Before turning to the big political news, we challenge our listeners to get active talking to voters this weekend. This primary is critical to electing movement progressives to the state legislature and defeating the 2 damaging constitutional amendment questions on the primary ballot next Tuesday, August 13th. We have 6 phone banks the final 4 days of the election where you can call from home and door canvass opportunities in areas we have organizers.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was selected this week by Kamala Harris as her Vice Presidential running mate. We analyze the pick and discuss the choice of Eau Claire to stage an early rally for the pair. As the new Democratic ticket takes off, Trump is caught red handed with fingerprints all over Project 2025, We close with a dissection of latest MU Law Poll, where the presidential race in Wisconsin is tied, Senator Baldwin is still up 5 points, and the Republican State Legislature remains wildly unpopular, with an approval rating at an abysmal 33%!

We discuss Donald Trump’s racist and false claim that Vice President Kamala Harris only recently identified as Black. Will the ex-president’s race-politics backfire or play to his advantage with his angry MAGA base? Why would the Trump campaign put him in front of a conference of Black journalists, who were bound to ask him insightful and challenging questions? In more substantive developments, President Biden ratchets up his calls for Supreme Court reform, and Kamala Harris takes up the issue on the campaign trail. Is the Executive Branch finally ready to perform its Constitutional role of checking and balancing a runaway court? As Biden/Harris administration officials descend upon Battleground Wisconsin, Green Homeowners United’s Kevin Kane joins us to educate us on why Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is visiting Milwaukee on Friday and how it relates to fighting climate change and creating good union jobs. We discuss why Kamala Harris will campaign with her new running mate in Eau Claire next week and how the Harris bump in Wisconsin provides greater optimism for Democrats in the state legislature this November. We shout out the great organizers at the Wisconsin Progressive Education Network (WPEN) conference this week highlighting the failed public school funding formula and the need to organize the power to win a much better state budget.

In a sudden reset, President Biden steps aside and Vice President Kamala Harris immediately consolidates overwhelming support. We discuss the implications for Election 2024 and the possible policy agenda of the new Democratic standard bearer; including, medical debt, rent inflation caps, climate change, and the War in Gaza. Meanwhile, Benjamin Netanyahu throws gasoline on the situation in a speech to a joint session of Congress.

We discuss the critical August 13th State Legislative primary elections and strongly encourage progressives to get off the sidelines and talk to voters with Citizen Action. Next Tuesday, at 5pm we will be making calls for Tara Johnson in Assembly District 96, a chance to flip a GOP seat to a progressive champion.

Robert tells us about a media event we organized this week in Green Bay with State Representative Kristina Shelton in support of developing state legislation addressing the consolidation of the hospital industry, skyrocketing consumer costs, and the closures of important hospitals and clinics in Wisconsin. We close by acknowledging the avalanche of local school funding referendums that are being scheduled to make up for the state’s failure to properly fund public education. The same state budget lavished private voucher schools with their largest increase in 30 years

Robert joins us while on vacation and tells us about his adventures hiking the Ice Age Trail in Wisconsin this week. We review the disastrous RNC in Milwaukee that has seen a Milwaukee man shot by out of state police who were outside of the RNC’s security perimeter. In addition, there is a brewing economic backlash as many area businesses say the event was oversold as locals flee downtown and the city for the week and convention goers mostly stay in confined area and attend selected venues.

We talk about President Biden’s announcement that he will introduce legislation to cap rent increases to 5% per year, cancel medical debt, and rein in the U.S. Supreme Court. While mostly done out of political desperation, the elevation of these three significant issues is an important step for progressive organizers and our movement.

We review news this week from the dangerous, cutthroat and largely unregulated world of hospital and health system competition that UW Health is starting a $900 million expansion of its hospital and clinic footprint in pursuit of profits and market control. Attend our Hospital cost and closure training on Thursday, July 25th, 6pm to hear about efforts to fight back.

Citizen Action Southeast Coop Organizer, Brandon Williford, and Milwaukee County Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez join us to discuss a wellness workshop that they are hosting at Mitchell Park with many other organizations next Tuesday, July 23rd, 3-7pm.

Citizen Action just launched our volunteer field campaign in support of our progressive candidates and “no votes” on damaging state constitutional amendments. We discuss the pivotal State Legislative primary races and the influence activists can have on electoral outcomes. Our week of calls demonstrated a real thirst among voters we talked to for progressive candidates. JOIN US on the phones next Tuesday, July 16th, 5pm, for our next primary candidate, Amillia Heredia (Assembly District 11; City of Milwaukee).

We discuss news this week that the Marshfield Clinic Health System intends to combine with South Dakota-based Sanford Health. We discuss how this further consolidation of monopolistic health systems will drive up costs and lead to more closures. We critique Milwaukee Journal Sentinel coverage that reported Marshfield Clinic PR as news coverage. We also review the Eau Claire area community assessment released this week that found a serious lack of access to health care, particularly mental health services. Robert also educates us on how Medicare’s crazy payment system is helping create monopolies in health care.

On this special 4th of July edition of Battleground Wisconsin, Robert Kraig has a bracing interview with former federal prosecutor Dennis Aftergut on the Supreme Court's judicial coup against American democracy. Aftergut, who has argued cases before the California and U.S. Supreme Court, digs into the shocking immunity decision, the gutting of federal regulatory authority built up since the New Deal, and the decisions on abortion and guns. He concludes that democracy and basic freedom is on the ballot because of the excesses of a right-wing authoritarian Supreme Court.

With the launch of the presidential debates this week, the fall election is in full gear nationally and in Wisconsin! We discuss Citizen Action’s newly announced state legislative candidate endorsements. We focus on some key Democratic Primary elections we think our listeners should know about and get involved in helping progressive Democrats win! We review the new MU Law Poll where much is unchanged in the swing state.

Senator Chris Larson joins us to discuss the current financial reporting crisis at Milwaukee Public Schools and the direct link to nearly two decades of under-funding from the state and the lack of serious investment in democracy's most important priority, educating all of Wisconsin’s children. We discuss how the opponents of public education are cynically using the situation to gut public education and democratically elected school boards.

We review new research showing a majority of Americans want to forgive medical debt. We look at the connection between escalating medical costs and the current monopolistic health systems running roughshod over local communities. We talk about the shameful scheme by the Mayo monopoly to get $1 million more from the city of Eau Claire, as they suffer through an epic healthcare crisis Mayo helped create. Ascension healthcare workers are speaking out about the serious health risks posed by the data meltdown. We discuss why it speaks to the need for real regulation of hospitals and health systems in Wisconsin.

We continue our look at the deeper systemic issues afflicting Wisconsin government and politics.

We discuss the financial reporting problems with Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). Why did the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) not inform the elected school board of the reporting issues? The ACLU WI says Wisconsin prisons and Department of Corrections (DOC) are breaking the law and are asking a court to order them to set up a program for women in prison to keep physical custody of their children. Wisconsin Supreme Court suspends fake elector co-conspirator Jim Troupis from the Judicial Commission. We close with a look at the stark difference between Trump and Biden on “law and order” and weaponizing the Justice Department. Does it even matter with voters yet to decide who to vote for or whether to vote at all? Finally, what are the prospects for Biden’s latest Gaza gambit?

We welcome David Liners, executive director of WISDOM, to discuss the stunning news that the Waupun prison warden and eight other staff were charged this week with crimes over multiple inmate deaths. Our discussion focuses on how this isn’t just a story about a bad warden and staff, this is a bad system that needs to be overhauled. We look at the role of Governor Evers and the Department of Corrections in addressing both the current charges at Waupun and the systemic crisis of failing to address mass incarceration in the state, despite a commitment from Governor Evers to cut the prison population in half when he initially ran for office. We discuss immediate solutions the Governor could do today to help and state legislative solutions you need to discuss with candidates running for office.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul finally filed charges this week against 3 Republican leaders who masterminded the 2020 election fake electors scheme. We close with a discussion of how Ascension’s medical records crisis, the ending of the HSHS/Prevea Recovery Task Force in Eau Claire and a new Hospital workforce shortage are more strong reasons why our state legislative hospital regulation bills are desperately needed.