A Liberal Lives In Wisconsin

       Few people know the name Patricia Robert Harris, but even fewer have blazed as many trails for black women as she. Born on May 31st, 1924, in Illinois, she was the first black woman to be the dean of a law school (Howard University's School of Law) as well as the first black woman to sit on the Board of Directors of a Fortune 500 company (IBM). Friends with the likes of Robert F. Kennedy, in 1965 she was named the first black woman to serve as an American envoy abroad when she was appointed Ambassador to Luxembourg by President Lyndon B. Johnson.      From 1977 to 1981, she served in the cabinet of Jimmy Carter, the first black woman to serve in the cabinet and the first black woman in the presidential line of succession. She was the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1977 to 1979, serving as the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1979 to 1980. When the Department of Health and Human Services was created in 1980, she b...

     President Biden has taken initial steps on a bipartisan plan to protect 30 percent of America's wilderness by 2030 and more beyond that, effectively ensuring one-third of America's land and sea is protected by 2035. Following up on the environmental legacy of President Obama, who protected more wilderness area than any president in history, Biden has addressed the concerns of conservatives while also prioritizing environmental protection.      The plan, released in May under the title "America the Beautiful," will prioritize tribal sovereignty over land and water resources, input and assistance from ranchers and other Western residents regarding policy implementation, and creating jobs designed around protecting the local ecosystem. The approach has been applauded by Republicans and Democrats alike, as it will build a working relationship that seeks to create tangible and sustainable goals for a huge portion of America's scenic land- and seascapes. ...

       Attributing other factors to the death of George Floyd does not relieve the officers that killed him of any responsibility: Derek Chauvin is now a convicted felon, and Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas K. Lane have a trial set in August on felony aiding and abetting charges that could earn them an equal sentence.       In fact, recognizing Cup Foods of 3759 Chicago Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota, area code 55407, phone number (612)-823-6930 for causing the confrontation that killed George Floyd with their frivolous phone call over a 20-dollar bill they didn't know was real is indicative of the fact that reforming the police is only a first step toward racial justice and healing.      George Floyd was black. Therefore, Cup Foods decided he could do no good. It may be an abundance of caution on the part of an employee: if any of the minors they don't pay enough accepts a counterfeit bill, said employee has to pay for it ...

     Tou Thao is among the least-discussed players in the murder of George Floyd, but he is possibly the most unique. While some have tried to argue that he should not be prosecuted for Floyd's torturous death, his history and his actions that day and afterward make it fairly clear that he belongs behind bars just as long as Derek Chauvin does.      Policing was never really a career for Thao, a Hmong Coon Rapids resident who worked as a grocery store stocker, McDonald's trainer, and medical supply security guard before being hired by the MPD in 2008, fired shortly afterward due to budget cuts, and rehired in 2012.      Despite his sob story that he wanted to help people because he comes from a low-income community, he has a history of doing the exact opposite that is equally as brutal as Chauvin's. In 2012 and 2017, he was reported for manipulating domestic violence victims into not filing charges so he could avoid writing reports. In 2017, ...

       Derek Chauvin is 45 years old, having served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1996 to 2004, the Metropolitan Police Department from 2001 until 2020 (when he murdered George Floyd), and as a security guard in a number of nightclubs while attending college from 1995, ultimately graduating from Metropolitan State University in 2006.      While he received three commendations between 2006 and 2009, he also received 18 brutality complaints in 18 years. He kneeled on the neck of a black child for a number of minutes, causing him to go unconscious, and was involved in vehicle chases that killed at least three people. During his stint at a club (ironically at the same time and place as George Floyd), he was reprimanded by his boss for spraying crowds of black people with pepper spray and using police intervention as a first resort.      Chauvin was in jail from May to October 2020, and he will be in jail until his sentencing. He was convicte...

     Sonia Sotomayor made history in 2009 as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice in the United States of America, and she certainly earned the distinction. Appointed by President Obama in May, she had previously been appointed to the District and Appeals Courts of Southern New York by Presidents Bush Sr. and Clinton in 1992 and 1998, respectively. These roles came after she graduated with honors from Princeton and Yale. In a number of cases, she has made impassioned dissents regarding issues of civil rights, earning her a reputation as among the most respected justices on the court. 

     The third wave of justice for black Americans is here. While the fight has never died, there were two previous instances of major progress made in American history: in the 1800s, slaves shed the shackles of forced labor and torture and demanded the right to be treated with basic dignity entitled to human beings. In the 1900s, leaders like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and John Lewis demanded the basic rights that came with being Americans. In the 21st century, a growing tide of black people are uniting with the usual white people and facing the usual pushback among the majority of whites in the demand for full and total equality.      George Floyd's daughter, Gianna, showed wisdom beyond her years when she said, "Daddy changed the world." While police shootings have been occurring for decades, 2020 was THE moment in American history when Americans decided enough was enough and took to the streets by millions. It was the Emancipation Proclamation...

     Vaccinations are moving in the right direction for the United States. More than half of Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and we should be on track to fully come out of the coronavirus pandemic before the end of the year. It appears the new developments offered by the CDC (the relaxation of mask guidelines for fully-vaccinated people and the approval of Pfizer vaccines for everyone ages 12 and up) has resulted in more people getting vaccinated: the passing of the halfway point should boost confidence enough to keep up this momentum until Independence Day.       Vaccination rates have doubled this past week, and it is visible in public: the local pharmacy where I was vaccinated ran out of chairs to seat people who were under their 15-minute post-vaccination waiting time. Still, we need to get to about 80 percent to reach critical mass, and there are still a few who do not trust the vaccines. You CAN make a difference.  ...

     When I heard 60 Minutes was under fire for making Ron DeSantis look bad, I was outraged, and I decided to do my part by subscribing to 60 Minutes on YouTube; it seems some people agree. Over 100,000 people have subscribed to 60 Minutes on YouTube since the Ron DeSantis controversy.       I decided that, while I was subscribed, I would watch a few videos that interested me. Why not learn about crumbling water infrastructure in Mississippi to bolster support for the American Jobs And Tax Plan? Why not watch President Obama's interview from Osama bin Laden's killing on the 10th anniversary of the event? Why not watch Antony Blinken's thoughts on China and Ukraine? How about Joe Biden's 2020 interview? I never did see it, nor did I see Trump's (but I don't think I'll watch that one). Barack Obama's 2020 interview is a go-ahead: I just like the sound of his voice. Government UFO report? I like space.       Somehow, I don't think Ron...

     "Court packing" is one of those conservative scare words that only seems to work on people who think they are conservatives. In truth, what Mitch McConnell pulled during his time as Senate Majority Leader between 2015 and 2021 was "court packing." For the first and only time in American history, he refused to allow Barack Obama to appoint Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court after the death of Antonin Scalia, leaving the seat unfilled during the final nine months of Obama's presidency until Donald Trump took office in 2017 and appointed Neil Gorsuch.      In 2020, on the other hand, Republicans ditched their arguments about waiting until after the election and appointed Amy Coney-Barrett to the Supreme Court, confirming her in a record one month, merely a week before the 2020 election.       It's not like the people Republicans appoint legitimately are exactly winners. The appointment of male chauvinist and confirmed rapist Clarence...

       If any president knows the devastating impact of cancer, it is Joe Biden. In 2015, his son, Beau, an attorney, child safety advocate, decorated veteran, Attorney General of Delaware, and a 2016 Delaware gubernatorial candidate, died of brain cancer. In 2018, his friend of nearly 35 years, John McCain, died of this same type of cancer.       In 2016, as part of the 21st Century Cures Act, he launched the "Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot," which secured $1.8 billion in funding to research new cancer cures and treatments. While out of office between 2017 and the launch of his presidential campaign in 2019, he authored the book "Promise Me, Dad," which described his personal feelings in the wake of the death of his son. In 2018, he gave a touching eulogy for John McCain, and during this time, he raised $400 million for cancer research with the Biden Cancer Initiative while still keeping his job as a law professor.       During hi...

       On May 20th, 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the National Voter Registration Act, also known as the "Motor Voter Act." This law mandated that states offer voter registration during the driver's license application process, created a uniform and nondiscriminatory set of voting standards for states eligible for federal assistance, provided clear guidance to voters, and expanded access to mail-in ballots.       As a result of the law, tens of millions of new voters were registered, more than when the 1971 26th Amendment lowered the voting age to 18. This was the most significant voting rights law in American history aside from the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and this historic event serves as all the more incentive to double down on passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the For The People Act by the end of the year.

       One reason people said they would vote for Trump in 2020 is that he "kept all his promises." Actually, he has the lowest rate of promises kept since the term of George H.W. Bush. Trump consistently broke some of his biggest promises. He swore that he would "repeal and replace" the "disaster" known as Obamacare. His effort at repeal failed at the beginning of his term even in a Republican-controlled Congress, and his "replacement" never surfaced. Even though Obamacare already protected preexisting conditions, Trump swore he would do the same, even though his term was marked by a flurry of executive orders and legal challenges attempting to weaken it.      He swore he would build the Keystone XL Pipeline: that never happened. He swore he would build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. Neither occurred. Even his biggest "accomplishment," the corporate tax cut that blew up the national debt while raising taxes on the middle class, was...

     I'm glad that you're not running for Senate, Jim Jordan. Senate races are, admittedly, much more significant and much more contentious. Senators are limited to two per state and serve six-year terms. If you were to win in 2022, we would have to wait until 2028 to unseat you.      Instead, we are going to get rid of you in 2022. You wasted millions in taxpayer money on political stunts against Hillary Clinton, tried fruitlessly to get yourself publicity in Cabinet confirmations, pushed baseless and deadly claims of voter fraud that landed some of your constituents in jail, systematically covered up the sexual abuse of young boys as a coach, gerrymandered your way in to office, showed your hypocrisy as you pushed for "bipartisanship" that was code for you getting your way, and made racist claims against BLM protestors. People like you do not belong in an institution like the House of Representatives.      At least the Senate will have one ...

       How did you manage it, Jim Jordan? The people of Ohio don't stand for the sexual abuse of male wrestlers nor the covering up of such activity by the assistant coach, and yet, you, Mr. Assistant Coach, managed to leech your living off the people of Ohio for 25 years for personal gain, facing no charges for aiding and abetting a string of felonies that could have put you in prison for life.      After this, you gerrymandered yourself into the House of Representatives. Not a criminal offense by any means, but it certainly left absolutely nobody surprised when, in March, the FEC announced it was investigating $2-$3 million in misappropriated campaign funds. I would say I hope you don't end up in prison, but you undoubtedly deserve it.      Not only did you actually manage to get millions for your campaign, but you then defrauded the people of Ohio while supporting a president who called to, "DRAIN THE SWAMP!" Indeed. Jim Jordan: LOCK ...

     Not one word of condemnation from Jim Jordan for the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, killing seven people and injuring hundreds, as a direct result of the lies he promulgated. In 2020, as with most Republicans, it was a different story. He presented before the House an edited montage with out-of-context, mashed videos, images, and words that made it appear CNN was promoting violence, and Jordan was strongly rebuked.        May I educate you for a minute, Mr. Jordan, as anyone who not only coaches wrestling, but is in the deputy position, cannot have made much of a positive contribution to school culture?  1. Millions of Americans participated in the George Floyd protests. 2. 96% were peaceful. 3. Most demonstrations resulting in conflict were with counter protestors, not police. 4. The majority of property damage caused was by looting done by opportunists, not by people with any political affiliation. 5. Unlike the Capitol ...

     It's been a bad week for Donald Trump. Sure, he got his petty revenge with Liz Cheney being ousted from GOP leadership. Petty revenge against members of one's own party is not exactly a sustainable plan, however, and I doubt anyone with the little integrity and massive patience required to work for the Orange Loonysicle will put up with it for the rest of Retiree Trump's life (although it is hard to retire when you've never really had to work).      On another note, Trump's ban from Facebook was upheld. Most advertising and public outreach is done by candidates, especially those with *unique* backgrounds like Donald Trump, on social media, and this is a major precedent that will hold leaders accountable to truth and justice and protect the values that the Founding Fathers held: no matter how bitter the division, violence is not the answer what the basic principles of liberty and justice for all are agreed upon by both sides of the aisle.     ...

       While winter words rarely work in Florida, the Matt Gaetz scandal certainly brings the term "snowball effect" to mind. The word "scandal" is deceptive in that it is actually more than one. After the child sex trafficking allegations, the resignation of his communications director, his extortion explanation, the threat of defamation suits by David McGee, the breaking of Donald Trump's silence, his awkward Tucker Carlson interview, the allegation that he showed pictures to other lawmakers, the release of a voicemail he sent a Florida lawmaker, his speaking at a "Women for Trump" event, his request for a blanket pardon, and the use of these scandals to collect funds, a new bombshell was dropped.      It was revealed that Gaetz was "seriously considering" retiring early or simply not running for reelection in 2022 to opt for a job at an alt-right news network, particularly Newsmax. Gaetz had allegedly been in contact with executives at the...

       QAnon has a long history of being, well, wrong. Aside from the fact that their very ideology is an abomination that would insult those with even the least relevant notion of what sanity is, aside from the fact that the anonymous "Q" has been potentially revealed as a random redneck (not a high-level intelligence officer), and aside from the fact that they thought their South Park parody was real, Trump did not take office on January 20th, January 21st, March 4th, March 20th, or any day after. Maybe they could hinge their hopes on 2025?      Either way, they are about as close to "the storm" as they could ever hope to be. Nobody has ever denied that a few politicians, like a percentage of people from all walks of life, are sex offenders. It is ironic, though, that the investigation of Matt Gaetz on sex trafficking charges has not raised more alarm among the QAnon community. Gaetz is one of Trump's darlings, and he is facing 20 years in prison wit...

       Florida State Representative Anna Eskamani's phone call from convicted felon Joel Greenberg and his best buddy, U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz, connects a lot of dots in the investigation into Gaetz for sex trafficking and other crimes. In the bizarre phone call, a giddy Gaetz and Greenberg can be heard either drunk or under the influence of drugs.      In an article describing the Hollywood-born, frat boy-like Gaetz's parties, a witness recalled spotting psychedelic drugs as well as paid escorts and prostitutes, which would explain the obvious inappropriate conduct for a congressman and demonstrate a proclivity on his part toward sexual deviancy.      It's not as if Matt Gaetz has no history of alcohol abuse. He received a total of 16 traffic tickets between 1999 and 2014, and, in 2008, was busted driving drunk after returning from a nightclub. Despite refusing a breathalyzer, which is a criminal offense, Gaetz suffered only a ye...

     It's hard not to hate Ted Cruz, especially if you like anyone besides Ted Cruz. The latest victim of Ten-Gallon Ted's incompetence? His dog. The poodle, named "Snowflake," could have been named after her white fur or as a jab on Cruz's part against what he believes is the greatest threat facing humanity: emotion. Either way, it didn't matter.     For the portly 'Publican's poor pooch, "Snowflake" came to represent suffering. As millions of Texans struggled without heat, Cruz decided to leave his dog home alone in the frigid temperatures, as photographed by protestors surrounding his residence. I understand you hate people, Ted, because you make it so easy for them to hate you, but what did a dog ever do to you, aside lick peanut butter you put on your 41 and 43.      

       I don't know why Heidi Cruz is with Ted Cruz, honestly. Teddy picked his nose on TV, liked a porn tweet on his official account, and more. When Donald Trump insulted her, Ted Cruz vaguely urged Americans to "vote their conscious" and then turned into Trump's chief defender.       When Ted Cruz jetted off to Mexico during Texas' power disaster, he blamed the daughters Heidi presumably loves and left the dog she presumably cares about. There's more to the story, though. She is a director at Goldman-Sachs, which has a primary stake in Texas' power grid. Their incompetence in refusing to be federally regulated, under Heidi Cruz's leadership, killed dozens of Texans, and she has the nerve to fly to vacation.       She is as pathetic as her husband is.

       Texas. How do you think the rest of the nation sees you? In February, after nearly two months of touting his bill on social media, Republican state lawmaker Kyle Biedermann filed legislation that would offer Texans a referendum to secede from the United States, claiming federal lawmakers no longer represent Texan "values." Seriously?      For a state full of "simple folk" who detest elitism, you sure act privileged, and, for a die-hard nationalist state, you sure do have a disdain for the democratic process upon which the nation was founded. For a state that detests "snowflakes" while promoting "rugged individualism," you sure do run to the federal government in times of crisis and whine when you don't get your way.      This is not the minority. This is the GOP that you are consistently electing to office. How grand! Everything certainly is bigger in Texas, including the egos.

     President Truman, unpopular at the time he left office, has been recognized as among the greatest presidents in American history. Taking office upon the death of popular four-term president Franklin D. Roosevelt, he faced a number of crises in global and domestic affairs.      Not least among these was World War II. On May 8th, 1945, he celebrated VE Day, or Victory in Europe Day, the defeat of Adolf Hitler and the German Empire (Italy was defeated in 1942). In August, he made the decision to drop two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, weighing the cost of human life in an invasion versus using the bombs. Japan surrendered the next day.       In July, Truman attended the Potsdam Conference with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin, a conference that laid out the postwar order.

       Ohio has always been a battleground state. In 2020, like in 2016, it voted for Donald Trump. However, even if the Democratic Party cannot flip it in favor of Biden in 2024, they can still take advantage of the state.       Rob Portman, the senator from Ohio, announced that he will not seek another term in the Senate after his term ends in 2023. The 2022 midterms, therefore, will pit two outsiders against each other, eliminating the incumbent advantage that Portman provided Republicans.      Jim Jordan, on the other hand, is a wild card in terms of the House of Representatives. He is, to put it bluntly, crazy, and whether conservative Republicans can get behind the devout Trump supporter is uncertain. Many of the same states that were important in 2020 will matter in 2022, and Ohio is a state to watch for.

       Ted Cruz is the chief clown for a party that claims to be for personal responsibility and family values. When he took a trip to Mexico in the middle of a Texas power outage, he blamed the person who leaked his false cover story to the media. Who did he blame next? His daughters. He was merely trying to be a good father, he claimed, chaperoning the girls on a trip for spring break. So much for personal responsibility (he couldn't even take care of his dog). So much for family values (he didn't defend his wife from Trump, either).

     Greg Abbott blamed windmills for causing the Texas power outage on FOX News in spite of the fact that Texas' deregulated power grid runs on natural gas and took Biden's aid before immediately saying they had no use for a federal government.      Ted Cruz flew to Mexico (of all places), lied about his trip, blamed his daughters, left his dog while he was gone, and then took a photo op at a food shelter before joking about dead Texans at CPAC. His wife is a majority shareholder in Goldman-Sachs, which runs the grid, and Cruz was bitten in the ass by tweets from 2019 mocking California's power outage.      Other GOP remarks? "Texans would be willing to die if it meant the federal government left them alone." President Biden's bus was almost run off the road by Texans in October, and in February he sent massive aid in their time of need. That's leadership: people over pettiness.       And the power crisis is not the only ...

       Ted Cruz has received nearly a million dollars a year from fossil fuel companies during his time in the Senate. Among the 20 representatives most subsidized by fossil fuel companies are six Republicans from Texas. For Ted Cruz, however, it came back to bite him in the ass.      In January, he made himself look foolish questioning Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on the cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Then, the natural gas-run Texas, which operates its own power grid to avoid regulations, froze over and killed people.      In 2019, Cruz tweeted to mock California while it burned through a scorching summer with no electricity. His defense when those tweets were sent his way? "I have no defense." Cruz also seemed to blame renewable energy for California's 2019 blackouts. Oops.      Another ironic tweet also surfaced: "I'll believe in climate change when Texas freezes over." Teddy jinxed it. 

       Ted Cruz is nobody to ask about the Keystone XL pipeline, as the recipient of nearly a million dollars of fossil fuel subsidy money annually.      Oddly enough, he decided to ask the nominee for Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, some questions. Aside from the fact that the department choice might not be appropriate to ask about a pipeline, Cruz failed to realize that HE was speaking to an Oxford graduate and combat veteran who speaks seven languages and works as a concert pianist on the side.      He was upset that 1,200 people would be laid off from the project. At least a million people filed for unemployment every week during COVID, but Cruz didn't seem to care about that.      Buttigieg mentioned that the transportation and clean energy plan of the Biden administration could create tens of millions of jobs. Unable to formulate an adequate response, Cruz essentially played puppy eyes and mentioned that...

     Ted Cruz,      As Theodore Roosevelt may have colorfully put, you have the backbone of a chocolate élcair. You called Donald Trump a coward after he insulted your wife. When the 2016 election came, you told people to vote their conscience. When the 2020 election came, you were Donald Trump's errand boy.      You liked a porn tweet on your official account and ate a booger on live TV. You, the Hispanic immigrant, have made a career of hatred toward Hispanic immigrants. You try to outdo Hawley and the others by asking questions, and as a result you only make people question your capacity for the basic intellectual processes characteristic of anything but a zombie.      You, in 2024, will likely to presume yourself to be the perfect choice for president. You, Ted Cruz, have a Republican Super PAC coming after your seat. Thriving is out of the question for you.

       The Lincoln Project has chosen its next target: fellow Texas native Ted Cruz. The man who called Trump a sniveling coward for insulting Cruz's wife before becoming his top defender and was motivated by being "the best Republican," the man who ate a booger, the man who liked a porn tweet, the immigrant who hates immigrants, is admittedly an easy target.      I hope they can replicate what they were able to achieve in throwing Trump out of office. It couldn't have happened to a better bunch of assholes.