Saving Our Democracy: April 11-17, 2019

Apr. 09, 2019

1:24 p.m.

Dr. Megan Sandel, a pediatrician at Boston Medical Center and nationally recognized expert on housing and child health, will speak on Thursday, April 11 at Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church.

The Shepherd Express serves as a clearinghouse for all activities in the Greater Milwaukee area that peacefully push back against discriminatory, reactionary or authoritarian actions and policies of the Donald Trump regime, as well as other activities that seek to thwart social justice. To submit to this column, please send a brief description of your action, including date and time, to savingourdemocracy@shepex.com.

Thursday, April 11

Toward One Wisconsin Conference @ the Hyatt Regency Hotel—Milwaukee (333 W. Kilbourn Ave.), 8 a.m. (also Friday, April 12, 8 a.m.)

“Toward One Wisconsin: A Conference on Overcoming Barriers to Inclusion,” will bring together representatives from elementary, secondary and higher education, business and industry, state and local workforce development, youth programs, healthcare, vocational rehabilitation, community and neighborhood associations, nonprofit, government and faith-based groups. The conference’s goal is to address the most persistent barriers to inclusion in our society and to determine both what is working now as well as and what is promising but as yet on the horizon.

Fundraising as an Act of Political Resistance @ Milwaukee, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Attend a skill- and community-building workshop to get ready for the Bowl-a-Thon for Abortion Access in Milwaukee. Register at bit.ly/workshopmke in order to receive the location and details. Women’s Medical Fund Wisconsin and other abortion funds around the country offer critical, frontline support to people who are unable to afford the full cost of an abortion. A strong, grassroots base of donors and fundraisers makes it possible for thousands of people to make the best healthcare choices for themselves and their families.

Housing as a Prescription for Children’s Health @ Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church (1529 N. Wauwatosa Ave., Wauwatosa), 6-7p.m.

Adequate housing provides more than just shelter; it supports a safe and stable environment in which children can live and play. Families are healthier when they live in decent, affordable homes without having to double-up, move frequently or be exposed to mold, lead or pests. The event will be hosted by Milwaukee Habitat and Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church. The speaker, Megan Sandel, is a nationally recognized expert on the concept of a stable and affordable home as a “prescription” to keep kids healthy.

MPS 2019 World Fair@ UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena (400 W. Kilbourn Ave.), 9:30 a.m.

Hosted by the Milwaukee Public Schools Foundation and Milwaukee Public Schools, the United Nations Schools of International Learning Program engages fourth-eighth-grade students in diverse schools in learning about countries and cultures from around the world and engages them in research, debate and problem-solving about many serious global issues. Each year, these children present their work and celebrate their own cultures at the MPS World Fair.

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Saturday, April 13

Peace Action of Wisconsin: Stand for Peace @ the corner of 51st Street and Silver Spring Drive, noon.

Every Saturday from noon-1 p.m., concerned citizens join with Peace Action of Wisconsin to protest war and literally “Stand for Peace.” Signs will be provided for those who need them. Protesters are encouraged to stick around for conversation and coffee the protest.

Democratic Party of Wisconsin 2019 Founders Day Gala @ the Hyatt Regency Hotel—Milwaukee (333 W. Kilbourn Ave.), 5 p.m.

Join members and supporters of the Wisconsin Democratic Party for an evening of dinner and guest speakers who each share our Wisconsin values. For more information or to register to attend, visit wisdems.org.

Laughing Liberally Milwaukee @ ComedySportz (420 S, First St.), 8-10 p.m.

With Donald Trump and Republican attacks on healthcare, immigrants, the environment and more, we need progressive laughs now more than ever. Laughing Liberally Milwaukee is a monthly, progressive, political comedy show featuring some of our city’s top liberal and progressive comedians.

Grandmothers Beyond Borders 2019 Great Bowls of Fire Chili Night @ Glendale Corporate Center (1720 W. Florist Ave., Suite 200), 5-7:30 p.m.

Come and share grandparents’ stories over steaming bowls of delicious chili and participate in a fundraising auction, with music by Jeff Mitchell and Aaron Baer’s jug band. Fundraising proceeds support grandmothers in the Grandmothers Beyond Borders Kangulunira and Kabimbiri organizations in Uganda.

Sunday, April 14

Foxconn Townhall: A Community Update and Discussion @ Saint John’s On The Lake (1840 N. Prospect Ave.), 5-7 p.m.

Confused by all the conflicting news about Foxconn in Wisconsin? It seems that reports about Foxconn’s plans for their Racine facility have changed every other week, and it’s been more than a little difficult to keep up. Join State Rep. Jonathan Brostoff, Racine County Board Supervisor Fabi Maldonado, community activist Kim Mahoney and Our Wisconsin Revolution’s Terrance Warthen as they provide a community update and answer questions about Foxconn’s project in Wisconsin.

Monday, April 15

Everyone Leads: Celebrating 25 Years of Public Allies Milwaukee @ Turner Hall Ballroom (1040 N. Vel R. Phillips Ave.), 5:30 p.m.

Join Public Allies Milwaukee alumni, partners and stakeholders to celebrate the organization’s impact on Milwaukee and to look ahead at future plans as well. This year marks 25 years of operating a nonprofit apprenticeship program and developing leadership in every corner of Milwaukee. The program will include presentations and music by Ex Fabula and True Skool, as well as a celebrity doodle auction.

Wednesday, April 17

Stonewall Stage Talk: Bisexuality 101 @ Woodland Pattern Book Center (720 E. Locust St.), 7 p.m.

There are lots of myths about bisexual, pansexual, fluid and polysexual people. This workshop will examine the inaccurate myths about non-monosexual identities and present the lived experiences and research to debunk them. Because they are often not accepted or understood by some members of the LGBTQ community—or heterosexual friends, allies and families—more than 70% of bisexuals aren’t out of the closet as such. Persistent misconceptions about bisexuality leads to bi erasure and misunderstandings about the all-too-frequently silent “B” of the LGBTQ community.

To submit to this column, please send a brief description of your action, including date and time, to savingourdemocracy@shepex.com.

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Comments (3)

Comment Feed

2020 Candidate Andrew Yang (D)

You really want taxpayers to "love" our government?
Make sure way more than half of them get a check with their name on it.
Isn't that the biggest complaint by good American people?
"I work hard, I pay taxes, but the person who does not try is getting my money as a handout."

Consider Andrew Yang's proposed "Universal Basic Income."

A "Basic Income" is when given a paycheck, whether working or not.
And by tacking on the word "Universal", that means CITIZENS ONLY.

Yang wants to give every 18+ adult a $1000 per month paycheck. Does not matter if he is Warren Buffet, Donald Trump, or the jobless town drunk or the starving musician/artist. That is $12,000 per year. $24,000 per year for a couple, married or cohabiting. Got adult kids living in the basement? That is another $12,000 each, they can pay college tuition or waste it on clothes, concerts and clubbing, a $12,000 that is not coming from mom and dad, likely paying even better than the typical part-time job.

Here is the kicker, these adults don't put in a lick of time on the payroll clock, so they are actually free to go get a real job, and not have that $12,000 taken away.

What is the price for this? Yang did not say on TV, but I suspect it means elimination of the Standard Deduction, and it could mean a true "flat tax" of maybe 25%, even on the first hour worked. (Conservatives LOVE that on low-income people)

What I like best about this is that it means I won't have to work alongside lazy people who really do not want to work a job, people who simply don't care to do the job correctly and professionally.
Hmmm, sounds roughly like Trump's Standard Deduction.

I heard of another problem with why so many GOOD people are whining about having to pay in under Trump's tax rules, instead of getting a refund. Especially when they did the right thing and took on a 2nd job since their preferred job would not let them work more than 29 hours, just to avoid employer-provided health insurance. -- If you have 2 or more jobs, you are SUPPOSED to include that on W-4 forms to your jobs' HR departments. That is so they can adjust the tax they withhold so that your Standard Deduction is not being figured in full on each job. The failure to let them cut your Standard Deduction in half meant you got TOO much back on your paycheck, and therefore will owe a whopping big tax bill in April, maybe even have a penalty.

Or maybe you did not want either of your HR departments to know you had another job?

By having this flat tax on your first dollar and no standard deduction to have HR adjust for, this part of the W-4 requirement goes away and your 2 employers need never know they are not your only job. Why? because your "Standard Deduction" is now being paid just once as your Basic Income.

Next -- The Citizenship requirement.
It means all workers have this 25% flat tax taken from their checks, even the non-citizens.

I would limit this payout to only citizens with 2 citizen parents and 4 citizen grand-parents.

SE Wisc. Citizen more than 5 years ago

Save the Middle Class!

But what is Middle Class?
- Is it a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence?
By National pundits, we get the idea it is people who make more than $100K but less than a million. Like "Joe the Plumber" and his $200K income.

But $200K does not hold in Wisconsin. Our politics may say it covers all of us who are not on Public assistance. Or we may "feel" Middle Class when we are not forced to live in a place where we must face people we would rather avoid.

Yet we hear some of our Wisconsin politicians from our wealthier communities publicly say that our working people need to "learn to live within your means", even when those "means" are losing ground compared to what they once had only 10-20 years ago, after loss of good union jobs to robots, China, and Mexico.

Maybe we find it easier to declare ourselves "Middle Class" if we don't get all our taxes back on our 1040, and the people below who get it all back (plus extra) therefore are worthless to society. That is the #1 reason we have people who hate government taxes, we pay so others get a handout. They did not mind when it was coming back to handle the differences in wealth within their own community. We all know there are huge differences in pay grades, but all of us pay the same for a gallon of gas or for a Big Mac.

You will not solve the problem by tax cuts to the millionaires, all that does is push the lost tax revenue down the line, but still in the upper half that DOES pay taxes. Our democracy chose "progressive taxation" (Woodrow Wilson, 1913) for a reason, it has nothing to do with that "Liberal" kind of "Progressive", (do not let the words used raise your anger.)

You will not solve the problem by cutting off everyone below Romney's 47% line, all that does is reduce the amount of paying customers that fuel jobs for the working people above them.

What we really want is a system that lets the Middle Class have plenty of employed working class below them as paying customers, and that working class even has paying customers below them. Those lower level paying customers will not be there if you cut off all the "help" to those "tax-free" people, both legal citizen, illegal immigrant, or even hustling pimps and drug dealers. -- Does it really matter if the dollar your honest and legal business earned came from the customer's honest job, their government hand-out, or their black-market hustle? As long as you sold a legal product or service to get that dollar, you are clean!

That is my message to the white Conservative people who think blacks, Muslims, immigrants should not have a place in our economy. They can still be your paying customers, people! Some might even be your workers, they may even agree to work for a bit less than your white neighbors.

SE Wisc. Citizen more than 5 years ago

We need bi-partisan issues

The biggest problem with this column is not that it is about "Saving Democracy" as in "small-d" democracy, it is about saving the classic Left-wing Democratic platform. Saying it is about "Anti-Trump" is not accurate.

Such as equality of the races -- something that will never be "believed" until there actually is real "equal outcome" of prosperity.

I am sorry, but that approach will fail.

From what I have seen about televised national poll results on my main network Sunday morning news, there is one common thread of Trump's approval, it seems to stay about 35% no matter what he does.

Given that the Democrat-Republican split is approx. 50-50, that means 70% of people who vote Republican are in full agreement with anti-Muslim, anti-black, anti-brown, anti-foreigner. People who believe in their own interpretation of "Stand your Ground". People who not only will build a border wall against Mexico, but will also build that same wall between Brookfield and Milwaukee's northside. People who fully believe that "one-drop" black makes you "pure Mandigo", one-drop red-skin makes you "Pocahontas".

And they will take that belief with them to their graves. The only reason it looked like this idea did not exist was because they also were not wealthy enough to vocally defend their ideas when they needed their jobs in an environment where our government would send in the National Guard to escort black kids into white schools.

To me, that is a core group of "White Nationalists", "White Supremacists", even "Male Supremacists" that do not care if things are legal or not, ethical or not, or fair or not. All that matters is that SOMEONE brings back the old traditions pre-Civil Rights, pre-Women's Lib. If not Trump, it will be someone else.

Had it not been for Obama's 8-years on the Oval Office, Trump would never have been elected. These people who bit their tongues for 60 years have said "Enough already!"

Perhaps you can recover some of the people Democrats lost to the Conservative ranks if you return to politics that allows them to prosper in the anti-integration seclusion they prefer, so stick to issues that anyone who makes less than 6-figures can get their minds around...

- put caps on CEO pay and on profit margins.
- end Caller ID spoofing.
- use NSA "phone metadata" to put a stop to telemarketers.
- enforce privacy in our social media, (not the same as EU's GDPR.) Conservatives do not want to be tracked by government, Progressives don't want big business to track them either.
- make it so when I turn on my phone's "Location" to allow my favorite apps to work, that it only gets the physical location, it has no right to know what wi-fi access points I am on or are nearby. It is my "personal data".
- 5G is coming, the news has also said it has a price. It is not just faster downloads, it is also more corporate-wanted data going back up.
- broadband in the country, allow tele-work, save commuter gas.
- Andrew Yang's "Universal Basic Income" (Citizens only)

SE Wisc. Citizen more than 5 years ago