“A good brewer cannot bring forth evil beer;
neither can a corrupt brewer bring forth good beer.”
— with apologies to Matthew 7:15
Who is behind the lawsuit seeking to bring down Wisconsin’s school choice program that helps 52,000 low-income, often minority students, escape failing public schools? Guy named Kirk Bangstad.
Killing school choice is written into the Democrat(ic) party platform. Obeisance to the teachers union and the one-size-fits-all government school monopoly is central to Woke progressivism. Easier to seize control. That is why the news media says little more than that Kirk Bangstad is a Minocqua WI-based contract micro-brewer of beers named after his heroes, like “A.O.C. IPA” and “Biden Beer.” Ran for political office as a Democrat. Unsuccessfully.
→ Of the top 10 schools in reading proficiency in Wisconsin that largely serve low-income children, six are voucher or charter schools, according to the Institute for Reforming Government. — Wall Street Journal
The man is a piece of work!
Mean-spirited and scatter-gunned, Kirk Bangstad makes demagogic Joe McCarthy look like Judge Joseph Welch. National Review takes the measure of the man and finds that, at long last, Kirk Bangstad has no sense of decency. Bangstad even describes his North Woods neighbors as “truck-driving Neanderthals.”
He falsely claimed that the local newspaper publisher allowed his own brother to die in a hunting accident. … [The publisher] was 17 at the time and was five miles away, according to court records. In one particularly juvenile stunt, Bangstad hung pictures of his enemies in his business’s restroom along with a sign asking patrons to “excuse us for the shit on our walls.”
Unhappy with his coverage in the paper — a Lakeland Times reporter had the temerity to report that the numbers in Bangstad’s 2020 campaign-finance reports didn’t add up — he resorted to regularly calling [its publisher] a “crook” and a “misogynist,” apparently for publishing news articles critical of female public officials.
— “The leftist brewer who punished his town and now wants to end school choice”
Ironically, even Democrat(ic) Gov. Tony Evers opposes Bangstad’s suit, at least insofar as it appeals directly to the state supreme court.
Can’t help but speculate that the Minocqua Brewing Company has become a bit of a black sheep among establishment Democrats who would prefer we just went away.
— Kirk Bangstad
There’s more — much more — which explains why John Nichols is not profiling Bangstad as the latest progressive hero. Suffice to say Minocqua’s weekly newspaper sued Bangstad for defamation and won — big time! A jury (presumably of truck-driving Neanderthals) awarded publisher Gregg Walker a $750,000 judgment — the largest defamation judgment in state history.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Now THERE is man bites dog! A newspaper sues a reader for defamation! Who better to screw low-income children out of decent education than Kirk Bangstad?
24 responses to “WI School choice enemy brews shame”
For those interested in how the legal challenge has been framed, here’s the Petition: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0606/5825/4063/files/2023-10-12_-_Petition_for_Original_Action.pdf. The Appeal No. is 2023AP001896 – OA; plugging in that number with the search function, https://wscca.wicourts.gov/caseSearch.xsl?, will bring up docket entries and allow developments to be followed. WILL has filed a motion to intervene; links to relevant documents may be found here: https://will-law.org/will-files-motion-to-intervene-on-behalf-of-wi-schools-and-families-to-protect-education-options-for-all/.
I don’t presume to know anything about the issue. The Petition’s rhetoric strikes me as florid, for whatever that’s worth (“instead of creating a choice, the Legislature has created a cancer. And that cancer is growing rapidly”). On the merits, the argument (I gather) is that the choice program violates the Wisconsin constitution’s “public-purpose” and “uniform taxation” provisions. Even if I don’t know enough about applicable principles to venture an opinion, I do think it safe to say that the challenge requires fact-finding, which is to say, the case isn’t suitable for resolution by the supreme court as an original matter; the governor is correct about that.
Thanks. The florid language suggests the case is long on emotion and short on law and fact.
[…] This post originally appeared at https://davidblaska.com/2023/11/25/wi-school-choice-enemy-brews-shame/ […]
Has he seen the latest WI DPI Report Cards?
Didn’t think so; ain’t enough lip-stick in the known Universe to gussy up that pig, am I right?
Anywho, filled to the over-flow with “truck driving Neanderthals,” the talented Herr Bangstad seeks refuge from a storm of his own making by opening a Tap Room in the welcoming confines of the 77 Square Miles Surrounded By A Sea Of Reality.
AOC IPA & Biden Beer? Sullying Water’s Leap Toward Immortality with idiot names like that literally screams I’m A Lefty Moron…though significantly less that those who’ll actually buy the stuff.
The Gotch
Hear, hear. His beer is so bad that he needs a political marketing gimmick to sell it to progressive sycophants who don’t know any better. I wouldn’t use it to boil sausage.
And he’s moving to Madison now because he knows his politics will be closer to the local norm. But if he thinks his left wing politics will distinguish him such that people will overlook his mediocre brewing, he’s going get a rude awakening. You can’t get farther to the left than Giant Jones Brewing or Delta Beer Lab, and they both brew outstanding, award-winning beers. He was an anomaly up North. He’ll be just another, meh tap room here.
Indeed. I disagree with the political stances of both of those breweries (and New Glarus as well), but they at least make a good product that I’ll occasionally sip in a bar. I’ve brewed better beer in my own garage with lesser equipment than Bangstad. He’s taking a big gamble that his sub-par brewing skills will be overshadowed by his marketing scheme when he tries to compete with real brewers here.
I heard somewhere else that he has a law degree from an Ivy League school. If so, he has a remarkably poor understanding of how the law works, and even less respect for it.
Voting maps, charter schools, voter ID, voter drop boxes, non citizen voters, Act 10, restrictions on property tax increases, concealed carry and more. The court will have to work overtime to change everything they want by the next Supreme Court election.
School choice is feared because it shines a light on the abysmal failure of our public education system (much like everything in the stranglehold of Democrats and the union stooges who fund them). Without competition there is no need for accountability and positive results.
“Without competition there is no need for accountability and positive results.” (bolds mine)
Competition, Accountability and Positive Results are expectations promoted by structurally systemic, institutionally intersectionalized fragility, AND just happen to be the direct result of Paternalistic White Supremacy.
One more thing:
Like MATH, they’re also RAYcist.
The Gotch
Interesting that accountability would come up. Hope you folks check up on the accountability of voucher schools. Hint: There is none.
Our public schools up here are top notch by all accountability scores. The private voucher schools in the area aren’t ranked.
And yet all those people are willing to forego the wonderful public schools and put their children into those awful, non-ranked schools. Farther away and undoubtedly more expensive, even with the vouchers, these parents aren’t buying what you’re selling. Why is that? My guess is that those parents know a lot more than you do about what is best for their children. But being a lefty, I’m sure you think otherwise, and are willing to deny them a choice. For their own good of course. Because surely YOU know what’s best for them. Can’t trust those people to decide for themselves.
“My guess is that those parents know a lot more than you do about what is best for their children.”
Not really a fair comparison, pm.
hankdog/old baldy doesn’t know JACK $#!T about anything.
Funniest thing though, he laughably thinks he does; just like his hero KamelHo Harris, he slobbers comically unsupportable gibberish which makes sense only to him.
A textbook example of what the Dunning-Kruger Effect has on someone already saddled with a shoe-size I.Q.
The Gotch
I don’t give two hoots where parents send their kids to school. But I do care about how my tax dollars are spent. Hold the private/voucher schools to the same standards and requirements and we’ll be fine. But they aren’t held to any measurable standards, can cherry pick the students, and have not shown any better outcomes.
This isn’t a lefty/righty issue (I’m pretty much in the middle politically), but rather one of accountability, something those on the right are always harping about.
And nowhere in this issue are parents denied a “choice”. My parents had a choice and sent me to a catholic grade school in the 50-60’s, they had a choice, but didn’t have their hand out for tax dollars. How gullible can you be.?
Hold voucher schools to the same standards as public schools? Please, NO! Don’t make them teach White Man Bad. Please don’t require Drag Queen story hour. Don’t impose Jennifer Cheatham’s Behavior Education Plan. Don’t penalize discipline!
“But they aren’t held to any measurable standards, can cherry pick the students, and have not shown any better outcomes.”
Pure applesauce.
Not shown better outcomes? The parents believe otherwise, but you know better than them, right?
Cherry pick the students? Tell me more, where are your facts? These schools aren’t skimming off the “good students,” they’re appealing to the parents who care about quality education for their children. The students are scoring better and getting into colleges, and they using your tax dollars as they should be, getting the kids the best education, they can get. If these schools are providing substandard education, then all those parents are fools, aren’t they? You supposedly, “Don’t give a hoot where they go to school.” Well, then shut up. The parents are perfectly capable of deciding where their children go to school. After all, you don’t care where they go, and you have to pay for it anyway. And by the way, the private schools are doing a better job with fewer resources. You should be happy!
Dave: You have been listening to faux news, mothers for liberty, and folks like our new speaker of the house far too much. But at least you have all the buzz words in your vocabulary. Those subjects aren’t taught in schools up here. But we do have a great teaching environment, great teachers, great tech ed and ag programs. And per DPI we exceeded expectations for 22-23. Kids come out of your school with a solid foundation for whatever their future employment/education may be. Couldn’t find the private schools in our area in the report so nobody knows how they are doing. And we certainly don’t penalize discipline. I realize you have an ax to grind with Madison public schools, but don’t paint all public schools with your biased brush.
I see herr gootchie is trying to hide his lack of knowledge and insecurity with more of his juvenile insults and misspelled slobber. But he doesn’t say a thing of substance. No surprise there.
Run along hankdog/old baldy, yet again the discussion is well above your empty, follically-challenged head.
Only the truly clueless continuously fall back on Lefty, gibberish-laden talking points when the fact-based Reality blasts them clear out of the water.
One more thing.
Your comically inept claim of misspellings where nonesuch exist is a (heh!) brutal indictment of your own INDOCTRICATION.
The Gotch would suggest you Thank A Teacher, but with the mind-numbing ignorance you brought to the table, they never really had a chance.
The Gotch
To say they are top notch is Liberal speak for they are among the best of the worst.
“To say they are top notch is Liberal speak for they are among the best of the worst.”
THAT ONE‘ll leave a mark!
The Gotch
The benefit of the voucher schools is that the parents and teachers hold the students accountable, unlike the public schools where no one is ever held accountable.
Biden has no nose.
How does he smell?
Awful.
In a typically fact-bereft manner, hankdog/old baldy makes the unsubstantiated claim that because students “up there” (wherever that is) exceeded DPI’s expectations, that must mean that public school students everywhere else are doing just fine.
In related news, wet roads cause rain.
Coupla CLICKS shows that idiotic statement, and the idiot making it, clearly isn’t the case; heck, it’s NOT_EVEN_CLOSE!
Sheesh! And THAT’S even with DPI and the Teachers Unions’ ham fists on the scale.
Don’t be like hankdog/old baldy!
The Gotch
Any discussion of School Choice should include mention of Home-Schooling and its record of cranking out Spelling Bee champs.
MONEY QUOTE: “The traditional classroom, with its rows of desks and uniform curricula, NO LONGER HOLDS AN UNQUESTIONED MONOPLY on knowledge dissemination. Instead, parents are taking up the mantle of educators, CHOOSING TO NAVIGATE THEIR CHILDREN’S EDUCATIONAL JOURNEYS DIRECTLY.” (bolds/caps/italics mine)
Anyone wondering why Lefty Hates Home-Schooling, wonder no more.
The Gotch