Tuesday’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election cast a familiar pall over the hopes of Democrat and progressive citizens of Wisconsin. We had hoped that the skin-of-their-teeth election of Tony Evers, Mandela Barnes, and Josh Kaul to some of the top political jobs in our state signaled a turning of the tide. But the skin-of-his-teeth election of... Continue Reading →

In the endless winter of 2019, it’s not uncommon to see the line of idling cars at fast-food joints snaking all the way around the building, tailpipes spewing clouds of exhaust. The drive-thru is one way our car culture seduces us into choosing convenience in its most extreme form over our own best interest –... Continue Reading →

A park ranger with the DNR patch on her uniform became impatient with me as we checked out the map of Kohler-Andrae state park. The ranger, who proved to be none other than Carolyn Morgan, the J.M. Kohler-Terry Andrae superintendent, raised a forefinger and said, “You’re not listening to me.” Morgan is the only park... Continue Reading →

In the beige marble halls of the Wisconsin State Capitol, Ralph Weber waited for the doors of the Supreme Court hearing room to open. Weber, representing Marquette University in the well-publicized case of McAdams v. Marquette, was having a moment. Chin raised, an enigmatic smile on his face, Weber was surrounded by associates from his... Continue Reading →

On April 19th, the Wisconsin State Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of McAdams vs. Marquette University. Rick Esenberg, director of the conservative legal organization WILL, who represents McAdams, will claim that Marquette suspended McAdams (a suspension that has since become a permanent condition) because of his posts critical of the university... Continue Reading →

March 15, 2018.  Professor John McAdams may be suspended from Marquette University without pay, his tenure revoked, but he’s still writing his Marquette Warrior blog, vigorously defending himself and grabbing headlines.  With the deep-pocketed conservative legal organization WILL fighting his battles to the end, McAdams will keep the university’s alleged infringement of his first amendment... Continue Reading →

“[Watch] the media’s hysterical coverage as they lie to you,” Hannity shouted, without explaining what exactly they were lying about. Then he complained about “the media’s” attention span. They stayed on North Korea “until Steve Bannon’s comments [on the Trump family’s treasonous Russia connections], and then the narrative shifts away.” That, said Hannity, “just shows you how pathetic these people [the media] are.”

The stuff that was the matter with Kansas in 2004, when Thomas Frank published What's the Matter with Kansas?, a trenchant analysis of the lunacy of American politics, is still the matter with it, only now it’s the matter with 32 out of 50 other states as well. Citizens in ever greater numbers have abandoned... Continue Reading →

In 2010, there were eight suicides at Foxconn’s plant in Shenzhen, China, where the company makes electronic products for Dell, Apple, and HP. Two more workers injured themselves seriously in suicide attempts at plant, where most employees were housed in on-site dormitories and worked 16-hour shifts. Due to an international outcry and changes demanded by... Continue Reading →