Politics

Left perspectives on power and policy across Wisconsin and the Madison area.

A photo modified with an impressionistic filter of an outdoor seating area at a pub. Several people sit at picnic tables under colorful umbrellas and a bright blue sky. A wooden fence divides the outdoor pub area from neighboring houses on the other side.

Neighborhood noisemaker

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Microtones
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September 26, 2025

Assessing the local political and social climate through a community dispute.

Latest in Politics
Photograph at a medium-long shot of a large conference room where an audience is seated in the foreground and facing the stage. In the background, on the stage, two panelists are seated at a table with a white banner thrown over it that reads "LWV League of Women Voters of Dane County." The two panelists turn towards the female speaker standing at a wooden lectern. She faces the audience and holds a microphone. On the far wall behind them is a projection screen that displays a presentation's bullet points.
Defending immigrant rights in the fight against fascism
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Politics
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September 18, 2025

Local activists deploy a renewed emphasis on legal strategy and grassroots organizing.

Digital collage of a Smart Communications infographic, squashed into the form of an alien hawk swooping down over an abstract landscape. The abstract landscape is rendered in shades of green, and contains outlines of different sizes of pentagon shapes.
Propaganda hoedown: How the Dane County Sheriff tried to sell the Smart Communications contract
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Politics
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September 15, 2025

Mail-scanning systems are spreading, not for safety purposes, but to strengthen punishment bureaucrats' surveillance powers and corporate extraction.

A photo with a heavy mesh-effect filter shows a chain-link fence in the foreground that is layered over a white, wooden-panel fence. A large tree-design sign is mounted on the front. Behind the fences, several narrow white-painted housing units are constructed in rows among the campground against a sky at sunset.
Finding a refuge for the unhoused
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Microtones
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September 12, 2025

With regressing attitudes towards unhoused people and winter looming, the City and County need to embrace imperfect solutions.

A glitched, earth-toned illustration shows a large lecture hall that is sloping down towards the background. The center is engulfed in exposed wiring. An image of a wheat or cornfield is spliced into the bottom part of the illustration where the dull blue-colored seats are located.
Ever-expanding AI continues to invade higher education
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Politics
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September 8, 2025

Trump and Big Tech promise "human flourishing" in the UW System.

A black-and-white photo of three potted plants sitting on a carpet by a large window with the blinds drawn. Bright sunlight streams in through the slits in the blinds, spilling onto the carpet in the foreground.
A secluded summer
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Microtones
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September 5, 2025

Climate change is directly making our quality of life worse.

Close-up photograph of a tan-colored, scuffed City Of Madison garbage receptacle filled with boxes. It sits on the grass near the curb next to a discarded mini-Christmas tree on North Carroll Street in Madison.
Hippie Christmas has come and gone again. But what exactly are we celebrating?
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Microtones
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August 29, 2025

Get some free stuff, but let's stop putting a cutesy spin on housing instability and waste.

A medium close-up photo of a middle-aged man sitting on a couch in his living room with his dog to his right. He wears a grey t-shirt and looks up and at the photographer with a neutral expression.
Wisconsin to compensate workers with disabilities for wrongfully denied unemployment claims
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Politics
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August 26, 2025

Thousands of workers could see relief after a judge struck down the state’s ban on unemployment insurance for Social Security Disability recipients.

An illustration shows several military vehicles in the foreground, middleground, and background on different levels of desert terrain. One of the vehicles is being held by an oversized robotic arm that is sitting in the foreground on a large red outline of the state of Wisconsin. In the background, a drone flies in the sky overhead and an olive tree smolders on the ground.
A genocide, manufactured in Wisconsin
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Politics
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August 18, 2025

Since Oshkosh Corporation told The Cap Times that it was moving away from military vehicles, it has only doubled down on selling them to Israel.

An angled photo shows a row of slim, boxy, similarly designed housing units stretching into the distance. The houses are modest in their appearance, but painted colorfully- including shades of blue, red, yellow, and green at the far end.
The outsides of other people’s homes
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Microtones
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August 15, 2025

Complaints about ugly new housing abound in Madison, but they aren't getting us anywhere.