Organizing Worker Power & Political Expectations

We welcome Peter Rickman, president of the Milwaukee Service and Hospitality Union (MASH) to discuss the union’s big organizing victory this week at Landmark Theater in Milwaukee, the rapid growth of the union, and the union's commitment to the Living Wage Coalition pushing for a $20 minimum wage bill. We take a dive into new national polling by the Kaiser Family Foundation showing health care cost is a dominant election issue in 2026, even for Republicans and treasured independent and swing voters. Seventy-two percent of Democrats, 63% of independents and 47% of Republicans said the cost of healthcare will have a major impact on which party’s candidate they will support. Robert updates us on the continued fight for a BadgerCare Public Option and the grassroots leaders and legislative champions making it happen. We also highlight the dysfunction of our health care system, as evidenced by news this week that Ascension Wisconsin now has tele-ICUs at some hospitals… that’s right, no ICU doctors on-site! We close with the scandalous news that more massive “hyperscale” data centers are coming to Wisconsin, according to the head of WEC (the parent company of WE Energies and WPS), who arrogantly bragged at a recent shareholders meeting about the boon it will be to their windfall profits. This is only happening because Wisconsin state political leaders green lighted data center development with huge tax giveaways ($2 billion and counting) while failing to pass any guardrails to protect the climate, rate payers, and public health.

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Avsnitt(500)

The Bitter Fruits of Failing Democracy

This week we put the tragic events and courageous resistance to tyranny in the Twin Cities in the context of our failing democracy. A new report from the Urban Institute shows that Wisconsin has fall...

29 Jan 50min

Freddy Peralta trade, wage floors, and the politics of MLB

The Milwaukee Brewers’ billionaire owner traded All-Star Freddy Peralta yesterday for prospects, leaving fans upset at the trade and the financing of Major League Baseball that created and normalized ...

22 Jan 50min

Greenleaf Data Center: Organized People Win!

We applaud a victory for local democracy this week in little Greenleaf, Wisocnsin. When Big Tech came calling, local residents pushed back so quickly on a proposed data center that the developers imme...

15 Jan 49min

Venezuela, ICE shooting and taxing the rich to fund schools and public goods

We lead off with Trump’s gun boat diplomacy in Venezuela and the shocking bloodshed perpetrated by ICE in Minneapolis. What does it mean and how is the resistance to authoritarianism responding so far...

8 Jan 58min

Representative Cruz fights for promised public school funding

We start with an analyis of the latest health care melodrama in D.C., where four House Republicans unexpectedly broke ranks, joining Democrats in forcing a vote on the renwal of ACA subsidies. Speaker...

18 Dec 202550min

Caring about democracy

We welcome Corrine Hendrickson, with Main Street Alliance, to talk about the upcoming Wisconsin Early Childhood Action Needed (WECAN) Lobby Day on January 20, 2026 at the state Capitol where childcare...

11 Dec 202548min

People vs Power

We discuss the latest shocking affront to basic human decency by the Trump Regime, starving food insecure American families by cutting off SNAP to states that have not shared the private personal data...

5 Dec 202551min

Organizing a labor revival

We lead-off with Milwaukee Area Labor Council President Pam Fendt to discuss a successful organizing campaign by union workers at the City of Milwaukee to win a Common Council vote to override the May...

26 Nov 202549min