ALL ARTICLES

      By Scott Simon NPR (7/28/18) We live in times of instant mass outrage. Someone does something, says something, or is seen doing something, and they can be demonized with a click. The next time you might be tempted, think of this: In the fourth inning of Sunday’s game between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, the Cubs’ first base coach tossed a foul ball to a smiling youngster in the stands who wore a Cubs hat endearingly too large for him. The kid bobbled the baseball. What people saw next in video clips that zapped around…

  Democracy Now! (7/26/18) A new report by PBS “Frontline” has found the death toll from the water crisis in Flint may be higher than Michigan officials have acknowledged. The state has admitted 12 people died following an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease after the city switched its water supply to the Flint River in an attempt to save money. But according to PBS “Frontline,” the city also saw a spike in pneumonia deaths during the water crisis. Some of these deaths may have actually been caused by Legionnaires’ disease. Between April 2014 and October 2015, 119 people died of pneumonia in Flint—a jump of…

  By Sarah Smarsh Portside (7/27/18) In a dim corridor backstage, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders looked down at Kansas congressional hopeful James Thompson’s denim jeans and black boots. “Hey James,” Sanders said without cracking a smile. “Could I borrow your cowboy shoes?” Thompson took just a second to recover from the razzing. “I wear them because the shit’s so deep around here,” he replied. Through the thick cement walls of this downtown Wichita convention hall, we heard the roar of 4,000 Kansans awaiting speeches by Sanders, Thompson and progressive rocket ship Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in support of Thompson’s run for Congress. It was…

  “Even if we act to erase material poverty, there is another greater task, it is to confront the poverty of satisfaction – purpose and dignity – that afflicts us all. Too much and for too long, we seemed to have surrendered personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things.  Our Gross National Product, now, is over $800 billion dollars a year, but that Gross National Product – if we judge the United States of America by that – that Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of…

  On Point (7/23/18) The Trump administration proposes major changes to endangered species attentions. Critics call it a “death sentence for polar bears.” Guests Lisa Friedman, reporter for The New York Times, focusing on climate and environmental policy in Washington. (@LFFriedman) Beckie Elgin, volunteers a lot of her time protecting gray wolves and their habitat in southwest Oregon. David Bernhardt, deputy secretary of the Department of the Interior, which announced Thursday plans to roll back core provisions of the Endangered Species Act. (@DOIDepSec) Rebecca Riley, legal director in the Nature Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, where she focuses…

By Elizabeth Dunbar Minnesota Public Radio (7/24/18) A group of utilities, state regulators and environmental groups released a report Tuesday showing it’s possible — with existing technology — for electricity generation in the midcontinent to be carbon-free by 2050. Relatively speaking, the electricity sector has done better than other parts of the economy in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Still, in 13 states looked at by the Great Plains Institute, 77 percent of the electricity comes from coal and natural gas. So, how do you get from 77 percent to zero? “Essentially that means more wind, more solar, more energy efficiency,” said Franz…

  By Shawn Johnson WPR (7/23/18) Two liberal groups that used online voting in an effort to narrow the Democratic field for governor won’t endorse any of the candidates after all. The groups Our Wisconsin Revolution and the Wisconsin Working Families Party conducted the votes as part of an effort they called “Wisconsin’s Choice.” During their previous round of voting in June, they identified four finalists: longtime activist Mike McCabe, Madison firefighter Mahlon Mitchell, former Madison state Rep. Kelda Roys and Alma state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout. But Wisconsin Working Families Director Marina Dimitrijevic says none of the four candidates received the majority…

Wisconsin Women’s Network (7/24/18) MADISON—-The Wisconsin Women’s Network (WWN) today announced the 2018-19 Policy Institute. The WWN is seeking passionate women to participate in the seventh session of the Wisconsin Women’s Network Policy Institute. Participants will build their advocacy skills, learn how to navigate Wisconsin’s legislative and administrative rules process, and apply their passion for improving the lives of women and girls in Wisconsin. Applications are being accepted now and the deadline to apply is noon on Friday, August 10, 2018. The Wisconsin Women’s Network Policy Institute provides hands-on leadership, communications, and policy advocacy training to a 25 women from…

[Editor’s Note: Cartoon of actual protest sign. — Mark L. Taylor, 2018] By Harvey “Sluggo” Wasserman Reader Supported News (7/17/8) The Manchurian Money-Launderer has just kissed every inch of his mafia don’s anatomy. The Donald has been washing Russia’s mob cash since the 1980s. The constant stream of ruble injections has funded his many bankruptcies. In 2016, GOP election thieves like Kris Kobach, Jon Husted, Scott Walker, Rick Snyder, Rick Scott (state secretaries of Kansas and Ohio, governors of Wisconsin, Michigan and Florida) and so many more turned Trump’s 3-million-vote loss to Hillary Clinton into a victory for the Russian…

  By Sabrina Siddiqui The Guardian (7/14/18) It was an ordinary Friday on the job for Pablo Villavicencio, a delivery man at the Nonna Delia’s pizzeria in Queens, New York. The father of two pulled up with a bulk lunch order at Fort Hamilton, an army base about a half hour from the restaurant. But unlike previous deliveries , this time Villavicencio, an undocumented immigrant, was arrested by federal immigration authorities and taken to a New Jersey jail. Villavicencio, 35, was fast-tracked for deportation despite holding no criminal record. Had it not been for intense media scrutiny of his case, Villavicencio might…

  By Andrew Hosken Assignment / BBC (7/20/18) It is thought to be the most powerful Mafia organisation in the world and yet few people have heard of it. The ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate has used the enormous wealth derived from its control of cocaine smuggling to spread its tentacles far and wide around the world. The crime organisation began as bandits in the late 19th century in Calabria in southern Italy and is now thought to be operating in 50 countries. The ‘Ndrangheta shuns the limelight but earlier this year a brutal murder brought it unwelcome attention. Investigative reporter Jan Kuciak…

  “Whatever you say, comrade.” By Richard Wolff The Guardian (7/16/8) The best disinformation and psy-ops campaigns are supposed to leave you dazed and confused, unable to discern truth from fiction, friend from foe, right from wrong. So those who watched Donald Trump’s extraordinary press conference alongside Vladimir Putin might well be feeling nauseous, several hours later. Listening to Trump’s responses about Russian acts of aggression, it was hard to know who was playing the role of the American president. His performance was so nakedly, brazenly pro-Russian, you had to wonder what ranks higher on the Trumpian scale of stupidity: the president’s…

  By Brad Reed The Raw Story (7/16/18) Wisconsin Republican Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson on Monday penned an angry editorial for Fox News in which he bitterly complained that his parents, who are two lifelong Democrats, are refusing to endorse his campaign. Nicholson, who is running against incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) this fall, wrote that his parents’ decision to support Baldwin over their own son was emblematic of liberals’ supposed “intolerance” for dissenting viewpoints. The candidate seemed particularly upset that his parents not only endorsed Baldwin, but sent the maximum allowable donation to her campaign. “They decided to make the maximum contribution…