#wisconsin
Dr. Evermor's Forevertron in Sumpter, Wisconsin
"World's largest scrap metal sculpture" stands in an outdoor sculpture garden in the middle of Wisconsin.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/dr-evermores-forevertron
Wisconsin Prepares to Crush a Slithering Republican Gerrymander
There is hope on the horizon in Wisconsin. Bless our newly elected State Supreme Court.
More than a century ago, Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette declared, “We are slow to realize that democracy is a life; and involves continual struggle.” The proudly radical progressive leader explained, “It is only as those of every generation who love democracy resist with all their might the encroachments of its enemies that the ideals of representative government can even be nearly approximated.”
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/wisconsin-supreme-court-gerrymander/
#wisconsin #gerrymandering
Flamingos in Wisconsin? Tropical birds visit Lake Michigan beach in a first for the northern state
Climate change may change our visitors.
https://apnews.com/article/flamingos-wisconsin-lake-michigan-beach-614fabe236ce2f2da86b12e1edb4510a
Nice read for the weekend:
In #Wisconsin, the #Menominee Tribe’s #Sustainable #Forestry Is Visible From Space
The Menominee Tribe’s tradition of doing “what’s best for the forest” has become a global model for #sustainability.
“The #forest looks pristine,” he says, as a flurry of snow falls through the open canopy. “These big maples and basswoods are around 150 years old. But we have been logging here for over a century, and we still have more trees than when we started.” In June, the tribe’s forestry officials began exploring the potential for selling the carbon accumulating in the forest on the U.S.’s growing market for carbon-offset credits.
There are probably more than a billion trees today in the Menominee forest, which is an hour’s drive west of Lake Michigan. We were there in late February, the day after the biggest snowstorm of the winter. We were standing near the Menominee’s sawmill in Neopit village, from where trucks move the lumber across America to make everything from basketball courts to domestic furniture and hand-crafted toys. But even close to the mill, big healthy trees with the highest potential price tag get to grow old.
The trick, says Lohrengel, is husbandry for the long term. “We come in every 15 years, take out the weak trees, the sick trees, and the ones that are dying, but leave the healthy stock to grow some more and reproduce,” he says. “We don’t plant anything. This is all natural regeneration, and the way we do it the forest just gets better and better.”
Pro--life people!
I guess the exposure was too much!
Wisconsin school-board president who backtracked on canceling free school lunch says it opened his eyes: 'I eat every meal every day. I cannot relate to being hungry.'
https://www.businessinsider.com/waukesha-wisconsin-school-district-opts-back-in-to-free-lunch-2021-9
- Waukesha was the only school district in Wisconsin to opt out of Biden's free-lunch program.
- This week it opted back in, as board members said they were unaware of the hunger in their district.
- But it was a 5-4 vote, and some members likened free lunch to mask mandates.
The Wisconsin plan to overturn an election
A liberal just won a state Supreme Court seat. Republicans want to strip her power.
Wisconsin Republicans are already thinking of impeachment for the state's newest Supreme Court justice, Insider reported. Janet Protasiewicz handily won her seat in April on a platform heavily focused on abortion rights, giving the court a 4-3 liberal majority after a long period of conservative control. But it's her criticism of the state's legislative maps — which she called "rigged" during the campaign, and have given the GOP a lock on power in Madison — that have earned Republican ire.
The GOP argument is that Protasiewicz "prejudged" a case challenging the state's legislative maps when she called them "rigged," Ian Millhiser wrote for Vox. But the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that candidates for office have a right to "publicly state their positions on contentious legal issues." The real point here, though, is that knocking Protasiewicz off the court would almost certainly leave the maps in place, making the GOP impeachment push a "plan that could entrench their rule forever."
In fact, impeachment would only be successful because of Wisconsin's gerrymandering, Philip Bump wrote at The Washington Post. Republicans have "disproportionate power" in the Wisconsin Legislature because of aggressive map drawing, and now they're "using that disproportionate power in consideration of impeachment and removal." In essence, gerrymandered power is being used to defend gerrymandered power. And that raw display is drawing national attention.
. . .
#Wisconsin #fascist #authoritarianism #republican #legislators #WisconsinStateSupremeCourt #politics
Alarm Grows Over Wisconsin GOP's Supreme Court Impeachment Threats
Wisconsin Democrats are urging the U.S. public to pay close attention to the Republican Party's maneuvering in the key battleground state, where GOP lawmakers are floating impeachment proceedings against a recently elected liberal Supreme Court justice if she doesn't recuse herself from cases related to the state's gerrymandered legislative maps.
"We've been sounding the alarm bells on the dangerous threats from Republicans to impeach justices who don't follow their orders. And yesterday, they doubled down," Wisconsin Senate Democrats wrote in a social media post on Wednesday after state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-63) left open the possibility of an impeachment push against Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Vos suggested that Protasiewicz has "pre-judged" a potential case challenging the legality of Wisconsin's legislative maps. If Protasiewicz doesn't recuse, Vos said that would be "a pretty clear violation" and indicated impeachment proceedings would be on the table.
Wisconsin Republicans have the simple Assembly majority needed to impeach and the two-thirds Senate majority needed to convict. State Republicans are also currently attempting to remove Wisconsin's nonpartisan head of elections.
"This is crazy," Wisconsin Senate Democrats wrote Wednesday. "The entire country should know what's happening here in Wisconsin. Spread this far and wide."
. . .
#Wisconsin #supremeCourt #impeachment #Republican #gerrymandering #politics #CommonDreams
A #RollCloud Over #Wisconsin
#Astronomy #Picture of the Day
Not so much astronomy than meteorology.
