Free Republic

The Germantown kindergarten teacher who was cited for disorderly conduct after police said she tore up and stomped on several Republican signs at the Jefferson County Fair because she was “so angry with Gov. Scott Walker” is on paid leave, Wisconsin Reporter has learned. April Kay Smith, 38, who teaches at Amy Belle Elementary School, first denied, then admitted to Jefferson County authorities she damaged several signs at the Jefferson County Republican Party booth after the fair had shut down for the night on July 9. Germantown Superintendent Jeff Holmes confirmed that Smith is on administrative leave and an investigation...

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) on Wednesday accused Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) of pursuing an anti-woman agenda that is akin to a slap in the face and a violent hair-pulling. “Scott Walker has given women the back of his hand,” she said, using slang for a backhanded slap. “I know that is stark. I know that is direct. I know that is reality.”From the "It's OK when WE do it" department

MILWAUKEE (AP) - President Barack Obama renewed his push for Congress to raise the minimum wage Monday in a buoyant accounting of the economy's "revving" performance, delivered on behalf of Democrats opening their fall campaigns for the midterm congressional elections. "America deserves a raise," he told a union crowd in Milwaukee, vowing to keep a hard sell on Congress in much the way he once courted his wife. "I just wore her down," he cracked. Timing his push to Labor Day, the traditional start of the autumn campaign, Obama aggressively drew attention to recent economic gains, setting aside past caution...

...Obama arrives in Milwaukee Monday for a rally at Laborfest. Five-thousand people are expected at the Summerfest grounds for the ticketed event. On Saturday the Milwaukee Labor Council handed out tickets to union members and their family..... Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke will meet privately with Obama on Monday. Campaign spokesperson Joe Zepecki said in a statement, “Because the President’s Monday visit to Milwaukee is for an official White House event and not a campaign event, her participation in the public portion of events would not be appropriate.”

The basics:—Brokered by Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray, it’s an attempt to get back to some kind of normal order budget process—Two-year deal, would avert government shut-down Jan. 15 but not deal with debt limit—Spares $63 billion in sequestration cuts scheduled for January —Allows overall projected spending to go up from $967 billion to a little over $1 trillion—$85 billion of total savings—$23 billion in net deficit reductionThe “sequestration relief,” which America is not clamoring for is brought to you by raising “fees,” which is pretty much just another word for taxes: But higher fees would generate as...

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) pressed the economic case for overhauling the nation’s immigration system on Wednesday, saying that reform is inevitable and necessary to boost growth in the United States.Ryan’s fellow House Republicans have largely put the kibosh on moving forward with immigration reform this year, but some key GOP lawmakers are still lobbying their colleagues publicly and privately to tackle immigration. The 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee is among figures who have urged the GOP to embrace an overhaul.“To me, it’s not a question of ‘if’ we fix our broken immigration laws,” Ryan said Wednesday at a breakfast hosted...

After ignoring its own 2009 clip of Obama denying his health-care law was a tax increase, ABC finally played the snippet of the President on Sunday's This Week -- but bizarrely, they failed to mention that it was theirs. Host George Stephanopoulos highlighted an ad from Americans for Prosperity that included the clip, but omitted that he conducted the interview where the President made this denial. Later in the program, Rep. Paul Ryan exposed what the ABC News host omitted, that "the President, on your show, said this is not a tax." [audio available here; video below the jump] Paul...

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - A Cirrus SR22 recreational plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean Saturday, 51 miles southeast of Chincoteague Island, Va. The Coast Guard reported one person was on board. Sources with knowledge of the initial investigation say it is highly likely the pilot is dead. According to the NTSB, the plane took off from Waukesha, Wisc. and was scheduled to land in Manassas, Va. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard 5th District in Portsmouth, Va. received notification at approximately 2:40 p.m. that the aircraft with only the pilot aboard failed to land at Manassas Regional Airport as scheduled. Instead...

A Friday afternoon dispatch at the Politico from Carrie Budoff Brown and Jennifer Epstein tells us that "The White House is putting the finishing touches on a post-Labor Day schedule that will send the president to states where he’s still popular." The list of states where the Politico pair alleges that's the case is quite short: "Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California." That's it. Obama, in a situation resembling that of Richard Nixon in the final months of his presidency, when "Tricky Dick" was mocked for being able to find friendly audiences in just a few Southern states, is apparently...

MADISON, Wis. -- Prosecutors on Friday charged a former Wisconsin sheriff's deputy suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease with shooting his wife and sister-in-law to death this month. Former Dane County Sheriff's Deputy Andrew Steele, 39, faces two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the death of his wife, Ashlee Steele, and his sister-in-law, Kacee Tollefsbol of Lake Elmo, Minn. He would get two mandatory life sentences if he's convicted. Prosecutors have not offered a motive for the slayings. Steele's lawyer, Jessa Nicholson, said during a court hearing Friday that she plans to investigate Steele's mental stability. She appeared with Steele...

MILWAUKEE- On Monday, President Barack Obama will attend Laborfest in Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Area Labor Council said he will deliver remarks at the celebration.The event begins at 11:00 a.m. with a parade from Zeidler Union Square Park to the Summerfest Grounds via Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee St. and Chicago St.  According to the group, Laborfest celebrates the achievements of Wisconsin’s working men and women and unions.Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke will not appear publicly with the President, but will meet with him privately at Laborfest.“It’s clear Mary Burke is attempting to distance herself from an unpopular president who’s lost the public’s...

The former head of the Milwaukee FBI office twice scolded subordinates for talking to investigators, and in one case urged an agent to commit perjury, a Department of Justice report finds. Staff from the Office of the Inspector General concluded that former Milwaukee Special Agent in Charge Teresa Carlson most likely lied to them when they questioned her. They also found she may have broken federal law by telling an agent to lie under oath. The Justice Department declined to prosecute Carlson, and the FBI refuses to say if she has been disciplined. She remains in a high-ranking job, as...

Oak Creek Army Ranger Justin Slaby to graduate from FBI training in October Friday, August 29, 2014 10:34 a.m. CDT OAK CREEK, WI (WTAQ) - A wounded Army Ranger from Oak Creek will graduate from the FBI's training academy in October. Justin Slaby won a federal lawsuit last year, after he claimed he was wrongly dismissed from the FBI academy because he lost his left hand while serving in Iraq. This week, the Justice Department's inspector general found that former Milwaukee FBI office director Teresa Carlson urged agent Mark Crider to commit perjury, by testifying that Slaby wasn't qualified to...

It is no longer a question of how much government Americans want. The only question is how much government Americanscan afford. And the former Republican vice presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the answer is becoming clear. “I talk about this in the book,” Ryan told Watchdog Radio Monday. “About very progressive policies. About the outcomes they produce, and how they bankrupt governments.” Ryan writes in his new book, “The Way Forward: Renewing the American Idea”, that the federal government has expanded entitlement programs, Medicare, Social Security and now Obamacare, to the point where they cost far more...

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke won't take the stage with President Barack Obama when he speaks at the Labor Day rally in Milwaukee, marking the second presidential visit to Wisconsin that will pass without Burke's involvement. Both Burke and Obama will be at the "Laborfest" celebration of organized labor that attracts thousands to the shore of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, but Burke will be meeting privately with the president and not speaking, said her spokesman Joe Zepecki on Thursday. Republicans, including Gov. Scott Walker's campaign, said Burke was ducking Obama because his approval ratings have dipped below 50 percent in...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker may survive, but the Walker Hypothesis seems dead. In a poll released by Marquette University Law School on Wednesday, Walker’s Democratic challenger, Mary Burke, has her biggest lead among likely voters, 49 percent to 47 percent. In May Burke trailed Walker 48–45, but pulled ahead by one point (47–46) in July. Walker’s recent attempts to define Burke, including the risky attack on the practices of her family company, haven’t appeared to work. As I wrote earlier this month, the Wisconsin governor’s race touches a lot of national themes. On the Democratic side, it is a test...

Obama coming to Milwaukee for Laborfest By Bill Glauber of the Journal Sentinel Aug. 27, 2014 A spokeswoman for Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said Wednesday that President Barack Obama will be in Milwaukee on Labor Day. No further details were available for Monday's visit, but multiple media sources said that Obama will be attending Laborfest at Maier Festival Park. A White House official later confirmed the president would visit the city for an event Monday. Obama was a frequent visitor to Milwaukee and Madison during the 2012 campaign, and was here in 2010 for Laborfest, speaking to a crowd of...

On Tuesday, the Sheboygan Press reported that according to two veteran GOP consultants that talk radio and campaign cash were to blame for State Senator Joe Leibham’s narrow defeat in the 6th Congressional District Republican primary. Jason Smathers, the author of the article, said: “But with two other state legislators running to his right, those advantages disappeared. Leibham played defense most of the race. He was blasted in attack ads and press releases and lost to his main opponents in all but two counties – Manitowoc and his home of Sheboygan.” Smathers interviewed veteran GOP consultant Mark Graul of Arena...

Apparently, carrying a concealed weapon for some PEOPLE is so second nature they don't realize when they've left their gun behind in a restroom. A 76-year-old Oconomowoc man — whose wife left a loaded handgun in a Brookfield church restroom this year — left his own weapon in the restroom of a DOOR COUNTY fun park this month, according to sheriff's department reports. The loaded Ruger .380-caliber was found, in a holster, on the floor of a men's room at the Egg Harbor Fun Park on Aug. 9. A patron of the park — which features miniature golf, go-carts, arcade...

There’s been so much talk of late about the transformation of the Republican Party over the course of the last few decades that it is easy to become inured to reports of ideologically extreme new arrivals in the party’s ranks. After a while, the latest pronouncements of Michele Bachmann or Steve King fail to impress. But what is going on right now in Wisconsin’s Sixth Congressional District is truly historic, and demands more attention. The district, northwest of Milwaukee, has been represented for nearly half a century by only two men, both of whom were standard bearers for a brand...