“Alt facts” are the defining dialectic of the Trump era. But before we had the phrase, we had the practice: Just remember the campaigns of Gov. Scott Walker. Pioneering the way for Trump, Walker demonstrated that lying and ducking accountability work perfectly in a society where many people only listen to what they want to hear.As a candidate, Donald Trump hammered the “bad” U.S. econo.... Read More
Like many of you, I was concerned when I first heard that President Trump planned to cut funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. That concern turned to shock when I heard that the funding was nearly eliminated altogether — a 97 percent reduction.The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) sprang from the Great Lakes Compact, a regional commitment to protecting our natural resou.... Read More
We have been entrusted by the federal government to care for elderly and disabled veterans and their spouses at our veteran nursing homes. Caring for our veterans is one of the most sacred duties we work to achieve as a state.These facilities should offer gold-standard care. Unfortunately, like many other operations of the state, infrastructure, along with maintenance delays and failures, have.... Read More
Activists with the animal liberation network Direct Action Everywhere staged a demonstration during U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin's town hall meeting March 12 at Milwaukee Area Technical College.The activists were protesting the Democratic senator's Dairy Pride Act to fight back “against non-dairy products that are mislabeled as milk, yogurt and cheese.”A news release from Baldwin's offic.... Read More
About 250 people from Illinois and Wisconsin assembled outside House Speaker Paul Ryan’s office in Racine March 14 to demand he drop his health care repeal plan.The demonstration took place days after the Congressional Budget Office's analysis showed the House GOP health plan would cause 24 million Americans to lose their health coverage.People from Fair Economy Illinois and the Jane A.... Read More
The State Department announced this week that its official delegation to the 61st annual United Nations Commission on the Status of Women includes representatives of two organizations known to oppose the UN human rights system, LGBTIQ rights, and women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights.These groups are the Center for Family and Human Rights and the Heritage Foundation. C-FAM is la.... Read More
Senate Republicans in Washington, D.C. are set to begin confirmation hearings for Judge Neil Gorsuch, Donald Trump’s appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court. This comes after their unprecedented partisan obstructionism, refusing a hearing or a vote on President Obama’s nominee to fill the vacancy created by the passing of Antonin Scalia in February 2015, nearly a full year before the end of the Pr.... Read More
Amid concerns that Russia helped sway the 2016 presidential election, several states are considering legislation that would bar foreign influence in state elections by banning companies with significant foreign ties from contributing money in state campaigns.A long-standing federal statute bars noncitizens and foreign companies from donating directly to candidates or political parties at the f.... Read More
This afternoon the Congressional Budget Office released a report detailing the estimated effects of the American Health Care Act, predicting that an astounding 24 million Americans will lose health insurance by 2026 under the proposed bill. The CBO score only confirms what was already clear, that this bill is not an honest attempt at healthcare reform, it is instead a tax cut for the wealthy at th.... Read More
A man who died of dehydration at the Milwaukee County jail, overseen by Sheriff David Clarke, “was subjected to a form of torture” during 10 days in solitary confinement, his family alleges in a federal lawsuit.The lawsuit filed March 9 claims jail staff ignored 38-year-old Terrill Thomas’ pleas for water last April and that inmates “overheard his cries for water for days.”Clarke.... Read More
