Don’t use his name. Remember this is a regime and he’s not acting alone. Do not argue with those who support him. It doesn’t work. Focus on his policies, not his mental state. Keep your message positive; they want the country to be angry and fearful because this is the soil from which their darkest policies will grow. No more helpless/hopeless talk. Support artists and the arts. Be careful not to spread fake news. Check it. Take care of yourself. Resist! Keep demonstrations peaceful. In the words of John Lennon: “When it ...

Read More

  Republican state legislators are proposing a reckless way to try to amend the U.S. Constitution—and for reckless purposes. The proposal for a convention of the states is often called an Article V proposal, after the article in the Constitution that establishes two ways for amending the constitution. One is the usual way, where two-thirds of the House and two-thirds of the Senate approve the amendment and then three-quarters of the states ratify it. The other way is for two-thirds of the states to call for a constitutional convention and then have ...

Read More

  I’m happy to report that the movement to ban gerrymandering keeps gaining speed. One illustration of that fact is the executive order that Gov. Tony Evers signed on January 27 to create an independent, nonpartisan commission to draw what he calls “the people’s map.” Along with other advocates and activists, I was at the press conference in his office when he signed the order. He deserves our praise for that. Another illustration is the fact that legislation to give Wisconsin the Iowa Model of redistricting now has five Republican co-sponsors, which ...

Read More

  Imagine for a moment that in 2016, shortly after Donald Trump had bested Hillary Clinton in the race for the presidency, the Russian magazine, Russia Times, had run a major cover page article picturing Trump and bragging about how Russia had rigged the US presidential election in his favor. The outrage of Americans would have been immediate and vociferous. Calls for outright war against Russia could easily have been imagined. See the July 15, 1996 cover of the US magazine Time:   A major US publication, Time Magazine, was openly broadcasting to the ...

Read More

  “I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.” Thomas Edison in 1910.   “A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.”  President Jimmy Carter in 1979 dedicating 32 solar panels to provide hot water to the White House.   It doesn't ...

Read More

Dear Senator Johnson,   I remember a time, not so long ago, when there was a man who held the senate seat that you currently hold who broke with his party and voted to hear from witnesses in an impeachment trial. The year was 1999, and that Senator was Russ Feingold. The president on trial was Bill Clinton.   There are many significant differences between that impeachment trial and this one. First off, it needs to be said that Bill Clinton won both the popular vote and electoral college, where as Donald Trump only won the electoral college. All this ...

Read More

The White House defense team and our Republican Lawmakers say so.   I’ve always thought that the main difference between us humans and other animals is not apposable thumbs. Oh no, the difference lies in our ability to come up with lame self-serving rationalizations at the drop of a hat to explain our misdeeds, no matter how egregious. If I’m right on this, the White House attorneys reached the pinnacle of the evolutionary pyramid during the first day of Q & A in the Impeachment Trial of Donald John Trump.   With the Republican lawmakers, from ...

Read More

Websters:  Definition of propaganda (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/propagandaWebsters) capitalized : a congregation of the Roman curia having jurisdiction over missionary territories and related institutions the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause also: a public action having such an effect   We’re inundated with TV ads, flyers stuck in our doors or ...

Read More

Progressives in our state are working together, more than ever before. With networking on the social media as well as meeting on the sidewalks and town squares, progressives are on the move.   We are carrying a great tradition of Fighting Bob LaFollette, who took on the Robber Barons, the Lumber Barons, the Railroad Barons one hundred years ago.   Democracy is fragile. The struggle to protect the rights of all living things, including Mother Earth, continues. We fought this battle before. We declared independence from the Commonwealth of Great ...

Read More

  Conservative   con·ser·va·tive   (kən-sûr′və-tĭv)  believing in the value of established and traditional practices in politics and society;  disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change. It is indicative of the extremism sweeping America when, after spending all of my life thinking of myself as a “liberal” or “progressive,” now in my 70’s, I find I must join with other conservatives to fight the radical changes destroying my nation. I must declare I have become an unapologetic ...

Read More