🇺🇸 Democrats Say Cheese in Wisconsin

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🐘 Friday, April 7, Republican Presidential Nomination 2024: Trump 58, DeSantis 21, Pence 4, Haley 1, Cheney 3, Noem, Christie 0, Pompeo 1, Ramaswamy 1, T. Scott, Sununu 0, Youngkin 1 (Reuters/Ipsos)

📉 Friday, April 7, President Biden Job Approval: Approve 47, Disapprove 51 (Rasmussen Reports)

📉 Thursday, April 6, President Biden Job Approval: Approve 45, Disapprove 53 (Rasmussen Reports)

🐘 Wednesday, April 5, General Election: Trump vs. Biden: Trump 47, Biden 40 (Rasmussen Reports)

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Right: America's Constitutional Doom Loop Emina Melonic, American Greatness

Right: Chicago Votes To Make Chicago Horrible Again Christopher Tremoglie, Washington Examiner

Right: Cornell and Stanford Finally Stand Up for Free Speech Rikki Schlott, New York Post

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QUICK CLICKS

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US: 2 police officers, suspect killed during shootout in Wisconsin (ABC News)

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US: Trump delivers blistering Easter message while Melania breaks silence after arrest (NY Post)

Sports: How Jon Rahm won the Masters in dominant fashion (ESPN)

JUDICIARY

Democrats Say Cheese in Wisconsin

Last week, a Milwaukee judge backed by Democrats was elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, ensuring Democratic majority control for the first time in 15 years. It marked the state’s highest voter turnout for a Supreme Court race, without a presidential election on the ballot.

Reporting from the Right: Wisconsin Supreme Court election turnout breaks record as Dem-backed candidate wins (Fox News)

Reporting from the Left: Liberal judge's victory in Wisconsin Supreme Court race marks political shift in key swing state (CNN)

From The Flag: Justice-elect Janet Protasiewicz’ election could result in Wisconsin’s 1849 law banning abortion being overturned, as well as a redrawing of the state’s voting districts. You may recall Wisconsin’s 2020 election results were nearly overturned by the state Supreme Court. Here’s more from both sides.

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

The Dobbs Decision Changed the Game, and Democrats Are Striking Back

• After the US Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, American voters are making it clear they want abortion rights protected.

• It’s refreshing to see voters pushing back against right-wing courts and heavy-handed decisions.

• This was likely Wiscosin’s most important election of the year and could boost Democrats in future elections if the court reconsiders the state’s gerrymandered electoral map.

“Wisconsin Rout Shows Post-Dobbs Strength of Dems” Reid J. Epstein, New York Times: “The liberal candidate, Janet Protasiewicz, swept onto the bench by 11 percentage points, a staggering margin in an evenly divided battleground state that signaled just how much last summer’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade has transformed American politics. The Wisconsin race centered squarely on abortion rights and political representation: Judge Protasiewicz all but promised voters that if they elected her, the court’s new 4-to-3 liberal majority would reverse Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban and overturn the state’s famously gerrymandered, Republican-friendly legislative maps. Wisconsinites responded to that pitch, rejecting a conservative candidate backed by anti-abortion groups who took 2020 election deniers as a client and struggled to rally Republican donors behind him. … Republicans are now heading into a series of coming races… with ample warning signs about the pitfalls of nominating candidates who hold positions on issues like abortion and elections that are unpopular with voters.”

“After a huge progressive win in Wisconsin, the right wing is whining” Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post Opinion: “In a state so evenly divided that a 1- or 2-point margin is a resounding victory, Wisconsin voters turned out in droves on Tuesday to deliver an unmistakable blow to right-wing judges and politicians pushing forced-birth laws, hyper-gerrymandering, voter suppression and union-busting. … Even before the votes were counted, pundits tut-tutted the unseemly spectacle of judicial elections, apparently unaware that a majority of states have elected judges. Some 39 states have some form of judicial elections, the Brennan Center reports. (Is it only when progressives win by being honest about their views that we hear shrieks about politicization of the judiciary?) … Frankly, after years of right-wing judges dissembling about their respect for precedent and their supposed open-mindedness (despite public advocacy against abortion), there is something refreshing about progressive judges going to voters to set out their values.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: Wisconsin Voters Just Took Their Democracy Back Christina Cauterucci, Slate

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Democrats Winning Election Strategy on Display, With a Glimmer of Hope in Wisconsin

• This is another political victory for the Left, illustrating the Democrats’ effective election strategy.

• Wisconsin voters just sent the GOP a message: they’re fed up with talk of “stop the steal” and Donald Trump.

• Hold everything, because Wisconsin Republicans won a super majority in the State Senate, and could look to impeach Justice-elect Protasiewicz.

“The Left Wins Big in Midwest Elections” Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal: “Wisconsin’s Supreme Court result is another victory for the national left, which outspent the GOP and made it the most expensive judicial race in history. … As in 2022, Democrats helped to choose their GOP opponent, spending $1 million in the primary to defeat conservative challenger and Wisconsin Circuit Court judge Jennifer Dorow. That elevated former Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly into the runoff. He appealed to the Donald Trump base, but he had already lost an election after being appointed by former Gov. Scott Walker to fill a vacancy on the court. Judge Protasiewicz dispensed with most legal niceties and ran a nakedly political campaign almost like a candidate for Governor. She called Wisconsin’s legislative electoral maps ‘rigged’ and Scott Walker’s 2011 Act 10 limits on union collective bargaining unconstitutional. She refused to say if she’d recuse herself if those cases come before the court.”

“Consequences and choices: Conservatives lose control of WI Supreme Court” Ed Morrissey, Hot Air: “Unlike most elections in Wisconsin, this one wasn’t close at all — and that could be a message for Republicans nationwide, even if it’s too late for Wisconsin. Progressive county judge Janet Protasiewicz easily beat former state supreme court justice Dan Kelly … (He) had worked with the Trump campaign after the 2020 election on the ‘stop the steal’ legal efforts. NBC reported at the time of the primary election that Kelly was tied to the ‘fake electors’ scheme. … That case should never have been brought, and the fake-elector scheme was borderline fraudulent, which attorneys are supposed to warn their clients against. It seems pretty clear that Wisconsin voters held it against Kelly. … At least in this battleground state, the conclusion should be that voters have tired of ‘stop the steal’ activists and the relentless focus on Trump.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: Dan Knodl’s victory in Wisconsin could unclip a linchpin of statewide tyranny Olivia Murray, American Thinker

FLAG THIS

Majority Describe Dissatisfaction With Nation’s Laws on Abortion

Polling conducted in February indicates a majority of Americans are “dissastisfied” with the nation’s abortion laws. A record-high 69% of US adults feel this way.

More people who are dissatisfied with abortion laws want them to be less strict (46%). In fact, that percentage is up 16 points, year-over-year. Meanwhile, 15% say they want stricter laws.

Since 2001, the number of people that said they’re satisfied with the nation’s abortion laws has fallen from 43% to 26% as of this year (Gallup).

FLAG FINDS

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WATERCOOLER

Stretch Those Hips, History of Everything Bagel, Fiddler on the Roof

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Today I Learned “Fiddler on the Roof” is a smash hit in Japan, with hundreds of revivals since 1967. A Japanese producer wondered whether American audiences understood the play, “because it’s so Japanese.”