Pinned
Hi Folks,
As you might have read in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel over the last few days, the cruel immigration policies of the Trump administration are slowly but surely coming to Wisconsin.
First, a Milwaukee-area woman named Ma Yang was deported to Laos even though she has never been there and doesn't speak the language, and is seemingly the first person America has deported to that country in years.
Second, we learned that the Journal Sentinel recently surveyed all 72 Wisconsin County Sheriffs asking questions about their willingness to cooperate with ICE to deport immigrants, which is part of Trump's Fascist playbook. Here are a few excerpts from the article.
"The Washington and Winnebago sheriffs offices, for example, joined an ICE program last week that will allow deputies to hold suspected noncitizens in jail up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released. A third agency — Oneida County Sheriff’s Office — is considering it, the sheriff told reporters.'"
"The majority — 12 of the 16 — said they would not report crime victims or crime witnesses who are undocumented to ICE....Crawford County and Burnett County said they would."
"Of the sheriff's offices that answered in some form, Burnett County appears to be the most cooperative with ICE, answering yes to every type of cooperation. That includes reporting crime victims to ICE if they are not legally allowed to be in the U.S., asking about immigration status at traffic stops, and sharing the names of noncitizens booked into the jail."
So what would a resistance movement designed to protect Wisconsin's most vulnerable and throw sand in the gears of encroaching Fascism do with Washington County's Martin Shulteis, Winnebago County's John Matz, Oneida County's Grady Hartmann, Crawford County's Dale McCullick, Burnett County's Tracy Finch-- the 5 Wisconsin Sheriff's most willing to carry out Trump's cruel immigration policies and follow his Fascist playbook?
Make their lives miserable, of course.
You'll find out in a week how we did that, but I'm not going to mention it today to maintain an element of surprise. I do know it will take volunteers from these five counties to pull it off--Washington, Winnebago, Oneida, Crawford, and Burnett.
If you hate Fascist bullies and live in these counties, here's the link to volunteer.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeG46K222_Kw_vy3EO8tPATyyWZvEl7eodUYNzF7zsSI-6xzw/viewform?mc_cid=156df111c5&mc_eid=UNIQID
Next up, because I'm following the oft-mentioned Harvard Kennedy School blueprint for a resistance movement called "Pro Democracy Organizing Against Autocracy in the United States," I've brought together a small group of senior Wisconsin political consultants and organizers to "power map" the state of Wisconsin. "Power mapping," in layman's terms, is identifying who in our state:
--will most likely carry out Trump’s politics of retribution.
--will ultimately be delegated authority by Trump/Musk to hurt minorities, immigrants, women, non-Christians, the vulnerable, and progressives.
--are being paid to lie to voters to scare, confuse, and intimidate them.
One hate group that fits this description to a "T" is called "Mom's for Liberty." According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, "Mom's for Liberty is a far-right organization that engages in anti-student inclusion activities and self-identifies as part of the modern parental rights movement. ...they oppose LGBTQ+ and racially inclusive school curriculum, and has advocated books bans."
Seeing as most every progressive organization in the state is focused on the very important task of ensuring that Wisconsin's Supreme Court stays progressive by electing Susan Crawford on April 1, there's virtually nobody paying attention to this hate group's attempt to infiltrate school and county boards around the state by winning elections in a two weeks.
As part of our newfound resistance efforts, we hope to shine a light on this group and help voters realize the danger they present to local school districts and public education throughout Wisconsin.
The three individuals I've listed, Brayden Myer (Manitowoc), Eric Meadows (Kenosha), and Jeff Voyer (Germantown) actually went on the Mom's for Liberty website and signed a public pledge to do their bidding.
The 4th woman, LaCrosse school board candidate Joy Buchman, with the help of the alt-right's non-profit legal arm, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, sued the city for not allowing her to teach conversion therapy to LGBTQ+ students.
Well, these 4 folks, and probably hundreds more that are a bit more discreet about their bigotry, are running for their local school and county boards all across Wisconsin this coming April 1, and we want to EXPOSE THEM ALL for their hatred so they will loses their races and do no more harm to their communities.
If you, or anyone you know, knows a local candidate in Wisconsin running for school our county board that supports Mom's for Liberty, Christian Nationalism, or the innocuous-sounding but still-harmful "school choice movement," please email us here:
resistance@minocquabrewingcompany.com
We are actively training volunteers to go to candidate forums throughout Wisconsin to shine a light on these folks. Again, if you want to help, please sign up to volunteer HERE.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeG46K222_Kw_vy3EO8tPATyyWZvEl7eodUYNzF7zsSI-6xzw/viewform?mc_cid=156df111c5&mc_eid=UNIQID
Next,
We've finally found the staff to officially open a new Resistance Nerve Center from 11-4pm, Monday through Friday, at our Madison tap room located at 2927 East Washington Avenue.
We need volunteers to do the following, and it's always more fun to do this stuff with other like-minded folks than by yourself:
--Research and list all the Mom's for Liberty and "School Choice" candidates running for school boards across Wisconsin.
Write letters to the editor exposing these people to local newspapers.
--Figure out where people in these towns congregate on social media and expose the hate groups on those channels.
Find resistance events happening throughout the state that we can put our our own calendar and amplify those events to other folks on our socials.
--Make signs for protests happening in Madison (there are A LOT)
--Other stuff we figure out that's important to do between today and Monday.
Lastly, we plan to offer a training on how to Power Map at the Tap Room this coming Wednesday, March 19th, at 7 pm. Come in person or join me on Zoom or Facebook Live (Minocqua Brewing Company page).
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88540633375?pwd=QHHrAZepACZamuhLbCNXsHVZbbNdTG.1
We hope volunteers can replicate the process we went through over the last two weeks in their own counties, so we can add it to our "master map" and also give your neighbors the tools they'll need to resist Fascism at the county level.
Last by certainly not least,
We've burned through a lot of Super PAC cash over the last month paying organizers and consultants to help get this resistance movement off the ground.
The good news is that we've raised approximately $25K in the last two weeks since announcing this resistance effort. The not-so-good news is that I believe to do this right, we'll need to raise around $200K to fully fund the effort for a year.
We can’t do this without a few full-time political organizers and support staff, and this is the estimated budget for salaries, benefits, and overhead (office, utilities, supplies).
If you agree with me and think there is a huge void that needs to be filled in order to anticipate and counter the inevitable harm that will ultimately reach Wisconsin from Washington D.C., here’s a link to donate.
And obviously, the more beer, coffee, wine, soda, and THC beverages you buy from us, the more we will be able to self-fund this resistance movement without having to ask for donations.
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/minocqua-brewing-co-superpac/
Thanks for reading, and thanks for sticking with the Minocqua Brewing Company.
Together, we simply must do everything we can to throw sand in the gears of the hatred, abuse, corruption, and misinformation coming our way from Trump and his cadre of Fascists, Oligarchs, and Christian Nationalists--one beer at a time.
Kirk Bangstad
Owner, Minocqua Brewing Company
Founder, Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC.
