Year of the Snake: How Chinese Zodiac lore reflects America’s political chaos and Biblical warnings
According to the Chinese zodiac, 2025 is the Year of the Snake which begins on January 29. The animal is a symbol that has long been linked to cunning and treachery. Just days before, on January 20, a majority of Americans re-installed Donald Trump to the White House,...
Microsoft’s purchase of 240 acres in Kenosha is expected to launch a new era of tech-driven growth
The state of Wisconsin and city of Kenosha announced on January 27 that Microsoft had purchased approximately 240 acres of land northwest of Interstate 94 and Highway 142. The site enhances the region’s capacity to support innovation and growth in the digital economy,...
Naftali Furst: Auschwitz survivor tells stories from 80 years ago as witnesses to the Holocaust dwindle
Naftali Fürst will never forget his first view of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, on November 3, 1944. He was 12 years old. SS soldiers threw open the doors of the cattle car, where he was crammed in with his mother, father, brother, and more than 80...
Road of Life: Romanivsky Bridge Memorial earns global acclaim for Irpin’s journey since wartime devastation
A somber reminder of the early days of the brutal Russian invasion now stands as a beacon of unity and rebirth in Milwaukee’s sister city of Irpin, located on the outskirts of Kyiv. The memorial installation was unveiled last August on the site of the destroyed...
Milwaukee leaders urge immigrant communities to “Know Your Rights” after executive orders stir fear
Local leaders and advocates gathered at City Hall on January 22 to address what they described as growing anxiety among Milwaukee’s Hispanic and immigrant communities, following a series of newly signed executive orders by President Donald Trump. The orders, including...
A Parasocial Effect: Reckoning with the toxic identity politics of a nation that embraces hate
The 2024 presidential election has left the political world reeling, not because it was shocking, but because its result seemed inevitable. Vice President Kamala Harris, despite being one of the most qualified candidates to ever run for the office of U.S. President,...
Visual Divisions: News coverage of 2025 inauguration shows conflicting narratives pulling America apart
A presidential inauguration is traditionally a symbol of the traditions that bind Americans together. Mainstream media coverage of the event on January 20 provided many reminders of what keeps people apart. On the Martin Luther King Day holiday, news organizations...
From Nixon to Clinton: How past defeated candidates until Trump honored the peaceful transfer of power
In January 1981, Jimmy Carter nodded politely toward Ronald Reagan as the new Republican president thanked the Democrat for his administration’s help after Reagan resoundingly defeated Carter the previous November. Twenty years earlier, after a much closer race,...
Study shows Trump’s 2017 tax cuts made income inequality worse and especially hurt Black Americans
By Beverly Moran, Professor Emerita of Law, Vanderbilt University The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a set of tax cuts Donald Trump signed into law during his first term as president, will expire on December 31, 2024. As Trump and Republicans prepare to negotiate new tax cuts...
Trump’s comeback: Why President Biden’s promise to restore the “soul of America” fell short
Joe Biden promised nothing short of a national exorcism when he took office. He wanted to “restore the soul” of the country and prove that Donald Trump was only a footnote in the American story, not its next chapter. The pitch was “let’s try to...
When facts don’t matter: Journalism didn’t fail America, Americans failed journalism
By Michael J. Socolow, Professor of Communication and Journalism, University of Maine Most people agree that actual facts matter in such activities as debate, discussion and reporting. Once facts are gathered, verified, and distributed, informed decision-making can...
A house on fire: When voters refuse to equate their actions to the suffering their choices created
The 2024 U.S. presidential election solidified a disturbing trend in American politics, a willingness among voters to choose leaders whose policies and track records directly harm their well-being. The phenomenon is not new, but its persistence and increasingly dire...
