Hey Wisconsin Dems, Listen to Charles Barkley on Black Folks

Madison, Wisconsin—It would be nice if Gov. Scott, never-had-a-real-job, Walker were bounced from elected office before he and his arsonists inflict more damage here.

Charles Barkley from Alabama has a message applicable to Wisconsin and the moribund Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

Said an ebullient Barkley on Election Night, (King, The Intercept):

Well, this is a wakeup call for Democrats. … They’ve taken the black vote and the poor vote for granted for a long time. It’s time for them to get off their ass and start making life better for black folks and people who are poor.

They’ve always had our votes, and they have abused our votes and this is a wakeup call. We’ve got it in a great position now, but this is a wakeup call for Democrats to do better for black people and poor white people.

To put another way: Wake up Dems, or fuck off:

Former NBA player and Alabama native Charles Barkley: “This is a wake-up call for Democrats to do better for black people and poor white people” https://t.co/D6ZnRJT3Um

— CNN (@CNN) December 13, 2017

Scott Walker Will Take Wrong Lesson from Roy Moore Defeat

Wisconsin for whites, vote Republican in 2018, say white
supremacists. But decency can triumph against hate.

Wisconsin Republicans Will Attempt to Stop Black Voters in 2018, White Supremacists Remain Emboldened

The defeat this week of the child-molesting Roy Moore in Alabama—supported by Donald Trump, Scott Walker and far-too many Republicans—courses thorough the political world.

Hey, decency can win elections.

A signal of the coming 2018 anti-Republican wave? Could be.

Report Richard Fausset and Campbell Robertson:

The word traveled, urgently and insistently, along the informal networks of black friends, black family and black co-workers: Vote.

[Black Alabama human beings] voted out of a more general concern that the country, in the Trump era, was going back to a place best left in the past.

'There’s no state in America where black people recognize the horrors of turning back the clock more than the State of Alabama. There is a consciousness about this history in the African-American community,' said Bryan Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, which is based in Montgomery, (New York Times).

History instructs.

Today, there's no state in America where being black is as dangerous to life, liberty and health today as in Wisconsin. Lynchings are police executions of blacks, and wrongful convictions. Harassment and public trolling is accomplished by Scott Walker and assorted Republicans on municipal police units. No need for a burning cross, when a state has Scott Walker.

A prediction

Naturally, Scott Walker, Republicans and white poll workers will do their worst to obstruct black, young and progressive voters, lest Wisconsin becomes an Alabama with black folks leading the way towards defeat of white supremacists in 2018.

Voter obstruction in Wisconsin, as bad it has been since 2011, is a project with many more assets to be utilized.

But voting is simply one important deliverable of the Wisconsin anti-black project.

By way of explanation, in Wisconsin, if you have darker skin, many whites and most Republicans DO NOT LIKE YOU.

You're black, there are perceived associated problems with your character, intelligence and decency, and you surely do not belong in a voting booth diluting elections and canceling out the votes of white folks who know better. [Public service tip: If you're black, avoid Fitchburg, Wisconsin in particular: Cops are Republican and unmoored; City Hall crats are corrupt; and the Common Council is a disgrace.]

In Wisconsin, blacks folks, aka the urban vote, are concentrated in Milwaukee and the south-eastern quadrant of the state, including Kenosha, Racine, Rock and Dane counties.

One task for white supremacist Republicans is to stop unwanted voters in these locales.

One solution

If there is not a voter-protection infrastructure in Milwaukee, for example, Scott Walker and other white supremacists win in 2018. It's that easy. Voter protection.

One hopes the Democratic Party realizes the stakes. As a life-long Wisconsinite, I don't think they get it. I know my black friends and family agree.

Lesson for Wisconsin Is Don't Become Alabama

On Nov. 10, Gov. Scott Walker defended sexual predator Roy Moore, saying allegations of child sexual assault are not credible, comparing women's complaints with unfounded rumors that Walker had a "love child," (Wisconsin State Journal).

Walker reversed himself three days later after widespread criticism left Walker looking ridiculous.

Walker's support for Moore is one of the stories where his character is on display, explaining why Walker avoids unscripted public appearances where he has to answer questions.

Now, as the nation celebrates simple decency, the fundamentalist Walker is back to making Wisconsin into Alabama, if we let this project continue.

Scott Walker's False Claims He Has Held "Listening Sessions" Across Wisconsin

Scott Walker appears on ABC News This Week
and offers his third position on amending
the Fourteenth Amendment in seven days.

Updated - "The impression is fast setting in that Scott Walker, former King of Iowa, is a nonsense person and a ridiculous presidential candidate. (Newell, Salon)"
 ---
To understand Scott Walker is to see an undeveloped psyche, a man with no essence who will say anything with facts posing no barrier.

This morning the Wall Street Journal reports Walker saying, "We’re doing the hard work of the town-hall meetings, the small-group sessions. I think that pays off because, while the national media is focused a lot on another candidate, in the end, voters in these early states clearly take this stuff seriously." (O'Conner, Wall Street Journal)

Last week, Walker said his flip-flop on Common Core education standards is the result of holding listening session across Wisconsin: "We'd hold sessions around the state, we'd listen to people, we'd talk to people," said Gov. Walker. (Neumann, WKOW-TV)

Actually, Scott Walker has held zero townhall-style, unscripted listening sessions in Wisconsin.

Walker's recent false claims to the contrary are asserted out of concern that Walker doesn't know much about public policy, displaying not-even a pedestrian grasp of major public policy issues, ala Sarah Palin with whom Walker does not wish to branded this early in the campaign.

This is a guy whose press office demanded that all questions be pre-screened on a press phone call on Walker's healthcare plan 'to phase out ObamaCare on Day One' last week. (Politico)

This is considered open and accessible for Scott Walker who regularly bans reporters in an attempt to keep his lack of policy knowledge a secret.

This is not a well-kept secret, it's just not many in the campaign press write about it. Writes Dylan Byers in the right-leaning Politico:

In March, Walker made public appearances in Texas and South Carolina but closed the events to press and refused to take questions from the media. In April, while visiting Europe, he held no public events and took no questions from reporters. In May, while visiting Israel, he did the same. An aide told the Journal that Walker was going to 'focus on educating himself about Israeli issues and won’t hold public events or take questions from reporters.'

Walker's refusal to hold listening sessions, from the Midwest to the Middle East, should be news, as should his lying about it.

It is understandable from Walker's point of view why Walker avoids unscripted question-and-answer sessions.

Take this the latest headline on CNN: Scott Walker on birthright citizenship: 3 positions, 7 days. Writes CNN's Eric Bradner:

The Wisconsin governor and Republican presidential candidate was asked on ABC's 'This Week' whether he backs Trump's push to end the 14th Amendment's mandate that all children born in the United States are automatically granted citizenship. 

'Well, I said the law is there. And we need to enforce the laws, including those that are in the Constitution,' Walker said

United States Constitution

What "laws" are in the United States Constitution?

For Scott Walker's edification, here is a link to the Leonere Annenberg Institute for Civics explaining the United States Constitution. There are no laws in the Constitution.

Walker would do well to begin with Article 1, Section 1:

Section 1 - The Text
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Section 1 - The Meaning
The framers of the Constitution separated the powers of government into three branches, granting legislative power (the power to pass laws) to Congress, executive power (the power to administer the laws) to the president, and judicial power (the power to interpret and enforce the laws) to the courts. The unique and limited powers of Congress are contained in Article I.

Fourteenth Amendment Citizenship Clause

With respect to Scott Walker's on-again, off-again commitment to amend the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, Jenna Johnson in today's Washington Post has a timeline of Walker and his campaign's statements over the last week. It's pretty funny and at Walker's expense. Last Monday evening Walker blamed his change-the-Fourteenth Amendment-citizenship-clause position on a confusing "three-hour roving [press] gaggle."

Last Friday, Walker explained he was for changing the Fourteenth Amendment citizenship clause because he was "tired." (Blue Cheddar) (ThinkProgress) (CognitiveDissidence) (Mal Contends)

Johnson's piece ends with a quote from AshLee Strong, Walker's campaign spokeswoman, saying in part: "His position is very firm."

Firm, and strong and bold. Unfortunately for the nation, Walker's idea of a bold unscripted question-and-answer session is to yell at an audience, "Unintimidated! I am not intimidated by you, sir, or by anyone else out there."​