A suggestion to you all.

What has the GOP done for this country? You'd have to go all the way back to, believe it or not, RICHARD NIXON!

Be totally honest with yourself.

Can you name any achievement that this party has pushed or enacted? And no, fat-cat tax cuts, stuffing the courts with unqualified corporatist judges, or a brutal border policy that ignores the suffering these people are fleeing do not count as anything that benefits us.

It's time we start calling the GOP the Party of Mediocrity to help wake up voters to what this tribe is doing to our country and this state.

Back in Wisconsin, the Party of Mediocrity failed to do anything to address the COVID crisis. And don't count on them passing anything beneficial -- including funding the police -- because, god forbid, that would mean taxing their wealthy donors.

The Judge Brown-Jackson hearings when it came to the GOP members of the judiciary committee was a Mediocrity Circus. It had everything from Lindsay Graham asking what the Judge's religion is from to Dixie Disaster Marsha Blackburn asking Brown-Jackson asking her to define what a woman was to the GOP's OANN obsession over seven cases around the sentencing of child pornographers.

And don't forget. The Party of Mediocrity got us into this recession and let the pandemic rage, which Joe Biden is struggling against the Party of Mediocracy's obstruction. Yet, yesterday's unemployment numbers show this to be the lowest since Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was on the screen.

We have to ask voters: Do you want this country to not only be what it can be but put into power a party so mediocre that they have to engineer their one-party rule to stay in control?

In advance of the September 19th Zoom Townhall on Gun Violence, an article by David Kyle Johnson bats back the myths cherished by the pro-gun side. Johnson ran this around the time of the Parkland shootings, but because this issue hasn’t gone away, his points still have relevance.

As with so many issues in this country, what the majority wants doesn’t seem to count. The people for whom guns seem to validate their lives prevail too often with a whole bucket of misconceptions. These myths glue together their forces and usually have some appeal to those on the fence.

But essentially, all of the arguments for gun violence in America don’t hold up when you get out of America.

Atheism? The US has one of the most churched populations in the western world, yet the highest rate of gun violence.

Violent Video Games? Ever see what Japanese kids play on their screens? Yet, Japan had 17 deaths from gun violence in 2020.

Immorality? Try measuring what exactly that is.

There’s more in Johnson’s piece on pro-gun arguments that are like balloons – all shape but only air inside.

So, of course, for the gun fetish crowd, the causes of gun violence are everything except the always available gun in American society.

At the time Johnson wrote this article in 2018, violent gun deaths were going down, and as we all know, gun crimes (but not a lot of other crimes) have been rising in this country.

So what has led to the increase? Try the instability from the pandemic in 2020 and stress from a collapsing economy, for starters. And who was president in 2020? A man who is the very model of impulsive behavior.

The loosened gun laws passed over the last few years – including in Wisconsin – haven’t helped. It’s no accident that our freeways in Metro Milwaukee have been closed down because of road rage shoot-outs.

Thanks to our conceal and carry law, many people have their weapon right at hand in the glove compartment, available when the impulse strikes. Because the guns are now being carried around in cars, they are targets for break-ins, with the stolen guns going right out into criminal world.

But Johnson does not, as Wolf Blitzer would say, leave it there. Check out the list of common-sense gun measures that even members of the NRA can get behind.

The solution is to be as willing to push back as the weapon worships are to flood our neighborhoods with guns. The first step starts with attending our Zoom meeting on gun violence on September 19th.

Warnings and predictions about the dire future of the planet due to the impacts of climate change have swirled for over half a century now, and yet we have not taken definitive action. Joining the Paris Accord during President Obama’s tenure was a first step that stalled when he left office; now we are scrambling to undo the damage of the last administration.

People often turn away from climate change discussion because they feel powerless to change the situation. Aside from electing politicians who care, “what can we do?” is the common response.

This forum by Grassroots North Shore will help us answer that question, not from a national perspective or political stage, but from where we live – our homes and communities.

Forum participants will give us the starter steps we need to formulate our paths to a cleaner, sustainable future. In one approach, Lisa Geason Bauer at Evolution Marketing describes how businesses can approach sustainability: “When thinking about sustainability – specifically how to talk about it and implement it, we use the lens of the triple bottom line (TBL). Triple bottom line means that we consider whether our management decisions are going to have an impact on the environment (i.e. environmental stewardship), people, or the community of stakeholders (i.e. corporate social responsibility), and the overall economic viability (profit) of the business. One of the goals at Evolution Marketing is to create change within our clients’ organizations and implement sustainable business strategies.”

Our moderator and a speaker on homeowner options, Kevin Kane, will discuss energy audits, economic analysis of what is cost-effective regarding home improvements, and ways to make those improvements affordable.

Find out what you can do, and what we can all do together. Grassroots North Shore hosts “Green is Good” at 7 pm on Sunday, June 13^th, featuring experts who will come together to guide the ordinary person in navigating the possibilities of environmental change. Featured speakers include: Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes; Mayor of Glendale Bryan Kennedy; Chief Economist of Green Homeowners United, Kevin Kane; and Lisa Geason Bauer, President of Evolution Marketing, LLC. RSVP on the Events Page and then ask at least one other friend, colleague, or family member to sign up as well. 

We appreciate support by co-sponsors Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Jewish Democrats, and Wisconsin Conservation Voters. (NOTE: Registration system requires an initial rsvp to get on our list; a link will be sent to you so you can register on Zoom-also required).

“You may have heard of ‘self-segregation,’ the idea that black people wanted to be in segregated housing.” said Reggie Jackson, speaking at “The Hidden Impact of Segregation,” his address at Plymouth Church on May 5. “That has not been the case in Wisconsin. Housing is segregated by intention and policy.”  According to Jackson, housing segregation has been institutionalized by a history of corporate influence and government policy at every level. Jackson is Head Griot of America’s Black History Museum, Adjunct Professor at Concordia University and a frequent researcher and speaker on housing and social justice issues (“Griot” (Gree-yoh) is a west African term for storyteller or teacher). Over one hundred people attended the discussion and met with representatives from organizations working to address racism and segregation.

Milwaukee ranks as the  “most segregated” metropolitan area in the U.S., and Wisconsin is the second most segregated state in the nation, said Jackson.  Jackson reviewed the history of Wisconsin housing segregation progression, citing policy specifics at both local and national levels. He noted effects of contracts for individual sales restricted sales to “Caucasian” buyers; the conracts were legally enforced until 1948. On the Federal level, an agency called the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation shaped real estate reality, and gave realtors and lenders resources to implement color-coded maps for discriminatory purposes.

On 1938 housing maps, designed according to federal policy, designated red or yellow areas to guide home lenders and insurance companies to charge higher interest rates. In his research Jackson found maps with neighborhoods colored red  because of the “detrimental influence” of Polish residents, “infiltration of Mexicans,” “Negro slum residents and lower-type Jews.” This structural discrimination suppressed home values in those areas and prevented many black, Latinx, and other families from obtaining loans and taking the first step to securing a place in the middle class. In addition, educational funding based on property values causes schools in historically redlined districts to be chronically underfunded, compounding institutionalized barriers. The accrual of wealth of whites based on home ownership was promoted by these maps, while the lack of home ownership by Blacks resulted in long-term economic disparities.

In a Q&A session, Jackson responded to written questions from the audience. To one query about effective ways to repair and respond to racism and housing segregation, Jackson mentioned a number of strong organizations. On the question of reparations, Jackson stressed that “people think that reparations is writing a check,” but emphasized that reparative justice needs to focus on housing and education. Members of Bridge the Divide ([email protected]); RID Racism (www.ridracismmke.org) and SURJ (showingupforracialjustice.org) staffed tables to give relevant volunteer information to Grassroots North Shore membership. All of us at Grassroots North Shore thank those participants for their time, with a special thank you to Reggie Jackson for his effort and leadership.  

With the Iowa Caucuses just a week away now, the attention of the nation is riveted on the contenders and their every move in both parties. But a much more consequential election in Wisconsin is a mere three weeks away.

What could be more consequential than the first votes in the presidential contests? The first votes for Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice.

The February 16 primary in Wisconsin will pit three candidates for that crucial office against each other. Two of the three — Judge Joe Donald and Judge Rebecca Kloppenburg — represent sound judicial temperaments and years of relevant experience. One of the three — Rebecca Bradley — has little judicial experience and believes that the role of the State Supreme Court is to show great deference to the legislature and the governor.

pledge to vote!

Because the spring primary is a very low turnout affair, a few thousand votes could make a huge difference. If we can muster enough support for Judge Kloppenburg AND Judge Donald, Rebecca Bradley could be eliminated from the election on April 5, the one that will determine who sits on our Supreme Court for the next several decades.

And that's why I VOTE EVERY TIME IN EVERY ELECTION. What happens in February determines what can happen in April. My vote counts the most when few other voters bother to turn out. If progressives want to start winning again, every one of us must VOTE EVERY TIME IN EVERY ELECTION.

pledge to vote!

Long ago when the world was a younger and far simpler place, rational people were wont to frolic about in the State of Nature, flexing their freedoms and exercising their rights.   And it came to pass that while they were frolicking, flexing and exercising, they oft came to harm other rational people.  In those days, hurt and harm were measured only by damage done to property.  As was the custom at that time, those so aggrieved, along with their circle of friends and kin, were expected to retaliate, exacting compensation and revenge, and inflicting appropriate punishments to the offenders.

As time passed, and more and more rational people engaged in frolicking, flexing, and exercising, and more and more aggrieved retaliated, the wise people among them came to realize that the harm-retaliate cycle was not sufficient, and the practice of mediation and adjudication by persons outside the cycle came to be. 

The world grew and the complexities of the burgeoning society increased as well.  It became apparent that harm done to others was no longer limited to property and there was great ambiguity regarding how to mediate and adjudicate these conflicts.  Something else, perhaps a code of ethical behavior, was needed.  And thus, the advent of laws designed to document the nature of harming and define the appropriate punishments.  Having laws to use as the basis for mediation and adjudication proved of great benefit; however, something was still missing.  Mediation and adjudication were at the end of the process:  the law needed maintenance and enforcement prior to that point.  The answer, of course, was government.

But alas, at some future time, rational people felt unfairly fettered by government and laws, and cried aloud for a return to frolicking, flexing, and exercising.   Get rid of government and laws – let us all return to the State of Nature.  No matter if others are harmed; that is their just due for they are not among the strong who frolic, flex, and exercise.  Fie unto them – they are weak and lazy and deserve all that befouls them.

MORAL:  Beware those that bellow for the freedom of bygone days.  They are the very reason that rules and laws are needed.