Free Republic

Wisconsin’s State Assembly approved legislation last week that puts in place new rules about what recipients of food stamps may purchase with the benefits. Assembly Bill 177 would limit the types of food that could be purchased with Wisconsin’s food stamp program, FoodShare.In addition to banning the purchase of foods such as lobster with the publicly-funded program, the legislation would also require that just over two-thirds of the benefits be used to purchase healthy foods:“Under this bill, DHS [Department of Health Services] must require that not less than 67 percent of the SNAP benefits used by a recipient in a...

“Clinton Cash” author Peter Schweizer said that he is ” finding some interesting, compelling things” in his investigation of Jeb Bush on Tuesday’s “Hugh Hewitt Show.” Schweizer reported, “We’re about four months into the research project, obviously not as global in scope as the Clintons, but you know, as governor of the state of Florida, you have a lot of things that you can do. So we’re following the money. We’re looking at land deals. We’re looking at an airport deal. We are looking at some of the educational reforms that were instituted, and some of the big corporate winners...

Appearing on Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier, presumptive Republican presidential candidate Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker gave Americans their first preview on where a President Walker would stand on civil liberties issues such as NSA spying authorized by the highly controversial Patriot Act.Baier pushed Walker to give a “yes” or “no” on whether or not he would reauthorize the controversial NSA spying program by asking him whether or not he would vote for it if he were currently a sitting Senator. Walker, responding with typical political rhetoric, never actually answering Baier’s question, but instead said, that the meta-data collected...

The Washington Post actually tweeted this out today on the Texas biker gang shootings. The race-obsessed paper wants desperately to make the story about race… And threw in a photo of Sarah Palin for kicks.

MADISON, Wis. — In the wake of a public relations nightmare over a campus mural glorifying a cop killer, Marquette University has cut ties with director of its Gender and Sexuality Resource Center. “Susannah Bartlow is no longer an employee with Marquette University,” said University Spokesman Brian Dorrington told Marquette Wire. “We will work with the Center’s advisory board to search for a new director so that we can continue to grow the important programs in the Center.” Marquette administrators had the mural of black militant Assata Shakur (formerly known as JoAnne Deborah Chesimard) removed Sunday evening, but not until,...

Milwaukee County, Wis., Sheriff David Clarke on Tuesday addressed what he called a “myth” that police kill more black males than any other race in testimony at the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing titled, “Policing Strategies for the 21st Century.” “It is a myth that police kill black males in greater numbers than anyone else,” Clarke said, citing statistics provided by the University of Toledo, which contrasts, what he called “the false narrative propagated by cop haters and the liberal mainstream media.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker—the clear Republican presidential frontrunner according to almost all GOP primary polls, even though he hasn’t announced a 2016 campaign officially yet—dazzled Republicans across Capitol Hill in meetings all day Tuesday.

Politico says that Scott Walker is having a “crisis of faith” because social conservatives are questioning his bona fides.  Showing their ignorance of what “social conservatism” actually is, they quoted a lot of evangelicals and mentioned over and over how it was surprising he would have this problem given that he mentions God a lot.   You know, because that’s the criteria. Hold your hand up, say God led you, and the social conservatives will stop drooling on the floor long enough to scream “UNDER GOD!” defiantly when reciting the pledge of allegiance. That Walker is under pressure to prove his social...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Scott Walker's proposal prohibiting the state superintendent from forcing local school districts to adopt Common Core academic standards has been approved by the Legislature's budget committee. [snip] State Superintendent Tony Evers adopted the Common Core standards in 2010, but Walker's proposal would prohibit him from advocating for or promoting the standards to school districts.

At Marquette University, if you write a blog criticizing a student teacher for stifling the speech of a student who doesn’t believe in same-sex marriage, you can lose your job. Commission a mural of a convicted cop killer, well, that’s just diversity of ideas. Yes, Marquette administrators had the mural of black militant Assata Shakur removed Sunday evening, but not until, ironically, long-time Marquette political science professor John McAdams broke the story on his “Marquette Warrior” blog. That’s the same John McAdams who has been suspended from teaching since November, when the political conservative and frequent critic of Marquette administration...

Eau Claire County (WQOW) - A new week brings disheartening news to the taxpayers of Eau Claire County. The former Eau Claire County Treasurer and his assistant have been accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to the criminal complaint, they took more than $625,000 from the county between 2011 and 2013. Larry Lokken and Kay Onarheim have both been charged with 11 counts of felony theft, as well as three counts each of misconduct in the office. They were arrested by the Eau Claire Police Department on Thursday and have been in jail since then. The two...

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, charged with enforcing the nation's gun laws and regulating the firearms industry, has been so hobbled by high-profile operational failures, internal dysfunction and external limits on its authority that the agency should be eliminated and merged into the FBI, a new report concludes. The report, by the left-leaning Center for American Progress, comes in the wake of a bill by U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) that seeks to dissolve the agency and move its law enforcement and gun industry regulatory functions into the FBI and other agencies. The bill and the...

<p>MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Scott Walker's proposal prohibiting the state superintendent from forcing local school districts to adopt Common Core academic standards is up for a vote in the Legislature's budget committee.</p> <p>The Joint Finance Committee was scheduled to act on the proposal Tuesday.......</p>

Three Wisconsin Supreme Court justices skipped a ceremony Monday to swear in recent Marquette University Law School graduates, amid a bitter dispute over who should be in charge of the state's high court. It was the first time the court was to meet as a group since conservatives who control the court voted to make Patience Roggensack chief justice. Shirley Abrahamson, who had held the job for 19 years, has contended she remains chief justice and has sued over the issue in federal court in Madison. U.S. District Judge James Peterson, who is hearing that case, declined to issue an...

The U.S. Supreme Court issued an Order this morning denying the Petition for Writ of Certiorari in the Wisconsin John Doe case.

I didn't envy Ismael Ozanne in the least when he took the podium for his news conference this last Tuesday. The Dane County district attorney looked visibly nervous, dabbing sweat from his face several times over the course of the long, detailed speech that led to his eventual rationale for and decision not to press criminal charges against Madison police officer Matt Kenny in the shooting death of biracial teenager Tony Robinson. Ozanne is himself biracial, his mother a black woman who was involved in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the Freedom Summer of 1964. Ozanne become the first...

If he runs for president in 2016, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker promises that "the contrast would be clear" between his foreign policy and that of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "If I choose to get in this race, [foreign policy is] something I'm going to lay out a very clear plan for what we should do going forward, and how we should address the issues we face here in America and the issues we face around the world. I think there's a wide open door to lay out a very clear doctrine. And I do think that if foreign...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Republicans predicted on Sunday that both chambers of Congress would muster the votes to pass the "fast-track" authority sought by President Barack Obama to negotiate major trade deals, despite opposition from Obama's fellow Democrats. "Yes, we’ll pass it. We'll pass it later this week," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in an interview with ABC. Republican U.S. Representative Paul Ryan said on CNN's "State of the Union" that he was confident the measure would also pass the House of Representatives. "We will have the votes," said Ryan, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. "We're...

But when you take a look at the organizations these religious leaders represent, you’ll see that these religious types are political progressives who’re using the cover of religion for their political activism. The websites of these organizations who oppose Walker’s drug-testing legislation all, in some form or another, uses words or phrases immediately identifiable with progressive- rather than religious- causes. Such terms and phrases found were “social” and “economic” justice, “peacemaking,” “solidarity,” and “human community”; “restorative justice,” “united for justice.” One website even had a “living wage campaign” and “resources for justice seekers.” Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker recently proposed a...

Democrat Elizabeth Warren warned Saturday that Republican policies being promoted by its emerging presidential field would create an "American nightmare" that would crush opportunities for students and workers, deepen wage inequality and favor Wall Street banks and huge corporations. Warren's speech before several thousand party loyalists at a California Democratic convention in Anaheim was greeted with thunderous cheers while scores of delegates waved signs emblazoned with her name. The Massachusetts senator and favorite of the party's left wing ridiculed the GOP's potential 2016 field, including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who has proposed a double-digit cut in state aid for higher...