Opinion

U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan is right. The immigration agency is irrevocably broken.

Amidst the deliberations about the National Defense Authorization Act are a series of proposals to undermine two of our nation’s bedrock environmental laws.

Trump and Walker are on the same page, and regular folks who voted for them are getting shafted.

The accused Russian spy story is above the fold on front pages of newspapers, broadcast by TV-radio and all over the web. Walker is in the spotlight.

On Friday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced charges against 12 Russian agents in the 2016 election interference probe.

No, Trump and Walker are not making our nation great again.

Local governments could address their road repair needs, but they don't make that a funding priority. By neglecting road repairs, they seem to believe they can manufacture a crisis as a way to get more state funding.

Documents show state will allow 93 percent of workers to earn less than $15 hour.

New data shows AG not just slow to go after rapists, but drugs and firearms cases.

Company’s satellite centers in Eau Claire and Green Bay could help reelect their benefactor.

Roggensack’s patently political decision gives police and fire unions more power over city pension fund.

Latest admission by company gives the game away. 

Scott Walker may be the nation’s leading union killer. What’s the impact on Wisconsin?

Common Council may regret stripping mayor’s power over Fire-Police director.

Just three candidates have a chance of winning.

As parties flip-flop on free trade, can Wisconsin’s export economy be protected?

Cyber-bullying was championed by state Supreme Court, while trashing faculty governance.

Nationally and in Wisconsin they have become activists and super legislators.

And what this may say about the Democratic Party.

As awful as those tweets were, it is far more constructive to allow a person to redeem himself and ultimately be forgiven than it is to condemn him for eternity for offensive words he used as a teenager.

Naming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court is the least Trumpiest thing Trump has done so far.

Sykes on the Daily Standard Podcast talks with Jonathan V. Last and Michael Warren about the Cohen tapes of Trum, the Russia summit and more.

On the Daily Standard Podcast, host Charlie Sykes leads a discussion on the Supreme Court vacancy.

On the Daily Standard Podcast, Michael Warren and Charlie Sykes discuss Trump's plan to aid farmers hurt by tariffs.

Sykes reviews Dan Kaufman's new book, "The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics."

If you’re truly worried about voter disenfranchisement and turnout, you should be more concerned about putting up a likable and inspirational candidate than voter ID.

His stand on Trump appointing justice to Supreme Court reverses his view on Obama’s pick.

Politicians have often been mocked for being willing to say anything to realize their own ambitions. We are now realizing that voters themselves, regardless of party, are no different.

A fifth conservative on the Supreme Court wouldn’t necessarily render Roe a dead decision walking. But even if Roe were overturned, abortion wouldn’t suddenly be banned — the issue would simply revert back to states or fall to Congress, where the democratic process would once again take hold.

Baldwin’s only consistent philosophy on trade appears to be whatever helps her earn the votes of Trump voters in northern Wisconsin. Her flirtation with Trump’s damaging protectionism invokes the same jingoistic, primitive impulses Democrats now accuse Republicans of fomenting.

When candidates challenge an incumbent, they only have one option: To convince voters to change course. In doing so, they often have to fabricate a new reality from which they then vow to save a state’s citizens.

Candidates are actively misleading the public about what the position can actually accomplish.

Even if one excuses the two times Bryce was arrested for political show, his total tally still features far more arrests than your typical Johnny Lunchbucket.

As the comedian pivoted from political comedy to become a legend, so too will another generation of funny-men and -women—and soon.

These types of meaningless bans aren’t about actually saving wildlife; they are simply the latest weapon in an arms race of smug self-regard.

Kavanaugh's background is extensive and serves as perhaps the poster child for someone to serve on the United States Supreme Court.

If enacted, the STATES Act could provide a valuable framework for policy-making in a fractured and diverse country.

It didn’t take a single word, just a show of hands to reveal just how unserious Wisconsin’s Democratic Party has become.

Two years ago I needed to check out from Donald Trump. I took a break from social media, and have never gone back. You might want to consider doing the same.

I don’t like the feel of these demands for Flynn to drop out. They carry the whiff of a behind-the-scenes fix by professional pols who have misplayed before.

In politics it’s important to keep your eyes on the prize and the prize right now is winning a bunch of elections in November. As a practical matter, ICE won’t be abolished and talking about it does not help the bigger cause.

Pardon me for wondering if Wisconsin taxpayers haven't given Scott Walker a $4 billion campaign donation.

Scott Pruitt is gone from the EPA but the destruction he wreaked lives on in the able hands of Brad Schimel.

As one who lived through the civil rights marches and rallies of the early 1960s and the Vietnam War protests later that decade and into the '70s, I need to applaud New York University history professor Thomas Sugrue for setting the record straight.

If he's done nothing else since becoming president, Trump has made it clear he likes dictators.

As Donald Trump was once again bashing the news media, this time at a VFW convention in Kansas City, Missouri, goading the veterans into booing and belittling the reporters covering the gathering, I started to wonder if at long last we've completely lost all sense of reality.

A lot of high-fives were being exchanged among Republican campaign donors a couple of weeks ago when the U.S. Supreme Court decided that public employees couldn't be required to pay their fair share of union costs to win them pay raises, fringe benefits and job safety.

Violence and bullying are often committed by those who are ignorant of what they're angry about.

Title X funding to organizations like Planned Parenthood is now in jeopardy because of Donald Trump's insistence on instituting a so-called "domestic gag rule" that would deny funding to any clinic that includes the word "abortion" in counseling pregnant women about their options or that actually performs abortions.

Dane County Exec. Joe Parisi is right. The state and federal governments have got to stop using climate change as some kind of political punching bag, admit it's for real and start addressing ways to combat it.

Blaska shares his take on a New Yok Times article headlined, "How Conservatives Weaponized the First Amendment."

Harley Davidson bosses say that Trump tariffs are forcing them to make their iconic American product overseas. Union workers are not so sure.

Sermons by acting Sheriff Richard Schmidt, who also serves as a pastor, are something voters should take time to know about.

Tony Evers is on my top list along with one of the youngest candidates in the race, Kelda Roys.

Does Putin have hard evidence of Russian election meddling or collusion he could reveal?

Raising child care subsidy rates helps parents working to improve their family’s lives.

Trump would rather cling to the notion that he won the election fair and square than engage with the possibility that a foreign power meddled in the process or outcome.

In Wisconsin, we spend more taxpayer money to lock people up than we do to educate them at universities. That should be a problem worth addressing for any politician.

We will continue to fight attacks on women’s access to healthcare, and we will once again introduce legislation to repeal the State’s criminal abortion statute when our next legislative session begins.

Trump's 30 percent tariff on Canadian paper has boosted newsprint costs.

More debt. Higher property taxes. What’s not to like?

Wisconsin’s senior senator has stepped in to organize a post-primary unity fundraiser featuring Diane Hendricks and Dick Uihlein.

Contrary to the “criminal justice reform” narrative about “mass incarceration,” it’s actually hard to get a stiff prison sentence.

The welcome John McAdams victory is not a David v. Goliath story. It is instead a reminder of the pivotal role of public interest law firms in fighting for key principles — in this case the rights of an individual who otherwise would have been smothered by the full legal and political clout of Marquette University.

The future of the Roe decision along with the Affordable Care Act will be the defining issues in this confirmation fight. It will be long, harsh, and at times maddening.

May we always have elected officials like Ellis–in both parties–who speak clearly and care deeply about this state.

Members of the public can submit questions for the candidates by texting "debate" and their questions to 414-269-6404.  WisPolitics.com is one of the organizers of the debate. You can watch or listen to the debate by coming to WisPolitics.com on Thursday night.

To polluted water, clear-cut land, dirty air, add diseased wildlife to Gov. Scott Walker's environmentally-ruinous tenure.

Wisconsin's clean waters are increasingly blue-green, brown and unhealthy.

At a Saturday rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders, Randy Bryce told a whopper that even many of his supporters couldn’t cheer. Bryce told the audience that he has never paid a bill from money made as a politician.

RightWisconsin's James Wigderson talks with Barb Dittrich, a Republican running in the 38th Assembly District.

RightWisconsin's James Wigderson sits down with Bryan Steil, a Republican candidate for the 1st Congressional District.

RightWisconsin's James Wigderson interviews 3rd CD GOP candidate Steve Toft.

Bryce has been arrested nine times. It takes a special kind of failure to accumulate that kind of record. If you know anybody who comes close to that record, you probably don’t think, “He should run for public office.”

The Legislative Council Study Committee on Alcohol Beverages Enforcement met in Madison on Wednesday to discuss how to deprive you of drinking beer or wine outside of a Wisconsin Tavern League approved facility.

The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com. When politicians suddenly discover political positions...

When you add all of the above to our rising wages, lowest-ever unemployment rate, budget surpluses, tax cuts, record K-12 education funding, more investment in broadband, and the best-funded pension system in America, it is crystal clear that Wisconsin's economy is absolutely going in the right direction.

Gov. Scott Walker responds to stories linking him to an accused Russian in an interview with talk show host Jay Weber.

In 2018, the House of Representatives voted 379 times, and I’m proud to report that I cast a vote each and every time.

When Nicholson criticizes Wisconsin Republicans as merely being part of a political class, he denigrates the progress that has made been made over the last eight years.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has launched “Milwaukee: A City Built on Water,” a 225-page chronicle of the multiple ways in which our community has used — and abused — its liquid resource over the generations.

This is yet another example of virtue signaling that just inconveniences people and does nothing significant for the environment.

Kavanaugh has been an open advocate for precisely the sort of imperial presidency that the founders of the American experiment feared—and that Donald Trump relishes.

GOP U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner continues to advocate for the revitalization of the Voting Rights Act — along with Congressional Black Caucus members such as Milwaukee Congresswoman Gwen Moore and Georgia Congressman John Lewis.

On Friday afternoon, Bryce found himself answering questions about a CNN report headlined: "Democrat running to replace Paul Ryan in Wisconsin has history of arrests, including driving under the influence."

Roys says, “As governor, I will seek immediate repeal of the Criminal Abortion Ban, and I will pardon any provider charged under the ban.”

The Foxconn deal has always felt like a scheme to help secure the re-election of a governor who has repeatedly stumbled when it comes to job creation — not a serious proposal for the state’s future.

Vukmir and Nicholson are so tuned into Trump that they are not thinking. They are merely cheerleading for an off-the-rails president whose policies are harming rather than helping Wisconsin.

Insurgent candidates are talking about issues that matter to working Americans.

There is hope for change. But don’t look to the national or state capitols for leadership or good ideas. Meanwhile, just suck up hyper-inflation and hope innovators in the private sector can disrupt the medical industrial complex.

But what will Trump's impact be on state's November election?

The summiteers of almost two decades ago who sounded the clarion call for a major strategy to establish Wisconsin as a player in the startup world must be pleased with remarkable progress reported in 2018 Portfolio analysis put out by the Wisconsin Technology Council.

Walker will use money for income tax cut, delivering much of benefit to wealthiest.

I’m not a politician or typical candidate. I am a deeply concerned Wisconsinite who believes that new perspective, energy, and leadership will move our state all forward.

The new law legalizing hemp keeps confidential all contact information for hemp growers and processors in the state. This makes it difficult for farmers to find buyers for their crops in Wisconsin.

While my choice was made clear to me through the experience of my marriage, the birth of my three children, my acceptance of Jesus Christ as my savior, my time fighting in two wars, and my experience in business since leaving the Marine Corps, it came at personal cost.

The left’s #Resistance movement today against all things Trump is what big labor brought the Badger State seven years ago when “progressives” stomped all over civility in a campaign to topple Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

To be successful, Democrats must focus on Gov. Walker’s failures and show Wisconsin voters their vision for the state, rather than attacking each other.

This historic investment in the future of Wisconsin is one that the whole state can be proud of. Foxconn chose to invest in Wisconsin, and the positive impact will reach every corner of our great state for generations to come.

DeVos is the founder of the American Federation for Children, the leading private school voucher group in the country.

Ron Johnson’s Moscow trip confirms pro-Russian Trumpism is the future.

Kavanaugh will vote to further degrade civil liberties and target women, minorities, immigrants, gays and elevate corporate power, executive branch power and any level of law enforcement over everyone in the name of god-almighty.

The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com. Trade tariffs in the long run...

If government is going to work for all of us, we desperately need to end legal bribery.

In "Two Minutes with Mitch," radio personality Mitch Henck gives his two cents on data showing higher health care costs for teachers after Wisconsin's Act 10 changes.

Our members hold different views and hold debates on many subjects.

Rather than falling behind, over the last decade the initially poorer, rural counties in the state have seen greater improvements in living standards than richer, urban ones.

The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com. Medicare and Medicaid celebrated their 53rd...

Cap Times Idea Fest 2018 will be presented Sept. 28-29, Friday night and all-day Saturday, in great venues in the heart of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Tickets go on sale today.

Blank has weathered much in these five years — battles over cuts in state funding, raids on UW faculty from other schools, controversy over tenure policy, as well as slippage in UW’s national research ranking.

In a recent talk on the current state of the press, I cited a poll by the website Axios in which 92 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they believe traditional news outlets knowingly report false or misleading stories.

Former Iowa Gov. Bob Ray, who recently passed away at age 89, embraced a fiscally responsible but progressive agenda that included support for looser abortion laws, the Equal Rights Amendment and opposition to the death penalty. Today, U.S. Rep Steve King better reflects the Iowa GOP. He represents a massive district across northwestern Iowa, and is as unlike Ray as it is possible to be.

I wholeheartedly agree and applaud what appears to be a flood of passionate younger candidates, especially women and people of color. And best wishes to candidates whose districts will support ardently progressive positions, which includes Wisconsin's 2nd CD. What I reject is the suggestion that this generational shift should also bring ever more extreme policy prescriptions in races throughout the nation.

To defeat Scott Walker and make Wisconsin strong, we need a tough candidate, with proven accomplishments, and the political base and ability to carry the state.

The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com. When you commute to work, do...

DWD's Pre-Employment Drug Testing Program is an easy way for employers to help grow Wisconsin's pool of work-ready job seekers. It focuses treatment resources on Unemployment Insurance claimants who have the skills and motivation to work, but fail a drug test as part of an employment offer.

Part of what we’ve all done is to deal — and deal successfully — with problems that have come at us. The university has faced several big challenges in the past five years that seriously threatened its quality and reputation.

This month marks a significant expansion for our campus as Cooperative Extension, Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, UW-Extension Conference Centers and Mailing Services, and the Department of Labor Education all become part of UW-Madison. These units together will bring 958 new employees into UW-Madison, and will add $103 million to UW-Madison’s budget.

More than 800 waterways have been added to the list of lakes and streams that exceed phosphorus and other pollutant limits since Scott Walker became governor.

His replacement, a coal lobbyist named Andrew Wheeler, is likely to be even worse.

The U.S. Supreme Court in May affirmed employers’ rights to restrict workers from filing class-action lawsuits against them, which could open the doors for more large companies to adopt such policies.

Pocan’s proposal not backed by Baldwin, most Democratic candidates for Congress.

An empowered treasurer could be an independent voice for fiscal sanity

With recent new stories reporting Amazon is planning a new distribution center in southeastern Wisconsin, Amazon can and should seize the moment and provide transformational leadership in another way: it can lead corporate America by bringing stable employment to Milwaukee’s central city and other high unemployment urban areas.

Our current crisis is again driven by failed policies that create unmanaged surpluses and depressed prices.

If competency-based education helps to remove some of the barriers that prevent people from getting the skills they need to advance their careers, perhaps more students can reach the workforce faster and better prepared to contribute to employers, their communities and beyond.

For many state and local governments, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc. may seem like a revenue windfall. It’s not a windfall, however, if the net effect of the law is to harm commerce by making it a lot harder for small businesses to conduct business through the internet.

America’s economy is growing in many ways, but the Trump-Harley dispute shows how the economy could suffer if companies are forced by government to make choices they would rather not make.

The iron law of supply and demand still rules – and for the time being that law works in favor of Wisconsin’s soybean farmers – if they know how to play their cards.

It is incumbent on policymakers to protect programs like the SNSP, as well as school choice more broadly, so that all Wisconsin children have access to an educational environment where they can excel.

On Tuesday, Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post released an “analysis” that purports to show the harm that Governor Scott Walker has caused to public schools throughout his tenure as governor. The claims made by Straus vary in their legitimacy, but some are so far afield from what serious research has found that they need to be soundly refuted

Harley-Davidson announced plans to shift some production overseas in response to retaliatory tariffs from the European Union after the Trump administration imposed tariffs on foreign products such as aluminum and steel.

With the Aug. 14 primaries fast approaching, the WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala & Jensen, analyze the Dem gubernatorial race and the GOP Senate race. Sponsored by Michael Best Strategies and the Wisconsin Counties Association.

The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, discuss the possibility that the Great Lakes Compact may upend Foxconn's plans. Sponsored by Michael Best Strategies and the Wisconsin Counties Association.

The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala & Jensen, assess the impact of trade wars on Wisconsin politics. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and Michael Best Strategies.

The Congressional District 1 primary is coming up, and the WisOpinion Insiders Chvala and Jensen handicap the candidates hoping to replace U.S. Rep. Paul...

The eight Dem guv candidates hit on Foxconn, reducing the state's prison population and other issues as they met for their first televised debate...