A Liberal Lives In Wisconsin

     The War in Ukraine, which, at the current rate, cannot and will not be a victory for Vladimir Putin, provided an impetus to address the most pressing foreign policy issues faced by the United States and its allies. Aside from speeding up the strengthening of NATO and the European Union and leading to the designation of Qatar and Colombia as major non-NATO allies (with several more such designations in the works), it turned attention to issues across Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. One hope I have is that this conflict demonstrates the pettiness of the dispute between Northern Ireland and Ireland and that President Biden, an Irish Catholic, is able to assist in the fortification of the Good Friday Agreement in time for its 25th anniversary.       As messy as it was, the withdrawal from Afghanistan needed to be done. America had no objectives in the nation after the Taliban was overthrown in early 2002, no sense of purpose. In 2011, Osa...

     Under Governor Tony Evers, Wisconsin's Native American communities have seen unprecedented progress, with government actions and initiatives spurring private-sector and federal action and a new momentum to help America's oldest citizens.      In 2019, Governor Evers became the first governor in Wisconsin to proclaim Indigenous Peoples' Day, joining a growing number of states in prioritizing indigenous culture over genocidal conquest in the name of profit and proselytism. President Biden went on to become the first president to proclaim the holiday in 2021.       In 2020, Evers directed Attorney General Josh Kaul to launch a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) Task Force to address the disproportionate rate of indigenous women and girls being raped, kidnapped, and murdered in Wisconsin and across the nation. Action has been taken in other states as well as at the federal level with the Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff ...

     Thus far, seven Russian generals have been killed in a month of warfare in Ukraine. The first to die was Andrey Sukhovetsky, a major general who participated in the atrocities in Syria, Georgia, and Crimea before being killed on February28th, 2022, just four days after the invasion began. Then there was Major General Oleg Mityaev, who was shot by a sniper during the Battle of Mariupol. As a bisexual man, the most personally satisfying was the death of Magomed Tushayev, a general who led the murder, beatings, torture, and internment of LGBT2SQIA+ people in Chechnya and died at Antonov International Airport. Andrei Mordvichev, a lieutenant general, was the most powerful general killed when he was struck in an airfield in Chornobayivka in Kherson. Major General Vitaly Gerasimov was killed during the Battle of Kharkiv. Andrei Kolesnikov was another major general that NATO confirmed had been killed by Ukrainian forces in March 2022. Finally, there was Lieutenant General Y...

     This week, the U.S. House of Representatives is set to pass the MORE (Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement) Act, which would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, 50 years after it was first recommended that this step be taken. Its fate in the Senate is still unclear. 60 votes are needed to pass the bill. Most Democrats will likely vote for the bill because it will end the most irrational part of the War on Drugs. However, the bill has plenty of benefits for the Republicans in the Senate: 91 percent of Americans think medical marijuana should be legal, and well over 70 percent think marijuana should be decriminalized. That includes the vast majority of Republicans. Marijuana has an amazing ability to reap tax benefits and its legalization had drastically reduced crime in certain states while also providing extra funding to respond to such crimes and freeing up room to lock up the most violent offenders. What better way to reduce government overr...

     After months of stalling, Congress is getting back to work. The powerful American Rescue Plan Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are soon to be followed up by the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, a $110 to $350 billion bill that will invest in clean energy, reduce supply chain issues, restore federal funding for science, bring back American manufacturing, strengthen Made-In-America rules, and much more. In the meantime, we still have to pass the Build Back Better Act. Until then, as prices rise thanks to corporate greed under the guise of inflation, it's time for President Biden to use his executive powers to make social and economic progress for the American people. He has already done so, but, ahead of the midterms, Democrats are pushing him to take it up a notch: Ban federal funding for conversion therapy, which is a disproven pseudoscientific procedure that does incredible harm to LGBT2SQIA+ youth. Order federal health agencies to declassify inter...

     The picture of Mitch McConnell in front of a Confederate flag speaks volumes as he announces his opposition to President Biden's Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, who will be the first black female to serve on the Supreme Court when confirmed. I say "will" and not "if" because she will be confirmed before Easter, whether or not a single Republican votes for her.      History should remember the days between March 21st and 24th, 2022, the latter of which saw the revelation that Ginni Thomas, the wife of recently hospitalized Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Ginni Thomas, texted Mark Meadows dozens of times urging him to overturn the results of the 2020 election; Thomas was the sole justice out of nine, including four other conservatives, to vote to withhold Mark Meadows' text messages from the committee investigating the January 6th insurrection. But sure, KBJ might do a bad job on the Supreme Court.      This was just o...

       Presidents appoint Supreme Court justices: everyone knows that. Presidents appoint federal judges to district and appeals courts. Probably fewer people know that. Presidents appoint judges to territorial and other courts: fewer still. Almost nobody knows that presidents appoint judges in Washington, D.C., and few probably care. Former President Donald Trump didn't seem to care much. The Republican who served before him, George W. Bush, appointed more judges to the D.C. courts than any president in U.S. history: 33. Trump, on the other hand, appointed just 10 while leaving more than a dozen vacancies. The D.C. system is composed of two courts, the Superior Court and the Appeals Court. If he is elected to serve two full terms, President Biden is guaranteed to appoint more than 33; if that is the case, he can secure a liberal majority on both of these courts until 2040. You can keep track of the nominees below, with those confirmed highlighted in yellow: D.C. App...

     Just days ago, a mistake by a pro-Putin tabloid sent the Russian government scrambling. According to said tabloid, the Russian Defence Ministry admitted to nearly 10,000 troop deaths since its invasion began, a number that has gone up since. The tabloid took down the report swiftly and claimed that they had been "hacked." That's something a 60-year-old white politician would say to cover his ass for a racist comment here in America, or, apparently, what an excuse for an honest journalist on Putin's payroll would say to stop themselves from ending up under a sheet of ice in Siberia.      Of course, the numbers vary widely. However, it is clear that the United States is underestimating the number of fatalities Russia has suffered. There are roughly 190,000 Russian troops in Ukraine aside from the 50,000 or so separatist forces in Eastern Ukraine. For the sake of this observation, only the former, which, at least in theory, pose the bigger threat, will be...

     Governor Evers has made LGBTQ rights a priority of his administration in a state in which more than 70 percent of people support same-sex marriage, discrimination protections, and LGBTQ rights in general. Upon entering office, he immediately signed an executive order banning discrimination in hiring at the state level.      Every year since 2019, he has raised the pride flag above the state legislature controlled by gay-bashing hillbillies to celebrate Pride Month, which makes work a little uncomfortable for the GOP and shows the rest of the nation that they are simply a minority working only to keep their own power and don't represent the majority of Wisconsinites.      Even without the legislature, Governor Evers has made a big difference for the LGBTQ. He banned the use of state and federal funds for conversion therapy, a pseudoscientific practice that tries to "cure" gay kids by teaching them to hate themselves and has been shown to ...

     On March 22nd, 1962, John F. Kennedy signed a bill abolishing the mandatory death sentence for murders in the District of Columbia, the last place in the United States with such a law. Executions have not been conducted at all in the jurisdiction since 1957 and have been legally ended.      During his presidency, the last federal execution before it was struck down in 1972 occurred in 1963. Kennedy did, however, commute military death sentences, and the military death penalty has not been applied since his time in office.

     The American Rescue Plan Act having put America's economy on track to fully recover this year, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was a major victory for the American people. It wasn't just roads and bridges: it was a $1.2 trillion investment in railways, securing universal internet access, launching the largest environmental cleanup effort in our nation's history, helping small businesses in underprivileged communities (especially communities in Appalachia and the South), spurring the growth of clean energy technology, and on and on. Contrary to popular belief, the Build Back Better Act is not dead. While the Senate works to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, they are beginning to hold hearings on climate change, care for children and the elderly, and other issues facing the American people. These hearings will serve as the basis for a retooled Build Back Better Act that is expected to be introduced this spring. The most likely path is break...

     March 20th is a special day. Five years ago, Chester Bennington celebrated what would be his final birthday; he would have been 46 today had he not tragically taken his own life on that summer 2017 day. However, the message that people only really die if they are forgotten has been perfectly exemplified by Chester Bennington's legacy, particularly his musical and charitable legacies, those that, with the exception of his family, were the most important to him.      Recently, "Numb" became the second Linkin Park song to surpass a billion streams on Spotify after "In the End" achieved the same milestone less than a year ago; both songs have now achieved this milestone as well as that of a billion views on YouTube. Not only are these two songs the only Linkin Park songs to get this far, but they are also the only NU-METAL songs to do so, which truly proves that while this genre did not define Linkin Park, Linkin Park defined this genre.     ...

     The Proud Boys give the world enough of a reason to hate them. They hate women, they hate Muslims, they hate immigrants, they hate the LGBT2SQIA+, etc. However, they vehemently deny being racist. They even have their token minority in the form of leader Enrique Tarrio, who was one of dozens of Proud Boys arrested on conspiracy charges related to the violent January 6th insurrection; five Proud Boys have pleaded guilty in the past year (four of them in a span of 72 hours) while many more await trial. They can deny being white supremacists, but that's 90 percent of the element they attract. An anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim militant domestic extremist group isn't going to make sure its members draw the line at skin color.      We got ample evidence of that on February 27th, 2022, when Andrew Walls, the vice president of the Akron-Canton Proud Boys, was charged with three crimes related to harassing patrons at a bar. I like when people ...

     Withdraw Wisconsin from the lawsuit challenging Obamacare. Promise made, promise kept. In 2019, Governor Evers withdrew Wisconsin from California v. Texas , a case that made it to the Supreme Court, and, for the third time in a decade, upheld Obamacare.      Cut taxes on the middle class by 10 percent. Promise made, promise kept. In his budgets, Governor Evers cut the income tax on Wisconsinites making $24,000 to $186,000 or couples making $32,000 to $351,000 by more than 15 percent and also significantly cut property taxes. This is in addition to more than $1 billion in direct tax relief for small businesses and middle class families.      Restore two-thirds funding for Wisconsin's schools. Promise made, promise kept. With nearly $750 million in state and federal money added to school funding, Governor Evers restored two-thirds funding to Wisconsin's schools.      Increase funding for technical colleges and the UW system....

     Confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court begin on Monday, March 21st, 2022. From the moment he announced his campaign, President Biden pledged to nominate the first black woman to the Supreme Court if he got the chance. Within weeks, political pundits, who often get things so wrong, got it right when they speculated Ketanji Brown Jackson would likely be a top contender for the Supreme Court spot. They got it right again in June 2021 when speculation grew as she became one of the first federal judges appointed by President Biden to be confirmed by the Senate.      Tucker Carlson asking to see her credentials is nothing short of racist. While all of the sitting members of the Supreme Court with the exception of Amy Coney Barrett are qualified to serve on the bench, Brown will be the most qualified of them all. She attended a public high school, went to an Ivy League Law School, served as a clerk to a SCOTUS justic...

     Robin Vos: for a man whose popularity peaked in 2016, you seem rather sure of yourself. From 63 to 61 to 58 and likely even lower this year, you seem intent on pushing your radical agenda of hatred and death in spite of your declining popularity.      Your second marriage lasted nine years, you first lasted three, and your third has lasted five thus far. If it makes you feel better, you seem to be getting more popular among your wives, or they just realized the money you stole from the people of Wisconsin is worth having to put up with you for a while.      For a man who hates gay people, you don't seem to do too well with women. You had better hurry, before your constituents decide to ditch you like the trash you reek of, too.

     Democrats have a reason for hope in the 2022 midterms. During the 1994 midterms, Democrats under Bill Clinton lost control of both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years and only the second time in 60 years. During the 2010 midterms, Democrats under Barack Obama lost the House of Representatives. Keeping control of both houses of Congress during the 2022 midterms under President Biden would be major progress for the party and needs to be a priority, especially when considering how Republicans have fared in their midterms. Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush never had full control of Congress, George W. Bush gained the Senate during the 2002 midterms, and Donald Trump lost control of the House in the 2018 midterms. Republicans have been doing more poorly in midterms when they have the White House as time goes on, and Democrats doing better would complement this progress.      Democrats went into redistricting with a gloomy outlook, as Republic...

     In January 2021, the Supreme Court ruled nine to zero that the NCAA would be required to allow college athletes to profit off of their name, image, and likeness in endorsement deals, etc. with companies. A rare unanimous ruling, it set off resistance by the NCAA and legislation in statehouses across the nation. As of today:      Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia have passed legislation, executive action, or budgets that allow college athletes in their states to profit from their name, image, and likeness: 28 states. Meanwhile, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia have bills pending to do the same: 11 state...

     On March 8th, 2022, Congress passed the Postal Service Reform Act, which is a major victory for the U.S. Postal Service. Since 1970, there has only been one major reform of the United States Postal Service, one that has since been called the most "insane law ever passed by Congress." This 2006 law required the prepayment of benefits to postal service employees and, combined with declining reliance on the USPS, led to the agency going from self-sufficiency to $160 billion in debt and potential bankruptcy by 2024. This led Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to restrict mail delivery, which would not only kill the Postal Service dead, but also drastically affect American elections.      The Postal Service Reform Act rids the Postal Service of this onerous "poison pill" budget requirement and mandates six-day-a-week delivery. Is it the end of the problems the agency faces? No. Is it a historic bill that will help bring an end to the Postal Service Crisis? Yes....

     On the one-year anniversary of the Capitol insurrection, the insurrectionists seemed pretty smug. It was a mere riot, a protest gone horribly wrong, they claimed. Were it anything more, the Department of Justice would have charged it as such.       Then, in January 2022, the founder of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, as well as 10 others, including chapter leaders in states like Alabama and Ohio, were charged with seditious conspiracy, a 20-year felony that alleges they attempted to overthrow the government using violence. The indictment stated that Rhodes organized the plot while Edward Vallejo, a top deputy, led quick response teams in Virginia with the goal of funneling weapons into the District of Columbia both during and after the violence on January 6th.      Sure, but that was just an indictment. Not anymore! On March 2nd, 2022, Joshua James, the leader of the Alabama Oath Keepers, pleaded guilty to one count of seditious c...

     Governor Tony Evers has made a notable and forward-thinking effort to make civil rights for Asian-American Wisconsinites an important issue in his administration.      In September 2019, Evers visited Wisconsin's sister state, the Chiba Prefecture in Japan, to work out details related to the trade of goods and commodities. It was his first foreign trip.      In February 2020, Evers took action to stop Donald Trump's plan, initiated by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to deport hundreds of Hmong Wisconsinites to Laos, a nation notorious for human rights abuses against the Hmong people. The plan prompted fears among the Hmong communities of Wisconsin (as well as Minnesota and California) and resulted in Evers writing to denounce the plan to Pompeo and Wisconsin members of Congress Tammy Baldwin, Ron Kind, and Gwen Moore introducing legislation to stop the deportations. With Iran, Trump's first impeachment, the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Lives...

     On March 7th, 2022, Guy Reffitt, the first Capitol insurrectionist to go to trial, was convicted of five felonies that could and should send him to prison for up to 60 years. Less than 24 hours later, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was charged with conspiracy for his involvement in orchestrating the attack on the U.S. Capitol, just a week after Alabama Oath Keepers leader Joshua James became the first person to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy and Capitol rioter and convicted felon Matthew Perna offed himself.      The conviction of Reffitt is not the last Capitol riot case that will go to trial in March 2022 alone. Otero County County commissioner Couy Griffin, who has also been charged for illegally failing to register his New Mexico-based organization Cowboys for Trump and who had previously threatened to bring a gun to the inauguration of Joe Biden, illegally taken sand from a local national park, and more, will go on trial for trespassing in...

     President Biden has chosen Ketanji Brown Jackson as the next justice to the Supreme Court. She is an excellent choice, a lifelong jurist with progressive values and a commitment, like that of Justice Breyer, to make the law work for people. Historically, she will be the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, fulfilling a major campaign promise and cementing the three-member liberal minority on the Supreme Court for at least the next 15 to 30 years.      President Biden has made a major commitment to making the federal bench more diverse. He has appointed more AAPI women, more Native American women, and more black women than any president in history, appointed the first Muslim men and women to the federal bench, and is on track to end the disparities for AAPI men and women as well as black women and women in general and appoint more Asian judges, more black judges, and more LGBT2SQIA+ judges than any president in history.      D...