Ye olde centrally directed command and control

Surprise, surprise: The Democrat(ic) candidates for governor are kowtowing to the teachers union. All four participating in a Capital Times forum — Kelda Roys, Mahlon Mitchell, Mike McCabe, and Kathleen Vinehout — would pull the plug on school vouchers.

Scott Walker is certain to remind the parents of the 28,000 mostly black and brown school choice students in Milwaukee that the Democrats prattle about “the larger issue of economic injustice and disparity of opportunities” (Mahlon Mitchell) while yanking away some of those opportunities. “Economic injustice?” You can’t read or write or balance a checkbook, you’re going to get a face full of “economic injustice.” Besides, the Policy Works has decoded your dog-whistles. “Economic justice” is code for socialism.

But wait, there’s more! Replace Gov. Walker with one of these Democrats and illegals will be getting Wisconsin driver’s licenses! So reports Your Progressive Voice (the corporation that speaks as if it were a person.) Of course, the $15 minimum wage. Again, dry up opportunities for that first-ever job while you pose for holy pictures.

The forum was moderated by socialist provocateur John Nichols, who kicked off the debate by invoking the name of “honorary Wisconsinite Bernie Sanders.” (Bow head, strike breast.)

What’s this? The NY Times admits school choice works?! 

In “A better way to run schools,” David Leonhardt of the New York Times records that after Hurricane Katrina 12 years ago: 

New Orleans embarked on the most ambitious education overhaul in modern America. The state of Louisiana took over the system in 2005, abolished the old bureaucracy and closed nearly every school. Rather than running schools itself, the state became an overseer, hiring independent operators of public schools — that is, charter schools  —  and tracking their performance.

The charters here educate almost all public-school students, so they can’t cherry pick. And the students are overwhelmingly black and low-income … so gentrification isn’t a factor. Yet the academic progress has been remarkable.

Performance on every kind of standardized test has surged.  … Test-score gains are translating into real changes in students’ lives. High-school graduation, college attendance and college graduation have all risen.

Let’s be clear that charter schools are public schools and that voucher schools are not. But both offer parents a choice in schooling. Alternatives, competition in the market place. Not one size fits all.

What’s this? NY Times admits Trump was correct?!

In January, Israeli spies infiltrated a warehouse in Tehran and seized roughly 50,000 pages of documents and other records related to Iran’s nuclear program. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later cited the findings as a reason President Trump should abandon the 2015 nuclear deal, which he did days later.

“They make one thing clear: Despite Iranian insistence that its program was for peaceful purposes, the country had worked in the past to systematically assemble everything it needed to produce atomic weapons.” Read their report here.

What’s this? Shootings cause trauma?! 

The white lab coats here at the Policy Werkes (and Tanning Salon) did speed-read Dean Mosiman’s series of articles on Gun Violence (“Cycles of Trauma”) in the Wisconsin State Journal. Very well done: deeply sourced and well written. Your Squire has conversed with many of the peer support people working with the gang bangers profiled in the series. They cannot help but do good and deserve our support. Still, the Policy Werkes believes that the WI State Journal series missed the most promising strategy for young people at risk. Get to them while they are young. Middle school. By age 18, we fear, reform is more difficult.

Another takeaway from Mosiman’s series: Cops ain’t the problem. Are you getting this Dean Loumos? Social justice warriors?

Discipline, high expectations, breaking the self-imposed stereotype that to learn and obey is to act white. Quick, Democrats, shut down school choice! 

At least it would be a socialist debacle!

What’s this? Bernie campaigned with Tammy Baldwin over the weekend in Eau Claire! Tammy is the only Senator to support Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All. No wonder “Wisconsin Democrats fear another debacle in November.”

What’s this? Promoting socialism, sky-high taxes, and open borders is not going to help Democrat/Socialists trounce the GOP in November?! “The future belongs to us,” Bernie Sanders bellows to his audience. But not so fast, John Fund cautions in National Review. Overall, voters prefer capitalism, by 54% to 24%. 

What’s this? Socialist Venezuela is now considered a criminal organization, a “mafia state,” according to this expert in the New York Times. Would bombing help?