Hillary Clinton has a new excuse for her 2016 loss to now-President Donald Trump: voters in places like Wisconsin, which she notoriously did not visit, were disenfranchised by voter identification laws and prevented from casting ballots in her favor.
Clinton told an audience at George Washington University that she&#8217;s been counseling 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/news/461723-hillary-clinton-voter-suppression-has-led-to-crisis-in-democracy-in-the-us">according to The Hill</a>, and among her pearls of wisdom is a warning to watch out for Republican &#8220;voter suppression,&#8221; which she believes comes in the form of laws requiring a photo ID to vote.
Clinton specifically blames Republican voter suppression for Stacey Abrams losing the election for Georgia governor, but, for the first time, extrapolated the problem to the 2016 presidential election, claiming that around 200,000 voters in Wisconsin were turned away from the polls because of that state&#8217;s voter ID requirement (Clinton, of course, lost Wisconsin in a brutal swing state defeat, despite what she claims were internal polls showing her far ahead of Trump)
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Hillary Clinton: &#8220;You can run the best campaign. You can have the best plans. You can get the nomination. You can win the popular vote. And you can lose the Electoral College and therefore the election for these 4 reasons. Number One: Voter suppression.&#8221; 
Via The Hill <a href="https://t.co/Ks4S6tDdfI">pic.twitter.com/Ks4S6tDdfI</a>
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) <a href="https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1174055558019764225?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
&#8220;You can run the best campaign, you can have the best plans, you can get the nomination, you can win the popular vote. And you can lose the Electoral College and therefore the election for these four reasons. Number one, voter suppression,&#8221; Clinton told the crowd of around 300.
&#8220;We saw what happened in Georgia where Stacey Abrams should be governor of that state,&#8221; Clinton continued.
&#8220;Registered voters were kept off the rolls. Their registrations just piled up in some back office with no intention to ever enroll them so that they could actually vote. We also saw what happened in 2016. Experts estimate that anywhere from 27,000 to 200,000 Wisconsin citizen voters, predominantly in Milwaukee, were turned away from the polls. That’s a lot of potential voters.&#8221;
Abrams lost by more than 50,000 votes, and early claims of &#8220;voter suppression&#8221; turned out to be largely false. Brian Kemp, who defeated Abrams, did purge thousands of voters from the rolls over the course of his tenure — under a massive database cleanup project — but <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/2018-midterms-whats-the-truth-about-the-53-000-pending-voters-in-georgia">subsequent investigations</a> showed those voter profiles featured information mismatches or had long gone dormant.
But Stacey Abrams&#8217; claim of voter suppression in Georgia is far more solid than Clinton&#8217;s claim of voter suppression in Wisconsin. Clinton&#8217;s &#8220;200,000&#8221; number actually appears to be a misquote of a &#8220;300,000&#8221; number that originated in a tweet shortly following Clinton&#8217;s Wisconsin loss. The tweet claimed &#8220;300,000 voters were turned away by the states strict Voter ID law,&#8221; thereby offering proof that the election had been &#8220;rigged&#8221; for Donald Trump, ostensibly by the Russians. The number also, it seems, appeared in a New York Times article post-election.
<a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/300000-wisconsin-voters-turned-away-due-to-voter-id-laws/">Even Snopes</a>, which is undeniably a left-leaning &#8220;fact checker&#8221; organization, didn&#8217;t buy the claim. Upon a cursory investigation, Snopes discovered that the &#8220;300,000&#8221; number originated with a court finding striking down a Wisconsin voter ID law that the court claimed may have disenfranchised 300,000 voters — but that the exact number of people prevented from voting by the law was unknown.
By the time Clinton ran for President in 2016, the legislature had already changed the law, so even if 300,000 people were actively prevented from voting by the law as it existed in 2014, when the court analyzed it — something even the court itself doubts &#8212; the number was certainly outdated by November of 2016.
But, as Clinton has proven time and again in the wake of her loss, the facts matter little. Clinton lost Wisconsin not because voters were kept from the polls, but because she failed to overcome Donald Trump&#8217;s message of economic populism in a purple state, where moderate Democrats — and particularly union workers — don&#8217;t find themselves beholden to their party leadership. Clinton never made her case to Wisconsin voters, so they voted for the other guy.
That would mean, of course, that certain Trump voters aren&#8217;t racist, and that&#8217;s a reality Clinton can&#8217;t accept.
“We are witnessing a deliberate and ongoing effort to undermine the integrity of our elections and silence millions of Americans &#8230; particularly women, the elderly and people of color,” Clinton said at the end of her speech. “It’s no accident. It’s in service to their larger goals of obtaining and keeping power.”

hillary_clinton_gi.jpg

WATCH: Hillary Clinton Now Claims &#8216;Voter Suppression&#8217; Caused Her To Lose The 2016 Election

Donald Trump

Hillary Clinton

Voting Rights

Wisconsin

Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) announced on Monday that he would be stepping down from Congress in late-September, halfway through his fifth term.
“Recently, we’ve learned that our baby, due in late October, will need even more love, time, and attention due to complications, including a heart condition,” Duffy wrote in a statement to <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/458828-gop-rep-sean-duffy-resigning-from-congress">The Hill</a>. “With much prayer, I have decided that this is the right time for me to take a break from public service in order to be the support my wife, baby, and family need right now. It is not an easy decision – because I truly love being your Congressman – but it is the right decision for my family, which is my first love and responsibility.”
“On September 23, I will step down and allow others to step forward to begin laying our their own vision and plans for leading this beautiful district and the most honest, hard-working, family-oriented, patriotic, and God-fearing constituents in America,” the statement continued.
Duffy rose to fame as a cast member on MTV’s ‘Real World’ reality television show in the late-1990s. He subsequently continued as a cast member on other shows within the franchise into the early-2000s. He met his now-wife and Fox News personality Rachel Campos-Duffy years later when they both appeared on ‘Road Rules: All Stars.’ Together, the couple has eight children and are expecting a ninth.
Duffy is also a two-time winner of the Lumberjack World Championship’s speed-climbing competition and hosts a weekly podcast, aptly titled the “Plaidcast.” It is not clear whether he plans to continue the beloved podcast.
Prior to joining Congress, Duffy served as a Wisconsin District Attorney after he was appointed by then-Gov. Scott McCallum. He continued to serve in the role for four more terms.
Duffy has represented Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District since he assumed office during the Tea Party wave in 2011. The district is the largest in the state of Wisconsin, covering 20 counties, and has become increasingly red over the past few election cycles.
In 2018, the Wisconsin congressman was re-elected to the seat after winning more than 20 percent of the vote. President Donald Trump also won the district over his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton by 21 points during the 2016 presidential election. The district is a Republican stronghold and is not expected to be competitive going into the 2020 election cycle.
Duffy currently sits on the prestigious and powerful House Committee on Financial Services and is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
The announcement of Duffy’s departure comes on the heels of a slew of other Republican members of Congress who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49962/third-house-republican-one-week-announces-they-molly-prince">recently revealed</a> they would be stepping down from their position as well.
In July, Reps. Martha Roby (R-AL), Paul Mitchell (R-MI), and Pete Olson (R-TX) all announced within a week of each other that they would be leaving Congress prior to 2020. Like Duffy’s district, both Roby and Mitchell’s districts are forecast to stay reliably red. Olson’s district, however, is expected to be a top-tier battleground going into the next election cycle.

Sean Duffy

Rep. Sean Duffy Announces His Resignation From Congress

U.S. House of Representatives

The following is satirical.
The Democrat National Committee has chosen Milwaukee, Wisconsin for its 2020 National Convention. DNC Chairman Vladimir Lenin &#8212; no relation &#8212; says he&#8217;s thrilled the party will be traveling somewhere it&#8217;s never been before.
In a statement released to a gathering of 85-year-old civil rights leaders with nothing better to do, Lenin said, &#8220;When I was first informed there was a populated area between New York and Los Angeles, I was, like, &#8216;Yeah, right!&#8217; But then I heard some of these wastelands include sentient creatures who can stand upright and use rude tools, so I said, what the hell, hand me my gun and camera and let&#8217;s go exploring! I&#8217;m just hoping there won&#8217;t be anyone there who prays to God or knows the Pledge of Allegiance by heart. That&#8217;s just creepy and it&#8217;s not who we are as Americans.&#8221;
Former something-or-other Hillary Clinton says she&#8217;ll be making an important speech at the July convention if she can get out of bed in time. In a statement released to the rim of her toilet, Clinton said, &#8220;I&#8217;m looking forward to visiting Wisconsin for the first time and finding out why those SOB&#8217;s didn&#8217;t vote for me. It&#8217;s probably because they&#8217;re a bunch of deplorable, backward-looking, undynamic, pessimists who don&#8217;t like blacks getting rights and women getting jobs, but, who knows, maybe it&#8217;s something I said. In any case, I feel sure once they see me in person, they&#8217;ll change their minds, the 2016 results will be reversed, and I&#8217;ll wake from this living nightmare to find myself president and then, so help me, I&#8217;ll give up drinking.&#8221;
The people of Wisconsin say they are looking forward to having the Democrats come to visit. As Green Bay Packers fan Beery McCheeseface told a reporter after wrestling him to the ground in a headlock, &#8220;Most of these Democrats are socialists and anyone who knows that little about economics should be an easy mark when it comes to selling them plastic souvenir mugs at 65 dollars a shot.&#8221;

Dem Convention Will Be In Wisconsin, Wherever That Is [Satire]

Democratic Party

The Democrats have selected Milwaukee, Wisconsin for their 2020 convention, amid concerns that they will not carry key Rust Belt states in the next presidential election.
<a href="https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/milwaukee-lands-democratic-national-convention/article_3220a356-40e6-5bd6-a7cc-ecc7c653dda0.html">The Wisconsin State-Journal</a> announced the pick Monday morning, and the Democratic National Committee is expected to make a formal announcement about the selection on Monday afternoon. The small but mighty Wisconsin metropolis is hopeful that the thousands of Democratic convention-goers will provide a much-needed boost to the local economy.
&#8220;A centerpiece of Milwaukee&#8217;s DNC bid is the new Milwaukee Bucks arena, Fiserv Forum, which will host the convention,&#8221; the State-Journal reported. The city included the stadium &#8212; home to the Milwaukee Bucks &#8212; in their initial proposal to the DNC. The Milwaukee Bucks vice president, Alex Lasry, was instrumental in pushing the bid.
Milwaukee was among eight finalists competing to host the DNC. <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/11/dnc-milwaukee-picked-host-2020-democratic-national-convention/2836684002/">The Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel</a> reports that the city made the final cut in June of 2018, along with Miami, Florida, and Houston, Texas. The Republicans, who by virtue of controlling the White House will have the later convention, will host theirs in Charlotte, North Carolina, in August.
The selection marks a significant milestone for the Midwest: the 2020 DNC convention will be the first one held in a mid-western state since the ill-fated Democratic National Convention in 1968, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/1968-democratic-convention">which devolved into a riot</a> after tens of thousands of anti-war protesters descended on the International Amphitheater where the convention was being held.
It will also mark the first time the Democratic Party has admitted they need to pay greater attention to mid-western states, lest they permanently lose their traditional Rust Belt stronghold to the Republicans.
In 2016, then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton famously failed to visit Wisconsin in the final weeks of her campaign, after inaccurate internal polling told Team Clinton that Wisconsin &#8212; a notorious swing state &#8212; was well in the &#8220;Democrat&#8221; column. The oversight likely cost Clinton the White House.
Democratic losses in Rust Belt states like Ohio, Michigan, and, of course, Wisconsin, not only deprived Clinton of much-needed Electoral College votes, but also exposed a major flaw in Clinton&#8217;s overall strategy. Economic populism, of the sort Trump routinely heralded on the campaign trail, played well with more moderate Democrats and union members whose industrial jobs left for overseas. Clinton couldn&#8217;t empathize with blue-collar workers, even if they were longtime Democratic voters.
In 2018, Democrats made up some ground in the state, finally unseating Republican Gov. Scott Walker after three tries. But Wisconsin tempered the victory by maintaining a Republican legislator, giving Democrats only a pyrrhic victory.
Obviously, to make up for the lack of attention paid to Wisconsin voters in 2016, the Democrats have selected to put them front-and-center in 2020, but the DNC still faces similar problems to the ones that dogged Clinton nearly three years ago.
The field of Democrats running for the nomination is more radical now, almost by definition, and few will be amenable to adopting a more fiscally moderate platform, particularly given the rise of &#8220;Democratic socialism,&#8221; which proposes an almost endless welfare state for those out of work, rather than trade and immigration proposals that could mitigate the damage done to local economies by the collapse of industry.
We do know at least one thing will be different from 2016. The privilege of being the 2016 nominee will afford Hillary Clinton a prime speaking spot at next summer&#8217;s convention, which means that, after four years, a campaign, and a book tour (though that was rather ill-fated), Hillary Clinton will finally have the opportunity to visit Wisconsin.

Hillary To FINALLY Visit Wisconsin? Dems Pick Milwaukee For 2020 Convention

On Sunday, Hillary Clinton attended the annual &#8220;Bloody Sunday&#8221; commemorative service in Selma, AL. While speaking to the crowd, she claimed that voter ID laws kept her from winning Wisconsin &#8212; a state she didn&#8217;t even bother to visit while running for president in 2016. She was the <a href="http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/hillary-clinton-hoping-to-win-wisconsin-without-setting-foot-in/article_b39afbf6-c85c-5cba-becd-addfa03f841a.html">first candidate since 1972 to ignore the Badger State</a>.
&#8220;I was the first person who ran for president without the protection of the Voting Rights Act, and I will tell you, it makes a really big difference. And it doesn&#8217;t just make a difference in Alabama and Georgia; it made a difference in Wisconsin, where the best studies that have been done said somewhere between 40 [thousand] and 80,000 people were turned away from the polls because of the color of their skin, because of their age, because of whatever excuse could be made up to stop a fellow American citizen from voting,&#8221; she said.
&#8220;Just think about it: Between 2012, the prior presidential election where we still had the Voting Rights Act, and 2016, when my name was on the ballot, there were fewer voters registered in Georgia than there had been those prior four years,&#8221; she added.
Though The Washington Post acknowledged some studies claim voter ID laws disenfranchise minority voters (even though getting a proper ID is not difficult for any U.S. citizen of legal voting age), <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/06/hillary-clintons-claims-about-voter-suppression-georgia-wisconsin/?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.33294c2cac16">it noted that Clinton</a> &#8220;made several factual errors, offered questionable claims about a couple of studies, and ended up giving a misleading assessment of her loss.&#8221;
For starters, the part of the Voting Rights Act that was struck down only applied to nine states and a few counties &#8212; none of which were in Wisconsin. Georgia, which was covered by the VRA, saw voter registration increase between 2012 and 2016, counter to Clinton&#8217;s claims.
The Wisconsin voter ID law gave people plenty of options for what ID could allow them to vote. The Post reported that it required &#8220;voters to show a U.S. passport or a photo ID issued by Wisconsin state agencies, the military, Veterans Affairs, a university or college, or a federally recognized Indian tribe.&#8221;
The author of one of the studies, Clinton&#8217;s spokesperson Nick Merrill, pointed to surveyed people in two counties and said the results could not be extrapolated to the whole state. He even suggested some people who said they didn&#8217;t vote because of the voter ID &#8220;might not have voted even if the law were not in effect.&#8221;
Merrill also pointed to other evidence &#8212; a memo from a Democrat super PAC which made the absurd claim that more than 200,000 additional people would have voted in Wisconsin were it not for the voter ID laws. As for the 80,000, it looks like Clinton&#8217;s people just made it up.
&#8220;The 40,000 number comes from the more conservative estimate,&#8221; Merrill told the Post. &#8220;The 80,000 number is also a conservative estimate well within the range of the two studies.&#8221;
But the Post also spoke to Rick Hasen of the University of California-Irvine. He&#8217;s an &#8220;elections expert&#8221; and told the media outlet that black voters didn&#8217;t come out for Clinton like they did for Obama &#8212; and this happened in states with and without voter ID laws. Further, Hasen told the Post that Clinton&#8217;s 40,000 to 80,000 estimate was &#8220;ludicrous&#8221; because Wisconsin wasn&#8217;t affected by the Voting Rights Act (he still managed to claim that voter ID laws deter voters).
The Post&#8217;s Salvador Rizzo concludes:
<blockquote>
The Supreme Court&#8217;s ruling in 2013 had no bearing on Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin-Madison study she relied on for her 40,000 estimate says its findings from two counties should not be extrapolated to form statewide conclusions. Her spokesman did not cite any study for the 80,000 estimate. Voter registration in Georgia did not decline from 2012 to 2016.
</blockquote>
&#8220;Wrong on multiple levels, seriously misleading, and worth a cumulative Four Pinocchios,&#8221; he added.
<a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/hillary-clintons-latest-excuse-for-losing-the-2016-presidential-election/">h/t Jim Geraghty of NRO</a>

Washington Post Fact Checks Hillary Clinton’s Absurd Claim That Voter ID Laws Cost Her The Election

A police department in Wisconsin is assisting a school district in an investigation over a prom photo wherein dozens of male high schoolers are giving the Nazi salute.
In the photo obtained by journalist Jules Suzdaltsev, scores of male students from Baraboo High School dressed in their prom best are seen smiling and giving the salute.
According to Suzdaltsev, the students in the photo are from the Class of 2019 and it was taken during junior prom. The photo was &#8220;apparently taken by one of the parents, and is on the parent&#8217;s website as part of their collective prom photos,&#8221; he noted.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
Correction: The photo of students doing salutes is the Class of 2019, not 2018, and was taken during their junior prom.
Here is a higher resolution photo (which was apparently taken by one of the parents, and is on the parent&#8217;s website as part of their collective prom photos.) <a href="https://t.co/lkrFln9pyz">pic.twitter.com/lkrFln9pyz</a>
&#8212; Jules Suzdaltsev (@jules_su) <a href="https://twitter.com/jules_su/status/1061882117058191360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
On Monday, Baraboo School District Superintendent Dr. Lori Mueller released a statement condemning all &#8220;hate&#8221; and acknowledging the photo while making it clear that it was not taken on school property.
&#8220;Early this morning, a photo that was taken last spring of some Baraboo School District students who appear to be making extremely inappropriate gestures began circulating on social media,&#8221; said Mueller in the statement. &#8220;The district has confirmed at this time that the photo was not taken on school property or at a school-sponsored event.&#8221;
&#8220;With that, we want to be very clear: the Baraboo School District is a hate-free environment where all people, regardless of race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin or ancestry, are respected and celebrated,&#8221; the statement continued.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The Baraboo School District sent the following letter to parents this morning in response to a photo circulating on social media. We are launching an investigation, and as such, are unable to provide additional details at this time. <a href="https://t.co/oRxcl82lJT">pic.twitter.com/oRxcl82lJT</a>
&#8212; Baraboo Schools (@barabooSD) <a href="https://twitter.com/barabooSD/status/1062017178843668480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
The Baraboo Police Department announced that they are &#8220;aware&#8221; of the photo and will be helping the district with an &#8220;investigation&#8221; into the matter.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The Baraboo Police Department is aware of a controversial photo of a group of high school students that has been posted to social media. Officers are assisting the Baraboo School District with their investigation into this matter.
&#8212; Baraboo PD (@BarabooPD) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarabooPD/status/1061990616060608514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
As you can imagine, the photo went viral and the backlash from people of all party affiliations came swiftly.
Democratic Senator Jon Erpenbach <a href="https://www.wbay.com/content/news/Wisconsin-district-investigates-boys-apparent-Nazi-salute-500290341.html">told</a> the Associated Press that President Donald Trump was to blame for enabling the photo. &#8220;There&#8217;s no room in the world for anything like that at all,&#8221; he said. &#8220;From what they&#8217;re seeing out of the White House, that it&#8217;s OK to be intolerant and racist. Never is. Never was. Never will be.&#8221;
Jordan Blue, one of the students in the photo who is abstaining from giving the anti-Semitic salute, spoke to Suzdaltsev concerning the photo.
&#8220;My name is Jordan Blue, I am the boy captured in the photo to the far right,&#8221; wrote the student. &#8220;The photo was taken during out Junior Prom Photos. I clearly am uncomfortable, with what was happening. I couldn&#8217;t leave the photo as it was taken within 5 seconds. The photographer took the photos telling us to make the sign, I knew what my morals were and it was not to salute something I firmly didn&#8217;t believe in.&#8221;
&#8220;I attend BHS, these classmates have bullied me since entering middle school,&#8221; Blue continued, &#8220;I have struggled with it my entire life and nothing has changed. &#8230; nothing has been done and my question is.. [will] anything ever be done. I truly &amp; firmly believe we need to make a change to this horrible act, it needs to stop. Bullying. Immaturity. [A]nd just taking things as a &#8216;joke.'&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I spoke with the only student who is visibly not comfortable with the &#8220;salute&#8221;, he provided this statement. <a href="https://t.co/HbNBc8xLOK">pic.twitter.com/HbNBc8xLOK</a>
&#8212; Jules Suzdaltsev (@jules_su) <a href="https://twitter.com/jules_su/status/1062008915184050178?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
<a href="https://www.wbay.com/content/news/Wisconsin-district-investigates-boys-apparent-Nazi-salute-500290341.html">H/t</a> Salon

Police Investigating High School Students Giving Nazi Salute In Prom Photo

Education

High School

UPDATE: 10:10 pm CST:
In MISSOURI, Republican John Hawley has officially defeated Democrat Claire McCaskill. This was a huge win for Republicans, giving them an additional Senate seat, and ending McCaskill&#8217;s stranglehold on her Senate seat.
In MICHIGAN, Sen. Debbie Stabenow has hung on to her seat, despite a last-minute challenge from Republican John James. The ones untouchable Democrat came within mere points of losing her seat, even as Democrat took the top offices in Michigan. 
UPDATE: 9:40 pm CST:
In ILLINOIS, Rep. Peter Roskam, a longtime Republican Congressman, has lost to Democrat Sean Casten. That is a big loss for the GOP, and will have ramifications for Republican organization within the House. The loss was unexpected. Other Illinois Republicans will hold their seats.
In MISSOURI, Republican Josh Hawley has pulled out to an eight point lead over incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill.
UPDATE: 9:00 pm CST:
In MICHIGAN, Democrat Gretchen Whitmer has defeated Republican Bill Schutte in that state&#8217;s gubernatorial race. Schutte was the heir apparent to Michigan&#8217;s rock star governor, Republican Rick Snyder, who repaired the state&#8217;s economy and made strides in defeating organized labor&#8217;s stranglehold on the state&#8217;s economy. Whitmer is a throwback to disastrous Democratic governor Jennifer Grahnholm.
In ILLINOIS, Republican Adam Kinzinger will hold on to his House seat, defeating a significant Democratic effort to flip that seat.
In IOWA, Rep. Steve King is now trailing his Democratic challenger.
In MISSOURI, Democrat Ilhan Omar has taken over the seat vacated by Rep. Keith Ellison, and will become the first Somali-American woman to hold a seat in Congress. Omar was favored to win the seat, despite recently revealed Tweets indicating that she fully embraces anti-Semitism.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gaza?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Gaza</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Palestine?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Palestine</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Israel?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Israel</a>
&#8212; Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) <a href="https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/269488770066313216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2012</a></blockquote>
UPDATE: 8:30 pm CST:
The Republicans have solidified the Senate, picking up a seat in Tennessee. CNN is now definitely saying there has been no &#8220;blue wave.&#8221;
Senate races in MICHIGAN and MISSOURI are still trending close. Neither Stabenow nor McCaskill has pulled out a significant lead.
In ILLINOIS Chicago&#8217;s Democratic Representatives are still leading in their districts, and most within Chicago will keep their seats. Rep. Randy Hultgren, a Republican, is still on the fence in his district, facing an upstart, &#8220;Democratic socialist&#8221; style candidate in Lauren Underwood, who ran almost exclusively on the issue of health care.
We are still watching WISCONSIN where the vote is now trending towards incumbent Republican Scott Walker.
#####
UPDATE: 8:00 pm CST: 
MICHIGAN polls are now closed across the state and Democrat Gretchen Whitmer is leading Republican Bill Schutte by 10 points with around 10% of the polls reporting in. John James and Debbie Stabenow are tied.
In MISSOURI polls are just beginning to close. Democrat Claire McCaskill leads that Senate race, initially, but there are only a few precincts reporting in. McCaskill, speaking to MSNBC says she&#8217;s &#8220;proud&#8221; to be dead even with her Republican opponent.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Sen. McCaskill: &#8220;We had to crawl out of a really deep hole &#8230; I&#8217;m really proud that we crawled our way to dead even.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/DEc56nWLBd">pic.twitter.com/DEc56nWLBd</a>
&#8212; MSNBC (@MSNBC) <a href="https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1059985887684112384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2018</a></blockquote>
In WISCONSIN, incumbent Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin will retain her seat. Republican governor 
Scott Walker is tied with his Democratic challenger, but polls have just closed in Wisconsin.
In MINNESOTA, Democrats Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith &#8212; who replaced disgraced Senator Al Franken &#8212; will hold on to their seats..
#####
UPDATE, 7:10 pm CST:
ILLINOIS: Fox News is now projecting that J.B. Pritzker has won the Illinois gubernatorial race, handily beating out Republican Bruce Rauner. That is a pickup for Democrats, but not an unexpected pickup.
#####
Pre-Election House Seats:
Iowa: 3 Republicans, 1 Democrat
Illinois: 7 Republicans, 11 Democrats
Michigan: 9 Republicans, 4 Democrats
Minnesota: 3 Republicans, 4 Democrats
Missouri: 6 Republicans, 2 Democrats
Wisconsin: 5 Republicans, 3 Democrats
The Midwestern states have several key races to watch, including a race which could be the deciding factor in whether the Republicans keep the Senate &#8212; or even increase their majority. Democrats are also looking to flip plenty of seats in America&#8217;s heartland, hoping that anger and dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump in the &#8220;rust belt&#8221; will help propel the &#8220;blue wave&#8221; forward.
In Iowa, Democrats are looking to make several gains in the House, flipping the state&#8217;s 1st and 3rd districts. Rep. Steve King, the controversial Republican, is fighting for the 4th district, which has turned to a &#8220;toss-up&#8221; in recent days.
In Illinois, Republican governor Bruce Rauner is in a hotly contested race against billionaire Democrat J.B. Pritzker, who is looking to unseat the one-term Rauner after Rauner failed to curb the state&#8217;s financial crisis. Democrats are also looking to make big pickups in the House, flipping seats in Chicago&#8217;s suburbs and &#8220;collar counties&#8221; &#8212; the several, moderately red counties that surround Cook County.
In Michigan, races tightened in the last week, and Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who was once a lock for re-election is now running neck-and-neck with upstart Republican challenger John James. James has been boosted in recent days by internal Democratic polls that show him within two points of Stabenow, and a voice mail, left by an angry reporter, put James on the map on Election Day.
In Minnesota, former Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison is fighting to help Democrats hang on to the state&#8217;s Attorney General&#8217;s office, which Democrats have held for decades, but Ellison was put into danger after being accused of domestic violence by a former partner.
In Missouri, Republicans may make an unexpected gain in the Senate; Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley is poised to unseat longtime Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill. McCaskill has been fighting for her political life in recent days, alienating herself from fellow Democrats in an effort to save her seat. The last polls put McCaskill six points behind Hawley.
In Wisconsin, Democrats are hoping to oust Republican Governor Scott Walker, an arch-nemesis of Wisconsin progressives since before President Donald Trump even appeared on the scene.
We&#8217;ll keep tabs on these races by updating this post. Check back regularly for news as polls close.

ELECTION NIGHT: Midwestern States, All The Latest Results

Chicago

Claire McCaskill

Illinois

Iowa

Keith Ellison

Michigan

Minnesota

Republican Party

Former President Barack Obama has been mostly invisible in the weeks leading up to Nov. 6th&#8217;s mid-term elections. Few of the high-profile Democrats facing tight races have called him in for support, leaving the former leader of the party stumping in high school gymnasiums in places like Wisconsin and Michigan &#8212; two states Hillary Clinton lost in 2016.
And Obama, whose &#8220;legacy&#8221; is being systematically dismantled by President Trump, has turned to ad hominem attacks to try to take on his successor.
Obama cited Hillary&#8217;s secret home brew email server to accuse Republicans of trying to &#8220;scare the heck out of people before every election.&#8221; And he also mocked Trump about a recent New York Times story that Russia and China listen in on Trump&#8217;s cell phone calls.
&#8220;in the last election, it was Hillary&#8217;s emails. &#8216;This is terrible&#8217; &#8230; &#8216;This is a national security crisis,'&#8221; Obama said in a Michigan gym.
&#8220;They didn&#8217;t care about emails and you know how you know? Because if they did, they&#8217;d be up in arms right now that the Chinese are listening to the president&#8217;s iPhone that he leaves in his golf cart,&#8221; he said.
Trump, however, said the Times report is not true, and blasted The Times for &#8220;fake news.&#8221;
&#8220;The New York Times has a new Fake Story that now the Russians and Chinese (glad they finally added China) are listening to all of my calls on cellphones. Except that I rarely use a cellphone, &amp; when I do it&#8217;s government authorized. I like Hard Lines. Just more made up Fake News!&#8221; he wrote on Twitter.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The New York Times has a new Fake Story that now the Russians and Chinese (glad they finally added China) are listening to all of my calls on cellphones. Except that I rarely use a cellphone, &amp; when I do it&#8217;s government authorized. I like Hard Lines. Just more made up Fake News!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1055458320390217728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Obama said Trump promised to &#8220;drain the swamp&#8221; that is Washington, D.C., but said instead that the president and his cronies &#8220;have gone to Washington and just plundered away.&#8221;
&#8220;In Washington they have racked up enough indictments to field a football team,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Nobody in my administration got indicted.&#8221;
While polls show Democrats are energized this election cycle, not many seem psyched to see Obama. And while Trump fills 18,000-seat arenas, Obama plays in high school gyms.
On Monday, Obama failed to fill the seats in a rather small venue in Nevada. The Obama event, held in an attempt to save struggling Democratic senatorial candidate Jacky Rosen, has been covered as if it was a &#8220;must-see/must-attend&#8221; blowout. &#8220;By the media&#8217;s account, Obama was surrounded by energized Democrats and enthusiastic voters. The bleachers behind him were packed to the brim, and the people in front were numerous,&#8221; Red State&#8217;s Brandon Morse writes. &#8220;Or were they?&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
It&#8217;s more like a blue puddle? Anyway this angle doesn&#8217;t seem to be playing on TV, wonder why. <a href="https://t.co/6hRzZfUJvu">pic.twitter.com/6hRzZfUJvu</a>
&#8212; Rosie Memos (@almostjingo) <a href="https://twitter.com/almostjingo/status/1054555418343616512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>

DESPERATE DEMOCRATS: Obama Rips Trump For Leaving Cell Phone ‘In Golf Cart’

Barack Obama

President Trump did the impossible in 2016 by breaking the so-called &#8220;Rust Belt&#8221; states with his winning of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Two years later, has voting for Trump paid off for those residents? The numbers say yes.
According to the latest economic data from the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm">Bureau of Labor Statistics</a>, the key states that swung the election in favor of Trump have seen a steady rise in available jobs, with Ohio setting a 21-year record. <a href="https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/florida-and-texas-post-record-sept-sept-job-gains">CNS </a>reported that the findings that showed significant gains in those states between 2017 and 2018:
<blockquote>
The 37 states that BLS said had statistically significant jobs increases from September to September included Pennsylvania (which added 78,700 jobs) and most of the states in the northern Midwest.
Ohio, for example, added 104,600 jobs during the September-to-September period; Michigan added 63,300; Illinois added 50,300; Wisconsin added 41,700; Minnesota added 38,200; and Iowa added 17,600.
The 104,600 jobs that Ohio added was the most it has added in any September-to-September period since 21 years ago in 1997. That year, Ohio added 107,700 jobs.
</blockquote>
Pennsylvania&#8217;s 78,700 job gain is the highest for the state in 18 years. Unemployment in that state now stands at 4.1%; Ohio stands at 4.6%.
In Michigan, a state once considered a blue stronghold until Trump painted it red in 2016, has also seen a steady decrease in unemployment. According to <a href="https://www.wdio.com/neighborhood/michigan-unemployment-rate-september-2018/5112442/">ABC News</a>, Michigan&#8217;s unemployment rate fell to 4.0% in September, with Michigan Department of Technology, Management &amp; Budget announcing last week that the state&#8217;s &#8220;total employment in Michigan rose slightly by 1,000 during the month while the number of unemployed fell by 8,000.&#8221;
Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives Director Jason Palmer also told ABC News that &#8220;the state&#8217;s unemployment rate has fallen by seven-tenths of a percentage point since the beginning of the 2018 while payroll jobs have risen consistently throughout the year.&#8221;
Meanwhile, the cheeseheads in Wisconsin have enjoyed themselves an unemployment rate below 3% for 8 months in a row, according to the <a href="https://www.wsaw.com/content/news/Wisconsin-unemployment-below-3-percent-for-eighth-month-497989721.html">Associated Press</a>, which could propel Republican Gov. Scott Walker to a third term in office:
<blockquote>
Wisconsin&#8217;s unemployment rate notched an eighth straight month under 3 percent, more positive economic news for Gov. Scott Walker with the election just over two weeks away.
The state Department of Workforce Development reported Thursday that Wisconsin&#8217;s unemployment rate was 3 percent in September, the same as in August. The state lost 900 private-sector jobs between August and September but was up 35,900 from the previous year.
Prior to last year, Wisconsin&#8217;s unemployment rate never dropped below 3 percent. The record was set in April when it dipped to 2.8 percent. Walker has pointed to the state&#8217;s low unemployment as he makes the case for a third term. Having few people looking for work has also created a worker shortage problem for some businesses.
</blockquote>
Outside of the so-called &#8220;Rust Belt,&#8221; the swing state of Florida has seen some of the most <a href="https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/florida-and-texas-post-record-sept-sept-job-gains">impressive economic gains</a> by adding a staggering total of 407,300 jobs to its economy.

Rust Belt Boom: Since Trump’s Election, Jobs Have Increased In Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, And Wisconsin

Florida

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Polly Olsen is suing Northeast Wisconsin Technical College after being labeled &#8220;disruptive&#8221; for passing out Christian-themed valentines outside her school&#8217;s free-speech zone.
On February 14, 2018, Olsen said she walked around campus and handed out valentines that said &#8220;Jesus Loves You! Romans 5:8,&#8221; &#8220;You are special! 1 John 4:11,&#8221; &#8220;God is love John 4:11,&#8221; and &#8220;You are loved and cared for! 1 Peter 5:7.&#8221; About fifteen minutes in, she said a campus security guard told her that she was breaking school policy for &#8220;soliciting,&#8221; despite handing out the valentines for free.
In an interview with The Daily Wire, Olsen said she asked the security officer why she could not hand out the valentines, and he told her it was because the content may be found to be offensive. 
Later, she said she had a meeting with the school&#8217;s director of diversity that confirmed the policy to her.
Olsen said most people she gave the valentines to reacted positively. &#8220;Everyone said thank you,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The only person that refused [a valentine] was the security guard and that is because he was doing his job.&#8221;
The Wisconsin Institute for Liberty and Law, the organization representing Olsen, alleges that the school&#8217;s Public Assembly Policy is &#8220;unconstitutional.&#8221;
<a href="http://www.will-law.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2018-09-04-signed-olsen-complaint.pdf">According to the lawsuit</a>, NWTC restricts students&#8217; &#8220;expressive activities to a tiny portion of campus, requiring prior approval even within that tiny area.&#8221; The lawsuit claims this area is less than 0.5% of campus. <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11269">According to Campus Reform</a>, students must reserve the zone in advance and may only use it between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. and may do so for only three consecutive days. Olsen says the zone is where students do not congregate, making interacting with other students difficult.
The lawsuit also alleges that the restrictions were applied &#8220;based upon the viewpoint expressed by the Plaintiff&#8221; and that Olsen was told she was &#8220;(possibly) disturbing the learning environment.&#8221; The lawsuit refutes this and states that she did not hand out the valentines &#8220;during any class, in the library, or in any area where students were in a learning environment.&#8221;
Olsen also said she handed out similar valentines in 2014 but was also told by campus security that she must stop.
NWTC Vice President of Advancement, Karen Smits, told Campus Reform that &#8220;free speech is exercised every day in many different contexts all over the NWTC campus,&#8221; and that the &#8220;policy deals with &#8216;public assembly&#8217; as the law recognizes that, unlike a public park, not all physical areas of educational institutions are open for &#8216;public assembly.'&#8221;
Olsen said passing out Christian-themed valentines is a tradition she has partaken in with her mother since she was a little girl at hospitals and nursing homes. After her mother died five years ago, she said she continued this tradition on her campus in her mother&#8217;s memory. 
&#8220;I hand them out because of the love that God has shown me, and without that love, I wouldn&#8217;t be here because of going through losing people,&#8221; Olsen said. &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t be able to do it without Jesus, and I want others who face desperate situations to know that love and that someone cares.&#8221;
Casey Mattox, a Senior Fellow for Free Speech and Toleration at the Charles Koch Institute who has been involved with more than fifty cases related to free speech on campuses, called the school&#8217;s actions &#8220;an egregious violation of First Amendment rights.&#8221;
&#8220;The law is very clear here,&#8221; Mattox said in an interview. &#8220;Public colleges can&#8217;t tell students when and where they can speak on their own public college campus, and they certainly can&#8217;t require them to get advanced permission to speak. It&#8217;s a clear violation of the First Amendment, and it is likely the court will end up finding that here.&#8221;
Mattox also said that policies such as the ones Olsen is battling are &#8220;troubling&#8221; because they &#8220;communicate to students that your First Amendment rights only extend as far as the college wants them to extend &#8230; that&#8217;s not how it works in our system.&#8221;
Mattox encourages other students to &#8220;be aware of what your free speech policies are on your campus, take them up with your school and try to get those policies corrected. Even when they aren&#8217;t being enforced against you, it is important to leave your campus more free for those who come after you. Often times you can talk to your college and have them fix these. I think it would be good for all students to take these sorts of violations seriously and work to see these kinds of policies changes on your campus.&#8221;
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Student Sues College After Being Labeled &#8216;Disruptive&#8217; For Handing Out Christian-Themed Valentines

First Amendment

Free Speech

Valentine's Day

A tenured professor who was fired for writing a blog post that defended a student&#8217;s right to an opinion, has returned to work &#8212; and says he has no regrets or hard feelings.
Professor John McAdams was fired by Marquette University three years ago after he wrote a blog post defending a student who was told by another professor not to share his opinion on same-sex marriage in class, since that opinion ran counter to the liberal orthodoxy.
McAdams didn&#8217;t say he agreed with the student, just that the student should be able to express his opinion. For this, he was <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2017/05/05/judge-catholic-university-can-fire-tenured-prof-supporting-student-stood-catholic-teachings/">brought before</a> a Faculty Hearing Committee that resembled the kangaroo courts that college students face for political correctness. Two of the members of the committee had conflicts of interest, McAdams insisted, but weren&#8217;t removed. The committee recommended he be suspended, but the president of the university, Michael Lovell, told McAdams to apologize for writing the blog post or be fired. McAdams refused to apologize for what was a simple academic argument, and was fired.
He sued, and after a three-year court battle (during which, a judge last year said the Catholic university was within its rights to fire a professor for defending a student who expressed an opinion that lined up with Catholic teachings), Marquette has grudgingly agreed to rehire him.
After the setback last year, the Wisconsin Supreme Court took up McAdams&#8217; case and ruled in the professor&#8217;s favor.
&#8220;The undisputed facts show that the University breached its contract with Dr. McAdams when it suspended him for engaging in activity protected by the contract&#8217;s guarantee of academic freedom,&#8221; <a href="https://www.thefire.org/opinion-of-the-supreme-court-of-wisconsin-in-mcadams-v-marquette-university/">the court wrote</a>.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) spoke with McAdams after he returned to work, and found the professor harbors no ill will toward his employer.
&#8220;I&#8217;d feel hurt if I&#8217;d lost, but I won,&#8221; McAdams told FIRE.
McAdams is now working on a book, called &#8220;60 Politically Incorrect Things You Should Know.&#8221;
Marquette, on the other hand, is not happy with the court win, <a href="https://news.marquette.edu/news-releases/marquette-university-statement-on-wisconsin-supreme-court-decision/">issuing a statement</a> that said it still believes McAdams&#8217; &#8220;behavior crossed a line,&#8221; and that it would &#8220;re-examine its policies, with the goal of providing every assurance possible that this never happens again.&#8221; As FIRE noted, this seems to suggest the university might &#8220;modify its faculty contracts to decrease their academic freedom.&#8221;
For now though, McAdams has his job back.

Professor Who Defended Student’s Right To An Opinion Returns To Work After Three Years And One Major Court Battle

Marquette University

Same-Sex Marriage

On Monday, a Wisconsin couple was <a href="https://apnews.com/54cdbfa0ac6048b3ba7fa752e428c925?utm_source=Twitter&amp;utm_medium=APCentralRegion&amp;utm_campaign=SocialFlow">charged with nine felony counts</a> after they were found allegedly keeping five children, four adopted and one biological child of their own, in cages.
Travis Lanier Headrick, 46, and Amy Michelle Headrick, 39, <a href="https://www.channel3000.com/news/crime/suspects-identified-in-case-of-caged-children-in-monroe-county/787070798">were charged</a> with reckless endangerment, child neglect and false imprisonment after they were arrested last Friday. The Monroe County Sheriff&#8217;s Office executed a search warrant after they received a photo of a small boy held in a horse trough with a metal fencing cover tied with zip ties. A babysitter reportedly took the photo and shared it with her mother; her mother sent the photo to police.
The criminal complaint said police found a 10-year-old boy in the horse trough, an 11-year-old boy locked in a double-stacked cage and a 12-year-old girl in a room whose only exit was a hallway.
The <a href="https://lacrossetribune.com/community/tomahjournal/news/article_db0833f0-a6a6-5ae0-88a4-afdc23d64595.html">Lacrosse Tribune</a> reported, &#8220;A criminal complaint filed Monday says the two children relieved themselves in the cages and remained inside for extended periods with their own urine and feces.&#8221;
The couple told police the reason the children were caged was to discipline them and keep them safe; Amy Headrick informed police, &#8220;I don&#8217;t consider it a cage. It&#8217;s more of a glorified crib.&#8221; Travis Headrick referred to the children as cognitively disabled; he asserted to police, &#8220;You don&#8217;t understand what you&#8217;re saying. Unfortunately you don&#8217;t understand their cognitive behavior and the danger they put themselves in.&#8221;

Wisconsin Couple Arrested For Keeping Children In Cages

Children

On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered the state of Wisconsin to <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/399076-federal-judge-orders-wisconsin-to-pay-for-gender-reassignment">pay for gender reassignment surgeries</a> for two transgender Medicaid recipients. Those recipients, Cody Flack and Sara Ann Makenzie, <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2018/04/30/wisconsin-unlawfully-denies-necessary-treatment-transgender-medicaid-recipients-lawsuit-claims/561836002/">sued the Wisconsin Department of Health Services</a>, which administers Medicaid, and its secretary, Linda Seemeyer, claiming they unlawfully denied Medicaid coverage for necessary transgender medical treatments, 
U.S. District Judge William Conley stated, &#8220;The likelihood of ongoing, irreparable harm facing these two individual plaintiffs outweighs any marginal impacts on the defendants&#8217; stated concerns regarding public health or limiting costs.
A 1997 Wisconsin Department of Health Services regulation says care that relates to gender transition is medically unnecessary. 10 states deny Medicaid coverage of treatments for gender transition; 19 cover treatment, according to the women&#8217;s lawsuit.
<a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/judge-orders-wisconsin-to-pay-for-2-transgender-surgeries-under-medicaid">Lifesite News</a> reports:
<blockquote>
Wisconsin&#8217;s Medicaid system has an estimated $9.7 billion budget and 1.2 million enrollees, approximately 5,000 of whom are believed to have some form of gender confusion. The state says covering surgery for all of them could cost taxpayers as much as $2.1 million.
Conley dismissed such concerns by claiming the state had no other exclusions based solely on cost, and that the rule &#8220;feeds into sex stereotypes by requiring all transgender individuals receiving Wisconsin Medicaid to keep genitalia and other prominent sex characteristics consistent with their natal sex no matter how painful and disorienting it may prove for some.&#8221;
</blockquote>

Wisconsin Judge Rules State Must Pay For Gender Reassignment Surgeries

Gender

On Friday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Marquette University shouldn&#8217;t have fired a conservative professor because he criticized a student instructor whom he believed had terminated discussion about opposition to gay marriage.
The court ruled that former Professor John McAdams, who <a href="https://www.heartland.org/about-us/who-we-are/john-mcadams">has</a> a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University, and was Associate Professor of Political Science at Marquette University, should immediately be reinstated, and that Marquette had breached its contract with him guaranteeing him academic freedom, as NBC4 Milwaukee <a href="https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/wisconsin-supreme-court-marquette-university-violated-professor-john-mcadams-free-speech-rights?page=2">reported</a>. The court wrote in their <a href="https://www.wicourts.gov/sc/opinion/DisplayDocument.pdf?content=pdf&amp;seqNo=215236">opinion</a>, &#8220;The undisputed facts show that the University breached its contract with Dr. McAdams when it suspended him for engaging in activity protected by the contract&#8217;s guarantee of academic freedom.&#8221;
In McAdams&#8217; 2016 lawsuit, he argued that his firing wasn&#8217;t prompted by his November 2014 post on his website, but rather because he named the instructor and linked to her personal website that had personal identifying information. McAdams&#8217; post delineated a confrontation between a conservative student and a graduate student instructor of philosophy. The student claimed the instructor would not permit discussion about opposition to gay marriage during a class; the student gave McAdams a recording he secretly made of a conversation with the teacher after the class.
McAdams segued to arguing that the incident was yet another occurrence of liberals silencing people whose opinions differed from theirs. That reportedly elicited threats made against the student instructor; she later moved to another university.
Ralph Weber, Marquette&#8217;s attorney, argued, &#8220;Had he written the exact same blog post and not included the student-teacher&#8217;s name and contact information he would not have been disciplined. He&#8217;s being disciplined for his conduct, not any viewpoint.&#8221;
McAdams&#8217; attorney, Rick Esenberg, pointed out that McAdams linked to publicly available information. The lawsuit stated that McAdams&#8217; decade-old website had often condemned political correctness.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules For Fired Conservative Professor

A tale of two Midwestern states: In 2014, Minnesota started implementing minimum wage increases, while Wisconsin did not. Minnesota <a href="https://www.lmc.org/page/1/minimumwage.jsp">instituted</a> phased-in hourly increases on August 1 of each year through 2016, and indexed them to inflation based on economic conditions beginning January 2017. At the beginning of 2018, Minnesota&#8217;s minimum wage increased to $9.65 per hour for large employers (up from $9.50 per hour), and to at least $7.87 per hour for small employers (up from $7.75 per hour).
Wisconsin did not follow Minnesota&#8217;s example.
And this is what happened:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
In 2014 Minnesota began a series of minimum wage increases, while it&#8217;s been constant in Wisconsin since 2010. Fast food restaurant employment in Minnesota (blue) and Wisconsin (red). <a href="https://t.co/W3zJlHHgEL">https://t.co/W3zJlHHgEL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FRED?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FRED</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/stlouisfed?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@stlouisfed</a> <a href="https://t.co/A7FROvklU9">pic.twitter.com/A7FROvklU9</a>
&#8212; Noah Williams (@Bellmanequation) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bellmanequation/status/1002915821352570880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
From 2010-2014 fast food employment grew at the same rate in MN and WI. Since 2014 it&#8217;s grown 4.1 percentage points more in WI. <a href="https://t.co/OKiDd6vSKT">pic.twitter.com/OKiDd6vSKT</a>
&#8212; Noah Williams (@Bellmanequation) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bellmanequation/status/1002930533914021889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
A 2017 paper released by The National Bureau of Economic Research <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w23532">pointed out</a> how minimum wage increases reduced the hours working in low-wage jobs. The paper stated, &#8220;This paper evaluates the wage, employment, and hours effects of the first and second phase-in of the Seattle Minimum Wage Ordinance, which raised the minimum wage from $9.47 to as much as $11 in 2015 and to as much as $13 in 2016. Using a variety of methods to analyze employment in all sectors paying below a specified real hourly wage rate, we conclude that the second wage increase to $13 reduced hours worked in low-wage jobs by 6-7 percent, while hourly wages in such jobs increased by 3 percent.&#8221;

Minnesota Raised Minimum Wage. Wisconsin Didn&#8217;t. Here&#8217;s What Happened.

Minimum Wage

On Saturday, the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, freaked out that self check-out machines will put people out of work, urged people to boycott the machines by posting a message on Facebook:
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Of course, the Wisconsin AFL-CIO has been part of the movement to raise the minimum wage <a href="http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2013/05/fight-for-15.html">for years</a>, <a href="http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2015/11/fight-for-15-rally-november-10.html">clamoring to hike the wage</a> to $15 an hour. Forget the fact that hiking the minimum wage often hurts workers because companies simply cut down on the number of employees.
As far back as 2011, AFL-CIO president Richard L. Trumka <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/27/union-chief-doesnt-condemn-comparisons-wisconsins-walker-hitler.html">refused to condemn</a> workers for comparing Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to Adolf Hitler. That year, Walker signed Act 10, a bill ending forced unionization.
As Fox News <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/07/13/truth-about-scott-walker.html">reported</a> about Act 10:
<blockquote>
It empowered local governments and school districts to bid out to get the best deal for benefits on the open market &#8211; something that was virtually impossible under the state&#8217;s collective bargaining structure. It required public-sector union members to contribute 5.8 percent of their salaries toward their retirement (they had previously contributed nothing) and cover 12.6 percent of their health insurance premiums &#8212; still far less than the average benefit contributions for private-sector employees. It ended the practice of the state automatically collecting union dues on behalf of unions, letting workers choose whether they want to pay to belong to a union.
</blockquote>
After the Wisconsin AFL-CIO posted their anti-self checkout message on Facebook, there were <a href="https://www.facebook.com/wisaflcio/">some responses</a> that were highly critical of their stance:
<blockquote>
&#8220;Self checkout is one of the best innovations of my lifetime. Few things are worse than standing in line to check out when you only have a few items.&#8221;
&#8220;I have anxiety dealing with ppl these are a life saver. Stop demonizing automation and start thinking of other jobs humans can do.&#8221;
&#8220;I worked in the grocery industry for fifteen years. I would much rather checkout my own groceries than deal with an employ who doesn&#8217;t want to be there and/or doesn&#8217;t know that tomatoes don&#8217;t go under the laundry detergent. Fighting this technology is a futile endeavor. Refusing self-checkout is like refusing to use your digital camera so you can keep 35mm film manufacturers in business. It makes as much sense as voting for dt because your family works in the coal industry. With new technology comes new jobs. If you&#8217;ll notice, running the self-checkout requires special training. Not just any checker can run it. Clinging to twentieth century standards is only holding us all back.&#8221;
</blockquote>

Fight For $15 Crowd Slams Self-Checkout Machines Replacing Workers

Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton let loose in a conversation with the India Today Conclave over the weekend, calling Trump voters and residents of heartland states &#8216;backwards,&#8221; telling the audience that Americans &#8220;didn&#8217;t like black people getting rights,&#8221; and &#8220;didn&#8217;t like women,&#8221; and claiming that white women only voted for Trump because they were told to do so by their husbands.
Clinton waited until she was well overseas to give the shocking speech, rehashing some of her greatest hits into a single, televised rant, delivered largely to an audience of Indians gathered for the innovation conference.
Asked about the 52% of white women who voted for Donald Trump in the presidential election despite being faced with the possibility of having the first woman president in American history, Clinton did not concede that women could have voted based on their own political preferences. Rather, the failed Democratic candidate <a href="https://ntknetwork.com/clinton-white-women-voted-for-trump-because-their-husbands-told-them-to/">claimed that white women were under the spell of their husbands</a>, fathers, and sons, who forced them to pull the lever for Donald Trump.
&#8220;We do not do well with white men and we don&#8217;t do well with married, white women,&#8221; Clinton told the audience about the Democratic Party. &#8220;And part of that is an identification with the Republican Party, and a sort of ongoing pressure to vote the way that your husband, your boss, your son, whoever, believes you should.&#8221;
Yep. That&#8217;s right. A majority of white women in America are merely the pawns of their male betters, the willing tools of a massive Patriarchal conspiracy that sought to keep Clinton out of the White House because she happened to be a woman.
That&#8217;s not all though. Clinton went on to claim that then-FBI director James Comey, now a liberal hero, destroyed her &#8220;momentum,&#8221; and &#8220;decreased my vote&#8221; when he suddenly re-opened an investigation into her mishandling of classified information just days before the November election.
At some point, Clinton&#8217;s habit of excusing her campaign performance simply becomes pathological. She no longer accepts any rational explanation for her loss that is at odds with her own carefully curated reality, and she&#8217;ll likely carry these same explanations with her to her deathbed, always believing that America was too backwards, to brutish, and too misogynistic to see the paradise she promised.

&#8216;FEMINIST&#8217; CLINTON: Women Voted For Donald Trump Because Their Husbands Told Them To.

Racism

Sexism

On Tuesday, Democrats picked up a state Senate seat in Wisconsin in a special election. So what? This district was heavily Republican &#8212; Trump won the district in 2016 by 17 points, and the former Republican representative, who just vacated her seat to become Governor Scott Walker&#8217;s agriculture secretary, won the seat in 2016 by 26%.
On Tuesday, the Democrat, Patty Scachtner, won the district by a whopping nine points. As <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/democrats-score-special-election-upset-035616074.html">Huffington Post</a> reports, &#8220;with the win in Wisconsin, there are 34 districts that have flipped from red to blue since Trump&#8217;s inauguration.&#8221; Governor Walker signaled his concern:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Senate District 10 special election win by a Democrat is a wake up call for Republicans in Wisconsin.
&#8212; Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottWalker/status/953483235509571584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Daniel Nichanian, a postdoctoral student at University of Chicago, tweeted out additional results from last night:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
4 elections in deeply Trump districts tonight. All saw huge swing toward Dems compared to 2016 pres results. Using <a href="https://twitter.com/DKElections?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dkelections</a> district <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/s?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#s</a>:
SC <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HD99?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HD99</a>: +15% net swing toward Dems 
IA <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HD06?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HD06</a>: +18% 
WI <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SD10?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SD10</a>: +24% or +27% 
WI <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AD58?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AD58</a>: +25%
&#8212; Taniel (@Taniel) <a href="https://twitter.com/Taniel/status/953478257319530497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Harry Enten of FiveThirtyEight also suggested that Republicans are in trouble:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Without an unpopular opponent for Trump, Trump&#8217;s GOP&#8217;s finding his unpopularity is crushing them electorally. Tonight&#8217;s results on their own don&#8217;t mean much, but, in context of 80+ state &amp; federal legislative special elections, they&#8217;re merely the latest sign GOP&#8217;s in BIG trouble
&#8212; (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) <a href="https://twitter.com/ForecasterEnten/status/953489698210631681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
And Sean Trende of RealClearPolitics called this a &#8220;five alarm fire.&#8221;
Republicans are staring down the barrel of an electoral gun in 2018. The average midterm election loss for the party of the president is 25 House seats. Republicans cannot lose 24 seats, or they lose the majority. Right now, over 30 Republicans have announced they&#8217;re leaving their seats, either to retire or run for a different office. That&#8217;s a solid number of open seats &#8212; and that number is likely to grow.
Some of this is undoubtedly due to President Trump&#8217;s unpopularity &#8212; as <a href="http://news.gallup.com/poll/141812/avg-midterm-seat-loss-presidents-below-approval.aspx">Gallup reports</a>:
<blockquote>
Since 1946, when presidents are above 50% approval, their party loses an average of 14 seats in the U.S. House in the midterm elections, compared with an average loss of 36 seats when presidents are below that mark.
</blockquote>
Trump is currently riding in the high 30s, according to the RealClearPolitics poll average. That bodes ill. And he&#8217;s galvanized Democrats to show up at the polls. All of which is why Republicans are more than a bit discomfited by Trump&#8217;s penchant for stepping on political landmines, even if it thrills his base.

UPSET: Democrats Take Wisconsin Seat In District Trump Won By 17%. What Does That Mean For 2018?

On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals dealt a strong blow against the state&#8217;s unions, unanimously ruling the state&#8217;s right-to-work law is constitutional.
A coalition of the state&#8217;s largest labor unions, including the Wisconsin state AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers District 2, and International Association of Machinists (IAM) District 10, along with IAM Lodge 1061, filed a lawsuit to block the 2015 law, called Act 1, which banned companies from making union membership compulsory as a condition of employment. The court <a href="http://freebeacon.com/issues/wisconsin-appeals-court-tosses-right-work-injunction/?utm_source=Freedom+Mail&amp;utm_campaign=0f04c17cc1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_09_20&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_b5e6e0e9ea-0f04c17cc1-46167297">stated</a>, &#8220;Act 1 does not take property within the meaning of the Wisconsin Constitution. &#8230; The Unions have no constitutional entitlement to the fees of non-member employees.&#8221;
As Jazz Shaw explained at <a href="https://hotair.com/archives/2017/09/20/right-work-scores-major-win-wisconsin/">HotAir</a>:
<blockquote>
What made the unions&#8217; claim in this case so remarkably outrageous was the way they framed their objection. The plaintiffs claimed that the law deprived them of property without compensation. In essence, what they were saying was that a portion of every worker&#8217;s paycheck was theirs by right and passing a law denying them their cut of the money was therefore unconstitutional.
</blockquote>
On Monday, the West Virginia state supreme court also <a href="http://freebeacon.com/issues/wv-supreme-court-tosses-right-work-injunction/">halted a preliminary injunction</a> placed on West Virginia&#8217;s right-to-work law. The court ruled, &#8220;The unions have not directed us to any federal or state appellate court that, in over seven decades, has struck down such a law. The circuit court erred in granting the preliminary injunction.&#8221;
The Supreme Court ruled in 1977&#8217;s <a href="http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/431/209/">Abood v. Detroit Board of Education</a> that objectors to union membership or policy could not have their dues used for other ideological or political purposes. In <a href="http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&amp;vol=475&amp;invol=292">Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson</a> in 1986, the Court ruled that unions could collect fair share fees from nonmembers only if adequate safeguards were in place to protect their <a href="http://usedulaw.com/293-first-amendment.html">First Amendment</a> rights not to fund activities with which they disagreed.

Wisconsin Court Strikes Blow Against Unions: Rules Right-To-Work Law Constitutional

Wisconsin Dairy Queen owner Kevin Scheunemann generated a lot of buzz &#8212; and a lot of business &#8212; when a &#8220;politically incorrect&#8221; sign he posted on his store door offended an out-of-towner who took to social media to complain.
&#8220;This restaurant is politically incorrect,&#8221; warns the sign Scheunemann posted some four years ago. The poster warns that they &#8220;have been known to say&#8221; things like &#8220;Merry Christmas,&#8221; &#8220;Happy Easter,&#8221; and &#8220;God Bless America,&#8221; and give away free ice cream sundaes to veterans on Veterans Day. The bottom of the sign, in large letters, reads: &#8220;In God We Trust.&#8221;
The owner first posted the sign after a customer complained about the Christian music he heard being played in the Kewaskum Dairy Queen. Instead of ridding the store of the music, Scheunemann felt it was necessary to post a warning to potential customers about their values, which revolve around &#8220;God and country.&#8221;
&#8220;I felt the sign was appropriate to hang in terms of being transparent about the views of the owner and staff supporting God and country,&#8221; Scheunemann <a href="http://www.cbs58.com/news/dairy-queen-sign-says-in-god-we-trust-angers-some-customers?%3F%3F">explained</a> to CBS 58.
&#8220;It just seems that those kinds of values and principles are becoming controversial in society,&#8221; he added.
Despite hanging without a hitch (or a complaint) for nearly four years, the sign recently became national news after an out-of-town customer became triggered by the &#8220;politically incorrect&#8221; message and posted a snapshot and a complaint to the offical Dairy Queen Facebook.
&#8220;I find this extremely offensive,&#8221; whined an Oregon woman who goes by the name Ashley Coleman on Facebook. &#8220;Please speak with the franchise owner,&#8221; she added.
<div class="embed"><iframe frameborder="0" height="608" width="500"></iframe></div>
But the community has since rallied around the Dairy Queen store, seemingly in agreement with the sign&#8217;s sentiments.
&#8220;Business is good,&#8221; noted local CBS reporter Julie Parise, &#8220;thanks in part to a sign that&#8217;s hanging on the front door.&#8221;
Business owners in the area also came to Scheunemann&#8217;s defense.
&#8220;He posted it on the door so you see it before you walk in,&#8221; said local store owner April Serwe. &#8220;You don&#8217;t have to walk in if you don&#8217;t agree with it.&#8221;
Some Kewaskum residents even said the sign is unnecessary, since most all of them &#8220;share the same values,&#8221; notes CBS 58.
&#8220;In this small community, I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s a problem,&#8221; said local Liz Torrison. &#8220;We&#8217;re all just liking each other and having fun.&#8221;
Even Republican Senator Duey Stroebel, who represents the 20th District wherein the Kewaskum Dairy Queen store is located, got in on the support for Scheunemann, quipping that the sign was &#8220;creating a blizzard&#8221; of &#8220;offended snowflakes.&#8221;
<div class="embed"><iframe frameborder="0" height="501" width="500"></iframe></div>
Dairy Queen has not dictated the owner take down the sign, but they did distance themselves from the poster in a statement:
<blockquote>
American Dairy Queen Corporation does not encourage our independently owned and operated franchisees to post non-business related messages in their locations or on their external reader boards. This sign expresses the views of this independent owner only and does not speak for ADQ Corporation or any of our other independent franchise owners. We expect our franchisees and employees to treat every person who walks through our doors with the utmost dignity and respect. Nothing less is acceptable.
</blockquote>
Scheunemann said he&#8217;d be willing to make accommodations for anyone uncomfortable with the declarations made on the poster.

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