Shirley Abrahamson Is Smiling Down On The Wisconsin Supreme Court

For decades, the Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court was selected through seniority.  

This meant that the late Shirley Abrahamson served as Chief Justice from 1996 until 2015.  In 2015, the Republicans, led by the Rabid Chipmunk, Robin Vos, passed an amendment to force Abrahamson out of the Chief Justice position.  

They did this because Abrahamson lived up to her title and would not be subservient or a rubber stamp for the Republicans' fascist agenda. Thus, they forced Abrahamson out in a hostile takeover of the Supreme Court to make it easier to ramrod their agenda through.

But as it usually happens in these types of circumstances, the Republicans' Machivellian plans have come back to bite them in the ass.  

With a now liberal lean to the Court, it brings in not one, but two, new Chief Justices!

Justice Ann Walsh Bradley will retire from the Wisconsin Supreme Court in July with one more title on her curriculum vitae: chief justice.

Bradley, the Court’s most senior member, was elected by her colleagues Thursday to serve as the leader of the Court. She’ll succeed outgoing Chief Justice Annette Ziegler, whose second two-year term in the top position ends April 30.

Bradley’s term will run about two months starting May 1, and she’ll step down June 30 in anticipation of her retirement. In preparation for that, the justices also elected Justice Jill Karofsky to fill out the remainder of the two-year chief justice term, ending April 30, 2027. 

Both Bradley and Karofsky, who was elected to the Court in 2020, are members of the Court’s liberal majority. 

You just know that Abrahamson is looking down, smiling on Wisconsin and especially on the Supreme Court.  And if you listen carefully, you might hear her mutter, off the record, of course, "Suck it, Vos!"

Stop Worrying About A Trump Third Term...

No matter what he or his sycophants claim it violates the Constitution. An amendment near and dear to the hearts of post-FDR era Republicans. Instead it is being floated as a distraction so that the rest of America takes their eyes off the ball as they continue to gut the federal government, they steal Social Security, and risk your health and safety with impunity. 

Make sure that you hold them all accountable.

 

Besides, we can always run Barack Obama against him! LOL!

AG Kaul's Suit Against Musk Is Blocked By The Courts: Arrest The SOB Already...sheesh!

As I wrote late last week, Elon Musk has made a number of edgy proposals to give two random adherents $1 million each for either voting in the Supreme Court election in Wisconsin or for signing a petition that Musk is circulating, deriding activist judges. 

WI Attorney General Josh Kaul sued to stop the cash awards saying that they violated state election laws. Well the courts, so far, haven't agreed and now Kaul has asked the WI Supreme Court to weigh in before Musk's appearance later today in Green Bay.  

Josh: Let him make the payments and then arrest him as he leaves the venue. It'll make some interesting email reading when he files his five things I did last week report...

And if you are concerned about a safe place to stash him until the preliminary court appearance, let me make a suggestion:

US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem speaks while touring the Terrorist Confinement Center, in Tecoluca, El Salvador

May The Trump Effect Work Again For Backlog Brad Schimel

 In 2018, Backlog Brad Schimel, like his hero and good buddy, Scott "The Weasel" Walker, and every other Republican, got their asses handed to them.  The Blue Wave that swept the state and the country that year, had a lot to do with a rejection of The Felonious Kumquat and his fascist ways.  Even though Backlog Brad tried to downplay it, he had to admit it in an interview he did with Steven Walters:

WALTERS: And was there a backlash by anti-Trump voters? Did you suffer from that? 

BACKLOG BRAD: Well, our polling told us that we were having difficulty as Republicans with some suburban female voters who their stated reasons were they objected to President Trump's language. So I think that was a factor in there too. 

That makes me wonder why Backlog Brad then went through so many knee pads to get a standard, boilerplate from the KKKumpquat.  It sure seems rather counterintuitive. 

Regardless of what his thoughts were, I hope that people will remember that the Kumquat is trying to take away their Social Security and Medicare, taking away FEMA, ruining the lives and livelihoods of tens of thousands of people, and threatening to go to war with and occupy Canada and Greenland, just so he and all his friends can have yet another huge tax break.

And I really hope that the Kumquat helps Schimel out as much as he did in 2018.

Underly Finally Comes Out With What She Should Have Started With

With the blatant corruption coming from Backlog Brad Schimel and his campaign, the contest to be the head of the DPI is being greatly undercovered.  But with the election just days away, the incumbent, Jill Underly, has finally come out with a statement she should of led with - that she would like to see the end of school privatization:

Underly, a Democrat in her first term, is an advocate for traditional public schools, which, by law, must serve all students. Private schools have the option to turn away students they say they cannot support.

“Ultimately, yes. I would like to see (school choice) eliminated,” Underly, a Democrat, told PBS Wisconsin in an interview published this week. “We are spending so much money on it that it’s taking money from our public schools.”

Meanwhile, her opponent, Brittany Kinser has been constantly reinventing herself to what she thinks that the voters want to her without taking an actual position on anything.  Since we can't trust anything Kinser says, we have to go by her past, which includes working for, and being a lobbyist for, school privatizers, which should automatically disqualify her for any public office.

Wisconsin Attorney General Sues Elon Musk When He Actually Should Be Arresting Him:

Dodgy Trump Advisor, Elon Musk is set to visit Wisconsin on Sunday in support of WI Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel. So far, Mr. Musk has supported Judge Schimel with tens of millions of dollars via his various PACs. And originally his visit was touted as a reward to those who had early voted in the Supreme Court race and that he would award two of the attendees with $1 million each. Obviously this would violate any number of Wisconsin election laws and the post on X was quickly deleted.

Backtracking, Musk announced that attendance to his visit would be for those who had signed his petition against activist judges and not for those who had voted, hoping to skirt the original legal issues. And that he would still hand out the $2 million but to individuals who could act as spokespersons for the petition. The petition is already a dodgy subject, but this change in 'rules' doesn't necessarily avoid legal implications for Musk.

Finding a vertebra on his office floor, WI AG Josh Kaul has decided to sue Musk over his attempts to bribe Wisconsin voters. WTAF?, right?

What Kaul needs to do is find an entire spine and arrest Musk for felony election tampering and hold him in jail until a trial can be arranged. He is after all a major flight risk. Being the richest man in the world, having dual American and Canadian citizenship, and possibly still able to secure a South African passport, there is nothing keeping him in the US if he feels threatened. And it is a state offense...a Trump pardon gets him nothing. 

So come on Josh, meet Musk on the tarmac and take him into custody. Be the first elected official to actually defend the US Constitution as well as ours here in Wisconsin.

GOP Wants To Make Children Pay For The Sins Of The Parents

Republicans are the reason why we can't have nice things.

For example, look at Florida.  The GOP makes some seriously idiotic decisions and then want to make their children pay the price for their stupidity. From a report by Chris Walkre (yes, THAT Chris Walker!):

The legislation was crafted to address worker shortages, which have come about due to Florida’s harsh laws targeting immigrant workers. In part because of those laws, there are currently only 53 workers available for every 100 job vacancies in the Sunshine State.

[...]

Current state law requires children under the age of 16 to end their work shifts no later than 11 pm and to start no earlier than 6:30 am on school days. The proposed legislation would remove those restrictions, allowing employers to schedule 14 and 15 year olds to work overnight shifts. The bill would also allow 16 and 17 year olds to be scheduled on overnight shifts lasting over eight hours on school days, and rescind the current restriction on working more than 30 hours per week when school is in session. The bill also does away with the lunch break requirement for older teens.

A separate proposal regarding student workers is being considered in the state House of Representatives. That bill would allow businesses to pay teenagers at rates below the state’s minimum wage.

In other words, the GOP, led by Old Pudding Fingers, let their racism run wild and ended up chasing away almost half of the state's work force.  To make up for the self-caused labor shortage, they now want their children to pick up the slack by working all night long. Then they want the kids to work for practically nothing.

No word about what the GOP proposes to do when the kids grades suffers. Knowing them, the GOP doesn't want the kids to get an education anyway.  They want them just educated enough to do the work since educated children grow up to be educated voters and that's never good for the GOP.

I have no doubt that the unions are looking at legal recourse.  I would recommend that they also look into organizing the kids.  If the GOP thinks that the kids are old enough to work overnight instead of getting enough sleep for school, then they're old enough to be treated with dignity and respect.

Backlog Brad Schimel Jumps The Shark

 

Backlog Brad Schimel must be feeling the pressure with Election Day still a week away.  

Using the money that his sugar daddy, President Elmo, gave him, he is running a desperation ad accusing Planned Parenthood of puberty-blocking drugs to children without the consent of their parents.

It's so blatantly false that PP had their lawyers send out a cease and desist letter immediately:

Attorneys representing the reproductive rights group sent the Schimel campaign a cease-and-desist letter Friday over the new ad, which accuses Planned Parenthood of providing "puberty-blocking drugs to children without parents' consent."

"Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin does not provide puberty blockers to minors with or without parental consent," the group said in a statement. "The claim made and cited in the ad is demonstrably false and intentionally misleading."

The group called on Schimel to stop "distributing or sharing the ad through any means."

"The false and misleading information in the ad harms both the health care provider and its patients," Planned Parenthood said.

Backlog Brad's campaign mewled that they were trying to "deprive voters" of information.  

Apparently, they are too ignorant to know the difference between information and misinformation or just too sleazy to care, or both.  My money is on both.

The only real information that comes out of that ad is that Backlog Brad is not fit for any office, and especially not the highest court in the state.

Purloined Politcal Cartoon of the Day

 

and then of course I have to add on with this stolen quote: "I was included in one of Hegseth’s group chats and found out what Billie Jo MacAllister threw off the Tallahatchie Bridge."

Trae Crowder Gets It Right

 Y'all need to take ten minutes to watch what Trae Crowder, aka The Liberal Redneck has to say, bacause he's right on the button:

It's no longer enough to just go after the Republican kleptocracy, but we also have to start holding some of the cucks and sellouts among the Democrats accountable.  Schumer has to go. Fetterman has to go.  Pelosi needs to retire. Hakeem Jeffries should step down from his leadership role.

We need more people like AOC, Jasmine Crockett, Maxwell Frost, and our very own Gwen Moore, people who arern't afraid to stand up and make themselves heard as they serve the people.

We needed to shake up the Wisconsin legislature before we could even think about fixing the state. It's the same story all over again.

The Bogeymen Of Act 10 Rise Again

 

Josh Schoemann, Washington County Executive, penned an editorial for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, spent most of his time resurrecting all the right wing's bogeymen regarding Act 10.  Or more likely, someone else wrote it and he just agreed to put his name on it

Anyway, he goes through the gambit of lies about how it saved so much money although no one has been able to specify where the savings went.  Taxes still went up.  School districts had to submit referendums to keep the doors open and the heat on.  Services were cut every year.  So where did the savings go?

Nor does Schoemann explain why the higher unemployment rates was a good thing.  Nor did he explain the math behind not paying employees directly but then supporting them with food stamps and other forms of economic assistance was a positive in the end.  

But then Schoemann does add a new twist - the fear of having to back pay the employees that they were stealing from for the past 15 years.  I would love to know where he came up with that crap, besides pulling it out of his ass.  

Schoemann said that it would cost $37.2 million for his imaginary order of restitution.  But he also claimed that it save millions of dollars at the same time.  Again, where did the money go.  Show us the receipts!  

But then, at the end of his manifesto, Schoemann slips up and reveals the truth:

A repeal of Act 10 would pose significant financial and operational shifts for Washington County, a county that is already lean. The toxic cocktail of increased labor costs, a resurgence of labor unions, and taking on the current employee contributions to pensions and health insurance, would most certainly create structural deficits requiring vast shifts in services - or even worse, tax increases. These are changes that would affect the people of Washington County in a dramatic way.

It is perfectly clear; Act 10 must stay. While some may wish to go back to 2010, to a $3.6 billion deficit and to relitigate the past, now is not the time to go back.  Instead, we should be looking forward, ensuring we are passing the torch of the American Dream from the Baby Boomers to the Millennials and beyond.

Ye Gods! The horror!  They would have to pay people a family supporting wage! They would have to treat people with respect and dignity and actually - God forbid! - do the right thing for a change!  He hasn't had to do any of that as long as he's been office. Even worse, it would put money back into circulation, which would help create more jobs, which would increase the tax base and lower taxes for everyone! 

Eeeeek! I scared myself a little bit there.

The simple truth of it all is that the Republicans are hoping to scare voters enough to vote for the corrupt and bought Backlog Brad Schimel.  Yes, they are trying to win the case in the court of public opinion because they know they could never win it in a court of law.

How To Save America In One Easy Step!

 While talking about the Wisconsin Supreme Court election on April 1st:

"This presidency can be put to a halt with this vote.” 

- Donald Trump, Jr

 Well, what are you waiting for?  Early voting is happening now! Go, vote for Susan Crawford! Be a hero and save the country!

Til FAFO Do Us Part

It could have been a Hallmark movie. 

A man in a small Wisconsin town meets a beautiful Peruvian woman, they fall in love and get married. 

Except for Bradley Bartell and Camila Muñoz, it turned into a horror flick real quick, thanks to the Orange Felon and a face-eating leopard. On the way back from honeymooning in Puerto Rico, ICE stormtroopers pulled Muñoz out of line and detained her. 

She was shipped off to a privately run prison in Louisiana and is being held in a dorm room with 80 other women. Bartell said that the money they were saving to buy a house is gone in legal bills and that they haven't seen each other in weeks. But it's hard to feel sorry for Bartell, since he voted for this shit:

Both of them have been thinking a lot about Bartell's vote for Trump. 

"I knew they were cracking down," he said. "I guess I didn’t know how it was going down." 

He imagined the administration would target people who snuck over the border and weren't vetted. But his wife, "they know who she is and where she came from," he said. "They need to get the vetting done and not keep these people locked up. It doesn’t make any sense."

Unfortunately, the article never asked Bartell why he voted for the Orange Felon. Did he sell out his wife for the false promises of cheaper eggs, less expensive gas, and tax cuts, none of which he will ever see? Or did he not listen to MAGA Moron Cult that they were going to go after everyone with brown skin or a Spanish sounding name? I wouldn't blame Muñoz for having second thoughts about their marriage either. 

I know that I would have trust issues with a person who offered my face to the leopards for such a low price.

Gableman Allowed To Waste More Taxpayer Time And Money

 

MAGA Maniac Michael Gableman wasted millions of taxpayers dollars and a couple of years "investigating" the alleged voter fraud. All he had to show for all that time and money were hundreds of dollars in receipts from restaurants and huge grocery bills from the local Pick'N'Save.

When open records requests were filed, he ignored those.  When he was sued for not complying  with open records laws, he fought tooth and nail to the point of being found in contempt of court.  But still, there was nothing to show what he did with all that money.

Eventually, the mattered ended in front of the Office of Lawyer Regulation, where he was ordered to do a deposition, but yet he refused to cooperate.

Now a referee in the case is allowing him to waste even more time and money:

A referee told former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman he’s getting “one more chance” to properly appear and give a deposition in his discipline case, rejecting Gableman’s attempts to avoid doing so. 

Gableman’s attorney, Peyton Engel, argued that Gableman does not have to appear because he will just plead the Fifth Amendment to every question. 

The Office of Lawyer Regulation on Feb. 28 filed a motion to compel Gableman to sit for a deposition. The accompanying documents showed in addition to concerns about possible criminal charges, Gableman had sought to put off the deposition while he tries to raise funds for his legal defense and to reach a stipulation that could resolve the case.

Referee James Winiarski said Thursday the Fifth Amendment is applied only on a question-by-question basis, and cannot be used as justification to not make an appearance. 

“You don’t fail to appear for a hearing because you might get asked questions where you’re going to claim the Fifth Amendment as a claim to not answer a question,” Winiarski. “I don’t agree that you cannot appear for a deposition on that basis.” 

If Gableman hasn't cooperated at all through all these procedures, he's not about to cooperate now.  It's time that someone holds him accountable for all this, and with more than a slap on the wrist.  

Then, while they are at it, they can call Robbin' Vos onto the carpet, since he's the clown that authorized Gableman to waste all that money without any supervision.  He's just as culpable.

Why Isn't Marco Rubio In Moscow?

 CBS News and other news organizations are reporting:

Steve Witkoff, President Trump's special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, has arrived in Moscow to discuss a proposed 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

Given that this is a high profile negotiation and one that Pres. Trump assured us wouldn't take but 24 hours to resolve, why isn't Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Moscow as the head of our negotiating team?

After all, he was the lead diplomat in Saudi Arabia when meeting with the Ukrainians last week. So he of course has first hand knowledge of the agreements and discussions and to my mind would have more cachet with the Russians than Mr. Witkoff.

And, since the Saudis were the actual parties mediating the negotiations between the Ukraine and the United States, why aren't they in a similar role here? It might not be that bad an idea to have a third party nation involved given the rumors around Trump's affection/admiration for Putin.