President Donald Trump is expected to issue an executive order on March 28 to severely curtail actions by the EPA and other agencies to address climate change.The order would direct the agency to rewrite the Clean Power Plan, the nation’s first-ever limits on global warming emissions from power plants, and eviscerate other key strategies that have been put in place to address climate change.... Read More
Conservative pundit David Brooks, speaking recently on the PBS News Hour, well described President Donald Trump’s proposed federal budget.Brooks said: “They are investing in everything that is hard power — military, homeland security, the border wall — and disinvesting in empathy, compassion, care, thinking, innovation. Everything is threat and fear, hardness and toughness. Everything el.... Read More
In a humiliating failure, President Donald Trump and GOP leaders yanked their bill to repeal “Obamacare” off the House floor when it became clear it would fail badly — after seven years of nonstop railing against the health care law.Democrats said Americans can “breathe a sigh of relief.”Trump said Obama’s law was imploding “and soon will explode.”Thwarted by two factio.... Read More
After the 2010 tea party takeover of Wisconsin, it became clear that the real force behind policymaking in Wisconsin is not the voters, but the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the most powerful right-wing policy-making machine in the country. A ménage a trois of powerful corporations, state legislators, and right-wing think tanks, ALEC pushes out model legislation that promotes corp.... Read More
Tony Evers seeks a third term as Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction on April 4, and we extol readers not only to vote for him, but also to urge others to do the same. This is a race where the stakes are much higher than you might imagine.Evers has been given high marks for his performance in office. Though this shouldn’t have to be said, it’s important to say it: Evers supports t.... Read More
The Milwaukee Public Schools Board of School Directors has nine members who serve 4-year terms. Four members will be elected April 4. All the candidates, including incumbents Larry Miller and Annie Woodward, are in contested races.The state’s public schools have been under assault in recent years by decreasing funding and well-financed campaigns promoting voucher schools — i.e., private scho.... Read More
Open judicial positions are rare, so perhaps it’s not surprising that campaigns for them often become contentious. That’s certainly the case between Fox Point Municipal Judge Scott Wales and attorney Kashoua “Kristy” Yang to replace retiring Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge John Siefert in Branch 47. (Siefert has indicated that he might challenge Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke next year)..... Read More
Hardly two months into the Trump administration — and only one month after Congress confirmed notoriously anti-LGBT Tom Price as health secretary — the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has eliminated questions about LGBT people from two critical surveys.The administration is already rolling back data collection on LGBT people who receive certain federal programs, making it im.... Read More
“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
