Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Foxconn Hot Issue In Racine County Board Race
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Jason Eckman (left) and Kim Mahoney are running for a seat on the Racine County Board in the spring election.
COURTESY OF JASON ECKMAN AND KIM MAHONEY
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Kim Mahoney has battled the Foxconn corporation for three years. She is running against Jason Eckman, a supporter of the Mount Pleasant Foxconn development, for a seat on the Racine County Board in the spring election.
Mahoney and her husband Jim have refused local buyout offers on their home. They still live just a few hundred yards from Foxconn’s huge complex, which is under construction. Mahoney says local officials haven’t been much help. So, when the current supervisor of Racine County District 14 decided not to run for reelection, she decided to make her first bid for public office.
Mahoney, senior litigation and legal compliance paralegal, promises to be more responsive to district residents.
“While I was affected by the Foxconn project, as were the people [affected by road widening or buyouts] along Highway KR, there’s certainly other issues that affect residents in the 14th District, that their county supervisor may have to provide some help or resources on,” Mahoney tells WUWM.
Racine County is part of a local government agreement helping Foxconn. Mahoney worries the county won’t enforce the deal if Foxconn continues to shrink its development plans. So, she says she’d try to halt further incentives to the company.
Mahoney’s opponent in the county board race is Jason Eckman, a member of the village board in Sturtevant. Eckman says the Foxconn project is leading to other economic growth, or what he calls a halo effect.
“We’re seeing new restaurants. We’re getting a new hospital. There are the kind of investments that show other people are seeing potential in the county, and they’re willing to invest also,” Eckman says.
Eckman says he’s happy that Amazon Logistics has agreed to locate in Sturtevant, promising to create hundreds of jobs.
Monday, April 6, 2020
Tooth fairy and Easter Bunny are ‘essential workers,’ New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern confirms
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern confirms Easter Bunny is classed as an “essential worker” but it might be “difficult for the bunny to get everywhere” in current circumstances.— Daniel Rosney (@DanielRosney) April 6, 2020
Tooth fairy also confirmed as an essential worker. pic.twitter.com/Jv6o4t2tkG
From: https://twitter.com/DanielRosney/status/1247085420296450049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1247085420296450049&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fworld%2F2020%2F04%2F06%2Ftooth-fairy-easter-bunny-are-essential-workers-new-zealands-jacinda-ardern-confirms%2F
Coronavirus: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo doubles maximum fine for breaking social distancing rules to $1,000 as state cases rise
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday he is doubling to $1,000 the maximum fine for violating the state’s strict social distancing rules during the coronavirus outbreak.
The reason: Too many New Yorkers aren’t taking the rules seriously, he said. He spoke less than a week before Easter and two days before the start of Passover at sundown Wednesday.
“It’s not about your life,” Cuomo said at a press conference in Albany. “You don’t have the right to risk someone else’s life.”
“You don’t have the right, frankly, to take health-care staff and people who are literally putting their lives on the line and be cavalier or reckless with them. You just don’t have the right,” Cuomo said.
Patterns (1956) ROD SERLING
"In Rod Serling's tale of corporate greed, when a young man is recruited onto the board of a high-powered corporation, he finds his ethics at odds with his ambition. Watch for an unbilled Lauren Bacall in a lobby scene."
Dems find a rallying cry: Trump tanked the economy
Framing a coherent economic argument that all the party’s factions can rally around is proving thorny.
For most of the presidential campaign, the economy looked like the one thing that could overcome Donald Trump’s stubbornly low approval ratings and carry him to a second term. Even many Democrats acknowledged they had no cohesive economic message of their own.
But now that the coronavirus has laid waste to the surging stock market and low unemployment, Democrats are discovering another obstacle — framing a coherent economic argument that all the party’s factions can rally around.
It’s already become a source of friction within the Democratic Party, even as some major Democratic outside groups begin pummeling Trump for the economic fallout of the pandemic. It‘s a message Democrats plan to amplify in coming months, long after the immediate health effects of the crisis subside.
The left flank is increasing pressure on Joe Biden, the party’s likely nominee, to adopt more progressive economic policies. Activists accuse Trump of prioritizing corporate America over low-wage workers, while many moderate Democrats are leery of drawing such distinctions, training their criticism of Trump solely on his initial mishandling of the pandemic.
“This is not just about saying, ‘Trump is not doing a good job,’” said Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a prominent supporter of Bernie Sanders, who remains in the presidential race. “That is absolutely a piece of it, but it's also about, what are you going to do? What is your vision? … We should be talking about a payroll guarantee, like a bold pay payroll guarantee program, we should be talking about canceling student debt. I mean, these are the things that, they're not just progressive priorities anymore, they are going to be desperate needs for the survival and the recovery of our people in our economy.”
Jayapal added that Biden, should he become the nominee, will “absolutely” come under pressure from progressives to reconsider those policies ideas in light of the crisis.
Some pastors defiant as churches celebrate Palm Sunday during coronavirus outbreak
Several pastors across the country plan to keep their doors open to Christians to celebrate Palm Sunday services in defiance of quarantine orders meant to protect people from the highly contagious coronavirus.
Most churches have already transitioned to online services for the beginning of the Christian Holy Week, but a few pastors in Louisiana, Texas, Baltimore and Ohio believe the health measures threaten their constitutional right of religious freedom to worship and assemble.
“The church is the last force resisting the Antichrist; let us assemble regardless of what anyone says,” Pastor Tony Spell of megachurch Life Tabernacle Church in Central, La., told Reuters.
Spell has already been charged with six counts of violating the Louisiana governor’s ban on large gatherings. Other pastors have adopted a similar stance toward the lockdowns despite possible legal violations.
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| Congregants arrive for an evening service at the Life Tabernacle Church in Central, La., on March 31. Pastor Tony Spell says he will keep violating a ban on gatherings put in place to control the spread of the coronavirus because God told him to. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) |
Lone Star Baptist Church in Lone Star, Texas, has been holding services in its parking lot and will continue to do so on Palm Sunday.
“Satan’s trying to keep us apart; he’s trying to keep us from worshipping together. But we’re not going to let him win,” Lone Star Pastor Kelly Burton wrote in a post on Facebook, according to the outlet.
Pastor Alvin Gwynn Sr. of Baltimore’s Friendship Baptist Church told The Associated Press he still plans to hold in-person Easter services even after police tried to halt services at his church that were limited to 10 people in accordance with state guidelines.
Despite Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s plea to forego hosting large gatherings during the outbreak, the Solid Rock megachurch has invited worshippers to celebrate Palm Sunday service together.
I say this is a good thing. If all the idiots congregate and give each other COVID-19, then they may die and solve the problem.
Global surge of domestic violence since coronavirus lockdowns
From: https://twitter.com/antonioguterres/status/1246973397759819776Peace is not just the absence of war. Many women under lockdown for #COVID19 face violence where they should be safest: in their own homes.— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) April 6, 2020
Today I appeal for peace in homes around the world.
I urge all governments to put women’s safety first as they respond to the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/PjDUTrMb9v
Tiger at Bronx Zoo Tests Positive for Coronavirus
The tiger was infected by a zoo employee who was "asymptomatically infected with the virus," according to the Wildlife Conservation Society
A tiger at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo in New York has tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
A tiger at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo in New York has tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
Nadia, a 4-year-old female Malayan tiger, was tested by the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory after she — along with six other cats at the zoo — developed a dry cough, the WCS said in a news release. They are all expected to recover.
According to CNN, Nadia is the first known animal to be infected in the United States, as well as the first tiger to test positive.
“Though they have experienced some decrease in appetite, the cats at the Bronx Zoo are otherwise doing well under veterinary care and are bright, alert, and interactive with their keepers,” WCS said. “It is not known how this disease will develop in big cats since different species can react differently to novel infections, but we will continue to monitor them closely and anticipate full recoveries.”
Dr. Adams, the surgeon general, comparing coronavirus deaths to smoking fatalities
From: https://twitter.com/BGrueskin/status/1246839302987943936Here is Dr. Adams, the surgeon general, comparing coronavirus deaths to smoking fatalities, starting around 1:30 in this @FoxNewsSunday clip.— Bill Grueskin (@BGrueskin) April 5, 2020
Wallace comes in with his rejoinder around 2:30. pic.twitter.com/Ps4kxJPHjG
Sunday, April 5, 2020
Wisconsin limps toward Tuesday election despite virus fears
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| A worker leaves the the Frank P. Zeidler Municipal Building Monday March 30, 2020, in Milwaukee. The city is now allowing drive up early voting for the state's April 7 election. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) |
MADISON, Wis. (AP) —
Wisconsin’s attempt to conduct an election in the midst of a
coronavirus crisis lurched forward Friday, with a Democratic governor
pushing for an all-mail election to replace in-person voting and
Republican leaders refusing to budge.
Just
three days before Tuesday’s spring primary — which features the
Democratic presidential contest plus a high-stakes state Supreme Court
race — a federal judge had extended absentee voting through April 13 but
refused requests to postpone the election.
With
thousands of poll workers quitting, Gov. Tony Evers for the first time
Friday called for an all-mail election, ordering a special session
Saturday and asking the Republican-dominated Legislature to agree.
“I
sit here telling you the time is now for leadership and all the people
that are part of the Senate and Assembly to step to the plate and do
what’s necessary to ensure we have safety in the state and we have an
election we’ll be using mail ballots for,” Evers said, expressing
confidence that the state would “get there” on shifting the election.
Republicans
swiftly made clear their feeling that the election should continue as
planned, and accused Evers of waffling under pressure from liberal
groups.
“It’s so
disappointing that Governor Evers has flip-flopped on the very question
that we have been discussing over the last month,” Assembly Speaker
Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said in a joint
statement. “The only bipartisan discussion we’ve had was to ensure the
election would continue safely and to maximize the opportunity to vote
absentee.”
Evers
wanted the session to begin Saturday afternoon and for lawmakers to take
up bills that would allow clerks to mail absentee ballots to voters who
haven’t requested one by May 19 and give voters until May 26 to return
them.
U.S.
District Judge William Conley on Thursday ordered absentee voting
deadlines extended from Election Day on Tuesday to April 13, in effect
extending the election by six days. Republicans appealed, but the 7th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined late Friday to stay Conley’s
order. The court didn’t explain its decision.
Kenosha native details harrowing experience with coronavirus
From The Journal Times.com:
And she thought she was going to die
Read more: https://journaltimes.com/news/kenosha-native-details-harrowing-experience-with-coronavirus/article_f456ede3-1be4-5339-95a1-5d60013b9ec4.html
She traveled from Madison to Portugal, from Portugal back to Madison, and then on to Kenosha. She has spread the virus all over the place, but she wants us to be careful. What horseshit!
Amy Shircel had just turned 22 years old.
She
was finishing up her undergraduate classes at the University of
Wisconsin, on schedule to graduate in May. She was athletic, having been
a swimmer in high school and college. She ate well and exercised every
day. She had no underlying health problems and was healthy to the best
of her knowledge.
Amy Shircel was young and vibrant, socially engaged and active, in the prime of her life.
And she thought she was going to die
Read more: https://journaltimes.com/news/kenosha-native-details-harrowing-experience-with-coronavirus/article_f456ede3-1be4-5339-95a1-5d60013b9ec4.html
She traveled from Madison to Portugal, from Portugal back to Madison, and then on to Kenosha. She has spread the virus all over the place, but she wants us to be careful. What horseshit!
Trump Told Mexico to Stop Migrants From Reaching the U.S. So Far, His Plan Is Working | The Dispatch
These illegal aliens threatened violence and then threw rocks at the police. They should be met with bullets. That would end the problem permanently.
PM Modi urges India to light candles, diyas at 9 pm on Sunday
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| Video grab shows Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation on COVID-19 via a video message, in New Delhi. PTI photo |
New Delhi: As coronavirus cases continued to mount across India despite the
nationwide lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted people on Friday
morning to switch off their lights at home and light candles, diyas or even display
their mobile phone torches for nine minutes at 9 pm on Sunday, April 5, to
demonstrate the country’s "collective resolve" to defeat the pandemic.
Mindful of the overenthusiastic response to his earlier appeal to people to show their appreciation for doctors, health workers and other essential services’ personnel by clapping, clanging plates and blowing conches during the March 22 "janata curfew", which led to some overzealous people crowding on the streets, Mr Modi asked people in his 11-minute video message on Friday to maintain the "lakshman rekha" of social distancing by staying indoors and not gather in groups, and to light the candles or lamps only from their balconies or
doorsteps.
Read more: https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/030420/pm-modi-third-address-to-nation-on-covid19-video-message-to-people-of.html
The Global Consciousness Project
Meaningful Correlations in Random Data
Coherent consciousness creates order in the world
Subtle interactions link us with each other and the Earth
When human consciousness becomes coherent, the behavior of random systems may change. Random number generators (RNGs) based on quantum tunneling produce completely unpredictable sequences of zeroes and ones. But when a great event synchronizes the feelings of millions of people, our network of RNGs becomes subtly structured. We calculate one in a trillion odds that the effect is due to chance. The evidence suggests an emerging noosphere or the unifying field of consciousness described by sages in all cultures.
The Global Consciousness Project is an international, multidisciplinary collaboration of scientists and engineers. We collect data continuously from a global network of physical random number generators located in up to 70 host sites around the world at any given time. The data are transmitted to a central archive which now contains more than 15 years of random data in parallel sequences of synchronized 200-bit trials generated every second.
Our purpose is to examine subtle correlations that may reflect the presence and activity of consciousness in the world. We hypothesize that there will be structure in what should be random data, associated with major global events that engage our minds and hearts.
Read more: http://noosphere.princeton.edu/
Saturday, April 4, 2020
Sources: President Donald Trump says NFL season should start on time
In a conference call with major league sports commissioners on Saturday, President Donald Trump said he believes the NFL season should start on time in September, sources familiar with the call told ESPN.
Trump also said he hopes to have fans back in stadiums and arenas by August and September, sources said, although it is currently unclear if medical experts find that to be a realistic timeline amid the current coronavirus pandemic.
"I want fans back in the arenas," Trump said later in a briefing at the White House. "I think it's ... whenever we're ready. As soon as we can, obviously. And the fans want to be back, too. They want to see basketball and baseball and football and hockey. They want to see their sports. They want to go out onto the golf courses and breathe nice, clean, beautiful fresh air."
China is donating 1,000 ventilators to help New York in coronavirus fight
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Following the arrival in New York City of the U.S. Naval hospital ship Comfort, NY State Governor Andrew Cuomo is seen during a press conference at the field hospital site at the Javits Center.
Albin Lohr-Jones | Pacific Press | Getty Images
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The Chinese government has facilitated a donation of 1,000 ventilators to New York state, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday. The shipment is slated to arrive at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday.
“This is a big deal, and it’s going to make a significant difference for us,” Cuomo said during a morning press briefing. The state of Oregon is also sending 140 ventilators to New York, which has become an epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.
Cuomo said New York was conducting business with Chinese companies and cited China as a repository of essential medical equipment. He thanked Jack Ma and Joe Tsai, founders of the Chinese e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba, as well as Huang Ping, the Chinese Consul General in New York.
Cuomo also said the state had put in an order for 17,000 ventilators but that the order went unfilled, likely due to intense competition for the machines and global shortages. The national stockpile has roughly 10,000 ventilators.
Coronavirus cases have surged at a devastating pace in New York. The number of confirmed cases in the state has nearly doubled since last Friday, with a total of 113,704 cases and 3,565 deaths in the state as of Saturday, according to the governor’s office.
The Trump administration has been seeking to increase production of ventilators and other essential medical supplies in the U.S as hospitals are overwhelmed with patients.
But factories are already operating at full capacity and projections suggest that New York may not have enough of the live-saving machines by next week.
If there are a lack of ventilators for the influx of hospital patients, New York hospitals will be forced into choosing which patients will receive care. There has also been discussion of splitting ventilators between two patients.
From: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/04/china-is-donating-1000-ventilators-to-help-new-york-in-coronavirus-fight.html
Our children deserve better
Commentary: Our children deserve better
We are living through an unprecedented time of uncertainty and concern affecting everyone, everywhere in so many ways. In the midst of all this chaos, we must cast a vote on April 7 on a referendum that, if passed, could positively impact the lives of all of our children across the Racine Community today and for generations to come.Read more: https://journaltimes.com/opinion/columnists/commentary-our-children-deserve-better/article_9868b100-4897-53e5-bc9c-cfbcacb9b43a.html
In response to the above, please see:
SC Johnson, city emails offer intimate look at how company secured tax exemption
SC Johnson used considerable influence, resources and ingenuity to convince former Mayor Gary Becker and Gov. Jim Doyle to approve a property tax exemption for the company's Frank Lloyd Wright buildings and the new Fortaleza Hall, according to company emails obtained by RacinePost.
Franksville horse sanctuary hopes to help frontline workers relieve stress, anxiety
From Fox6Now:
FRANKSVILLE, Wis. — Stepping Stone Farms is hoping they can ease the stress and anxiety of first responders and frontline healthcare workers by giving them the opportunity to visit their horse sanctuary to decompress.
FRANKSVILLE, Wis. — Stepping Stone Farms is hoping they can ease the stress and anxiety of first responders and frontline healthcare workers by giving them the opportunity to visit their horse sanctuary to decompress.
To maintain social distancing requirements during Gov. Evers safer at home order, those on the frontlines are invited to contact the farm and schedule a 30- or 60-minute time slot to “get away from it all” and meander the paths at the farm, pet therapy horses and other farm animals, feed chickens, etc.
According to the farm’s executive director, Lia Sader, studies show that fresh, outside air and human-animal interaction significantly reduces physiological anxiety levels.
See how the farm’s volunteers are also experiencing comfort as they care for the horses during this unsettling time, here.
As a non-profit, donations of supplies and money are needed to help the farm continue to help others. Click here to help.
Ending live daily coverage of Trump’s COVID-19 briefings
Please stop covering the President’s daily live campaign rally (thinly disguised as a coronavirus “news conference”). There is no need to do so. News organizations can monitor the briefings in real time and have your anchors and correspondents quickly share appropriately edited valuable, accurate parts, which will come from medical experts. That will leave the President’s insults, false braggadocio, and outright lies on the editing room floor, where they belong.
Why is this important?
President Trump is blatantly using the news organizations’ extensive, live coverage to freely campaign for a second term. It is wrong and dangerous to provide so much unfettered airtime to someone who is happily, shamelessly spreading terrible, damaging misinformation that is already costing fellow Americans their lives.
Please tell national and local media outlets to monitor and then broadcast valid, accurate information from medical experts, rather than feelings and diatribes from the President that only serve his own electoral interests.
Friday, April 3, 2020
One Of The Best and Most Detailed Model Railroad Layouts in the World 4K UHD
THE SUNDANCE CENTRAL RAILROAD - The Sundance was formed in January 2004 with the goal to create a more detailed and uniformly scened, large-scale traveling layout. This 1:20.3 scale modular model railroad consisting of forty modules for a layout size of 45 feet by 45 feet. The railroad consists of 400 feet of hand laid code 250 aluminum rails that are hand spiked with individual tie plates onto wood ties with a total of 16 turn-outs. The modular was built by a group of seven model train enthusiasts. This diverse group is made up of people who have a passion of early narrow gauge steam locomotives to modern day standard gauge diesels. The purpose for forming this modular group was to provide the public a realistic look at model railroading in a large-scale format. The modules are highly detailed from the scratch built supporting structures and buildings down to the surrounding scenery. The trains and rolling stock that will be running on these modules will also be highly detailed and weathered.
Behold the First Erect Penis Ever Found Preserved in Amber
Researchers working in Burma have uncovered the fossilized remains of a 99-million-year old male daddy longlegs with its penis fully extended and erect. It’s possibly the oldest—and longest held—erection in the history of science.
What a way to go. This daddy longlegs, also known as a harvestman, died with its proverbial pants down. Its penis was still extended to half its body length. Unlike their spider and scorpion cousins who use modified legs to transfer sperm, daddy longlegs sport penises. Apparently very long penises.
When it died, this ancient creature was clearly in a state of arousal, and possibly in the vicinity of a female. How it went from a potential union to paleontological posterity is anyone’s guess. Perhaps it fell into oozing resin amid all the sexual excitment. Alternately, the male daddy longlegs may have accidentally fallen into some tree resin as it was going about its daily business, and as it was struggling, its blood pressure rose, forcing its penis to squeeze out accidentally.
Regardless, the beautifully preserved specimen is providing paleontologists with a remarkable opportunity to study this poorly understood animal—and its penis.
“This is the first record of a male copulatory organ of this nature preserved in amber and is of special importance due to the age of the deposit,” write the researchers in their study, which now appears in the Science of Nature. “The penis has a slender, distally flattened truncus, a spatulate heart-shaped glans and a short distal stylus, twisted at the tip.”
In fact, the penis is so unique that the specimen has been slotted into its own family of arachnids and now bears the name Halitherses grimaldii. These animals have been around for more than 400 million years, and they’re notoriously difficult to differentiate. But this particular animal’s penis—its characteristic heart-shaped head and twirled tip—shows it’s different than any other species.
Embarassing for the harvestman, cool for science.
Face-to-face meetings are off for now, but the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous continues on Zoom and other platforms
From JSOnline:
Anonymous
Anonymous
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| The Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book lays out the 12 steps that people in AA follow in recovery. (Photo: Liz Dufour) |
Alcoholics Anonymous meetings simply don’t get canceled, not during a snowstorm or a heatwave or on holidays like Christmas or Thanksgiving (in fact the holidays are when an AA meeting may be most needed).
But the coronavirus pandemic did what nothing else could: It led to the abrupt cancelation of thousands of AA meetings in Wisconsin and across the country and world.
Having been a part of this fellowship for more than 13 years, I couldn’t quite believe it when a fellow AA member texted to say the church where we meet once a week was closed and our meeting with it. As I sit here today, it makes perfect sense, but when I first saw that text, a couple of weeks ago, it seemed unthinkable.
I panicked. How would I survive?
But I soon realized I was selling us short. As a group, it’s been noted, alcoholics are often over-achievers. And resourceful. If nothing else, we are determined. When not channeled for good, some of us have wound up in gutters, sometimes quite literally. We find ways to get what we want — whether it’s drugs or alcohol or something positive.
Knowing that our sobriety — and our lives — depended on the fellowship, we pivoted when this crisis arose. Immediately.
What followed with our group and many like it was truly inspiring: AA groups quickly launched virtual meetings on apps like Zoom. One of the meetings I attend got it together so swiftly that we didn’t miss a week.
I was thrilled but a little skeptical. On that first night as I waited for the Zoom room to fill, I wondered how well we could relate over screens. But as the familiar faces appeared, one after the other, I experienced a great comfort, seeing the folks I have become so accustomed to sitting with every week. The talk was deep and powerful.
"Knowing that our sobriety — and our lives — depended on the fellowship . . ." I stopped going to AA meetings after 11 years. I've been sober for nearly 27 years now. Meetings are not crucial to sobriety, nor does the Big Book state so.
Thursday, April 2, 2020
Wisconsin Democrats apoplectic over governor's handling of Tuesday primary
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| Paid volunteers on Tuesday help sort absentee ballots by ward to be opened on election day in Brookfield, Wis. |
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ refusal to push for a delay of his state’s Tuesday primary has infuriated fellow Democrats in the state, who are now openly accusing him of failing to prevent an impending train wreck.
As the nation hurtles toward 5,000 coronavirus deaths and governors across the country take extreme steps to keep people at home, Wisconsin is forging ahead with the election despite having its own stay-at-home order. The likely outcome is that Wisconsinites will wake up on election day being told to stay put at the same time they're greenlighted to head to crowded polling sites.
Other Democrats in the state say the conflicting signals will disenfranchise voters. Already, the sanctity of the vote has been called into question by snafus with early voting: In Milwaukee, some voting sites were closed for a period of the designated voting before being reopened.
“There’s this enormous conflict between what we need to do in a democracy in the midst of a pandemic. You can’t have a stay-at-home order but then tell millions of people to go stand in line and congregate near one another across the state,” said Racine Mayor Cory Mason. "Having an election in the middle of a stay-at-home order makes no sense. It did not have to be this way.”
The intraparty conflict in Wisconsin is a bad look in a state that's central to the party's hopes of beating President Donald Trump in November. It also doesn’t bode well for a unified message in the run-up to the Democratic convention in Milwaukee, an event that was just pushed back a month to August.
While Democrats across Wisconsin have called for postponing the election, pointing to health concerns and the inability to staff polling sites, Evers has cited his limited authority to impose a delay against Republican resistance in the Legislature.
Evers has advocated that residents vote by mail and called on lawmakers to ease up on election day requirements to allow more flexibility on when ballots could be turned in and counted.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/02/tony-evers-wisconsin-democrats-primary-election-161423
Other Democrats in the state say the conflicting signals will disenfranchise voters. Already, the sanctity of the vote has been called into question by snafus with early voting: In Milwaukee, some voting sites were closed for a period of the designated voting before being reopened.
“There’s this enormous conflict between what we need to do in a democracy in the midst of a pandemic. You can’t have a stay-at-home order but then tell millions of people to go stand in line and congregate near one another across the state,” said Racine Mayor Cory Mason. "Having an election in the middle of a stay-at-home order makes no sense. It did not have to be this way.”
The intraparty conflict in Wisconsin is a bad look in a state that's central to the party's hopes of beating President Donald Trump in November. It also doesn’t bode well for a unified message in the run-up to the Democratic convention in Milwaukee, an event that was just pushed back a month to August.
While Democrats across Wisconsin have called for postponing the election, pointing to health concerns and the inability to staff polling sites, Evers has cited his limited authority to impose a delay against Republican resistance in the Legislature.
Evers has advocated that residents vote by mail and called on lawmakers to ease up on election day requirements to allow more flexibility on when ballots could be turned in and counted.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/02/tony-evers-wisconsin-democrats-primary-election-161423
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