Free Republic

Two battles were joined this week, one on Capital Hill and another at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (the symbolic core of which is known as Bascom Hill). In both cases, free men who refused to be cowed struck back at overreaching tyrants. (a) The Battle of Capitol Hill As the Republicans and Democrats squared off on spending, World War II and Korean War vets were making their way to Washington, D.C. on Honor Flights, a charitable program to bring these folks to see the memorials to service members who fought... ~snip~ On hearing that the Obama administration intended to block...

MADISON — Here’s some good advice my daddy once told me: Try not to tick off a bear hunter. Words to live by. In Wisconsin, hunters of all stripes — bear hunters included — are applauding the state Department of Natural Resources’ decision to keep state properties open to hunting during the federal government’s partial shutdown. Last week, the National Park Service issued a directive demanding that the DNR close several state-owned properties, jointly run by federal and state agencies. The DNR effectively told the Park Service to go hunt itself, for a couple of important reasons: a) because a...

Milwaukee County would end health insurance coverage for some or all of its 4,400 employees and instead provide a subsidy toward individual coverage purchased through the new federal exchanges, under an idea floated in County Executive Chris Abele's 2014 budget.

A Wisconsin school district is apologizing after middle school students were shown a video that featured Hollywood celebrities pledging to be a servant to President Obama.“I pledge to be a servant to our president,” Demi Moore said in the “I Pledge,” video shown Wednesday at Hudson Middle School. The video was part of a number of Peace One Day activities, an international event to build peace awareness. The students were also invited to make their own pledges after viewing the video. But there was a big problem – the video conveyed the idea that Americans should serve the presidency instead...

The party is over, all their bluster ultimately meant nothing; and that’s as it should be. It took almost exactly a year to the day, but the party is over for our greedy union thug enemies in Wisconsin. Just last September 14, the gang at the Dailykos oh so gleefully reported that a Democrat hack judge in Madison had ruled the state’s law effectively ending, “.. collective bargaining rights for most public workers” was not constitutional and could not be enforced. Unions, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Juan Colas ruled, could go on eating their way to the bottom of...

The first eight-plus months of 2013 have convinced us of one thing: Rand Paul acts and the rest of the potential 2016 Republican presidential field reacts. On drones, Paul led a 13-hour-long filibuster that drew Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (among others) to the floor in support. On Syria, Paul was out front in his opposition to a military strike — a position that 30 of his Senate Republican colleagues shared as of this writing. Those 30 include both Rubio,who voted against the use-of-force resolution in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. ... Below are our rankings...

<p>WASHINGTON — It was bound to happen eventually. Two tea party allies angling for president can’t agree on everything, and Tuesday, a gaping foreign policy schism came into focus as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul went out of his way to critique Sen. Ted Cruz’s approach to Syria.</p>

The Kenosha Education Association (KEA), the state's third largest teachers union, was officially decertified on August 31, 2013 according to the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission. Mark Belling, who broke this story on Thursday, said that the decertification came after a recent vote by members in which only 37 percent voted to reauthorize the union. KEA is the largest teachers union to disband since Act 10 was signed into law in 2011. The union had 2,400 members according to their website. Act 10 limited collective bargaining rights for public employees and required public unions to have an annual vote to recertify....

Marco Rubio Sinking in New Hampshire 2016 Poll BY: KEVIN DERBY | Posted: August 7, 2013 8:59 AM The latest Granite State poll by WMUR and the University of New Hampshire was released late on Tuesday and it shows U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., sinking in New Hampshire, home of the first presidential primary. Rubio is expected to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. In recent months. Rubio has drawn fire from conservatives for his prominent role in supporting immigration reform. The poll finds New Hampshire Republicans divided on who they want to see as their party’s nominee...

Syria's butcher Bashir Assad could end up toppling British Prime Minister David Cameron and not the other way around, while also giving Russia a big boost back on to the Great Power stage and green lighting Tehran's most ambitious and sparky plans in its mountain tunnel complexes. Along the way he has exposed President Obama as feckless and fearful. The president and his team are scrambling to remind lawmakers of what the Commander-in-Chief ought to have long ago argued to the country: When the good guys blink, the bad guys notice. Lots and lots of blinking. Most of the people...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was met with enthusiastic cheers from an "adoring" audience during his address at a conservative summit on Saturday, the friendliest of any of the potential 2016 presidential hopefuls to speak at the Defending the Dream summit. The event, hosted by Americans for Prosperity, drew a handful of other conservative stars and would-be presidential contenders: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R ) and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R ) all spoke. But according to The Washington Post, none received so warm a welcome as Cruz. He was met with chants of "Run, Ted, run!"...

By Ilya Shapiro, Senior Fellow In Constitutional Sudies and Editor-In-Chief, Cato Supreme Court Review As we head into a potential government shutdown over the funding of Obamacare, the iconoclastic junior senator from Texas — love him or hate him — continues to stride across the national stage. With his presidential aspirations as big as everything in his home state, by now many know what has never been a secret: Ted Cruz was born in Canada. (Full disclosure: I’m Canadian myself, with a green card. Also, Cruz has been a friend since his days representing Texas before the Supreme Court.) But...

In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, the Republican Party will explode. When the smoke clears, there’ll be four (4!) new parties. First, there will still be the Republican Party, sort of, but it will change its name to the GOPPPP (Grand Old Party of Perennial Pathetic Putzes). The new name, though, won’t change the fact that the party has failed to win a majority of America’s voters in five of the past six elections or that it keep running candidates even its own members don’t like! It’s top contenders? Sen. Marco Rubio; Rep. Paul Ryan; Gov. Rick Perry;...

OTTAWA - U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, who says he recently discovered he is likely a Canadian, must win security clearance from Canada's spy agency, fill out a four-page form and then wait up to eight months to sever his ties to America's northern neighbor. Cruz, a Texas Republican who has fueled speculation that he may run for president in 2016, was born in Canada, which automatically makes him a citizen. On Monday he offered to renounce that citizenship. ... People giving up Canadian citizenship must prove they are or will become a citizen of another country, do not live in...

Earlier this week, CNN asked me to write an op-ed on Ted Cruz, and whether he’s a realistic contender for the presidency. My reaction: Of course he is — but probably not in 2016. And for that matter, neither are the Republicans who seem to get the most mention for that position: No one doubts that Cruz has a bright future in the Republican Party, but that doesn’t mean the future is now.Cruz, like Rubio and Rand Paul, have only barely arrived on the national stage and are many years younger than their sell-by date. None of the three has...

The mainstream media refuses to give it up. ABC News is trying to fool people into believing that Sarah Palin will be a presidential candidate. Check out this graphic and see it for yourself. Before RNC Chairman Reince Priebus was interviewed on This Week, ABC aired a pre-recorded video package with the announcer saying at the end, “There’s no shortage of prospective Republican candidates, and that makes it even more challenging for the party to resolve its ideological divide.” So let’s take a look at who ABC News thinks is a potential Republican presidential candidate: Ted Cruz? Check. Donald Trump?...

CNN’s Erin Burnett found herself confronted with the idea of Rand Paul as a “rabid spider monkey,” after a guest on her show used the imagery to describe the Kentucky senator in a fight. While discussing the feud with Gov. Chris Christie, Burnett’s guest, Hogan Gidley, a former communications director for Rick Santorum pointed out that Rand Paul refused to be bullied. “What’s fascinating to me here is Rand Paul saying, bring it on and if you come at me, I’m going to come at you like a rabid spider monkey, and he hit him right in the face,” Gidley...

The senator steals a march on potential 2016 rivals. By Robert Costa The early dynamics of the 2016 Republican presidential-primary contest were jolted on the morning of Friday, July 19, in a ballroom on the third floor of the Marriott hotel in downtown Des Moines. It was there, in front of coffee-sipping pastors, that Senator Ted Cruz of Texas wowed the kingmakers of the Iowa caucuses for the first time. Without notes and ignoring the podium, he roamed the carpeted dais for nearly an hour, quoting Scripture and musing about the Democrats and their occasional affinity for Satan. The reception...

Our most recent rating of Republican presidential contenders features a top tier of three notably different candidates: A Midwestern governor (Scott Walker) who is known best by the activists who will help decide the nomination; a leading national figure (Chris Christie) who has irked conservatives; and a firebrand senator (Rand Paul) with devoted supporters who would shake up the party’s platform and, perhaps, identity.Chart 1: Updated Crystal Ball Republican presidential rankings First Tier Candidate Key Advantages Key Disadvantages Since Last Update Scott WalkerGovernor, WI •Midwest GOP gov. in Obama state •Heroic conservative credentials •Shown political durability •Too bland? Next Pawlenty?...

While “A Tale of Two Cities” focused on London and Paris, if Charles Dickens were writing political novels in the present day, he might choose to examine Wisconsin and Minnesota as “A Tale of Two States.” The historical election results of 2010 have had an undeniable contrasting impact in these two states that both the mainstream media and political prognosticators are beginning to grasp. In the 2010 midterm elections, Republicans realized unparalleled success, particularly in the Great Lakes states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin where Republican gubernatorial candidates were elected along with Republican majorities in legislative chambers. The...

Sen. Ted Cruz hasn’t said whether he has presidential ambitions, but Sunday he won one of the first straw polls for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. The Texas Republican captured 45 percent of the 504 votes cast by attendees at the Western Conservative Summit, a day after drawing several standing ovations during his luncheon speech at the fourth annual conference. “We shall see what sort of crystal ball summiteers have in awarding that decisive nod to Sen. Ted Cruz, who was so magnificent from this platform,” said John Andrews, founder of the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University, which hosted...

Via Mediaite, he’s making a point about inexperience. I’m … just not sure which point. It’s true, Obama had little experience as a federal legislator (and zippo as an executive) before running for president, and look how little he’s accomplished. But is that a function of “inexperience� or a function of other variables, like greater partisan polarization and Obama’s disdain for doing the sort of congressional outreach needed to pass bills? Rubio and Paul will each have served a few years more than Obama did in the Senate by election day 2016. They each also have some cred in working...

Paul needled him last night on Hannity’s show for taking a “gimme, gimme, gimme” attitude towards federal spending on Sandy relief. Here’s Christie needling him back by accusing Paul and his home state of Kentucky of being a couple of deadbeats: “I find it interesting that Sen. Paul is accusing us of having a ‘gimme, gimme, gimme’ attitude towards federal spending when in fact New Jersey is a donor state and we get 61 cents back on every dollar we send to Washington,” Christie said. “And interestingly, Kentucky gets $1.51 on every dollar they send to Washington. So if Sen....

A somewhat offbeat sport, bowfishing resembles archery, except fishermen wield a hefty bow to target fish. Wisconsin has a regulation for that. Some fish are off-limits, but the restrictions aren’t always the same statewide, said Wilhelmson, a regional representative of the Wisconsin Bowfishing Association. “I’d like to be able to shoot catfish and I’d like to see the restrictions lifted from other parts of the state,” he said. The state’s bowfishing regulations, he said, are “goofy,” which aptly describes much of Wisconsin’s administrative code, key lawmakers say. Nursing homes, for instance, can be fined if the orange juice is off...

The next presidential election is more than three years away, but early polling shows Hillary Rodham Clinton leading the Democratic pack by a landslide margin, with a whopping 63 per cent of Democrats telling pollsters that they would vote for the former first lady and Secretary of State. Vice President Joe Biden came in second with 13 per cent support - barely one-fifth of Clinton's showing. The GOP field is anyone's game, however, with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie only garnering 15 per cent support among Republicans to narrowly lead the pack. He's followed by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, Florida...

Hillary Clinton and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are running neck-and-neck in a potential 2016 presidential match-up in Iowa, according to a new poll Monday. Each was supported by 41 percent of voters in Iowa surveyed in the Quinnipiac poll. In a match-up with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Clinton was on top, 46 percent to 39 percent. Vice President Joe Biden trailed both Christie and Walker, 32 percent to 49 percent for Christie and 39 percent to 42 percent for Walker. The poll also found that President Barack Obama’s disapproval rating was at 55 percent, and only 40 percent of...

Remember all those dire predictions about the damage Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s public employee union contract reforms would do? Remember the angst of Wisconsin’ teachers and other “vital workers” over what they saw as the end of the line for their cushy jobs and control over their state? Well they were right to be worried. They are getting crushed and put out of existence. Now that two years have passed and the dust has settled, it’s safe to say the union protestors who filled the legislative offices and camped out in Wisconsin’s state capital were actually optimistic. The results of...

Wisconsin's public employees are leaving their unions in droves, which should be no surprise: With passage of Act 10 in 2011, public unions in the Badger State lost many of their reasons for being. The "budget-repair bill" pushed through the Legislature by Republicans and signed into law by Gov. Scott Walker limited bargaining to wages only, and then only up to the cost of living; it also required unions to recertify each year and barred the automatic collection of union dues. Relying on federal financial records, the Journal Sentinel's Dan Bice found union membership has declined by 50% or more...

Some unions' finances also suffer after Scott Walker curtails powers Gov. Scott Walker's signature plan to slash collective bargaining has set off a Darwinian struggle for survival among Wisconsin's public employee unions. In the two years since Walker's plan became law, tens of thousands of teachers and state and local workers have dropped out of their unions, according to a Journal Sentinel analysis of little-used federal financial records. No labor group has been hit harder than the one representing Milwaukee city and county workers. In 2010 — the year that Walker was elected governor — the American Federation of State,...

MADISON – The conclusion is succinct.“Wisconsin teacher unions currently have substantial resources from their members and have been an active force in Wisconsin state politics,” wrote the authors of the “How Strong Are U.S. Teachers Unions” report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an advocate for education reform.“But recent legislation, which sharply erodes their collective bargaining rights, likely heralds an era of diminished strength for public unions in general, and teacher unions in particular in the Badger State.” IN THE BEGINNING: Hallis Mallen, of Madison, Wis., takes part in a January 2012 Recall Walker rally at the Wisconsin State Capitol....

The Verify The Recall project certainly drove the Left in Wisconsin crazy. The citizen led compilation of recall signatures from 2011 and 2012 created a virtual and searchable database of Wisconsinites supporting the recall.   The crowd-sourced project resulted in transparency investigations on the media, law enforcement, the justice system, and saw more than a few school board members, county board, and judges lose elections as a result of their recall signature.   And now the Left, threatened by the success of the recall database has created a counterfeit site to insult and berate the transparency project as fascist....

MILWAUKEE – Tom Barrett presides over a $1.42 billion budget and a “company” with some 8,300 employees, but with all that responsibility the Milwaukee mayor only ranks seventh on the list of top paid city employees with $145,635 annual earnings. Perhaps more striking, his estimated $2.86 million lifetime pension also ranks seventh among his Milwaukee peers, according to a new report by Taxpayers United of America. Those figures demonstrate how the public pension system is simply unsustainable, say members of that group. BIG MONEY: Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett stands to collect millions in from his public retirement pension. TUA estimates...

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed an abortion regulation bill into law that if enacted would be similar to the controversial measure being debated in Texas. Senate Bill 206, also called "Sonya's Law," would among other things require an ultrasound before an abortion and cut down the number of abortion-providing facilities in the state. Walker signed SB 206 into law on Friday and was almost immediately sued by Wisconsin abortion providers questioning its constitutionality. Susan Armacost, legislative director for Wisconsin Right to Life, told The Christian Post that they "greatly appreciate Governor Walker's support for Wisconsin's new law." "He understands that...

In a remarkable turn, the growing investigation of a powerful local union is turning up evidence of likely financial abuse by the labor group's top staffers during last year's attempted recall of Gov. Scott Walker. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 — which represents bus drivers in Milwaukee County and elsewhere — is the subject of a sweeping investigation by the parent union and the U.S. Department of Labor. Already, the Washington, D.C.-based ATU ousted Alan Simonis as president of the local and Patrick Clemens as its secretary-treasurer for "financial malfeasance and nonfeasance while in office." The two can appeal...

Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker is refuting a local newspaper’s report that he has endorsed the Senate immigration reform bill. The governor’s office told the Weekly Standard: “Governor Walker has not endorsed any specific policy.”

Let me be the first to say it: Consider this RINO purged.No, no, I’m kidding. We’re still recovering from the trauma of Marco “Tea Party” Rubio deciding that Chuck Schumer has some really awesome ideas on immigration. We’re in no condition to write off any other potential 2016 heroes. (To which I quickly add: Most conservatives haven’t written off Rubio either.) Quote: “If people want to come here and work hard and benefit, I don’t care whether they come from Mexico or Ireland or Germany or Canada or South Africa or anywhere else,” Walker said Tuesday during an interview with...

<p>Scott Walker, the prominent Republican governor of Wisconsin, has endorsed a path to citizenship for immigrant workers, in comments that come amid uncertain prospects for the immigration overhaul on Capitol Hill.</p> <p>A significant percentage of Wisconsin farmers depend on migrant workers, many of whom are currently undocumented – a fact Mr. Walker acknowledged in an interview with the Daily Herald Media (Wausau, Wis.) Editorial Board published late Tuesday. Mr. Walker, who last June became the first governor in American history to survive a recall election, said he supports allowing anyone into the country who wants to “work hard and benefit.”</p>

Immigration Reform Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush …, a longtime advocate of comprehensive immigration reform, said in a statement that the Senate vote was a “strong step for meaningful immigration reform and encouraging legal immigration for those that want to contribute to a better America.” …New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has called for tighter border controls and a pathway to citizenship for legal immigrants. …Texas Gov. Rick Perry … has steadfastly opposed a border fence, saying it would take 10 to 15 years to build, cost $30 billion and wouldn’t work. …Gay Marriage In a speech in June, (Jeb) Bush...

Madison – Senate Republicans passed the state budget by a one-vote margin just after midnight Friday as the state schools superintendent raised concerns a little-noticed provision could lead to a flood of students attending private schools at taxpayer expense. The budget passed 17-16, with Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) joining all Democrats in opposing it. The budget now goes to Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who can alter it using his vast line-item veto powers. The budget would cut income taxes by $651 million and create a new statewide program that would allow children who meet income thresholds to use taxpayer...

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.

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...

Following the disastrous 2012 elections, in which Republicans had their clocks cleaned, party leadership hunkered down in Washington to think things over. Out of earshot of our mothers, we might call it a ‘Come to Jesus’ meeting. Publicly, it was called a “rebranding effort”, and the end result was a lengthy report dubbed the Growth & Opportunity Project, containing recommendations on everything from messaging to coalition building to campaign mechanics and the growing technology gap with Democrats. ...Tucked deep inside this document, however, on page 53, is perhaps the real answer to the Republican Party’s woes. Filed by the RNC...

<p>Madison (WQOW) - In a straight party line vote, state Republicans reject billions in funds to expand Medicaid. Tuesday afternoon, the state's budget committee rejected accepting federal funds to expand Medicaid for the next six years.</p> <p>"I cannot fathom why this decision was made in the way that it was," says Rep. Dana Wachs, (D-91st Assembly District).</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...

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...

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...

Madison — Requiring basic job training from able-bodied participants in the state's food stamp program would cause about half of them to drop out of the program — a total of tens of thousands of people statewide and 14,500 in just Milwaukee. The new projections come from the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office, which last week released its analysis of Gov. Scott Walker's plan to require 62,700 able-bodied adults without children in Wisconsin FoodShare to attend bare-bones job training. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau puts the total cost for that at $35.8 million over two years, including $16.8 million for state payers.The...

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...

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,...

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...