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To all you Wisconsin voters who believed Trump's blather and his insane, over-the-top promises, sorry, but you got exactly what you voted for: a giant bag of bullshit.

Handily ignoring that Obama won Wisconsin twice, and Trump won by less people than were purged off the rolls due to the new voter ID law. A law which the then attorney general happily admitted played a big role in the win! Please note that he is not the current AG after that bullshit, having been tossed out in the last election, along with all the Republicans in statewide office. Except the legislators in their highly gerrymandered districts, which actually picked up a Republican seat!

When you throw down partisan bullshit like that, it doesn't help anyone. There are a lot of problems with our electoral system. The voters themselves are definitely one of the problems, but there's a whole lot more that's just as important. You can't really blame the voters when they aren't allowed to vote, or their votes have been gerrymandered to not mean much.

Did you RTFA? It claims that much of the subsidy is in CASH. Other sources seem to support that assertion as well:

Wisconsin taxpayers will end up sending some $3 billion to the company. While state-level support is touted as tax relief, in fact Wisconsin has already waived almost all of the pertinent taxes for businesses. The taxpayer-funded $3 billion in incentives (the largest ever to a foreign company) will be paid largely in cash.

On top of that, the state will waive $150 million in sales taxes for Foxconn and pay the company up to $2.85 billion in tax credits — likely in cash

When looking a little further into it there are also bunch of projects that the state is doing to accommodate the factory. For example:

-State and local governments will also spend $400 million on road improvements, including adding two lanes to the nearby Interstate 94. And the federal government has committed to spend $160 million more in federal money to help pay for the interstate expansion.
-The local electric utility is upgrading its lines and adding substations to provide the necessary power that will be used by the plant, at a cost of $140 million. The cost of those projects will be paid by 5 million customers in the area.

Even if they provide the jobs they originally committed to, it'll cost around $400,000 per job. How long does someone making $50k a year need to pay taxes in Wisconsin to recoup that outlay?

It's a blatant corporate handout. Politicians can afford to be so brazen these days because they have so polarized the political environment that their "team" will vote for them, no matter what. We're watching the downfall of democracy in America and a large number of people are applauding.

You are absolutely incorrect. I can understand why it doesn't seem like it could impact national elections, but it absolutely does.

Gerrymandering has allowed mostly republicans to hold onto state legislative majorities while receiving far less than half the vote. In 2012 in Wisconsin, Democrats won 52% of the aggregate vote but only 39% of the seats in the Assembly.

That majority in state legislature has allowed republicans to install laws designed to prevent voting, which disproportionately impacts democratic voters. If likely democratic voters aren't allowed to vote at all, national elections are absolutely impacted by gerrymandering.

As a great example, look at Wisconsin. While I know Mother Jones isn't necessarily a great source, feel free to click through and listen to the interview where Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel says:

How many of your listeners really honestly are sure that Sen. Johnson was going to win reelection or President Trump was going to win Wisconsin if we didn’t have voter ID to keep Wisconsin’s elections clean and honest and have integrity?

It should be noted that you can count the voter fraud convictions in WI over the last decade on one hand. "if we didn’t have voter ID to keep Wisconsin’s elections clean and honest" is absolutely saying, "if we didn't have Voter ID to keep democrats, especially blacks, from voting".

23k-45k voters are estimated to have not been able to vote due to the voter ID law. Trump won the state by 22k votes.

If the state wasn't gerrymandered, that law wouldn't have passed, and those people would have voted. The supreme court has decided to pass on this lawsuit, because apparently the democrats didn't have standing? Apparently it will take someone losing a gerrymandered district to sue, and then proving that it was the gerrymandering that caused it. I.E., gerrymandering by political parties is fine according to the supreme court. That's fucked up, and pretty undemocratic.

But we got a supreme court that thinks this way in part due to gerrymandering. How's that for full circle?

The plant will not employ many people to begin with, and it will employ even less in short order since Foxconn is a leader in automation.

According to https://www.jsonline.com/story..., to get full tax credits and sales tax savings, Foxconn would have to employ 13,000 workers from 2022 through 2032.

Says who? The EPA didn't list Racine County under the 2008 standards, didn't list it under the initial list of nonattainment areas for the 2015 standards, and didn't list it under the additional areas list that was just published. Well after the Foxconn plant was announced, the EPA told Wisconsin they expected to list Racine County as a nonattainment area, but later changed their mind.

Um, as you yourself wrote, the EPA?

"Tuesday's announcement was a shift from the EPA's stance in December when it determined a much broader area of southeastern Wisconsin failed to meet ozone standards.

At that time, the EPA declared Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington and Racine counties in violation. The same was true for northern Door County and Kenosha County east of I-94. The EPA also found that areas near the shoreline of Sheboygan and Manitowoc counties in violation."

And in case you missed it in the final rule:
Oddly an almost contigious non-attainment area simply skips Racine county, because air pollution totally does that.

But I'm sure that the chage versus the recommendation was totally data-driven. Have fun in court.

6 million gallons/day? Chicago diverts 2 billion gallons/day from the Great Lakes watershed, much of it to move their crap elsewhere, just like they do with air pollution.

Odd that you chose to respond only to that item. Odder still that you would assume that I wasn't in favor of stopping diversions through the Chicago canals, which will likely be responsible for introducing asian carp to the Great Lakes, further destroying the fishery, unless shut down.

But by all means, let's keep adding Great Lakes water diversions on top of the ones Chicago started in 1848 and added to up to 1922. Just one more, ad infinitum, cannot hurt, and we've learned nothing since the 1920s anyways.

I'm going to assume you're not a moron and try to explain.

The fundamental, most basic cornerstone of a democratic government is the right to vote. (Yes, I know we're technically a republic.) Everyone has a constitutional right to vote. When you put barriers in place, no matter how innocuous they may seem, you will inadvertently deny people their constitutional right to vote. You will deny them their ability to participate in self-government, which is the cornerstone of freedom.

Voter impersonation does not rise to the level of concern that we should be denying people their right to vote by placing barriers up that don't accomplish their stated goal. I live in Wisconsin, and here are some of the things that happened when we implemented voter ID:

90 Year Old Iwo Jima Vet denied the right to vote.

When he presented his veterans administration card with his picture on it, he was told that the card was not listed as 'acceptable' proof of his identity. He responded: 'You mean veterans can't vote?'

A birth certificate with a typo on it causes a man to not be given a photo ID so he can't vote.
People of all races, all walks of life turned away from the polls.

And for what? For what possible purpose did we implement a voter ID law in Wisconsin?

Attorney General Brad Schimel suggests Donald Trump won Wisconsin because of the state's voter ID law

That's why. Partisan. Fucking. Politics. Not because voter impersonation is an issue. Because some evil asshats decided that getting their people elected was more important than some people's constitutional rights and freedoms.

And for the record, I feel the same way about gerrymandering and denying felons the right to vote. None of these things are helping voters participate in democracy, and they're not solving any issues that are remotely of the scale that it would make it necessary to put these barriers in place.

It's shocking to me how undemocratic we've become (or we've always been, but it's really visible now) as a country, and I think it's well past time to undo all of this stupidity. And make federal voting day a national holiday with a mandatory half day off for everyone. If you really want to tackle voter impersonation, that's an easy way to do it. With a guaranteed half day off, there should be no reason people can't get to the polls. And the more people who vote, the less viable voter impersonation becomes. It's already a non-issue, but something like 90% voter participation would absolutely put a stake in it.

I'm going to assume you're not a moron and try to explain.

The fundamental, most basic cornerstone of a democratic government is the right to vote. (Yes, I know we're technically a republic.) Everyone has a constitutional right to vote. When you put barriers in place, no matter how innocuous they may seem, you will inadvertently deny people their constitutional right to vote. You will deny them their ability to participate in self-government, which is the cornerstone of freedom.

Voter impersonation does not rise to the level of concern that we should be denying people their right to vote by placing barriers up that don't accomplish their stated goal. I live in Wisconsin, and here are some of the things that happened when we implemented voter ID:

90 Year Old Iwo Jima Vet denied the right to vote.

When he presented his veterans administration card with his picture on it, he was told that the card was not listed as 'acceptable' proof of his identity. He responded: 'You mean veterans can't vote?'

A birth certificate with a typo on it causes a man to not be given a photo ID so he can't vote.
People of all races, all walks of life turned away from the polls.

And for what? For what possible purpose did we implement a voter ID law in Wisconsin?

Attorney General Brad Schimel suggests Donald Trump won Wisconsin because of the state's voter ID law

That's why. Partisan. Fucking. Politics. Not because voter impersonation is an issue. Because some evil asshats decided that getting their people elected was more important than some people's constitutional rights and freedoms.

And for the record, I feel the same way about gerrymandering and denying felons the right to vote. None of these things are helping voters participate in democracy, and they're not solving any issues that are remotely of the scale that it would make it necessary to put these barriers in place.

It's shocking to me how undemocratic we've become (or we've always been, but it's really visible now) as a country, and I think it's well past time to undo all of this stupidity. And make federal voting day a national holiday with a mandatory half day off for everyone. If you really want to tackle voter impersonation, that's an easy way to do it. With a guaranteed half day off, there should be no reason people can't get to the polls. And the more people who vote, the less viable voter impersonation becomes. It's already a non-issue, but something like 90% voter participation would absolutely put a stake in it.

"There's no vote fraud!"

Again, BULLSHIT. How can you tell if there's vote fraud if you don't ID the voter? You can't.

Republicans know there is voter fraud. In the first person. https://www.denverpost.com/201...

http://occupydemocrats.com/201...

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=946...

http://nhpr.org/post/mancheste...

https://www.arktimes.com/arkan...

http://archive.jsonline.com/ne...

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/...

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/0...

Yesiree, Republicans know full well that there is voter fraud, and that is because so much Votter Fraud is performed by Republicans - highly ranked ones even - And your wet dream of a voter ID is going to do nothing, not one thing but eliminate a trite old chestnut of a talking point.

Personally, I'm in favor of voter ID - but given that Republicans bring it up every election cycle like it is the cure blessed by God himself for them thar godless commiecrats and their letting them chocolate people - who always commit fraud, amirite? - is just Bullshit - to use your term.

Phase it in, make it free ( hey, maybe we can get that Russian Oligarch who funnels money to Republicans through the NRA to chip in ) and start long before elections.

But how is that going to actually stop Republican election fraud? Or is that Okay because the Republican party has shown it has a lock on the moral high ground?

You're using some lovely RIAA math there, sport.

Wisconsin is paying nothing by offering tax breaks and tax credits for a company that otherwise would not even be setting up shop in Wisconsin.

You seem to assume that a government wouldn't be that stupid and corrupt, but you're totally wrong.

To lure Foxconn Technology Group to Wisconsin, state residents will have to do more than just forgo taxes from the Taiwanese electronics giant. They will have to pay cash — writing checks for up to $200 million a year.

...

And because Wisconsin already waives almost all taxes on manufacturing profits in the state, these incentives represent not a lost opportunity at collecting revenue but an obligation to pay cash to Foxconn out of the state treasury for up to 15 years. When including a $150 million sales tax break for buying construction material, the incentive package could total up to $3 billion, according to the bill that lawmakers could vote on as soon as Tuesday.

Don't worry Wisconsin is a Republican controlled state. As we all now Republicans are the party of low taxes, small government and restraint in state expenditure. We can therefore rely upon them to vote no to this vast expenditure of money from the state treasury on the grounds that it makes no sense from a business point of view, that it is an intolerable government interference in the workings of the free market and that it is not in harmony with their long treasured Republican ideals of small government and limiting expenditure from the state treasury. Sir, you may rely upon the Republicans to be the voice of reason in this matter.

You're using some lovely RIAA math there, sport.

Wisconsin is paying nothing by offering tax breaks and tax credits for a company that otherwise would not even be setting up shop in Wisconsin.

You seem to assume that a government wouldn't be that stupid and corrupt, but you're totally wrong.

To lure Foxconn Technology Group to Wisconsin, state residents will have to do more than just forgo taxes from the Taiwanese electronics giant. They will have to pay cash — writing checks for up to $200 million a year.

...

And because Wisconsin already waives almost all taxes on manufacturing profits in the state, these incentives represent not a lost opportunity at collecting revenue but an obligation to pay cash to Foxconn out of the state treasury for up to 15 years. When including a $150 million sales tax break for buying construction material, the incentive package could total up to $3 billion, according to the bill that lawmakers could vote on as soon as Tuesday.

I wonder how easily adapted this would be to, for example, identify everyone attending a strip club, or maybe collect data from everyone in an area known for prostitution or drug use.
In the past, people have received letters indicating their car was seen in an area known for prostitution, this could be an interesting tool.

Except money will most likely be handed over

http://www.jsonline.com/story/...

" Instead of getting the previous state standard of 7 cents in tax credits for every $1 in qualifying payroll checks to workers, Foxconn would get 17 cents in credits"

"because Wisconsin already waives almost all taxes on manufacturing profits in the state, these incentives represent not a lost opportunity at collecting revenue but an obligation to pay cash to Foxconn out of the state treasury for up to 15 years."

It's $3 billion less in tax revenue that the state will collect, so it's a $3 billion subsidy.

And only a 25 year payoff for taxpayers. Typical Republican "economic conservatism."

Oh, citation: http://www.jsonline.com/story/...

These court cases are crap and I'm sick of this argument that people are just incapable of getting an ID somehow.

Yes, yes, ignore the actual documented problems that were substantiated in a court of law. This is the biggest issue with the legitimacy of your argument, you rail and rant at the concerns, instead of solving them.

I said this to Mashiki, but you should realize it as well, a little contrition is what you need, not obstreperousness.

Everyone should have an ID.

Then make it an obligation for the state to provide it, even if the Governor of the State has to walk around in EVERY single neighborhood with a camera and a printer.

Here's a list of reasons why, provided by the NYC government:

Yes, yes, there are good reasons to have ID. Which is why the City of New York set up a Municipal ID program, thank you for appreciating them.

People object no matter how easy the local government makes it.

People object because the state government doesn't make it easy, hence the court claims you blithely dismiss, and when a local government does it, the GOP puts up roadblocks anyway.

People objected even when they were sending mobile voter ID vans into neighborhoods to make it easy.

Really, they never sent those vans around here, but maybe those vans weren't around at convenient times, maybe they weren't well-advertised, maybe they weren't doing the job properly. Maybe people still had the issues with having the documentation. Just because you say you do something, doesn't mean you do it right.

If those vans were giving out free phones people would have waited on lines for hours.

Yes, yes, there were protests over providing people with phones too.

Voters are supposed to be adults. Treat them accordingly.

Yes, yes, blame the voter, a common attitude, except the state's legitimacy only exists with the provision of the vote. Treat it accordingly.

I bet if you needed a photo ID to collect social security benefits the person named in that lawsuit would have had one for 20 years.

I bet if Social Security started doing photo ID, there'd be massive protests and objections about the mark of the beast.

Oh the irony... I didn't actually think diacetyl would really be applicable for vape fluid (it was just an example from the food industry that I knew off the top of my head), but no, it apparently is a problem in vape fluid. A university study found that found many vape fluids have diacetyl, yet falsely claim they do not.

I didn't make it up, I just saw an interview where they said differently. You see, George Martin, who sits on the Green Party's coordinating committee, said something rather different in an interview.

Excess money raised for the recount will go to Green Party campaign schools next year "to groom local candidates," Martin said.

Or maybe they think that this qualifies as that? I'm not sure why they would send mixed messages.

This is from sporting firearm usage which is the predominant use for firearms the world over.

"sporting" is a useless description that is used to mean all non-human-target shots. Paper target and hunting are lumped together. Seems to not be a good delineator.

Are you afraid of guns?

No. Why would you think that? That I can understand how some people are must mean I'm justifying my own feelings?

People own, have and misuse spoons all the time. The deaths from them are negligible. Firearms, properly used, kill people. Firearms improperly used kill people. Killing with a firearm is so easy a 2-year old could do it. http://archive.jsonline.com/ne...

http://www.jsonline.com/news/c...

They rely on cookies to limit the number of articles that you read. Unlike similar sites, they don't block you if you block cookies.

And also, why is always democrats trying to do an end-run around the democratic process?

We don't see Trump supporters blocking highway ramps and flipping police cars when a vote doesn't go the way they want. Why do the democrats think that's appropriate?

Or fleeing to neighboring states to prevent a quorum

This moron overpaid for a lemon.

Up to this point, there has been no lemons from tesla.

Facts say otherwise.

Just because something is not profitable does not mean it shouldn't be built. Trains are one you've already mentioned, roads another...

Why shouldn't roads, especially limited access roads, pay for themselves 100% from gas taxes and other user fees instead of less than half? And why should truckers continue to be heavily subsidized for the massive damage they cause to our roads?

And with all those road and trucking subsidies, is it really too hard to understand why it's so difficult for trains to turn a profit?

Meanwhile, is it possible that we've committed ourselves to maintaining more than the economically optimal amount of infrastructure, that people intuitively realize this and that's why we aren't willing to raise taxes to keep our roads and bridges from crumbling? Or to look at it another way, what would "too many roads and bridges" look like? The answer to this question is important in determining whether we're already past that point.

Perhaps if truckers were required to pay their fair share, they might reduce their axle loading a little in order to avoid damaging the pavement, saving taxpayers money. And if the roads were required to pay for themselves, grocery stores might again locate themselves near railroad spurs, as they did before the Interstate Highway System came along, saving themselves and their customers money. More freight would be transported by rail which is three times as fuel-efficient as trucks, reducing our carbon emissions. But none of this magic will happen as long as we cling to the belief that roads need not pay for themselves.

Why would grocery stores want rail tracks as long as trucks are so heavily subsidized that rail doesn't make financial sense?

And why can't electric trucks transport goods the short distance from the tracks to the grocery store?

Something that leached into your bottled water, since all (yes, all) plastic bottles leach toxics into their contents over time? It doesn't support your assertion.

LOL, so now you're believing everything you read in those chain emails? Hate to piss in your cheerios, but those emails are chock full of urban myth:

And then you proceed to link something which doesn't actually speak to my assertions. It addresses one chemical. It's also from the American Cancer Society, which makes it dubious on its own. They are Big Pharma whores. Guess what? There are multiple known carcinogens commonly used in plastic drinking water bottles, and they leach into their contents. The government insisted that BPA was safe, and we saw how much bullshit that was. Now they're insisting that BPS and the rest of of this shit is safe, and you're eating it up. How's about paying attention to the lessons of history? If it looks like a hormone, and gets into your body, it can do shit there. And these plastic compounds overwhelmingly do look like hormones to your body. They're shaped just like them.

It already has http://www.jsonline.com/news/c...

And two ton steel boxes shouldn't be sharing the road with 40 ton steel boxes.

>> What "rapid increase of murder"??

How's life in the country? Here's some 2015/2014 stats...it's becoming a major political issue for those of us in and around cities.

Chicago: 26 percent increase - http://www.chicagotribune.com/...
Milwaukee: hit 2014's total in July! - http://www.jsonline.com/news/c...
Baltimore: deadliest month in 40 years - http://www.baltimoresun.com/ne...
New York: Mayor under fire for murder jump - http://www.politifact.com/pund...

Take a look at Wisconsin: an attempt to make the state's laws as restrictive as the FOIA was met with huge backlash and a unanimous vote in the Republican-led Senate against it.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/w...

Why not just dump the FOIA and let people electronically read what they want whenever? Think of it like "body cameras for politicians."

Let's be honest, Uber is a cab company in everything but name. So, it's no surprise that governments treat Uber like a cab company -- something governments have the power to do.

Many commenters (understandably) don't like the regulations for cab companies and thus don't want to see Uber treated like one -- leading to the senseless denial that Uber is cab company (which it is).

What these commenters suggest is not how the legal system should work. The executive branch of government should enforce the laws. Commenters should instead take issue with the legislative branch for writing the laws in the first place.

And you know what? In some places the legislative branch does listen. Here in WI, the state legislature passed a law last month preempting local ordinances and allowing Uber to operate state wide (with some regulation). As a consequence, Uber is extending service to 5 new areas in Wisconsin. (Believe it or not, that means Uber will operate in 8 Wisconsin locations. Apparently there's demand. Who knew?)

Considering how many cheating and thieving Chinese students we admit to our college/university STEM programs and eventually American engineering jobs, we cannot win.

Wisconsin's upgrading rail. One of the main drivers is demand for fracking sand. Since Amtrak runs on mostly freight rails, you need to improve the case for freight to get better passenger service.
http://www.jsonline.com/busine...

Because finnish teachers are not unionized at all, right?

As you presumably suspected - or already knew - was the case, they most definitely are unionized.

Well, obviously if the prosecutors hid evidence, then they go on death row and the accused is set free as he did not get a fair trial.

I'll put you in the naive category. I think that is better than stupid.

There was video of a policeman hitting a handcuffed supect during questioning. Was he convicted? No. You really think that prosecutors are going to suffer for misconduct? If so, I have a bridge to sell you.

After the story broke, several pundits commented that the media will drop the Hillary story as quickly as possible and start digging into Scott Walker's email usage. Sure enough, the first article has appeared. Walker "blurred the lines" while in county government: http://m.jsonline.com/news/sta....

More like Operation Fearless.

http://www.jsonline.com/watchd...

ATF agents running an undercover storefront in Milwaukee used a brain-damaged man with a low IQ to set up gun and drug deals, paying him in cigarettes, merchandise and money, according to federal documents obtained by the Journal Sentinel.

Hours after a machine gun was stolen from an ATF agent's vehicle in September, police had four men in custody. But the gun vanished.

ATF agents let a man armed with a gun and threatening to shoot someone walk out of their storefront sting operation in Milwaukee last summer, failing to arrest him or take the weapon, the Journal Sentinel has learned.

ATF agents have lost track of dozens of government-issued guns, after stashing them under seats in their cars, in glove compartments or leaving them on top of their vehicles and driving away, according to reports obtained by the Journal Sentinel.

This story really surprised me - I expected that sort of behaviour from a Socialist Five Year Plan but not really from the US. Even the instructions from the Party Secretary fit: "The fish division hasn't done anything new in 20 years. Get out there and do something big and spectacular.". The main difference is that the fishing would at least initially have been reserved for party members, maybe top party members.

That story had a link to the next part which took a more modern approach. I found the whole thing fascinating.

Often, they build an assembly plant in the US to get around this issue. Then, this happens.

1. Trains don't go everywhere. You still need trucks to get things from the train station to the warehouse.

When the warehouse has its own rail siding, all you need is a forklift. There's no reason why big-box stores can't be built near rail lines.

2. Who said anything about subsidizing anything?

The trucking industry is heavily subsidized.

Something like that:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/c...

Is this what you're referring too?

http://www.bizjournals.com/mil...

In all fairness, these weren't Harley employees, but worked for a contracting firm that did IT for Harley (according to the link). Harley then decided to outsource their IT to Infosys (which I don't see as a smart move regardless).

It looks like this took place two years ago.....I don't remember seeing anything about it when it happened.
http://www.jsonline.com/busine...

>> Care to put a dollar amount out there?

Sure. $100 says that Putin comes out of this thing looking like a world-class statesman to his allies - much like he did walking out from the Syria standoff (where the US also backed down).

For example, I already read a story this morning that Putin has "offered a cease fire" (ah, truly a man of peace!):
http://www.jsonline.com/news/u... ... even though he's the guy who invaded Ukraine and armed the f***ers who shot the plan down.

There is some substance behind the charge that the current system favors the cartels. The Institute for Justice, https://ij.org/milwaukee-taxis... has some interesting background on this. The current system freezes all newcomers out of the market and gives the current (limited by law) permit holders a monopoly. The present system has been ruled unconstitutional: http://www.jsonline.com/news/m... The ordinance as drafted: "The proposal requires permits for all public passenger vehicles, and all vehicles must be inspected. In addition there are penalties for operating a public passenger vehicle without a permit and driving a public passenger vehicle without a license." so public safety is protected. Lyft and Uber could require drivers offering rides to have the proper licensing. These services aren't going to go away, its time to completely legitimize them.

That's true, and here is proof.

Today, over-the-road heavy trucks pay approximately $14,000 per year in combined fuel and other highway taxes. This amount does not come close to paying for the damage to roads and bridges caused by trucks...one 80,000-pound truck does the same road damage as 9,600 automobiles...

Just spread cheese brine like they do in Wisconsin. This could be done with ANY milk or septic truck. They HAVE to have a couple of those around.

http://www.jsonline.com/newswatch/milwaukees-latest-antidote-to-icy-streets-cheese-brine-b9995766z1-223291751.html

Because the $14,000 per year in combined fuel and other highway taxes does not come close to paying for the damage to roads and bridges caused by trucks, we all have to pay the difference in taxes. Eliminating that subsidy would encourage shipping companies to move more freight by rail in order to save money. This incentive doesn't exist today, and so we're all paying more taxes than we need to, and that puts a damper on the economy.

Instead of building additional lanes, it may make sense to start charging truckers their fair share for the damage trucks do to our roads. This would move more freight to rail where it does less damage and creates less traffic congestion, while generating more revenue to pay for the roads and allow gas taxes to be lowered.

How about when they asked mentally challenged people to help them run a sting operation and then charge them with the crimes they asked them to commit? ATF uses rogue tactics in storefront stings across nation.

The issue could easily be solved by the application administrators implementing a waiting room or queuing system. Since the system was contracted out, we apparently need to blame Connecture, not the federal government for any shortfalls in the system.