Hi folks,

Kirk Bangstad here from the Minocqua Brewing Company.

On last night’s podcast, after which we had a holiday party at our Madison Taproom for Substack subscribers, we discussed America’s current media landscape where partisan “news” outlets inundate us with “zombie articles.”

What are zombie articles? The ones that tell us that that this time the walls are closing in on Trump’s regime. This time someone’s getting arrested. This time the Supreme Court will save us. It’s a dopamine loop designed to keep us doomscrolling, not to help us act.

Doomscrolling & dopamine:

* Doomscrolling literally spikes dopamine – each new upsetting headline gives a little hit, so our brains keep chasing more bad news even though we feel worse overall.

* Negative headlines outperform positive ones, so outlets are financially rewarded for keeping things dark and scary.

* High conflict + low sense of agency = learned helplessness; people stop believing they can change anything.

This sets up a problem:

We’re addicted to stories that go nowhere. We mistake spectacle for progress. We’re exhausted, but nothing structurally changes.

Here are a few examples of these times of stories in the media today;

* “Hegseth is about to be impeached for that second strike.” (Not with a Republican majority in Congress)

* “Kristi Noem is finally going to get fired for building ICE camps too slowly.” (Who cares, they’ll replace her with someone worse)

* “The ACA premium tax credits are getting restored any minute now, so health care is safe again.” (Which Republicans in Congress have proven to have any spine to actually follow through with this? None.)

* “Twenty-four MAGA members of Congress are on the verge of resigning, so maybe Democrats might get the majority before the 2026 elections.” (Who in there right minds would give up power willingly for nothing in return?)

Here’s our guest, Amanda Nelson from the popular Substack Page called “Amanda’s Mild Takes,” with her “Mild Take” on these zombie articles.

Then we moved to Senator Chris Larson to talk about some of the zombie articles coming out of Wisconsin. He talked about how Republicans wasted precious time legislating the culture wars rather than lowering healthcare costs, making childcare affordable, and even keeping our state’s public oversight TV channel (Wisconsin Eye) alive.

We then moved to talk about things that really mattered, like lawsuits working their way through the courts to stop ICE and stop the Trump regime.

* League of Women Voters Education Fund v. Trump- A federal court permanently blocked the part of Trump’s 2025 voting executive order that would have forced people to show a passport or other proof of citizenship just to register with the federal voter form. That would have disenfranchised millions, especially voters of color. Lower court said no.

* Castañon Nava consent decree (ICE arrests)- A federal judge extended a consent decree limiting ICE’s ability to arrest people without warrants or probable cause, keeping those protections in place at least through early 2026. That directly reins in ICE on the ground.

* The Minocqua Brewing Company’s lawsuit to unmask ICE in Wisconsin.

* Lower-court injunctions pausing or narrowing Trump executive orders on DEI or federal workplace rules – examples of judges still applying the law even when SCOTUS is hostile.

Also, we’re getting great news about states passing legislation to slow ICE down:

* New Illinois law limiting ICE enforcement

* Signed this week by Gov. JB Pritzker.

* Restricts immigration enforcement around courthouses, hospitals, day cares, and college campuses.

* Lets Illinois residents sue ICE agents in state court if they’re arrested in or near courthouses or if their constitutional rights are violated.

* Limits what data schools, day cares, and hospitals can share with ICE about people’s immigration status.

* Santa Clara County declaring an “ICE-free zone” on county property

* San Francisco legislation to bar ICE from using city facilities to stage raids

We then discussed the tried and true tactics of “resistance,” including harassing ICE at every turn. Here’s Patti discussing the horrors of a recent ICE raid in Elgin, IL, and how folks are starting to use AI to reveal the faces of ICE agents inflicting abuse onto others to hold them accountable.

Lastly, I reminded our audience that we have to have a “Plan B” if Trump’s goons actually succeed in cancelling our upcoming elections or causing so much chaos that those election results become meaningless. This “Plan B,” according to resistance scholars such as Harvard’s Erika Chenoweth, include a general strike to force regime change by bringing the U.S. Economy to its knees.

That’s about it for this week.

Tune in next week for our Christmas-themed show with the Reverend Paul D. Erickson, Bishop of the Greater Milwaukee district of the ELCA Lutheran Church. Rev. Erickson and our team will play a bunch of beautiful Christmas carols and talk about their underlying progressive messages.

As always, we keep our daily articles and our weekly podcast free to everyone, but have started programming more podcasts, taproom talks, and even streaming live music for paid subscribers. If you’d like to support our efforts, please subscribe here.

Thanks for watching, and thanks for sticking with the Minocqua Brewing Company.

Together, we’ll block out the noise that makes us feel helpless, and focus on the information we need to get our country back—one beer at a time.

Kirk Bangstad

Owner, Minocqua Brewing Company

Publisher, Minocqua Brewing Company Times

Founder, Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit minocquabrewingcompanytimes.substack.com/subscribe