Over the last year, Trumpism has advanced three grand lies: against the significance of the pandemic, against Biden’s clear win in the presidential election, and against the fact of a violent insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th. In response to that third lie – that there was no violent insurrection – there is ample…
America
America, Culture, Horde, Politics, Sen. Ron Johnson, US Senate Race 2022, Wisconsin
Johnson Picks His Predictable – and Ironic – Platform
by JOHN ADAMS •
Jessie Opoien reports At WI convention, Ron Johnson calls for GOP to ‘take back our culture’: Johnson called on Republicans to run candidates at every level of public office, arguing that the GOP has spent too much time focused on federal elections while letting seats go at the local levels. “Take back our school boards, our…
America, History, Holiday, Milwaukee, Politics, Sen. Ron Johnson, U.S. Senate, Unfit, Wisconsin
Ron Johnson Got the Reception He Deserved
by JOHN ADAMS •
Ron Johnson held up a Senate vote to make Juneteenth a holiday, and when he at last relented, he did so only begrudgingly (“While it still seems strange that having taxpayers provide federal employees paid time off is now required to celebrate the end of slavery, it is clear that there is no appetite in Congress…
America, Cycling, Federal Government, History, Holiday, Local Government
Juneteenth
by JOHN ADAMS •
Sometime later today, Pres. Biden will sign a bill, having passed overwhelminmgly in both the House and Senate, to make Juneteenth a national holiday. The House saw only 14 members opposed (one being Tom Tiffany, R-WI 7) and the Senate voted after Sen. Ron Johnson withdrew his opposition to a vote. Making Juneteenth a national…
America, History, Politics, U.S. Senate
The Filibuster: How one small rule change in 1806 started it all
by JOHN ADAMS •
America, Ethics, Legislation, Liberty, Music, Politics, Wisconsin, WISGOP
The Party Demands Unity
by JOHN ADAMS •
One reads that WISGOP Bill Would Make It Illegal For Sports Venues to Skip National Anthem: It would be illegal for some sports venues to skip the national anthem before games under a new bill proposed by a Republican legislator. Stevens Point Republican Sen. Patrick Testin’s Star Spangled Banner Act, proposed Wednesday, would require the anthem…
America, Education, Good Ideas, School District
The Power and Value of Open Enrollment
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s beneficial in-and-of-itself that people should read, reflect, and commit themselves to ‘lifelong learning.’ Some years ago, the Whitewater Unified School District had a fine goal of inspiring students to become “engaged lifelong learners.” Yet in smaller communities, without the money or numbers for plentiful schooling alternatives, government taxes for a school system, establishes rules…
America, Congress, Crime, Disinformation, Insurrection, Medicine, Republicans, Trump, Trumpism
Eyes Averted
by JOHN ADAMS •
As video of Capitol riot played, some GOP senators turned away: Almost every senatorial eye in the chamber was glued to the screens as lead House manager Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) played a 13-minute video depicting the events of Jan. 6 to introduce the impeachment case against Trump — with a few notable exceptions. While the…
America, Culture, Freedom of Speech, Justice, Local Government, Race
‘A New Generation Challenges the Heartland’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Last July, Tim Craig and Aaron Williams reported A new generation challenges the heartland (‘Big changes in small towns are fueling a racial justice movement across the Midwest’). They wrote last summer that The number of young people of color living in the Midwest has surged over the past decade, as the older white population…
America, Authoritarianism, Congress, Documentary, Never Trump, Politics, Trump, Trumpism
Frontline: Trump’s American Carnage
by JOHN ADAMS •
In the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, FRONTLINE investigates how Donald Trump’s presidency laid the groundwork for bitter divisions, violence and ultimately insurrection. “Trump’s American Carnage” investigates Trump’s siege on his enemies, the media and even the leaders of his own party, who for years ignored the warning signs of what…
America, Biden-Harris, Constitution, Federal Government, Poetry
Amanda Gorman, The Hill We Climb
by JOHN ADAMS •
Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Congress, Herrenvolk, History, Law, Mendacity, Trump, Trumpism
Confederates, Copperheads, and Conservatives
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s an understatement to say that a democratic society that endures a violent mob seizing its capitol building is a society in distress. We find ourselves in the twenty-first century facing movements as malevolent and mendacious as the nineteenth century’s Confederates and Copperheads. Karen L. Cox writes What Trump Shares With the ‘Lost Cause’ of the…
America, Economy, Employment, Failure, Trump
Trump’s Employment Failure
by JOHN ADAMS •
Catherine Rampell writes December’s jobs report confirms Trump is set to be the worst jobs president on record: When the pandemic first hit the United States, we lost 22 million jobs almost immediately. Then after seven months of gains — albeit decelerating ones — the economy tipped back into job losses in December, the Bureau…
America, Elections, History, Law, Liberty, Never Trump, Presidential race 2020, Resistance, Trump, Victory
2020: ‘But Not Just That’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Tim Miller – who is always worth reading, writes of 2020 as The Worst. But Not Just That. These paragraphs resonate: Most importantly, 2020 will always be the year that we joined together and toppled the greatest threat that our fragile union has faced in many decades. Turning out more people to vote against the president-strongman…