Free Republic

<p>MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is calling the Republican-controlled Legislature into a special session to take up a pair of gun control measures that GOP leaders have been unwilling to debate.</p> <p>The move Evers announced Monday does not force Republicans to debate or vote on the bills. But it does give Democrats another means to spotlight the issues that a poll in August showed more than 80% of the public support.</p>

BARRON, Wis. - The Wisconsin girl whose parents were fatally shot before she was kidnapped and held captive for 88 days says she's thankful for the kindness and concern from people all over the country and is feeling stronger every day. Jayme Closs issued a statement Monday, a day before the one-year anniversary of the crimes at her home near Barron in northwest Wisconsin. Closs said she is getting back to the activities she enjoys and loves hanging out with her friends. The statement was read by family attorney Chris Gramstrup at a news conference at the Barron County Sheriff's...

RINO Paul Ryan was a disgrace as a “Republican” House Speaker, and one of his biggest failings was taking advantage of complete GOP control of Congress and the White House during President Trump’s first two years in office. Some conservatives (us included) have blamed him for losing the House, as he and more than 50 other establishment Republicans bailed on their constituents, on Trump, and on our republic ahead of the 2018 elections. None of Ryan’s anti-Trump treachery has been lost on the president.

‘Silence People of Faith’: Pastor’s Graduation Speech That Mentioned Jesus Leads to ‘Government Censors’ The Appleton Area School District located in Appleton, Wisconsin, has changed its policy regarding graduation speeches after a local Christian pastor, who’s also a school board member, drew complaints about Christian references he made during a graduation speech in June to Appleton North High School graduates and their families. The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), an atheist organization headquartered in Madison, WI, wrote a letter to the school district objecting to Rev. Alvin Dupree’s speech, claiming it had received 29 complaints from graduates and other students,...

Wisconsin ranked second in the nation for manufacturing job growth

A Wisconsin-based spice company has been the second-largest buyer of impeachment ads on Facebook in recent days, second only to President Trump himself, according to a new analysis released Tuesday. Penzeys Spices in Wauwatosa, Wis., has spent $92,000 on pro-impeachment ads between Sept. 29 and Oct. 5, according to data compiled by Bully Pulpit Interactive, a Democratic communications agency, and published by Axios. By comparison, the Trump campaign shelled out $718,000 to defend the president after House Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry last month over his dealings with Ukraine, while billionaire philanthropist and Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer was the...

The questionable actions of former FBI Director James Comey, former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and former CIA director John Brennan have made it impossible for Americans to trust the country’s intelligence apparatuses and created a sense of extreme skepticism, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said during an interview that aired Sunday. Johnson appeared on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” and got into a heated debate with host Chuck Todd over House Democrats’ impeachment efforts and various intelligence community abuses. The GOP senator said there still were unanswered questions when asked if he thought Russia interfered in the 2016 election. “They absolutely...

Chuck Todd, host of NBC's "Meet the Press," called out Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) for responding to a question with a "Fox News conspiracy" during a heated interview on Sunday. "I have no idea why a Fox News conspiracy propaganda stuff is popping up on here. I have no idea. I have no idea why we're going here," Todd said. He then pushed the senator to "answer the question that I asked you instead of trying to make Donald Trump feel better here that you're not criticizing him." "What made you wince? I’m asking a simple question about you clearly...

A correspondent I have known since his childhood spends a large part of his time overseas as a missionary. Coming back to Wisconsin, he was surprised to find a “No Firearms Allowed” sign at a Denny's. I believe this is a local policy, decided by each local manager of the franchise. My correspondent gave me permission to edit the account of his reaction. His overseas experience has made him appreciate the freedoms Americans take for granted. His account: Returning to America after having been gone half a year, lends itself to re-entry culture shock. I recently returned to the...

GOP senators attack whistleblower's credibility GOP senators attack whistleblower's credibility BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 09/30/19 06:00 AM EDT 13,753 Republican senators scrambling to protect President Trump from a formal impeachment inquiry are attacking the credibility of the whistleblower who filed a complaint. GOP lawmakers are asserting the whistleblower did not have firsthand knowledge of the actions detailed in the complaint and question whether the person had a political agenda. “It doesn’t come from a person with personal knowledge. It’s like I heard these people say this, and now I’m reporting it. I think that is pretty bizarre,” said Sen. John...

MADISON, Wis. - After announcing his retirement on his blog on Sunday, Police Chief Mike Koval is voicing his reasons for the sudden exit. "I'm tired of the politics. The politics has been oppressive to me," said Koval. "And frankly we're getting ready to go through another budgetary process where I am completely frustrated in terms of what I believe are important priorities for this department that probably won't be met. And I get it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. That doesn't mean I have to agree with it. And that certainly doesn't mean I have...

Mike Koval Had Pushed Back Against Far Left, Anti-Cop City Leaders The residents of the city of Madison have lost their public safety goalie. He was hardly a hardened, broken windows law and order bulwark, but Police Chief Mike Koval repeatedly pushed back against a city council and two mayors who believe ‘restorative justice,’ alone can keep Madison a bucolic utopia. Rarely arm-in-arm with former Mayor Paul Soglin, the gulf between his public safety philosophy and that of new Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway was far greater. Koval announced his retirement this weekend. Effective immediately. Here’s a snippet from his blog:...

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan, who currently sits on the board of Fox Corp., is reportedly urging Fox News to “decisively break” with President Donald Trump, according to a Thursday Vanity Fair report documenting the network’s “management bedlam.” Vanity Fair’s Gabe Sherman, citing four sources, reported that Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch, who has long tried to move Fox News to the center, “is already thinking about how to position the network for a post-Trump future.” Ryan, the longtime Trump antagonist, has reportedly been suggesting to Murdoch that “Fox should decisively break with the president” as Murdoch holds “strategy conversations...

Well, the days of Scott Walker running the state are long gone. That’s regrettable. Former Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke, his real name is Robert Francis, went nuclear on the gun control issue. He wants to outright confiscate firearms, specifically so-called assault weapons. Why? Well, to liberals, they’re scary looking. That’s about it. He wants to confiscate the private property of law-abiding Americans. It’s illegal. It’s not going to happen at the federal level anytime soon because a) Bob isn’t going to be president let alone the 2020 Democratic nominee, and b) it’s a losing issue. What can happen though are...

Two swing states narrowly won by President Trump over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016 were the sites of the greatest losses in manufacturing jobs between 2018 and 2019, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department. The agency's state employment survey found that Wisconsin has lost about 5,200 manufacturing jobs since August of last year. In Pennsylvania, losses of manufacturing jobs topped 7,700, according to the survey.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Democratic lawmakers are introducing a "red flag" bill that would allow judges to seize guns from someone determined to be a threat. Evers unveiled the proposal Thursday. It comes after the governor and fellow Democrats introduced a universal background check bill in August. The proposals come in the wake of several mass shootings across the country.

Hats off to Gov. Tony Evers for calling out Wisconsin legislative Republicans' position on guns for what it is — BS. Evers made his blunt assessment after GOP leaders Robin Vos and Scott Fitzgerald, dutifully followed by their submissive colleagues in the Assembly and Senate, announced they had no intention of even considering Evers' proposals to address what has become a national crisis. In the wake of the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings and calls from the public that government officials do something, Evers proposed that Wisconsin enact a universal background check procedure and pass a red-flag law that...

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told an NBC anchor Wednesday it was not accurate to suggest that Russia flipped the 2016 election in President Trump's favor. "I don’t think there is any evidence of that. And, you know, I really don’t think that’s a good conversation to have," she told NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie. Guthrie had just asked whether Russian interference "actually worked" and blocked a victory by former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. "I think that really does devalue the people in Wisconsin and Michigan and others who decided to vote for President Trump," Rice added in her...

Republicans and Democrats sang the same song at the Statehouse after rapidly passing the largest budget in state history: "It's balanced." Unfortunately, watchdogs couldn't offer much dissent in the moment. Lawmakers passed the 1,581-page document over the course of one weekend. In the absence of independent analysis, which takes more than a couple days to complete on a $40 billion spending plan, political rhetoric was rampant. It was all eerily familiar. In 2018, state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle claimed they had balanced the budget. But Illinois Policy Institute analysis had it out of whack by up to...

A Haverford College student who used a campus computer to attempt to hack into an IRS database to obtain Donald Trump’s tax returns days before the 2016 presidential election pleaded guilty Tuesday to two misdemeanor crimes in federal court. Justin Hiemstra, 22, who finished his studies in May but will not get his degree until he completes a study-abroad program next May, told Judge Cynthia Rufe that he did not know what he would have done with the tax returns if he and classmate Andrew Harris had succeeded in obtaining them on Nov. 2, 2016. “It was a time when...