ALL ARTICLES

‘Heroin(e)’ Film On Worsening Opioid Crisis Wins Emmy For Outstanding Short Documentary

  By Reveal Staff Reveal / Center for Investigative Reporting (10/2/18)  “Heroin(e),” the story of three women battling the opioid epidemic in West Virginia, has won an Emmy Award for outstanding short documentary. Directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon and produced by Kerrin Sheldon, the film follows efforts to break the devastating cycle of drug abuse in Huntington, a city with an overdose rate 10 times the national average. The Netflix original documentary was co-produced by The Center for Investigative Reporting and Requisite Media. It was part of CIR’s Glassbreaker Films initiative, funded by the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation, which supported women in documentary filmmaking and investigative…


See Why Democrat Paul Buhr Is Right For The 96th District

  Vernon County Democratic Party (10/14/18) At a recent debate in Prairie du Chiend, Paul Buhr said what many of you may be thinking, “I imagine when you look at these two candidates you might wonder: ‘What’s the difference? There are two dairy farmers up here.’ ” If you’re wondering that, please take the time to watch the video of last night’s debate: https://facebook.com/GreatRiversNews1/videos/547028185767464/ We promise that you will see a HUGE difference between Paul and his bumbling opponent. Paul is: With us on the issues, from healthcare (he supports Tony Evers’ commitment to Badgercare for All!), to climate change (he…


Both Brazil And The US Find Democracy Is At A Dangerous Crossroads

By Jeffrey R. Rubin The Guardian (10/8/18) Voters in Brazil and the US face elections in the coming weeks whose outcomes will directly influence the future of democracy in the Americas. In Brazil, the candidate who captured 46% of the votes in Saturday’s first-round presidential elections, Jair Bolsonaro, is pro-torture and speaks in favor of military rule as a way to solve deep societal problems. Bolsonaro will face leftist Fernando Haddad, who gained 29.3% of the first-round votes, in final elections on 28 October. Like Trump, Bolsonaro follows the demagogues’ playbook and makes a sham out of previously respected norms, signaling his…


WATCH: Reporter Who Covers Trump Family Businesses Explains Just How Deep The President’s ‘criminal enterprise’ Goes

  By Noor Al-Sibai The Raw Story (10/8/18) A New Yorker reporter who covers the president’s many financial scandals revealed Monday how deep the “criminal enterprise” ran by Fred Trump went — and why Donald Trump could soon be in huge trouble. Although the New York Times‘s report analyzing decades and hundreds of thousands of documents of Trump family dealings uncovered massive tax fraud, “the story’s not over,” writer Adam Davidson told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes. Though the Times acquired the mountain of data that led to the bombshell investigative article, its reporters “don’t have subpoena power” — but prosecutors do. “It’s not that they found one time…


What’s Not In The Latest Terrifying IPCC Report? The “Much, Much, Much More Terrifying” New Research On Climate Tipping Points

By Jon Queally Common Dreams (10/9/18) If the latest warnings contained in Monday’s report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—which included pronouncements that the world has less than twelve years to drastically alter course to avoid the worst impacts of human-caused global warming and that nothing less than keeping all fossil fuels in the ground is the solution to avoid future calamities—have you at all frightened or despondent, experts responding to the report have a potentially unwelcome message for your already over-burdened heart and mind: It’s very likely even worse than you’re being told. After the report’s publication there were…


Ted Cruz OBLITERATED In ‘Tough As Texas?’ Attack Ad: Here’s A Lesson On How Dems Could Show Some Real Spine

It woudd be nice to say the dems produced this ad. They didn’t. The Young Turks (10/9/18) Senator Ted Cruz pretends to be tough, but he’s really a quivering lap dog. Cenk Uygur and John Iadarola, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down. As reported in the HuffPost: “A new ad from a political action committee called Fire Ted Cruz slams the senator and former Republican presidential candidate for his re-election campaign slogan, ‘Tough as Texas.’ The ad, directed by Richard Linklater, features the actor Sonny Carl Davis in character as the Texan he portrayed in Linklater’s 2011 film,…


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As Misogynist, Homophobic Bolsonaro Advances To Run-Off In Brazil’s Election, Critics Fear ‘Genuine Fascist’ Takeover

“It’s hard to overstate the magnitude of the far-right wave that engulfed all of Brazil last night. But even more amazing is how far off the polls were.” — Glenn Greenwald tweet from his home in Brazil. By Julia Conley Common Dreams (10/8/18) Anti-fascist Brazilians expressed horror late Sunday as they watched the misogynist, racist former military officer Jair Bolsonaro advance toward a likely victory in the country’s presidential race, days after hundreds of thousands of women and allies protested his extremist agenda. Shocking journalists and poll-takers by unexpectedly winning 46 percent of the vote in the general election’s first round, Bolsonaro now heads to a…


The Case For Giving Every American A Share Of A Public Wealth Fund

  By Jim Pugh In These Times (9/28/18) In late August, the People’s Policy Project, a left-wing think tank run by economist and writer Matt Bruenig, released a proposal for the creation of a social wealth fund in the United States. Dubbed the American Solidarity Fund, the idea behind the proposal is to establish a pool of shared, public wealth that would be invested in the same way that private wealth is. Under this plan, every American adult would own a single “share” of the fund, and while no single person would be able to withdraw their share, they would receive…


Russia Monitor: Putin’s Apprentice & The Cast Of Russpublican Extras

  By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (10/11/18) Dear Fellow Readers, The news media is doing a much better job of connecting the dots with Trump-Russia corruption. This is of course with the benefit of how much more is known. There are also so many good Trump-Russia books that have been written including one of the more recent, ‘The Apprentice: Trump, Russia and the Subversion of American Democracy’ by Pulitzer Prize winning author Greg Miller. Miller sets out to tell the story of the “political crime of the century” by relating all and connecting all that is known. The style…


Southern Poverty Law Center: ‘They served their time. Their voices could make a huge difference.’

  Southern Poverty Law Center (10/5/18) Lorena Barnum Sabbs was just 11 years old when she was arrested. She was trying to integrate the local movie theater in Americus, Georgia. But when the group of 30 girls refused to leave the balcony, police arrested them and drove them almost an hour away to the Leesburg Stockade. They slept on the cells’ cement floors. They were threatened. A snake was thrown into their cells. Some were held as long as 45 days. Their parents didn’t know where they were until a local dogcatcher spread the word. No one could get them…


Stifling Free Speech: Texas Cops Confiscated Woman’s Handmade Political Yard Sign, So Pass It On For Others To See

  By Brianna Stone Dallas News (10/4/18) AUSTIN — Marion Stanford expected the political sign she painted to rile up some folks in her small town of Hamilton in Central Texas. But she didn’t expect to end up in a heated Facebook exchange with Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, or for the police to show up to confiscate her sign. The sign features the GOP elephant logo with its trunk up the dress of a female figure, with the word “Help,” next to the phrase “Your vote matters.” Behind it in her yard were campaign signs for Democratic candidates Lupe Valdez, Beto…


They Are Beginning With Digital Monitoring Of The Poor. You Are Next!

On Contact (10/6/18) Author, Virginia Eubanks, explains to Chris Hedges how the goals of Victorian-era poorhouses have evolved with 21st Century high-tech to exert control and surveillance of needy, poor and homeless people. Eubanks is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University Albany, SUNY. She is the author of Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police and Punish the Poor. Link to 47-Minute Video ***** Schools Pushing For Police-Grade Surveillance Technology To “Protect” Students By Aaron Kesel Activist Post (10/9/18) After the most recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida, schools across the U.S. are installing police-grade surveillance “gunshot-detection systems,”…


Round-up Of Firearms News From ‘The Trace’

  The Trace (10/10/18) New from the Trace: The NRA’s midterm spending is way down. The NRA has paid out just $4.9 million in the 2018 midterms, less than it had spent at this point in any of the previous four elections. Using our NRA Campaign Finance Tracker, we dug into the numbers. Some things we noticed: The gun group is active in fewer races than in past cycles. And federal campaign spending by pro-gun control organizations is keeping pace with the NRA’s this year. Daniel Nass breaks it all down. The NRA is still using a possible shell company for election work. On Friday,…


On Howard Zinn & The Transformational Power Of An Aroused Citizenry

  By Abby Zimet Common Dreams (10/6/18) Back to the fray, now that the Cretin-In Chief has declared Kavanaugh “flawless” and, in a spurious swearing-in, “proven innocent” of “a hoax” perpetrated by “evil people.” Among those vociferously disagreeing is the former dean of Yale Law School, which spit out Kavanaugh. In a blistering piece in Politico, Robert Post slams a “black-robed embodiment of raw partisan power inconsistent with any ideal of an impartial judiciary.” During his hearing, he charges, Kavanaugh “stoked the fires of partisan rage and male entitlement” with “a witches’ brew of vicious unfounded charges.” He dismisses Kavanaugh’s whining op-ed – “Judicial temperament is…


Vernon Dems Gearing Up Phone Banking & Community Outreach For Midterms

Dear Fellow Activists, It’s time to get serious about how we are going to ensure a victory for the candidates we want to win on November 6. Wondering how YOU can plug in to local efforts? Good old fashioned phone calls and knocking on doors is a great place to start. Phone banks and canvassing are being organized out of the Vernon Dems HQ on Main St in Viroqua. I don’t have to tell you how important it is to do everything we can in these last few weeks if we are going to restore any integrity and fairness back…


Abusive Relationship: Progressives Need To Talk Back To Their Jackass Boyfriend

By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (4/8/18) In a recent Facebook squabble I was accused of aiding and abetting the republicans by saying it’s right not to support West Virginia Sen. Joe “Big Coal” Manchin’s re-election because of his cuddling up to republicans to help send Brett “Brewski” Kavanaough off to the Supreme Court. I posted and supported a couple articles referencing the need to stop supporting corporate dems who continually represent the greedy whims of the 1% and corporations over the needs of the voters who put them in office. One article referenced two liberal groups denying any…


Kavanaugh’s Confirmation Isn’t Democracy. It’s A Judicial Coup

  By Richard Wolffe The Guardian (10/6/18) Brett Kavanaugh is the symptom, not the cause, of our sickness. He is the nasal congestion snorted out by the politics that have plagued us for the best part of three decades. If we’re ever going to recover our health and sanity, we need to start with the correct diagnosis. For all the justified outrage about sexual assault, involving allegations that Kavanaugh denied, the new supreme court justice represents an even bigger lie than his mindless fabrications about “ralphing” and “boofing”. He can blame his weak stomach if he likes; the rest of us are…


How Democrats Could Win With Moral & Emotionally Wise Political Communication

    “People vote their values.” Robert Reich interviews neurolingist George Lakoff on how the republicans have mastered the moral hierarchy of political messaging — emotional framing — and what the democrats and progressives need to learn, understand and do it they want any chance of winning elections. Opposing Trump, making dismissive jokes about Scott Walker or name-calling republicans will not be enough. It never has been and never will be. If they are interested in winning elections and changing the public debate it is essential for progressives to find their language and speak to the moral reasoning, values and…


David Cay Johnston Talks About His Book & The State Of Trump’s Rule — “It’s Even Worse Than You Think”

Politics & Prose (1/27/18) David Cay Johnston discusses his book, “It’s Even Worse Than You Think” at Politics and Prose on 1/24/18. Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, has been covering Trump since 1988. In June 2015, he was the first national journalist to write about a possible Trump presidency and in his 2016 bestselling The Making of Donald Trump he gave a comprehensive account of Trump’s business practices, associates, and family background. Now Johnston follows up that profile with a detailed analysis of the Trump administration’s first one hundred days. He shows how Trump’s policies are affecting ordinary people’s…


‘Going, Going, Gone!’ — Banksy Shreds The Richest 1% With Self-Destructing $1.4 Million Piece Of Art

    By Jon Queally Common Dreams (10/6/18) With a direct strike against the grotesque economic inequality that is ravaging societies around the globe, the artist Banksy pulled off a spectacular stunt Friday night when a piece of his artwork—a painting titled “Girl With Balloon” which had just sold for an outrageous $1.4 million—self-destructed right be the eyes of the shocked plutocrats viewing it at the Sotheby’s auction in London. With a secret shredder hidden within the walls of the painting’s frame, the incident was capture live on video and Banksy himself used his Instagram feed to show the shocked look on the faces of…


American Mythology: Trump & Kavanaugh Claim We Live In A Meritocracy. Don’t Believe A Word Of It

  By Arwa Mahdawi The Guardian (10/5/18) If you are very clever and work very hard, you can achieve anything. We know this because successful people are always telling us so. They got where they are because of their work ethic: rich parents, the right connections and random chance had little to do with it. See, as exhibit one, man of the moment Brett Kavanaugh. You know, the judge who really likes beer and seems to hate women having autonomy over their reproductive systems. When Kavanaugh appeared before a committee to defend himself against accusations of sexual assault, in between sniffles he…


While Trump Prattles On About The Economy, Staggering Number Of Americans Can’t Meet Basic Needs

  By Libby Watson Splinter News (8/27/18) A new study by the Urban Institute published Tuesday found that 40 percent of Americans can’t meet at least one basic need—food, healthcare, housing, or utilities—even as the economy approaches nearly full employment with only a 4.4 percent unemployment rate. Remember this as the president boasts about the stock market, as he does frequently, without realizing it’s an indictment of his policies: The people the president cares about are making obscene amounts of cash while the rest of America is falling behind. The findings in the study reveal how widespread the struggle to meet basic needs is among Americans. Sixty…


Hey, Youngsters, America’s Old Farts Have A Message For You: “Don’t Vote!”

An edgy Knock the Vote social media ad has been gaining social media traction this week features old white seniors Trump supporters taunting younger citizens into not voting in the upcoming November elections. “Tax cuts for the rich? Hell yeah, I’m rich as fuck,” one old fart declares in the ad. Another declares: “Climate change? That’s a you problem. I’ll be dead soon.” The ad concludes with a bitter bit of prediciiton: “We’ll be there, but you won’t because we’re a generation of doers, not whiners. We’re doing great.” Link to 1-Minute Video (Commoner Call cartoon by Mark L. Taylor, 2018….


Russia Monitor: The Truth About Deadbeat Donnie Is Right In Front Of Our Disbelieving Faces

  Author David Cay Johnston on Trump: “The people he brought in, want to destroy the existing order, they HATE the United States of America. We have a president who is not a loyal citizen… There was an ongoing conspiracy… between the Kremlin and the Trump Administration.” Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist David Cay Johnston’s latest book, “It’s Even Worse Than You Think”, Video.   By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (10/8/18) Dear Fellow Readers, This is a summary collection of lengthy reporting and writing that takes us convincingly and in great detail through the history of Trump’s ‘comeback’ fortune…


All You Need To Know: The Kremlin Hates America’s ‘Malignant Feminism,’ Loves Brett Kavanaugh

Putin’s hand-picked media official sounds remarkably like Donald Trump on women. By Mary Papenfuss The HuffPost (10/6/18) Just like President Donald Trump, the Kremlin-owned media in Russia are wild about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. And their chief propagandist has lashed “malignant feminism” in America for challenging Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Russian TV pundit and media official Dmitry Kiselyov, chosen for his role by Russian President Vladimir Putin, earlier this week dismissed the sexual assault accusation against Kavanaugh by research psychologist Christine Blasey Ford as “like a joke.” Kiselyov said Kavanaugh’s confirmation was held up by “malignant feminism,” which he blasted as a “tool…


Training: Inner & Outer Work Towards Spirit-Led Community

October 12th – 14th, 2018 Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School 431 E. Court Street Viroqua, WI In community life we learn consciously and unconsciously from each other; and we need to be able to elicit the individuality in the other. Inner work can provide accessible insights into the workings of the human soul, outlines its relationship to the spiritual life, and shows the way to develop and strengthen our inner capacities through practical exercises, experience, and deep understanding. This weekend will focus on how to perceive, support and elicit the true nature of the individual human being from childhood to adulthood….


Hundreds Of Migrant Children Are Being Held At Remote, Substandard Desert Tent Camp

  The government announced its plan to withdraw from a court settlement that requires youth shelters to meet minimum safety standards. By Angelina Chapin The HuffPost (10/2/18) Over the past two weeks, hundreds of migrant children have been sent to a tent city in Tornillo, Texas, according to The New York Times, in what experts are calling a humanitarian crisis of the U.S. government’s own making. Although the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) claims the tent camp is a necessary response to filled shelters, experts say that overcrowding is a result of the Trump administration’s recent decision to more thoroughly scrutinize…


Brett Kavanaugh Reveals The Smug Banality Of The Bipartisan Ruling Gang

  By Meagin Day Jacobin (10/2/18) The masters of the universe, it turns out, are losers. The Brett Kavanaugh hearing was a kaleidoscope of family and God and prestigious clerkships spliced with boofing and ralphing and brewskis. It was a thorough dressing-down. In the end, one was left with the impression of an unremarkable guy who was born on a conveyor belt to power, without much obligation to distinguish himself from his peers. On the contrary, his success was relatively guaranteed on the condition that he didn’t distinguish himself from them, that he simply play nice with the fellas — and not…


Snarling Little Lindsey Graham’s Rank Hypocrisy On Supreme Court Exposed

Two Words Lindsey: Merrick. Garland. Link to 30-Second Video and Twitter Responses ‘Angrier, loopier and more belligerent’: Conservative Columnist Warns How Much Worse GOP Will Get After Midterms — “Perhaps instead of ideology or even experience, candidates for spots in any branch of government, at any level, should be assessed on temperament. Without cooler heads in elected and appointed offices, our descent into rage, extremism and meanness will continue,” she continued. “Government by screeching bullies is not a political system any of us should desire.” … Read the Rest (Commoner Call cartoon by Mark L. Taylor, 2018. Open source and free…


‘Is Democracy Dying?’

  Fresh Air / WHYY (8/27/18) ‘Atlantic’ journalist Anne Applebaum says the changes taking place in Poland — including a rise of conspiracy theories and attacks on the free press — mirror similar shifts happening in the U.S. Link to 48-Minute Audio



How To Recognize Plutocracy: The Dead Giveaway

  By Sam Pizzigati OurFuture.org (9/5/18) How can we tell when a democracy, or rule by the people, evolves into a plutocracy, the reign of the rich? Easy. We have a democracy when a political system can and does make a good-faith effort to address the problems average people face. In a plutocracy, on the other hand, the political system pays no more than lip service to average people’s problems and works diligently instead at protecting — and growing — the wealth of the already wealthy. By this simple standard, we Americans today unquestionably live in a plutocracy. Our latest slam-dunk…


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From The Tony Evers Campaign: Invitation To The Women Of Wisconsin

Women of Wisconsin… Please join me in launching the Women for Tony Network  I have met so many women who are enthusiastic about my husband’s candidacy for Governor, and the question I keep hearing again and again is “How can I help?”   Well, I have one easy, but very meaningful way.   Will you please join me in adding your name to the list of women who publicly support Tony Evers and become a founding member of our Women for Tony Network?   Yes, Kathy, Sign me up!   Even if you are helping the campaign in other ways,…


Russia Monitor: The Boy Bully-In-Chief Brags It Up

  “He was simply a spy. A traitor to the motherland. He‘s simply a scumbag, that’s all.“ — Russian President Vladimir Putin (10/4/18). By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (10/4/18) Dear Fellow Readers, It is a common trait of strongman nationalists to enforce order and attack their opponents. This is more than political hardball and Trump has brought this to the U.S. Trump demurs and says, “many sides” and his cult nods, smiles, laughs and stand with him because they hate the same things — the same people. When Trump offers his “many sides” with a smirk and a shoulder shrug…


Arming Up Foreign Despots, Terrorists, Gangs & Drug Cartels: Trump Pumping Up U.S. Small Arms Exports

Our very own gunrunner-in-chief. By William D. Hartung Tomgram (8/14/18) American weapons makers have dominated the global arms trade for decades. In any given year, they’ve accounted for somewhere between one-third and more than one-half the value of all international weapons sales. It’s hard to imagine things getting much worse — or better, if you happen to be an arms trader — but they could, and soon, if a new Trump rule on firearms exports goes through. But let’s hold off a moment on that and assess just how bad it’s gotten before even worse hits the fan. Until recently, the Trump administration had focused its arms…


As A Young Reporter, I Went Undercover To Expose The Ku Klux Klan

  By Dick Lehr The Conversation (8/15/18) Spike Lee’s powerful new film, “BlacKkKlansman,” tells the true story of Ron Stallworth, an African-American police officer who infiltrates a local branch the Ku Klux Klan in 1979. That same year, I also signed up to join the Klan. And at a secret meeting I even met the Grand Wizard himself, David Duke, the same Klan leader featured in Lee’s film. I was a rookie Klansman at the time, and I’d been recruited to join the cause. Sort of. Like Stallworth, I wasn’t a true believer and had a very different agenda from…


‘Fresh Air’ Review: Smart, Unsentimental ‘Heartland’ Pays Tribute To America’s Working Class & Exposes The Class Warfare That Exploits Their Lives

  “It’s a hell of a thing to grow the food, serve the drinks, hammer the houses and assemble the airplane that bodies with more money eat and drink and occupy and board while your own body can’t go to the doctor.” By Maureen Corrigan Fresh Air (10/3/18) Sarah Smarsh is a daughter of the white working class. Born in rural Kansas, Smarsh traces her lineage back through five generations of family farmers. She also traces herself back through generations of teenage pregnancies; Smarsh’s mother was just 17 when she had her. During the 1980s, when Smarsh was growing up,…


Brett Kavanaugh Teaches America How To Be A Real Dude

All-American Role Model… ***** Saturday Night Live: Kavanaugh Hearing Cold Open “Now usually I am an optimist. I’m a keg-is-half-full kinda’ guy.”   Saturday Night Live (9/29/18) Judge Brett Kavanaugh (Matt Damon) takes questions from Senators Chuck Grassley (Alex Moffat), Dianne Feinstein (Cecily Strong), Amy Klobuchar (Rachel Dratch), Thom Tillis (Mikey Day), Cory Booker (Chris Redd), John Kennedy (Kyle Mooney), Sheldon Whitehouse (Pete Davidson), Lindsey Graham (Kate McKinnon) and prosecutor Rachel Mitchell (Aidy Bryant). Link to 13-Minute Video


Feeling Discouarged & Hopeless? Dump That, Read This!

Democratic senators, despite their best efforts, seemed unable to stop Brett Kavanaugh. Archila and Gallagher showed the world what real power looks like. By Jill Abramson The Guardian (9/28/18) Truth spoke to power. And the US Senate finally listened. In the end, after a full day of official Senate hearings, all it took was two gutsy women, Ana Maria Archila and Maria Gallagher, to stop the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh. The two women, who said they were survivors of sexual assault, stubbornly refused to let the elevator doors closeas Senator Jeff Flake, the critical swing vote on the Senate judiciary committee, was…


Confirmation Bias: Accused Sexual Harassers Get Promoted Up The Corporate Ladder Despite Their Behvior

By Elizabeth C. Tippett The Converation (9/28/18) One day after hearing emotional testimony from accuser Christine Blasey Ford, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to become a U.S. Supreme Court justice pending an FBI investigation. For millions of American women – both those who’ve survived assault and those who have experienced workplace harassment – seeing a man on the path to promotion despite allegations of harassment is jarring yet painfully familiar. Recent examples include former CBS Chair Les Moonves and Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, not to mention media mogul Harvey Weinstein. Sadly, this brand of discrimination has been undermining equality in the workplace for decades. Burning at two levels…