Boots & Sabers

The blogging will continue until morale improves...

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Author: Owen

Two forgotten stories deserve attention

by | 0547, 26 Mar 2424 | | 2 Comments

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here’s a part.

In the latter half of last year, two unsavory and revelatory stories about Gov. Tony Evers were reported and made headlines throughout Wisconsin. Here we are at the end of March and the headlines have faded and Evers continues to act with impunity, having suffered no consequences for his shady behavior.

 

The first story was broken by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in August of last year. They revealed that Evers’ longtime Chief of Staff, Maggie Gau, was living with one of her subordinates. Later reporting revealed that that subordinate was Evers’ communications director, Britt Cudaback.

 

While the initial story is outrageous enough, further reporting revealed it to be even worse than first thought. Cudaback was appointed as a deputy in 2019 for $62,000 per year. She was promoted to report directly to Gau in 2020 and her annual salary was increased to $100,006. In 2023, her pay was increased again to $112,008. Her 80% increase in pay came in just four years during the same period she was living with her boss.

 

Furthermore, during that period, Evers admitted that no formal performance reviews were administered and there is no documentation that shows that there was a competitive and inclusive hiring process for the position and compensation that Cudaback holds. Evers vigorously defended the practice.

 

Such relationships between a supervisor and a subordinate are strictly prohibited throughout the private sector and the rest of government because they are inherently discriminatory and coercive, but Evers accepts and applauds them. It has been seven months since that story broke and, as far as we know, nothing has changed.

 

The second story that further revealed Evers’ deceptive and unethical behavior was broken by Wisconsin Right Now in November of last year. Through a series of open records requests, Evers’ office accidentally let it slip that the governor had been using a secret email alias for years. Tony Evers had stolen the name of Hall of Fame Milwaukee Braves pitcher Warren Spahn to conduct public business with other government officials and people outside of government.

Two Dutch Players Quit National Team Over Transgender Teammate

by | 1359, 25 Mar 2424 | | 0 Comments

One feels for their anguish. The Trans movement is destroying women’s spaces. 

“The moment you’re embarrassed to be a part of the Dutch Team, because a biological man is playing in the women’s team, it’s time to go,” Zijlstra wrote in the past, according to Andrew Holleran of The Spun “I have tried to accept this, but I can not condone or justify this.

“I think that with sports there has to be an equal and level playing field which is to be used and accepted in good faith. After all, we have worked so hard to be relevant and competitive in this sport.”

De Graaf also explained her decision in the post.

“At some point you have to make decisions if something goes against your feelings,” De Graff wrote. “You have to do what feels right for you. Hence my decision to also leave the Dutch team.”

Spinning for Biden

by | 0749, 23 Mar 2424 | | 2 Comments

Wow. This is the headline the Biden Administration wanted from an accomplice media.

What investors should know about the U.S. easing vehicle emissions rules

So the government passes draconian regulations on the auto industry that are based in fantasy, but will still wreak havoc on American manufacturers and consumers. BUT, those rules were slightly – VERY slightly – less draconian than the regulations they were considering, so the media spins it as the government “easing vehicle emissions rules.”

This is the same way government swamp people spin budgeting. When they spend less than they originally wanted to, they call it a “cut.”

Two amendments to protect our elections

by | 1829, 22 Mar 2424 | | 2 Comments

Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News earlier this week.

Although the presidential primary races were already settled long before Wisconsinites had the opportunity to weigh in, there are still important local races to decide on the April 2 ballot. In addition, every Wisconsin voter will be asked to decide on two amendments to Wisconsin’s state Constitution.

 

The reason these amendments are on the ballot is troubling. Even though our system of government is replete with checks and balances at every level, we remain largely dependent on people willingly following the law without the need for coercion.

 

Increasingly we are seeing government officials at all levels willfully violate the law because they have realized that there are few consequences for them doing so. We saw this phenomenon in full display during the pandemic as laws were ignored, civil rights were suppressed, and official restraint was abandoned for the sake of “safety.”

 

This was particularly true for election laws. In Wisconsin, election officials illegally collected ballots in parks, plopped unsecured ballot collection ballots all over the place, ignored voter ID requirements, accepted invalid mailed in ballots, turned over the administration of elections to private activists, and generally ignored, violated, or invented laws and regulations at their whim. With rare exception, all of the election officials who ran roughshod over our lawful election processes remain at their posts and have escaped any negative consequences for their actions. In our late-stage republic, leftists have discovered that they can implement their will through the power of the bureaucracy without the annoyance of needing to win elections or pass legislation. With a bit of gumption and an accomplice executive branch, even a banal local bureaucrat can wield enormous, unchecked power and citizens are left with few legal recourses.

 

For these and other reasons, the Republicans in the Legislature have begun to ask the voters to amend the Constitution to reflect the will of the people in the hope that the Constitution will be more difficult to ignore or violate than statutes. With our current activist leftist Supreme Court, this plan is not foolproof, but at least it provides an avenue for citizens to insist that their government obey their governing document.

 

On the ballot next month are two proposed constitutional amendments that are a direct response to leftist election officials manipulating recent elections and the failure of law enforcement to hold them accountable.

 

The first proposed amendment would prohibit the use of private funds to conduct elections. The second proposed constitutional amendment is related to the first. It would prohibit any person except people lawfully elected or selected to administer elections.

 

Both amendments are a response to Mark Zuckerberg’s activist group that poured millions of dollars and provided activist staffers for five Democratic strongholds in Wisconsin. Their stated objective was to help with ballot access and election staffing issues. Their real objective was to turn out the vote for Democrats. Local election officials gave these Democratic activists the keys to the electoral process. Low and behold, we saw massive Democratic turnout in those five districts.

 

The reason we do not want private groups to fund and manage our elections is that there is no accountability for malfeasance. They are unelected and unaccountable to the citizens. Whether leftist, rightist, libertarian, anarchist, communist, liberal, or conservative, we must not allow private activists to control the process by which our government obtains the consent of the governed.

 

I truly wish that we did not need resort to constitutional amendments to provide safeguards for our elections. Laws and regulations should do. Unfortunately, experience has taught us that laws and regulations are not enough. We need to install every possible safeguard to protect our elections from the incompetent and the nefarious.

 

Please vote “yes” on both proposed amendments. Wisconsin will be better for it.

Trump Competing in the Battleground States

by | 0739, 22 Mar 2424 | | 0 Comments

I continue to think that polls are fundamentally flawed and nobody has figured out how to do it in our modern world, but the trends are worth noting. As long as the methodology remains consistent, polls should reveal trends even if the actual percentages are off. That being said, this is interesting. Trump appears to be expanding his support while Biden is in a rearguard action. One challenge for Trump is that he is gaining support in historically less reliable voting blocks – young people and independents.

 

Voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania – two states that flipped from red to blue in the 2020 presidential election – begin this year’s general election campaign more dissatisfied than pleased with the candidates they have to choose from, with a fairly small but crucial share saying they are open to changing their minds on the race, according to new CNN polling conducted by SSRS.

The surveys of registered voters find a dead-even race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden in Pennsylvania (46% each), with Trump ahead in Michigan (50% Trump to 42% Biden). Both polls were fielded after Trump and Biden each clinched enough delegates to win their party’s nomination for president, according to CNN’s estimates.

The polls suggest that in this rematch with Trump, Biden’s winning 2020 coalition may now be more intact in Pennsylvania than in Michigan. The Pennsylvania poll finds Biden leading among women, voters of color, college graduates and independents, and running about even with Trump among voters younger than 35. In Michigan, though, women split about evenly, Biden’s margin among voters of color is narrower and he trails Trump by significant margins among independents and young voters. In both states, Biden holds on to about 9 in 10 of his self-described 2020 supporters, while Trump keeps slightly more of his own 2020 voters.

U.S. Abandons Israel at U.N.

by | 2103, 21 Mar 2424 | , | 0 Comments

This is a disgrace. That’s not a ceasefire. It’s a surrender.

On Thursday, the United States ended decades of stalwart support for Israel in the United Nations Security Council, submitting a draft resolution that calls for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

 

The U.S., which negotiated the language of the proposed resolution with the governments of Egypt and Qatar, seeks to have the Security Council vote on it on Friday.

 

An earlier version of the resolution that was circulated earlier in the day Thursday linked the cessation of fighting with the release of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas, the Associated Press reported. The latest revision, however, makes no such precondition for “the imperative of an immediate and sustained cease-fire.”

In February, the U.S. was the only nation on the Security Council to veto a similar resolution, saying that calling for an immediate end to military hostilities would imperil hostage negotiations.

Renting Is Much Cheaper Than Buying

by | 2019, 21 Mar 2424 | , , | 1 Comment

The powers that be want a nation of renters.

Buying a house in the United States is considerably more expensive than renting right now, and the real estate market is expected to stay that way for at least the next five years, according to a new analysis.

 

The analysis out Thursday from CBRE, a firm that tracks real estate prices, shows the average monthly payment on a new apartment lease in the U.S. is $2,165. The average monthly payment on a mortgage for a new home is $2,997, meaning it costs households, on average, 38% more to buy than to rent, according to the analysis.

 

Notably, the gap between buying and renting will continue to be a big hurdle for aspiring homeowners for at least five years, the analysis found — mortgage payments are still expected to cost 11% more than rent in the year 2030.

 

Higher mortgage rates and a nationwide housing shortage are key factors behind persistently high home prices, according to the CBRE report. The report estimates there is a shortage of 3.8 million housing units in the U.S., mainly in single-family homes and smaller multi-unit dwellings.

Of course, even though renting is cheaper in terms of monthly expense, you will pay it forever and never own anything. Buying a home is still the #1 way that most families build wealth. That’s what they want you to rent and build their wealth.

Invasion of Rafah Would be Bloodbath

by | 0742, 21 Mar 2424 | , | 0 Comments

Ya know… there is a way to prevent this. Hamas could surrender.

The doctors warned about a potential “bloodbath” with “apocalyptic” consequences if Israel carries out its planned invasion of Rafah, a southern city by the border with Egypt where over 1.5 million displaced civilians are currently taking refuge.

 

“This is probably the worst crisis that can happen within this war,” Sahloul said.

 

[…]

 

Although international leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have publicly shared their concerns, a senior Israeli official told ABC News on Wednesday that “there is no world” in which Israel does not go ahead with its Rafah offensive, a military operation they claim will destroy the last battalions of Hamas left in the south.

 

The doctors affirmed that the situation is already dire and called for a cease-fire.

Frankly, Israel’s care to provide paths to safety, warnings, and humanitarian care for civilians as they prosecute the war is admirable. They do it at great risk to themselves and knowing that their enemy would not – has not – do the same for them. Hamas has a long history of using civilians as shields. There is one reason that civilian Gazans continue to be in the middle of a war. That reason is Hamas.

Florida Bans Homeless From Sleeping In Public Spaces

by | 1948, 20 Mar 2424 | | 0 Comments

Good work, Florida.

Florida’s homeless will be banned from sleeping on sidewalks and in parks and other public spaces under a law signed Wednesday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. It also promises the homeless greater access to services for issues such as substance abuse and mental health problems.

 

The state Department of Children and Families would oversee local governments that set up designated areas for the homeless to camp for up to a year under the new law, which takes effect Oct. 1. Anyone using those encampments would be prohibited from using alcohol or illegal drugs, with sanitation and security to be provided.

 

The encampments would be created if local homeless shelters reach maximum capacity, according a news release from the governor’s office. The law requires regional entities to provide necessary behavioral treatment access as a condition of a county or city creating an encampment.

Young People Are Less Happy

by | 0808, 20 Mar 2424 | | 0 Comments

Why wouldn’t young people be less happy? We are constantly telling them that we are destroying the environment, they are the wrong gender, everyone is racist, and they will never be able to get ahead against systemic forces.

Meanwhile, in Biden’s economy, they can’t afford to buy a house, their rent is skyrocketing, and they can’t afford groceries.

Add to that that young people are more likely to be buried in their phones and social media without having real, human relationships.

Yup. I buy it.

The United States has fallen eight spots and is no longer in the top 20 happiest countries in the world, falling behind countries like Canada, Israel, Kuwait, Lithuania and the United Arab Emirates, according to the 2024 World Happiness Report released by Gallup and its partners.

[….]

One of the main reasons for the United States dropping out of the top 20 is the overall unhappiness of younger people, according to the report.

“For the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, happiness has decreased in all age groups, but especially for the young, so much so that the young are now, in 2021-2023, the least happy age group,” according to the new report. “This is a big change from 2006-2010, when the young were happier than those in the midlife groups, and about as happy as those aged 60 and over. For the young, the happiness drop was about three-quarters of a point, and greater for females than males.”

The 2024 World Happiness Report goes on to explain another reason for such a heavy drop is the widespread concern about an “emerging epidemic of loneliness, and about the consequences of loneliness for mental and physical health.”

“Although overall levels of loneliness are not unduly high in global terms, there is a significantly different pattern across the generations,” the report says. “Loneliness is almost twice as high among the Millennials than among those born before 1965. Millennials also feel less socially supported than Boomers in those countries, another place in which these countries look different from the rest of the world. This is despite the fact that actual social connections are much more frequent for Millennials than Boomers, and about as frequent as for Generation X.”

Aramco CEO Says We Should Abandon Fantasy Energy Goals

by | 0801, 20 Mar 2424 | , , | 0 Comments

Yes. This has been obvious for a while, but what is different here is that there is a major energy company CEO saying it so forcefully. Major energy companies have been unwilling to voice these views for fear of regulatory punishment and because they wanted a slice of the taxpayer pie being doled out for alternative energy schemes. Nasser’s comments mark a break in the SOP.

HOUSTON — Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said Monday that the energy transition is failing and policymakers should abandon the “fantasy” of phasing out oil and gas, as demand for fossil fuels is expected to continue to grow in the coming years.

 

“In the real world, the current transition strategy is visibly failing on most fronts as it collides with five hard realities,” Nasser said during a panel interview at the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy conference in Houston, Texas.

“A transition strategy reset is urgently needed and my proposal is this: We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas and instead invest in them adequately reflecting realistic demand assumptions,” the CEO said to applause from the audience.

 

[…]

 

Nasser said the world should focus more on reducing emissions from oil and gas in addition to renewables. The CEO said efficiency improvements alone over the past 15 years have reduced global energy demand by almost 90 million barrels per day oil equivalent. Wind and solar, meanwhile, have substituted only 15 million barrels over the same period, he said.

 

“We should phase in new energy sources and technologies when they are genuinely ready, economically competitive and with the right infrastructure,” Nasser said.

Texas Devests From Blackrock over Anti-Energy Stance

by | 0735, 20 Mar 2424 | | 0 Comments

Good.

FIRST ON FOX: The State of Texas is terminating a massive $8.5 billion investment with trillion-dollar asset manager BlackRock over the state’s determination that the firm is engaged in a boycott of energy companies.

In an announcement first shared with FOX Business, Texas State Board of Education Chairman Aaron Kinsey said the so-called Texas Permanent School Fund (PSF) had delivered a notice to BlackRock on Tuesday, informing the New York City-based firm of the action. According to Kinsey, the move was made in accordance with a 2021 state law that seeks to distance the state and its large public purse from financial institutions boycotting the oil and gas sector.

SCOTUS Allows Texas to Arrest Illegal Aliens

by | 2117, 19 Mar 2424 | , | 3 Comments

Excellent.

A divided Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Texas to begin enforcing a law that gives police broad powers to arrest migrants suspected of crossing the border illegally while a legal battle over the measure plays out.

 

The conservative majority’s order rejects an emergency application from the Biden administration, which says the law is a clear violation of federal authority that would cause chaos in immigration law.

 

Texas Gov Greg Abbott praised the order — and the law — which allows any police officer in Texas to arrest migrants for illegal entry and authorizes judges to order them to leave the U.S.

The high court didn’t address whether the law is constitutional. The measure now goes back to an appellate court and could eventually return to the Supreme Court. In the meantime, it wasn’t clear how soon Texas might begin arresting migrants under the law.

 

It was also unclear where any migrants ordered to leave might go. The law calls for them to be sent to ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border, even if they are not Mexican citizens.

 

But Mexico’s government said Tuesday it would not “under any circumstances” accept the return of any migrants to its territory from the state of Texas. Mexico is not required to accept deportations of anyone except Mexican citizens.

I suggest that Mexico make some effort to prevent non-Mexicans from crossing their country to jump our border.

Wausau Suddenly Overwhelmed by Homeless People In Winter

by | 0750, 19 Mar 2424 | , , | 2 Comments

Hmmmm… First we hear that little Whitewater is facing a crime wave with social services being overwhelmed by illegal aliens. Now we see that Wausau is being overwhelmed by homeless people. It’s almost as if we have an open border and illegal aliens are finding their way to communities throughout the country.

The Wausau Police Department is requesting an additional two officers as part of a team approach to working with homeless residents, as the number of people without permanent housing surged considerably over the past three months.

“The speed at which unhoused individuals are coming into our community scares me,” he said.

[…]
In his February presentation, Barnes said city workers are shoveling human fecal material from downtown parking ramps on a regular basis.
[…]

Barnes said the homeless situation in Wausau is making policing complicated and reducing the amount of policing that the rest of our community “that pay taxes to have a quality police force” is getting.

Wisconsin Medicaid Recipients to Get OTC Birth Control

by | 0741, 19 Mar 2424 | | 0 Comments

I’m okay with this. Generally speaking, if you are on welfare, you should take reasonable measures to not increase your burden on the taxpayers.

Medicaid recipients in Wisconsin will have access to the first over-the-counter birth control pill starting Tuesday, allowing them to easily receive contraceptive medication with no out-of-pocket costs or doctor’s prescription, Gov. Tony Evers announced.

 

Two amendments to protect our elections

by | 0722, 19 Mar 2424 | | 0 Comments

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here’s a part:

The reason these amendments are on the ballot is troubling. Even though our system of government is replete with checks and balances at every level, we remain largely dependent on people willingly following the law without the need for coercion.

 

Increasingly we are seeing government officials at all levels willfully violate the law because they have realized that there are few consequences for them doing so. We saw this phenomenon in full display during the pandemic as laws were ignored, civil rights were suppressed, and official restraint was abandoned for the sake of “safety.”

 

This was particularly true for election laws. In Wisconsin, election officials illegally collected ballots in parks, plopped unsecured ballot collection ballots all over the place, ignored voter ID requirements, accepted invalid mailed in ballots, turned over the administration of elections to private activists, and generally ignored, violated, or invented laws and regulations at their whim. With rare exception, all of the election officials who ran roughshod over our lawful election processes remain at their posts and have escaped any negative consequences for their actions. In our late-stage republic, leftists have discovered that they can implement their will through the power of the bureaucracy without the annoyance of needing to win elections or pass legislation. With a bit of gumption and an accomplice executive branch, even a banal local bureaucrat can wield enormous, unchecked power and citizens are left with few legal recourses.

 

For these and other reasons, the Republicans in the Legislature have begun to ask the voters to amend the Constitution to reflect the will of the people in the hope that the Constitution will be more difficult to ignore or violate than statutes. With our current activist leftist Supreme Court, this plan is not foolproof, but at least it provides an avenue for citizens to insist that their government obey their governing document.

 

On the ballot next month are two proposed constitutional amendments that are a direct response to leftist election officials manipulating recent elections and the failure of law enforcement to hold them accountable.

 

[…]

 

I truly wish that we did not need resort to constitutional amendments to provide safeguards for our elections. Laws and regulations should do. Unfortunately, experience has taught us that laws and regulations are not enough. We need to install every possible safeguard to protect our elections from the incompetent and the nefarious.

 

Please vote “yes” on both proposed amendments. Wisconsin will be better for it.

“Sometimes you had to fight it, sometimes you had to deal with it”

by | 0738, 18 Mar 2424 | , | 0 Comments

Here’s an interesting perspective from Gaddis’ biography of George F. Kennan:
“Foreign policy was not, therefore, a contest of good vs. evil. To condemn negotiations as appeasement, Kennan told a Princeton University audience early in October, was to end a Hollywood movie with the villain shot. To entrust diplomacy to lawyers was to relegate power, ‘like sex, to a realm in which we see it only occasionally, and then in a highly sublimated and presentable form.’ Both approaches ignored the fact that most international conflicts were ‘jams that people have gotten themselves into.’ Trying to resolve them through rigid standards risked making things worse. Evil existed, to be sure: the Soviet regime reflected it, as had Nazi Germany. Sometimes you had to fight it, sometimes you had to deal with it. The important question was ‘what sort of compromises we make,’ not how to ‘escape altogether the necessity of making such compromises.'”

Putin “Wins”

by | 2010, 17 Mar 2424 | , | 0 Comments

It’s laughable but carries a warning we should heed.

Vladimir Putin was always going to claim his fifth term as president with a landslide, faced with three other candidates all rubber-stamped by the Kremlin.

But when election officials said results gave him more than 87% of the vote, he said Russia’s democracy was more transparent than many in the West.

In truth no credible opposition candidate was allowed to stand.

We laugh and scorn Putin because we believe this to have been an illegitimate election. Without the consent of the governed as conferred through a fair and legitimate election, Putin’s office lacks legitimacy. Putin lacks legitimacy.

The same is true in America. As our elections become slipshod and the current administration is attempting to imprison bona fide political opponents, our leaders and our government becomes illegitimate. We are not yet near the laughable status of a Russian election, but it’s a spectrum – not a point.

Divorce Rate Down

by | 1951, 17 Mar 2424 | | 2 Comments

This is a positive trend.

In 2022, the divorce rate was 2.4 per 1,000 people. Although that isn’t the lowest it has ever been – in 2021, it was 2.3 – it continues a downward trend, according to the data.

By comparison, the rate of divorces in 2000 was 4 per 1,000, which means the current rate is a big decline from two decades earlier.

Being stuck in a home together during lockdown forced a lot of couples to face problems in their relationship head-on, Nelson said. That might have caused additional strife, or it could have helped them lay better groundwork for a stable future, she added.

Changes over the past two decades may also have helped. Therapy has become more normalized, roles in marriages have become more flexible, and people are more used to talking openly about how they want their marriages to work, Nelson said.

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