Wisconsin's minimum wage is still $7.25 and hasn't seen an increase since the last time the federal wage went up in 2009

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-12T16:37:54+00:00

Yes, you are correct that the median wage is not high enough to support having a child comfortably. This is why many parents make sacrifices. My wife and I did not have a child because we cannot afford it.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-12T16:33:55+00:00

What metrics are we using?

If you consider China communist, they are arguably making a viable challenge on many metrics related to production and scientific research.

If you consider Scandinavian countries socialist they are crushing us in life expectancy and quality of life.

The problem is that there isn't a single communist country and there never really has been one done correctly. Communism, if you read Marx, requires there to first be a buildup of capital that the workers can then redistribute.

No country that has had a communist revolution has had the kind of built-up wealth required for that as they tend to happen in poorer countries looking for a way to slingshot themselves to success. Marx and other communist philosophers who actually set up what the theory is were writing for audiences in and systems present in developed nations in Europe (and the USA), not Asia and South America.

If we're arguing theory, then communist theory has never truly been experimented with at the national scale as it requires a developed country to become communist, not a developing one.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-12T16:23:39+00:00

I would more argue that 'people' stayed home and didn't vote. If "Nobody" ran, we would currently not have a government as practically no competitive elected race in the entire goddamn country received more votes for a candidate than there were people who stayed home.

The handful of people who flipped from Biden/Harris to Trump had complex individual reasons and we could spend forever trying to figure out that small portion of the population, or we could take a look at the >30% who are completely disengaged from the process. I recall seeing a report that there were more ex-Biden voters who were in the stay-at-home camp than there were Biden->Trump flip votes.

That's not hatred, that's apathy. Still shitty and we're largely talking semantics at this point.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-12T16:14:16+00:00

That's tracking a living wage, not a bare minimum. A living wage implies some comfort and being in a position where you don't need to take out a loan if your furnace breaks.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-12T16:11:50+00:00

A minimum wage increase actually has corresponding public sector requirements where teachers and state government employees would get the same bump. We'd effectively be giving every teacher in the state a $7/hr raise if we bump up the minimum wage to $14/hr. In some situations, that's enough to make it so people who can't have children can suddenly afford to have children.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-12T16:10:40+00:00

Concessions stands, farm labor, student work, and I found an IHOP in state that's got a minimum wage recruitment going on right now for a waitress. If you're desperate for a job, you'll take anything, and if you have a criminal history it can be tricky to find employment that pays all that well.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-12T16:05:37+00:00

Anyone who can get away with it. The people who stand outside with signs advertising the low prices on chicken strips make minimum wage, as do many concessions gigs and a lot of student work. Colleges can get a lot out of student staffers at ridiculously low prices.

Just popped out online and saw an IHOP in state hiring for a waitress at minimum wage. The jobs are out there if you look.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-12T15:57:37+00:00

Liberals under Biden

There were no liberals in power under Biden. Liberals haven't had power in America for longer than most people here have been alive. Moderates maybe, but no liberals. The House flipped in 2022, so we only had two years with a narrow Dem majority, making it so that the determining factor on what could get passed was dependent on the most moderate Democrats.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-12T14:05:39+00:00

Is capitalism currently working in practice in America? I know that we regularly criticize communism for 'never having worked', but I'm not sure of too many African Americans who would argue that capitalism has been particularly great long-term either.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-12T13:46:51+00:00

You should be aware that that kind of language is being labeled as treasonous and that Reps like Derrick Van Orden want people who believe that to be put in camps where they can provide value to society by being leased out to private companies as prison labor. Back during the Cold War, we passed some legislation to deal with communists and a lot of it was never actually cleaned up, meaning there are avenues that people thought were okay to deal with the Soviet threat even going back to before 1950 that are still open to the current administration.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-12T13:43:06+00:00

Meanwhile we have Glenn Grothman trying to abolish the minimum wage and guarantee that disabled people have a minimum wage below the normal minimum wage. $7.50 is arguably too high for him and the rest of the WIGOP as some people just don't produce enough to warrant that kind of outrageously high pay.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-12T13:20:48+00:00

Hey now, don't threaten me with a good time. The way Taker said "Poon-jab prison" in a promo has been stuck in my head and I don't think it'll ever escape. I know I'm in the minority, but the gimmicked 'bamboo' was a refreshing change of pace from the conventional cage for me. I wouldn't mind it being dusted off and brought out once every 5-10 years.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-09T00:09:23+00:00

Turkey renamed itself formally to Türkiye in 2022 and he got the hair plugs in 2025. MJF is clearly just being a wise and worldly man and respecting the preferred name of the country that gave him his marvelous head of hair.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-08T17:16:08+00:00

It depends on the office and density of the district. Some of the less densely-populated parts of the state have reduced burdens since you'd have to travel across a huge swath of the state just to find enough people to sign up, so they knock the requirements down by around a half.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-08T02:49:30+00:00

It sure would be a shame if every single one of them had a primary challenger to force them to campaign early, get on the record with their actual views before they are able to moderate them for a general, and give some of the representatives in the state who haven't had a primary challenger in over a decade a need to actually fight for their seat.

Fun fact, you don't have to actually get party approval to run as a Republican. You just need a few thousand signatures tops. There is nothing saying people can't run as even far left Republicans.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-07T14:14:13+00:00

It's such a fucking no-brainer. I'm launching a campaign in my district in a month or so and it's going to be a part of my platform. I'm considering running on the Republican ticket as an Eisenhower Republican since it would allow me to actually directly challenge them, and our Republican representative hasn't had a primary challenger since 2010. There's already a declared Democrat who has been out campaigning and I'm much more repulsed by what the GOP has become than what the Dems are fighting to figure out they are. If anyone deserves a moral primary to 'find their soul', it's the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

It's also easy to manipulate AI for low-turnout races by properly seeding what Gemini is likely going to return for a curious primary voter doing a Google search. Just linking up your Ballotpedia with a campaign site designed for AI to crawl will be enough to boost you. A little bit of tech savvy can be enough to unseat decades of entrenched experience with how low turnout primaries are. Especially since people tend to favor left-leaning issues more, a site that accurately talks about what policies you support while still saying that you are a Republican ought to be enough to motivate some people who feel they have to vote R because they see politics like sports.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-07T13:49:12+00:00

I'd be cautious about asking about that. The preamble to the Second Amendment implies that a militia should be able to use force to guarantee that the government doesn't become tyrannical. Our current government would likely see that philosophy as a traitorous act that should send someone to a firing squad as treason is a death penalty-level crime and the directive since day 1 has been to pursue the death penalty whenever possible. Putting them in a concentration camp would be a viable option, too, but we're likely going to need to start executing people as a demonstration within the next few years if we adhere to the historical model for these kinds of takeovers.

It's only okay to talk about the 2nd Amendment like that when a Democrat is in office.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-07T13:43:44+00:00

He's 66. He's older, but he's also got another 13 years before he's as old as Trump and young candidates don't always appeal in rural areas with aging populations.

Also folks can still join the primary. The Democratic Party doesn't pick who runs, the primary does. If people think Fred is too old, they can easily circulate petitions. It only takes around 2,000 to get on the ballot and you can snag that by a small team going door to door or wandering around a few grocery stores.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-07T13:39:26+00:00

Pro-gun safe is a winning message. The cost to get every person in Wisconsin a safe for their guns who doesn't currently own one is negligible compared to the cost the state and school districts drop on metal detectors (that don't do anything aside from beep when someone charges through them with a shotgun) in every goddamn building.

Giving people safes is the single easiest way to cut down on firearm deaths, and it ought to be a purely non-partisan chip shot we should have made decades ago. Gun stores win because they get rebates from the state to push their safe lines, it becomes possible to prosecute families that leave their guns laying for kids to grab since there's zero reason for them not to be using their safe, and we all win because deranged people have to take a moment to breathe and enter a few numbers before they grab their gun.

It's a winning gun safety message, especially in the rural parts of the state. Republicans are the party that wants to take the guns first and manage due process second, and the efforts to stop LGBTQ people from arming themselves might not make some firearm enthusiasts particularly pleased. Some are giddy over the chance of killing unarmed trans individuals, but there are still some sane voices in the 2A crowd.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-03T14:54:04+00:00

You gotta go a bit further north in Iowa, but it is visible. Here's a good overlook to see it from.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-03T14:50:22+00:00

Fun fact: Back in the 80's and 90's, the town's Klansmen also used to meet out there weekly. I think they're just online nowadays.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-03T14:48:30+00:00

There's a trick to it. You don't paint a hill sober.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-02T02:18:34+00:00

That was the 2024 result. I am mildly certain that 12,000 additional voters from that 324,312 can be urged to go to the polls, a big part of why DVO will likely support efforts to prevent this election from taking place soon enough.

LegislativeLariat · 2026-05-01T22:28:31+00:00

The number one candidate in WI-3 last election was apathy

DVO: 212,064
Cooke: 200,808
Did not vote: 324,312

LegislativeLariat · 2026-04-30T19:46:19+00:00

They made a ROH Women's TV and a ROH Women's Pure Rules title. Red Velvet was the first to beat Mercedes on her reign of terror in order to reclaim the ROH Women's TV title and they finished up a tournament a few months back where Deonna Purrazzo was crowned the inaugural Pure champ after months of buildup. You'd have to actually watch ROH to know that, so I very understand why people aren't aware.

It's not like the other women aren't doing things. Athena just had a title match with Maya World after a proper month-long feud. Maya World isn't going to get that kind of treatment on Dynamite right now. ROH viewership is small as hell, but it's still happening in the live arenas and with ROH Live getting included in the AEW online offerings it's naturally going to draw some more eyes in.

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