Now USSF President Carlos Cordeiro is pushing back. He wrote an open letter explaining that he directed U.S. Soccer staff to conduct “an extensive analysis of the pa st 10 years of U.S. Soccer’s financials.” He said the analysis was “reviewed by an independent accounting firm.” The analysis showed that the women’s team was paid more than the men’s team.
The fact sheet includes bulleted information about the different pay structures for the men’s and women’s teams. USSF claimed that it paid “women $34.1 million in salaries and game bonuses and we paid our men $26.4 million — not counting the significant additional value of various benefits that our women’s players receive but which our men do not.”
For example, the women’s team has a guaranteed salary thanks to their collective bargaining agreement with USSF. They receive a base salary of $100,000 each year and an additional salary of $67,500 to $72,500 for playing in the National Women’s Soccer League. Male soccer players do not have such an agreement.
That agreement means women soccer players earn a guaranteed salary of $167,500 to $172,500 each year. On top of that, they are paid bonuses. The men’s team only earns bonuses. Yes, those bonuses can be larger, but that’s because they don’t have the guaranteed base salary. The women’s team, according to USSF, also receives benefits including a 401(k) plan and health insurance, as well as maternity leave and injury protection. The men’s team does not receive any benefits.
Finally, USSF points out that the “hypothetical per game comparison” making the media rounds isn’t even plausible. Neither the men’s nor the women’s teams have ever played 20 friendly matches in a year, yet this is what the hypothetical scenario is based on.
“That said, if the men and women ever did play in and win 20 friendlies in a year and were paid the average bonus amount, a women’s player would earn more from U.S. Soccer than the men’s player — the women’s player would earn at least $307,500 (WNT and NWSL salaries, plus game bonuses) and the men’s player would earn $263,333 (game bonuses only),” USSF claimed.
Month: July 2019
Ozaukee Christian School Hosts Open House
by Owen | 0754, 31 Jul 1919 | Education | 3 Comments
While the media likes to tease the location for the former occupants, it will be interesting to see if this works. It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere.
TOWN OF TRENTON — An area Christian school that’s moving into a new location just outside West Bend is planning an open house for prospective students and their parents next week.
The Ozaukee Christian School is planning the event for 6:30 p.m. Aug. 6 at Calvary Church, 1110 E. Decorah Road. Principal Kris Austin said the open house is aimed at familiarizing potential families with the nondenominational school’s programs and financial aid offerings.
The school is poised to launch its first academic year inside its new building: a converted strip mall — and onetime gentleman’s club — along Highway 33 between West Bend and Newburg.
Austin called the renovation a “transformation andredemption” of a property that was once home to the Rhino Gentlemen’s Club. She said Tuesday
the school had closed on a sale of the property just last week.
Portions of the 22,000square-foot building should be renovated in time for the start of classes Sept. 16, she said. The rest of the building should be prepped in time for a complete campus opening next year.
Anti-Violence Activists Slaughtered in Chicago
by Owen | 2141, 30 Jul 1919 | Crime | 80 Comments
Two women who campaigned against Chicago’s infamous gun violence, have themselves been shot and killed on a street corner where activists frequently stood to keep watch.
The anti-gun violence group Mothers Against Senseless Killings (MASK), confirmed Chantell Grant and Andrea Stoudemire were killed after a blue SUV pulled up to the corner, and someone in the vehicle opened fired into the crowd.
“People are tired of being afraid. We’re sick of being afraid. We live in these communities and then we somehow are penalised and punished for living here. If you’re poor, you’re poor,” said MASK founder Tamar Manasseh.
“But when women are killed, it’s not their fault. It’s not because they made bad decisions. It’s not they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
[…]
Mr Grant, 26, was mother to three young children. Ms Stoudemire, 35, had two children. They were among a total of 48 people shot in the city over the weekend, eight of them fatally.
Choice Works
by Owen | 1221, 30 Jul 1919 | Education, Politics - Wisconsin | 14 Comments
This study is a follow-on to the School Choice Demonstration Project that was commissioned by the state of Wisconsin in the mid 2000s. Researchers from the University of Arkansas tracked the progress of students in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) along with a matched sample of students in traditional public schools. The matching method used here allows for the best measure of the true effect of an intervention outside of lotteries, which didn’t occur in Milwaukee.
There are two sets of results in the study, one for students that were in 9thgrade at baseline and one for students who were in 3rd through 8thgrade. Among 9th graders, effects were found on enrollment but not on graduation. Among 3rd through 8th graders, the study also found an effect on enrollment. They find that 50 percent of MPCP students in this group enrolled in college compared to 45 percent of Milwaukee Public Schools students. This difference was statistically significant.
The most compelling finding, however, is when the researchers examined college graduation. By April of 2019 when the data was collected, 11 percent of MPCP students in their sample had graduated from a four-year college, compared with 8 percent of students in the public school control group. In other words, MPCP students were 38 percent more likely to graduate from four-year colleges than their public school peers.
Last year’s version of this study found that students in the MPCP were more likely to enroll in college, but not to graduate. It appears that an additional year of data has had a dramatic effect on the findings.
There are a lot of factors that go into something like this – not least of which is that, by and large, the parents who use choice care about their kids’ education and are likely more involved. Parental involvement and support for education in the home are critical factors for student success.
But the other huge factor is the quality and nature of the education being provided. Not all schools provide a good education and not all education styles work for every student. Giving parents the ability to choose a god school that delivers education in a way that works for their kids is another critical factor for student success.
No More Sales Tax Holiday in Wisconsin
by Owen | 0916, 30 Jul 1919 | Economy, Politics - Wisconsin | 21 Comments
Since back to school shopping can get pretty expensive, Wisconsin held its first tax free holiday for shoppers in early August last year. During that time, shoppers could buy select clothing, technology, and other supplies without paying the 5% sales tax.
“I think they should have the tax free weekend because it helps a lot of parents. Especially when they only have one income and grandparents have to help,” said Callahan.
[…]
But Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has confirmed that the state will no longer participate in the event this year. He said it was a one-time deal enacted under the former Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
“I think parents are going to be purchasing school supplies whether they have an incentive or not. I just don’t think the incentive actually worked,” said Evers.
I agree that the sales tax holiday doesn’t work as an economic stimulant, but it sure was nice for parents and teachers who are spending hundreds of dollars on school supplies.
Madison School Board Votes to Erase Native Americans from Wisconsin’s Heritage
by Owen | 0913, 30 Jul 1919 | Culture, Politics - Wisconsin | 0 Comments
How about the Madison School Board can mind it’s own business?
The Madison School Board called on Monday for Wisconsin schools to stop using Native American mascots, nicknames, symbols, logos and images.
The board unanimously passed a resolution that asks for the state association which represents school boards to lobby for legislation that would end the use of the nicknames and logos. The resolution originated from the Wausau School Board, which has also unanimously approved it, Tricia Zunker, the president of the northern Wisconsin city’s school board, said at the meeting.
It’s not about the $11
by Owen | 0752, 30 Jul 1919 | Politics - Wisconsin | 0 Comments
My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. I was marveling at a truly fascinating public meeting regarding the proposed POWTS fee. I’m hearing whispers that the County Board is just going to ram it through. They do so at their own peril. Here’s a sample:
Last week this column covered a proposal by the Washington County Planning and Parks Department to impost a new annual fee on the 20,312 private onsite wastewater treatment systems in the county. The passionate opposition to the proposed $11 fee reminds us that the fires that heated the tea party movement and continue to burn for President Trump are still very hot in Washington County.
For what was supposed to be just another sleepy public meeting at 7:35 on a Thursday morning, well over on hundred agitated citizens showed up to have their say. The main room overflowed into two other rooms. At one point, the meeting was paused for 15 minutes while they removed the chairs to be in compliance with the fire code.
By the time the meeting was over, hours later, over sixty people had spoken. Many more people had signed up to speak, but had to leave for reason or another as the hours dragged on. When the speakers had finished, 146 pages of letters and emails that were sent to public officials regarding the proposed POWTS fee were read. The people were almost universally in opposition to the proposed fee, but the commentary exposed the many fissures in the public’s trust of government.
[…]
While the written and spoken opposition to the proposed POWTS fee was wide-ranging and fierce, there was a common theme: The people are sick and tired of government that doesn’t listen to them, doesn’t care about them, and doesn’t respect them. Politicians and government bureaucrats too often operate in a world detached from the realities of the people they are supposed to serve. In this case, a proposal for a silly $11 fee/tax revealed just how large that detachment is.
Cross-State Loophole
by Owen | 2216, 29 Jul 1919 | Culture, Firearms, Politics | 9 Comments
One must always watch out for the Left’s next move in trying to control the language. Get this one...
California has some of the most stringent gun laws in the country, including a ban on the type of rifle that a shooter used to kill three and wound 15 at the garlic food festival in Gilroy on Sunday.
But the gunman had legally purchased the “assault-type rifle”, in the style of an AK-47, from the neighboring state Nevada on 9 July before carrying it illegally over state lines into California, highlighting what some gun control advocates say is a loophole in the way laws operate, state by state.
[…]
Several lawmakers have pointed at Sunday’s shooting to once again call for a federal law that would close this cross-state loophole.
So now the fact that states pass different laws according to the will of their own citizens is a “cross-state loophole.” No, it’s not a loophole. It’s federalism, and it’s a fundamental part of our system of government. It’s not a bug. It’s a feature.
Massive Data Breach of Capital One
by Owen | 2205, 29 Jul 1919 | Crime, Technology | 1 Comment
Wow.
The firm said in a statement released on Monday that the breach affected approximately 100 million individuals in the US and 6 million people in Canada.
The statement added that about 140,000 social security numbers and 80,000 linked bank account numbers were compromised in the US.
In Canada, about one million social insurance numbers belonging to Capital One credit card customers were also compromised.
One-Sided Task Force
by Owen | 2321, 28 Jul 1919 | Politics - Wisconsin | 2 Comments
Evers sure doesn’t take diversity into account when picking people.
MacIver News Service | July 25, 2019
By M.D. Kittle
MADISON, Wis. — “Titanic” didn’t need a spoiler alert.
And it doesn’t take a genius to see where Gov. Tony Evers’ Joint Task Force on Payroll Fraud and Worker Misclassification — loaded down with Big Labor representatives — appears to be heading.
The vast majority of public members on the task force — five of six — are union leaders or have deep ties to organized labor, according to a membership list obtained by MacIver News Service.
Even some of the state bureaucrats who round out the investigative panel are closely connected to Big Labor.
Business advocates expressed concern about the outsized role labor looks to play on the task force.
“If that’s the way the makeup of the task force remains, then I think that’s really unfortunate and a missed opportunity,” said Scott Manley, senior vice president of Government Relations for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.
There is also concern from construction industry officials that contractors are being unfairly targeted. Misclassification of independent contractors occurs among janitorial services, Internet providers, and throughout the exploding gig economy, too. But the task force, at least based on the initial rhetoric, seems fixed on the construction trade.
Newburg Eliminates Ethics Code and Abolishes Ethics Commission
by Owen | 1146, 27 Jul 1919 | Politics - Wisconsin | 1 Comment
Some day, I would love to spend some time to understand all of the backstory in Newburg. Essentially, it looks like a couple of families with deep grudges who are warring against each other in local government. The result is that it makes Newburg look like a backward hillbilly hamlet where they have failed the experiment of self-governance.
NEWBURG — Elected village officials here late Thursday agreed to abolish Newburg’s Ethics Commission and eliminate its own ethics code.
The unanimous vote — two Village Board members were absent — would put most future ethics disputes in the hands of the local district attorney or the state’s attorney general.
The move came roughly a month after the commission’s own chairman, Mike Heili, had sought to accuse village President Rena Chesak of perjury. That accusation came after Heili raised issues with statements he said Chesak had made at an ethics hearing he oversaw earlier this year.
But the attempted complaint — Deanna Alexander, Newburg’s interim administrator and clerk, has said the filing by Heili wasn’t notarized and that she planned to return it to him — had raised ethics issues of its own.
Besides filing an ethics dispute that his own commission would have ostensibly overseen — making for a potential conflict of interest, Alexander has said — Heili had also apparently raised questions about his impartiality this year when Alexander reported he’d suggested plans to continue filing more complaints against Chesak.
“There was concern expressed by multiple trustees regarding the ethics commission and the fact that it has more or less — it’s become overused,” village Attorney Ian Prust said moments after board members exited closed-session talks on the matter, and just before they voted to abolish the commission.
“It’s become a tool for different people to seek political retribution against other individuals,” Prust continued, “and they’re incredibly concerned about the cost of the ethics proceedings happening on a regular basis.”
Muslim Group Invited to Proselytize in Public School
by Owen | 2157, 26 Jul 1919 | Culture, Education, Politics | 50 Comments
Where are those folks from the Freedom From Religion Foundation?
“After a petition was sent around by activists, asking the school district to reduce ‘racism,’” William Krumholz reports in Alphanews, “the district brought in a group run by Dr. Muhammad Khalifa to conduct an ‘equity survey.’” This took place in the Eastern Carver County School District in the city of Chaska, Minnesota, with a population of approximately 25,000.
Dr. Muhammad Khalifa is Associate Professor of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development at the University of Minnesota. He earned his Ph.D. in “educational administration” at Michigan State University. Khalifa’s group, Adjusted Equity Solutions, and the affiliated Culturally Responsive School Leadership Institute, Krumholz wrote, “sells its services, which focus on bias recognition education and training, to schools.” The Eastern Carver district and superintendent Clint Christopher, “awarded Khalifa’s AES $52,250 over a two-year period to conduct the equity survey and provide certain follow-up services.”
Dr. Khalifa’s “Islamophobia and Christian Privilege,” materials urge the district to “recognize that Islamophobia is one of the most widespread, rapidly growing, and tolerated types of oppression in school and society today.” This requires the school to “identify discourses and practices of Christian privilege and White privilege” and Christian privilege “is not only having major Christian holidays and Sundays off, and Christian trappings in school.”
The materials urge the district to “discuss with your staff how you have been implicit – directly or indirectly – in Islamophobic practices,” and “complete annual equity audits.” Dr. Khalifa wants “speak outs” for Muslim students, and the protection of “Muslim female dress.” The district is also to “celebrate contemporary Muslim accomplishments and personalities, Kunta Kinte, Muhammad Ali, Keith Ellison, Yusef Lateef, John Coltrane, Malcolm X, Mahershali Ali, etc.”
As Dr. Khalifa’s materials explain, “Islam is not a religion in the sense that Western Europeans separated faith from other aspects of life.” Dr. Muhamad wants the district to “support causes connected to the Muslim community,” and “use staff, school space, student activities, and even financial resources – to advocate for causes important to student inclusion and belongingness.”
Actually, this looks more like yet another shakedown group.
Bill Introduced to Have Taxpayers Provide Feminine Hygiene Products
by Owen | 1202, 26 Jul 1919 | Politics - Wisconsin | 31 Comments
Don’t get too worked up. This bill isn’t going anywhere in a sane Assembly. But it is worth noting that this is the priority of Melissa Sargent and the Democratic Party in Wisconsin.
MADISON, Wis. – Menstrual products would be more easily accessible in state and local buildings, as well as schools under a new bill a Democratic state lawmaker is introducing.
Rep. Melissa Sargent said menstrual products are “not a luxury good, nor a government handout” in a news release.
“Menstrual products are necessities, not luxuries, and the over 50% of the population who menstruate here in Wisconsin should not have to continue to face the undue and unjust burdens of inaccessibility to essential hygiene products,” Sargent said in the release.
The bill requires that restrooms in buildings owned, leased or occupied by the state and local governments have tampons or pads available at no charge.
School districts, charter schools and private schools in a parental choice program would also be required to have tampons and pads available for free in bathrooms under the bill.
I would note that less than 50% of people menstruate… kids and post-menopausal women and whatnot. But that’s neither here nor there.
This is part of the continuing thrust of socialists to make people dependent on government for everything. No, menstrual products are not a luxury good. The same argument could be made for toothpaste, deodorant, hair products, razors, or any other hygiene product. And that’s the point. If Sargent has her say, we’d probably get to the point where government provides everything – after extracting money from the people to pay for it. Of course, it is not the responsibility of taxpayers to provide any of that for people.
Frankly, I get sick and tired of socialist politicians infantilizing people. Fer cripes’ sake, we aren’t children and we can buy our own $#(@*&! hygiene products. But socialists don’t see people that way. People can’t be mature and take care of themselves. They are sheep who are too stupid, lazy, or immature to take care of themselves. They need their betters to use the violent coercive force of government to provide for their needs.
I hope Sargent gets an earful from women who say, “I’m a grown a$$ woman and can buy my own hygiene products.”
Peggy Noonan Nails It
by Owen | 1147, 26 Jul 1919 | Culture, Politics | 0 Comments
Yup. And the frustration of normal people is part of the populist thrust fueling Trump’s support.
There is the latest speech guide from the academy, the Inclusive Communications Task Force at Colorado State University. Don’t call people “American,” it directs: “This erases other cultures.” Don’t say a person is mad or a lunatic, call him “surprising/wild” or “sad.” “Eskimo,” “freshman” and “illegal alien” are out. “You guys” should be replaced by “all/folks.” Don’t say “male” or “female”; say “man,” “woman” or “gender non-binary.”
In one way it’s the nonsense we’ve all grown used to, but it should be said that there’s an aspect of self-infatuation, of arrogance, in telling people they must reorder the common language to suit your ideological preferences. There is something mad in thinking you should control the names of things. Or perhaps I mean surprising/wild.
I see in it a spirit similar to that of the Terror. There is a tone of, “I am your moral teacher. Because you are incapable of sensitivity, I will help you, dumb farmer. I will start with the language you speak.”
An odd thing is they always insist they’re doing this in the name of kindness and large-spiritedness. And yet, have you ever met them? They’re not individually kind or large-spirited. They’re more like messianic schoolmasters.
[…]
It’s all insane. All of it.
But we’re moving forward, renaming the months and the sexes, reordering the language.
You wonder how the people who push all this got so much power.
Taxpayers on Hook for $110,000 to Jailed Felon
by Owen | 1133, 26 Jul 1919 | Crime, Law, Politics - Wisconsin | 0 Comments
Sigh… government screws up and it’s always the taxpayer left to pay the bill.
WAUSHARA COUNTY, Wis. (WBAY) – A Wisconsin prison inmate is receiving tens of thousands of dollars from the state as the result of a federal lawsuit settlement over what’s been dubbed “The Rat Emoji Incident.”
Taxpayers are footing the bill for that $110,000 settlement. There may be more to come.The lawsuit stems from an incident at Redgranite Correctional Institution. Target 2 Investigates uncovered the story in January.A now-former corrections sergeant at the prison exposed the identity of five inmates who were acting as confidential informants in a high-profile undercover gang investigation by placing pictures or rats next to their names.
“To be honest with you, it was rage. Rage,” former prison gang investigator Jason Wilke says was his first reaction after learning criminal charges were never filed against the sergeant.
One of the inmates filed a federal civil rights lawsuit and the state decided to settle. He’s serving time for armed robbery, and getting a big payout from taxpayers.
AG Kaul Praises Budget
by Owen | 0945, 26 Jul 1919 | Politics - Wisconsin | 0 Comments
I guess today is going to be all about finding those rare nuggets of praise from liberals.
RHINELANDER – Wisconsin will add more than 60 assistant district attorneys and nearly double the hourly pay of public defenders from $40 an hour to $70.Attorney General Josh Kaul told Newswatch 12 during a stop in Rhinelander on Thursday he considers those changes some of the best ones made in a state budget in decades, if not ever.
Forest and Langlade Counties will directly benefit. Each will add an assistant prosecutor. It’s the largest increase in such jobs in Wisconsin since 2007.
Kaul thinks those steps will help lead to more of a focus on prosecuting sex crimes after he and former Attorney General Brad Schimel pushed to clear a backlog of untested rape kits.
RBG Praises Trump Appointees
by Owen | 0744, 26 Jul 1919 | Politics - Wisconsin | 13 Comments
Remember how much the liberals tried to smear and trash these good, decent, smart men? It was all a farce. Tip o’ the ol’ hat to RBG for being decent to decent people.
Washington (CNN)Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg came to the defense of her more conservative colleagues on the bench, Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.
“I can say that my two newest colleagues are very decent and very smart individuals,” she said Wednesday at an event in Washington, D.C., hosted by Duke Law as she answered questions from Neil Siegel, a law professor and one of her former law clerks.Now that the Supreme Court term has ended, Ginsburg, 86, has been pushing back against criticism of the court, saying in a recent interview with NPR that the nine justices work well together and rebutted the idea that the Supreme Court is a partisan institution, according to the news outlet.
Live Stream of Public Hearing for POWTS
by Owen | 0826, 25 Jul 1919 | Politics - Wisconsin | 0 Comments
The Washington County Insider is live streaming the Washington County Parks Department hearing about the proposed new POWTS fee (see column yesterday). They are currently on a break because there are so many people there that they broke the fire code! Good job, neighbors.
Anyway, so far the comments have been very eloquent and truly express the frustration that people have with governments that just keep jacking up costs without adding any value.
Anyway, this is a fantastic example of representative government in action. Tune in.
Restart of broadcast
Schools Have Enough Money
by Owen | 0718, 25 Jul 1919 | Education, Politics - Wisconsin | 2 Comments
State Senator Duey Stroebel penned a column in response to a recent article in the Washington County Daily News where the Kewaskum Schools were whining about not getting as much state aid as they wanted. While Stroebel uses Kewaskum as the example, he brings up some important points that are applicable across Wisconsin.
From a common-sense standpoint, state and local funding for schools is also on a per-student basis. Dollars are tied to how many students a district educates. Kewaskum enrollment has fallen 236 students from a high of 2,050 students in 2008-09 to 1,814 students in 2018-19. Clearly a 12.5 percent,
or oneeighth, reduction in enrollment should impact finances. According to documents on the Kewaskum School Board website, the 2016-17 school year had a general fund budget of $19.62 million, with an enrollment of 1,844.
The recently finished 2018-19 school year had a general fund budget of $20.78 million with 1,814 students. That is an increase in spending of 5.9 percent over two years while enrollment fell 1.6 percent.
Given current demographics, we can expect flat to declining enrollment to continue throughout Wisconsin. It is up to local school boards, and those they employ, to scale costs and ensure a quality product. Nothing we do at the state level can force a school district to prudently control costs or invest funding in the most critical areas. Every community must ask if each budget item improves educational performance and graduation rates.
Last, but not least, communities can go to referendum. The same cost and education-result questions should be asked on those occasions.
GOP Agrees to Massive Spending Increase
by Owen | 2151, 24 Jul 1919 | Politics | 4 Comments
Anger among conservative lawmakers boiled over Tuesday in the wake of a budget deal that will add hundreds of billions of dollars to the national debt, posing a challenge for GOP leaders.
The package is expected to pass Congress now that President Trump has blessed the agreement, but GOP leaders are being tested as they try to count votes amid conservative unrest about the spending agreement’s $320 billion price tag.
“There are always Republicans who are going to say, ‘We think it might spend more here than we would have liked,’ but this is a divided government,” said Sen. John Thune(S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican. “It probably won’t get all of our members, but I think it will get a lot of them.”
Don’t blame this BS on divided government. They agree to more spending even when government isn’t divided.
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