by Joe Williams

Optimism among U.S. manufacturers is soaring as the Republican-led tax cuts help fuel a white-hot economy with the lowest unemployment numbers in over a decade, but a significant labor shortage is undermining the gains, a new report shows.

Nearly 93 percent of manufacturers are projecting further expansion for their businesses, and positive sentiment among smaller companies is up to 91.3 percent, according to a quarterly survey from the National Association of Manufacturers. It's one of the best outlooks the group has seen in the 20 years it has conducted the survey among its 14,000 members. Full Story....HERE

Rick Barrett

The U.S. and Canada have reached a deal to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement, with Canada agreeing to eliminate restrictive policies that have hurt Wisconsin dairy farmers. 

The two countries will now join Mexico in changing the 1994 accord, which will be renamed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

As part of the deal, the U.S. is getting expanded access to Canada’s protected dairy market, a contentious issue in the trade talks and one that threatened to shut down dozens of Wisconsin farms. Full Story....Here

By James Simpson

The left’s smear tactics have come on full display during the surfeit of attacks on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Whether you support or oppose this SCOTUS nomination, the tactics being used are more extreme even than during the Clarence Thomas hearings.

But as we know, they are nothing new, and Democrats will continue to use them until the American people scream “Enough!” — because they are effective. The real goal is psychological terrorism—that is, engaging in a scorched-earth effort to destroy the target, and in so doing intimidating anyone willing to enter public service, or even just support a public figure that does not parrot the politically correct line. Full Story....Here 

By Bret Stephens

For the first time since Donald Trump entered the political fray, I find myself grateful that he’s in it. I’m reluctant to admit it and astonished to say it, especially since the president mocked Christine Blasey Ford in his ugly and gratuitous way at a rally on Tuesday. Perhaps it’s worth unpacking this admission for those who might be equally astonished to read it.

I’m grateful because Trump has not backed down in the face of the slipperiness, hypocrisy and dangerous standard-setting deployed by opponents of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. I’m grateful because ferocious and even crass obstinacy has its uses in life, and never more so than in the face of sly moral bullying. I’m grateful because he’s a big fat hammer fending off a razor-sharp dagger. Full Story....Here

We will have our monthly membership meeting this Monday night, October 8, at 6:30 p.m., at our headquarters at 20 West Marshall in Rice Lake.  We plan to have a membership meeting in early November, but this will be our last chance to do much in advance of the election on November 6, so please attend.  

Romaine Quinn, our representative in the  State Assembly,  and James Bolen, our candidate for the State Senate. plan to be there to address us, and Jesse Garza will speak for Sean Duffy, our representative in Congress.

Please think about what you can do to help the campaign - help staff the headquarters, make calls, go door to door, spread the good word about conservatism, about the prosperity and other good things that come from freedom and individual responsibility.

Brian Rude for the Barron County Republican Party

Please see attached for information about the fundraiser for James Bolen.

Monday, October 8,

11:30am - 1:00pm

 Rice Lake Veterans Center

1404 Macauley Ave, Rice Lake

Special Guest Speaker, GOVERNOR SCOTT WALKER

By Eric Litke 

Evers’ ad is built around the claim that Wisconsin premiums are 50 percent higher than Minnesota’s, but it goes astray on several fronts.

The ad contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. That’s our definition of Mostly False. Full Story....Here

Jeff Cox

Long-awaited wage growth posted its biggest increase of the economic recovery in August while payroll gains beat expectations and the unemployment rate held near a generational low of 3.9 percent, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report Friday. Full Story....Here