Sedition – typicallywords intended to incite insurrection against the government – is not punishable by death.
The federal crime is seditious conspiracy, where two or more people conspire to overthrow the government.
It is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
President Donald Trump on Nov. 20 said: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
His reference was to Democratic lawmakers who two days earlier reminded members of the military to disobey illegal orders.
Trump’s post prompted a rebuke from U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., among others. Milwaukeean Victor Berger, the first Socialist elected to Congress, was convicted in 1918 of espionage, for his opposition to World War I, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The House refused to seat him on grounds of sedition. But he returned to Congress after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1921.
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Is sedition punishable by death? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
Emissions projections for 2040 have dropped, but not by 40%.
The 2024 International Energy Agency forecast for yearly global CO2 emissions in 2040 was 31 gigatonnes, 18% lower than the 38 Gt predicted in 2014. This reflected scenarios that considered current and announced short-term policies (at the respective times). Global carbon emissions were 37.8 Gt in 2024.
In 2024, a scenario assuming that all long-term climate pledges were carried out forecasted 19 Gt of emissions in 2040.
In the 2024 report, the IEA calculates a 2.4-degree Celsius temperature rise by 2100 given current policies and short-term proposals, versus a 1.7-degree Celsius increase if long-term pledges are implemented.
The IEA also calculates a “Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario,” which limits global warming to 1.5-degree Celsius by 2100. However, the UN ruled in November 2025 that this is no longer possible to prevent an overshoot of this in the short-term.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
This fact brief was originally published by Econofact on November 17, 2025, and was authored by Gabriel Vinocur. Econofact is a member of the Gigafact network.
The cost for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest, detain and deport someone is at least $17,121, on average, according to the agency.
The federal agency, located within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, cited that cost this year as President Donald Trump’s administration ramped up deportations of undocumented immigrants. As of late October, DHS had reportedly deported 527,000 people during Trump’s second term.
ICE may be underestimating the taxpayer cost of deportations. Penn Wharton Budget Model, a nonpartisan research initiative, calculated a much higher per-deportee cost.
Studies cited by Penn Wharton had costs per deportation ranging from $30,591 to $109,880, coming out to an average of $70,236. The biggest variable between the two studies was the detention and monitoring cost, a figure that is dependent on how long a deportee is detained.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
This fact brief was originally published by MinnPost on November 18, 2025, and was authored by Brian Arola. MinnPost is a member of the Gigafact network.
Two of the biggest political issues of the year are immigration and health care.
In the latest Marquette Law School Poll, 75% of Republicans said they were very concerned about illegal immigration and border security while 83% of Democrats said they were very concerned about health insurance. Those were the top issues among those groups. (Among independents, 79% said they were very concerned about inflation and the cost of living, making it their top issue.)
Here’s a look at some recent fact checks of claims related to health care and immigration.
Health care
No, Obamacare premiums aren’t doubling for 20 million Americans in 2026, but 2 to 3 million Americans would lose all enhanced subsidies and about half of them could see their premium payments double or triple.
Yes, Obamacare premiums increased three times the rate of inflation since the program started in 2014. They’re making headlines now for going up even more.
No, 6 million people have not received Obamacare health insurance without knowing it. There wasn’t evidence to back a claim by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., about the level of fraud in the program.
No, Wisconsin does not have a law on minors getting birth control without parental consent. But residents under age 18 can get birth control on their own.
Immigration
Yes, unauthorized immigrants have constitutional rights that apply to all people in the U.S. That includes a right to due process, to defend oneself in a hearing, such as in court, though not other rights, such as voting.
No, standard driver’s licenses do not prove U.S. citizenship. There’s a court battle in Wisconsin over whether voters must prove citizenship to cast a ballot.
Yes, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is offering police departments $100,000 to cooperate in finding unauthorized immigrants. It’s for vehicle purchases.
No, tens of millions of unauthorized immigrants do not receive federal health benefits.
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The amount some pay for Affordable Care Act health insurance will double when enhanced subsidies expire, but there isn’t evidence the number is 20 million.
KFF, a health policy nonprofit, estimates monthly payments for Obamacare recipients will increase, on average, $1,016 – more than doubling, from $888 in 2025 to $1,904 in 2026.
That counts increases to premiums and lost subsidies.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, citing KFF, made the 20 million claim. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Sanders was wrong.
KFF doesn’t say how many of the 24 million Obamacare enrollees will see premiums double.
But 2 to 3 million people on the high end of income eligibility would lose all enhanced subsidies. About half could see premium payments double or triple.
Enhanced subsidies, created in 2021, expire Dec. 31. Some Obamacare enrollees will receive lower enhanced subsidies or none. Standard subsidies remain.
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The Constitution’s Fifth Amendment says: “No person shall be … deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
The 14th makes the same declaration and says no state shall “deny to any person … the equal protection of the laws.”
The U.S. Supreme Court hasheld that all people in the U.S. have constitutional protections, though citizens have additional rights.
Due process generally means that the government must give individuals a chance to defend themselves in a fair hearing, such as in court.
Politico reported Oct. 31 that more than 100 federal judges have ruled that the Trump administration’s effort to systematically detain immigrants facing possible deportation appeared to violate their rights or was illegal.
All people also have other constitutional protections, including the right to free speech and assembly and to a public education.
Citizens have additional constitutional protections, such as the right to vote.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
The day before federal funding ran out for SNAP, the U.S. Agriculture Department warned retailers against giving discounts to recipients of the nation’s largest food assistance program.
“OFFERING DISCOUNTS OR SERVICES ONLY TO SNAP PAYING CUSTOMERS IS A SNAP VIOLATION UNLESS YOU HAVE A SNAP EQUAL TREATMENT WAIVER,” the Oct. 31 notice said.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps and called FoodShare in Wisconsin, provides food assistance for 42 million low-income people.
Funding ran out because of the government shutdown, though the Agriculture Department said Nov. 3 it would provide partial SNAP funding for November.
Federal regulations state: “No retail food store may single out” SNAP recipients “for special treatment in any way.”
The planet continues to warm due to human activity; bouts of cold weather don’t change this.
Satellites around the world measure temperatures at different places throughout the year. These are averaged to calculate annual global temperatures.
The past ten years (2015-2024) have been the ten hottest since modern record-keeping began in 1850, and 2024 was the all-time hottest. The last time Earth had a colder-than-average year was 1976.
Weather refers to meteorological conditions — heat, humidity, precipitation, etc. — in a given moment, while climate represents patterns of weather over time.
Cold snaps still occur, but they’re becoming less common as Earth warms from human emissions of heat-trapping gases.
This fact brief was originally published by Skeptical Science on November 2, 2025, and was authored by Sue Bin Park. Skeptical Science is a member of the Gigafact network.
Nine states, including Wisconsin, have no law specifying whether minors can obtain contraceptives without parental consent.
However, Wisconsin residents under age 18 can get birth control independently.
Clinics receiving federal Title X family planning funds cannot require parental consent.
One state of Wisconsin program offers free contraceptives to low-income minors without notifying parents.
And Wisconsin law requires that foster children receive confidential family planning services.
The lack of a law means some providers “may require parental consent out of an abundance of caution,” said Marquette University law professor Lisa Mazzie.
Parents might be notified by their health insurers if their children get contraception using insurance.
In the latest national survey by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2023, 32% of high school students reported ever having sex, down from 47% in 2013; 52% used a condom during their last sexual intercourse; 33% used hormonal birth control.
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Studies have identified a caregiver shortfall in the U.S., and higher immigration has been empirically linked to alleviating this.
Adults 65 and over made up 18% of the U.S. population in 2024, up from 12% in 2004, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Estimates suggest that this will rise to 23% in 2060. These increases mean an increased demand for caregiving.
Caregiving is often performed by immigrants. One study published in the American Journal of Health Economics finds that immigration increases nurse hours in nursing homes and leads to an improvement in the outcomes of residents. Another study by Tara Watson (Brookings), Kristin Butcher (Wellesley), and Kelsey Moran (MIT) estimated that a 10 percentage point rise in the share of the population that is foreign-born decreases the percentage of the elderly living in a care facility by 29%. This is due to a greater availability of home care.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
This fact brief was originally published by Econofact on October 27, 2025, and was authored by Gabriel Vinocur. Econofact is a member of the Gigafact network.
Affordable Care Act premiums, expected to skyrocket in 2026 unless enhanced subsidies are extended, have increased about 118% since coverage for individuals began in 2014.
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., made the three-times claim Oct. 21, as the federal government shutdown continued.
To end the shutdown, Democrats want to extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies, which made more people eligible. They expire Dec. 31.
Without enhanced subsidies, Wisconsinites could see 2026 premium increases of up to 800%, according to the state.
The average monthly premium for a benchmark Obamacare plan was $273 in 2014; it is expected to be at least $596 in 2026.
Premiums, initially so low that insurers lost money, jumped in 2017, stayed stable since 2018 but are expected to rise more than 18% in 2026, KFF Obamacare program director Cynthia Cox said.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Currently, Republicans have 53 seats. As of Oct. 23, they hadnot persuaded enough Democrats to support ending debate and vote on a House-passed bill that would end the shutdown with temporary funding.
The shutdown began when funding ended with the start of the fiscal year, Oct. 1. One potential effect: The Trump administration announced that funding might not be available in November for the 42 million people receiving SNAP food stamps. Wisconsin said it would run out of SNAP funding after Oct. 31.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Communism and socialism oppose capitalism but are different ideologies, despite the terms sometimes being used interchangeably.
Communism: Replacing private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and control of means of production and natural resources. Wealth divided equally, or according to need. One-party government oversees economy.
Socialism: Public, rather than private, control of property and natural resources, but allowing private property ownership. Socialism can seek to restrain capitalism through democracy or authoritarian control.
On Oct. 2, Wisconsin state Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, called Milwaukee state Rep. Ryan Clancy a communist. Clancy, like New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, identifies as a democraticsocialist.
Clancy’s positions include a right to legal counsel for people facing eviction, shifting funds from law enforcement to community services and eliminating property tax funding of schools.
Mamdani advocates for freezing rent, government-owned grocery stores and free child care.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Asked if they believe in God or a universal spirit, 16% said no.
Pew also found that 29% of Americans (including atheists) said they are not religiously affiliated, up from 16% in 2007. The largest affiliation was Christian — 62%, down from 78%.
AP-NORC: 7% atheist. 7% agnostic (believe God’s existence is unknown). 16% “nothing in particular.” Overall, 79% professed belief in God or a higher power, including 4% of atheists.
Republican U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman, who represents part of eastern Wisconsin, said Oct. 13 that over 18% of Americans are atheists. His office didn’t reply to comment requests.
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Are 1 in 5 Americans atheists? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
Unemployment among young U.S. workers is the highest it’s been in nearly four years.
Unemployment among young U.S. workers (those aged 16-24) was 10.5% in August 2025. That is the highest rate since February 2021 when it was 10.9%.
The World Health Organization ended the COVID-19 pandemic’s “global health emergency” status on May 5, 2023. However, prior to the pandemic, youth unemployment was higher than current levels from August 2007 to January 2016.
Standard driver’s licenses are not proof of U.S. citizenship.
Enhanced driver’s licenses, which require documents such as a birth certificate or passport, provide proof. Intended for use in U.S. border crossing by vehicle, they are available in Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington.
To register to vote, people in Wisconsin and most states must declare citizenship, under penalty of perjury. Proof isn’t required.
A 2024 lawsuit sought to require the Wisconsin Elections Commission to verify citizenship for voting. The commission argued that no state law requires citizenship proof.
A judge Oct. 3 ordered the commission to determine whether any noncitizens are registered to vote and to stop accepting voter registrations without verifying citizenship. The state is challenging the order.
Audits have found that very few registered voters are noncitizens.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
We found no documentation confirming a Sept. 29 statement by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., that 6 million people unknowingly received health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.
Johnson cited a report by Paragon Health Institute, a think tank alignedwith the Trump administration.
The report produced an estimate, not a count, claiming 6.4 million people were fraudulently enrolled in Obamacare. It said they were not income-eligible, including millions who “appear to be enrolled without their knowledge.”
Fraud is much more common among brokers misappropriating patients’ identities than by patients, said KFF Obamacare program director Cynthia Cox and Justin Giovannelli of Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms.
Consumers are cautioned about offers to enroll them in Obamacare.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican front-runner in the 2026 race for Wisconsin governor, has a mixed record on statements fact-checked by Wisconsin Watch.
The northern Wisconsin congressman has been on target on some claims, such as low Wisconsin business rankings, the link between marijuana and psychosis, and a drop in Wisconsin reading scores.
Other assertions, including claims about tariffs, aid for Ukraine and vetting evacuees from Afghanistan, have been off.
Peer-reviewed research has found links between marijuana use and psychosis — the loss of contact with reality, experienced as delusions or hallucinations.
The consensus is there is a clear association, but more research is needed to determine if there is causation.
In August, Tiffany called for more research on the link to inform legalization policy.
Canada has set tariffs exceeding 200% for U.S. dairy products.
But the tariffs are imposed only when the amount imported exceeds quotas, and the U.S. “has never gotten close to exceeding” quotas that would trigger Canada’s dairy tariffs, the International Dairy Foods Association said.
Tiffany claimed that Wisconsin had “fallen behind” Mississippi in reading.
In the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress assessment, issued every two years, Mississippi’s fourth grade public school students scored higher than Wisconsin’s in reading proficiency, though the ratings “were not significantly different.”
In 2022, 33% of Wisconsin fourth graders rated “at or above proficient” in reading, vs. 31% in Mississippi. In 2024, Wisconsin dropped to 31%; Mississippi rose to 32%.
A $95 billion U.S. aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, which President Joe Biden signed into law in April 2024, prohibits funds from being allocated to pensions in Ukraine.
Tiffany claimed that the law included “millions” for pensions in Ukraine. His office, pointing to a U.S. State Department news release, told Wisconsin Watch that Tiffany meant to say that previous U.S. aid packages funded Ukrainian pensions.
Following the Afghanistan evacuation that began in summer 2021, more than 76,000 Afghans came to the U.S. after being vetted, The Wall Street Journal reported.
All evacuees were brought to a military base in Europe or the Middle East, where U.S. officials collected fingerprints and biographical details and ran them through criminal and terrorism-related databases, the Journal reported.
In reviews, the Defense and Homeland Security departments found that not all evacuees were fully vetted.
Tiffany made the claim about changes the Biden administration made in 2024 to Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools receiving federal funding.
The new rules protect students and employees from sex-based harassment and discrimination. The rules say future changes will address sex-separate athletic teams.
As of late October 2023, when Tiffany made his claim, more than 200 non-U.S. citizens on the federal terrorist watchlist had tried to enter the U.S. between legal ports of entry and were stopped by Border Patrol during the Biden administration.
The watchlist contains known or suspected terrorists and individuals “who represent a potential threat.”
In making that claim, Tiffany cited a Wall Street Journal report on closed-door congressional testimony given by Devon Archer, a former Hunter Biden business associate, about Joe Biden participating with Hunter in about 20 phone calls when Biden was vice president.
The Journal quoted Republican Rep. James Comer as saying Archer testified that Joe Biden was put on the phone to help Hunter sell “the brand.” A transcript shows Archer testified that Joe and Hunter never discussed business on the calls.
Information cited by Tiffany when he made that claim in 2023 contained only unverified intelligence that the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid Biden $5 million.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offers up to $100,000 for vehicle purchases to local law enforcement agencies that assist ICE in apprehending unauthorized immigrants.
ICE announced Sept. 2 that its 287(g)Program also offers other local incentives, including salary and benefits reimbursement for ICE-trained officers and quarterly payments of $500 to $1,000 per officer for finding unauthorized immigrants identified by ICE.
As of Oct. 2, 13 Wisconsin sheriff’s departments, including Brown and Waukesha counties, were working with ICE on unauthorized immigrants in their jails and/or serving immigration warrants on individuals.
The $100,000 is offered to “task force” members. One Wisconsin police department, Palmyra in Jefferson County, is participating. The chief has said his focus is pursuing “criminals.”
ICE says its program targets criminal unauthorized immigrants. Research shows unauthorized immigrants crossing the U.S. border are not more likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Wisconsin electricity rates – for residential, industrial and commercial users – have exceeded regional averages annually for 20 years.
From 2003 through 2022, Wisconsin rates exceeded the averages in each of the three user categories for eight Midwest states, Wisconsin Public Service Commission reports show.
For the three categories combined, Wisconsin’s rate was second-highest in 2023-24 and third-highest in 2024-25 among 12 central region states, federal Energy Information Administration figures show.
Here are the July 2025 cents-per-kilowatt hour rates in Wisconsin versus the north central region average:
Residential: $18.30/$17.84
Commercial: $13.39/$13.31
Industrial: $9.87/$9.46
Electric bills rose for residential customers of Wisconsin’s five largest utilities, according to the Wisconsin Citizens Utility Board. For example, the average monthly We Energies bill for a typical residential customer was $128.65 in 2024, twice as high as $56.18 for 2004.
Booming data center construction in Wisconsin could affect utility rates.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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