Kenosha County Sheriff Uses Office to Appear in Wisconsin Supreme Court Attack Ad

Oconto County Sheriff Todd Scarban don his official
uniform, claiming to speak for Wisconsin law enforcement, in
an attack ad against Dane County Judge Susan Crawford,
candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court. The Zoerner ad is part of
a heavy ad buy by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.

Kenosha County Sheriff David W. Zoerner and Oconto County Sheriff Todd Scarban don official uniforms in new attack ad. Zoerner claims to speak for Wisconsin law enforcement, in the ad against Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Crawford is running against former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel in a closely watched April 1 election.

In the Zoerner ad, the office of Judge Crawford's office phone number is listed, as a narrator urges phone calls to the office.

 

The Kenosha County Sheriff's office has a history of overt hostility toward black people, advocating openly black people should be 'warehoused away,' as noted prominently in the Washington Post.

CNN has also reported on the racist Kenosha County sheriff office.

Wisconsin Black Lives Matter Routs Democrat State Senator

State Sen. Tim Carpenter faked a collapse in front of WKOW-TV
at the Capitol, and then began his campaign demonizing Black
Lives Matter. This fake collapse was preceded by Carpenter's hollered
conversation as the Democrat spoke with several protest medics and
peacekeepers in an eight-minute conversation captured on audio,
Pittman/WORT News. Audio shows Carpenter declining medical
attention before his fake collapse.

Madison, Wisconsin — Not one Wisconsin elected Democrat stood up for Black Lives Matter and two innocent women pursued by an unhinged Democrat, State Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee).

Via Medium.

Black Lives Matter don’t really matter, not here.

And BLM liberation protesters enjoy no presumption of innocence when protesting police violence, not while the Democratic Party has power.

In massive demonstrations during the 2020 Summer supporting George Floyd and demanding police end their war against the community, human rights workers irked one State Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) — a drug warrior and self-proclaimed “reactionary” Democrat.

Forget Chicago, Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Kenosha, Madison police have it in for black folks, and Wisconsin Democrats back the police, diligently defend wrongful convictions, harassment, police and prosecutor misconduct, amid a permanent low-intensity war against the darkly complected.

It’s SOP in Wisconsin.

Tim Carpenter is the perfect Democrat, a narcissistic corporatist so self-involved and malicious he would embarrass Joe Biden.

Carpenter is renown in some circles for single-handedly blocking doctor-prescribed marijuana in 2009, the better the State has weapons to imprison black and brown people in the drug war.

So, it was no surprise that Carpenter drove to Madison in late June 2020 and started a melee against a couple of hundred protesters rallying next to the Capitol near Midnight during the height of the George Floyd protests.

Carpenter, (later claiming he was making a late-night Capitol visit on official business), grabbed his phone and started recording the BLM group, a provocative action to which the group took offense.

Protesters explained to Carpenter that rightwing doxxers were recording BLM rallies, increasing fear that night that someone was going to get hurt on a night during which the marchers had to contend with gun shots and cars trying to run the group down.

The melee ensued, after which Carpenter unconvincingly played the victim.

But the group was easy prey for Carpenter and his political campaign, backed by the police, the district attorney and corporate media.

After lecturing the crowd that he was an ally of Black Lives Matter, a laughable proposition, a traumatized Carpenter performed a collapse on the Capitol grounds in front of a WKOW-TV (Madison) crew.

Carpenter did not fall uncontrollably to the pavement; he gently set himself down to a sitting position and laid down on the soft manicured brush. The media dutifully reported he collapsed. It was a charade.

Before and after his performance, Carpenter refused medical treatment.

Carpenter then enlisted the Democrat Dane County District Attorney to press charges against someone, anyone, at the Capitol that night.

The DA picked two local socially conscious women with no criminal records, Black Lives Matter protesters Kerida O’Reilly and Samantha Hamer, whom even Carpenter and the police could not identify as so much as laying a finger on the precious state senator.

The two women were each charged with multiple felonies and a misdemeanor — felony crime of Substantial Battery with Intent to Cause Bodily Harm, felony Party to a Crime, and misdemeanor Disorderly Conduct.

Both women faced years in prison in a Court presided over by a Gov. Scott Walker appointee, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Josann M. Reynolds, (R) appointed to the bench in 2015.

Charge stacking like what was endured in these cases serves two purposes. One, to coerce innocent protesters into pleading no contest to charges of which they are innocent; and two, to deter protesting of unlawful police behavior in the streets.

The Democrat-led Dane County District Attorney’s office changed its charging standard for this one case to accommodate Carpenter and the paucity of evidence against the defendants. The conventional evidentiary standard for the Dane County DA is case can be proven to a reasonable doubt, changed to: Reasonable inference. [(See, for example, WISC-TV 2018; Madison . com).

At a probable cause hearing in August 2020, Asst DA William Brown, known for over-the-top prosecutions and Manichean court posturing, admitted, “We don’t know exactly what happens [at the rally] … other than we have a witness that says various people began kicking and punching. There is a reasonable inference that those two people who are aggressively running at him are the ones involved in the exact same incident,” (Rickert, Wisconsin State Journal).

Judge Reynolds is corrupt against defendants’ rights, a status that draws few objections in Dane County.

At the prosecution’s behest, in early Sept 2021, Reynolds issued a radical ruling that compelled the appearance of three, then two area journalists covering the protests though none of these three could identity the defendants as touching Carpenter.

The rationale behind the forced Court appearance of journalists was to establish there was a large rally and ralliers were passionate.

Armed with the testimony that the rally was passionate, the prosecution argued in court that Ms. O’Reilly was passionate and near Carpenter, so it was reasonable to infer she assaulted Tim Carpenter.

Thus, we see the Wisconsin judiciary join the bad faith, logical fallacy and ill will on the part of the police and prosecutors who face little recrimination in this political culture wired to give these same police and prosecutors free reign.

After the two women were arrested, Carpenter went on a public relations spree to demonize Black Lives Matter; sponsored a bill to criminalize damaging statutes out of Carpenter’s spite; and accosted and harassed a black candidate for the State Senate, before being forced to apologize after the intercession of the state Democratic Party Chair and the Senate Minority Leader criticizing Carpenter, (The Capital Times, WTMJ — July, Fox News — June 30, Spectrum News One — Aug).

Carpenter was unhinged and petulant.

That the two women were not implicated by any direct evidence was of no apparent concern to Carpenter, the police, and the media who toed the police line all the way.

Bowing to the ridiculous lack of evidence, the DA in April 2021, offered a deal that featured no jail time and a deferred prosecution, that would have wiped the protesters’ record clean, WKOW-TV, (Galli).

No deal, we’re innocent, replied O’Reilly and Hamer.

O’Reilly declined another deal last month that would have dropped all three criminal charges in exchange for pleading no contest to the equivalent of a parking ticket. No deal, said O’Reilly.

BLM protester Samantha Hamer took the deal, fearing she was gambling her life on the whims of a jury.

On Oct. 19, after a two-day trial, the jury verdict was delivered to the remaining defendant: O’Reilly: Not guilty on all counts. The jury deliberated for just three hours.

This was an are-you-kidding verdict, but the resultant local coverage, with the exception of Tony Galli and Peter Culver at WKOW, barely mentioned the verdict.

Instead, overwhelmingly, the not-guilty local coverage is a rehash of the accusations, omitting entirely the fact noone saw the two women touch Tim Carpenter.

O’Reilly told WKOW that she will continue to support Black Lives Matter.

O’Reilly said she also felt relief that the truth came out. She was scared.

“I did not make physical contact with him, [Carpenter],” Kerida O’Reilly testified at trial, a statement even Tim Carpenter was forced to acknowledge in the face of aggressive questioning by defense attorney, Jessa Nicholson Goetz.

So, why this bogus prosecution? Because police and prosecutors want to.
That’s it.

Police face no recrimination for their arrest of the Black Lives Matter protesters. The DA faces no consequences, and Tim Carpenter, beyond burnishing his reputation as an asshole, faces no backlash from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

Tim Carpenter is running for reelection in 2022. Progressive and pro-Black Lives Matter forces want a candidate to run against him in the Democratic Primary.

But Wisconsin also needs DAs and a criminal justice system that function as a check for deceitful politicians, and guard the rights of citizens against these same politicians and police who pose a threat to a peaceful community.
#

(Michael Leon is a writer living in Madison, Wisconsin. His stories have appeared nationally in The Progressive, In These Times and CounterPunch. He can be reached at: malleon @ live.com .)

Not Guilty — State Senator's Racist Crusade Against Black Lives Matter Beaten Back

State Sen. Tim Carpenter faked a collapse in front of WKOW-TV
at the Capitol, and then began his media campaign demonizing Black
Lives Matter. This fake collapse was preceded by Carpenter's hollered
conversation as the Democrat spoke with several protest medics and
peacekeepers in an eight-minute conversation captured on audio,
Pittman/WORT News. Audio shows Carpenter declining medical
attention before his fake collapse.

Carpenter Faces Tough Campaign for Reelection in 2022

Madison, Wisconsin — Wisconsin State Sen Tim Carpenter's (D-Milwaukee) crusade against Black Lives Matter suffered a big set-back today, Tuesday. Oct 19.

Not guilty on all counts, a Dane County jury said to a Black Lives Matter protester on trial against a racist state senator who calls himself "rash and reactionary" for his conduct against another Black Lives Matter supporter.

"I did not make physical contact with him," Kerida O'Reilly testified, a statement even Carpenter was forced to acknowledge in the face of aggressive questioning by defense attorney, Jessa Nicholson Goetz.

Ms. O'Reilly faced two felony charges and a misdemeanor for an unspecified act that noone says she committed at a June 23-24, 2020 Black Lives Matter protest. It bears repeating: The State was charging the woman for no acts they can identify her as committing.

The racist Tim Carpenter is running for reelection in 2022. Progressive and pro-Black Lives Matter candidates want a candidate to run in the Democratic Primary.

The reactionary Carpenter is renown in some circles for single-handedly blocking doctor-prescribed marijuana in 2009, the better the State has a weapon to imprison black and brown people in the drug war. Under heavy criticism, eight years later, Carpenter reversed his public stance, but the damage was done.

Though Carpenter admits to being rash and reactionary, progressives view the white Democrat as petulant, conniving, narcissistic and wedded to an outdated anti-drug era.

O'Reilly testified to Carpenter as an angry, aggressive presence at the Black Lives Matter rally, Galli/WKOW.

The Democrat-led Dane County District Attorney's office changed its charging standard for this one case to accommodate Carpenter and the paucity of evidence against the defendants.

In the instances of Kerida O’Reilly and Samantha Hamer, the District Attorney had dropped its charging standard in these cases from can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, (See, for example, WISC-TV 2018; Madison . com), to the much lower standard, (and newly employed as a charging standard):  Claimed reasonable inference.
 
At a probable cause hearing in August 2020, Asst DA William Brown, known for over-the-top prosecutions and Manichean court posturing, admitted, "We don’t know exactly what happens ...  other than we have a witness that says various people began kicking and punching. There is a reasonable inference that those two people who are aggressively running at him are the ones involved in the exact same incident," (Rickert, Wisconsin State Journal).

No deal, said the jury, which took just three hours to deliver its not guilty verdict.

Racist Wisconsin State Sen's Crusade Against Black Lives Matter Protester at Trial Oct 15

State Sen. Tim Carpenter faked a collapse in front of
WKOW-TV at the Capitol, and then began his media
campaign demonizing Black Lives Matter. This fake
collapse was preceded by Carpenter's hollered
conversation as the Democrat spoke with several
protest medics and peacekeepers in an
eight-minute conversation captured on audio,
(Pittman/WORT News). Audio shows Carpenter
declining medical attention before faking his collapse.

Dane County Asst DA William Brown: 'We don’t know what happened.'

Madison, Wisconsin — You have to give credit to Wisconsin State Sen Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee). 

The reactionary state senator hates Black Lives Matter, and nothing will get in the way of his racist crusade.

So, all credit for his determination to destroy a young Black Lives Matter protester's life, Kerida E. O'Reilly: No criminal record, a socially conscious Madison woman who believes police should not kill black people.

Ms. O'Reilly faces two felony charges and a misdemeanor for an unspecified act that noone says she committed at a June 23-24, 2020 Black Lives Matter protest. It bears repeating: The State is charging the woman for no acts they can identify her as committing.

Welcome to the Democrat Party and the criminal justice system.

And Dane County District Attorney, Ismael Ozaane. Shame on you, you should know better.

The case is being heard by a reliable prosecutor's judge, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Josann M. Reynolds, appointed to the bench by Gov. Scott Walker (R) in 2015.

Carpenter traveled to Madison to a June 2020 Black Lives Matter protest for whom the drug warrior maintains an apparent hatred, and started a melee, where Carpenter took a beating that he highlighted over the next year, though he twice refused medical treatment that same night.

"I had no idea I had walked into a hornet's nest," claimed Carpenter to WTMJ, playing the victim in July 2020. "All of a sudden two women, white women, started coming towards me. I had three seconds to react." 

Carpenter insinuated two woman somehow hit him, but Carpenter admitted to police he cannot identity anyone as touching him.

Carpenter went on a rant after the June protests during which Carpenter performed a fall on the Capitol grounds in front of a WKOW-TV crew; went on a public relations spree in the Summer to demonize Black Lives Matter; sponsored a bill to criminalize damaging statutes out of Carpenter's petty spite; and accosted and harassed a black candidate for the State Senate.

Following the June protests, the racist Carpenter went apoplectic against a black woman running for State Senate, resulting in a multi-day rant that concluded with the intercession of the state Party Chair and the Senate Minority Leader criticizing Carpenter who eventually apologized, (The Capital Times). Carpenter said he was  "rash and reactionary" in his apology.

The reactionary Carpenter is renown in some circles for single-handedly blocking doctor-prescribed marijuana in 2009, the better the State has a weapon to imprison black and brown people in the drug war. Under heavy criticism, eight years later, Carpenter reversed his public stance, but the damage was done.
---
Today, not even cops state O'Reilly can be identified as doing anything that night, a fact that did not stop the district attorney from charge-stacking.

Madison police detective Linda Trevarthen who led the investigation of the melee acknowledged that there is no evidence the O'Reilly specifically touched Carpenter in any way, much less a felony battery contact, (Rickert, Wisconsin State Journal).

Not one witness claims Kerida O’Reilly can be identified as so much as laying a finger on the precious state senator. No video evidence implicates O'Reilly.

Carpenter ridiculed Black Lives Matter, and in July 2020 said he's also "being criticized on the left in a blog suggesting he's somehow a traitor stating that he 'was against the liberators of the Black Lives Movement,'" (WTMJ), in an apparent reference to Mal Contends.

 Carpenter wants to get Black Lives Matter. So does the Dane County District Attorney. So merely being present at a protest is enough for a criminal prosecution.

Bowing to the ridiculous lack of evidence, "The two people charged with the beating of a state senator have been offered a deal by prosecutors that would include no jail time and deferred prosecution," WKOW-TV (Galli, Madison) reported last April.

No deal, we're innocent, replied O’Reilly. O'Reilly declined another deal last month that would have dropped all three criminal charges in exchange for the equivalent of a parking ticket. No deal, said O'Reilly.

Corrupt DA Changes Charging Standard in These Cases

In the instances of Kerida O’Reilly and Samantha Hamer, the District Attorney had dropped its charging standard in these cases from can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, (See, for example, WISC-TV 2018; Madison . com), to the much lower standard, (and newly employed as a charging standard):  Claimed reasonable inference.
 
At a probable cause hearing in August 2020, Asst DA William Brown, known for over-the-top prosecutions and Manichean court posturing, admitted, "We don’t know exactly what happens ...  other than we have a witness that says various people began kicking and punching. There is a reasonable inference that those two people who are aggressively running at him are the ones involved in the exact same incident," (Rickert, Wisconsin State Journal).

We don’t know exactly what happened? That's reasonable doubt.

Why the change for these cases? Because this is a political prosecution.

Tune in here for coverage beginning Oct 15.

Folks can contact State Sen Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) to ask why he rejects decarceration, decriminalization, police defunding. As we work with our historic movement, Carpenter instead sponsors a bill expanding criminal code to protect statues and works to persecute two innocent Black Lives Matter workers.
(608) 266-8535
Sen.Carpenter@legis.wisconsin.gov

Plea Change from Innocent to No Contest in Tim Carpenter Trial

State Sen. Tim Carpenter faked a collapse in front of WKOW-TV
at the Capitol, and then began his media campaign demonizing Black
Lives Matter. This fake collapse was preceded by Carpenter's hollered
conversation as the Democrat spoke with several protest medics
and peacekeepers in an eight-minute conversation captured on audio,
(Pittman/WORT News). Audio shows Carpenter declining medical
attention before faking his collapse.

Madison, Wisconsin — One of two Black Lives Matter workers accused — with no direct evidence — of having been in a fight with a racist state senator during protests over deadly police violence in 2020 pleaded no contest this week to a vastly reduced non-criminal citation charge.

The plea highlights a brutal part of the criminal justice system where prosecutors charge-stack felonies and force innocent defendants to either gamble with a trial and years in prison or cop a plea to a reduced charge with the promise of erasure from the defendant's record.

"Samantha Hamer, 27, of Madison, does not face any jail time or fines as a result of her plea to disorderly conduct, a county ordinance violation, but will have to pay court costs that are to be determined. The ordinance violation is akin to a ticket and is not a criminal conviction," reports the Wisconsin State Journal.

The plea marks a change from last April when Ms. Hamer refused a different plea offer, while affirmatively acclaiming her innocence.

The state senator involved in the melee is Tim Carpenter, a controversial and reactionary Milwaukee Democrat.

The case is being heard by a reliable prosecutor's judge, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Josann M. Reynolds, appointed to the bench by Gov. Scott Walker (R) in 2015.

Reynolds is corrupt against the rights of defendants, a status that draws few objections in Dane County.

Reynolds has already issued one radical ruling in this case that compels the appearance of three area journalists covering the Black Lives Matters protests though none of these three can identity the remaining defendant as even touching Carpenter.

Tim Carpenter

After the melee at the protest that Carpenter instigated, he is heard in a recorded conversation sounding agreeable.

Carpenter did not phone 911 for medical help, after he was asked by a medic.

Then, Carpenter walked to his car, spotted WKOW-TV crew members, walked towards the TV crew, and performed an unconvincing 'collapse' in an apparent bid for the TV station's attention.

Carpenter did not fall uncontrollably on the pavement. He gently set himself down to a sitting position, and then laid softly in the comparatively soft decorative brush on the ground next to the sidewalk and WKOW staff.

Carpenter then began a four-week media blitz dramatizing his victimhood.

• WTMJ - July 15 -Still Recovering
• Fox News - June 30 - Recovering
• Spectrum News One - Aug 12 - Opening up about Attack
  
  

While Carpenter tended to his I-hate-Black-Lives-Matter crusade, the veteran racist then signed on to a bill criminalizing defacing of statutes, making the protesters' point that this guy cares more about statutes than black lives.

Nothing from Carpenter about decarceration, decriminalization, police violence and police defunding.

But Carpenter was not finished.

Nada Elmikashfi 

Nada Elmikashfi is a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for State Senate District 26 in Dane County.

Elmikashfi criticized Carpenter's proposal to make criminal felons out of anyone defacing a statue, an initiative echoing Donald Trump's protect-the-statues crusade. 

Writes Elmikashfi on July 16, 2020 commenting on Carpenter's co-authorship of his Senate initiative seeking sponsors.

"Get me in the senate so I can block this absolute bullshit. You shouldn’t have been assaulted Senator Carpenter; but that doesn’t mean you get to block our civil rights movement. If this is passed on a bipartisan basis; @GovEvers needs to veto it. #BlackLivesMatter."

Carpenter went apoplectic, resulting in a multi-day rant that concluded with the intercession of the state Party Chair and the Senate Minority Leader criticizing the unhinged Carpenter who eventually apologized.

Reports The Capital Times:

Wisconsin's Democratic leaders are denouncing 'online bullying' perpetrated by Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee, after he targeted Madison Senate candidate Nada Elmikashfi in a flurry of Twitter posts over the last few days that eventually led to the brief suspension of his account for harassment.

Both the state Democratic Party and Senate Minority Leader Janet Bewley decried Carpenter's actions in statements Monday morning, noting the Milwaukee senator's behavior 'crossed the line.'

'Nobody should be subjected to online bullying, which disproportionately harms women and people of color — not during this moment of long-overdue reckoning with racial justice, and not ever,' party officials wrote in their statement.

Carpenter is silent now.

As is the district attorney's office which has not even attempted to explain why it feels justified in charging two women with no criminal records with multiple felonies for non-specific acts that merit a non-criminal citation.

But local media typically does not ask this sort of question.

Wisconsin Fall Trials Show Liberal Police State Feasting on Innocents in Community

Two Black Lives Matter protesters are charged with multiple felonies
following a late-night June 2020 confrontation that State Sen Tim
Carpenter started in Madison, Wisconsin. Now, the racist state
senator wants to realize his long-term aim: Imprisoning black
people and those supporting them.

Disgraced State Senator Is Center of Political Prosecution Against Black Lives Matter

Madison, Wisconsin — Two state criminal trials this Fall exemplify the political-legal terrain in Wisconsin: A police state run by Democrats statewide, rightwing district attorneys of both parties and a corrupt judiciary.

Wisconsin State Sen Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) knew his duty before a June 2020 Midnight visit to the Capitol in the middle of the George Floyd protests here: Carpenter must confront and demonize Black Lives Matter protesters.

Much of the civilized country had decided otherwise after the horror of the George Floyd murder.

But the racist Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) continues his crusade against Black Lives Matter in Dane County Court in October in two criminal trials — Kerida O’Reilly (jury selection and trial begin Oct 15), and Samantha Hamer, (jury selection and trial begin Oct 15).

Black Lives Matter protesters, Mses. O’Reilly and Hamer, are two socially conscious area women with no criminal records.

They stand accused of felony crimes of Substantial Battery with Intent to Cause Bodily Harm, felony Party to a Crime, and misdemeanor Disorderly Conduct against Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) for no specific action at a June 23-24 Black Lives Matter protest. It bears repeating: The State is charging the women for no acts they can identified as committing.

Carpenter traveled to Madison to a June 2020 Black Lives Matter protest for whom the drug warrior maintains an apparent hatred, and started a melee, where Carpenter took a beating that he highlighted over the next year, though he twice refused medical treatment that same night.

In 2020, following the June protests, the racist Carpenter went apoplectic against a black woman running for State Senate, resulting in a multi-day rant that concluded with the intercession of the state Party Chair and the Senate Minority Leader criticizing Carpenter who eventually apologized, (The Capital Times). Carpenter said he was  "rash and reactionary" in his apology.

The reactionary Carpenter is renown in some circles for single-handedly blocking doctor-prescribed marijuana in 2009, the better the State has a weapon to imprison black and brown people in the drug war. Under heavy criticism, eight years later, Carpenter reversed his public stance, but the damage was done.

But not even cops state O'Reilly and Hamer can be identified as doing anything that night, a fact that did not stop the district attorney from charge-stacking.

Madison police detective Linda Trevarthen who led the investigation of the melee acknowledged that there is no evidence the women specifically touched Carpenter in any way, much less a felony battery contact, (Rickert, Wisconsin State Journal).

Not one witness claims Kerida O’Reilly and Samantha Hamer can be identified as committing so much as laying a finger on the precious state senator.

But Carpenter wants to get Black Lives Matter. So does the Dane County District Attorney. So merely being present at a protest is enough for a criminal prosecution.

Bowing to the ridiculous lack of evidence, "The two people charged with the beating of a state senator have been offered a deal by prosecutors that would include no jail time and deferred prosecution," WKOW-TV (Galli, Madison) reported last April.

No deal, we're innocent, replied O’Reilly and Hamer.

Corrupt DA Changes Charging Standard in These Cases

In the instances of Kerida O’Reilly and Samantha Hamer, the District Attorney has dropped its charging standard in these cases from can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, (See, for example, WISC-TV 2018; Madison . com), to the much lower standard, (and newly employed as a charging standard):  Claimed reasonable inference.
 
At a probable cause hearing in August 2020, Asst DA William Brown, known for over-the-top prosecutions and Manichean court posturing, admitted, "We don’t know exactly what happens ...  other than we have a witness that says various people began kicking and punching. There is a reasonable inference that those two people who are aggressively running at him are the ones involved in the exact same incident," (Rickert, Wisconsin State Journal).

Why the change for these cases? Because this is a political prosecution.

So, in the District Attorney's new theory of criminal guilt, running is a crime. Problem is running, in the real world, is not a crime.

As one of the victims of the melee instigated by Carpenter, Carpenter swears he cannot identify either of the defendants as laying a finger on him. Neither does any video. So, there is as much evidence for Carpenter being a violent felon as anyone else.

The district attorney's office has decided not to test the credibility of Tim Carpenter whose conduct before, the night of, and after the confrontation is bizarre, including his hostile online attack against a black woman running for state senate, an affair for which Carpenter was forced to apologize in July, just a few weeks after Carpenter's melee.

Charge-Stacking

The Dane County District Attorney loves to charge-stack, an authoritarian practice utilized across the country. Corrupt District Attorneys will pile on charges to induce a situation in which an innocent defendants face losing years of their lives or make a false plea of guilty.

Not surprisingly, Black Lives Matter protesters Kerida O’Reilly and Samantha Hamer, two socially conscious area women with no criminal records, stand accused of the felony crime of Substantial Battery with Intent to Cause Bodily Harm, felony Party to a Crime, and misdemeanor Disorderly Conduct against State Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) for no specific action at a June 23-24 Black Lives Matter protest.

Targeting the Press

In Sept 2021, earlier this month, the D.A.'s office issued three subpoenas against area journalists, though again not one of the journalist can identify Mses. O’Reilly or Hamer as laying a finger on Carpenter.

So, all the DA has is some eight to 10 people during a chaotic melee, and other community members present.

Carpenter faked a collapse in front of WKOW-TV at the capitol, and
then began his media campaign demonizing Black Lives Matter.
This fake collapse was preceded by Carpenter's hollered conversation,
as the state senator spoke with several protest medics and
peacekeepers in an eight-minute conversation captured on audio,
(Pittman/WORT News), that shows Carpenter declining medical
attention before faking his collapse, but after spotting WKOW-TV.

Carpenter traveled to Madison in June 2020 to confront Black Lives Matter liberation protestors, worked to record and virtually deliver the liberation workers to rightwing doxxers, was confronted by marchers and after a melee, embarked on a mission to imprison as many Black Lives Matter workers as possible.

White supremacists have doxxed, (publish private or identifying information about a particular individual on the Internet, typically with malicious intent), and endangered liberation protesters across the country, so folks were nervous that late June night, perfect prey for Carpenter looking for attention.

Video shows Carpenter performed his 'collapse' at which Carpenter laid down gently on soft plants (instead of the pavement) and then used the subsequent four weeks to issue press statements hyping his 'recovery.' Carpenter didn't fall down uncontrollably, he performed an easy set-down in front of WKOW-TV to dramatize the confrontation that he began.

The credibility of Carpenter is on trial as two women standing up for Black people face the worst of the Wisconsin criminal justice system and the Democratic Party.

Wisconsin Poll: Sanders Outperforms Clinton in General Election

Get realistic folks, we cannot afford Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Party nominee.

The new Marquette Law School Poll shows Bernie Sanders significantly outperforming Hillary Clinton against three named Republican opponents the weekend before the Iowa Caucuses.

The Poll reads: "[i]n possible matchups for the November general election" in Wisocnsin:

Sanders leads Rubio by 11 points
Clinton edges Rubio by one

Sanders leads Cruz by 12
Clinton edges Cruz by one

Sanders leads Trump by 18
Clinton leads Trump by 9

These results track with other national polls and show Sanders a stronger nominee than Clinton, a fact the corporate press is trying to bury.

2016 and Beyond—Come to Wisconsin

Wisconsin is making international news again.

This time it's a bunch of corrupt and despicable hicks from Manitowoc County.

Don't let these people define Wisconsin. They're a disgrace, an infamy to justice.

But for every ex-prosecutor like Kenneth Kratz, Wisconsin can point to a jurist like Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson and attorney Dean Strang.

Scott Walker has been exposed as the pathological liar and know-nothing he always has been. He could not get elected to any statewide office now, in any mid-term.

The year 2016 will see Wisconsin with two U.S. senators—Tammy Baldwin and Russ Feingold—who will lead the nation as the nation's two most progressive senators.

Madison remains Madison ever-leading the Midwest, as Dane County is leading the state in new private-sector jobs and progressive politics.

Need an educated and skilled workforce, come to Dane County. Looking for human decency, an oasis of an engaged citizenry, come to Dane County.

Despite the damage done by Walker and his band of corrupt Republicans, citizen action, an innovative economy and progressive politics will define a state that shamed itself under the reign of the sociopaths.

Look to the future and the rise of the people pushing every Koch brothers piece of shit to the bottom of Lake Winnebago where they belong.

Report: Republican Governors Association to Run Six-Figure Ad Buy Next Week

AP writer Scott Bauer has a piece today running the story first reported in the Washington Post that the "Republican Governors Association will go to bat for one of its all-stars with an early advertisement aimed at bolstering Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign."

This week, Walker, after benefiting from some $15 million in past support from the Republican Governors Association (RGA) of which Christie is now Chair, praised Chris Christie:

"He told me the same thing in private that he did to the press in New Jersey, and I have every reason to believe that the information he said is consistent with the truth, and so I still support him in his role as governor and his role in the RGA," Walker said of Christie at an economic conference. (Politico)

Walker's loyalty to Christie is being amply reciprocated by the coming statewide attack ad that implausibly attributes the national Bush-Cheney recession of 2007-08 to Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle, while claiming credit for the Obama recovery through the efforts of Scott Walker.

Walker's 250,000 new jobs campaign promise continues to be regarded as a cruel joke, and Wisconsin has underperformed the rest of the country and the Midwest in recovering from the Bush-Cheney recession.

Few outside of Scott Walker's circle see Chris Christie as anything but corrupt and a likely future criminal defendant whose fall has been a spectacular political story for months.

Why Walker's presumptive Democratic opponent, Mary Burke, passed on hitting Walker's praising the butt of late night jokes and the paradigm of corruption has left many Wisconsin progressives shaking their heads in silence.

The RGA statewide ad buy will run as 1,000s of e-mails are released from Scott Walker's secret campaign e-mail system that Walker ran from his office of Milwaukee County Executive, a scandal investigated by a John Doe probe that resulted in Walker's top aides and appointees being convicted of criminal felonies.

Walker's former aide, Kelly M. Rindfleisch, tried unsuccessfully to keep the e-mails secret so their release next week is expected to shed more light on Walker's scandal that has been largely buried by Wisconsin's Gannett newspapers and local broadcast media.

Thirteen Scott Walker associates and staffers took immunity deals to keep from being criminally charged in the John Doe probe as provided by Wisconsin's John Doe statute, a move now trumpeted by Walker aides that they say proves Walker ran a clean office.

No mention of the six Walker aides, appointees and associates convicted of crimes typically follows this line from Walker's office.

In fact, it is a distinct possibility that the e-mails will show Scott Walker hip-deep in the illegal campaign run out of his office during his tenure as Milwaukee County Executive.

Burke spokesman Joe Zepecki said the ad buy was no surprise in light of the $ millions spent by special interests on Walker as Wisconsin's middle class shrinks under Walker's tenure.

Burke's campaign is not being run as a grassroots operation, she a Democratic Party placeholder candidate whose primary political qualification is that she is not Scott Walker.

But Scott Walker is so dependent on ad buys by huge out-of-state interests, with massive corruption charges looming heavily that anti-Walker forces hope Walker's political house of cards could tumble in time for the November general election.

National politicos wondering 'what's the matter with Wisconsin,' need only look at the shell of the Democratic Party that has withered under Chair Mike Tate who evidently harbors an aversion to political infrastructure and a communications team.

Grassroots citizen organizations are about the only thing that has kept the radical and corrupt Republican Party at bay, such as it is, replete with $10s of millions from special interests such as the Republican Governors Association.

Does Mary Burke Really Want to Be Wisconsin Governor

Mary Burke's bid to unseat Scott Walker: White noise
with a hint of obscure, formless past activity

There's nothing about Mary

Check out Mary Burke for Governor in Google and the first result is a fake Burke site, put out by the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Cybersquatting sucks, but the fake site seems apropos because Mary Burke appears intent on keeping her run against Walker a closely held secret.

Walker has been running for governor for some seven years; and here we are nine months out from the general election and Burke is as dynamic as an early morning stroll down your drive-way in the cold to pick up the paper.

Walker is pursuing a radical social engineering project, and Burke is approaching the campaign with little apparent sense of urgency.

Say what you will about Walker but he campaigns hard and the air war for which Walker is well-armed has not even begun yet.

Emblematic of Burke's lassitude is the white noise emitting from the Burke campaign on the hottest political story in the U.S. right now: the titanic fall of Chris Christie.

Scott Walker, after benefitting from $15 million in support from the Republican Governors Association of which Christie is now Chair, as pointed out by One Wisconsin Now, hails Chris Christie, the most clearly corrupt governor with Walker at number two.

“He told me the same thing in private that he did to the press in New Jersey, and I have every reason to believe that the information he said is consistent with the truth, and so I still support him in his role as governor and his role in the RGA,” Walker said of Christie at an economic conference. (Politico)

So what does Burke do in response? Nothing. Not a press release, not a statement to media outlets, not a beeper, not even a tweet.

 

As Salon puts it: Chris Christie update: Scott Walker to the rescue!
 

I bet Scott Walker is just shivering with fear right about now. Maybe someone should contact political prognosticators, Larry J. Sabato and Kyle Kondik and tell them to change Wisconsin from Likely Republican to Safe Republican.

GOP Voter Suppression and Obstruction Program Are a National Enterprise

- It's the GOP voter obstruction that could be decisive this November in close races across the country. UnAmerican and corrupt, the GOP-Tea Party Alliance works to prevent the wrong Americans from legally voting -

By Michael Leon

Madison, Wisconsin—Not exactly shocking that the Voter Suppression scheme among the Republican Party of Wisconsin, Americans for Prosperity, and Tea Party Groups is under way here in this important swing state. Thanks to the efforts of One Wisconsin Now the program to obstruct minority and college-age voters have been exposed.

GOP operatives like Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen know well that Republicans lose in high-voter turnout elections, thus the top state's top law enforcement official's energetic work in the corrupt stop-the-vote legal case that was tossed out of court in 2008.

See J B Van Hollen vs. Government Accountability Board et al, (Dane County Case Number 2008CV004085); and WI Elect Board Hits DOJ, GOP Voter Suppression; Brennan Center on Wisconsin Van Hollen 2008 Voter Suppression Decision, and Targeting Black Milwaukee Voters, and Black Voters Across the Nation (Andrew Hacker, New York Review of Books, Sept 25, 2008) for background.

Now, the Democratic Strategist reports the national GOP voter suppression efforts continues at crash speed:

Voter Suppression 2010 Style

By J.B. Green

Democrats have plenty to worry about over the next five weeks, but it nonetheless behooves Dems to get up to speed on the latest voter suppression scams. Toward that end, Demos and Common Cause have partnered to present a must-read report on the topic, "Voting in 2010: Ten Swing States: Problematic election laws and policies in ten swing states could impact enough voters to determine election outcomes." (PDF Executive Summary here)

The report profiles ten states (AZ, KY, CO, IL, LA, MI, MO, NV, NC and OH), where close elections are expected. The report focuses on laws and policies built into the structure of state election codes, rather than the illegal suppression practices that popped up in FL and OH during recent presidential elections.

The fact sheet on Kentucky, for example, reveals the obstacles Democratic candidates face in that state, including cutting off registration 28 days before the election, draconian felon disenfranchisement disqualifying 24 percent of African Americans, no legal mandate to disseminate voter information and a poor record of complying with the legal requirement to register people at public assistance agencies.
The report also credits each state for "exemplary voting laws" where applicable.

There are also reports of a voter caging operation underway in Wisconsin. According to Karoli's post, "Voter Suppression in Wisconsin, Courtesy of the GOP and Americans for Prosperity" at CrooksandLiars.com,

Here's how it works: A mailer is sent to registered voters. Any mailers returned by the post office are put in a database and those voters are submitted to be purged from voting rolls. Of course, the targets are never Republican voters. They're Democrats, and generally minority voters in particular....One Wisconsin Now has uncovered this plot with evidence, but don't assume this is limited to Wisconsin. I guarantee you it isn't. They are targeting as many states as they can, but particularly swing states. Expect Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona just to name a few to have the exact same operations afoot.

And here's a recent report on voter suppression in Texas.

In addition to the aforementioned laws and policies, and 'caging,' Dems should be ready for other suppression practices, like switching poll places, intimidation, parking obstruction, misleading and incorrect poll information, inferior computer equipment at polls in minority neighborhood polling places,

Stephen Ansolabehere and Eitan Hersh also have a contribution to the topic in their "Early and Often" post at the Boston Review, in which they note,

Registration problems create barriers to voting and make it difficult for administrators to communicate with voters, identify voters at the polls, and audit elections after the fact. Reforms following the 2000 election sought to improve the accuracy and currency of the voter-registration lists. Most important, all states now have statewide voter files. So how good are the files today?...

This summer the Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences at Harvard University and the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project issued the first comprehensive, nationwide analysis of the quality of information stored on voter registration lists...Nationwide, approximately 1 in 16 entries on the registration lists is unmailable. The magnitude of the problem varies greatly throughout the country. In California, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C., about 1 in 50 entries is problematic, but in Arkansas, that number is 1 in 5.

The authors provide a chart ranking every state. This is not just about incompetence and sloppy registration management. The states are all well-aware of their rankings and the reasons for it, and in most cases it's a matter of political manipulation -- almost always to the detriment of Democrats.