we can't find any money to fix our roads?  We have millions for sport stadiums, but there's not money available for our transportation needs. We have corporate welfare for any business that comes along with their hand out. But when basic infrastructure needs to be upgraded or repaired, Scott Walker can't find the money or the project just isn't a priority for him. 

The Republican party has been the party of road building (over other forms of transportation) for decades. They have to learn there are ongoing expenses with any investment - roads are no different. To love the ribbon-cutting for new roads (or any project, for that matter), but to then skip town when repairs are needed is irresponsible and a dereliction of duty. Also, Republicans shouldn't continue to support sprawl and the roads needed to get there, if they don't want to pay to keep those roads in working condition.

Scott Walker isn't a leader. He's a crony. A crony who continually funnels public dollars to his contributors, whilst short-changing the state and the needs of the citizens. His contradictory opinion of the Affordable Care Act, preexisting conditions and his involvement in the lawsuit regarding such perfectly illustrates this. Cost of Wisconsin's stance on the Affordable Care Act: $1.1 billion through this fiscal year.

Aside: Funny how an article supposedly about Scott Walker not wanting to fix Wisconsin roads turns into a hit piece on Tony Evers wanting immigrants to have drivers licenses.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Deplorables 1, Sanity 0

A few things we can glean from the Wisconsin exit polling:
Third party candidates either held Trump back from a blowout or cost Clinton the election, more likely the latter. Again, third party candidates are a wrench in the system. Unless we move to something like an instant run-off voting system, third party candidates are destructive. Other than a sense of smug self-righteousness, what do Johnson and Stein voters have to show? 
Persons 45 and older seemed to have tipped the election to Trump. Amazing that folks receiving, or close to receiving, Medicare and Social Security would vote for the party that wants to end those programs. I really have no clue what these people think Donald Trump or the Republican party will do for them. 
Those with only some college or a high school diploma or less tilted toward Trump. Ignorance is bliss.
The US Elections Project estimates that 128.8 million Americans cast a ballot in 2016, out of 231 million eligible voters — a turnout rate of 55.6 percent. Thus, around 45% of eligible voters did not vote. In 2012, there were 153 million registered voters out of 235 million eligible voters. Nearly 133 million people voted in that presidential election.
Wisconsin, by a thin margin, went for Trump. Odd. Has the state learned nothing from the disaster that has been Scott Walker? 
Persons identifying as religious leaned toward Trump. How is this even possible? Trump is one of the most obscene and deplorable candidates to ever run. He's mean-spirited, twice-divorced, sexist and racist. Not really in keeping with the teachings of Jesus. So, how about this, all you conservative gas-bags talking about values and family and church, shut the fuck up! You are full of shit. You have no spine and Jesus is ashamed of you. Grab 'em by the pussy!



The majority of non-college educated white women (64%) voted for Trump. Unbelievable. Do they really think Trump gives a shit about them? I can only play armchair psychiatrist and assume these women must really hate themselves to vote for such a vile and sexist man.

The fact that any women or any person who calls him or herself religious would vote for Trump is sad and disturbing. As a John Mulaney joke states, "You have the moral backbone of a chocolate éclair."



Lets flash back to the George W Bush presidency. Mired in war, economy in ruins, retirements wrecked, there really wasn't any good news from the two terms. Since President Obama, millions now have health care, unemployment is down from over 10% to under 5%, the stock market is at all-time highs, and the country has seen years of steady job growth, to name a few positives.

Trump voters were supposedly voting for change. Do they want to go back to the recession economy of George W Bush? I guess I'm still feeling a bit squishy about what the Trump voters actually want. I mean, platitudes are great, we want our country back, make America great again, build a wall, kill health care...but how and what exactly is Trump going to do? Exit polling showed Trump voters believe he can "bring needed change." (Although, again, the things they seem to want to change would make all of us worse off, not better.) Their most important issues were terrorism and immigration. Funny, Obama was actually Commander in Chief when Osama bin Laden was killed. Net migration from Mexico has been negative every year since 2008. So, really, what are you talking about? I have a hunch (as always) it's about taxes, deregulation, racism and sexism.

They really can't logically claim Trump would be better for the economy. Just leading up to the election, with the chance of a Trump victory, the market began a downturn. As the headline the day after the election stated, Trump Win Leaves Dollar, Stocks, Mexican Peso Reeling. Investors fear a Trump victory could cause global economic and trade turmoil and years of policy unpredictability.

Hillary Clinton actually won the popular vote. More of the people that actually voted wanted Hillary Clinton to win (and 45% were either discouraged, disenfranchised or didn't vote). Yet the antiquated Electoral College gave the victory to Donald Trump. The Electoral College is gerrymandering at the Federal level. If we must keep the Electoral College, why not just give the electoral votes that match the percentage of votes won? Using Wisconsin as an example - Trump got 48% to Clinton's 47%, thus, of Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes, Trump would get 4.8 and Clinton 4.7. Or we could just go by the popular vote, seen as that best represents direct democracy.

One of the lessons we can take from this election is that Republicans, or at least those voting that way, really have no principles. Voting has become a contest for them. The ends justify the means. They really don't care about the details. They just want their guy to be in power...and then they make excuses and outright lies when the reality of that candidate doesn't match the rhetoric.

Another lesson Democrats need to learn, which I thought they would have by now, is that they need to, just as the Republicans do, passionately and relentlessly pursue and push the policies they want, win, lose or draw. Can we make elections public? Get rid of Citizens United? Get rid of the Electoral College? Get rid of gerrymandering? After Gore v Bush one would have thought this would have been a more pressing issue for Democrats.

Also, how about making voting a national holiday? Turnout for elections in the U.S. is embarrassing. Not to mention the fact that Republicans are continually trying to restrict voting rights and disenfranchise voters. (Yes, Republicans are cheaters, just like Donald Trump.) How about more polling places. Newer, modern voting equipment. More early voting. If anyone really cares about the will of the people, democracy, the constitution and all the other bromides that get shouted around, voting would be a mandatory duty of American citizenship.

And, as far as elections laws are concerned, can we put some rules in place for what can be televised in election ads? We allow outright lies to pass as persuasive campaigning. Can we exercise some control over the allowable content of campaigns like the Canadian Elections Act, which sets out various provisions regarding the publication or broadcast of election advertising?

As Bruce Bartlett put it, "The lesson of this election is that when the media normalize racism, sexism, fascism, lying & stupidity, it has political consequences." This is truly horrifying; to think that our nation is still so sexist, racist and stupid. Donald Trump and a pliable media have normalized our national discourse into a reality television program.

All of this has left H.L. Mencken's quote ringing in my head, “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” Indeed, a good portion (but not a majority) of America has now shown itself to appreciate lies, chest-thumping and stupidity over all else.

America hits new landmark: 200 million registered voters
Clinton clenched the popular vote, but both candidates missed out on half of voters
Michael Moore: Morning-After To-Do List
Hillary Clinton’s campaign was crippled by voters who stayed home

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Ruinous Walker's Downfall (Too Bad He's Been Bringing Wisconsin With Him)

The more Scott Walker garners national media attention, the more he displays his ineptitude. On Glenn Beck, Walker flip-flopped and came out against legal immigration. Walker sputtered and yammered on ultimately saying nothing as Martha Radditz attempted to validate Mr. Walker's foreign policy bonafides with questions regarding Syria.

Robert Kraig, executive director of Citizen Action Wisconsin, details the many failures of Scott Walker:
Scott Walker's historic proposed $300 million cut to the UW System follows his first state budget, which contained slashing cuts to our equally precious and highly ranked elementary schools, high schools and world renowned technical college system. These cuts are a sustained assault on the core concept of the Wisconsin Idea that investments in education are among the most vital we can make to improve the human condition and expand opportunity to everyone... 
This attack on the Wisconsin Idea goes beyond funding. Walker's scheme to spin off our universities, stripping public accountability from a system the people of Wisconsin built together... 
Walker's brand of conservatism is not interested in such knowledge, and in fact runs counter to the facts at its core. In Walker's doublespeak, forcing people off health coverage is innovation, wind farms are a greater threat to human health than fossil fuels, slashing money for education is reform, the failed voucher school experiment is a success, dismal job creation numbers are a comeback, $7.25 an hour is a "living wage," gutting unions raises wages, and a budget deficit is a surplus.
Scott Bauer, of the AP, continues the list of Walker's negligence:
Walker calls for eliminating oversight of for-profit colleges, letting private insurance companies into the state's managed care system and cutting money for public schools that lose students to private voucher schools... 
He's going even farther by proposing a $300 million, or 13 percent, cut in state money for the University of Wisconsin and freezing tuition there for two years while granting it more independence from state laws... 
He's also proposing to eliminate 66 science and education positions at the Department of Natural Resources, in the name of efficiency, but leading to charges that the move will increasingly politicize the agency... 
The Republican-controlled Legislature is also pushing back against Walker's plans for the university and his plan to borrow $1.3 billion for roads and $220 million for a new Milwaukee Bucks stadium.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article18671142.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article18671142.html#storyl
As you can see, one of the items on Walker's wish list is decimating the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' Science Bureau. Wisconsin is known for its beautiful lakes, rivers and landscapes. Part of the reason for this is the State's stewardship through the Department of Natural Resources. Yet again we have another example of Walker's policies flying in the face of Wisconsin tradition. In a tourist-friendly State, known for its natural beauty, ending the Bureau responsible for such ultimately hampers Wisconsin's future.

The possibility of ending the Science Bureau corresponds with Walker's ban of the staff of the Public Lands Board from talking about climate change. For Walker, Wisconsin doesn't need oversight of our natural resources, nor should we concern ourselves with a discussion about the climate. It appears the chosen platform for Republicans is to bury their heads in the sand and to dig in their heals with more deregulation and tax cuts.

Even the former mayor of Minneapolis, writing in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, felt the need to highlight the differences between Minnesota and Wisconsin policy-choices since Scott Walker took office:
In Minnesota, Dayton turned a $5 billion budget deficit into a more than $1 billion budget surplus in just one term. By raising taxes on the wealthiest earners, Minnesota is now in a position to invest more resources into the state’s schools and infrastructure. 
In Wisconsin, Walker was unable to take his state out of the red and is still facing a $2 billion budget deficit. Walker made the decision to cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires, while slashing programs and refusing investments at the expense of middle-class families and Wisconsin’s financial well-being. 
In Minnesota, Dayton has moved forward Democratic policies like increasing the minimum wage, expanding Medicaid and investing in the middle class, and now we are seeing one of the most business-friendly states in the country. Just this year, Forbes ranked Minnesota as the ninth best state for business, seventh in economic climate and second in quality of life. 
In Wisconsin, Walker opposed a minimum-wage increase and equal-pay legislation, rejected federal funds to expand Medicaid, and attacked Wisconsin workers with right-to-work and anti-collective-​bargaining policies. As a result, the cost of doing business in Wisconsin is higher than the national average, and median household income is thousands less than in Minnesota. 
The facts are clear: Walker and the Republican trickle-down economic policies have made it practically impossible for Wisconsin to recover from the recession, and the state consistently sits at the bottom of the region in private-sector job growth.
Walker has always used Wisconsin's big cities as whipping boys, especially Milwaukee. The cities are examples of crime, excess and un-American activity. Again, Walker's policies fly in the face of reality. The trend over the past decade has been a move back to the city. Companies are trading their suburban locations for the city. Others have noted how suburban sprawl stifles the economy. Right here in Wisconsin, Milwaukee has seen numerous companies move back to the city:
In January 2015 Plunkett Raysich Architects announced it was moving back to the greater Downtown area. 
A long list of companies that have decided to move from the suburbs to Downtown or Walker’s Point in just the last few years, including Stormwater Solutions Engineering (from Pewaukee in 2012), Corvisa Services (Wauwatosa, 2012), Natural Resources Technology (Pewaukee, 2013), Readers Digest (Greendale, 2014), Irgens (Wauwatosa, 2014), HSA Bank (Glendale, 2014) and Stark Investments (St. Francis, 2015). 
In the period from 2006 to 2012, the city was adding a long list of businesses to the redeveloped Menomonee Valley. Many of those companies relocated from the suburbs, including Proven Direct (from Menomonee Falls, 2007), Derse Inc. (Wauwatosa, 2008), Taylor Dynamometer Inc. (New Berlin, 2008), Zimmerman Architectural Studios Inc. (Wauwatosa, 2009), J.F. Ahern Co. (Menomonee Falls, 2012), and a more recent addition, Solaris (West Allis, 2015).
As examples of Republican-policy results: The Fiscal Times wrote, 15 Fortune Companies Paid No Federal Income Taxes In 2014. Bloomberg discovered 10% Of S&P 500 Companies Avoid Paying Taxes. Which coincides with Elizabeth Warren's recent hammering on the failure of Wall Street regulators.


Nationally we've seen the best job growth since the late 1990s. Yet, since Scott Walker, Wisconsin's job growth has trailed the national average.



All of this highlights the fact that Unions Still Matter. They are still the best advocate for good wages, health care, and retirement. They are also the most important institution in the fight against inequality. But the goals of Unions are opposed to the upwardly-redistributive policies of Scott Walker and the Republicans, thus, unions must go.


Maybe Scott Walker should focus more on Wisconsin than his presidential ambitions. Which, by the way, recently cost Wisconsin taxpayers $138,200 for Walker's trip to Great Britain. With his approval rating steadily declining, we can only hope we're in the midst of the downfall of Scott Walker.

Thursday, November 10, 2011