Commentary
Wisconsin is a top worry for election watchdog
David Becker, executive director of The Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR) and co-author of “The Big Truth: Upholding Democracy in the Age of the Big Lie,” said Tuesday that Wisconsin is “on the top of my list” of places that could be engulfed by chaos after the 2024 election. False claims of voter […]
We must stand up to school privatizers for the sake of Wisconsin kids
The problems facing Wisconsin public schools have multiple causes, but we need to address a major one: the school privatization movement. As part of a compromise struck behind closed doors between Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican leaders of our gerrymandered legislature, we’re watching helplessly as a record increase of our public dollars go to […]
Abortion services are back in Wisconsin, but only for some
Abortion services are resuming in Madison and Milwaukee today after a 15-month pause. The suspension of services resulted from the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that called into question the enforceability of an archaic law from 1849 threatening to put doctors in jail for performing nearly all abortions in the state. The chilling effect of […]
Defending democracy in Wisconsin
Wisconsin is Ground Zero for attacks on democracy, which generated a tsunami of news from the Capitol this week. On Thursday, as Henry Redman reports, Republicans in the Senate voted to remove the state’s highly respected, nonpartisan administrator of elections, Meagan Wolfe, in order to appease election conspiracy theorists. Meanwhile, in the Assembly, Speaker Robin […]
Wisconsin officials must listen to young people. Our health and well-being depend on it.
The school year has started for students across Wisconsin, but for Milwaukee students, the academic environment this year will be less welcoming, less supportive and less safe, as Milwaukee Public Schools prepare to place police officers back on campus. Students in Milwaukee led the movement to increase school safety for all students – starting with […]
Supreme Court impeachment threat amounts to extortion
Nothing more clearly demonstrates the evils of our Legislature’s extreme gerrymandering than the brazen extortion plot hatched by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Republicans in the Legislature against Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz and the one-million-plus voters who elected her. “Rule as we instruct you to rule,” they say to Justice Protasiewicz, “or we […]
How anti-government ideologues targeted Wisconsin public schools
Now that the new school year has started, I’ve been volunteering on the Madison East High School cross-country team, trying to keep up with 80 or so kids as they run through Madison’s east side neighborhoods and around the fields behind the school. A former East runner myself, I’ve always been a Purgolder partisan. All […]
This year, Labor Day is more relevant than ever
On Labor Day, first designated as a national holiday in 1894, we commemorate the union movement, the demand for an eight hour work day, better working conditions, fair wages and an end to child labor. Gender equality, racial equality, fair farm prices and farm worker rights are separate issues but all related to the struggle […]
Lawless MAGA Republicans are trying to overthrow democracy
These are not normal times. Still, as Will Bunch observed in a powerful column for the Philadelphia Inquirer, out of force of habit, laziness or just plain denial, a lot of journalists continue to treat the Republican presidential contest as if it were a regular political event instead of the lawless authoritarian movement it really […]
Historic peace boat in Wisconsin promotes nuclear disarmament
A small sailboat with a huge mission — to end the existential threat of nuclear weapons — entered Wisconsin’s waters of Lake Michigan this week, nearing the end of an 11,000 mile voyage for peace. It will dock in Sheboygan, Milwaukee and Racine for public events. The Golden Rule is the original peace boat that […]
What’s missing from discussion of the Farm Bill
The Farm Bill, an omnibus five year bill dealing with farm and food programs, ultimately affects everyone in Wisconsin. Whether you farm, eat, depend on food assistance programs, or just like to breathe clean air or have access to clean water, the Farm Bill affects you. Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden hosted a Farm Bill […]
Wisconsin’s Trump enablers are still undermining democracy
Even as Trump snubs the Republican Party by refusing to attend the debate in Milwaukee this week, his corrosive influence continues to permeate Wisconsin. The list of Wisconsinites named in Trump indictments keeps growing. It now includes the current chair of state Republican Party, Brian Schimming, who was involved in the fake electors scheme and […]