Embedded below, Sen. Ron Johnson’s nine minutes, thirty-three seconds of lunacy on Sunday’s Meet the Press. A full transcript is available at NBC News. Previously: U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson: Ambitious, Compromised, or Crackpot?, National Reporting on Sen. Ron Johnson, and Ron Johnson’s 12.16.20 Senate Hearing on Election Security.
Wisconsin
Budget, City, Demographics, Government Spending, University, UW System, Wisconsin
UW-Whitewater’s Budgetary Challenges Require a Studied Approach
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Whitewater is a college town. If a college town, then a college: the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. I’ve written about the university now and again. A simple summary of my views would be that Whitewater benefits from having a university, but that the school’s leaders (notably Telfer and Kopper) have failed both individuals and the community.…
Putin, Russia, Sen. Ron Johnson, Trump, Trumpism, Wisconsin
National Reporting on Sen. Ron Johnson
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Wisconsin’s political events have had more national attention over the last decade than the politics of similarly-sized states, but then we’ve had a worse politics than states of similar size. In the Washington Post, there’s a lengthy story about Sen. Ron Johnson that’s well worth reading in full. Michael Kranish, Mike DeBonis and Karoun Demirjian…
Biden-Harris, Courts, Elections, Law, Presidential race 2020, Trump, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Supreme Court Rejects, 4-3, Trump Campaign’s Petition to Overturn Wisconsin Election Result
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Earlier this morning, the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied the Trump Campaign’s petition to overturn, on various grounds, Joe Biden & Kamala Harris’s popular-vote victory in the state. (As a matter of law, the state’s high court affirmed a prior judgment and order against the Trump Campaign in the Circuit Court for Milwaukee County, Stephen A.…
Gerrymandering, Politics, Sen. Ron Johnson, Trumpism, Wisconsin, WISGOP
Probable Wisconsin Political Issues for 2021
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Although one can confidently doubt that ‘everything changes’ after the pandemic, there are in any year prominent political issues. Some are national, some statewide, some local. One can guess correctly that the new year will entertain at least three notable statewide issues, each summarized below. These are statewide issues that will reach deep into every…
Presidential race 2020, Republicans, Trump, Trumpism, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Republicans Mean Nearly Nothing To Trump
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Here in Wisconsin, there’s an election recount in two counties, and there are repeated Republican objections to the recount there. This is a curious turn, as Patrick Marley accurately reports that The Wisconsin voting system Donald Trump is attacking was built by Republicans: MADISON – In his move to overturn Wisconsin’s election results, President Donald Trump…
Bad Ideas, Boosterism, Business, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Foxconn, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, Speaker Vos, State Capitalism, Taxes/Taxation, Technology, Trump, WEDC, Wisconsin, WISGOP
Highlight’s from The Verge’s Foxconn Assessment
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
No failure better reveals the bankruptcy of corporate welfare in the Walker and Trump years than the Foxconn project in Wisconsin: exaggeration upon exaggeration, but nothing productive. This was a failure of judgment so obvious and significant that everyone involved should retire from policymaking. Walker Administration, Trump Administration, the WISGOP, the WEDC, down to Whitewater’s Community…
City, Culture, Law, Local Government, Open Government, Politics, Wisconsin
In Whitewater, Three Recent Trespasses Against Public Comment
by JOHN ADAMS • • 6 Comments
Whitewater’s public comment periods are lawful rights worth defending, and there has never been a time when respecting public comment – humbly and gratefully – has been more important for the city. Since June, there have been three meetings during which Whitewater’s current council president has deprecated public comment, or wrongly set the order of…
CDA, City, Economy, Local Government, Poverty, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Walworth County, WEDC, Wisconsin
Whitewater & Walworth County’s Working Poor, 2020 ALICE® Report
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The 2020 ALICE® report, on those who are “asset limited, income constrained [yet] employed” is now available. These latest data were collected before the recent recession – one can be sadly confident that hardship reaches farther now. For Wisconsin, 11% of households were below the poverty level, and 34% (including those below the poverty level) were…
Courts, Law, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Supreme Court: Wisconsin Legislature v. Palm
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Embedded below is the decision of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Wisconsin Legislature v. Palm. On a 4-3 decision, Wisconsin’s highest court has ruled that the Safer at Home order is unenforceable. (Readers have asked me via email me over the last week how the court might rule. I have replied to each message that…
Courts, Elections, Law, Legislature, Politics, Public Health, Wisconsin
‘This Principle Is More Important Than Winning’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In the New York Times, Justice-elect Jill Karofsky writes I’m the Judge Who Won in Wisconsin. This Principle Is More Important Than Winning (‘We must get away from a partisan view of the law‘): In cities like Milwaukee and Green Bay, the wait [to vote] ended up being as long as three hours. And because the…
America, Bigotry, History, Mendacity, Politics, Race, Wisconsin, WISGOP
WISGOP Treasurer Brian Westrate ‘Well Understands’ Nothing
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A horde of ignorant, but racially motivated, men infest the Wisconsin GOP. Brian Westrate is a good example of playing to this bad condition: in an attempt to discourage racist Republicans from displaying Confederate banners at a protest, he erroneously (and outrageously) contended that he did “well understand that the Confederacy was more about states…
Business, CDA, Coronavirus, Economy, Local Government, Poverty, Public Health, Wisconsin
The Reopening Debate Will Turn on Consumer Demand
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The push to reopen Wisconsin will only effectively benefit retail businesses if consumer demand returns to pre-pandemic levels. Consumer demand will only return to pre-pandemic levels if consumers feel safe. Some retail demand will return as soon as shops and restaurants open; the marketplace question is whether consumer demand returns to something like pre-pandemic levels.…