Wisconsin Right Now

During the presidential debate on Tuesday night, Vice President Kamala Harris deflected when answering questions on the ongoing border crisis. When asked “why did the administration wait until six months before the election to act” on the border crisis, and if she would have done anything differently from President Joe Biden, Harris didn’t answer the question. She deflected by repeating the claim she’s previously made that she prosecuted transnational criminal organizations when she was the attorney general of California from 2011 to 2017. “I'm the only person on this stage who has prosecuted transnational criminal organizations for the trafficking of guns drugs and human beings,” she said. She also repeated a claim that she would sign a U.S. Senate border bill that went nowhere in the Democratic controlled Senate. “Some of the most conservative members of the United States Senate came up with the border security bill which I supported,” she said. “That bill would have pu

Unions see a clear path through the legislature to boost membership after several legal challenges saw workers leave in droves. This, according to a new report released Wednesday that grades public sector labor laws across the nation. The data was compiled by the Commonwealth Foundation, a policy group that focuses on fiscal conservancy. David Osborne, senior fellow for labor policy at the foundation, said during a media briefing that government privatization, changing demographics and a 2018 Supreme Court decision, Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, have caused membership rates across the nation’s four largest public sector unions to fall more than 320,000 over the last five years. The decline represents $106.8 million in annual dues and fees, according to the report. “The overarching theme is that the unions have really responded to the membership losses since JANUS to drive up union membership,” Osborne said. In the JANUS decision, courts held that unions could no longer collec

In a mirror of national politics, California Republicans followed former President Donald Trump’s lead by proposing to end taxes on tips. While Vice President Kamala Harris, who formerly represented California in the U.S. Senate, embraced the measure, California Democrats said no, shooting down the proposed amendment in the California Senate. “Even Trump and Harris both say we should eliminate the ‘tip tax,’” said the California Senate Republican Caucus in a statement. Soon after Trump announced his proposal to a crowd in Nevada, which has the highest percentage of tipped workers in the nation, Harris also came out in favor of the proposal. The Budget Lab at Yale University reports there are approximately 4 million tipped workers — 2.5% of all workers nationwide. Many tipped workers earn less than the minimum wage, and thus earn the lion's share of their income from tips. Some higher-paid tipped professions such as barbers and hair stylists would also benefit from this rule

Vice President Kamala Harris was once anti-fracking and opposed to former President Donald Trump’s tough immigration policies. Now, it’s apparently a different story. In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash this week, Harris was asked about the change in her stance on fracking. Fracking is a major industry and economic driver in the swing state of Pennsylvania, a state where Harris is up a slim 0.8%, according to Real Clear Politics’ polling average. Harris said during a town hall in 2019 that there is “no question” she supports banning fracking. During the CNN interview, Harris said she does not want to ban fracking and that she “made that clear on the debate stage in 2020.” “As vice president I did not ban fracking, and as president I will not ban fracking,” Harris said. Harris has previously said she supports a ban on fracking, offshore drilling, and plastic straws. She also said she supports passing the Green New Deal, which includes a treasure trove of far-left energy po

The California legislature passed a bill allowing undocumented immigrants to make use of the state’s $150,000, $0 down, 0% interest home “loans.” The bill now goes to the governor’s desk, where he must either veto or approve the bill by the end of September. California has one of the worst home shortages in the nation, with an estimated 4.5 million home shortage and a nearly $1 million median home price. "Many generational Californians can’t afford to buy a house in their home state thanks to Democrats’ unsustainable economic policies,” said State Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones, R-San Diego, in a statement urging California Gov. Gavin Newsom to veto the bill. "This policy is not only unfair but also sends a dangerous message: ‘Come to California, whether legally or illegally, and claim your $150,000 home loan.’" California’s Dream for All Shared Appreciation Loans program allows applicants to secure “loans” of up to $150,000 or 20% of the home’s purchase p

Tennessee conservative activist Robby Starbuck has continued to impact corporate policies on diversity, equity and inclusion and donations to pride events, most recently at companies such as Lowe’s, Jack Daniel’s, Indian Motorcycle and Polaris. Starbuck previously made public policies at Harley-Davidson , John Deere and Tractor Supply that led to corporate statements on how the companies would shift policies to limit or eliminate DEI priorities. This week, Lowe’s made a statement that it would stop participation in the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index along with stopping donations to pride events and ending its employee resource groups, which separate employees with specific characteristics such as sexual orientation or gender to provide corporate resources. On Wednesday, Starbuck said that Ford did the same, ending involvement in HRC's index, pride donations and vowing that ERC groups will be focused on business. Ford also said that it does not have suppl

The U.S. Department of Defense is under scrutiny for refusing to release records about exactly how spending on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion helps with national security. The Center to Advance Security in America in May filed with the DOD a Freedom of Information Act Request, the legal pathway to obtain government documents. The FOIA sought to find out what DOD officials estimate is the real impact on national security of DEI spending, for which Congress approved $86.5 million in fiscal year 2023. However, James Fitzpatrick, an Army Veteran who leads CASA, told The Center Square that the DOD has confirmed it received the FOIA request but still has not released any documents more than 100 days later. “The Department of Defense has stated that diversity, equity, and inclusion is the American military’s greatest strength but has rarely detailed how,” reads the FOIA, which was obtained by The Center Square. “Given the recent hiring freeze on DEI related positions, it must follow

A federal judge on Monday temporarily paused a Biden administration program that would grant a path to citizenship for the spouses of American citizens. District Court Judge J. Campbell Barker paused the new Biden administration effort until a final ruling is made. The program in question allows illegal immigrants who have married an American citizen to avoid deportation and start the path to citizenship. The halt comes after a coalition of 16 states filed a lawsuit to challenge the program. Proponents of the policy say it helps repair the immigration system and helps the migrants in limbo in the U.S. Critics say it incentivizes illegal immigrants even more than they already are and that the policy violates the U.S. Constitution and breaks federal law. “Under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the federal government is actively working to turn the United States into a nation without borders and a country without laws. I will not let this happen,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton

Since the primary election runoff in late May and ahead of the November election, the Texas Secretary of State’s Office has been prioritizing cleaning up the voter rolls and issuing guidance to local jurisdictions about election law. On Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott announced the result of a statewide effort: more than 1.1 million people were taken off the Texas voter rolls, including 6,500 noncitizens who were illegally registered to vote. Among them, documentation about 1,930 with a voting history was handed over to the Attorney General’s Office for a potential criminal investigation. The announcement comes after Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson issued warnings and guidance to local authorities about following state and federal election laws. One guidance directs elections officials to implement measures to ensure registered voters’ privacy rights. It was issued after complaints were filed about ballot information being publicized reportedly for political purposes. It direct

This week will mark the three-year anniversary of President Joe Biden’s chaotic and deadly withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Biden committed on the campaign trail to withdraw U.S. troops, a move supported by his predecessor Donald Trump, but the process left 13 U.S. service members killed and the country within the hands of the Taliban. The Taliban also received billions of dollars in U.S. military equipment because it was left behind. Federal officials have pointed to an effort to render that equipment unusable, but the rapid collapse in the country left little time to actually finish and accomplish that destruction of equipment. The Taliban held a military parade featuring U.S. military equipment earlier this month. “What added insult to injury to all of this was the way in which it was conducted, the unnecessary impetus behind it which led to the … collapse” and even “armed our adversaries,” Robert Greenway, a former top intelligence and national security offic

Some of the messaging throughout the Democratic National Convention in Chicago seems to focus on characterizing former President Donald Trump as a racist and misogynist. A Black Republican from Chicago says those are lies. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has long used terms like “racist” and “misogynist” in verbal attacks against the Republican presidential candidate. Throughout the week in Chicago, from the main convention stage to the Illinois delegation breakfast, speakers have echoed similar characterizations. Asked if it’s fair to characterize a person who half the country supports in such terms over policy differences, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said party leaders aren’t saying that Trump supporters are racists and misogynists. “I am characterizing their candidate Donald Trump as a misogynist and a racist,” Raould said Wednesday after the Illinois Democrats’ breakfast. “I’m speaking for myself, I’m characterizing him as a misogynist and a racist based on the words

Former President Donald Trump blasted the Biden administration, calling it a “massive scandal.” New federal economic data shows that previous data significantly overestimated the health of the U.S. economy. The Department of Labor released revised jobs data that showed they overestimated the number of jobs created in the U.S. economy by 818,000, a whopping revision that set off alarm bells Wednesday. Economic data is often revised in this way, but the size of this change is large enough to raise eyebrows. “Even this number is shocking, job growth is still positive,” Jamie Cox, Managing Partner for Harris Financial Group in Richmond, Va., said in a statement. “If you are in the rate cut in September camp, these data all but seal the deal on what Fed needed to cut rates.” The new job creation numbers are nearly a third lower than the previous figure. The numbers come amid scrutiny of the economic record of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential pick, whose

President Joe Biden committed impeachable offenses in his role in his family’s alleged overseas business dealings, a newly released report from the U.S. House Ways and Committee alleges. “As described in this report, the Committees have accumulated evidence demonstrating that President Biden has engaged in impeachable conduct,” the report said. The 291-page report lays out in detail what have at times been murky allegations against the president. House Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., helped spearhead the investigation, uncovering and laying out evidence. He and Republicans on the impeachment committee argue that the Biden family, with the help and knowledge of the president, used the Biden family name around the world to rake in nearly $30 million from overseas entities in Ukraine, China, Romania and elsewhere in secretive influence deals. “In order to obscure the source of these funds, the Biden family and their associates set up shell companies to conceal these pa

Requests by the federal government to vacate injunctions over the Biden administration's controversial Title IX rule have been blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Friday 5-4 ruling means the injunctions preventing implementation of the new rule in 26 states will be allowed to remain in force until the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals takes up the case in October. The opinion said the court couldn't unhitch the majority of the new rule from the challenged provisions that would have added sexual orientation and gender identity to Title IX. Proponents of keeping Title IX as originally intended in 1972 celebrated the win, and reminded the fight continues until a final ruling. In the unsigned decision, the majority said, "On this limited record and in its emergency applications, the Government has not provided this Court a sufficient basis to disturb the lower courts interim conclusions that the three provisions found likely to be unlawful are intertwined with and

U.S. Customs and Border Protection released monthly border apprehension data on Friday, saying, “statistics show lowest southwest border encounters in nearly four years.” CBP also claimed illegal border crossings were down by 34% from June to July and the drop is due to a presidential proclamation issued in June. Troy Miller, a senior official performing the duties of the CBP Commissioner, said  recent Biden-Harris policies led “to the lowest number of encounters along the southwest border in more than three years.” Despite these claims, the total number of apprehended illegal border crossers surpassed 10.5 million in July with two months left in the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. That number excludes 2 million gotaways, those who illegally entered and evaded capture, bringing the total number to more than 12.5 million. That is greater than the individual populations of 45 states. If illegal border crossers were a state, they’d be the sixth most populous state ahead of Ill

(The Center Square) – The “whitewashing” of stolen valor claims leveled against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz insult servicemembers, who know better than any how to spot a “coward” among them. So says Pat Harrigan, the Army Green Beret vying for North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District seat in Washington, D.C., during a visit to the VFW Post 92 in Lower Burrell, Pa., just outside of Pittsburgh, on Thursday. Appearing alongside Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate on the Republican ticket, Harrigan said media claims that Walz misspoke when he said he deployed to war defy reason and logic. During more than seven minutes of remarks, Harrigan implied that it was no accident that Walz printed the wrong rank on coins that he himself distributed. Nor did it seem likely that he never received final paperwork committing his unit to a deployment in Iraq, just before he quit. “We believe it is unforgivable to do what Tim Walz did," he said. "When am

(The Center Square) – Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is taking fire for her new "price-gouging" ban that critics say is little more than communism-style "price controls" where government heavily regulates industries. Harris’ effort to address elevated consumer prices hits at a key pain point for Americans, but the details of how Harris plans to go about fixing that problem will be the subject of close scrutiny when she lays out the plan at a North Carolina rally Friday. Harris is expected to unveil a broader economic plan at the same rally, but so far there are few details on specifically how she will address inflation. Prices have risen more than 20% overall since she and President Joe Biden took office. Harris’ campaign this week touted the “federal ban on corporate price-gouging” to help Americans with high grocery prices and prevent "excessive" profits. Harris' campaign said she would also order t

(The Center Square) – Multiple whistleblowers have come forward telling U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., that many working as part of former President Donald Trump’s security detail at a rally in Pennsylvania one week ago weren’t Secret Service and were “unprepared and inexperienced personnel,” Hawley says. The accusation comes after the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, on which Hawley sits, announced it will conduct a bipartisan investigation into the July 13 assassination attempt of Trump. Multiple whistleblowers contacted his office “with disturbing new information behind the assassination attempt on the former president,” he said. They did so after Hawley opened a whistleblower tip line, pledging to protect the anonymity of everyone who contacts his office. Whistleblowers are encouraged to make protected disclosures by calling (202) 224-6154 or emailing tips@hawley.senate.gov . In response to the information he has received so far, Hawley

(The Center Square) – A Tennessee Republican senator called for President Joe Biden to resign immediately after the 81-year-old dropped out of the presidential race early Sunday afternoon.   U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn said Biden must resign as president.  "If Joe Biden is too weak to stay in the race for the presidency, he should RESIGN as our Commander-in-Chief immediately," she wrote in a post on X.  Democrats praised Biden's work in office.  "President Biden has been an extraordinary, history-making president – a leader who has fought hard for working people and delivered astonishing results for all Americans," California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote. "He will go down in history as one of the most impactful and selfless presidents." California Governor Gavin Newsom announces his revised May 2024 budget proposal. Office of the Governor of California Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said the first debate bet

Was Vice President Kamala Harris the most liberal U.S. Senator? Is it true? According to a recent ranking, yes. In an Aug. 12 interview, President Donald Trump said that he believes U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris is a "disaster. She is going to be a disaster I think for their party." The ranking is even more educational now, with President Joe Biden announcing on July 21 that he is dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing Harris to be the Democrat Party's nominee. Harris, Trump claimed, is "super liberal. I heard she is the most liberal person in Congress. More liberal than Bernie Sanders." Trump added, "I have to win the election because Kamala is a socialist." Of former vice president Joe Biden, who recently chose the California senator as his running mate, Trump said, "He’s been brought over. I guess he’s a socialist, I guess if you asked him what a socialist means, he wouldn’t give you an answer. He has no clue." Is Trump rig