Happy Veterans Day, 2025—Defend Our Guys Against Malign Government

Marine Reconnaissance troop on guard duty, Vietnam

Veterans, Fighting Forces Are Imperiled by Trump, Lindsey Graham, Chickenhawks, and Liars

Commentary

We salute our veterans, and we call out our veterans' enemies today, chickenhawks, who are at it again, crawling out from under rocks mocking virtues of our military forces — service, honor, guarding our freedom.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), always desperate to prove his manhood in his perverted method of chickenhawk acts, celebrates Donald Trump's killing, bringing "death" to the world, (Yahoo).

"[Donald] Trump is my favorite president. We’ve run out of bombs, we didn’t run out of bombs in World War II," Graham noted to celebrate increased killing enacted by the current administration, (Yahoo).

Vietnam veteran Don Kosterman of Fitchburg, Wisconsin
was welcomed home with other Wisconsin-area veterans 
in May 2023. Veterans are honored each year in the
 Badger Honor Flight. 
Don was in-country, Vietnam, 1965-66. 
Don Kosterman is a man of honor.

We need more war, more killing. This is how we honor our veterans and servicemen and women, Trump and Graham believe.

Our federal government now has the Department of War, a new undertaking, but a transformation in name only of the massive national security state erected by Democrats and Republicans.

War president; war footing; strutting egotism, permanent war, and a pathological inability to speak the truth—this is the government we have today to honor our veterans. 

Sixty-four years ago, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us about war as an anti-democratic, corrupting domestic force in his Farewell Address (1961), as peace is deterred, and atrocity continues.

Doesn't have to be this way.

Concludes Eisenhower:

"We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love."

Vietnam veteran Patrick Newberry of Fitchburg, Wisconsin
was welcomed home with other Wisconsin-area veterans in
April 2023. The veterans were honored during the
46th Badger Honor Flight. Patrick was in-country. Vietnam 1967
(WMTV-Madison) 
Patrick Newberry is a man of honor.

But our current president betrays the presidential oath of office, substituting indecent needs of the terror state of Israel, for example, for the needs of 1.2 million low-income veterans, 40-million other elderly and disabled, whose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP benefits have been fanatically opposed by Trump and Graham.

The world is a free-fire zone for President Trump; and our active-duty forces are sometimes transformed into war criminals by their commander-in-chief.

Billions of dollars for Israel, and a perverse crusade to block SNAP for our veterans the weekend before this Veterans Day, with a late assist to Trump from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). This is the terrain today.

The national security state budget surpasses $1 trillion each year, viewing with suspicion those few seeking elected office and calling out the perils to our democracy of the security state that lives through secrecy and lies, with no accountability. 

Marines like Graham Platner, oyster farmer, and Democratic Party candidate running for U.S. Senate in Maine in 2026 fight back. "I will never, ever vote to send Americans into a pointless war," vows Platner. 

Platner has drawn the enmity of Sen. Chuck Schumer and other liars in Congress for standing for freedom and truth.

Our country is a betrayal to the people who guard our freedom.

As Eisenhower warned:

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted.

Veterans, thank you. 

We as the American people should honor you by ensuring you have the country you served.
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Anyone ever see a veteran in the days back home from a Honor Flight? It's wonderful; veterans glow with an expression that appears a mixture of pride, solidarity, even elation. 

I think we can match this glory, or at least come close enough, in the performance we demand from those in government.

I know we should try.

Look to independents who reject partisan blinders. Check out Army Green Beret veteran, Valhalla VFT, and other patriotic independents.
 

Wisconsin GOP Picks Rightwing Extremist Again in State Sen. Primary Election

State Sen. Caleb Frostman
(D-Sturgeon Bay) connects to
Wisconsin culture and
tradition.

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — Voters chose State Rep. Andre Jacque (R-De Pere) as the Republican Party's candidate for state senate dist one, nominating the radical fundamentalist who wants to outlaw abortion and birth control.

Jacque trounced Bill Nauta in the Republican Party Primary this week.

Typical of the radical misogynistic politics that now define the Republican Party, Evangelicals and racists dominate this assembly of whites led by the Evangelical Gov. Scott Walker (R).

Jacque is shameless in his desire that government control women.

Jacque will face State Sen. Caleb Frostman (D-Sturgeon Bay) in a rematch of the June Special Election in northeastern Wisconsin that was illegally blocked by Gov. Scott Walker (R) as part the continuing Republican war against voters.
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Frostman has been meeting constituents since assuming office in early Summer, holding listening sessions in this polarized district where openly opposing Walker is to risk one's health.
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This spring a local resident, Patrick Forest Markham, intentionally poisoned protestors, including children, at an April protest against Walker.

Markham is scheduled for a pre-trial conference, Friday, August 17, for his citation for disorderly conduct for his coal rolling, ejecting and directing toxic smoke to poison and intentionally cause distress, often used as a rightwing tactic to disrupt protests with which rightwingers disagree.

Markham bragged about his conduct in Facebook comments left in response to a video produced by the Door County Advocate and reporter, Liz Welter, from the Green Bay Press Gazette.

Welter was present at, and witnessed the event during her coverage of the protest held April 6, 2018.

Markham wrote:

"Suck my exhaust"

"I am glad they got the coal treatment"

"... I rolled coal threw (sic) them when I left work"

Fundamentalist Wisconsin State Rep. Andre Jacque
(R-De Pere), may be bad fit for northeastern Wisconsin.
Jacque remains certain he and not women ought be
the deciders of whether women bare children.

Residents speaking on background say a municipal citation is too lenient, and one mother of a child is reportedly contemplating a civil action.
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For now, residents in this region go about their lives, and speak with their elected representatives in the hope they can change public policy.

"Now, I can pick up the phone and call my state senator, Caleb Frostman, and talk about the issues that affect my community," said a Door County resident in June. "Contacting my legislator is what our republic is supposed to be about. Not for Scott Walker."

Residents of this district often contact State Sen. Frostman, and as before they have a lot to say.

A writer living in Door County notes on background the continuing menace of factory farms in the region, the Wisconsin Door Peninsula:

Sewage equivalent to that generated from Milwaukee, Madison, and Green Bay, is regularly strewn over Kewaunee County’s karst topography. ... The solution is de-centralization. Return to small family dairy farms spaced over all of Wisconsin (thus spreading the wealth ... in more ways than one). The current eight-thousand dairy farms needs to be converted back to 80-thousand, as it used to be.

Pictured below are the manure-laden steams that vector pathogens into the surface waters and aquifers of Door and Kewaunee counties.

It's beautiful in the Wisconsin Peninsula. What are we doing?

Wisconsin Blue Wave Grows in Special Elections That Were Blocked by Scott Walker

Concern with safe and clean
water is fueling the Blue Wave.

Madison, Wisconsin — Wisconsin citizens flipped a deep-red state senate seat and slashed a double-digit GOP margin in a gerrymandered assembly district last night in an unmistakable signal the Blue Wave is huge in Wisconsin.

The two special elections were blocked by Gov. Scott Walker earlier this year after Walker refused his statutory duty to order special elections after legislative vacancies.

The two districts will now have a sitting representative from June to January 2019, the first time since 2017 that residents could speak with a sitting representative.

"Now, I can pick up the phone and call my state senator, Caleb Frostman, and talk about the issues that affect my community," said a Door County resident this morning. "Contacting my legislator is what our republic is supposed to be about. Not for Scott Walker."

Scott Walker was so desperate to block the elections, it took the intervention of three judges to order Walker to fulfill his duty.

The judicial action was brought by the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, headed by former Attorney General Eric Holder.

"Scott Walker and his Republican allies gerrymandered this district for their own partisan benefit. But the citizens of Wisconsin are clearly speaking out this year to demand a state government that better represents their values," said Holder Tuesday night, (Terkel, Huntington Post).

The special elections results are, (WMTV-Madison):

State Senate Dist One

Caleb Frostman (D)         14,606 votes       51% (19-point blue swing from 2016)
André Jacque     (R)         13,800  votes      49%

State Assembly Dist 42

Jon Plumer (R)                5,713 votes          53% (7-point blue swing from 2016)
Ann Groves Lloyd (D)    4,834  votes         45%

There are three assembly districts in each senate district in Wisconsin.

Even in the contorted 42nd assembly
district comprising parts of six
counties, Republicans lost seven
points last night in the Special Elections
that were blocked by Gov. Scott Walker
last Spring.

Because of Republican gerrymandering of state redistricting, the contorted assembly district 42 comprises parts of six counties, shown on a map at right, jagged and stretched-out like clay had been stepped on and carved up.

Republicans called the election results both "meaningless" and indicative of a mere blue "trickle," ignoring the 19 and seven-point blue swings, (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

No amount of Republican contorting the results last night in Wisconsin can change facts:

Results in tonight's WI elections:

▪️#SD01: 51-49 for Democrat Caleb Frostman, a 21% Dem swing from 2016 and an 8% improvement over Obama '12
▪️#AD42: 53-45 for Republican Jon Plumer, a 6% Dem swing from 2016, and an 11% retraction vs. Obama '12.https://t.co/qSfxkNzxUU

— James Lambert (@hellofasandwich) June 13, 2018

Wisconsin Special Elections on June 12 — GOP State Rep Makes False Charge Opponent Is a Vikings Fan

Democratic Party nominee for State Senate dist one,
Caleb Frostman, is a former Green Bay East defensive
standout. Frostman wore jersey number 66, the number
of Packers great, Hall-of-Famer Ray Nitschke. For
non-football fans, Ray Nitschke is generally regarded
as the toughest linebacker to play in the NFL.
Photo - Courtesy of Rick Schaffer

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — In the northeastern Wisconsin special election for state senate, rightwing social extremist, State Rep. Andre Jacque (R- De Pere, Wisconsin), faces an uphill climb against Democratic Party nominee, Caleb Frostman.

There has been a predictable frenzy of mailings, TV spots, and heavy field work before the special election next Tuesday, June 12 — an election so dreaded by Gov. Scott Walker that he blocked this election (and another) in an unprecedented action until ordered to hold the elections by state courts in March after Eric Holder filed a writ of mandamus petition.

But now things have gotten ugly.

An ad by supporters of Jacque makes a false charge, calling Frostman, a former Green Bay East High School defensive lineman, a Minnesota Vikings fan, an attack in

Religious fundamentalist, Wisconsin State Rep. Andre Jacque
(R-De Pere), belongs in the State Senate about as much as
he belongs on a football field, not very. The book on Jacque
is that he is an extremist, not well-informed and is a
bad fit for public office.

northeastern Wisconsin that is only surpassed by insinuations a candidate harbors love for the Bears and the serial killer and cannibal, Jeffrey Dahmer.

Frostman retorted and disconfirmed the false attack swiftly on Facebook, below.

Jacaque is often ridiculed by Wisconsin progressives for Jacque's Evangelical opposition to allowing women to make reproductive decisions and for his opposition to stem cells.

Republicans went after Frostman's strength as a football star and outdoors man.

What's next, a charge that Caleb Frostman is actually a secret-agent terrorist?

Wisconsin Republicans are desperate. Scott Walker this week preemptively declared the special elections are not signs Republicans are in political trouble here, no matter the outcome.

From Frostman:

Wisconsin Special State Senate Election — Clean Water Ad Hits Republican Andre Jacque

Water from a kitchen and bath facet is northeastern Wisconsin
home is colored brown from polluted water aquifers, and
toxified by cow manure. There is little recourse now that Scott
Walker and Republicans have abandoned pollution
enforcement, leaving families facing polluters alone.

Madison, Wisconsin—One of two special elections that Gov. Scott Walker blocked for months is state senate dist one in northeastern Wisconsin.

The two candidates are State Rep. Andre Jacque (R-De Pere) and Democratic Party nominee, Caleb Frostman. The special election is on June 12.

A television ad by the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters spotlights a high-profile issue in the race — families' water polluted and toxified by Big Ag, specially the many factory farms protected by Republicans and Scott Walker.

The ad is a stark and graphic depiction of a typical household where turning on faucets means being showered with brown, manure-laden water polluted by area factory farms.

State Rep. Andre Jacque (R-De Pere) is a protector of the polluters. Caleb Frostman is a protector of the families.

Video and press release are below:

Manure is ‘In Our Shower and Our Faucets’

SD 1 Ads: Manure is ‘In Our Shower and Our Faucets’
Ad campaign spotlights drinking water pollution in Kewaunee County

MADISON – A new ad campaign focused on the special election in Senate District 1 features a Kewaunee County resident whose faucets ran brown with liquid manure and spotlights the anti-conservation record of Rep. Andre Jacque.

The television ads tell the story of a Kewaunee County resident who lives the reality of the drinking water crisis and the risk it poses to her family and thousands of others in the district – and beyond.

It provides graphic footage of pure liquid manure running from a shower and a sink faucet – explicit proof of the horrifying pollution pouring from Kewaunee County faucets – and points to Andre Jacque’s numerous votes against clean water protections.

Over the course of his legislative career, Andre Jacque has voted against clean water protections in the most high profile environmental legislation. Even more telling, Andre Jacque provided no leadership on the biggest threats to drinking water in his district. He was one of the only local legislators to not co-sponsor legislation to help families’ whose wells have been contaminated by manure (2017 Act 69).

The radio campaign further details the family’s story and introduces candidate Caleb Frostman, a conservation champion dedicated to protecting clean drinking water and the state’s water resources.

Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters PAC paid for the campaign.

• Watch the television ad here.
• Listen to the manure pollution ad here.
• Listen to the ad introducing Caleb Frostman here.
• Click here for the ad campaign’s justifications.

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Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to electing conservation leaders, holding decision makers accountable, and encouraging lawmakers to champion conservation policies that effectively protect Wisconsin’s public health and natural resources.

League's TV ad is below:

GOP Picks Rightwing Extremist for Special State Sen. Primary Election

Religious fundamentalist, Wisconsin State Rep. Andre Jacque
(R-De Pere), may be bad fit for state senate special election.

State Rep. Andre Jacque (R-De Pere) was voted in as the Republican Party nominee for the special general election for state senate dist. one in northeastern Wisconsin.

The social extremist Jacque is widely considered the weaker of two Republican candidates who will face the Democratic Party nominee, Caleb Frostman on June 12.

The Republican Party leadership backed Jacque's opponent, Alex Renard.

The Republican Party primary voters had other ideas.

Jacque defeated Renard, 4,369 votes to 4,039 votes, (Anderson, Green Bay Press Gazette).

Jacque is known for his opposition to allowing women to make reproductive decisions and for his opposition to stem cells.

The Wisconsin special primary election was one of two primaries held last night, (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

The two special elections are remarkable because Gov. Scott Walker blocked the elections for months until he was ordered by three separate judges to follow Wisconsin election law.

The two districts holding special elections have not been represented since December 2017.

The special election will give Wisconsin residents in the districts representation from June through January 2019.

The current composition of the Wisconsin state senate is 18-14, Republicans over Democrats, with the one vacancy in dist one.

The Wisconsin state legislative districts are gerrymandered Republican, the subject of a United States Supreme Court case expected in weeks.