Progressive Thinking

Our Laura Kiefert introduces her new blog with a piece about the crazy things you’ll hear if you actually talk to one of the Trump believers who hang out at our senior centers and listen only to Fox "News".

GREEN BAY, WI - There’s a person who has played an important role in my life whose beliefs regarding politics and religion differ from my own. I am a progressive, liberal Democrat. She is not. We had previously agreed “not to go there”. However, last night, we did. What she told me left me wondering, “How in the world could anyone possibly believe such ridiculous shit?”

Among the beliefs she revealed were:

• Planned Parenthood intentionally performs abortions in order to harvest and sell baby body parts for large profits.
• Baby body parts that aren’t sold are cannibalized by Democrats who support abortion.
• Hillary Clinton has had 57 people shot in the back of the head to cover up the Clinton’s crimes.
• George H.W. Bush was executed years earlier and the coffin at his recent funeral was empty.
• George W. and Jeb Bush, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama were served indictments at the funeral and are already being held at Guantanamo Bay, which was currently rebuilt to accommodate them.
• All the above were served indictments at George H.W. Bush’s funeral. Sightings of these people, including Obama’s recent attendance at the basketball game in Durham, N.D. were staged using body doubles.
• Hillary and Bill Clinton are the worst criminals ever in American history.
• The only mainstream media that can believed is Fox News and any facts provided by anyone aligned with the Democratic Party are fake.
• Trump is a Christian who attends church regularly.
• The Democratic Party is evil and full of haters.
• Trump is a brilliant businessman who has made billions of dollars and has never filed bankruptcy.
• Republicans won’t cut Social Security or Medicare, they just need to cut Welfare and Food Stamps for the overwhelming number of people who need to get a job, who don’t deserve it, and who either sell or give what they get from government programs away.
• Although she lives on Social Security, gets Medicare and lives in a rent assisted senior building, she firmly opposes Socialism because she doesn’t want the government involved in her life.
• Trump is much smarter than Democrats think and he has a plan in place to take down the entire “Deep State” that includes the CIA, the FBI and Nation Security, all who have been complicit in covering up the Clinton crimes.

While looking on the Internet for information to repudiate her, I ran across several YouTube videos published by a Psychic Medium named Utsavo that elaborated the claims we had discussed, as well as claims of aliens, UFO’s and multiple conspiracy theories. I concluded that must be her main source of information. See: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk8GhT9HVdf1_s9cxtvRFXw

I texted her thirteen links to reputable sources with facts disputing the above outrageous assertions, which I assume she never bothered to open. She responded with a simple text, “I vote for whoever I feel will benefit me personally.”

I’m left wondering why people believe such stupid shit.

I suppose since we both strongly identify with opposite sides of the political spectrum, we each think the other is willfully ignoring the facts and firmly believes our own facts are true and the other’s are false. We both probably think the other is either ignorant, ill-informed disingenuous, or nuts. At first, I thought she was trying to yank my chain. Numerous times I asked things like, “Are you kidding me”, or “You can’t be serious” or “Where did you get that?”

Her responses were were all in the affirmative. “Yes” or “You betcha” or “ I sure do.” To say the least, I was flabbergasted by her admissions and I admit by the end of our conversation I had concluded she had taken a head-first dive off the crazy bridge into the Looney River.

I am a person who relies heavily on science. I read a lot, question everything, and base my beliefs on facts, reason, critical thinking and common sense. It’s impossible for me to comprehend why anyone wants to disagree with science or what is obviously true and instead trust psychic tabloid nonsense.

I know there are people that trick themselves into believing that the facts aren't relevant and the modern media landscape seems to be amplifying the retreat from facts. Therefore, making it harder and harder to determine what the real truth is. I understand we now live in a world where people promote red facts and blue facts, and these biased motivated-reasoning processes fuel political conflict. But, blocking out information we disagree with, through social media echo chambers, reading partisan news, or only surrounding ourselves with friends who agree with us, just leads to promoting conspiracy theories that makes matters worse.

So, I’m done with making arguments to convince others to stop drinking the Kool-aid. It’s a waste of time and I think it’s more probable that talking about these issues cause people to double down and become even more stubborn and radical.

Bottom line, there are people who will believe what they want to believe and disregard the rest. The problem is when people dismiss as unconvincing any information that contradicts their opinion, the result is, well, the Trump Administration.

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Read more of Laura's blogs at https://laurakiefert.com/blog/

We need to build a brighter future for working families, seniors, small-business owners and family farms in Wisconsin. The wealthy and corporations have had enough tax relief.

LA CROSSE, WI - Wisconsin families are working harder than ever. But many are finding that no matter how much they sacrifice or how many hours they put in, they live every day on the verge of economic and financial insecurity. The burden of rising student loan debt, the outsourcing of jobs, and the ever increasing costs of health insurance and child care are making it difficult for families to get ahead.

Despite these challenges, we know a path to success, and we don’t have to look far for solutions. It starts with restoring tax fairness for the middle class, closing tax loopholes for the wealthy, and eliminating tax breaks for corporations that lay off workers and ship jobs out of state.

Gov. Tony Evers has made it clear that his state budget will include real tax relief for hardworking families by rolling back Republican tax giveaways to millionaires and corporations. At a time when infant care costs more than tuition at a University of Wisconsin school, Republicans continue to defend tax giveaways for corporations that don’t pay a single dollar in income taxes.

Think about that for a second: Corporations can claim a tax credit that isn’t tied to job creation, and they pay nothing in income taxes. These are the same corporations that rely on Wisconsin’s workforce, roads, hospitals and community services. Yet this credit lets them avoid their fair share of investments in our state.

Another loophole that has plagued municipalities of all sizes across the state is the dark store loophole. This loophole allows large corporate retailers to shift their tax liability onto Main Street businesses and local homeowners. It’s one of the reasons we saw a jump in property taxes last year.

Gov. Evers has vowed to close this loophole in his budget and prioritize tax fairness for seniors and working families.

Our economy works best when we level the playing field, strengthen communities, support local businesses and expand economic opportunities.

As we seek to build a brighter future for everyone in our state, Democrats are focused on the important issues at hand: sustainable tax relief for working families, seniors, small-business owners and family farms. It’s refreshing to be in a new era with a governor who is listening to the people and working to make our state a place where the next generation wants to live, work and raise a family.

Third of three columns describing the importance of water in Wisconsin. Conserving water by limiting high capacity wells, preventing the destruction of wetlands and reinvesting in science at the DNR are easy ways we can keep drinking water clean.

MADISON, WI - Water is cheap. Fixing water quality problems is expensive. Protecting our water before polluting it is less expensive. We can take steps now to preserve our cheapest most precious resource. Changing our perceptions about water use, using nature to help us preserve water and reinvesting in science are easy ways to show how an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

In the last two columns, I discussed how water sustains our lives and how important it is for our economic prosperity. This week I will offer simple, but critical ways we can invest in water, our most precious resource.

Most of Wisconsin is lucky to have immediate access to clean water whether it’s from our private wells or from our municipal water utilities. Because water is cheap, most people don’t think about conserving it. Think about that. Something must be done differently to motivate people to conserve water even when capacity is not threatened. Where there are private wells there is more awareness of conserving simply because the owner is the manager.

Privately owned high capacity wells play a big role for Wisconsin’s water conservation. Each high capacity well can pump up to 70 gallons of water per minute, or up to 100,000 gallons per day. High concentrations of high capacity wells in a single aquifer can cause serious problems for our drinking water. As water levels drop from overuse, oxygen can breakdown sulfides and expose arsenic to be leached into the water table. Unassuming landowners with private wells are at risk of polluted drinking water if we don’t take a hard look at conservation when considering new high capacity well permits.

We can invest in nature as our defender against contaminated water. Wetlands are nature’s best water filters. In 1985 Wisconsin completed a wetland inventory and found 5.3 million acres of wetlands left in Wisconsin. Sounds like a lot, right? Well, based on an evaluation of wet soils, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) estimated Wisconsin was home to approximately 10 million acres of wetlands at one time. As of 1985, we lost 47% of our wetlands.

Properties with wetlands tend to be priced below market value and have always been an easy target for farmers and developers. Farmers learned quickly that wetlands were essential to preserving productive soils. Business developers have been slower to learn.

Wetland mitigation allows developers to create new wetlands or rehabilitate existing wetlands if damage to naturally-occurring wetlands is “unavoidable.” Wetlands form from necessity. They are nature’s way of storing water and preventing flooding.

In recent years, floodwaters have ripped through our western Wisconsin coulees causing incredible damage to homes, businesses, roads and bridges. Floods churn up contaminated sediments and sweep them into our surface waters and eventually into our groundwater too. Protecting and enhancing wetlands is one of the easiest things we can do today to keep our water clean and lesson the damage from powerful floods.

We need to reinvest in science too. Wisconsin’s DNR scientists have been under attack for the last 8 years. In 2011, Act 10 forced a mass exodus of scientists and other dedicated public servants from state government. Former Governor Scott Walker sent 57 pink slips to DNR employees on Earth Day 2015, of all days. In the 2017-19 budget, Republicans cut 43 more positions and eliminated the Division of Science Services during a “reorganization” of the agency. All mentions of climate change were scrubbed from DNR publications.

Thankfully, Governor Tony Evers and his new pick for DNR, Secretary Preston Cole are choosing science over ignorance. Sec. Preston Cole’s comment that the DNR will “double down on science in natural resources management” should be a refreshing assurance for Wisconsin. Governor Evers’ recent announcement to help local governments with $40 million to replace lead services lines is another example of his new approach to protecting the public’s water.

As we start to reinvest in our state’s ability to keep water clean, I’ll need your help. It’ll take all of us to educate our neighbors, family and friends about new efforts to keep Wisconsin’s water clean. Water may be cheap, but if we lose sight of how precious it is, we will pay far more in the long run.

We should legalize medical marijuana, as an ever growing list of organizations and individuals support decriminalization for medical use.

MADISON - Since 2009, I have been the author of legislation to legalize marijuana for medical use. In that time I have heard heartbreaking stories from people across the state who are using marijuana to alleviate serious medical conditions; People breaking the law to get their loved ones a medicine that works.

Legislators have long been behind the public on this issue. Recent polling showed that 59% of Wisconsinites support the legalization of all marijuana, but broken down into medical use the numbers are even higher.

In addition, thirty States and Washington, D.C., both red and blue, have passed effective medical marijuana programs, and no state has ever sought to repeal it. It is time for Wisconsin to join them in passing these regulations.

The bottom line is that seriously ill patients should not have to break the law to access their medication. Marijuana can provide relief to those suffering from cancer, glaucoma, PTSD, ALS, chronic pain and can even help in the fight against opiate addiction. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2014 found that opioid overdose deaths were reduced by 25% in states with an effective medical marijuana law. This is a common-sense solution to a crisis that impacts both urban and rural areas of our state.

There are a multitude of reasons why we should legalize medical marijuana, and an ever growing list of organizations and individuals that support decriminalization for medical use. This proposal will help individuals seeking to alleviate chronic pain in a safe and legal way, and I applaud Governor Evers for listening to the people of Wisconsin.

In the 2nd of 3 columns about clean water, Sen. Smith discusses how water is our key to prosperity and encourages us to think about future generations when considering the next big company coming to Wisconsin for our natural resources.

MADISON - Last week I wrote about how water is life. This week I hope to show how important water is for all of us to not only survive, but also to thrive.

In my Capitol office hangs an old re-election poster for former Governor Gaylord Nelson. The founder of Earth Day, Governor Nelson was one of Wisconsin’s fiercest advocates for our environment. He was also a pragmatist – he understood not only how important clean water was, but he also acknowledged its importance for our economy.

Milk, cheese, beer, and paper -- these are quintessential Wisconsin products. Each of these water-dependent products requires large amounts of clean water.

Water is abundant in Wisconsin. Our 1,017 miles of Great Lakes shoreland offer our state excellent access to the world’s largest supply of freshwater. Wisconsin’s “west coast,” is mostly lined by the Mississippi River, which is the 2nd largest watershed in the world. We even have more lakes than Minnesota! Wisconsin is so watery that 17% of our state is covered by water.

Every decision about water we make as representatives and senators in the State Capitol has a globally significant impact. We know how important water is, but so do companies hoping to gain access to our water.

In 2003, Wisconsin limited the ability of local governments to oppose Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). CAFOs are defined as operations with more than 1,000 animals on the farm. Here in the counties within the 31st Senate District, we have 24 of the 272 dairy CAFOs in Wisconsin.

High capacity wells on CAFOs pump vast quantities of water in a very small area, and the massive volume of animal waste generated at these facilities is too much for the surrounding cropland to handle as fertilizer. America’s Dairyland has always looked to small family farms to supply our country with high-quality milk and cheese. Low milk prices are driving smaller dairy farms out of business and CAFOs are taking their place. Without relief, more family farms will continue to struggle and large CAFOs will continue to expand.

In 2010, our 31st Senate District became the epicenter of the frac sand industry in Wisconsin and across the nation. The rush for high quality sand to support our U.S. and Canadian oil and natural gas hydrofracturing operations created a demand far exceeding our expectations in Wisconsin. Cleaning the tons of sand going across North America requires a lot of water and the chemicals used during the process leave serious concerns about water quality.

In 2011, the massive iron mine proposed by Gogebic Taconite created a frenzy of changes to water and air protections for the iron mining permit process. In 2017, the “Prove it First Law” was repealed for sulfide mining companies looking to come to Wisconsin. These changes lower the bar for potential mining companies to come to Wisconsin and pollute our water.

Most recently, in 2017, the state carved Foxconn out of environmental protections. Foxconn will also be able to pump up to 7 million gallons of water per day to manufacture liquid crystal display (LCD) screens. Only 4 million of the 7 million gallons will return to Lake Michigan daily. The harsh chemicals used in the manufacturing process leaves serious questions about water quality surrounding the facility and what pollutants will return back to the Great Lakes.

As you can see, there’s no shortage of companies lining up for Wisconsin’s water and natural resources. The million dollar question we need to ask ourselves is: are the long term consequences worth short term economic gain?

Next week, I’ll be writing about how water is our most precious resource and how we can preserve it for our lives and our prosperity. Former Governor Gaylord Nelson once said, “the ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.”

Our water is the key to our state’s prosperity. It will be our children’s and our grandchildren’s prosperity too. The next time a big company or industry asks Wisconsin to roll back water protections for their profits, we need to ask ourselves how this decision before us contributes, rather than harms our water. If we make the right choices today, the words of thanks will be said.