[EDITORIALS] Excerpts from recent Wisconsin editorials

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sept. 1

Gov. Scott Walker and the walling off of reason

Walling off the U.S. from Canada is "a legitimate issue for us to look at," Gov. Scott Walker said on "Meet the Press" over the weekend.

That's right, Canada.

Why stop there?

If immigration from the north is as big of an issue as Walker claims, he should examine walling off the east and west, too — every inlet, bay and harbor, all 12,500 miles of coastline. After all, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that immigrants from China and India, many with student or work visas, have overtaken Mexicans (and even those pesky Canadians) as the largest groups coming into the U.S.

Expensive? Yes, but we've got to get tough — or show we're as tough as Donald Trump.

This is, of course, "a ridiculous notion," as Sen. Rand Paul said about the Canadian wall.

The U.S. and Canada share the longest international border in the world, at 5,525 miles, traversing forests, mountains and Great Lakes. Where are you going to plant all that chain-link and razor wire out in Lake Superior? It can't be walled off. Protecting that border hasn't been an issue since the War of 1812.

The threat of terrorists infiltrating our country from the north, though a concern, is often overblown. As the Globe and Mail of Toronto noted in its account of Walker's comments, "The most famous incident of a terrorist crossing from Canada was failed millennium bomber Ahmed Ressam, although several American political figures over the years have repeated the erroneous claim about the 9-11 hijackers coming from the north."

Canadians don't appreciate idle talk of a northern "wall." As the Globe and Mail reported, a third of Canada's Gross Domestic Product comes from trade with the U.S., and border measures that took effect after the Sept. 11 attacks "caused a ripple-effect that still hasn't completely subsided." Canadian defense minister Jason Kenney told an Ottawa news conference that, "Of course we would vigorously oppose any thickening of the border."

There are legitimate concerns with immigration policy and security at the southern border with Mexico, and there are thoughtful proposals and the need for a healthy debate to address those concerns. But a taller wall and stricter enforcement alone will not solve the nation's immigration system. Solving that will require sensible and humane policies that hold accountable the 11 million people already living in the United States illegally but also taking stock of their value to the nation.

We agree with Paul's assessment. The Kentucky Republican, who like Walker is running for president, told the Boston Herald:

"There have been a lot of dumb ideas put out. One that the Mexicans will pay for a wall, (which) was probably the dumbest of dumb ideas. ... It is sort of like everybody is now competing to say, 'Oh no, I'll put them in camps. Oh no, I'll throw them out. Oh no, I'll put everyone in jail. And I'll have an electric fence, and I'll do this.' And it's like, you know, the biggest thing we need to do is have a functioning immigration system, with a good work program."

The education of a presidential candidate continues. We hope Walker finds a higher road, of his own choosing, rather than continue trying in vain to pass Trump on the right. It would make for a more meaningful conversation about real problems that need to be addressed.

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Wisconsin State Journal, Sept. 2

GOP should drop fetal tissue bill

About $76 million in annual research dollars and 1,400 jobs are at stake as the Republican-run Legislature weighs a misguided attack on Wisconsin's high-tech economy.

That's according to the Wisconsin Technology Council, which advises the governor and lawmakers on technology and science.

The full Legislature should heed the council's warning this week and reject Rep. Andre Jacque's continuing attempt to ban lifesaving biomedical study.

"The unintended consequences of a unilateral Wisconsin restriction on research would likely be devastating ... to efforts to build a high-tech economy," a Technology Council resolution released Monday reads.

Jacque's bill would put our state — a national leader in medical research — at a competitive disadvantage. And it wouldn't do anything to reduce abortions. It would merely stop researchers in Wisconsin from using fetal tissue donated by women who have abortions.

Jacque's proposal also would chase away innovators doing ethical and tightly regulated studies targeting birth defects and diseases such as cancer, diabetes, immune disorders and deadly strains of influenza.

"Many competing institutions are attempting to recruit researchers," the Tech Council resolution reads. "If Wisconsin adopts legislation that restricts research, these researchers would likely relocate to an institution in a state or country where no such limitations exist."

So the important work would continue — just not in Wisconsin. That would be bad for our great university, for the Madison region and the entire state.

Social conservatives in the Legislature have stepped up their push to ban the sale and use of fetal tissue in Wisconsin following the release of hidden videos by anti-abortion activists. The videos show Planned Parenthood officials talking casually about recovering cells and parts from aborted fetuses.

The videos are disturbing. But they weren't filmed in Wisconsin and don't involve Planned Parenthood officials here. Moreover, federal law already bans the sale of aborted fetal tissue. So if that law was broken (which we doubt, based on the videos), that law can be enforced. What Wisconsin doesn't need is an even stricter law, shifting legitimate and ethical research to other states.

The Technology Council notes that fetal tissue has been used in research since the 1930s, with proven health benefits including the polio vaccine. The brilliant minds in Wisconsin that advance treatments and cures for human ailments such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease shouldn't be turned into criminals.

A committee vote on Jacque's bill is scheduled for Sept. 9, after which the full Assembly could take it up. Level-headed lawmakers should stop this bill for the good of Wisconsin's health and economy.

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The Journal Times of Racine, Aug. 29

Walker won't win by flip-flopping on issues

After debuting at or near the top of the polls for GOP presidential candidates, Gov. Scott Walker has been dropping steadily in the rankings.

He vowed to deliver his message with more passion in August, but instead his ad-lib responses to questions seem ill-considered and all but guaranteed to drop him further in the race unless he corrects course.

One of the latest dust-ups came on immigration in the wake of leading GOP candidate Donald Trump's call to end birthright citizenship — a practice that has been in effect since 1868 and is guaranteed by the 14th amendment to the Constitution.

Drafting in the wake of Trump's position, Walker told an NBC interviewer: "I think that's something we should, absolutely, going forward."

Asked later to clarify his stance, Walker said he was not taking a position one way or another on birthright citizenship until the border was secure.

And six days after his original comment, the governor said he would not seek to repeal the 14th amendment, which grants citizenship to those born on American soil.

That quizzical flip-flop was followed quickly this week by Walker's call for President Barack Obama to cancel an official state visit with the president of China, Xi Jinping, while campaigning in Iowa.

Saying the U.S. shouldn't be offering such an honor to a country behind cyberattacks in the U.S., Walker added, "If anything, we should be taking them to the woodshed."

But that doesn't particularly square with Walker's praise of Xi Jinping two years ago when the governor led a Wisconsin trade mission to China where he posed on an exported Harley-Davidson or the fact that China is Wisconsin's third largest export market and purchased $1.5 billion worth of state goods last year.

Walker's apparent new strategy to hew farther to the right than Trump to attract voters is a foolish tactic — no one can out-trump Trump as a demagogue.

The governor still has time to get his message out in Iowa and reassert his drive for the GOP nomination, but it won't be done by flip-flopping on issues.

Via: The Modesto Bee

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[VIDEO] Scott Walker Calls Border Fence with Canada a ‘Legitimate Issue’

Speaking to the governor from a state that shares a northern border with Canada, Chuck Todd wanted to know this morning on Meet the Press what Scott Walker thinks about the possibility of building a fence to keep people from coming into the country that way. “Why are we always talking about the southern border and building a fence there?” he asked. “We don’t talk about a northern border.”

“If this is about securing the border from potentially terrorists coming over, do you want to build a wall north of the border, too?” Todd asked Walker.

“Some people have asked us about that in New Hampshire,” Walker replied. “They raised some very legitimate concerns, including some law enforcement folks that brought that up to me at one of our town hall meetings about a week and a half ago. So that is a legitimate issue for us to look at.”

To combat terrorism on U.S. soil, Walker said, “It starts with securing the homeland. It wasn’t just about building a wall and securing our borders. It was also about making sure our intelligence community has the ability for counterterrorism and the ability to go after the infrastructure they need to protect us.”

So while a Donald Trump administration will come complete with the “biggest, best wall ever” along the U.S.-Mexico border, a Walker presidency could well see a fence in the north.

Via: Mediaite.com

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[VIDEO] Scott Walker Takes on Boehner for Calling Cruz ‘Jackass': ‘It’s Just Wrong’

During a Friday appearance on The Hugh Hewitt Show, Scott Walker defended fellow Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz after Speaker of the House John Boehner called him “that jackass.”

“I think it’s just wrong,” Walker said. “…Even though I don’t know Senator Cruz as well as I know some of the governors, I’ve grown to like him and admire him quite a bit out on the campaign trail.”

“Does this rhetoric help at all in the party, when people are slamming each other left and right like this?” host Hugh Hewitt asked.

“No, it doesn’t at all,” Walker said. “Particularly at a time when so many Americans, rightfully so, are frustrated that we can’t get things done in Washington. I’m frustrated.”

Watch, via The Hugh Hewitt Show.

Via: Mediaite

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GOP Presidential Nominees Fire Back at Brown on Climate Change Challenge

After submitting a letter-length question to Republican candidates ahead of their first round of primary-season debates, Gov. Jerry Brown has received some responses.

Heated rhetoric

Pressing ahead with the environmental emphasis characterizing his final term in office, Brown asked the presidential hopefuls to outline their own policies. “Longer fire seasons, extreme weather and severe droughts aren’t on the horizon, they’re […] here to stay,” he wrote, as the Sacramento Bee reported. “Given the challenge and the stakes, my question for you is simple: What are you going to do about it? What is your plan to deal with the threat of climate change?”

Brown’s office told the Bee he submitted his question via the Facebook page of Fox News, which solicited questions from viewers of the debates, which it hosted and televised.

This month, as the San Gabriel Valley Tribute noted, Brown hit out against the field again, using a fresh report on July temperatures to lambaste “Republicans, foot-dragging corporations and other deniers.” Surveying the damage to the fire-stricken Clear Lake area, Brown “repeated his challenge to Republican presidential candidates,” the Los Angeles Times reported, warning that “California is burning” and asking, bluntly, “What the hell are you going to do about it?”

Republican responses

So far, at least three Republican candidates have touched on environmental issues in the wake of Brown’s challenges.

Not all their remarks have been directly responsive, however. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker recently took the opportunity to critique “radical environmental policies that stop things like dams from going in so that water … can be used effectively,”according to the Bee.

But Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, who had challenged Sen. Barbara Boxer’s re-election, both addressed Brown head on, the Bee added. While Cruz dismissed “alarmists” as power-hungry schemers, Fiorina took a more nuanced approach; although she first conceded it “may well be true” that California’s drought was worsened by climate change, she also criticized policymakers for failing to prepare for the kind of droughts the state has had “for millennia.”

Shifting opinions

Republicans on the campaign trail have broadly reflected opinions among constituents nationwide. Even in California, Republicans have demonstrated consistent skepticism toward claims that human activity has fostered dangerous alterations in temperatures and weather. In a new poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, a majority of Golden State Republicans said “they don’t believe that climate change is happening and that they don’t think it will be a serious problem in the future,” as the San Jose Mercury Newsreported. “They also support expanding fossil fuel production — from increasing offshore oil drilling along California’s coast to expanding fracking.”

Yet the poll evinced some wiggle room on environmental policy issues. Fully 43 percent of California Republican respondents supported stricter in-state climate rules than what the federal government has passed into law. “Californians of all parties said they support increasing tax credits for electric vehicles and solar power,” the Mercury News added.

In a recent nonpartisan poll commissioned by a water policy foundation, Californians seemed to confirm that the drought had become a leading issue of worry across the ideological spectrum. According to the Los Angeles Times, “62 percent of poll subjects said they would be very willing or somewhat willing to pay $4 more a month for water if the funds were used to improve water supply reliability. Such an increase, if applied to the entire state, would generate about a billion dollars, according to poll sponsors.”

Environmentalists divided

Brown’s environmentalist policies haven’t satisfied all critics. His administration’s emphasis on reducing emissions, for instance, has led some to wonder why he hasn’t pushed harder for cheaper electricity rates, which would benefit owners of many zero-emissions vehicles. One objection, recently voiced in the San Diego Daily Transcript, warned that Brown’s policies “will systematically shift profits into a few private hands instead of building, managing and maintaining a solid and reliable electric-charging infrastructure comparable to our utility grid.”

Originally published by CalWatchdog.com

Via: California Political Review

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[OPINION] Let's see even more GOP alternatives to Obamacare

This week, another GOP contender for president released a plan for replacing Obamacare — demonstrating again that yes, there are Republican alternatives.

As with the plan proposed earlier this year by Florida Senator Marco Rubio, the main feature of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's plan to change the pre-Obamacare status quo is a refundable tax credit for those who buy insurance outside their workplace. This is designed not only to ease the transition away from an Obamacare system laden with mandates and subsidies that drive up the cost of care, but also to make insurance affordable for more people than it was before Obamacare.

Some conservatives object that this sounds too much like Obamacare's tax-code-based insurance subsidy. They are right to make their voices heard, but the idea that this proposal is "Obamacare Lite," or even a step in the wrong direction, is preposterous. In fact, the idea of a tax credit had currency in conservative circles when Obamacare was still just a bad idea. More importantly, the subsidies that currently make Obamacare's sky-high premiums more palatable for consumers are not even one of the messy program's bigger problems.

The biggest single problem with Obamacare is its abridgment of human freedom — its unprecedented requirement that every American obtain insurance as a condition of existing, under penalty of fine, and likewise that every employer enter the insurance business or face a penalty.

But the main practical problem with Obamacare so far has been how badly it messed up the insurance market for millions of Americans in the individual and small group markets. These are people who were perfectly happy with what they had, and must now pay more for an inferior product. The additional (often unnecessary) coverage mandates and elimination of all underwriting either caused monthly premiums to skyrocket or caused insurers to jack up deductibles and skimp on their provider networks in order to make their premiums seem like a good deal — in many places, both of these things occurred.

The result is that many Americans who were previously happy with their coverage suddenly find themselves paying substantially more for policies they either cannot use or cannot afford to use.

Walker's and Rubio's plans, as well as that of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, would undo that crucial part of damage from Obamacare, allowing insurers to tailor plans (no more forced maternity coverage for 70 year-olds) and permit more flexible arrangements like miniature plans. They would also break the state regulatory monopoly on insurance licensing, so that New Jerseyans can buy plans that sell in Iowa for a fraction of the prices they must currently pay. This already makes all of their plans superior not only to Obamacare, but also to what existed before it.

But each also has a mechanism for making insurance more available than it was previously. Walker and Rubio have chosen a tax credit system. Jindal has gone the more ideologically pure route of a deduction, which would not subsidize anyone who does not pay taxes. But the conceptual difference between the two is smaller than you might think. Payroll taxes are taxes too. A refundable credit effectively gives all workers a break on them — including those too poor to pay income taxes but too rich to qualify for Medicaid.

Everyone in the Republican field agrees on Obamacare repeal. Conservative tastes will differ on the precise details of the replacement. But it's healthy for the candidates to show their work and demonstrate their commitment to repeal by presenting real plans for replacement that can always be improved upon later. Walker has done the right thing here, and all other candidates who haven't done so yet should follow suit.

Via: Washington Examiner

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FIORINA, JINDAL, CHRISTIE, WALKER STAND AGAINST COMMON CORE, UNLIKE BUSH AND KASICH

With educational reform and Common Core being top issues in the 2016 election, several GOP presidential candidates attended a summit in New Hampshire on Wednesday where they stressed different options for how they plan to improve the educational system across America.

The American Federation for Children, an organization that promotes school choice and advocates for school vouchers, partnered with The Seventy Four, a non-profit and non-partisan website that covers news about education, to host the 2015 New Hampshire Education Summit where experts in education reform and GOP presidential candidates spoke about reforming the educational system.

“Today’s education summit is an unprecedented opportunity to have a serious, dedicated conversation on the issues impacting America’s 74 million children,” said co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of The SeventyFour, Campbell Brown.

Several GOP presidential candidates spoke one-on-one with Brown on the topic of education reform, who appeared to forcefully and repetitively question the rejection of Common Core.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush stressed accountability in the educational system.

Bush – who has gone against most Republicans in supporting Common Core – stressed accountability during his discussion with Brown. Bush said what is most important in his opinion is, “a simple requirement of accountability … a test to measure student learning.”

“If you don’t measure, you basically don’t care,” Bush explained, arguing there must be some basis of measuring a student’s success. He said he supports two bills – one in the Senate and one in the House – because both have testing as a measure. On tests for students, Bush said they “should be based on learning games.”

Bush left stressing accountability in terms of testing measurements, and discussed the importance of skilled teachers. He said the best tool for a classroom is a “capable teacher in a classroom that is well trained.”

Bush stated that aspects of education are “state by state issues, the federal government can be a partner in reform.” He said unions don’t support education reform because they don’t want teachers measured by student success.

Brown asked Bush whom he looks to on guidance and advice in terms of education reform, and if he would name who he would choose as Secretary of Education if he is elected President.

“Researchers who do extraordinary work,” Bush responded, not directly saying who he would choose as Secretary of State, but brought up “Mitch Daniels” who he said told him he took what Bush did in Florida and made it better in Indiana. Bush said Indiana’s success on improving education has been extraordinary, calling Daniels a “wonderful guy.”

On the topic of what future classrooms should look like, Bush said “more hands on, more exciting for kids.” He added that he believes future classrooms should be “more creative.”

“I think it is … I can envision … a system where a child starts with a cohort of kids – all are unique, all are different…and that you use technology, you have a trained teacher that is harnessing the technology that is available today to make sure every child reaches their maximum ability.”

“I think we need to reform higher education as well,” Bush said. “When a third of our kids…are only college and career ready…these are huge challenges.”

Carly Fiorina encouraged more creativity in the classroom.

Fellow GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina spoke with Brown next on the topic of secondary education where she stressed that children need the ability to be creative.

As former CEO of Hewlett Packard, Fiorina was asked if she would say education right now prepares someone to enter the workforce. Fiorina answered, “Not uniformly.”

“We know that every child has vast potential…and the goal of this nation is to allow every single American regardless of their circumstances to find and use their God given gifts,” Fiorina stated, saying that is the first step in the process for education.

Fiorina explained that if children live in a poor community, they are far less likely to get a quality education. She referenced a program, which existed at Hewlett-Packard, where the company reached into underprivileged communities to get involved with children who were interested in science, technology, engineering and math

Via: Breitbart

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WATCH LIVE: Scott Walker Reveals Obamacare Alternative

Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) is scheduled to make a speech from Minneapolis on Tuesday morning in which he lays out his plan to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. “If you’ve had it with Obamacare and you want someone who is going to do something about it, I am your candidate,” the Republican presidential candidate said in prepared remarks released ahead of the speech.

According to Politico, Walker aims to replace Obamacare with a plan “that would return authority to the states and provide sliding-scale tax credits directly to consumers who don’t get coverage at work to help them buy insurance.” In addition he would “give states greater say over Medicaid, which he would break into separate plans for different groups, such as poor families, people with disabilities and low-income seniors.”

Watch live stream video below, via NBC News:

VIDEO LINK

Via: Mediaite

Trump showed how to speak truth on immigration; Now which GOP candidate will do the same on race?

In his August 17 monologue, Rush Limbaugh discussed Trump's spot-on immigration plan extensively, a plan that incorporates all three of the main points I summarized in my August 5 article, “Hard Truth for the GOP from its Base.” I can’t and don’t claim Trump got his plan from me -- any marginally thoughtful political observer not paralyzed by total dependence on corporate money can see America’s desperate need to halt illegal immigration and cauterize the risk of its recurrence. Not only did Rush praise the Trump plan, but -- at least as important -- pointed out, citing serious polling evidence, that Trump’s immigration proposal resonates loud and clear with the overwhelming majority of the US electorate (not just with Republicans and conservatives), and that any major Republican candidate who had timely addressed immigration as Trump has would be leading the field now by a wide margin.

Check out Rush’s monologue. It should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in the future well being of America. And forgive my pointing out that the same message can be found in my now two week old article.

The next major issue/opportunity that the mainstream Republican field is preparing to fumble through pusillanimous silence and lack of vision is the "black lives matter" fraud.

Expect the Democrat perpetrators of the Left’s latest despicable falsehood -- that America and its police are racist -- to soon start interrupting Republican candidates, as they already have Bernie Sanders. And to demand that the Republicans grovel and apologize too, as Sanders has. Recalling the debate, Scott Walker, ill-advised and politically tone deaf, has already shown how not to handle this issue: Asked what he would say to those who claim blacks are victims of racist police, Walker mumbled something PC about the need for thorough training and imposing consequences on bad cops. Thus, giving credence to the lie. I doubt that the cops of America and their families thank Walker for those remarks.

What Walker should have said, and what any Republican interested in winning the presidency should say to the thugs themselves, or to anyone who brings up their libels, is something like this:

"I've got news for you buddy/Ma’am: This is the least racist nation in history and so are its police. America is the best place on the planet to be a black person or to be any minority. The overwhelming majority of Americans, and their police, have been struggling for decades to treat everyone fairly and justly. To call this nation, its people or its police racists is a damned lie."

These sentences, if any Republican had the vision and courage to utter them, would be remembered to great good consequence. The vast majority of Americans feel in their gut they are not only true, but the heart of the matter. About 80% of the electorate would breathe a collective sigh of relief to hear someone at last stand up for the truth.

Once that core message had been delivered, the candidate could add whatever he/she wants about how the problem facing American blacks is not racism, which is a politically motivated lie, but that the problem includes the destruction of the black family, children growing up without fathers, and low wages and no jobs for black youth, at least in part because of out-of-control illegal immigration, all deliberately engineered by the Democratic Party to create dependency and buy black votes.

Via: American Thinker

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Scott Walker RESPONDS to protesters LIKE A BOSS!

Scott Walker stood on the Soapbox in Iowa today and responded to several protesters by saying that he’s stood up to 100,000 protesters and their union bosses and he won’t be intimidated by them. Awesome!

Watch:

Via: The Right Scoop

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YEAR OF THE OUTSIDER: TRUMP, CARSON SURGE IN IOWA

A new poll from CNN/ORC finds Donald Trump dominating likely caucus-goers in Iowa. Somewhat more surprising, though, is that retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has surged into second place, edging out long-time Iowa frontrunner Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

The poll, of more than 5oo caucus-goers, found Trump in first with 22 percent, followed by Carson with 14 percent. Walker dropped to third, with just 9 percent support.

Texas 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

96%

 followed with 8 percent. Businesswoman Carly Fiorina and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee were just behind Cruz with 7 percent each.

More establishment candidates including Florida 

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)

80%

and Jeb Bush have faded to the back of the crowded field, with just 5 percent support each. They are tied with 

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)

93%

 from Kentucky. The other candidates have 3 percent or less.

The poll is the latest evidence that the the early innings of the 2016 are not strictly just a story about Donald Trump. The larger dynamic is that voters are rejecting  any candidate who is seen as tied to the Washington Republican establishment.

Political pundits may try to dismiss the Trump surge as something unique to his nearly ubiquitous personality, but the rise of candidates including Carson, Fiorina, Cruz and, to some extent Walker, shows an eagerness by voters to break with anything that reeks of Washington or the establishment.

Trump’s edge with voters rests on their belief that he is the best candidate to tackle the economy, foreign policy and illegal immigration. Almost half of caucus-goers, 44 percent, say he is the candidate most likely to change the way Washington works.

Trump is weakest with voters who describe themselves as “very conservative.” Those voters, who historically make up a large share of the caucus, prefer Carson, at 25 percent, followed by Cruz and Walker, each with 15 percent, with Trump in third, with 12 percent support. Among evangelical Christians, though, Trump ties Carson for first, each with 18 percent. Cruz at 12 percent, Huckabee 11 and Walker 10.

The two groups, “very conservative” and evangelicals will likely make up around 60 percent of those attending a caucus.

A caucus operates very differently from a primary election. To be successful in a caucus, a candidate needs very energized supporters, who may have to devote an hour or more to the voting process.

This will give the edge to candidates who are clearly distinct from Republican leadership in Washington. Whether its Trump, Carson or Cruz on the right or Vermont 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

16%

 on the left, voters are fed-up with Washington.

This year is shaping up as the year of the outsider.

Via: Breitbart

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[VIDEO] My Conversation with Gov. Scott Walker

Earlier today I had a conversation with Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin. He’s out on the campaign trail now. I started the interview with the late breaking news about Chattanooga, but also got him to focus on his one big item and why liberals, even when winning, seem so angry.

Via: Red State

FROM FREE FALL TO FREE MARKETS: HOW WISCONSIN TURNED ITSELF AROUND

Just four years ago, if you asked me what word best described the economic outlook in Wisconsin, “bleak” would have been the first to come to mind. The state faced a $3.6 billion deficit, high unemployment, and a future that was far brighter for big labor and special interests than it was for Wisconsin taxpayers.

But now, Wisconsin is back on a path to prosperity. Businesses are growing, families are going back to work, and by almost every measure of success, Wisconsin’s economy is thriving.

What caused such a dramatic turnaround?

One thing: Governor Scott Walker and the state legislature embarked on an ambitious and bold agenda to bring free market reforms to every corner of the state. Together, legislators worked to reform the state’s broken tax code, free workers from union mandates, repeal the state’s outdated prevailing wage law, and make Wisconsin a better place to live, work and raise a family.

No longer will Badger State employees be compelled to join a labor union and pay dues as a condition of employment. No longer will school districts and local governments be forced to pay up to 45 percent more for labor on taxpayer-financed construction projects. And no longer will the state’s taxpayers be required to carry the burden of out-of-control government benefits.

Plain and simple, Wisconsin is finally on the right track.

New state borrowing has been reduced to the lowest levels in 20 years. Property taxes have been reduced to the lowest levels since 1946, and taxes have been cut by more than $2 billion.

Most importantly, these reforms aren’t just making a difference for lawmakers required to balance the budget. They’re also making a difference in the lives of everyday Wisconsinites and the hard-working families who, for years, had struggled to make ends meet.

Take for example our state’s unemployment rate which, at 4.6 percent, is at a six-year low and almost a full point lower than the national average. Employment is at an all-time highand Wisconsin has literally never had more jobs than it has today.

In 2014, Wisconsin businesses exported more goods than ever before — more than $23.4 billion worth, no doubt helped by the many new businesses flooding into the state.

Families are earning more too. Wisconsin’s median family income is up more than six percent since 2011 to $55,258 a year, rising almost twice as fast as the rest of the country.

The turnaround has been so great that Wisconsin is now ranked the fourth best state in the nation for finding a job — after North Dakota, Texas, and Nebraska. And, if Wisconsin, once weighed down by onerous regulations and costly mandates, can now count itself among the likes of these stunning examples of economic freedom, then clearly the state is doing something right.

Wisconsin is indeed open for business.

Via: American Spectator

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Three for the Money: Carly, Walker, and Cruz

This week, three of the Republican candidates showed their mettle and had very good weeks. Majority leader Mitch McConnell and both the Democrat’s “inevitable” Hillary Clinton and the president’s standings sagged.

Carly Fiorina

Carly’s ability to handle the press and make a name for herself without a large staff or campaign chest continues. This week, she capitalized on videos showing Planned Parenthood to be involved in a distasteful racket, negotiating for the best price for aborted fetal tissue. 

Mainstream news outlets pretty much ignored the story, as Michael Barone noted:

The 2012 Obama campaign appealed to single women by suggesting that without Obamacare’s contraception mandate, contraceptives would somehow be unavailable -- a favorable way to frame the abortion issue. But the Planned Parenthood videos are, in the words of Democratic columnist Kirsten Powers, “stomach-turning stuff.” 

Most mainstream media outlets are carefully avoiding the subject, as the Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway points out. The New York Times and Washington Post ran 773 stories on the Confederate flag over the last month but only 31 on the Planned Parenthood video. Heavily pro-choice newsrooms have no appetite to discredit the nation’s leading abortion provider, but may be forced to as members of Congress hold hearings and propose legislation

Carly Fiorina, however, with her penchant for the main shot, did not ignore the issue. In interviews with CNN’s Jack Tapper and Fox and Friends, she refused to bite the usual media bait and instead turned tables on the interviewers, reminding viewers that it is the leading Democrat’s positions which are extreme and out of the mainstream.

“Let’s also talk about Hillary Clinton’s position,” Fiorina said. “Let’s talk about what ‘extreme’ is. It’s not a life until it leaves the hospital? That’s Hillary Clinton’s position. It’s Hillary Clinton’s position that a 13-year-old girl needs her mother’s permission to go to a tanning salon or get a tattoo, but not to get an abortion. It’s Hillary Clinton’s position that women should not be permitted to look at an ultrasound before an abortion, and yet people who are trying to harvest its body parts can use an ultrasound to make sure that those body parts are preserved, so they can be sold. That, Jake, is extreme.”

She was as deft in refusing to attack Scott Walker, in expressing concern about domestic security, and in agreeing with Trump and public sentiment on immigration policy.

Via: American Thinker

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