The vast array of news today is overwhelming:
- Flynn Flips to Freedom,
- Trump is Trapped,
- Prominent Pedophiles Prevail,
- Bush Sr’s Burial,
Wisconsin Senate Circumvents Election Results in an attempt to retain control over the government, despite protests.
Wisconsin, the state that spawned Paul Ryan, has leaned red since skewed redistricting took place in 2011. Since this extreme gerrymandering, democrats have not held more than 39 of 99 seats, despite democrats taking 54% aggregate statewide… this is one example of disenfranchisement.
Early this morning, at 6:03 to be exact, the Wisconsin Senate passed the 3rd of 3 bills in a vote of 17-16, that limits the power of the newly elected Governor, Democrat Tony Evers, and Democrat Josh Kaul, Attorney General.
Wisconsin Republicans have defended these bills in several infuriating ways:
“The basis of our democracy is to have co-equal branches, but right now it’s very tilted towards the executive branch. These provisions will even things out and preserve the legislature’s ability to negotiate and be at the table.” -Speaker Vos”
It merits mention that in the eight years of GOP Gubernatorial rule, the balance of power among the branches of government were not an issue.
“We are here today to basically invalidate a legally held election. We would not be here today if Scott Walker would have won the election.” ~Senator Jon Erpenbach, Democrat
Last month’s election in Wisconsin was a gerrymandered success for the GOP. State Democrats received 190,000 more votes but but Republicans held 63/99 seats.
This unconstitutional GOP thievery has to end, and that won’t happen if we all ignore the problem at hand.
I asked Mitch Smith, a reporter of the Chicago bureau of the NYT if these changes could be reversed just once Democrats take control in January. 
What happened today will lead to a long and costly battle if we want our votes and elections to count.
Speaker Vos believes he has the right to decide what’s best for Wisconsin, despite what the people of Wisconsin demand.
“If extraordinary session bills aren’t passed we are going to have a very liberal governor who is going to enact policies that are in direct contrast to what *many of us believe in.” ~ Vos
*”Many of us” is not the same as “the majority of us”.
What is in the legislation?
As reported by: | : 👇🏼
The legislation would:
- Limit early voting to two weeks. A similar limit was found unconstitutional in 2016 and Democrats have threatened to take legal action again.
- Give Republicans more say over the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., including over its enterprise zone program that gives tax breaks to individual businesses. WEDC’s board, rather than the governor, would appoint WEDC’s leader.
- Put lawmakers in charge of litigation, allowing them to keep alive a lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare.
- Give lawmakers — instead of the attorney general — control over how court settlements are spent.
- Make it easier for lawmakers to hire private attorneys at taxpayer expense when they are accused of violating the open records law or other statutes.
- Eliminate the solicitor general’s office, which oversees high-profile litigation.
- Modestly lower the state’s income tax rates next year to offset about $60 million in online sales taxes from out-of-state retailers that Wisconsin recently began collecting.
- Require Evers to get permission from lawmakers to ban guns in the state Capitol.
- Bar judges from giving deference to state agencies’ interpretations of laws when they are challenged in court. That could make it easier to win lawsuits challenging how environmental regulations and other laws are being enforced.
- Broaden lawmakers’ powers to block rules written by the Evers administration to implement state laws.
- Require the Evers administration to report if the governor pardons anyone or his aides release anyone from prison early.
- Force Evers to get permission from the Legislature before asking the federal government to make any changes to programs that are run jointly by the state and federal governments. That would limit the governor’s flexibility in how he runs public benefits programs. If the Legislature’s budget committee determined the administration was not implementing recent changes to those programs, it could reduce funding and staffing for state agencies.
- Require Evers to go along with a plan aimed at reducing premiums for insurance plans offered through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces for individuals.
- Channel federal money into a smaller number of state road projects, so that other projects could avoid having to comply with federal environmental and wage laws
A lot from Lydia 