Progressive Thinking

We all agree on one simple rule: if you work, you get paid. So how did we end up with TSA agents working without pay while passengers stand in lines for hours?

LAKE GENEVA, WI - I keep coming back to the same question. How did we get here? How did something this basic get so messed up? If you go to work, you get paid. That is not political. That is not complicated. That is just how life works. And yet right now, Transportation Security Administration agents are showing up every day, doing their jobs, keeping airports running, and not getting a paycheck. Not later. Not maybe. Just not getting paid.

And it is not just them feeling it anymore. You can see it the minute you walk into an airport. The lines are longer than they should be. People are standing there for hours, watching the clock, wondering if they are going to miss their flight. Families with kids, older people who can’t stand that long, business travelers trying to get somewhere on time. Everyone stuck. Everyone frustrated. And the reason is not hard to figure out. When you force people to work without pay, morale drops, staffing gets shaky, and the whole system starts to strain.

So now we have two groups of people caught in the middle. Workers who are doing their jobs without getting paid, and passengers who are being dragged into a mess they had nothing to do with. That is where this really crosses the line for me. This is not just a budget issue anymore. This is people being used. Workers are being used as leverage, and travelers are being used as pawns.

And here is the part that makes it even more frustrating. Everyone in Washington knows this is wrong. There is no real argument here. Nobody is out there saying these workers should not be paid. Nobody is saying airports should grind to a halt. So if we all agree on the problem, why are we still sitting in it?

Because both sides keep tying things together that should not be tied together. Republicans and Democrats are loading up these funding bills with conditions, priorities, and political demands that have nothing to do with paying the people who are already doing the work. They dig in, they refuse to budge, and everything stalls. And while they argue, real people deal with the consequences.

So let me say this as clearly as I can. This is what needs to happen. Pass a clean funding bill. Not a complicated one. Not one loaded with extras. A simple bill that keeps the government open and pays the people who are working right now. Get the money flowing again. Get TSA fully staffed and functioning. Get those airport lines back to normal. Then, once that is done, go back and argue about everything else you want to argue about.

That is the job.

You do not hold paychecks hostage while you negotiate. You do not drag travelers into your fight. You do not take something this basic and turn it into a standoff.

At the end of the day, this is about responsibility. If you are elected to govern, then govern. Do the simple things first. Make sure the people doing the work get paid. Make sure the systems people rely on actually function.

Because right now, it feels like the only people doing their jobs are the ones not getting paid for it.

If you believe people who work should get paid and travelers shouldn’t be stuck in this mess, read this and share it. This is common sense.

Most Americans agree violent criminals should be dealt with. What they do not support is rounding people up based on how they look. Why Trump’s immigration push is really about control, and why turning ICE into a personal police force should alarm everyone.

LAKE GENEVA, WI - Let me be clear about something first. No one is arguing to protect violent criminals or sex offenders. I do not believe most Americans want that. We want dangerous people handled lawfully, fairly, and with due process.

What we do not support is Donald Trump’s approach to immigration.

Trump talks about criminals, but his actions tell a different story. His version of enforcement looks like rounding up people who look like immigrants and getting them out of the country fast, loud, and with maximum fear. Florida has already shown us what that looks like. Raids, intimidation, and law enforcement used as political theater.

When Trump’s attempts to use the military for domestic enforcement were stopped, and his efforts to broadly deploy the National Guard were blocked or limited, I believe he pivoted. Instead, he began pushing to turn ICE into something else entirely. A personal federal police force designed to do his bidding.

That is the real danger.

We already have immigration laws. We already have courts. What Trump keeps demanding is enforcement driven by loyalty, not law. Who gets targeted depends on who he points at, not who poses a real threat.

History is painfully clear about where this leads.

In Germany, Adolf Hitler used fear of internal enemies to justify expanding police power. The Gestapo did not begin as a horror story. It began as “necessary enforcement.” Once police answered to a leader instead of the law, ordinary people lost their protection.

Trump’s own words matter. He talks about retribution. He attacks judges. He praises strongmen. He demands immunity. These are not the instincts of someone who respects limits on power.

A federal police force loyal to Trump would not make America safer. It would make him safer by ignoring wrongdoing by allies and targeting immigrants, protesters, journalists, and political opponents.

This is not about left versus right.

It is about law versus loyalty.

And history has already told us how that story ends.

Read my latest Don’t Blink! blog post at LauraKiefert.blog

Donald Trump says affordability is a hoax. I guess the rest of us just imagined our grocery bills, medical costs, rent hikes, insurance premiums, and heating bills. My sarcastic take on the strange little universe he lives in.

LAKE GENEVA, WI - You have to admire the confidence. It takes a special kind of person to stand in front of millions of Americans who are choosing between groceries and prescriptions and announce that affordability is all a Democrat hoax. A hoax. As if the rest of us are part of some elaborate prank where we pretend we cannot afford eggs while he pretends he can still dodge reality.

I would love to live in whatever alternate universe he has built for himself. A world where facts are optional. Bills pay themselves. Groceries cost whatever you say they cost. And if something does not go your way, you just call it a hoax and puff your chest out like the rest of us are too stupid to notice.

Meanwhile, here in the real world, the country is dealing with a long list of problems that are not imaginary. They are not political theater. They are not hoaxes. They are what everyday people wake up to.

Here are a few highlights from Earth.

Grocery prices are up almost twenty percent in the last three years. Housing costs have jumped to a level where first time homebuyers feel like they are chasing a moving train. Rent has climbed so fast that millions of people are spending more than thirty percent of their income just to keep a roof over their head. Medical insurance premiums climbed again this year. Child care is now so expensive that some parents practically work to pay the babysitter. Prescription medications remain sky high unless you happen to believe insulin is also a hoax.

Gas may dip and rise, but the average American notices every dime. And small businesses are fighting to survive because supply costs have not magically returned to pre pandemic levels. But apparently all of us must be imagining it.

It is pretty rich to hear a billionaire who files bankruptcy every time the wind blows tell us the economy is only bad because Democrats are saying it is. As if the price of bread listens to political speeches. As if our heating bills care about party lines. As if people do not know exactly how much harder it is to stretch a paycheck now.

Maybe affordability feels like a hoax to him because he has never actually had to afford anything. When you live a life where someone else picks up the tab, I guess everything is a hoax. Personal responsibility is a hoax. Accountability is a hoax. Consequences are a hoax. Facts are a hoax. Laws are a hoax. Courts are a hoax. Anyone who challenges him is a hoax.

The only hoax I see is the one he keeps feeding his followers. The hoax where he pretends he cares about the suffering of regular families. The hoax where he claims he alone can fix everything he never understood. The hoax where he imagines he can lie his way out of economic reality the same way he tries to lie his way out of legal trouble.

You can shout hoax all day long. You can pump your fists. You can blame Democrats. You can blame the news. You can blame the deep state. You can blame the weather. But you cannot gaslight an entire nation that is working harder for less.

Affordability is not a hoax. It is a crisis. And the only real hoax here is the man trying to pretend he has nothing to do with the mess he contributed to.

But sure. Tell us again how we are imagining our grocery bills.

Read my latest Don’t Blink! blog post, Affordability: The Latest “Democrat Hoax,” Brought to You by the Man Who Thinks Reality Is Optional at LauraKiefert.blog

New bill reimburses special education at the levels promised in this year’s state budget.

MADISON, Wis -- With the state’s higher than anticipated increase in need for special education services, Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick) has partnered with Rep. Angelina Cruz (D – Racine) to introduce a new bill to address the issue.

When lawmakers voted to pass the state’s budget in July, they clearly specified that the reimbursement rate for special education would be 42% through 2026, and then 45% through 2027. However, on November 17^th, the Department of Public Instruction informed school officials that the special education reimbursement rate would be just 35% due to previously unknown increases in need.

For years, the cost of special education has increased and state funding hasn’t kept up. Because special education is mandated, districts must make up shortfalls in funding from their general funds. Insufficient special education funding is one reason for the number of referenda in our state.

“We must make sure Wisconsin upholds its commitment to our public schools and reimburses special education at the levels promised in this year’s state budget. Something had to be done immediately to remedy the shortfall and that’s exactly what this bill would do,” said Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick). “It’s now up to the majority party to get this bill to the Governor’s desk as soon as possible.”

Disinformation spreads because people want to believe it. The nation drowning in ignorance, anger, and fake statistics that sound believable only because they confirm what people already think.

LAKE GENEVA, WI - There is a line from an old Simon and Garfunkel song that says, “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.” That one sentence perfectly sums up what has happened to truth in America. People don’t just fall for lies anymore. They run toward them, wrap themselves in them, and scream them from the rooftops as if ignorance is something to be proud of.

I saw one of those viral posts making the rounds online. It claimed that 43 percent of food stamps go to illegals, that 95 percent of murder warrants in Los Angeles are for illegals, and that 66 percent of births in California are to illegals on Medi-Cal. Every single one of those numbers is a flat-out lie. Not slightly off. Not debatable. Just plain false. But people keep sharing it because it fits what they already want to believe.

Here’s the truth. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for food stamps, regular Medicaid, or most federal programs. PolitiFact found that only about 15 percent of births in California involve undocumented mothers on Medi-Cal. There is no evidence that almost all Los Angeles murder warrants or half of all gang members involve undocumented people. These claims are fake, invented to stir anger and fear. And it is working.

Disinformation spreads because it feeds ego and prejudice. It gives people permission to blame someone else for their problems. It tells them they are right and everyone else is wrong. It requires no thought, no curiosity, and no effort. It is the fast food of information.

And too many Americans are stuffing themselves sick with it.

People don’t question anything anymore. They hear something that fits their bias, click “share,” and move on, thinking they have just done their patriotic duty. They haven’t. They have just become another cog in the machine that keeps ignorance alive.

This kind of willful stupidity is not harmless. It poisons our democracy. It divides communities. It makes enemies out of neighbors and turns compassion into contempt. The truth has been replaced by whatever version makes someone feel good about being angry.

If we want a future built on facts, then we have to stop rewarding lies. We have to stop confusing opinion with evidence. And we have to stop pretending that truth is something we can bend to fit our feelings.

The truth does not care what we believe. It stands there, solid and stubborn, waiting for us to grow up and face it.

Author's Note: I am so sick of seeing garbage statistics passed around like gospel. Lies dressed up as facts are poisoning this country because people don’t bother to question anything anymore. If something fits their bias, they believe it. If it feeds their anger, they share it. No checking, no thinking, no shame.

It’s time to stop rewarding ignorance. I just wrote a new blog called “The Truth Gets Lost in the Noise: How Disinformation Feeds the Willfully Ignorant.” If you’re tired of seeing false claims about immigrants, politics, or anything else being spread like wildfire, you need to read this.