Author: Syndicated

September 16 marks the 85th anniversary of the original installation and dedication for the bronze statue of President Abraham Lincoln along Milwaukee’s Lakefront. A movement to provide the City of Milwaukee with a suitable monument to the life of Abraham Lincoln began in 1916. A meeting of citizens was called at the City Council Chamber by Mayor Daniel W. Hoan. The plan outlined at this meeting was to form a committee of one hundred citizens, out of which an executive committee of twenty five was to be chosen. Articles of incorporation for the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Association were later...

“The sufferings of the many pay for the luxuries of the few.” – Greta Thunberg Sunday, September 1 marked the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II. On that day in 1939, German troops crossed the border into Poland, setting off the greatest war the world has ever known. No war—and maybe no event of any kind—has been so thoroughly chronicled, both at the time it occurred and after the fact. But, like so many of the iconic events in America’s past, the rendering that endures in the culture is a stew of fact, fiction, and fairy...

If any doubts remain about the nefarious influence of the National Rifle Association (NRA) on the political life of the United States, President Donald Trump’s decision to discuss gun control measures with that organization should dispel them. The offer to discuss these measures is like asking a criminal for his weapon of choice in order to hand it over. This obsequiousness equals that of many legislators, mainly Republican, who refuse to pass effective legislation on gun control measures out of fear of losing NRA support. Scores of people stand to lose, among them a significant number of children and...

A political battle over transit plans in other cities by Koch-funded interests offers insight into methods used by critics of Milwaukee’s streetcar, and foreshadows the methods to hinder its planned expansions. The city of Phoenix dealt a decisive blow to a Koch Brothers-backed measure on August 27 when voters rejected a proposition that would have banned any expansion of the city’s light rail system. For years, Phoenix’s public transportation plans have included a network of light rail lines connecting downtown to the suburbs, cutting air pollution and carbon emissions in a city dubbed the least sustainable in the United...

“We cannot sit by and allow corporations, billionaires, and demagogues to destroy the Fourth Estate, nor can we allow them to replace serious reporting with infotainment and propaganda.” – Senator Bernie Sanders Warning the “decimation of journalism” by big business and billionaire executives poses a major threat to democracy, Senator Bernie Sanders on Monday unveiled a plan to stop the long-running corporate consolidation of American media, take anti-trust action against tech giants like Facebook and Google, and bolster independent news. “Today, after decades of consolidation and deregulation, just a small handful of companies control almost everything you watch, read,...

White terroristic activity has been around since the nation’s birth. But the failure to acknowledge the escalation as a result of President Trump’s continual hateful rhetoric is itself aiding and abetting its proliferation. In moments like this, the script is sadly predictable. Some will blame everything from mental illness to video games for the carnage. Others will self-righteously claim that this is not the time to “play politics.” But speaking truth about this president is far from a political game. It is peddling in a sobering reality. There are no “both sides” here. There is only right and wrong....