Up North Podcast

Hi folks,

Kirk Bangstad here, owner of the Minocqua Brewing Company, and I jumped on a live broadcast with Pattie Vasquez right after I had a hearing in Oneida County in which I plead guilty to a disorderly conduct charge in order to avoid a lengthy jury trial on a separate charge that could have landed me in jail—bail jumping.

I’d encourage everyone to listen to the half hour conversation, in which I tell the entire story of why I was charged with disorderly conduct in the first place—but if you don’t have the time, I’ve included the most important clips.

The focus of today’s “Office Hours” was to talk about the stress of filing taxes, and that any sort of relief that some families got from Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”—like $1000 funds for young children or tax breaks on tips for folks in the service industry—were quickly erased due to rampant inflation caused by Trump’s tariffs and the insane Iran war that’s driving gas prices up. Here’s Patti explaining why all these “tax savings” touted by Trump were a scam:

We pivoted from taxes to another practice that is uniquely used in Wisconsin that really hurts the working class—the egregious use of bail jumping charges to pressure defendants to plead guilty in order to move them more quickly through the criminal justice system and avoid lengthy jury trials.

Wisconsin is one of only seven states that allow prosecutors to file additional charges if people violate a wide range of pretrial release conditions while a case is pending in court.

From this article in Wisconsin Watch:

“Defense attorneys say bail jumping charges give prosecutors more leverage to pressure a defendant to plead guilty since the new charges can come with more jail or prison time than the original charges. Under state law, each felony bail jumping conviction may result in up to six years in prison.”

And bail jumping charges have gone through the roof in Wisconsin. From the same article:

“From 2020 to 2024, Wisconsin prosecutors filed nearly 250,000 bail jumping charges, according to state court system figures. During the same period, Minnesota’s court system reported prosecutors filing 336 charges for failure to appear and 636 charges for willfully disobeying a court mandate, the only potential charges for violating bail conditions in that state.”

I bring this up because I’ve just lived it. Here’s a clip of me telling my story of why I chose to plead guilty to a disorderly conduct charge stemming from a political speech I gave at my beer garden last summer.

While I’m lucky enough to be able to afford a lawyer that helped me navigate away from a bail jumping conviction, too many folks in the working class can’t afford lawyers and as a result, rack up bail jumping convictions that lead to jail time while waiting years for their actual cases to get heard. This results in being perpetually stuck in the criminal justice system, unable to get a good job as a result, and being driven into poverty or committing more crimes to survive.

Wisconsin is unique in its ability to screw up people’s lives with this insidious bail jumping statute, and the only way we can fix this problem is for Democrats to take back the majority in Wisconsin’s state legislature next November.

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

Together, we must take bold steps to stop punishing the working class in Wisconsin, including fixing this crazy bail-jumping problem—one beer at a time.

Kirk Bangstad

Owner, Minocqua Brewing Company/ Minocqua Marketplace Publisher, Minocqua Brewing Company Times Founder, Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC

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Kirk Bangstad here,

Our Up North Podcast this week was a little different. I spoke with Retired Army Colonel George Mason on his work as an election observer in last Tuesday election, and how that helps him and his group of veterans plan to monitor elections in November.

We then spoke more broadly on a topic he knows a lot about—our defense relationships with Canada and Europe.

I’d encourage you to all watch the 30 minute chat in it’s entirety, but here are some important clips if you don’t have time.

Here’s a clip of George’s observations from last Tuesday’s election

Next up, George talked about the letter he wrote to Governor Tony Evers asking him to be proactive about federal election interference this coming November.

Next, we moved on and George spoke about our how our allies no longer trusted us, and how our two defensive alliances with Canada and Europe—NORAD and NATO, respectively, were essentially dead.

Finally, George discussed how the abandonment of the U.S. “Petrodollar” as a result in Trump’s war with Iran will destabilize our economy. Here’s the clip.

Thanks for watching and listening and keeping informed.

Kirk Bangstad

Owner, Minocqua Brewing Company/ Minocqua Marketplace 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

Howdy friends!

Kirk Bangstad here from the Minocqua Brewing Company writing to you a bit more groggy than usual this Thursday morning, because the Up North Podcast team had a blast last night putting on a satirical “voodoo séance” to punish the Trump regime.

If you want to relive the experience in its entirety, I suggest you want the entire show above, but here are the highlights:

In this first clip, I explained the events that led up to us deciding to hold this voodoo séance on April Fool’s day. Hint, it all started with a viral post offering “free beer the day he dies.”

Before we started sticking pins into Trump regime voodoo dolls, we took a moment to go around the room and let people “air their grievances” about the Trump regime. Here was one of the most poignant moments from an audience member who told us that his father, who fought in WW2, would be rolling in his grave at what Trump has done to America.

Next, we had members of the audience recite “curses” toward members of the Trump regime before poking their dolls. Here’s Kathy cursing J.D. Vance:

And of course, we saved our biggest curse for Trump himself. Here it is:

I hope this gallows humor didn’t offend anyone too much. America is in a pretty dark place, and the darker we get as a country, the darker my humor gets. I hope that humor lightens your load a little bit today.

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

Together, we must try to laugh every now and then while fighting to save our country—one beer at a time.

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

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

Hi Folks,

Kirk Bangstad here from the Minocqua Brewing Company.

Here’s a recording of last night’s Up North Podcast with Patti Vasquez, Ben Cominos, Jon Shelton and me talking about rogue Wisconsin sheriff’s who work with ICE and the current fight to make sure Wisconsin’s budget surplus goes to our public schools.

If you can’t watch the entire show, here are a few of the most important snippets:

First, we discussed which county sheriffs in Wisconsin were working with ICE. The chart above outlines which Wisconsin counties are doing what with ICE, and here’s quick clip sharing how Sheriffs might be violating both citizen’s and immigrant’s 4th amendment rights to reasonable search and seizure.

We then discussed how these counties are being essentially bribed to work with ICE through training bonuses and jail funding.

The pic above shows the funding bonuses available to county law enforcement officers who partner with ICE, and the clip below details the funding that county jails get to detain people that look like immigrants—be it American citizens or migrants alike.

Here’s the take away from all of this:

We need to remove the sheriffs who partner with ICE from office in next November’s elections, and the Minocqua Brewing Company is willing to help any group from these 19 Wisconsin counties recruit and help elect sheriff candidates who refuse to work with ICE. If you want our help in Brown, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc, Marquette, Outagamie, Sauk, Sheboygan, Washington, Winnebago, Wood, plus newer additions Dunn, Green Lake, Walworth, Kenosha, Marathon, Kewaunee, Waukesha, Dodge, Lafayette Counties, please email us at [email protected].

Next up, we heard from Senator Chris Larson last week that Democratic Governor Tony Evers is currently negotiating with Republican leaders Robin Vos and Devin LeMahieu to spend down our projected $2.5B surplus in tax relief instead of funding our chronically underfunded public schools. Here’s a clip of Jon explaining who wrongheaded that is:

Jon went into the details of why public schools have been underfunded for years. If you want to learn why, I encourage you to read Senator Larson’s piece he wrote for our platform last Saturday.

Long story short, anyone who cares about public education in Wisconsin should be contacting Governor Evers and demanding that he leave the surplus alone and stop negotiating with Republicans when we have the opportunity to spend it more wisely with a Democratic legislative majority in 2027.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for sticking with the Minocqua Brewing Company. We gotta keep pushing to get rid of fascist Sheriffs and fund our public schools—one beer at at time.

And speaking of beer, we JUST RELEASED a new maibock in support of Wisconsin’s public schools called “School House Bock.” As always, a percentage of the profits of everything we sell goes back into political action through this Substack page and through our Super PAC that works to keep Wisconsin blue.

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

Hi Folks,

Kirk Bangstad here with the Minocqua Brewing Company.

On last night’s Up North Podcast, Patti Vasquez, Ben Cominos, Senator Chris Larson and I talked about a resistance tool that’s rooted in American history: not paying your taxes.

If you can’t watch the entire podcast, here’s a few of the most important snippets:

From the Boston Tea Party, to Henry David Thoreau's refusal to pay a poll tax in protest of slavery, to thousands who withheld during the Vietnam War, the question being asked now is the same question those resistors faced: at what point does funding an unconstitutional government become complicit in its crimes?

In an article published last week by the Guardian, we learned that tax resistance is growing in America, especially after progressive influencer Rachel Cohen out of Chicago started posting videos on why she’s refusing to pay taxes this year.

But before we move to how individuals can protest through tax resistance, I wanted to remind everyone that the blue states currently being attacked by Trump could ALSO choose to stop funding their abusers.

California, New York, Illinois, and Minnesota send billions more to the federal government than they receive back, and Trump has sent ICE to their major cities to terrorize them. Holding those dollars in state escrow accounts — releasing them only when the federal government demonstrates constitutional compliance — is legally arguable and economically powerful.

Here’s a brief clip on this topic:

Next, Senator Larson informed us that there’s a rumor going around that Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers is in talks with Republican Senate and Assembly leaders to spend our $2.5B surplus before he leaves office. Given the possibility that Trump punishes Wisconsin further for not doing his bidding, and refuses to send federal tax dollars owed to our state through already-approved programs and grants, it seems unconscionable that Governor Evers would entertain this idea.

Here’s the clip:

Moving to the personal tax resistance argument, I made the bold statement that the Minocqua Brewing Company would be taking an 6 month filing extension in April which everyone is allowed to do, and we would delay paying our federal taxes at least until the November elections are behind us and they have been deemed free and fair. I encourage everyone to join me in this protest.

Here’s the clip:

Next, I pointed out that if you’re not going to pay taxes, you should at least FILE THEM. The penalty for not filing is vastly higher than not paying them, and not paying one’s taxes is a common practice among corporations who have tax disputes. Resolving those disputes often takes years, which coincides with the time needed to get Trump’s regime out of power.

Here’s the clip:

Lastly, we posted a link to the The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, which is the central hub for tax resistance in the United States. Founded in 1982, NWTRCC coordinates war tax resisters across the country, offers training, legal referrals, and community support. In January 2026 alone, NWTRCC’s “War Tax Resistance 101” online training drew nearly 500 attendees and the site logged over 110,000 unique visitors — the highest interest level in the organization’s history.

NWTRCC Counselors and Contacts Directory is a nationwide network of counselors who can help you understand your options and connect you with attorneys who have experience handling tax resistance cases.

And lastly, the NWTRCC also administers the War Tax Resisters Penalty Fund — a mutual aid fund that reimburses resisters for IRS-imposed penalties and interest (not the tax itself). Since 1982, the fund has paid out approximately $250,000 to support resisters who faced IRS collection.

Here’s the clip:

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

Together, we must use all the tools available to us to keep fighting, including tax resistance.

Kirk Bangstad

Owner, Minocqua Brewing Company/ Minocqua Marketplace 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

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

Hi Folks,

Kirk Bangstad here from the Minocqua Brewing Company.

In last night’s Up North Podcast with Senator Chris Larson, Wisconsin’s American Federation of Teachers President Jon Shelton, WHBY’s Ben Cominos and WCPT’s Patti Vasquez, we talked about about what to do to prepare for election treachery next November.

I’d encourage you to watch the whole show above, but if you can’t, here are the most important snippets:

In this first clip, I summarized an article by ProPublica about Trump officials attending a summit on how to hijack our elections next November.

In the next segment, I outlined how Cleta Mitchell, who was once a partner at the Wisconsin law firm Foley and Lardner, and who is still on the board of Wisconsin’s Bradley Foundation, is organizing these “election hijacking” summits.

What she’s doing certainly sounds like seditious conspiracy, which is defined:

“18 U.S.C. § 2384) is a serious federal crime involving two or more people conspiring to overthrow, destroy, or oppose by force the U.S. government, or to hinder the execution of its laws.”

Here’s the clip listing all they seditious things that she’s conspiring over:

I then called for Attorney General Josh Kaul to prosecute Cleta Mitchell and the Bradley Foundation for seditious conspiracy, because it’s also a felony in our state. Under Wis. Stat. § 946.03, it is classified as a Class F felony to “attempt, conspire, or advocate for the overthrow of the U.S. or Wisconsin government through the use or threat of violence, conspiracy to do so, or advocating for the necessity of such an overthrow.”

Here’s the clip:

Finally, if Trump succeeds—with the help of Cleta Mitchell and a co-conspiratorial, spineless Republican Congress—in hijacking this fall’s elections, the only non-violent tool America will have left to get our country back is to strike.

Jon Shelton updated us on what’s happening at the national level on the topic of striking:

I then reminded the audience about “May Day Solidarity School,” an event happening this Saturday in Madison to build power for the May Day mini-strike “structure test.”

Last but not least, among many “action items” listed as to what listeners could be doing to advance the conversation about strikes and election protection, Senator Larson mentioned that we all should be going to candidate forums and asking progressives running for any election this fall what they plan to do if Trump steals our elections. They should have an answer for you, and if they don’t, you shouldn’t let them hear the end of it.

Thanks for watching these snippets and for pushing these conversations about striking and protecting elections in your communities. We can’t shy away from these scary topics and must start being proactive NOW.

Kirk Bangstad

Owner, Minocqua Brewing Company/ Minocqua Marketplace 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

Hi folks,

Kirk Bangstad here with the Minocqua Brewing Company.

In last night’s “Up North Podcast,” we spoke with Retired Army Colonel George Mason about the real reason that we are at war with Iran. He was emphatic that there was no American interests being served.

I urge you to watch the entire podcast above, but if you don’t have time, here are the main clips from last night’s show.

Mason agreed that disrupting oil flow to China, covering for the Epstein files, bribery from other middle-eastern countries, and a long-term attempt to use war to interfere with our own elections might be secondary benefits to Trump’s regime; but overall, he argued that Israel has co-opted our politicians and gotten us to use our military for their own country’s goals. Here’s the first clip:

Next, George debunked the long-held talking point by both Republicans and Democrats that the reason we’re at war with Iran is to deter a fanatical authoritarian theocracy from being able to use nuclear weapons against us. Why? We already crippled their nuclear capacity last June and haven’t attacked their nuclear sites yet in this current war. Here’s the clip:

Next, in answering the question of why Israel has been able to drag us into their war in the Middle East, it seems entirely possible that they have the same Epstein files that Pam Bondi’s DOJ is hiding, and they’re using those files to blackmail Trump and others in the Epstein class to fight this war for them.

Lastly, George ran through a 90-day timeline for when Congress could legally pull us out of this war using the War Powers Act. He concluded that even if Congress had the spine to pull us out, Trump wouldn’t leave and it would take a decision by the Supreme Court to force us out of Iran. He believed this timeline would happen by this summer, and that Iran’s probable goal was to simply keep fighting until then.

I concluded that I didn’t believe Congress or SCOTUS would remove the U.S. from Iran, and that Trump would use this “Endless War” as a reason to issue executive orders that disenfranchised millions of American voters in the upcoming elections. Here’s that clip:

Thanks for watching, and thanks for caring.

If you appreciate this weekly podcast, the daily essays from our crack team of writers, and the many live broadcasts we sprinkle in throughout the week to catch everyone up on the news, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to the Minocqua Brewing Company Times.

I’ll be back this Sunday to talk about the inevitability of Trump’s engaging in an all-out domestic war to stop our elections this fall, and what we must to do now to prepare for that inevitability.

Kirk Bangstad

Owner, Minocqua Brewing Company/Minocqua Marketplace 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

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