Wisconsin GOP blocks pay raises for university staff unless they end diversity programs

Wisconsin GOP blocks pay raises for university staff unless they end diversity programs
Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (Facebook)

Wisconsin Republicans are holding hostage a pay increase for staff at the University of Wisconsin system, in an effort to force them to dismantle diversity programs, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday.

"The bipartisan Joint Committee on Employee Relations, which consists of legislative leaders, approved a plan to give state workers who do not work within the UW System a 6% pay increase over two years. The group includes state troopers, prison guards and other staffers," reported Tyler Katzenberger and Molly Beck. "But the committee, co-led by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, did not include pay raises for staff on UW System campuses. Vos has vowed not to approve the raises until UW campuses dismantle programs focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI."

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard reacted with outrage to the move.

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"We are denying pay increases for half of our state workforce because of one person's [Vos'] resistance to initiatives to increase inclusion on our campuses," said Agard. "This is a sad moment for our state when the majority party is actively holding our workers hostage because they cannot hand them the ability to focus on equity and diversity in the state of Wisconsin."

This comes shortly after Republicans blocked a huge slate of appointees from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, including a majority of the state environmental board, an elections commissioner, and a medical board chair who supported abortion rights.

Wisconsin's legislature is heavily gerrymandered, with Republicans winning large majorities in both chambers completely disproportionate to the popular vote. The state Supreme Court, which recently saw a liberal majority elected, is likely in the near future to hear a case that could force nonpartisan redistricting in the state.

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President Donald Trump says he will designate Antifa as a "major terrorist organization" and threatened to investigate the organization's funders, according to a post on Truth Social.

"I am pleased to inform our many U.S.A. Patriots that I am designating ANTIFA, A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER, AS A MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION," Trump wrote. "I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices."

Trump's comments come a week after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed on a Utah university campus while giving a speech. Trump and other administration officials quickly blamed Kirk's death on radical leftwing groups like Antifa, although investigators have not offered any direct evidence that the shooter was affiliated with those groups.

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MAGA firebrand Nick Fuentes on Wednesday slammed the latest conspiracy theory about conservative activist Charlie Kirk's death.

Fuentes spent part of his show, "America First with Nick J. Fuentes," on Wednesday discussing a theory being floated by MAGA influencer Candace Owens that Israel killed Kirk because he criticized the country. Owens has produced two long-form podcast episodes explaining her theory, and has suggested that Kirk's pastor, wealthy investor Bill Ackman, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu all played a role in Kirk's tragic death.

The theory seemed to be too much for Fuentes to handle.

"Time to wake up, guys," Fuentes told his audience.

Fuentes said he would be the "first one to say" that the conspiracy theory hysteria is "getting a little out of control," and used a derogatory slur in making the point.

"We are truly through the looking glass when Charlie Kirk is assassinated, and people blame Israel," he continued. "And I, who fought Charlie Kirk because he was pro-Israel, am being said to be covering up that he was killed for this miraculous conversion."

"If Ben Shapiro was taken out next, God forbid, would Israel be behind that, too?" Fuentes asked. "That would be equally ridiculous."

President Donald Trump's airstrikes against civilian boats in international waters are raising the alarm of lawyers who work within the Department of Defense.

According to the Wall Street Journal, "The concerns are around the justification for the strikes themselves, as well as the legal implications for the U.S. military personnel involved in the operations, the people said. Some defense officials and career military lawyers have provided written and verbal legal opinions to decision makers inside the Pentagon, but believe they are being ignored or deliberately sidelined, according to one of the people."

So far, the administration has publicly revealed two such airstrikes on ships near Venezuela, killing several people on board both.

Trump, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have claimed that the ships in question were being operated by drug cartels trafficking illegal narcotics to the United States, and posed an imminent national security threat that required military action. But there is little to no legal precedent under international law for treating such a vessel as a military target.

"Inside the Defense Department, some officials have concerns about the decision to jump straight to the use of lethal force, without prior warning, when the standard rules of engagement for dealing with cartels has been to interdict them," noted the report. "It is one thing to use lethal force against terror groups in the Middle East, where the military has relied on congressionally approved authorization for using force, but a different situation entirely when dealing with Latin American based cartel members, one person said."

Even some Republican lawmakers are opposed to this, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) questioning, “How do we know it was coming to the U.S.? Are we going to blow up every boat? It is just insane.”

And even John Yoo, the former George W. Bush administration legal official who provided the justification for the now-discredited torture program at Guantanamo Bay, said of the strikes, “There has to be a line between crime and war. We can’t just consider anything that harms the country to be a matter for the military. Because that could potentially include every crime.”

All of this comes as Trump looks to expand the use of the military for his political goals, including deploying it to major U.S. cities that oppose his immigration agenda.

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