Most of the state has been subject to torrential rains over the last few weeks. It has impacted planting and in some parts of the state could impact the cultivation and harvesting of crops as well. It’s a developing story we’re going to continue to monitor.
Southern Wisconsin experienced several tornadoes on Saturday night. While the destruction for those affected is heartbreaking, the storms could have been even more tragic. Between sold out concerts at Alpine Valley in East Troy, American Family Field in Milwaukee and a jam-packed Summerfest on Milwaukee’s lakefront, Mother Nature could have had devastated the region.
Rivers are high across the state and the potential for flooding is high.
We take severe weather seriously here. While incompetence and overreach in the bureaucracy of government can do significant damage, the weather’s impact is far more swift, if not just as unrelenting.
So, our unsolicited advice is have a weather alert on your phone and check in on those who would need help in a time of crisis. With that, here are your Monday Key Reads.
Five tornadoes have been confirmed, so far.
Five tornadoes confirmed across Wisconsin; church destroyed in Argyle; flood warnings | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The National Weather Service has confirmed at least four tornadoes as part of Saturday night’s severe weather as crews survey more communities and cleanup efforts continue.
On Sunday, NWS crews were out assessing damage in areas including Argyle, Marshall, Janesville, Watertown, Walworth, Williams Bay, Sun Prairie and DeForest. More tornadoes, and details about them, are likely to be released later today or tomorrow.
Sunday afternoon, we broke some news regarding planned, highly-organized protests at the upcoming Republican National Convention.
Leftist protesters of RNC in Milwaukee plan for mass arrests, already fundraising for lawbreakers’ bail | Dairyland Sentinel
The Democratic National Committee convention in Milwaukee never really came to fruition in 2020. The COVID-19 restrictions made the DNC event a mere shadow of what organizers had once hoped it would be. Four years later, Wisconsin’s largest city is set to host the Republican National Committee’s convention this July.
Not everyone, however, is excited that this massive convention will bring tens of thousands of people and tens of millions of dollars in tourism spending to the state next month. This past week, the Secret Service explained the security restrictions for the area surrounding the convention at the Fiserv Forum. Groups opposed to the Republican Convention complained that the designated protest areas were too far away from the RNC Convention site.
Nevertheless, protestors are gearing up for massive conflicts and the subsequent arrests that will follow. They’ve already announced a fundraising benefit concert to help pay for bail for those who will break the law.
To be sure, the planned protest activities will not be some spontaneous, home-grown, local, ad hoc expressions of public disdain for the Republican Party, its candidates, or platform. Thousands of individuals from across the country are busy organizing mass demonstrations to coincide with with the RNC in Milwaukee, including The American Party of Labor, which bills itself as “a revolutionary working class organization in the United States.”
Joining those revolutionaries are members of the following organizations: Code Pink, Baltimore Peace Action, Colorado Palestine Coalition, Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, International League of Peoples Struggle, Legalization for All Network, Minnesota Abortion Action Committee (MNAAC), Minnesota Anti-War Committee, Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression, National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression – Atlanta, Dallas and Tampa chapters, New Orleans Artists for Palestine, New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police (NOCOP), New Orleans Stop Helping Israel’s Port (NOSHIP), Party of Communists USA, San Jose Against War, Silicon Valley Immigration Committee, Starbucks Workers United, Tucson Anti-War Committee, Women Against Military Madness, and the Grand Valley State University chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America.
They join dozens of local, state and national organizations and activists endorsing the Coalition to March on the RNC 2024 this July. It is clear they expect conflicts and mass arrests to occur, and, as the event at the Cooperage in Milwaukee prove, fundraising efforts for their fellow “Freedom Fighters” have already begun.
The results of this lawsuit could pave the way for widespread abuse of electronic voting. Remember that during the COVID lockdown of 2020 many able bodied adults listed themselves as indefinitely confined. Moreover, with one in four adults being able to claim some form of disability, some see this effort as a back door to bypass the elected legislature and usher in electronic voting by judicial fiat.
Wisconsin judge to weigh letting people with disabilities vote electronically from home in November | The Associated Press
A Wisconsin judge on Monday is expected to consider whether to allow people with disabilities to vote electronically from home in the swing state this fall.
Disability Rights Wisconsin, the League of Women Voters and four disabled people filed a lawsuit in April demanding disabled people be allowed to cast absentee ballots electronically from home.
They asked Dane County Circuit Judge Everett Mitchell to issue a temporary injunction before the lawsuit is resolved granting the accommodation in the state’s Aug. 13 primary and November presidential election. Mitchell scheduled a Monday hearing on the injunction.
…Any eligible voter can vote by paper absentee ballot in Wisconsin. Democrats have pushed to make the process easier the last several years, while Republicans have been trying to limit it. The liberal-leaning state Supreme Court is considering whether to overturn a ruling banning absentee ballot drop boxes that was issued by a previous, conservative-leaning version of the court.
…People with disabilities make up about a quarter of the U.S. adult population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A little more than a million Wisconsin adults, or one in four, are disabled, defined by the CDC as having difficulty with mobility, cognition, independent living, hearing, seeing, dressing or bathing.
The folks at WILL continue to do a fine job on this complicated issue.
Report warns of dangers of social media bubbles, false relationships | The Center Square
When someone can watch only the television they like, listen only to the music they like and talk about the political issues only they agree with, a new study says there is less of a reason for someone to do anything else.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty is out with a new study that looks at the dangers of social media bubbles and what it calls “false relationships.”
“The rise of technology in the 20th century, especially television, greatly shifted the way that we spend time with and relate with others due to the individualization and privatization of entertainment,” the report’s authors wrote. “The average time spent watching television peaked at nine hours a day in 2009. In 2022, a person spent 7.5 hours a day on average using their phones and watching television.”
The report from Miranda Spindt and Will Flanders also said the rise of social media has led to a drop in real-life relationships and interaction.
“It does not take much thought to realize how parasocial and pseudo-relationships have been heightened through the internet and social media. It’s easy to think you know someone well when they post about their vacations, relationship and job statuses, and their personal interests,” the report adds.
WILL’s report said there are other relationship problems on social media as well.
“These false relationships with celebrities or online personalities do not replace the importance of real-life connections, but they make us feel as though pursuing real connections is not as necessary,” the authors wrote.
The report points to a sudden spike in the number of young people who are reporting depression or anxiety because of social media.
“Depressive symptoms in teenagers have risen from around 30% in 2010 to almost 50% in 2023 as the use of smartphones and social media has grown. The instant validation received through likes and other interactions creates an addiction that can be harmful if we do not continuously receive it,” the report notes.
The other danger the report outlines is the political divide in the United States that has only grown since social media exploded.
“Social media contributes to political polarization as it incentivizes more polarized online behavior. The most controversial opinions get the most interactions, and the algorithms will show the most interacting content to more people. The anonymity of the internet also emboldens users to say things they may never otherwise say in real life. This makes controversial content seem more pertinent than it is and damages the image we have of ideological others,” the report states.
The report ends with the general warning that people need to navigate the march of technology with an eye “to understand and address the consequences of these technological shifts.”
We have a lot of new content up on the main site and we will continue to monitor the developing stories at Milwaukee Public Schools, the state Department of Corrections, the national organized leftist protests, and elsewhere. It’s the final full week before the 4th of July holiday and that usually means its a big news week.
We will do our best to keep you up to speed on the news your need to stay informed, but not overwhelmed.
