News & Articles

No powerful lobbyists for the kids

In Wisconsin public schools are in a budgetary crisis. The state legislature, despite pleas from the governor, has refused to offer new dollars in the past two budget cycles. Hard to believe considering what inflation has done to the price of goods and services, but it’s true: the Wisconsin Legislature has provided two years of $0 per pupil increase. Meanwhile, our students are suffering from a lack of mental health services and no concrete plan to prevent food insufficiency in the next school year. If you thought that funding schools in Wisconsin’s 25th Senate District was a priority for the newly elected state senator Romaine Quinn, a district in which schools are being forced into making draconian cuts to staff and programs and even closing schools, you would be mistaken. Senator Quinn’s latest legislative priority is to sponsor Senate Bill 165 to designate the “Henry All-Weather .45-70 as the state rifle.” If this legislation passes, Wisconsin’s venerable Blue Book will have to include this designation alongside the state song, ballad, waltz, dance, beverage, tree, grain, flower, fish, etc. There is no other weapon listed unless you decide a state rock is dangerous. The manufacturer of the proposed state rifle is listed as a major donor to the NRA. As the AP noted in Spectrum News (April 17, 2023), the bill is symbolic only . . . “but it would give the rifle and its manufacturer, Rice Lake-based Henry Repeating Arms, plenty of publicity and help the bill’s authors score points with gun supporters.” It’s unfortunate that in Wisconsin, hungry children in need of mental health services don’t have a powerful and rich lobby that politicians could get behind.

Susan Flemmen Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin

Justice is catching up to the Donald   

Justice is slowly catching up with Donald J Trump. It may be frustrating that a less-serious indictment is leading the way, but remember - the gangster Al Capone went to jail for tax fraud. And there are many other indictments to come. The E. Jean Carroll rape and defamation case is scheduled for April. The financial fraud case in New York is going to trial this year. The Georgia election interference case is coming down the pipe, and a conviction on state charges there could not be pardoned by a future president. The Mar-A-Lago documents case may be a slam-dunk about to happen. And most serious of all is the J6 case involving the Trump cult’s  attempted overthrow of our democracy. The cult was hoping J6 would be their version of Mussolini’s successful march on Rome, but they wound up with the MAGA version of Hitler’s failed Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler served less than a year in prison for that failed coup attempt, and spent his meager time in jail writing his book,Mein Kampf. 12 years later he came to power. Cooking the books over hush money will play only a tiny part in The Donald’s downfall, though the Grand Old Pity Party is already comparing his legal woes to The Passion Play. But there will be no resurrection of their false prophet.  Donny’s going down.

David A Sorensen, Duluth, Minnesota