Free Republic

Good to know. Last week, over 27,000 pages of private e-mails from one of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker’s convicted ex-staffers were released. As soon as the document dump hit the Web, Democrats began climbing over themselves to prove that the e-mails showed that during his time as Milwaukee county executive in 2010, Walker was part of a grand criminal conspiracy — despite the fact that prosecutors had the e-mails for nearly three years and found Walker had engaged in no criminal wrongdoing. This is a lot like what happened with Sarah Palin a while back. Democrats think that a...

--from one of the J-S' token non-communists---

A Response (in red) to Reverend Shimek's Defense of Common Core in the Milwaukee Archdiocese (below): Catholic Schools Can Make Good Use of the Common Core When it comes to the Catholic Church’s fundamental mission in the contemporary world, Catholic schools are essential and not optional. (If Catholic schools are truly "essential and not optional," why do the American bishops spend millions of dollars each year supporting anti-Catholic community organizing groups rather than investing that money in Catholic schools, especially inner city Catholic schools?) In the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, they are precious jewels that adorn our proud history of catechesis,...

The Talk Shows February 23rd, 2014 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.; Govs. Scott Walker, R-Wis., and Peter Shumlin, D-Vt.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): National Security Adviser Susan Rice.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Govs. Bobby Jindal, R-La., and Martin O'Malley, D-Md.THIS WEEK (ABC): Former President George W. Bush.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Govs. Rick Perry, R-Texas, Mike Pence, R-Ind., Dannel Malloy, D-Conn., Jay Nixon D-Mo.

HOUSTON, TX – The nation’s leading labor union will plan to spend $300 million in 2014 trying to unseat Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and four other Republican Governors. More: AFL-CIO to Target Walker, Other Governors People’s World reported that the AFL-CIO announced on Thursday morning during a press conference in Houston that they would spend money trying to unseat Governor Walker. Other Governors that the labor organization is targeting are John Kasich (R-Ohio), Tom Corbett (R-Pennsylvania), Rick Snyder (R-Michigan), and Rick Scott (R-Florida). The American Federation of Teachers backed the AFL-CIO’s plan. President Randi Weingarten said: “In many ways it...

Imagine watching the man marching in front of you taken out by snipers. Scott Walker must know the feeling, having seen what the media did to Chris Christie.Bridgegate did its work. Last December we read this:"Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are in a dead heat in a hypothetical 2016 presidential matchup with the recently reelected governor leading by 1 point in a new poll.""Christie leads Clinton 42 percent to 41 percent in a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday. Christie’s 1-point lead is the same as Quinnipiac’s poll in November, but a far cry from...

With no recent high-profile events to drive the level of purchases seen in recent years, gun sales are way down. "Background checks by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, considered to be the most accurate means of tracking gun sales, plunged by a third in January compared to the year before," CNN reported last week. "There were about 1.66 million background checks last month and nearly 2.5 million in January the year before." The sharp decline can be seen in Wisconsin, where the state's handgun hotline registered only 7,702 handguns purchased in January, down from 22,214 in January 2013, according to...

With Christie pretty well neutralized, it’s time to turn to the GOP’s other successful blue-state governor and try to cripple him before 2016 too. Might as well have it on your radar now as you’ll be hearing about it sporadically, even though nothing will come of it. The scandal this time is the fact that, back when Walker was Milwaukee County Executive and running for governor, some of his county staff communicated with his campaign staff during county office hours, while on the taxpayer’s dime. It got to the point where a separate wireless router was installed in the county...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker believes Hillary Clinton's biggest obstacle as a presidential candidate will be her deep connections to Washington. "I think the biggest problem that [former] Secretary of State Clinton has is much bigger than just that, it’s that she is throughout her adult life, she has been a product of Washington, whether she’s been there, worked there, secretary of state, United States senator, not only first lady, but back to her days working on the Hill," Walker said during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday evening. Walker, a potential 2016 GOP candidate, suggested that...

MADISON, Wis. — On a day when news headlines nationwide screamed of Gov. Scott Walker’s “apparent” knowledge of illegal campaigning going on in his office when he was Milwaukee County executive, the judge of the nearly three-year “secret” investigation into Walker’s former aides and associates summed up the meat of the matter. “The John Doe is closed and the results of the John Doe speak for themselves in terms of who has allegedly committed a crime, who has been charged with a crime and who has been convicted of a crime,” former Appeals Court Judge Neal Nettesheim told Wisconsin Reporter...

Wisconsin soldier pulled from military funeral duties A National Guard soldier has been suspended indefinitely from military funeral duties after a picture of her and other soldiers clowning around a training casket surfaced on social media. "We put the FUN in funeral," read the caption on the photo posted on the Instagram account of Spc. Terry Harrison, Fox 47 reports. The Wisconsin National Guard member has been shifted to other duties pending an investigation and the Guard says it has taken steps to ensure her safety after death threats, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Another photo to spark outrage shows...

[snip] The Wisconsin National Guard responded Tuesday by announcing that it had suspended the soldier who apparently posted the photograph online from her honor guard duties. The photograph was taken at a guard training facility in Arkansas and included soldiers from other units. The National Guard also was taking steps to protect the soldier after she received death threats. The photograph originally posted on Instagram shows about a dozen soldiers around a casket. Several hug playfully. One flashes a peace sign. Another has his back turned and is pointing off in the distance. The caption reads, "We put the FUN...

Gov. Scott Walker: It’s ‘Unfathomable’ That Nat’l Guard Member Posted These Photos Online Feb. 19, 2014 10:25am Dave Urbanski Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said it’s an “outrage” that a now-suspended National Guard member posted photos making light of military funerals online. Spc. Terry Harrison was suspended after posting photos making light of military funerals. (Image source: WISN-TV) “To me, it’s just completely unacceptable,’ the Republican governor told WISN-TV in Milwaukee. “It’s an outrage. It’s unfathomable to me that people who are not just service members, but who were picked to be in this highly specialized area, wouldn’t be sensitive enough...

MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who has been eyeing a 2016 presidential run since his battles with labor unions made him a Republican star, is in the midst of dealing with the fallout of two criminal investigations at home that could complicate his move to the national stage. One is ongoing, and while the other is now closed with no allegations of wrongdoing by Walker, it has the lingering potential to embarrass him. That could begin as early as Wednesday with the release of more than 25,000 pages of e-mails from an ex-staffer that were gathered as part of...

Doug Reuhl, president and CEO of American since 1988, blamed an unforgiving economy, especially over the past five years, for the closure and said the company would begin a going-out-of-business sale Thursday to liquidate its entire inventory of furniture, electronics and appliances. "While this is a sad moment, it is also a proud moment," Reuhl said in a news release. "It's a moment to be proud of our efforts and to be proud of what we have delivered to the community." A switchboard operator at American TV refused to answer additional questions Monday or transfer a reporter to anyone else,...

Enbridge Inc. says the U.S. State Department is taking longer than expected to review an expansion to its Alberta Clipper pipeline between Alberta and Wisconsin. But executives with the Calgary-based energy shipper say they're confident a green light will come in time to expand the line to 800,000 barrels per day by the middle of next year. Enbridge obtained a U.S. federal permit in 2009 before starting up the first phase of the line, which has 450,000 barrels per day of capacity, but the State Department says it needs to amend its environmental review before allowing the expansions to go...

LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors charged former NFL safety Darren Sharper on Friday with raping and drugging two women in California and disclosed he is under investigation in connection with five more drug-related rapes in three other states. Sharper briefly appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court, where his arraignment was postponed until Feb. 20 at the request of his lawyers. They issued a statement saying he would be exonerated. Prosecutors then filed a motion to increase Sharper's bail to $10 million and outlined details of investigations involving him in Las Vegas, Tempe, Ariz., and New Orleans. Sharper has not been charged...

From the bridge of the Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw, northern Lake Huron looks like a vast, snow-covered field dotted with ice slabs as big as boulders - a battleground for the icebreaker's 58-member crew during one of the roughest winters in memory... As of Thursday, ice cover extended across 88 percent,... At Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin, the rock-solid cover has allowed around 35,000 visitors to trudge miles over Lake Superior to explore caves featuring dazzling ice formations. It's the first time in five years the lake surface has been firm enough to allow passage.... Coast Guard icebreaker teams,...

MARINETTE - Lori Saunier is one of nearly a dozen parents who have expressed their displeasure over a game played at Marinette Middle School. “This kind of stuff, I mean, this can’t happen again. These are our little kids. We’re parents. We should’ve been protecting them. You should’ve gave us the benefit of the doubt of contacting us,” said Saunier, mother of 7th grade student. On Wednesday, fifth through eighth grade students played the game called “Cross the Line”. Parents say their children were asked personal questions like, do your parents drink and has anyone in your family been in...

MADISON, Wis.—Wisconsin residents can submit their tax reform ideas under a new website created by Gov. Scott Walker's administration. Creation of the website, taxreform.wi.gov, comes as Walker's Revenue Department secretary and the lieutenant governor are holding meetings with business owners to gather ideas. Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch says the website gives everyone a chance to share their thoughts. The website includes videos from past roundtables in Beloit, Eau Claire, Superior, Green Bay, Platteville, La Crosse and Stevens Point. It also includes information about taxation in Wisconsin and other states. Walker has floated the possibility of eliminating the state's income tax,...