A Liberal Lives In Wisconsin

     Since January 2021, President Biden has appointed 121 federal judges to the bench; Donald Trump would appoint 85 in his first two years. There are close to 180 vacancies for President Biden to fill; even though he took office with far fewer vacancies than when President Trump took office, he could very easily surpass the 234 appointments President Trump made in his four years in office. We may not be able to flip the Supreme Court, but we can ensure that America's entire federal bench beneath that-- from the district courts to the territorial courts to the circuit courts to the Article I courts to the D.C. courts-- are as far left as they can possibly be. As we work to fill these other 60+ vacancies, there are a few candidates I have in mind, most of whom were mentioned as possible Supreme Court nominees for President Biden; the nominees with this distinction will be bolded: Danielle Holley-Walker, a graduate of Yale and Harvard with extensive experience as a civil rights atto

     In 2020 and 2021, violent crime rose due to the increased levels of poverty and general insecurity created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The overall crime rate actually declined very slightly each of those years, with the rise in violent crime being offset by the decrease in nonviolent crimes like property and drug offenses. The overall crime rate has been declining consistently since the mid-1990s, and violent crime has risen slightly several of these years but each time was offset by the rapid decline in nonviolent offenses, which fell by 50 percent compared to the 25 percent fall in violent crime during this time. It appears, at least so far, that violent crime will decrease again this year, with nearly all jobs recovered from the COVID pandemic and more than 80 percent of Americans at least partially vaccinated against the virus.      Still, in response to this increase in violent crime, President Biden has made, in less than 18 months, the largest investment in crime control and

     With the January 6th hearings in full swing, I'm taking some time taking advantage of the momentum against the right to highlight the domestic terrorism the GOP is responsible for across our country, from threats against election workers and elected officials to the continued fallout from the January 6th insurrection. On that latter point, there are a few things I have to say. On July 1st, I will launch Insurrection Detection, a website dedicated to systematically documenting, tracking, and providing commentary on the nearly 900 Capitol insurrectionists and any more who have yet to be arrested.      Also on the Capitol note, one man who may or may not have broken the law that day by being on Capitol grounds is Derrick Van Orden, who is currently the likely Republican nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives in Wisconsin's 3rd District, which encompasses virtually the entire western half of my home state, including La Crosse and Eau Claire. Van Orden has made national

     "Only the very best." With the explosive revelations that have been made with the first six January 6th Committee hearings this June, I thought I would spend a few days highlighting some of the scum that like Donald Trump and act in a way he deems appropriate. Today, there's yet another man who threatened the cogs that help make democracy run. We highlighted the cases of the three men arrested by the DOJ so far for threatening election officials and numerous others who threatened President Biden, Vice President Harris, Democratic governors, and Democratic members of Congress. We've highlighted threats made in connection to or in conjunction with the January 6th Capitol attack. Today, a man was indicted for threatening a local journalist in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley; Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, appointed by President Biden; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; and others.      The bald man in the

     Slowly but surely, the Justice Department is moving forward on cases against the violent domestic terrorists who are threatening our democracy, more specifically election workers. Three individuals, all men, from three different states have been arrested on felony charges so far. I implore Attorney General Garland to ramp up the pace of these arrests; hundreds of election workers were threatened, mostly between November 2020 and January 2021. Here are where the three cases so far, at least, stand: 42-year-old Travis Ford of Lincoln, Nebraska, pleaded guilty in June 2022 to threatening Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Jewish woman who is the first Democrat to hold the position in nearly 60 years. For telling her that her security detail was too "thin and incompetent," that "anything could happen," and that she "shouldn't" feel safe, and for making similar threats on the social media pages of President Joe Biden and other elected offici

     This June, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act was signed into law, the first major overhaul of America's shipping industry in 25 years; the Senate passed the Honoring Our PACT Act, the biggest bill for veterans in modern history; senators reached a bipartisan agreement to reform the Electoral Count Act and prevent future coup attempts; senators also agreed on a bill to cap insulin costs and further reform the system as a whole for diabetics; the House passed a landmark bipartisan bill to preserve America's wildlife; and work continues on the Bipartisan Innovation Act.      Also this month, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first federal law to restrict firearms purchasing in nearly 30 years. This bill provides a historic $15 billion in funding, including for school safety and mental health for youth. These two provisions were inserted to appease the Republican side, although it is worth noting that, even after the historic American Rescue Plan Act, schoo

     Just yesterday, it was revealed that the Abbott Formula Lab's horrible incompetence was worse than once thought. At least 10 babies are reported as having died and hundreds more may have been sickened by a bacterial outbreak at their Michigan facility. This is even after the Justice Department entered into a consent decree with the company to safely reopen it. In the meantime, there are only two things keeping formula on the shelves. Firstly, President Biden authorized the Defense Production Act to increase domestic manufacturing capability. Second, he launched Operation Fly Formula to bring in formula from overseas. Every Operation Fly Formula flight ever can be found below: May 19th and May 22nd: 1.5 million bottles June 1st: 3.7 million bottles June 1st: 4.6 million bottles June 6th: 1.6 million bottles June 10th: 3.2 million June 15th: 550,000 bottles June 22nd: 1.65 million bottles June 22nd: 5.5 million bottles June 22nd: 16 million bottles June 30th: 850,000 bottles Jun

     In 2021, Republican governors made a big deal about how red states were the ones with the lower unemployment rates. The fact of the matter is, while states have made smart moves in some cases to bring down unemployment, nearly 45 states are on track to see record low unemployment rates this year or next year. That's the American Rescue Plan Act at work.       The other fact that they conveniently left out is that there's a reason Republican states saw unemployment rates come down faster: their industries were overwhelmingly less impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. New York has Broadway, California has Hollywood, Nevada has Las Vegas, etc. States like Wyoming and Idaho have, well, cows.      After the pandemic, Michigan saw its unemployment rate hit the highest rate any state has ever seen in modern history: well over 22 percent. States like those I previously mentioned, Wyoming and Idaho, saw theirs hit roughly eight percent. Michigan's story in particular is one of a t

     It's a shame Couy Griffin was given Trevor McFadden as a judge. McFadden, who compared the Capitol insurrectionists to Black Lives Matter protestors and said the government was coming after them too harshly, convicted Griffin of only one of two misdemeanor charges against him in the first Capitol riot bench trial and then sentenced him to 20 days time served in jail with a year of probation, community service, fines, and reparations.      Couy Grffin was no ordinary Capitol rioter. He was the founder of Cowboys for Trump and a commissioner for Otero County, New Mexico, Trump Central in the state. Griffin threatened to come back to the inauguration of Joe Biden armed, and he was arrested in D.C. soon before the inaugural ceremony. He has said he will not run for any elected office in 2022 because he has lost faith in the election system, but he did one final piece of damage to democracy on his way out.      Just days before his sentencing, Griffin and his two fellow Republicans

     This is a truly landmark achievement, one that is not talked about enough. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is the largest and most comprehensive investment in America's infrastructure ever, the most noteworthy infrastructure law since the Eisenhower administration, and one that makes major investments in clean water, clean energy, roads and bridges, and other critical aspects of infrastructure.      One of my personal favorite parts of the bill is the investments it provides in broadband. Universal broadband access became a major issue about 15 years ago, and Democrats, in particular, have succeeded in making investments at the state level, including current governors like Gavin Newsom of California, Ned Lamont of Connecticut, Tony Evers of Wisconsin, and Laura Kelly of Kansas. Lack of broadband has resulted in many rural communities being left behind in the 21st century. Under President Biden, that has finally changed.      In October 2020, the FCC estimated that i

     Ron Johnson is a particularly unethical senator. He called for an increase in chip manufacturing in the United States while voting against legislation to do just that. He voted against cracking down on China for manipulating its currency. He voted against the Honoring Our PACT Act to provide hundreds of billions of dollars in benefits to veterans. He voted against the American Rescue Plan Act that shepherded America's economic recovery. He was the sole senator to try to hold up the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, which made Juneteenth a national holiday, and then tried to show up to a Juneteenth celebration just days later. He voted against the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and he is preparing to vote against the INFLATION REDUCTION ACT.      It's not just how he votes that makes Ron Johnson an unethical senator: it's what he says and does. He claimed that COVID-19 vaccines cause AIDS. He refused to fight to bring manufacturing contracts to Wisconsi

       For Bill Clinton, targeting child labor was a must, as two of his priorities were labor rights and protecting children. During his presidency, he signed legislation and executive orders banning the hiring of permanent strikebreakers and implementing the first protected leave for employees plus improving education, foster care and adoption, childhood vaccination, child support collection, anti-crime efforts, gun control, teen pregnancy and smoking prevention, internet access, literacy, and more.      On June 16th, 1999, Clinton spoke before the International Labor Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, to urge the adoption of a convention globally banning the worst forms of child labor, the largest and most expansive investment in American history toward ending child slavery, trafficking, abuse, and exploitation in a successful effort now recognized as a landmark moment in shaping the global workforce. The motion was ratified by all members of the body.

     Ten years ago today, President Barack Obama unveiled Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the most comprehensive executive action taken on immigration reform in American history. With the stroke of a pen, Obama offered an estimated 750,000 immigrants without any felony or gross misdemeanor offenses the opportunity to apply for a renewable, two-year deferral from deportation as well as the opportunity to receive a work permit. All had been brought to the United States as children.       This was partnered with Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA), which would be announced in November 2014. This policy would have allowed millions of parents of U.S. lawful residents who met the same conditions as DACA recipients to receive the same deferral on deportation. However, the plan was taken to court by conservative groups and states led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. With Mitch McConnell blocking Merrick Garland's appointment to the Supreme Court, the cons

     June 8th, 2022, will go down as a good day in history for democracy. In 2021, in response to Republican efforts to suppress the vote, particularly among voters of color, Democratic states announced historic efforts to expand access to voting. By the end of 2021, every state with Democratic legislatures had expanded voting rights except Rhode Island. On June 8th, Rhode Island Governor McKee signed the "Let RI Vote Act" expanding voting rights, meaning that every Democratic state has now expanded voting rights, as have several states with mixed governments and even a few states in which relatively moderate Republicans are in charge: the number of states that have expanded voting rights now outnumber those that have or will ever restrict them.      However, that is not the end of the story. Any voter restriction in any state is a step backward for democracy, and so there are steps that need to be taken to stop this at the state, local, and federal level: Repeal voting right

     Beto O'Rourke never faced any real competition in the 2022 gubernatorial primary for the Texas Democratic Party last month. However, now that this nominal event has passed and particularly with the horrific mass shooting that occurred in Uvalde compounded by the looming SCOTUS decision that will likely overturn Roe v. Wade , Mr. O'Rourke has redoubled his efforts to take down Greg Abbott, who has spent the past few years in a sort of Cold War with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over who can be the more despicable politician and human being. In just the past week, O'Rourke has released 18 videos dealing with issues from the economy to reproductive rights to energy to gun control to veterans and educators, with many more videos expected in the future. Texas faces a fairly stark choice in November, and Mr. O'Rourke is making that pretty clear with this video series. You can view one or more of the videos below: Abbott's Economic Chaos "Financial Pain is Necess

       The 1960s was the height of the civil rights movement, with the passage of landmark legislation in 1964, 1965, and 1968, the appointment of Robert Weaver and Thurgood Marshall as the first black cabinet member and Supreme court justice in 1966 and 1967, respectively, the celebration of the first Kwanzaa in 1966, the March on Washington in 1963, the assassination of leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Kennedys in 1963 and 1968, and much more.       One day that is often forgotten is Loving Day, first celebrated in 1967 and observed annually on June 12th. This holiday celebrates the landmark Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia , which ruled that laws banning interracial marriage were unconstitutional. On its 55th anniversary, let's make it a federal holiday!      Also on its 55th anniversary, let's remember that, in 2022, interracial marriage is still under threat. Senator Mike Braun of Indiana suggested that interracial marriage should be left up to the sta

     It's been an exciting time to be a Linkin Park fan since 1996, when the band was formed under the name "Xero," and 2022 is no exception.      Next Friday, Grey Daze will release its fourth studio album, The Phoenix. Several songs have already been released over the past year, including "Anything, Anything," "Saturation (Strange Love)," and "Starting to Fly." Personally, the former of the three is my favorite Grey Daze song ever released. The band released two studio albums between 1993 and 1998 with frontman Chester Bennington (of Linkin Park fame), best friend Sean Dowdell (with whom Bennington co-owned a tattoo parlor), and a varied lineup of others. The band announced it would be reuniting after nearly two decades in June 2017, just a month before Bennington tragically took his own life. They finished the album in his honor, an album that became Amends (released in June 2020).       Just today, less than a week before the album's

     The January 6th Committee tripled its base after its first hearing last night. Its YouTube channel went from just under 4,000 subscribers to just under 11,000 in less than 24 hours. The meeting was viewed tens of millions of times across the world on television, YouTube, and various other platforms. All this occurred with a pretty dramatic backdrop: that day, Ryan D. Kelley, a gubernatorial candidate in Michigan, was arrested on four misdemeanor charges carrying a combined maximum penalty of three years in prison for his role in the January 6th insurrection; more serious charges are still on the table. Also that day, a D.C. chiropractor and author named David Walls-Kaufman, who assaulted one of the Capitol police officers who committed suicide after January 6th, was arrested.      Just days earlier, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants (Dominic Pezzola, Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean, and Joseph Biggs) were charged with seditious conspiracy after having previously be

     On June 9th, 2022, the same day as the first hearing of the House January 6th Committee, Ryan D. Kelley was arrested on four misdemeanor charges for his involvement in the January 6th Capitol insurrection. He faces a maximum of three years in prison, although, in cases like this one, more serious charges are often brought later on. Mr. Kelley is not just some guy: he is a Republican candidate for governor. With his indictment, Mr. Kelley's chances of winning in 2022 have slipped to virtually zero. This is just days after the Supreme Court of Michigan permanently ended the candidacies of five more GOP candidates for governor. With six of the 10 candidates seemingly out, only four remain, none of whom are household names in the state, just weeks before the Michigan primary. This is in the same year as Michigan's maps for the federal and state legislatures were ungerrymandered, the Democrats may have their first chance to retake control of the Michigan House in over a decade,

     I refuse to believe bipartisanship is dead. Just this week, the House has teed up a vote on the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, which, along with the proposed Ocean Shipping Antitrust Enforcement Act, will represent the most consequential legislation for America's ocean shipping industry in 25 years. The same week, the Senate took the first steps toward passage of the Honoring Our PACT Act, a $400 billion bill that represents the largest investment in our nation's veterans since the GI Bill. On Friday night, a group of senators reached a bipartisan agreement on long-awaited reforms to the Electoral Count Act, which, while short of the voting rights action we need, will permanently prevent any future presidents from trying to steal an election like Donald Trump did in 2020. At the same time, Congress is working toward passage of compromise gun control legislation in the wake of the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde as well as on a bill to cap the cost of insulin and the 2023

     A note before we begin: 19 states will not appear in this list. Vermont and Maine already allow felons to vote even while incarcerated; there's not more progress that can be made. In Indiana, Virginia, Wisconsin, Texas, Louisiana, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Minnesota, Kansas, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, felons are not restricted from voting entirely but no more progress can be made with the governments currently in place. In Mississippi, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, felons are completely ineligible to vote, the governments are solidly Republican, and no ballot initiatives exist. The silver lining of this is that, while the impression most Americans have is that felons can't vote, we could soon live in a country where that is only true in five states, and, in fact, where more states could allow prisoners to vote than restrict felons from voting entirely.       Felon voting restrictions were designed in the Jim Crow era in a targeted attack to p

     November 19th, 2021 was a dark day, a day when the man who shot three people, two of them fatally, in Kenosha, the only acts of fatal violence that occurred in Kenosha in the summer of 2020, was acquitted by an all-white jury with a judge who was actively working in his defense throughout the trial after shedding a few crocodile tears on the stand. Gun rights activists and white supremacists (the Venn diagram here is basically a circle) applauded his acquittal. Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan, both sex offenders, offered Rittenhouse a job.      Kyle Rittenhouse could have chosen to disappear and try to lead as normal a life as possible for someone who had a highly-publicized murder trial at age 18 after taking the side of the Nazis who shot Jacob Blake, but no. When he was out on bond for some reason, drinking with his mom (the same mom who let him pick up an assault rifle in a different state) and flashing the "OK" white supremacist sign with Proud Boys, he got a brand deal w