Author: Mitchell A. Sobieski

Bringing rocks to a gunfight: Why Americans remain passive while Trump solidifies authoritarian power

“The aide said that guys like me were “in what we call the reality-based community,” which he defined as people who “believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. “That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he continued. “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality – judiciously, as you will – we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will...

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Recreating Ezekiel Gillespie: Racial bias in AI art persists despite efforts to correct flawed algorithms

Artificial intelligence has exposed a pervasive failure in its handling of racial representation. Its default settings systematically obscure or distort the depiction of people of color, and repeated attempts to correct those errors have yielded negligible progress. “Milwaukee Independent” has direct experience with how AI image generation repeatedly prioritizes Eurocentric features, ignores explicit prompts for diversity, and clings to biased datasets that make accurate representation of historical figures all but impossible. Such an institutional failure with technology endangers public understanding of vital cultural narratives and undermines trust in any creative product derived from such a flawed technology. For an...

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Urban-Rural Divide: How Milwaukee’s role as the economic engine of Wisconsin fuels resentment

Milwaukee, the largest city in Wisconsin, has long served as a lightning rod for political battles in the state Capitol. From heated debates over crime rates to disputes about tax revenues and resource allocation, the city often becomes the scapegoat for a wide range of problems that state leaders attribute to urban mismanagement. Meanwhile, policymakers from rural areas campaign on promises to rein in Milwaukee’s influence, painting the city as a hotbed of dysfunction that drains resources from other parts of the state. This approach has stoked a growing sense of division between urban and rural constituencies, even though...

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Progressive cities like Milwaukee challenge state control as municipal socialism rises across America

Progressive cities across the country are testing the limits of local power by instituting policies that directly challenge conservative state legislatures. From minimum wage ordinances to rent control measures to bold climate initiatives, these municipalities are turning into laboratories for left-leaning governance. But as these efforts gain momentum, state governments are rushing to impose top-down bans, blocking local authority through a wave of “preemption” laws. The result is a contentious struggle that pits big-city innovation against state-level resistance, offering a glimpse into the future of American politics. Milwaukee stands as a prime example. City leaders have sought to address...

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Trump has pushed America into a new “Axis of Evil” by aligning with dictators and betraying allies

The United States, under Donald Trump since January 20, 2025, has deliberately recast itself as a chief agent of global disorder. His administration no longer merely undermines democratic values, it positions America alongside the world’s most oppressive regimes. The sad transformation is undeniable, the nation once seen as a guardian of liberty has joined a new axis of evil dedicated to eroding international stability and stamping out human rights. No amount of protest can reverse these facts. Under Trump, the United States has discarded its democratic foundations and embraced a policy of calculated chaos. THE BETRAYAL OF DEMOCRATIC ALLIES...

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Fragility of Freedom: What “The Man in the High Castle” teaches America about Democracy in 2025

In 1962, Philip K. Dick published a short but deeply disturbing novel that has managed to remain influential through the decades, “The Man in the High Castle.” Despite its relatively modest page count, the work opened the door to a vast realm of speculative fiction, prompting new ways to think about history, power, and the human condition. On the surface, Dick’s vision blends fantasy with science fiction and history. It is an account of an alternate 1960s America under Axis rule, where Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan triumphed in World War II. Beneath its deceptively simple premise, however, lies...

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