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NEWS

As Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, continue to hammer President Joe Biden on immigration and border security, new polling from the Marquette University Law School shows it may be resonating with more voters.

Since 2012, Marquette has asked voters whether “undocumented immigrants who are currently working in the U.S.” should be allowed to stay and pursue citizenship, stay on a temporary basis, or be required to leave their jobs and leave the U.S.

New survey results released Wednesday show the percentage of Wisconsinites who feel those immigrants should have to leave their jobs and the country has nearly doubled in just the past two years, hitting 30 percent for the first time.

A majority of respondents, 49 percent, said those same immigrants should be allowed to stay in the country and apply for U.S. Citizenship. Still, that tied an all-time low for the survey, and was down from 64 percent in 2022.

During his first rally in Wisconsin since 2022, Trump told supporters in Green Bay earlier this month that Biden’s border policies have allowed “an invasion of our countries” that is “bigger than a war.” If elected, Trump said he would lead “the largest deportation in American history.”

Marquette pollster Charles Franklin said that led his team to ask Wisconsin voters a new immigration question: whether they would favor or oppose the deportation of immigrants in the U.S. illegally without offering any qualifiers. Among respondents, 56 percent favored deportation and 39 percent were opposed.

—WI Public Radio

Marquette University is about three weeks out from commencement, and families are still waiting to hear which date it will be.

The lack of scheduling clarity has frustrated families trying to make travel plans and book restaurant reservations.

Uncertainty surrounding the Milwaukee Bucks and their NBA playoff performance is causing the delay. Marquette slated the graduation ceremony for either May 11 or May 12 at Fiserv Forum.

Both dates fall during the second round of the NBA playoffs. Because the first round starts April 20, Marquette said on Thursday it was the university’s understanding that it wouldn’t receive notification of which date Fiserv would be needed until April 28, or game 4, at the earliest. The decision could come as late as May 4, game 7, depending on the Bucks performance.

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday said he would plunge ahead with a highstakes vote to move long-stalled funding for Ukraine, Israel and other overseas allies, elbowing aside criticism from his conservative flank.

The move sets up an unpredictable weekend showdown that could determine both the fate of the foreign-aid package—which appears closer than ever to actually becoming law—and Johnson’s political career after navigating months of bitter infighting in the Republican conference.

Democrats were expected to line up firmly behind the aid effort, with President Biden issuing a strong endorsement. But many GOP lawmakers, angered by the lack of border provisions and critical of more aid for Ukraine, planned to oppose the measure.

—Wall Street Journal

Dr. Phil McGraw is warning Americans to plan their resistance against the next government-imposed lockdowns.

During his show McGraw noted how he was demonized for his stance against the tyrannical COVID lockdowns.

McGraw urged people to prepare for the next time governments attempt to shut the schools and effectively place its citizens under house arrest.

“When I stepped up in the beginning and said this lockdown is going to create more problems with quality of life than COVID is going to do with taking lives — people looked at me like I was insane,” McGraw said.

“When you shut down the schools, the day you shut them down, you better have a plan for reopening them,” he continued.

“I didn’t see a plan for them to be reopened. And we have an entire generation that is suffering from developmental gaps, educational gaps, mental and emotional challenges and still there’s not a good plan to close those gaps,” he said.

—The Daily Fetched

Planned Parenthood is performing a record number of abortions.

This week, Planned Parenthood released its 2022–2023 annual report disclosing data on services provided for the year 2021–2022. In just that single year, Planned Parenthood ended the lives of 392,715 unborn children through abortion, or an average of approximately 1,076 unborn children per day.

Planned Parenthood abortions, then, are the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. for that year, behind only heart disease, cancer, and COVID-related deaths.

The organization described its efforts as “a year of moving mountains.”

The number of abortions in 2021–2022 is an increase of more than 18,000 compared to the previous year. The organization also performed fewer Pap smears and breast exams and distributed fewer contraceptives.

But what about adoptions? Planned Parenthood only made 1,721 adoption referrals for the reported year — or about one per 228 abortions.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said the report “shocks the conscience.”

“Planned Parenthood’s business is abortion, abortion and more abortion,” Dannenfelser explained. “Just like their hero Margaret Sanger, their ‘solution’ to the struggle of families to keep their heads above water is to kill their children and let the abortion industry rake in record profits.”

Michael New, an assistant professor at Catholic University and scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, said the annual report debunks Planned Parenthood’s public-relations narrative that it is a health care organization.

—The Blaze

A Maui County emergency dispatcher called Hawaiian Electric early on Aug. 8 last year and said one of the utility’s power lines had broken and started a fire near Lahaina, according to a new report issued by the Hawaii attorney general’s office.

The blaze, which ultimately destroyed the historic Maui town later that day and killed at least 101 people, can be traced back to that morning incident, the report said.

The 376-page report, released by Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez on Wednesday, includes transcripts of communication from Hawaiian Electric and emergency responders about where the fire ignited and whether the utility’s power lines had been de-energized in high winds.

While the report doesn’t assign blame for the disaster, it provides the most comprehensive account thus far of the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century, including the roles that downed power lines and wind played.

The Lahaina blaze destroyed more than 2,200 structures and caused an estimated $5.5 billion in damages, displacing more than 6,000 of the town’s 13,000 residents.

As of February, Hawaiian Electric had been named in at least 101 lawsuits by plaintiffs claiming losses related to the fire

—Wall Street Journal

At a waste-management facility in Morrisville, Pa., workers load incinerated trash into industrial machinery that separates and sorts metals, then sends them to get hosed down. The reward: buckets of quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies.

Americans toss as much as $68 million worth of change each year, according to Reworld. The sustainable-waste processing company is on a treasure-hunt to find it. The company says that in the seven years since it started the effort, it has collected at least $10 million worth of coins.

Coins are as good as junk for many Americans. Buses, laundromats, toll booths and parking meters now take credit and debit cards and mobile payments. Using any form of physical currency has become more of an annoyance, but change is often more trouble than it is worth to carry around. The U.S. quarter had roughly the buying power in 1980 that a dollar has today.

“If you lost a $100 bill you’d look for it. If you lost a $20 bill you’d look for it. If you lost a book you’d look for it,” said Robert Whaples, an economics professor at Wake Forest University. “But a penny, you’re just not going to look for it.”

Whaples has encouraged the government to kill the penny, which costs about three times its value to make. The U.S. Mint spent $707 million making coins last year. Canada, New Zealand and Australia have removed their 1 cent pieces from circulation.

Because coins can be hard to spend, they circulate slowly through the economy— or don’t circulate at all. More than half of the coins in the U.S. are sitting in people’s homes, according to the Federal Reserve.

Many coins are also getting left behind. At airport checkpoints, the Transportation Security Administration collects hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of them each year. Coins are left in couch cushions or cars, then sucked into vacuums and sent to landfills, said Dominic Rossi, Reworld’s director of finance and business support.

Reworld started collecting change in 2017 after noticing more of it in the trash. The company recovers 550,000 tons of metals annually, including soda cans, old pipes, keys and silverware.

Of the $10 million in coins the company has recovered, some $6 million has been in good enough condition to use. Reworld gathers anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million in coins a year, which it turns over to a third party to count and deposit to local banks.

Most coins don’t end up in the trash. But that doesn’t mean they are wanted, either. When Cassandra Raposo worked as a Dollar Store cashier, customers would often come to the register to pay for $5 to $10 purchases entirely with bags of change. On busy days, Raposo helped them count every coin. Sometimes, they counted twice to double check, while she looked apologetically at the other waiting customers. “I could feel the annoyance and almost even rage,” said Raposo, now a copy editor in Rhode Island. People tend to bring their extra change to the bank to trade in, but it is getting harder to do even that. Capital One and PNC removed their coin-counting machines about a decade ago due to low customer use. In 2016, TD Bank pulled the plug on its coin counting machines after an investigation found that it was giving customers less money than they were putting in.

—Wall Street Journal

OPINION

As to the double murder case against O.J. Simpson, there was so much evidence that his guilt was obvious.

One piece of evidence not used was testimony from a witness named Jill Shively. On the night of June 12, 1994, Shively saw a white Bronco driving quickly and recklessly from near the scene of the crime and around the time of the crime. The driver of the Bronco nearly hit Shively’s car. When she learned about the murders, she called the police, described what happened, gave them the Bronco’s license plate and identified the driver as Simpson.

One would consider this a crucial piece of evidence placing Simpson near the crime scene on the night of the murders. Why did the prosecution choose not to use this eyewitness? Shively sold her story for $5,000 to one of the tabloids. Lead prosecutor Marcia Clark believed this tainted Shively’s credibility, and Clark decided against putting her on the stand to face cross-examination. Besides, the prosecution reasoned, there is so much evidence pointing to Simpson’s guilt, why bother with an iffy witness?

The jury consisted of eight blacks. Given the jury’s unwillingness to apply reason and common sense, none of the evidence really mattered. Years after the trial, one of the jurors, a black woman named Carrie Bess, in an interview admitted she ignored the evidence.

Interviewer: Do you think there are members of the jury that voted to acquit O.J. because of Rodney King?

Bess: Yes.

Interviewer: You do?

Bess: Yes.

Interviewer: How many of you do you think felt that way?

Bess: Oh, probably 90% of them.

Interviewer: 90%. Did you feel that way?

Bess: Yes.

Interviewer: That was payback.

Bess: Uh-huh.

Interviewer: Do you think that’s right?

After that question, Bess just put up her hands and shrugged.

During the trial, an inner-city New Jersey high school teacher wrote an article called “Race, O.J., and My Kids.” It was published in a center-left magazine called The New Republic:

“No more than four of my 110 students (most of whom are black) think O.J. Simpson is definitely guilty and few are willing to admit the possibility that he might be.

“One student suggested that Ron Goldman killed Nicole before killing himself and then throwing away the knife. Another believes the dog did it. Shenia suggested that Al Cowlings, Simpson’s best buddy, did it. Bryant believes the killer is O.J.‘s son. Philip blames ‘that (gay) dude who wants to marry O.J.’; that would be Kato Kaelin, Simpson’s houseguest.

“Jon, a bright student, had his own scenario: O.J. was shaving and cut himself. Kato took the blood from the shaving cut, brought it to the crime scene and dumped it.”

What can one say other than this? O.J. Simpson has died. Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson were unavailable for comment.

—Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY – In 1775 The American Revolution began in Massachusetts at Lexington Common with the “shot heard round the world,” a skirmish that gave needed time to the militia at Concord to organize around the North Bridge where they turned back British troops under heavy rifle fire.

AND, in 1980, for the first time in history the top five artists on the US country chart were all female—Crystal Gayle, at No.1, followed by Dottie West, Debbie Boone, Emmylou Harris, and Tammy Wynette.