A Sad Day For Milwaukee and Journalism, As One Of My Favorite Curmugeons Passes Away

 I wasn't close friend of Joel's but we did travel in the same circles and it was always a pleasure to see him! So this is sad news for me, and as I said, Milwaukee and Journalism as well::

'Voice of resistance,' longtime Milwaukee columnist Joel McNally dies at age 80

Time To Restate My Proposed Campaign Finance Reform Position

 I posted a number of different versions of this over the years at Blogging Blue. Hopefully I remember it but it shouldn't be too much of a problem given it is fairly straight forward. But with all of the hand wringing and gnashing of teeth from both sides of the aisle around multi-millionaire's contributions to political parties that are then passed on to candidate's campaign funds for the current Wisconsin State Supreme Court race, it is time to bring it up again.

So here goes:

Only eligible voters may make contributions directly to the campaigns of candidates that they are able to vote for, without limit.

So what does that mean? Well Soros and Musk couldn't contribute to campaigns outside of their home districts/states. Contributions must go directly to the campaigns so any and all contributions would be recorded and published. No PACs. No Unions. No businesses. No political parties. (Political parties can still provide infrastructure for party candidates but not direct contributions any more).

So I can contribute to the campaign for a Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate but not for one in California or Illinois. I can contribute to a Milwaukee mayoral campaign but not Madison. I can contribute to my local alderperson but not one across town. 

The without limit part? Well, why not? Since all contributions will be public information it would be easy to identify the rich folks trying to buy influence in the government. But overall it should reduce the amount of spending on campaigns and hopefully reduce the lies and misinformation created during the typical campaign. But I am just trying to head off a complaint here.

Does this need a little more definition? Probably, but the intent should be fairly apparent to most everyone. 

From The You Can't Make This Stuff UP Department: Visions of Trump Gaza or Riviera Gaza.

 You may have seen these photos elsewhere because they have gone viral and since I haven't been vaccinated against Trump Gaza, I guess I caught this virus too. 

But these photos were posted by Donold Trump's Truth Social account as part of a video and are being described as his vision for the future of Gaza under American control and Trump dementia. But they look rather odd and boy or boy, AI might be having some fun with Donold!

Do these belly dancers currently perform at Mar a Lago?

Nothing like a cool drink with your bestie!

Doesn't anyone in Trumpland ever look at this stuff before they push it out there? Looks kinda 'woke' to me!  LOL!!!

And in case you were wondering why Elon and Donold are worrying about how much gold is in Fort Knox...this might be a hint:

Trump White House Puts Another Nail In The Coffin Of A Free Press

 Today, the White House announced that the White House gets to select which members of the press get to participate in the press pool instead of the White House Correspondents Association which has handled that responsibility in the past...for decades. 

“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States,” Eugene Daniels, the president of the association, wrote. “It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.”

This smacks of censorship and limiting the public's access to the news and is clearly a violation of the Constitutional right to a free press.  But of course that's not the spin from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.

"Ms. Leavitt did not provide specific details of how the plan might work, but it would allow President Trump and his aides to handpick which reporters and media personalities were granted the ability to ask him questions and observe his behavior at specific events.

Ms. Leavitt put a different spin on it. “By deciding which outlets make up the limited press pool on a day-to-day basis, the White House will be restoring power back to the American people,” she said."

And of courses this announcement was made by Ms. Leavitt without any warning to the press corps or any discussion with the WHCA. I guess this should come as no surprise to those of us paying attention. 

Whoa! Wait. What? Elon Musk Is A Canadian Citizen?

 Most of you probably know that Elon Musk is South African and a naturalized American citizen. But what often gets overlooked is that he is a Canadian citizen as well via his mother. So given his current 'influence' on the Trump Regime, you have to wonder where his actual allegiance lies given that he has NOT given up his Canadian citizenship. 

But it might not be up to him:

More than 200,000 Canadians sign petition to revoke Musk’s citizenship

[More than 200,000 people from Canada have signed a parliamentary petition calling for their country to strip Elon Musk’s Canadian citizenship because of the tech billionaire’s alliance with Donald Trump, who has spent his second US presidency repeatedly threatening to conquer its independent neighbor to the north and turn it into its 51st state.

The British Columbia author Qualia Reed launched the petition in Canada’s House of Commons, where it was sponsored by the New Democrat parliamentary member and avowed Musk critic Charlie Angus, as the Canadian Press first reported over the weekend.

Born in South Africa...Musk has Canadian citizenship through his mother: model and dietitian Maye Musk, who is from Saskatchewan’s capital, Regina. He has been crusading to slash the US federal government’s size at the behest of the US president, who has consistently challenged Canada’s sovereignty since returning to the White House for a second presidential term on 20 January. 

Reed’s petition – filed on 20 February – accuses Musk of having “engaged in activities that go against the national interest of Canada” by acting as an adviser to Trump. The petition asserts that Musk’s alignment with Trump makes him “a member of a foreign government that is attempting to erase Canadian sovereignty”(emphasis mine). It asks the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, to take away Musk’s Canadian passport and revoke his citizenship with immediate effect.]

OTOH: If Trump and Musk get their way with Canada, Musk would automatically lose his Canadian citizenship anyway since there wouldn't be Canadian citizenship. And wouldn't that make him a traitor to his mother country as well? Well, one of his countries.

 

Oh Noes! They're Teaching Critical Thinking To Our Children!

 

As you might have seen, last week the WISGOP went right to work in seeing how they could cause more damage to public education.  One of their stunts, as Rep. Amanda Nedweski explained, was the introduction of a bill that is designed to stop giving our children a well-rounded education, including critical thinking, instead of just jingoistic propaganda:

Another troubling trend is the growing ideological divide among our young people, alarmingly 45% of Americans aged 18 to 24 view socialism as the ideal economic system, despite its historical and real-world consequences in other countries. AB4 ensures that students receive a comprehensive understanding of different government systems and how they compare to ours, helping them to recognize the value of their freedoms, the dangers of the systems that restrict those freedoms, and their responsibility to protect and defend our liberty. 

Troubling trend?  Maybe it's troubling to her because the kids are smart enough to see the crap the Republicans are pulling, whether it is in Washington, DC, or in Madison, and they are getting sick of it.  I remember learning that the City of Milwaukee has a few socialist mayors back in the day and things were going pretty well.  A lot better than they are these days, anyway. 

Trump Engages In Exactly The Type Of Fraudulent Spending He Has Musk Looking For:

 This seems to be precisely the kind of nonsense spending and fraud that Trump and Musk claim to be rooting out in Washington DC. Yet it is precisely what Trump is actually engaged with: 

 

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland  — The Department of Homeland Security has budgeted up to $200 million to run anti-immigrant ads in the United States and overseas that repeatedly thank President Donald Trump for leading an immigration crackdown. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Friday night that these ads were Trump’s idea, and during the administration’s transition to power, the president asked her to star in ads thanking him “for closing the border.”

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference’s Ronald Reagan dinner on Friday night — at a tux and gown affair that served striploin, mashed potatoes, and raspberry cake — Noem recalled Trump telling her after she was nominated: “I want you to do [ads] for the border, and I want you to do those everywhere, not just in the United States, but I want them around the world. I want you to tell people not to come to this country if they’re going to come here illegally.”

She said the president continued: “We’re not going to let the media tell this story, because the media will never tell the truth. We’re going to run a marketing campaign to make sure the American people know the truth of what you’re doing.”

So when will Musk put an end to this???

Remember: When Something Gets Canceled or Discontinued Because Of The Trump Regime, Announce It Loud And Clear: This from the FBI

 

Ronald Reagan Defines US Foreign Policy, It's Not The Same As The Trump Chaos!

 This recently appeared in a Today In History Column, way back on February 6th, 2025:

(in 1985) In his State of the Union address, President Ronald Reagan defined the mission of American foreign policy as to "nourish and defend freedom and democracy, and to communicate these ideals everywhere we can" The Reagan Doctrine, as it became known, went on to touch specifically on Cold War concerns: "We must not break faith with those who are risking their lives - on every continent, from Afghanistan to Nicaragua - to defy Soviet-supported aggression and secure rights which have been ours since birth."

Does that sound anything like the things coming out of the mouth of Trump, Vance, Hegsseth, or Rubio in 2025?

Could you imagine Trump confronting Putin along the lines of Reagan's famous speech including: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"?

Nope. Not gonna happen.

Where Did Donold Trump Attend Church Services This Morning?

 During his presidency and vice-presidency and time in the US Senate, Joe Biden was an avowed and apparently devout Catholic. And we often saw press photos of him going to or leaving a Catholic Church for Mass. 

Now, Donold Trump is the hero of the evangelical Christian milieu and often cites his own belief and support of Christianity. But except for national services held at the National Cathedral in Washington, there is never any mention or story or photo of Trump attending a service. And we don't even know what denomination he is. Is he a Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Anglican, Methodist, or ??

WWJD?

Note To State And Local Officials On Communicating Lost Federal Funds:

 This has been stolen from social media, but it makes a lot of sense in the current environment. As the Donold Trump/Elon Musk administration continues to cut funding and staff...it is going to have major impacts on the programs of state and local governments as that funding dries up. 

MAKE SURE YOU CLEARLY STATE THE REASON WHEN SHUTTING DOWN OR PUTTING A POPULAR LOCAL PROGRAM ON HIATUS WHEN THE CAUSE IS THE CUTS IN FEDERAL FUNDING. UNDER NO REASON SHOULD YOU TAKE THE HIT!!

 

RIP Blogging Blue and Thank You Capper and Cog Dis!

 

For many of you reading this you are certainly aware that back in the golden era of political blogs, Blogging Blue and Cognitive Dissidence were the big men on campus of the liberal Wisconsin political blogs. And like Cog Dis, Zach W, the founder of Blogging Blue asked a number of area pundits to join and contribute to the blog. He asked me in 2010 and I immediately leapt at the chance and eventually took on the role of publisher from 2017 through 2020 as well. I felt a bit overwhelmed at that point and handed the reins back to Zach. Something I kinda regret but...

Anyway, I continued as a contributor through the 2024 elections but then something odd happened. During the weekend of November 9/10 2024 the website crashed and crashed hard. I have never been told exactly what happened but I am suspecting a hack since the vendor said that the site couldn't be recovered. So sadly, we could never give the site a good send off and let our readers know what happened.

But Capper reached out to me recently and asked if I was still interested in writing about politics. I am! So I jumped at the chance to join Cognitive Dissidence. I still have a bit of burnout and I am not getting any younger...but I still have some things to share. I may not post as often as I did at BB and maybe not as in depth...take some pot shots instead of writing treatises...but I will share when the mood hits!

So thank you again Capper!!!  And thank you readers of Blogging Blue and Cog Dis who have supported me all of these years!

GOP: Don't Blame Us For What We Did To Education!

State Rep. Joel Kitchens gave this week's GOP propaganda, er, I mean, radio address, in which he laments about what the GOP has done to the state's education system:

I want to take a little bit of your time today to discuss the disappointing results released by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress test. This test is usually referred to as the “Nation’s Report Card.”

Fourth and Eighth graders are tested based on proficiency in math and reading. According to this study, only 31% of our fourth graders are proficient in reading. That’s down from both pre and post-pandemic test results. It’s not just reading scores that are troubling. Our fourth graders are only testing at a 42% proficiency in math.

Sadly, our eighth graders are not any better. It was reported that only 31% of eighth graders were proficient in reading and only 37% were proficient in math. Wisconsin has the largest gap in reading and math scores between Black and white students of any state in the United States. The scores are horrific for minority students. Our black students are ranked worst in the nation in 4th-grade reading and math. Only 8% can read and only 5% are proficient in math.

OMG! How did it get things get so badly when the GOP controlled the legislature for the past 15 years?   Where did we go so wrong?

The answer to those questions is just a matter of following the money. The Bradley Foundation, which is located right here in Milwaukee, is one of the biggest sources for dark money in the state and they have bought many politicians, almost all of them Republicans.  But the Bradley Foundation wasn't interested in just their tax cuts.

The Bradley Foundation has a long, long history of spending tens of millions and thousands of millions of dollars just in Wiscconsin just for the purpose of destroying education, especially public education and the teachers union. 

In an effort to do a reverse Robin Hood - robbing the poor and giving to the rich - the fascist oligarchs at the Bradley Foundation paid for a study called The Bell Curve, which came to the conclusion they wanted::

The Bell Curve's key educational policy recommendation dovetails with the Bradley Foundation's top education priority: support for school choice, including public funds for private and religious schools. This bolsters the case of those who argue that despite the rhetoric of choice, many voucher advocates have abandoned the vision of a quality education for all children. Says Robert Lowe, associate professor at National Louis University and an editor of the journal Rethinking Schools: The Bell Curve is a smoking gun. It maintains that the poor—including the majority of African Americans—are generally incapable of benefiting from education....

So, there you have it.

The Bradley Foundation pours money into the campaign coffers of the Republicans.  In returrn, the Republicans dutifuly and systematically destroy public education and push privatized education, from which members of the Bradley Foundation profit greatly.

And for those poor kids who get the cold shoulder from this privatized education system, well someone's gotta keep those privatized prisons full, amirite?

At the end of Kitchen's propaganda spiel, he begs the Superintendent of Public Instruction to just focus on fixing the damage the Republicans have done on the behalf of the Bradley Foundation and others like them, and to stop holding them accountable.

No wonder the GOP is so deadset against teaching history.  They always end up being held accountable.

One Door Closed, Another Door Opens

 At the end of last year, sad news hit the Cheddarsphere with the demise of Blogging Blue:

Sadly, with Blogging Blue's end also meant another voice lost, just when we need as many voices as we can get to fight the tyranny in Washington, D.C. as well as prevent the tyranny from returning to Wisconsin.  

After seeing the news, I reached out to Ed Heinzelman, who was the chief cook and bottle washer over at Blogging Blue.  I am pleased to announce that Ed's voice won't be lost after all as that he has agreed to add it to this here blog, along with little old me.

Now, if only I can get the rest of the gang back together too...  

Paging folkbum, Illy-T and grumps.  It's time to get back to work.