GET ME REWRITE: White male GOP leadership in Wisconsin gets distracted over possible loss of their rigged maps

 

Photos:  Wisconsin Senate, Wisconsin  Assembly

Headline:  Pro Publica, 9/23/2023

The redrawing of the 73rd District and its implications are emblematic of the extreme gerrymandering that defines Wisconsin — where maps have been drawn in irregular and disconnected shapes over the last two decades, helping Republicans seize and keep sweeping power. 

That gerrymandering, which stands out even in a country where the practice is regularly employed by both major parties, fuels Wisconsin power dynamics. And that has drawn national attention because of the potential impact on abortion rights for people across the state and voting policies that could affect the outcome of the next presidential election.  [emphasis added]

The new maps have given Wisconsin Republicans the leeway to move aggressively on perceived threats to their power. The GOP-controlled Senate recently voted to fire the state’s nonpartisan elections chief, Meagan Wolfe, blaming her for pandemic-era voting rules that they claim helped Joe Biden win the state in 2020. A legal battle over Wolfe’s firing now looms.

\

You'll find support for fair maps here.

Related posts:

September 2023

White male GOP leadership in Wisconsin ignores child care crisis.  (9/20)

Wisconsin white male GOP leadership offers huge subsidy for Milwaukee Brewers but nothing for child care.  (9/19)

White male GOP leadership in Wisconsin flex their pecs.  (9/18)

Power-mad Wisconsin GOP willing to do anything to maintain its gerrymandered majorities in the Senate and Assembly.  (9/8)

Wisconsin GOP leadership offers child care proposal based on mansplaining.  (9/5)

August 2023. 

Wisconsin GOP comes up with a laughably inadequate plan to address child care crisis.  (8/31)

Wisconsin GOP legislative leadership lives in a mixed-up, shook-up world when it comes to youth priorities.  (8/19)

Wisconsin GOP legislative leadership pays lip service to hardworking families.  (8/18)

Wisconsin GOP white male legislative leaders continue to freak out over legal marijuana.  (8/14)

Wisconsin white male GOP leadership into clean energy.  (8/12)

Wisconsin GOP legislative leaders show off their family-unfriendly side.  (8/9)

The party of NO, even when it comes to children and families.  (8/8)

July 2023

Wisconsin GOP leadership dutifully does the bidding of billionaires and imports anti-worker legislation from Florida.  (7/12)

The white male party of NO NO NO NO NO.  (7/9)

June 2023

GOP leaders continue their extended University of Wisconsin System funding hissy fit. (6/28)

GOP white men in the Wisconsin state legislature have their own sense of diversity.  (6/22)

Wisconsin GOP punishes hard-working families by refusing to address state's child-care crisis.  (6/22)

Wisconsin Republicans pull the rug out from under hard-working families.  )(6/21/2023)

Wisconsin GOP works to suppress the vote and disenfranchise voters.  (6/20/2021)

The next time the Wisconsin GOP talks about supporting hard-working families, ask them about their lack of support for child care.  (6/17/2023)

See Wisconsin GOP leadership in full flower of racism and misogyny.  (6/13)

Wisconsin GOP leadership puts a pox on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.  (6/11)

Your Wisconsin GOP at work:  Gas-powered machines a top priority.  (6/7)

Bashing public education, promoting discrimination, part 3.  (6/1)

May 2023

Bashing public education, promoting discrimination, part 2.  (5/31)

Bashing public education, promoting discrimination, part 1.  (5/28)

Family leave freakout.  (5/23/2023)

Here's the legacy the "lock-'em-up" prison mentality of Wisconsin's GOP legislative leaders.  (5/23)

Wisconsin GOP legislative leaders show their true colors with efforts to defund campus diversity offices.  (5/21/)

Wisconsin GOP legislative leaders decide transgender athlete ban is top priority.  (5/11)

Wisconsin GOP remain in Dark Ages when it comes to legalization of marijuana.  (5/3)

Local control?  It's the Wisconsin GOP favorite toilet seat!  (5/2)

April 2023

Wisconsin GOP fights crime and inflation with dog whistle legislation.  (4/26)

Wisconsin GOP leadership fights crime and inflation by putting up barriers to health care.  (4/17)

Wisconsin GOP leadership blows on the unemployment benefits dog whistle.  (4/11)

March 2023

Your Wisconsin GOP state legislative leadership at work (transgender assault edition).  (3/26)

Wisconsin GOP leadership remains adamantly opposed to reproductive rights.  (3/22)

Wisconsin GOP leadership promotes a no transparency workplace.  (3/21)

Wisconsin GOP leadership drags its heels on legalization while residents go elsewhere to buy weed.  (3/17)

February 2023

Wisconsin GOP leadership fights crime and inflation by ignoring Black priorities and promoting voter suppression.  (2/15)

Wacky white Wisconsin GOP boys club once against demonstrates its inability to govern.  (2/12)

Time for Wisconsin GOP legislative leadership to step up and ban discriminatory housing covenants.  (2/10)

Spineless Wisconsin GOP leadership unable to build support for medical marijuana.  (2/1)

2022
Wisconsin GOP shows off the diversity of its legislative leadership.  (12/21)

With another heated Wisconsin election around the corner, Republicans delude themselves into thinking they can defuse abortion as an issue.  (12/7)

It took all of 15 seconds for these 6 white guys -- the Wisconsin GOP legislative leadership -- to slam the door on reproductive rights.  (10/4)

Environmental Protection is a low priority for the all-white, all-male Wisconsin GOP leadership.  (10/1)

Wisconsin GOP leadership encourages its political appointees not to play by the rules.  (9/30)

Reproductive rights? Fuggedaboudit! What else would you expect from these Wisconsin GOP Gomers? (8/27)

Meet the 4 lapdog judges on the Wisconsin Supreme Court at the beck and call of the GOP. (7/11)

Distrust of elections? What about contempt for Wisconsin's all-white, all-male GOP leadership?. (3/28)

Apparently, the all-white, all-male Wisconsin GOP leadership must think they're something special.  (3/8)

2020 pandemic road trip to from Wisconsin to Montana: Chapter 3

Photos by Retiring Guy

Next Stop, Rapid City

Friday, September 18, 2020  

During our roads trips, I tend to pay less attention to what is going on in the world. The biggest change is that I don’t have access to the print edition of the New York Times, which is my primary source of current events. I still receive news feeds from various sources — the Times, Wisconsin State Journal, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — but usually I don’t take in more than the headlines and read the opening paragraph. 

So I’m not totally out of the loop. I’m aware that someone referred to Trump’s current behavior as deranged — Really? You just figured this out now? — and that Wisconsin just recorded its largest ever number of Covid cases (2,034). According to the New York Times tracking, 8 of the top 20 cities with the largest percentage increase in new cases are located in Wisconsin. Two years ago, a national survey on drinking revealed that 8 of the 20 drunkest cities are located in Wisconsin. 

Any relationship between these two rankings? I suspect there is. Most of the cities on both lists are college towns. 

Most of our driving on day 2 of our trip took place on I-90 in South Dakota. The closer we got to Rapid City, the more western the landscape became. A rest stop just east of the Missouri River bridge crossing provided one of many spectacular views of the day. 

We slowed down the pace once we turned into the Badlands scenic loop, where we stopped at most of the overlooks. The first one allowed us to walk around what felt like a moonscape. The area was not handicapped accessible, by any means, but at least one family pushed a baby stroller. Not sure how that this bumpy excursion was going for the kid. At another overlook, we were part of a socially distanced group of people that spotted, from afar, a pronghorn. The animal started moving toward us at a moderate place. We quickly took our pictures and retreated to the parking lot. No one wanted to mess with an animal with horns. The frequent stops allowed us to accumulate steps – nearly 15,000, according to JoAnna’s Apple watch, as we walked over rough terrain and, at some locations, down and up steps. It also broke up what was another 8 hours in the car. 

We made a brief visit at Wall Drug Store, the infamous tourist trap at the western edge of the Badlands. I reluctantly suggested it, as JoAnna had never been there. I checked it out during a 1983 road trip There. I checked it out during a 1983 road trip to Washington with Paul Stearns. I don’t think we did much more than walk in and out. We were both underwhelmed. I can’t picture what the interior of the store looked like back then, but I don’t remember it having a mini-mall arrangement with lots of individual vendors, a seriously unCovid layout. 

The store wasn’t packed, but there was a steady flow of foot traffic for this time of year, and parking was at a premium in the vicinity of the store. I’d estimate that no more than 30% of the people milling around wore a mask, which made us feel both uncomfortable and unsafe. We made our visit short. 

After checking into our Rapid City hotel and putting our feet up for a half hour, we headed to Mount Rushmore, a half hour drive south of the city that took us into the scenic Black Hills. The major advantage of an off-season visit is the availability of plenty of parking within a very short walk to the entrance. The sculpture is a magnificent work of art, but there really isn’t much else to do there. Not during a short visit like ours, anyway. We walked the Presidential Trail, a 0.6-mile path that meanders along a combination of paved path and

boardwalk, including nearly 500 stairs, through a pine forests. It affords a variety of up-close and sometimes neck-craning views of the four presidents. (Isn’t is amazing how lifelike the irises of Abe Lincoln’s eyes look? I guess it will depend on how well the photo reproduces on a sheet of paper.) Back in Rapid City, we found a Mexican restaurant, with patio seating, located in a very healthy-looking downtown business district. Not an empty storefront to be found.

Read about the entire trip

Chapter 1

Chapter 2 

And check out "Covid Chronicles" here.

Texas, Florida, and Missouri are book banning leaders of the pack

 

\

PEN America

The 2022-23 school year has been marked to date by an escalation of book bans and censorship in classrooms and school libraries across the United States. PEN America recorded more book bans during the fall 2022 semester than in each of the prior two semesters. This school year also saw the effects of new state laws that censor ideas and materials in public schools, an extension of the book banning movement initiated in 2021 by local citizens and advocacy groups. Broad efforts to label certain books “harmful” and “explicit” are expanding the type of content suppressed in schools. 

Again, and again, the movement to ban books is driven by a vocal minority demanding censorship. At the same time, a 2022 poll found that over 70% of parents oppose book banning. Yet the bans continue. Many public school districts find themselves in a bind. They face threats and political pressure, along with parental fears and anxieties surrounding the books on their school shelves. School Boards, administrators, teachers, and librarians are told in some cases to “err on the side of caution” in the books they make available. Too often, they do just that.  [emphasis added]

Related posts:

Tender Sensibilities:  American Enterprise Institute clown freaks out over use of the word 'penis' in a memoir!  (9/13/2023)

What's the matter with Iowa?  GOP hypocrisy and Kimmi the Clown's crackpot education policies.  (8/10/2023)

Wisconsin GOP legislators fight crime and inflation with bill to ban 'dirty books'.  (5/11/2023)

Iowa GOP fights crime and inflation by banning books.  (2/14/2023)