Guest, Author at Milwaukee Independent

George Carlin on War: How bombing brown people became a growth industry

Posted by Guest | Jan 14, 2020 |

“In a sane and just society, the architects of the nearly 17-year-old war in Iraq, which is still ongoing and has left an estimated half-million people dead, would face war crimes charges and those who cheered them on would be thoroughly discredited.” — Jessica Schulberg, HuffPost Amid swirling tensions between President Donald Trump, Iran, and the potential for a new war in the Middle East, a historic clip resurfaced on social media of comedian George Carlin, bemoaning the pattern of American militarism in which the United States, often with the help of a conspiring media and a lazy public,...

Indifference to Puerto Rican suffering after natural disasters exposes the inhumanity of America’s soul

Posted by Guest | Jan 11, 2020 |

As Puerto Rico dealt with the fallout from a series of devastating earthquakes in recent days, the Trump administration continued to block the release of $18 billion in disaster aid to the island, more than two years after the money was appropriated by Congress. Two years after hurricanes annihilated the island, it was hit by a devastating 6.4-magnitude earthquake on January 7, followed by a series of aftershocks. Puerto Rico is not a ‘Sh*thole’ country, but an unincorporated territory of the United States. Its population are American citizens. Yet yet its recovery has been sabotaged by blatantly racist policies...

“OK Boomer” is not the N-word of ageism outside of the “Snowflake” vernacular

Posted by Guest | Dec 2, 2019 |

“‘Boomer’ is the n-word of ageism. Being hip and flip does not make bigotry ok, nor is a derisive epithet acceptable because it is now.” – A tweet by conservative radio show host Bob Lonsberry Snowflake: As a term is used extensively as a putdown for someone, originally on the political left, who is easily offended or felt they needed a “safe space” away from the harsh realities of the world. With similar over-reactions from the political right, it has morphed into a general putdown for anyone that complains about any subject. What exactly does OK boomer mean? OK boomer...

Steve Michaels: Family history and the unexpected discovery of a genealogy link to the Mayflower

Posted by Guest | Nov 28, 2019 |

The digitalization of historical records and easy access to new DNA technologies has helped fuel the hunger for many families to trace their genealogy. For Steve Michaels, it was a family obligation but also inspired by a natural curiosity. As a city of immigrants, Milwauke has a unique foundation story but one not unlike the nation itself. With the current perception of a homogeneous identity, many people easily forget that America is a nation of immigrants. Memories of those ancestors usually ended with grandparents, who felt the pressure to assimilate into the early 20th Century culture and leave the...

City budget amendment proposes pilot program to support families with basic income stipend

Posted by Guest | Nov 9, 2019 |

“On October 31, the Finance and Personnel Committee voted 3-2 to recommend for approval a bold budget amendment I sponsored that would create a pilot program to provide $500 monthly basic income stipends to families in Milwaukee.” – Alderwoman Chantia Lewis “The amendment – requesting the Department of Administration to create a new SEED pilot program special fund of $100,000 – would be offset by foregoing computer replacement in the Police Department (for a total of $100,000). The intent of my amendment is to create a universal basic income program based on the Stockton, California model. I am proposing...

Mayor Tom Barrett blames acid attack against Latino resident on Trump’s Anti-Immigrant rhetoric

Posted by Guest | Nov 5, 2019 |

Mayor Tom Barrett said on November 5 that President Donald Trump’s racial rhetoric was responsible for violent hate crimes, like an acid attack which left a Milwaukee man with second-degree burns on November 1. Mahud Villaluz said that a man confronted him over a parking spot, called him “an illegal,” and told him to “go back to [his] country” before throwing battery acid at him. “I look at this in the context of what’s going on right now in our country, where we’ve got the president of the United States who on a daily basis seems to create more...