Free Republic

Living here in the People's Republic of Kommiefornia, I don't know a lot about Governor Walker, other than his hugely successful effort that prevented his recall as WI governor. But I know that he is a conservative, not a RINO, and he appears to be someone who has actually done positive things for the conservative movement and for the state of Wisconsin. He seems like a guy who, if elected to the Presidency, could accomplish many good things. Is he a potential candidate in 2016?

If ever there was a region where incumbent Republican governors can experience the great GOP gubernatorial apocalypse, it is the upper Midwest. Three of the races involve Republican incumbents who rode the Republican wave of 2010 into office. They are Rick Snyder in Michigan, John Kasich in Ohio and Scott Walker in Wisconsin. That potential loss of three Governor’s offices may be mitigated by a Pat Quinn Democratic loss in Illinois. The problem is that Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin are less red than Illinois is certainly blue.

A group opposed to Gogebic Taconite's $1.5 billion open pit mine is planning an organized walk on Saturday into a heavily wooded area of Iron County that was the site of protests and vandalism earlier tis week linked to construction of the proposed mine. A 3-mile hike into hilly terrain is being touted by organizers as non-violent and an opportunity for the public to see how exploratory drilling "impacts a pristine landscape," according to statement issued by the Penokee Hills Education Project. But Gogebic's spokesman Bob Seitz said the company is worried that this week's vandalism could spark more trouble,...

In hindsight, I think it’s safe to say the recall was what they call “overreach.� As Wisconsin Democrats gathered for their convention in one of the state’s lovely cities noted for its kind people, delicious dairy products, and unpronounceable name, they didn’t have any idea who will run against Gov. Scott Walker in 2014: OCONOMOWOC, WI (WRN) – Wisconsin Democrats repeatedly made the argument at their state convention over the weekend that Governor Scott Walker needs to be defeated in 2014. However, there continue to be few hints about exactly who will take on that challenge in the coming months.Speaking...

CALEDONIA - The Caledonia Police Department says that a 15-month-old child has been hospitalized with severe facial tears, puncture wounds and missing teeth after being attacked by a pit bull. The attack happened Wednesday night at about 9:45 p.m. Wednesday at a home on the 3400 block of Ivy Lane. According to police, the child was sitting on the floor when the pit bull, known as Mary Jane, attacked. The dog reportedly bit the child so she could get a cookie from the child's mouth. A humane society in Racine has seized the dog. Her owner says she wants the...

Sailors on Lake Michigan know they're approaching the south side of Milwaukee when they spot the Allen-Bradley Clock Tower. But the building beneath the tower acts as a marker of another sort: the structure originally built to be a manufacturing plant is now filled with white-collar professionals. As the global headquarters of Rockwell Automation, the Allen-Bradley building provides office space for 3,100 employees who range from product development engineers to sales and marketing teams and corporate executives. They're in the manufacturing business, but it's not quite the same business that once made Milwaukee prosperous. Rockwell Automation sold over $6 billion...

A liberal activist and her group are continuing their efforts to silence talk radio in Wisconsin. Upset that the state’s two largest AM stations, WTMJ and WISN in Milwaukee, have show hosts with right-of-center political leanings, the group Media Action Center filed complaints last year asking the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the stations and force them to give more air time to Democrats and liberals. If they didn’t, the group asked the Obama Administration’s FCC to deny at least one station – WTMJ – its license to broadcast. Last week, Sue Wilson, the head of MAC, used the anniversary...

Assembly Bill 203 and Senate Bill 196 prohibit state law enforcement from using a drone to gather evidence without a warrant except under carefully prescribed circumstances. No Wisconsin law enforcement agency may use a drone to gather evidence or other information in a criminal investigation without first obtaining a search warrant under s. 968.12. This subsection does not apply to the use of a drone to assist in an active search and rescue operation, to locate an escaped prisoner, or if a law enforcement officer has reasonable suspicion to believe that the use of a drone is necessary to prevent...

<p>A ship launch gone awry is taking the internet by storm as footage of the enormous vessel plunging into the harbour shows dangerous debris flying right at the camera.</p> <p>Posted on You Tube by Jason Bundoff, the impressive video shows the ship tumbling sideways into the water breaking off its sliders and creating a titanic-sized wave that engulfs the camera.</p>

When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker visited Iowa recently to speak at a well-attended Republican dinner, only one national political reporter (NBC's Alex Moe) showed up. That just proves you don't need national press attention to make a strong start in the 2016 Republican presidential race. There's a Walker boom, or at least a boomlet, going on in the nation's first voting state. When you hear speculation about the '16 GOP field -- Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal and others -- it's rare to hear Walker's name included in the group. But keep an eye on him; politically-savvy...

MARTIN BASHIR: Professor, we heard Mr. Sensenbrenner (R-WI) say the Attorney General should step down. Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) is also calling for resignation. Of course, he did that two years ago over Fast and Furious. Is this actually going to lead to something, do you think, or just more of the same, more continuous calls for the Attorney General to stand down? MICHAEL ERIC DYSON: I think the Attorney General should step down too -- off of the plateau where he represents on high principle and whip some heads. But he shouldn't give up his office. What he should...

With this in mind, we agree as a group that we cannot both represent our constituents and our conservative principles by supporting the budget in its current form. We in good conscience cannot support this budget unless the following issues are substantially addressed: · Adoption of Rep. Dale Kooyenga’s tax reform package and serious reforms to the “Marriage Penalty” tax. · Complete and total removal of the “DNA Collection Upon Arrest” proposal. · An overall reduction of $500 million in bonding. · Appropriations and tax reform done in a deficit neutral manner. · Double dipping 2/3 FTE employee provision returns...

Wisconsin improved 17 spots on the American Legislative Exchange Council's Rich States, Poor States Economic Outlook Ranking from 32nd to 15th, the greatest improvement of any state over last year. Rich States, Poor States has been published annually since 2008. Dr. Arthur B. Laffer, an award-winning economist who served on President Ronald Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board; Stephen Moore, an economist and writer for the Wall Street Journal and former Senior Economics Fellow at the Cato Institute; and Jonathan Williams, the Director of the Center for State Fiscal Reform at ALEC authored the report. The study looks at 15 equally-weighted...

A team of U.S. wreck hunters, backed by the governments of France and Michigan, has revealed plans to dive next month to a site on the bottom of Lake Michigan, where one of the most important ships in Canadian history — the 17th-century barque Griffon — is believed to be lying in a tomb of sand awaiting conclusive identification. The first sailing ship on the Great Lakes, the Griffon was built in 1679 near present-day Niagara Falls, Ont., by the famed French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, and symbolized the ambitions of New France to construct and control...

Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. said in a television interview Wednesday night that he agrees with the views of an anti-federal government group that recently gave him an award.During a interview on a range of topics with WISN-TV (Channel 12), Clarke was questioned about being named "sheriff of the year" by the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association and an image of Journal Sentinel columnist Daniel Bice's recent article about the award flashed in the background.Bice first reported that the association is the brainchild of Richard Mack, a former Arizona lawman who believes a sheriff's primary duty is...

The United States House of Representatives has issued the first-ever spousal ID to the partner of an openly homosexual Congressman, reports state. Philip Frank, the significant other of Representative Mark Pocan of Madison, Wisconsin was issued the ID recently, granting him recognition as being the spouse of the Congressman, as opposed to a guest. Frank and Pocan were “wed” in a Canadian ceremony in 2006, but the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) only recognizes marriage as being between a man and a woman. In the past, homosexual partners of federal lawmakers have been issued a designee ID as opposed...

Why was the IRS interested in efforts to ensure the recall of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was legitimate? As the Obama Administration seeks to pivot to a new explanation for their activist Internal Revenue Service (IRS), we find out they took particular interest in the Verify the Recall effort which took place in Wisconsin during 2012. Two of the three groups involved in Verify the Recall experienced delays in receiving their non-profit status. More ominously, the IRS asked at least one other conservative organization, in another state, about their relationship with the effort. The North East Tarrant Texas Tea Party...

To wit: Let's roll back a few years to the day my mother was attacked at her volunteer job at the Republican Party HQ in Appleton Wisconsin. Her attacker was a known offender with a history of violence. He had barged in yelling obscenities over perceived offenses against him consisting of phonecalls (like we all get at campaigning time). Luckily all the man did manage to do was knock her down then storm off. He was arrested the same afternoon as eyewitnesses knew who he was. (Had I been there he would have been the next recipient of a knockdown...

Shortly after Barack Obama won reelection in November, New Jersey governor Chris Christie pointed out that Republicans’ cloudy political prospects had a bright silver lining. “One of the reasons you have 30 Republican governors in America, and why we’re the only organization to add Republican strength,” Christie said, “is because people see us getting things done.” Christie’s stance countered most of the elite postelection commentary, which gleefully pronounced the Republican Party’s political irrelevance. But the governor was right. Since Obama first took office in 2008, Republicans have picked up a net nine governorships, bringing their total to 30 states,...

EAU CLAIRE, Wis.—Things only got better for the western Wisconsin teen with Down syndrome who escorted Miss Minnesota USA to his junior prom. Besides his dream date with Danielle Hooper Saturday, Menomonie High School junior Charlie Gainey was elected prom king. Charlie's date with Hooper was arranged by a mutual friend who has a child that swims with Charlie on a Special Olympics team. Charlie wore his grandfather's tuxedo for big event...

For more than a decade after they moved into their house in Neenah, Wisconsin, the Zwick family knew they had a Cold War bunker in their backyard. It was not until 2010 that anyone thought to open the heavy steel hatch, climb down the ladder and explore the 8-foot-by-10-foot chamber that the home's previous owner had built to protect his family from a nuclear attack. Floating in five feet of water that had seemed into the bunker were sealed U.S. Army boxed packed with all of the supplies a family would need to survive two weeks underground.

Police called after woman sees kittens having sex in her yard Sure, cats aren’t for everyone. But we can’t remember the last time someone called the police to complain about a pair of kittens. But that’s exactly what happened in Wisconsin on Thursday when a woman called police after she reportedly witnessed two kittens “having sex” in her front yard. As ridiculous as that sounds, it’s not the only recent time someone has called 911 to report on a cat. Back in February, a Washington State man called 911 to report on a stray cat that had wandered into his...

I wrote recently how teachers unions, parent-teacher associations and school bureaucrats form an education "Blob" that makes it hard to improve schools. They also take revenge on those who work around the Blob. Here's one more sad example: Ben Chavis, founder and principal of the American Indian Public Charter Schools, got permission to compete with the Blob in Oakland, Calif. Chavis vowed, "We'll outperform the other schools in five years." He did. Kids at the three schools he runs now have some of the highest test scores in California. His schools excel even though the government spends less on...

He doesn't get the attention of the Sunday talk shows, or Washington's political elite, but the Midwest's dragon slayer, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, is emerging in some Republican circles as the surprising favorite to win the GOP nomination for president in 2016. Untainted by scandal, far from Washington's voter-frustrating gridlock, and reinvigorated by his victory over foes who staged a recall vote, the conservative Walker is also viewed as the best candidate to sop up the Midwest white vote which, had Mitt Romney done better there, would have catapulted him into the Oval Office. But the best part in the...

Probably the most bracing aspect of Ira Katznelson's new history of the New Deal, Fear Itself, is his portrait of the marriage of progressive domestic policy and white supremacy. I knew the outlines of this stuff, but for a flaming commie like me, the extent of the embrace is hard to take: Far more enduring was the New Deal's intimate partnership with those in the South who preached white supremacy. For this whole period -- the last in American history when public racism was legitimate in speech and action -- southern representatives acted not on the fringes but as an...

There is some very good news from Wisconsin. Republican Governor Scott Walker is winning his war with the state’s public employee unions. When Walker stepped into the political ring to battle his state’s powerful government workers’ unions no one gave him much chance of surviving, let alone winning. Walker’s efforts have been startling. He has succeeded beyond what anyone could have foreseen. Wisconsin’s American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 40 has seen its members steadily jump over its plantation walls since Walker...

Eighth-graders in Wisconsin’s Union Grove school district were assigned to fill out a “Liberalism vs. Conservatism” crossword puzzle, and they learned some new and very questionable “facts.” Students learned conservatism is “the political belief of preserving traditional moral values by restricting personal freedoms … ” Conversely, they learned liberalism is “the political belief of equality and personal freedom for everyone, often changing the current system to increase government protection of civil liberties.” See the photos here. The crossword puzzle was part of a civics assignment that was forwarded to EAGnews by Tamara Varebrook, a local conservative activist whose eighth-grade daughter...

A mother at a Wisconsin public school said her daughter’s eighth grade class was assigned a worksheet with some eyebrow-raising definitions for “conservatism” and “liberalism.” Conservatism, it stated in part, believes in “preserving traditional moral values by restricting personal freedoms” while liberalism is for “equality and personal freedom for everyone.” “This is indoctrination,” Tamra Varebrook, a Republican activist in Racine, Wis., told TheBlaze on Thursday after her 13-year-old daughter showed her the crossword-style vocabulary sheet from Union Grove Elementary School earlier this week. Varebrook first talked about the assignment with the news arm of the conservative Education Action Group. Varebrook...

Bill Ayers is one strange guy. Ayers was one of the founders of the radical 1960's group the Weather Underground. His group was responsible for bombing the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol and a New York police station as a way of protesting American involvement in the Vietnam War. He is also credited with launching the political career of President Barack Obama. They lived in the same neighborhood, their wives worked together, and Ayers hosted a fundraiser for a young Obama back in 1995. Ayers has long been unrepentant about his anti government activities during the 1960’s, despite the fact that...

Milwaukee County's David A. Clarke Jr. apparently is far from the only sheriff taking a stand against tougher gun control measures proposed in the wake of the Newtown school shooting. A group called the Constitutional Sheriff and Peace Officers Association says 408 sheriffs have "vowed to uphold and defend the Constitution" against President Obama's proposals. A group called the Second Amendment Sisters linked to the CSPOA list, which includes a posting by Clarke saying those who want gun control have "the mindset of sheep." Two other Wisconsin sheriffs are on the list: Dale Schmidt of Washington County and Jeff Rickaby...

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - An illegal immigrant was convicted Monday of public assistance fraud in Green Bay. Graciela Antonio illegally received $25,416 in taxpayer-funded public assistance for food and medical bills over three years. According to court documents, the 29-year-old Antonio, who lived in Green Bay, has three children. “Really the victims are the community at large,” said Kate Zuidmulder, assistant district attorney for Brown County. County workers discovered Antonio’s family should have been ineligible for public assistance, because she was employed under a fake name at American Foods, making $12.65 an hour. Her husband was also seasonally employed...

More than two years after Scott Walker’s showdown with organized labor in Wisconsin, the official numbers for the state’s public sector union membership are in — and they are down. Way down. According a Labor Department filing made last week, membership at Wisconsin’s American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 40 — one of AFSCME’s four branches in the state — has gone from the 31,730 it reported in 2011, to 29,777 in 2012, to just 20,488 now. That’s a drop of more than 11,000 — about a third — in just two years. The council represents city...

Ever since Asian carp were accidentally introduced into U.S. rivers in the 1970s, the invasive fish have been hungrily making their way to the Great Lakes, causing residents of the watershed to dread the arrival of carp in delicate Lake ecosystems, and their potential impacts on the 7 billion dollar fishing industry that represents a major economic driver for the region. Now, a new study suggests that Asian carp have breached southern Lake Michigan, although they have not yet arrived in numbers great enough to devastate native ecosystems. Scientists at Notre Dame University, Southern Michigan University, and The Nature Conservancy...

A 15-year old student at Appleton North Highschool in Appleton, Wisconsin, is claiming that he was bullied by faculty members for being a conservative. Now, the school district has launched an investigation into Benji Backer’s accusations and are taking the claims “seriously.” Backer told Fox News that he has had to endure name-calling and harassment as well as watch other students be indoctrinated. According to Backer, the tensions began to mount when he was 12, during Governor Scott Walker’s battle with the unions and liberals’ unsuccessful re-call bid. Since then, Backer claims that teachers denigrated Walker and labeled Republicans as...

Elected city officials with concealed carry licenses would be exempt from an ordinance banning weapons in city-owned buildings, under an ordinance amendment approved 13-0 Tuesday by the City Council’s Committee of the Whole. The state’s concealed carry law went into effect in November 2011. Just before it went into place, Mayor John Dickert issued an executive order banning anyone other than law enforcement officers from bringing a gun or any other weapon into City Hall or other city-owned buildings. On Feb. 20 the Committee of the Whole recommended 8-2 that the executive order be codified by drafting an ordinance. When...

Mayors Against Illegal Guns continues its push for commonsense gun law reforms today with a new ad and research highlighting the disturbing link between violence against women and guns. The ad features Elvin Daniel, a gun owner and NRA member whose sister Zina Daniel was murdered in the Brookfield, Wisconsin, spa shooting in October 2012. Several days after she obtained a restraining order against her violent estranged husband – which made him a prohibited purchaser – he bought a semiautomatic handgun from a private online seller without a background check, which he used the next day to murder her and...

DANE County Referendum on ballot for Tuesday, April 2: Should the state of Wisconsin continue to allow people to register to vote at the polss on Election Day?

MOUNT HOREB, Wis. - A Mount Horeb police officer arrested on suspicion of sexual assault of a child in Madison has resigned, according to the Mount Horeb police department. Dennis P. Jenks, 44, told police he tried to confirm the age of the 14-year-old boy he admits to having sexual contact with, according to a criminal complaint. Madison police arrested Jenks at his home in the 6600 block of Raymond Road on Madison's far west side Feb. 13. Jenks was on unpaid suspension during the investigation. He was a lieutenant and had been with the department since 2000. The criminal...

Graham Greene’s observation has lost none of its salience in 50 years: innocence remains “like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world, meaning no harm.” The latest illustration comes from Wisconsin, where the state’s Department of Public Instruction website devotes a page to “Power and Privilege.” Caucasians who volunteer in the state’s AmeriCorps VISTA antipoverty programs are instructed to “set aside sections of the day to critically examine how privilege works”; “put a note on your mirror or computer screen as a reminder to think about privilege”; and, in order to underline white guilt, “find a...

Bill Maher made a comment Friday that his benefactor and hero Barack Obama should sit up and take notice of.

~ Wisconsin ~ If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 38 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you might live in Wisconsin. If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights each year because Rice Lake is the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Wisconsin. If you have ever refused to buy something because it's "too pricey," you might live in Wisconsin. If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Wisconsin. If...

How was it possible that Scott Walker was able to beat back so many challenges and build his reputation as a “union killer” in a state like Wisconsin, yet Mitt Romney still lost there, even with a popular Paul Ryan as his running mate? It happened because while the Democrats in Wisconsin and other states are turning on each other, they will stop fighting long enough to re-elect Democrat Barack Obama. This political reality has developed because the rank and file Democrats, who are being forced to work harder to fund the pensions of their “union brothers and sisters” have...

Wisconsin Education Officials Want Students to Wear ‘White Privilege’ Wristbands The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction runs several programs that heavily emphasize racial issues in public schools, EAGnews.org has been finding. Some feel that one of those programs – an Americorps operation called VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) – may go a bit overboard by encouraging white students to wear a white wristband "as a reminder about your (white) privilege.” Geared towards high school students, the program “seeks to build capacity in schools and districts serving low-income families to develop an effective, sustainable, research-based program of family-school-community partnerships,” according...

MADISON – The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction runs several programs that heavily emphasize racial issues in public schools. white privilege and prejudiceSome feel that one of those programs – an Americorps operation called VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) – may go a bit overboard by encouraging white students to wear a white wristband “as a reminder about your (white) privilege.” Geared towards high school students, the program “seeks to build capacity in schools and districts serving low-income families to develop an effective, sustainable, research-based program of family-school-community partnerships,” according to its Facebook page. That sounds reasonable enough. But...

In the months following the Sandy Hook school massacre, Wisconsin Democrats moved to restrict access to firearms and ammunition. Those efforts included the drafting of a bill in the state Assembly by Reps. Frederick Kessler, Evan Goyke and Mandela Barnes, all Milwaukee Democrats. Among other things, the bill would restrict sales and possession of hollow-point bullets, a type of ammunition that expands on impact and creates even larger wounds. Authorities said Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook killer, used bullets designed to inflict maximum damage by breaking up in a victim’s body. Kessler argued banning such bullets would give the victims...

New Jersey’s governor has branded them “political thugs.” A former federal education official has likened them to terrorists. Less vilified in Kansas than some other parts of the country, those teachers unions still find their clout under attack in the Legislature. The battle over teachers unions has marched its way across the country. Ohio. Michigan. Wisconsin. Idaho. And now it’s in Kansas, greeted by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and his conservative allies in the Legislature. Lawmakers are moving to undercut the tenuous power of teachers unions by barring them from using voluntary paycheck deductions for politics. And they’re going after...

A new Quinnipiac University poll found that Hillary Clinton would trounce any of the top three Republican 2016 contenders, but Vice President Joe Biden would lose to Christie, struggle against Ryan, and defeat Rubio. If the election were held today, former Sec. of State Clinton would have an easy time against either Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, or Paul Ryan. Clinton would defeat Sen. Marco Rubio 50%-34%. She would also win by double digits over Rep. Paul Ryan 50%-38. The Republican that would give her the most trouble is the one that the conservative base likes the least. Clinton would defeat...

I realize this is a dangerous article:  recommending three cardinals who might be the best selections to replace Pope Benedict XVI. It's called throwing the dice in some circles. Really, how can anyone know who the cardinals will elect? And even then, do any of us know enough about all of them to make a good judgment on who the Holy Spirit might choose for that heavy cross -- err, role? But still, I’d like to have a go at it just to know I tried, and if one of these are indeed picked, it would be rather exciting. These...

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke warned of a second American revolution if gun control and gun confiscation passed and said he would not enforce laws requiring confiscation in his county while speaking with Alex Jones, Infowars reported Tuesday. “First of all, to me that would be an act of tyranny," he said of the gun control measures currently under consideration. "So the people in Milwaukee County do not have to worry about me enforcing some sort of order that goes out and collects everybody’s handgun, or rifles, or any kind of firearm and makes them turn them in.” “The reason...

As we’ve reported several times before, one of the leading proponents of the teacher/political activist model is Bob Peterson, president of the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association. The outspoken union leader recently laid out his educational strategy during remarks to a gathering of the British Columbia Teacher Federation. His words are plain and his intentions are frighteningly clear. He wants schools to stop teaching kids how to think and start teaching them what to think. “We do care about people,” Peterson told his audience near the end if his presentation. “We wouldn’t have gone into teaching if we didn’t care about...