The MacIver Report: Wisconsin This Week

It might not make the headlines, but lawfare is alive and well in Wisconsin. Last week, Attorney General Josh Kaul joined yet another lawsuit against the Trump administration. That makes more than 40 multi-state coalitions to advance the far left’s agenda. That's not all that’s happening at the Department of Justice. Retired Judge Jim Troupis has been in AG Kaul's crosshairs for years because of his legal work for President Trump. Despite a federal pardon, AG Kaul continues to single Judge Troupis out for a heavy dose of lawfare. At the MacIver Institute, we are tired of it. We recently filed an amicus brief with the State Supreme Court on Judge Troupis' behalf. We believe a fair review of the facts will result in AG Kaul learning – it’s not working – your case against Judge Troupis will be ruled what it is. Extreme lawfare! Equal treatment under the law should not be optional. Justice should prevail.

The MacIver Institute's Michael Lucas is joined by Robert G. Natelson, a lawyer, professor, historian, and authority for the United States Supreme Court.He recently received his 41st citation from United States Supreme Court Justice Thomas during the Learning Resources v. Trump case. Rob Natelson has authored dozens of academic articles, hundreds of blog posts, several books, and is a frequent guest on all sorts of radio programs.He is a senior fellow at the Independence Institute in Colorado, and formerly a senior fellow at the Heartland Institute in Illinois.Guest's BooksThe Original Constitution📕📕📕 (Amazon): https://a.co/d/05DQ9onh 📕📕📕The Law of Article V📕📕📕 (Amazon): https://a.co/d/0ajh7isz 📕📕📕Guest's LinksRob's Personal Website https://natelsonrob.com/ Independence Institute https://i2i.org/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------📰 Stay up-to-date on all things 🏛️Wisconsin🏛️ by visiting the MacIver Institute website. https://www.maciverinstitute.com/ Be sure to subscribe to the official MacIver Institute YouTube channel. @MacIverInstituteWI ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Copyright disclaimer:🎥 Reel Intro clip ("FREE 4K Countdown Footage | Retro Film Leader | MP4 | Commercial Use"):Copyright permission is granted under the CC BY 4.0 license.Link to clip: • FREE 4K Countdown Footage | Retro Film Lea... Link to creator's YouTube channel:@akopakopyanchannel

The legislative session is ending in Madison, and there are plenty of Issues that need to be addressed. Democrats still want more spending on education, even though DPI spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a lavish conference, and they are failing to teach our students at proficient levels. Gov. Evers and Speaker Vos -- both of whom are leaving office -- are talking about spending down a state surplus that may or may not exist. A bill to expand gambling in the state continues to move forward -- even though polling shows most Wisconsinites oppose the move. As we close out the legislative session and enter another campaign season, these issues will have a huge impact on Wisconsin. One problem, though: Voters are not paying attention. A recent poll from Marquette University shows that two-thirds of both Republicans AND Democrats have not decided on a candidate in the state supreme court, nor in the Governor's race. Follow us in the coming months to help you stay informed on these issues and more.

MacIver Institute's own policy analyst, Michael Lucas, is joined by two current UW-Students and our brilliant MacIver interns, Courtney Graves and Rebecca Draeger, who discuss a myriad of topics such as China, unrest in Iran, Gov. Tony Evers, the economy, education, sports betting, and go over some of our most recent projects and articles. www.maciverinstitute.com #freespeech #personality #politics #wisconsin #discussion #college #important #madisonwi #clip #wisconsinpolitics #education #society #politics #news #fun #short #shorts #viral #new #episode #podcast #pod #videopodcast #video

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers’ final State of the State Address was delivered last Tuesday, marking the beginning of the end of the Evers’ Era. This last State of the State hit the usual notes for Evers: take credit, blame republicans in the legislature, then propose more spending with bipartisan support. He did NOT accept accountability for his failing policies, however. He blamed Republicans for HIS 400-year property tax increase. HIS Congressional Map and for not spending more money on education. Governor Evers can say whatever he wants, but the truth is this: It's Not Working. Our students are falling behind, our workers are falling behind and because of that our state is falling behind. At the end of the day, Wisconsin deserves a better leader and Governor Evers can't defend his agenda because it's not working. Contrast that to President Trump's State of the Union. Under President Trump, the border is closed, inflation is under control, and the federal bureaucracy is shrinking.

15 years ago, Governor Scott Walker and conservatives in the state legislature faced a dilemma. Years of overspending left Wisconsin broke. Walker announced the budget repair bill. Badly needed reforms that would eventually become Act 10 that has now saved Wisconsin taxpayers more than 35 billion dollars. Tens of thousands of union members, professional protestors, and anti-establishment liberals from around the country stormed the capitol to block the reforms. 14 Democrat Senators left the state, so they didn’t have to take a vote. Governor Walker and republican leaders stood firm and Act 10 became law. MacIver ran a campaign called "It's Working" to highlight the success of these badly needed reforms. It's a different time now. It's NOT Working. Liberal ideology runs the state, and the Supreme Court may have Act 10 in their crosshairs. If you want affordability, we can’t afford to roll back Act 10.

"Just give us more money," the public education establishment says. "That will solve all the problems in our schools." We've known for a long time: this isn’t true. Per-pupil spending keeps going up, while test scores are flat or falling. We released a report last week with the American Experiment. We found that lack of knowledge and skills is partly to blame for Wisconsin's economy falling behind the rest of the country. Then there is the scandal of the Department of Public Instruction leadership failing to address child groomers in classrooms across the state. Don’t forget the news that broke last week about DPI spending nearly $400,000 on a four-day conference in the Dells. It's not working, and the Legislature was right to freeze a million dollars in additional DPI spending. Last year was the Year of the Kid, and leadership from DPI and our "education governor" is failing. Wisconsin's education problems aren't about money. It's about priority.

After a long break, MacIver's policy analyst, Michael Lucas, and resident healthcare expert, Courtney Graves, are back to discuss a litany of topics: the WI Supreme Court race, the WI gubernatorial race, the recent reclassification of marijuana, recent research and perspectives at MacIver, and even touch on national issues such as unrest in Minnesota and recent developments regarding the Epstein files. www.maciverinstitute.com

Three cheers for Wisconsin Congressman Bryan Steil. Last week, Steil introduced the Make Elections Great Again -- or MEGA -- Act. The bill would bring straightforward and commonsense reforms to elections nationwide. Some of these reforms, like requiring photo ID and ensuring only citizens can vote, are already in effect here in Wisconsin. Others, like ranked choice voting, universal vote by mail, ballot harvesting, and improving voter list maintenance, will make elections in our state more fair. All in all, Congressman Steil's bill is a serious and important step toward election integrity. Fair and verifiable elections are the bedrock of our democracy. At the MacIver Institute, we've led the way to enact reforms to bring accountability and transparency to our elections. It is great to see one of our own leading the fight in Washington. Rest assured, this is an issue we will be tracking very closely.

Whatever happened to Minnesota Nice? While tensions between federal law enforcement and local liberal activists have spiked in recent weeks, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have been making news for all the wrong reasons. They are encouraging activists to obstruct legal ICE actions, of apprehending dangerous criminal illegal aliens. The consequences have been disastrous. Sanctuary policies and open borders put Innocent lives at risk and cities end up in turmoil. Community safety takes a back seat to scoring left-wing political points. Wisconsin, we can't let this happen here. Our bedrock principles of limited government, law and order, and free markets have kept our state relatively sane and citizens safe. But we can't take it for granted. We do not want Wisconsin to become the next Minnesota.

Right next door in Minnesota, a major scandal is unraveling. Welfare and childcare fraud have rocked the state. Seemingly empty daycare centers are accused of receiving millions and maybe billions in federal funds through fake claims. A signal that it may get worse -- Governor Tim Walz dropped his re-election campaign instead of fighting the allegations. Closer to home, a former Milwaukee Police Department employee has been charged with felony voter fraud for illegally casting ballots in city elections. This is just the latest example of election fraud that has caused public distrust and demands more scrutiny. Cases like these, remind us that any type of fraud wastes taxpayer dollars and undermines confidence in our systems. Lawmakers in both states need to work smarter to reform government —better audits for state and federal programs and tougher voter verification.

Here we are, another year in the books. The holiday season is usually a time for celebration, with all sorts of excitement about the presents under the tree. But, an unwanted arrival in the mailbox is causing heartburn for many Wisconsinites. Wisconsin taxpayers are finding out just how much their property taxes are going up. For many people, it's a lot. In no small part because of the 402-year tax increase created entirely by Governor Tony Evers. It's an expensive reminder that under Governor Evers, it's just not working. From all of us at The MacIver Institute, have a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.

The liberals in Madison are at it AGAIN, putting the Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex ahead of your freedom. First is Madison Democrat Lisa Subeck. She introduced a bill to take away your right opt out of vaccine requirements that violate your conscience. Another Subeck bill would let minors get vaccines without parental consent. Then there's Governor Evers. He said it was "dangerous" and "unbelievable" that the CDC would add an asterisk to a fact sheet to note that there may be a link between vaccines and autism.But it's not about the asterisk, is it? The motivation is something else: raw power over your life and your decisions.

Chances are you like the idea of making able-bodied childless adults on welfare go through job training programs. It’s an easy sell for conservatives What you don’t realize is that the government doesn’t actually run programs like that itself. It contracts them out, and it’s always a real feeding frenzy in the Madison swamp. Hundreds of millions of dollars are up for grabs to run government programs that the government can’t run for itself. Many of those contracts go to non-profits who rely almost entirely on taxpayer funds. And they take very good care of themselves – their executive directors make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. The best part for them, there’s practically no accountability or reporting metrics to see if any of these programs actually work. So just remember that the next time someone in the government comes up with a brilliant new program to solve a problem in society, regardless of whether they’re sporting a “D” or an “R.”

Bill and Courtney tackle two topics in this episode of the MacIver Report: DPI's report cards and the latest campus free speech bill. DPI has revised its standards for the report cards twice since 2012. Bill explains how the latest standards are tougher than people realize and points out how DPI is actually masking underachievement.

The MacIver Institute's Michael Lucas is joined by Retired Army Sergeant Konrad R.K. Ludwig–combat veteran of Iraq War II, and author of the book "Stryker: The Siege of Sadr City."Sergeant Ludwig is a Californian by birth and now lives in Hillsdale, Michigan with his wife and newborn child where he works for the College as a software engineer. Both he and Michael attended Hillsdale College at the same time–meeting through mutual friends–and spent many an hour musing about the greatness of Ludwig von Mises.A patriot, a veteran, a finance analyst, a programmer, an armchair economist–Konrad has a wealth of knowledge and experience to rival that of many a great man. But above all, he is an incredibly good person, and a very good friend.His book has received hundreds of reviews, averaging 4.5/5 stars on Amazon, where one can also read a free sample of his incredible, and eminently human, experience of the second Iraq War.📕📕📕 (Amazon): https://a.co/d/e16YmfG 📕📕📕----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Media Mentioned:📕📕📕 Israel: Winner of the 2003 Iraq Oil War by Gary Vogler 📕📕📕(Amazon): https://a.co/d/eoqq4S1🎥🎥🎥 Warfare by A24 🎥🎥🎥(IMDB): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31434639/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------📰 Stay up-to-date on all things 🏛️Wisconsin🏛️ by visiting the MacIver Institute website.https://www.maciverinstitute.com/Be sure to subscribe to the official MacIver Institute YouTube channel. @MacIverInstituteWI ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Copyright disclaimer:🎥 Reel Intro clip ("FREE 4K Countdown Footage | Retro Film Leader | MP4 | Commercial Use"):Copyright permission is granted under the CC BY 4.0 license.Link to clip:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8-YbI98ikk&list=LL&index=7Link to creator's YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/@akopakopyanchannel

Bill and Courtney cover the latest conservative happenings at UW-Madison, the ongoing sexual grooming scandal in Wisconsin public schools, and how the federal government shutdown exposes the true problem with Obamacare.

Every day, Tony Evers and Tammy Baldwin take to social media to spell out the reason for the government shutdown. Republicans won’t extend the affordable care tax credits – which means the premiums on Obamacare plans will go up. Here’s what they don’t want you to know. Those tax credits are actually massive subsidies paid directly to the insurance companies, and the insurance companies don’t even have to provide affordable plans to get them. They just can’t charge anyone more than 8.5% of their income, and the government takes care of the rest. That’s why Obamacare plans still cost hundreds of dollars a month despite the original promise of the affordable care act to provide affordable healthcare. In the years since it was passed, insurance companies have racked hundreds of billions – if not trillions of dollars in taxpayer funded subsidies. No wonder why they’re willing to hold the government, and the American people, hostage over it.

Dr. Trevor Tomesh, a computer science professor at UW-River Falls, made a splash online following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. He pointed out that the university was uncharacteristically silent about that traumatic event, despite having a long history of weighing in on other supposedly traumatic events (such as a Christian woman coming to campus to talk about celibacy.) Tomesh penned a comment on Facebook that received hundreds of interactions and national media coverage. He joins Bill Osmulski on this episode of the MacIver Newsmakers Podcast – Campus Report to share how the university responded.

MacIver Intern Courtney Graves shares the latest news about the University of Wisconsin’s reaction to heightened political tensions following Charlie Kirk’s assassination and how conservatives on campus are continuing to attract excitement and build momentum. Plus, she shares her research on the new state budget’s impact on Medicaid reimbursement rates.