June 4, 2015

“We are in a revolutionary moment”: Chris Hedges explains why an uprising is coming — and soon

http://www.salon.com/2015/06/04/we_are_in_a_revolutionary_moment_chris_hedges_explains_why_an_uprising_is_coming_%E2%80%94_and_soon/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

The status quo is doomed but whether the future will be progressive or reactionary is uncertain, Hedges tells Salon

In recent years, there’s been a small genre of left-of-center journalism that, following President Obama’s lead, endeavors to prove that things on Planet Earth are not just going well, but have, in fact, never been better. This is an inherently subjective claim, of course; it requires that one buy into the idea of human progress, for one thing. But no matter how it was framed, there’s at least one celebrated leftist activist, author and journalist who’d disagree: Chris Hedges.

In fact, in his latest book, “Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt,” Hedges argues that the world is currently at a crisis point the likes of which we’ve never really seen. There are similarities between our time and the era of the 1848 revolutions throughout Europe — or the French Revolutionary era that preceded them — he says. But in many ways, climate change least among them, the stakes this time are much higher. According to Hedges, a revolution is coming; we just don’t yet know when, where, how — or on whose behalf.

Recently, Salon spoke over the phone with Hedges to discuss his book, why he thinks our world is in for some massive disruptions, and why we need revolutionaries now more than ever. A transcript of our conversation which has been edited for clarity and length can be found below.

June 2, 2015

Wisconsin’s laundry list of voter suppression laws challenged in court

http://americablog.com/2015/06/wisconsin-laundry-list-voter-suppression-laws-challenged-court.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Americablog+%28AMERICAblog+News+%29&utm_content=FeedBurner

A group of voting rights advocates, along with Hillary Clinton’s general counsel, Marc Elias, have filed a lawsuit against the state of Wisconsin, claiming that the state’s recently-passed electoral reforms are blatantly racist. While Hillary Clinton’s campaign is not officially behind the lawsuit, they said in a statement that they “are aware of it and strongly support its goal of ensuring the right to vote is not unduly burdened.”

Last month, Elias filed a similar lawsuit in Ohio, challenging similar voting restrictions on identical grounds.

Following Scott Walker’s election in 2010, Wisconsin Republicans enacted what amounted to an entire voter suppression platform. The state has passed practically every 21st Century voting restriction we thought Republicans were capable of and then some:

Photo ID requirement for voting

Reducing early voting from 30 days to 12, while eliminating it entirely on evenings and weekends

Require proof of residence when registering to vote

Eliminated the certification of statewide voter registrars, meaning that anyone who registers others to vote can only do so in the county in which they’re certified

Increased the residency requirement for voting from 10 days to 28 (excepting presidential elections)

Require that citizens who move within the state less than four weeks prior to an election vote in their old locality

Eliminated faxing and emailing of absentee ballots to anyone other than military or overseas voters

Prohibited municipal clerks from returning absentee ballots to citizens to fix mistakes on their forms

Required an area for poll monitors be set up between three and eight feet from the table where voters sign in

Eliminated straight-ticket voting for all but military or overseas voters, increasing wait times at polling locations

Made it harder to use a student ID as proof of residence when registering to vote

May 26, 2015

Scott Walker: Shifting views to be in a better position for 2016?

http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/article/2015/mar/24/scott-walker-flip-flopping-be-better-position-run/

Now a leader among the undeclared GOP candidates for president, Scott Walker is being pressed more frequently for his views, and on a wider range of topics.

As he visits early primary and caucus states, the governor is attuning his message to audiences far more conservative than general election voters in Wisconsin. And Walker’s words are getting more scrutiny.

Some of it is harsh, even from the GOP side.

A few days after one of Walker’s visits to Iowa, TheIowaRepublican.com highlighted his shifting stances on immigration and ethanol with the headline: "Walker: The biggest flip-flopper you will ever find?"

There may not be a widespread view that Walker’s modifying of positions has threatened his chances for 2016. The changes could even help him secure the nomination.

May 26, 2015

Judicial Commission should probe Pat Roggensack’s power grab

http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_e452b9c5-79dd-5222-bf13-2feac507cf9e.html

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice N. Patrick Crooks has accused Justice Patience Roggensack — who was recently installed as the court’s chief justice — of serious violations of court rules.

Crooks says that Roggensack scheduled a conference to discuss cases without the permission of all seven justices.

That’s a clear violation of court rules.

Crooks, a respected middle-of-the-road jurist, says that Roggensack also threatened to remove him and other justices from participating in three cases unless they voted on those cases via email by May 18 — though she lacks the authority to do so.

That’s another clear violation of court rules.

Emails confirming Crooks' complaints were provided to journalists by Justice Shirley Abrahamson, who was replaced as chief justice following a statewide referendum in April. She is suing to regain that post until her current term expires.

May 22, 2015

Scott Walker and the GOP Turning First Amendment Rights Upside Down

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sue-wilson/scott-walker-and-the-gop-_b_7397406.html

And how, if Republicans have their way, it may get even worse...

originally posted at BradBlog.com

It's been an entire year since the First Amendment suffered a gigantic blow as a result of the 2012 Scott Walker recall campaign in Wisconsin, though it's one that very few Americans above and beyond astute Brad Blog readers, even know about. And now, there is another threat to free speech, stemming from that same recall of GOP presidential hopeful Walker looming at the Wisconsin State Supreme Court.

Walker's attorneys are now arguing at the Wisconsin State Supreme Court that it is a violation of the First Amendment rights to even investigate whether the Walker campaign broke state law by the controversial candidate personally soliciting funds from non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(4) groups so donors to his campaign could remain secret. In a separate gambit, they also tried to make that case to the United States Supreme Court, which early Monday sent the case back to Wisconsin.

And it now appears that Right Wing Radio talkers -- at the core of a very real First Amendment blow suffered one year ago --- are, once again, in the thick of all of it.

This is all related to what Media Action Center (MAC) members discovered during the 2012 recall campaign when talk hosts on Wisconsin radio giants WTMJ and WISN gave hours of free airtime for GOP luminaries like Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus and Wisconsin GOP Vice Chair Brian Schimming in order to promote and recruit volunteers for Walker during that contentious campaign.

May 20, 2015

Wisconsin governor sued for withholding records on bid to change university’s mission

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/05/19/wisconsin-governor-sued-for-withholding-records-on-bid-to-change-universitys-mission/

A nonprofit watchdog group filed a lawsuit in a Wisconsin circuit court against Gov. Scott Walker (R) on Tuesday, alleging that he is refusing to make public documents relating to an effort by his office to change the mission of the University of Wisconsin that is embedded in state law.

Earlier this year, Walker submitted a budget proposal that included language that would have changed the century-old mission of the University of Wisconsin system — known as the “Wisconsin Idea” and embedded in the state code — by removing words that commanded the university to “search for truth” and “improve the human condition” and replacing them with “meet the state’s workforce needs.”

The change is not insignificant; the traditional mission speaks to a role for the university system of broadly educating young people to be active, productive citizens in the U.S. democracy, while Walker’s suggested change would bend the school’s mission towards becoming a training ground for American workers.

Walker didn’t mention the suggested change in a speech he gave about the budget, but it was discovered by the nonprofit Washington -based Center for Media and Democracy and widely publicized. Walker quickly backtracked and said it was a “drafting error.”

May 19, 2015

John Nichols: Russ Feingold is running to restore our economic well-being Read more: http://host.ma

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-russ-feingold-is-running-to-restore-our-economic/article_f8a1f03b-3d38-5406-ad84-f4aa1ec0bc25.html


Russ Feingold is running again for the U.S. Senate. That’s got D.C. insiders excited, because the former senator is way ahead in the polls and his victory in 2016 could play a critical role in tipping control of the Senate back to the Democrats.

But Feingold has never been one for simple partisanship. His independence is legendary — as is his determination to stand on principle against not just Republicans and Wall Street but his own party and its leaders.

To a greater extent than anyone who has served in the Senate in recent decades, Feingold has a reputation for getting ahead of major issues and getting them right. It is a reputation forged not by reading polls or accepting the compromise-prone Washington way of doing things, but by rejecting a failed political “consensus” and instead choosing to champion civil liberties, peace, clean elections, and, above all, economic fairness.

Russ Feingold cast the sole Senate vote against the Patriot Act in 2001. He was right about that, and most people who pay attention to politics are aware of his visionary stance.

Russ Feingold was in the minority that voted against authorizing George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to take the United States to war with Iraq in 2002. He was right about that, and most people who pay attention to politics are aware of his visionary stance.

May 19, 2015

Watching Scotty Blow, Cont'd: The Supreme Court Declines To Help

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a35058/the-supreme-court-declines-to-join-the-walker-campaign/

In which we learn that the law is not Scott Walker's friend.

On Monday morning, the Supreme Court declined to take up the case of O'Keefe v. Chisholm. The reason this is important is because, by denying cert in this case, the Nine Wise Souls have guaranteed that Scott Walker will spend a little more time on the hook. The case began with an ideological hack of a federal judge in Wisconsin named Rudolph Randa. Almost a year ago, Randa handed down a decision that pretty much turned off the John Doe investigations in Wisconsin that were looking into possible election-law violations by Walker during his campaign to stave off recall. The suspicion was that Walker illegally coordinated his campaign with the efforts of outside groups and outside money. Randa found a constitutional right to this kind of coordination -- a finding that, as this study from the Brennan Center demonstrates, ran contrary to a half-century's worth of election law, including the Citizens United decision. Last December, the Seventh Circuit knocked Randa's arguments out of the way and, on Monday, the Supreme Court declined to take the case at all, leaving it to the Wisconsin courts to sort the case out amongst themselves.

May 17, 2015

Scott Walker Dissolves Into Gibberish When Asked About His Foreign Policy Credentials

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/05/17/scott-walker-dissolves-gibberish-asked-foreign-policy-credentials.html

One sentence is all it took for Scott Walker to reveal himself as the next in a long line of failed Republicans.

Face The Nation’s Bob Schieffer asked Gov. Walker what his foreign policy credentials are, and the answer was revealing.

Walker said:

May 17, 2015

Scott Walker Talks Foreign Policy On Face The Nation

Published on May 17, 2015

Scott Walker highlights the need for strong and bold leadership on foreign policy.