A champion for social justice: Milwaukee mourns the loss of Alderman Jonathan Brostoff at age 41
Alderman Jonathan Brostoff, a dedicated public servant and steadfast advocate for Milwaukee, passed away on November 4, 2024, at the age of 41. Born on September 25, 1983, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Alderman Brostoff’s life was marked by an unwavering commitment to...
Milwaukee County prepares for delays in early vote counting on election night due to GOP restrictions
As the nation turns its attention to Wisconsin for one of the most anticipated elections in recent history, Milwaukee County leaders have unified in an urgent appeal for residents to turn out and vote. During a press conference at Milwaukee County Courthouse on...
Nationalism is not patriotism: Trump proves that an autocrat is easy to underestimate
By Mark Satta, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Law, Wayne State University Shortly after Donald Trump was inaugurated as president of the United States in January 2017, George Orwell’s 1949 novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” shot to the top of Amazon’s bestseller...
Trump’s Shadow Government: Details from the Russell Vought plan to implement a MAGA takeover
A key ally to former President Donald Trump detailed plans to deploy the military in response to domestic unrest, defund the Environmental Protection Agency, and put career civil servants “in trauma” in a series of previously unreported speeches that provide a...
It can happen here: The rise of an American dictator and the public support behind Trump’s cruelty
On September 7, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump predicted that his plan to deport 15 to 20 million people currently living in the United States would be “bloody.” He also promised to prosecute his political opponents, including, he wrote, lawyers,...
Endorsing Kamala Harris: A champion of the freedoms that American veterans fought to preserve
Milwaukee Independent has never endorsed a political candidate in its history, and it may never do so again. However, as major editorial boards like those of The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times buckle under the weight of fear surrounding Donald Trump, the...
Dueling rallies: Harris and Trump campaign in Milwaukee for a final push to win Wisconsin
Vice President Kamala Harris and convicted felon Donald Trump hosted rallies within 7 miles of each other on November 1 in the Milwaukee area as part of a fevered final push for votes in swing-state Wisconsin’s largest county. Milwaukee is home to the most...
Defying history: Kamala Harris aims to be the second sitting Vice President elected to president since 1836
As Vice President Kamala Harris nears the homestretch with her campaign for the White House, she can look to history and hope for better luck than others in her position who have tried the same. Since 1836, only one sitting vice president, George H.W. Bush in 1988,...
A Political Paradox: Why Gen Z’s cynical worldview goes beyond stereotypes of disenfranchised youth
Over the past several years, media pundits have repeatedly documented Gen Z’s unique engagement with politics. Nearly three-fourths of “Zoomers,” the generation born after 1996, are involved in a social or political cause. They are the age demographic with the highest...
Putting Trump in his place: Why the Harris campaign is pushing back against a firehose of lies
Joy Olson proudly wore a “Make America Joyful Again” button as she waited in line to attend a Kamala Harris rally. But that does not mean the 70-year-old retiree with the happiest of names wants the Democratic nominee to shy away from taking the heat to...
Luke Waldo: A reunion in Spain with lifelong friends shows the essential nature of social connectedness
“What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it all the rest are not only useless but disastrous.” – Thomas Merton Twenty-five years...
Targets of harassment: Officials prepare for election day death threats from Trump supporters
The election director in Cobb County, an Atlanta suburb where votes will be fiercely contested in this year’s presidential race, recently organized a five-hour training session. The focus was not solely on the nuts-and-bolts of running this year’s...
