Boots & Sabers

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Tag: Ron Johnson

Winning the election is just the start

by | 0814, 1 Nov 2222 | , , , | 1 Comment

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

The outcomes of elections are always uncertain and replete with surprises, but it is looking more and more like the Republicans are going to do very well next week. If that should come to pass, I fervently hope that the Republicans govern boldly. Winning elections is the goal of politicians. Leaders act to use the power loaned to them by the voters to solve problems for the betterment of our state and nation, and boy, do we have some real problems.

 

The biggest problem facing our nation right now is inflation. There are many other problems, but runaway inflation kills nations. America is not invulnerable to the whirlwind economic forces that inflation unleashes that have obliterated a hundred nations before us.

 

[…]

 

At the state level, Wisconsin’s biggest problem is the deplorable state of our government education system. Despite lavish spending averaging over $16,000 per child per year (an increase of 19% in just five years), our kids are learning less than ever. Test scores have plummeted to the point that barely a third of Wisconsin’s kids can read, write, or do math at grade level.

 

Our government education system is not just an embarrassment, it is a generational brutality committed on our own children. We are condemning a generation of Wisconsinites to be less educated, less capable, and more ignorant than we are. We are robbing them of their potential and a lifetime of opportunities. Our state government schools’ failure to provide our kids with even a mediocre education – much less a good education – is a cruelty for which our kids will rightfully condemn us.

Our nation is too important to trust to Mandela Barnes

by | 1938, 14 Oct 2222 | | 7 Comments

Here is my column from earlier this week in the Washington County Daily News. There is an error in it. I said that there was only one debate, but there was a second debate last night. It was much the same. Anyway, here you go:

Incumbent U.S. Senator Ron Johnson and challenger Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes met last week for their one and only debate before the election to see who should represent Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate for the next six years. The debate was hosted by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association which lined up the usual panel of Leftist questioners to ask questions from the Left’s perspective while actively avoiding issues that favor the Right.

 

How, for instance, one could ask questions for an hour of candidates for the U.S. Senate without mentioning inflation, Ukraine, our $31 trillion national debt, or the nation’s open border policy — all issues that will be discussed in the Senate — is journalistic malpractice. As the only debate held, it was a poor showing.

 

Both candidates stayed close to their usual comments while layering in criticisms of each other’s positions. The general media consensus is that both candidates articulated their positions effectively and very few minds would be changed. That analysis is largely correct, but it glosses over the casual radicalism expressed by Mandela Barnes. With a smile and comforting voice, Barnes is espousing the same positions as radicals like Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ilhan Omar. When asked about Milwaukee’s horrific rise in violent crime under Democratic leadership, Barnes’ answer was to spend more tax money on schools and somehow create jobs (he did not say how this would happen). He has long been a champion of defunding the police and rooted for anti-police rioters from the safety of his Twitter account.

 

Barnes has this relationship exactly backward. It is the violent crime that drives families and jobs out of communities. They will not come back until the crime is under control and the only way a civilized society has ever accomplished that is with a professional and effective police force. Barnes’ policies would lead to more crime, fewer jobs and another generation lost to crime and poverty.

 

While Barnes is advocating for cutting police funding, eliminating cash bail, and emptying our prisons of violent criminals, he is also pushing for the suppression of citizens to keep and bear arms. During the debate, Barnes lamented that, “the ATF doesn’t even have searchable databases right now because of the law,” supported universal background checks, and pushed for red flag laws.

 

Let us put those policy positions together. Barnes is advocating for a federal government that tracks every single gun purchase, keeps a database of who owns what guns, and has the power to strip someone of their 2nd Amendment rights without due process if a government official thinks someone might be a threat someday. While violent crooks run free in Barnes’ America, law-abiding citizens might be stripped of their civil rights if they displease a government official.

 

When asked about President Biden’s unconstitutional effort to forgive student loans, Barnes said, “absolutely it’s fair.” If you are a Wisconsinite who responsibly took on debt to attend college and paid it back, chose a career path that did not include college, worked your way through college without debt, earned scholarships, or did not even qualify for student loans, then Barnes thinks it is absolutely fair that you pay off the debt of others.

 

When asked about high gas prices, Barnes had no answer other than to say that we need to focus more on renewable energy. In other words, Barnes would not do anything about high gas prices as a U.S. Senator other than spend more of our money on windmills. This is not a serious policy position that actually addresses the real problem of fuel prices driving up the cost of everything in our economy. One cannot move billions of tons of grain and beef to the stores of America on solar-paneled river barges or wind-driven trains. Barnes would rather we fuel our economy with gas and diesel bought from despots in Russia and the Middle East than let Americans reap the rewards of energy independence.

 

Mandela Barnes is Wisconsin’s Beto O’Rourke. He is an unethical, unserious charlatan who spins a good yarn on the campaign trail while not having any meaningful accomplishments to his name. Our country is too important to trust to such a man.

Our nation is too important to trust to Mandela Barnes

by | 0814, 11 Oct 2222 | , , , | 5 Comments

I did what the vast majority of Wisconsinites did not do… I watched the debate between Johnson and Barnes. No, I didn’t watch it live. I have a life at 7 pm on a Friday evening. Thankfully, it can be found in full on Youtube. Here is a preview of my column from the Washington County Daily News today.

Incumbent U.S. Senator Ron Johnson and challenger Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes met last week for their one and only debate before the election to see who should represent Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate for the next six years. The debate was hosted by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association which lined up the usual panel of Leftist questioners to ask questions from the Left’s perspective while actively avoiding issues that favor the Right.

 

How, for instance, one could ask questions for an hour of candidates for the U.S. Senate without mentioning inflation, Ukraine, our $31 trillion national debt, or the nation’s open border policy — all issues that will be discussed in the Senate — is journalistic malpractice. As the only debate held, it was a poor showing.

 

[…]

 

When asked about Milwaukee’s horrific rise in violent crime under Democratic leadership, Barnes’ answer was to spend more tax money on schools and somehow create jobs (he did not say how this would happen). He has long been a champion of defunding the police and rooted for anti-police rioters from the safety of his Twitter account.

 

Barnes has this relationship exactly backward. It is the violent crime that drives families and jobs out of communities. They will not come back until the crime is under control and the only way a civilized society has ever accomplished that is with a professional and effective police force. Barnes’ policies would lead to more crime, fewer jobs and another generation lost to crime and poverty.

 

While Barnes is advocating for cutting police funding, eliminating cash bail, and emptying our prisons of violent criminals, he is also pushing for the suppression of citizens to keep and bear arms. During the debate, Barnes lamented that, “the ATF doesn’t even have searchable databases right now because of the law,” supported universal background checks, and pushed for red flag laws.

 

Let us put those policy positions together. Barnes is advocating for a federal government that tracks every single gun purchase, keeps a database of who owns what guns, and has the power to strip someone of their 2nd Amendment rights without due process if a government official thinks someone might be a threat someday. While violent crooks run free in Barnes’ America, law-abiding citizens might be stripped of their civil rights if they displease a government official.

 

When asked about President Biden’s unconstitutional effort to forgive student loans, Barnes said, “absolutely it’s fair.”

Senator Johnson Slams Biden’s Ministry of Truth

by | 1508, 29 Apr 2222 | , | 7 Comments

Yup

“The fact that a federal department with approximately 240,000 employees would set up a ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ to enforce the government’s judgement of what information is allowed in the public square should frighten anyone who values liberty and understands how crucial free speech is in maintaining that liberty,” the senator told the Daily Caller.

Send Johnson back to Washington

by | 1623, 23 Apr 2222 | | 10 Comments

Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News last week. I think I’ll write next week’s about the Republican primary for governor. I have so many thoughts… you?

 

When candidate Ron Johnson left his relative obscurity as a successful businessman to become one of thousands of impassioned patriots who were compelled to run for office in response to President Barack Obama’s leftist governance, many people underestimated the impact he would have on Wisconsin. Now, 12 years later, Johnson is asking the voters to send him back to Washington again to continue to work on behalf of Wisconsin. The fact that so many liberals hate Johnson so much is reason enough for conservatives to come out in force to support him, but he has also earned another term on the merits.

 

Despite being new to elected office and a rookie in the U.S. Senate, Senator Johnson quickly rose to prominence during his first term. As an outspoken critic of government and the swamp in Washington, he was a steadfast opponent of President Obama’s destructive policies. Johnson fought against Obamacare, open borders, and runaway government spending. He drew the ire of leftists, but also upset the entrenched Republican establishment in Washington because he was not one to go along to get along.

 

Perhaps Johnson stood out a little more because he was so different than the kind of Republican senators that the country had become accustomed to over the past several decades. Wisconsin’s senators had been so beige that they were often indistinguishable from the plush chairs. Then here comes Johnson and he is immediately in the thick of everything.

 

Before the end of his first term, Johnson had become the chairman of the powerful Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Under his leadership, that committee passed over 300 bills with 132 of them becoming law. He used his position to delve into the bureaucratic establishment to shine the light on how our government really works — and how it doesn’t.

 

Johnson is now the ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and on the Budget, Foreign Relations, and Commerce, Science and Transportation committees. It is telling that Johnson is not only serving on the committees that work on hard issues, but that his fellow senators trust him on those committees.

 

Throughout his senate career, Johnson could always be relied upon to speak his mind. He was one of the first elected Republicans to publicly condemn Hunter Biden for the information found on Hunter’s laptop and question how such illegal and unethical activities might compromise the “Big Guy,” President Joe Biden. Johnson was derided at the time for advancing unproven conspiracies, but now, two years later, even The New York Times accepts that the incriminating information in the laptop is authentic.

 

Johnson has been outspoken about the sloppy and insecure elections in Wisconsin and elsewhere, was an early critic of the federal government’s COVID responses, and rang the warning bell about government spending triggering inflation. It seems that whenever the leftists are railing against Johnson for straying from the accepted mainstream dogma of the moment, he is proven to be correct.

 

As Johnson runs for his third term, he is still looking forward. Two terms in the Senate have not diminished his energy or his willingness to challenge the status quo. Johnson is continuing his fight against the immense government deficit spending that has now caused the worst inflation since IBM introduced its first personal computer with DOS 1.0. He is hearing the concerns of parents and advocating for more choice in education. Johnson is seeking to correct the worst abuses of government during the pandemic.

 

The Biden administration is a rolling disaster for the country and the only way to slow it is to elect Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Although it is a presidential off year where the opposition party normally does well, the quirk of the maps favors the Democrats in the Senate this year. While the House looks likely, not certain, to swing to the Republicans, the Senate is still a tossup. It will take an overwhelming voice from the people for the Republicans to take control of the Senate and Senator Johnson is one of the 51 people that Americans must elect to make that happen.

 

Finally, it is worth noting that after two terms and a record of action, Senator Johnson matters. He is not the stolid backbencher who harrumphs on cue when called upon by his caucus leadership. Indeed, Johnson is a case study for the maxim that not all leaders have a title. He is his own man with his own voice, and he uses it voraciously on behalf of Wisconsin and the issues in which he believes. We must send him back to Washington not because he wants it, but because Wisconsin needs it.

Send Johnson back to Washington

by | 0710, 19 Apr 2222 | | 8 Comments

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

When candidate Ron Johnson left his relative obscurity as a successful businessman to become one of thousands of impassioned patriots who were compelled to run for office in response to President Barack Obama’s leftist governance, many people underestimated the impact he would have on Wisconsin. Now, 12 years later, Johnson is asking the voters to send him back to Washington again to continue to work on behalf of Wisconsin. The fact that so many liberals hate Johnson so much is reason enough for conservatives to come out in force to support him, but he has also earned another term on the merits.

 

Despite being new to elected office and a rookie in the U.S. Senate, Senator Johnson quickly rose to prominence during his first term. As an outspoken critic of government and the swamp in Washington, he was a steadfast opponent of President Obama’s destructive policies. Johnson fought against Obamacare, open borders, and runaway government spending. He drew the ire of leftists, but also upset the entrenched Republican establishment in Washington because he was not one to go along to get along.

 

Perhaps Johnson stood out a little more because he was so different than the kind of Republican senators that the country had become accustomed to over the past several decades. Wisconsin’s senators had been so beige that they were often indistinguishable from the plush chairs. Then here comes Johnson and he is immediately in the thick of everything.

 

[…]

 

As Johnson runs for his third term, he is still looking forward. Two terms in the Senate have not diminished his energy or his willingness to challenge the status quo. Johnson is continuing his fight against the immense government deficit spending that has now caused the worst inflation since IBM introduced its first personal computer with DOS 1.0. He is hearing the concerns of parents and advocating for more choice in education. Johnson is seeking to correct the worst abuses of government during the pandemic.

 

The Biden administration is a rolling disaster for the country and the only way to slow it is to elect Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Although it is a presidential off year where the opposition party normally does well, the quirk of the maps favors the Democrats in the Senate this year. While the House looks likely, not certain, to swing to the Republicans, the Senate is still a tossup. It will take an overwhelming voice from the people for the Republicans to take control of the Senate and Senator Johnson is one of the 51 people that Americans must elect to make that happen.

 

Finally, it is worth noting that after two terms and a record of action, Senator Johnson matters. He is not the stolid backbencher who harrumphs on cue when called upon by his caucus leadership. Indeed, Johnson is a case study for the maxim that not all leaders have a title. He is his own man with his own voice, and he uses it voraciously on behalf of Wisconsin and the issues in which he believes. We must send him back to Washington not because he wants it, but because Wisconsin needs it.

Johnson, Kleefisch lead Republican ballot in November

by | 0635, 25 Jan 2222 | | 30 Comments

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

After only a year of Democrats running Washington, the country is on fire. Our borders are open, we are seeing the highest inflation in 40 years, grocery store shelves are sparse, violent crime is shattering our peace, COVID is raging more than ever, and America has not been this weak on the international stage since Grover Cleveland sat in the Oval Office. With all indications that this year will see massive Republican victories at the ballot box in an attempt to reclaim our nation, Wisconsin has two very strong contenders to lead the ballot.

 

[…]

 

It is easy to tell when a conservative is making a difference when the media continually smears him as “controversial.” Liberals like their Republicans to be docile and Senator Johnson is anything but that. Wisconsinites have been well-served by Senator Johnson and he has earned another term.

 

[…]

 

On the issues, Kleefisch is ardently pro-life, an enthusiastic supporter of school choice, defender of the 2nd Amendment, and supports, and is supported by, law enforcement. Kleefisch is exactly the kind of smart conservative communicator that Wisconsin needs after four years of dreary malaise under Tony Evers.

Ron Johnson to Run

by | 0817, 8 Jan 2222 | | 23 Comments

Excellent! Johnson is the only Wisconsin Senator in a generation to actually work and try to keep government accountable. He gets in and does the grunt work on behalf of the state. Baldwin… Kohl… Feingold… lazy back benchers.

MADISON – Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has decided to seek re-election to a third term, two Republicans with knowledge of the plan told The Associated Press on Friday.

 

The Republicans with knowledge of his plans were not authorized by Johnson to speak publicly about his intentions, but said he could announce as soon as early next week. Johnson did not return a text message or phone call seeking comment.

 

A Johnson candidacy would avoid a wide-open GOP primary in the narrowly divided swing state.

Johnson said in 2016 he would not run for a third time, but he later said circumstances changed when Democrats took full control of Congress and the White House.

Evers Blasts Johnson for Straying from Government Doctrine

by | 0709, 28 Jun 2121 | | 29 Comments

Huh.

Wisconsin’s governor blasted the state’s senior senator Friday for giving a platform to six people who claim they’ve had adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines instead of promoting the millions who haven’t reported serious side effects and avoided sickness and death.

It’s kind of like when activists give a platform for victims of police violence instead of the millions who have been protected by police and had positive interactions with them.

Facts are facts. In the short term, there are people who have adverse reactions to the vaccines while most people are just fine. We don’t know the long term effects yet. Shouldn’t people know with facts? We want people to know that nut juice isn’t milk so that they can make an informed consumer choice. Don’t we want them to know that they might have an adverse impact from a vaccine so that they can make an informed choice?

Pro-Choice About Vaccines

by | 2109, 23 Apr 2121 | | 8 Comments

Here, here.

“Everyone should have the right to gather information, consult with their doctor and decide for themselves whether to get vaccinated,” Johnson said, noting his support for former President Donald Trump‘s Operation Warp Speed program to quickly develop a vaccine. “Now I believe government’s role (and therefore my role) is to help ensure transparency so that people have as much information as possible to make an informed decision for themselves.”

 

Johnson said it was legitimate to question whether people with a low risk of suffering a serious illness from COVID-19 should get vaccinated. He promised to “vigorously oppose” vaccine passports.

Whether or not you get a vaccine is a private medical decision that’s between you and your healthcare provider. It’s none of my business.

Senator Johnson To Ensure that Someone Reads Spending Bill

by | 2140, 4 Mar 2121 | | 1 Comment

Great

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson is pledging to slow down the next coronavirus stimulus package — and its $1,400 checks for Americans.

 

The Oshkosh Republican on Wednesday afternoon promised to force a full reading of the bill while speaking on The Vicki McKenna Show. He said that reading the entirety of the document would likely take up to 10 hours.

 

“I will make them read their 600- to 700-page bill,” he said on the radio program. “So that every member of the Senate would have time to read it … before we start the debate on it.”

 

After the reading, Johnson said he is prepared to continue to use parliamentary procedure to slow down a full vote by introducing as many amendments as he can. He hopes the price tag of the bill will go down substantially by the end of the debate by eliminating portions of the bill he sees as unfit.

 

“This isn’t a COVID relief really, this is a Democrat wish list, setting things up for a more socialist society,” he said. “And it needs to be resisted. And I’m going to lead the effort to resistance, starting today.”

$29 Trillion in Federal Debt

by | 0920, 23 Dec 2020 | , | 2 Comments

I know that nobody cares anymore, but I’m glad that at least one person in Washington does.

“While I am glad a government shutdown was avoided and that financial relief will finally reach many who truly need it, the fact that this dysfunction has become routine is the reason we are currently $27.5 trillion in debt. This combined spending bill will drive our debt to over $29 trillion by the end of this fiscal year. I supported the CARES Act because we had to act quickly and massively to prevent an economic meltdown and to provide needed financial relief. I also helped craft and voted for a bill in September that would have provided more than $600 billion in targeted relief, but Democrats simply voted no.

“We do not have an unlimited checking account. We must spend federal dollars — money we are borrowing from future generations — more carefully and place limits on how much we are mortgaging our children’s future.”

Sen. Ron Johnson (R) Wisconsin

Johnson Stalls Massive Spending Bill

by | 2034, 18 Dec 2020 | , | 1 Comment

Kudos to Senator Johnson. It’s nice to see a teensy bit of fiscal hawkishness return to the Republican rhetoric.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson on Friday blocked an effort to deliver $1,200 checks to Americans as a response to the ongoing economic of the coronavirus pandemic – citing deficit concerns in the final weeks of the Trump presidency.

He was able to block an effort by Missouri Republican Sen. John Hawley, who teamed with Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and sought ‘unanimous consent’ to attach the plan to a must-pass bill to keep the government open, with funding set to expire at midnight.

‘I completely support some kind of program targeted for small businesses,’ Johnson said on the Senate floor. ‘So what I fear we’re going to do with this bipartisan package and what the senator from Missouri is talking about is the same thing, is a shotgun approach,’ he said.

He raised deficit concerns and said the checks would be ‘mortgaging our children’s future.’ Congress enacted numerous relief packages totaling trillions before the election, but unemployment and economic pain has persisted amid a continued spike in infections and mandated distancing measures.

The Senator from Missouri asked for unanimous consent and there wasn’t. Good.

Masks vs. Mask Mandates

by | 2110, 3 Oct 2020 | | 37 Comments

It is almost funny how difficult it is for some people to understand that someone can think wearing masks is a good idea and still oppose having the government mandate the wearing of them. In any case, thoughts and prayers to Senator Johnson and his family. I hope he has a speedy recovery.

After testing positive for COVID-19, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said his view on mask mandates hasn’t changed, as Wisconsin Republican leaders have voiced their support for striking down the state’s order requiring face coverings be worn.

The Oshkosh Republican, who announced Saturday morning he had tested positive for the virus the previous day, instead touted “individual responsibility,” saying while he believes masks can help mitigate the risk, they’re “certainly not a cure-all.”

Johnson, who is at least the third Republican U.S. senator to have contracted the coronavirus recently, said he was tested on his way to the Ozaukee County Republican Party Oktoberfest Dinner in Mequon on Friday night, though he didn’t get the results back til later on.

In between, he still attended the event, saying he wore his mask until he spoke and stayed “at least 12 feet from anybody as [he was] speaking.” He said he quickly left the dinner after his remarks.

Celebrating Juneteenth

by | 0714, 8 Jul 2020 | , | 8 Comments

Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News yesterday.

Proving that nuance and rational discussion is currently disallowed when it comes to debating anything related to race, Senator Ron Johnson stepped into the a hornet’s nest when he offered an amendment to a bill to designate Juneteenth as a federal holiday.

There is currently a bipartisan push to make June 19th, or Juneteenth, a federal holiday. June 19th, 1865, is the day that federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to occupy the state and announce that all enslaved people were free. It is regarded as the date when the news of emancipation reached the last of the remaining slaves in the United States. While it is not the date of the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863), or the date of ratification of the 13th Amendment (December 6th, 1865), Juneteenth has become the anniversary that we celebrate the end of the evil practice of legal slavery in the United States.

The first question to ask is should we celebrate Juneteenth as a federal holiday? Absolutely. Slavery was the original sin of our nation and we atoned for it with the blood of hundreds of thousands of Americans in a brutal Civil War. Ending slavery was a seminal moment in our nation’s history that brought us closer to the ideals of liberty and equality as beautifully enunciated by Thomas Jefferson in our Declaration of Independence. It is long overdue that we have a formal celebration of the abolition of slavery.

To this end, a bipartisan assemblage of senators drafted a bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. First, we must be clear on what that means. The federal government cannot mandate that Americans celebrate anything. A designated federal holiday simply means that the federal government is giving all non-essential federal employees the day off of work to commemorate the event. Usually, but not always, states and private businesses follow the federal government’s lead. For example, almost everyone gets a days off for Independence Day and Memorial Day, but the same cannot be said for Washington’s Birthday or Columbus Day. The designation of a federal holiday, or lack thereof, has absolutely no bearing on whether or not people choose to celebrate or commemorate an event.

There is, however, a cost associated with the federal government granting a holiday to its employees. That cost is estimated to be about $600 million that the taxpayers have to bear for paying federal employees to not work. In order to save the taxpayers that expense, Senator Johnson offered an amendment to trade Columbus Day for Juneteenth Day. Columbus Day is largely celebrated in the Italian-American community, but overlooked by most other Americans.

Johnson’s amendment set off a firestorm of criticism from the political Right accusing him of surrendering to the radical Left. And the political Left lambasted Johnson and accused him of racism for putting up a roadblock to the Juneteenth bill. Both sides were wrong. Senator Johnson is staying true to form as a fiscal hawk. Those birds are more and more rare in an age of sweeping deficits, trillion dollar spending packages, and mounting federal debt.

In the face of a withering crossfire, Johnson has since withdrawn his amendment and is, instead, planning to introduce a bill to reduce paid leave time for federal employees to offset the cost of adding an eleventh official federal holiday to the calendar. This proposal will likely run into the buzz saw of opposition from the federal employee unions and will never be passed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House.

In the end, we will add Juneteenth as a federal holiday. It will be a welcome and long overdue celebration of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Unfortunately, the taxpayers will be stuck with yet another bill for which we will borrow money to pay.

Celebrating Juneteenth

by | 0717, 7 Jul 2020 | , , | 13 Comments

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

There is currently a bipartisan push to make June 19th, or Juneteenth, a federal holiday. June 19th, 1865, is the day that federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to occupy the state and announce that all enslaved people were free. It is regarded as the date when the news of emancipation reached the last of the remaining slaves in the United States. While it is not the date of the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863), or the date of ratification of the 13th Amendment (December 6th, 1865), Juneteenth has become the anniversary that we celebrate the end of the evil practice of legal slavery in the United States.

The first question to ask is should we celebrate Juneteenth as a federal holiday? Absolutely. Slavery was the original sin of our nation and we atoned for it with the blood of hundreds of thousands of Americans in a brutal Civil War. Ending slavery was a seminal moment in our nation’s history that brought us closer to the ideals of liberty and equality as beautifully enunciated by Thomas Jefferson in our Declaration of Independence. It is long overdue that we have a formal celebration of the abolition of slavery.

Ron Johnson’s Perfect Analysis

by | 1647, 13 Dec 1717 | , | 1 Comment

Well, when you say it like that, it seems obvious.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) did not mince words when asked to comment on Tuesday night’s election results in Alabama. When asked what he believed the “message” from last night was, Johnson said that “Alabamians didn’t want somebody who dated 14-year-old girls.”

He then said that Steve Bannon should learn that the GOP needs better candidates in order to win Senate races before going into an office away from the camera.

Senator Johnson Opposes Tax Plan

by | 2145, 15 Nov 1717 | | 13 Comments

I’ve had about enough with Senator Johnson.

(CNN)Sen. Ron Johnson announced he is opposed to the tax bill Wednesday, making him the first member of the GOP to formally come out against the party’s plan, though the Wisconsin Republican said he was hopeful about being able to support a final version once changes are made.

Johnson issued a statement saying the current proposal in both chambers is imbalanced in favor of large corporations but he left open the door to supporting the bills if they are altered.
“Unfortunately, neither the House nor Senate bill provide fair treatment, so I do not support either in their current versions,” he said. “I do, however, look forward to working with my colleagues to address the disparity so I can support the final version.”
Here’s the thing… I supported Johnson for election – twice. He originally ran on repealing Obamacare. When it came to getting that done, he and his colleagues failed. Now when it is coming to tax reform, he’s about to be a part of it failing. He’s become a Senator that’s all hat and no cattle. It doesn’t do anyone any good for Johnson to tour Wisconsin and tell us how bad Obamacare is or how much our tax code needs reform if he is unable to bring himself to actually support DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
As to his specific objection, it’s horse shit. The entire purpose of tax reform, I thought, was to spur economic growth and simplify the tax code. Both the House bill and the Senate bill (I like the House’s better) will accomplish those goals to some degree. Yes, in an ideal world, I would like the bill to cut taxes for more people and businesses and be much more simple, but it also has to be something that can get a majority of votes. Johnson is making the enemy of the good. But given the fact that Johnson is smart enough to know that getting something is better than getting nothing, I can only assume that he is just using this as an excuse because he doesn’t actually want to reform our tax system.
Less talk, Ron. More action.

Ron Johnson Waffles on Obamacare Repeal

by | 2225, 22 Jun 1717 | , | 15 Comments

Fer cryin’ out loud…

Four conservative GOP senators, including Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson, quickly announced initial opposition to the measure and others were evasive, raising the specter of a jarring rejection by the Republican-controlled body. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., indicated he was open to discussion and seemed determined to muscle the measure through his chamber next week.

 Johnson ran for office twice on the promise to repeal Obamacare. If he can’t bring himself to actually act after years of promises to his constituents, then he is the lowest form of politician – and that’s starting from a very low point, indeed.

Johnson’s Charitable Giving

by | 0654, 6 Nov 1616 | | 1 Comment

Huh.

Johnson paid nearly the exact same effective tax rate as Feingold — less than 14% — while earning nearly 10 times as much income as his political foe from 2005 to 2008. Johnson was able to lower his rate primarily with his heavy charitable giving.

I realize that Bice is trying to portray this as a negative for Johnson because he paid less taxes while earning (yes, earning) more money than Feingold, but note how he did it… He gave a ton of money to charity. Nothing has changed. Johnson still gives his personal time and money to charitable causes. Are we supposed to consider that a bad thing now?

 

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