Why the National Guard remains deployed to protect the Capitol from domestic extremists
By Shannon M. Smith, Associate Professor of History, College of Saint Benedict & Saint John’s University The Pentagon may soon approve leaving some troops deployed to protect the U.S. Capitol from domestic extremist threats, but at a sizable reduction from...
Current laws prevent domestic terrorists from being designated and prosecuted like foreign extremists
In the days leading up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the FBI received intelligence that extremists were planning violence as lawmakers gathered in Washington to certify the electoral victory of President-elect Joe Biden. FBI officials managed to dissuade people...
Yolanda Medina: The vital role of Latinx women in the United States military
As part of Women’s History Month, local veteran Yolanda Medina shared her thoughts about the contributions of Latinx women in the military, and experiences from her own service in the United States Marine Corps. President Biden said this in his 2021 declaration...
Senator Tammy Baldwin introduces bipartisan legislation for Veterans exposed to toxic military base
Legislation introduced on February 25 would require the Veterans Administration to assume responsibility for treating U.S. service members who became ill after being exposed to cancer-causing toxic materials nearly 20 years ago at a former Soviet air base in...
Stranded far from home: Deported U.S. Veterans urge the Biden administration to repatriate them
By Jennifer Martinez-Medina, PhD Candidate/Political Science Instructor, Portland State University Ivan Ocon thought he would be headed back to civilian life as a U.S. citizen after serving the U.S. Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Ocon, who was born in...
A Blueprint for Peace: Putting Milwaukee’s record year for homicides in perspective
The year 2020, a year where we faced a deadly pandemic, saw the city reach a grim record surpassing 1991 as the deadliest year in the city’s history with a record 193 homicides. It was devastating to lose so many Milwaukeeans to murder. Six children under the age of...
Senator Ron Johnson forces reading of the 628-page coronavirus relief bill in cynical stunt to delay vote
Senator Bernie Sanders accused Senate Republicans on March 4 of showing “contempt” for working class Americans after Senator Ron Johnson delayed a vote on President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill by forcing Senate floor staff to...
Security experts warn that chronic domestic terror problems continue to simmer
By Luis De la Calle, Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and Associate Professor in Political Science, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas After President Joe Biden took office on January 20, 2021 without any...
No political policy but revenge: How the Big Lie and its acolytes threaten the survival of our democracy
Conservative pundit William Kristol wrote in “The Bulwark” on March 1 what a number of us have been saying for a while now, and it dovetails cleanly with the current Republican attempt to suppress voting. Kristol warns that our democracy is in crisis. For...
The American Empire: Destabilizing countries and wrecking their economies under the guise of liberty
Instead of opening doors for American big business or supporting America’s diplomatic position in the world, the U.S. war machine has become a bull in the global china shop, wielding purely destructive power to destabilize countries and wreck their economies. In 2004,...
MKE It Back: More than 70 small business owners to get financial assistance with grant from Downtown BID
Milwaukee Downtown BID #21 launched the “MKE It Back” Grant program in February to assist downtown small businesses in their recovery from the pandemic. More than 70 restaurants, bars, salons, barbershops, and retailers will be the recipients of the grant,...
Partisan paralysis has torn Wisconsin’s safety net and left the jobless struggling to survive the pandemic
Brandon Cacek filed for unemployment insurance in mid-March last year after losing his substitute teaching job due to the pandemic. He is still waiting for that crucial aid 11 months later. “I keep leaving out hope that I’m going to get some kind of assistance...
