Up North Podcast

Hi folks,

I had to email you this podcast tonight because the legendary Thom Hartmann agreed to be on our show and talk about the role of progessive radio in the America’s resistance movement.

We discusses how progressive radio has changed over the years and where it needs to go to help save America’s democracy.

Next, Executive Director of the Milwaukee Turners Emilio talked about how mutual aid, like bringing food to your neighbors who are losing SNAP benefits, has been part of all resistance movements.

Finally, Emily Tseffos, Democratic candidate for State Senate out of Appleton, talked about a food drive she’s helped organize throughout Northeast Wisconsin.

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.

I wanted to share this video of our “Taproom Talks” with Jeff Wright, a friend of mine from elementary school who has now become one of the leading voices in Wisconsin public education.

Jeff was named the Wisconsin Administrator of the year recently by the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance, and he also was a candidate for Wisconsin’s Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Jeff talks about how screens are hurting childhood development and what we can do to change that.

I apologize for the sound being a little bit distorted in the beginning, but I promise it gets better about 13 minutes into the talk. We always strive to deliver useful info to you on a shoestring budget, but we are getting better with the technology—I promise.

Please listen to this important talk. We need to let kids be kids again and reduce time in front of screens.

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Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

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 Everyone,

On last night’s Up North Podcast, we covered three topics: Texas National Guard deployment to Chicago, Emily Berge’s race for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District and the latest ICE raids in Madison. To watch the episode in it’s entirety, check out the video above. We covered a lot of interesting and scary stuff this week.

My friend George Mason, a retired Army Colonel who served our country for 38 years, joined us live from the Elwood Reserve Center on the rural outskirts of Chicago, where National Guard Troops were arriving from Texas to ostensibly harass and intimidate their fellow Americans.

He spoke with us about how Trump’s deployment of Texas’ troops, with Texas Governor Abbott’s traitorous acquiescence, was illegal under America’s Posse Comitatus Act and Title 10 of the US Code, statute 12406. Watch the entire interview above but here are some clips:

After telling us about how this deployment was illegal in the first clip, George defined fascism and connected elements from the original fascist government in Italy to what we’re seeing today in America. Here’ the next clip:

In another segment we spoke with Wisconsin’s 3rd District candidate for Congress, Emily Berge, about her campaign. Here's a short clip of her deriding Wisconsin’s parasitic private school voucher system that is bleeding funds from our public schools

Watch the whole podcast to also catch Attorney Grant Sovern, from the Community Immigration Law Center, discuss how his group helps ICE detainees in Wisconsin fight for their rights and what we can do to throw sand in the gears of ICE.

On Tuesday, which is the day we do “Tap Talks” —our version of Ted Talks where we bring in local Madison superstars to share what they’re doing, Mike McCabe told us about his new book “Miracles Along County Q.” McCabe was the former Executive Director of Wisconsin’s Democracy Campaign, a group that shines a light on money in politics, and he also ran for Governor. Here’s a clip of him telling us what he learned while in the Peace Corp in Mali.

Join us in person at the Tap Room in Madison (2927 East Washinton Ave) or live on Substack next week Tuesday at 7 pm to discuss what Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” will do the price of Medicaid in Wisconsin— aka Obamacare/Badgercare. Adam Van Skankeren from Covering Wisconsin, a program provided by the UW-Madison Division of Extension focussed on connecting WI residents with health insurance and other programs that support health, will lead the discussion.

And as always, we’re back next Wednesday with another “Up North Podcast.” We do the podcast in our taproom so that we can include questions from our customers.

If you appreciate our Midwest-centered political analysis from great writers and guests, our Tuesday Tap Talks, or our Up North Podcasts, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help us cover the costs of bringing all of this essential news and commentary to you.

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

Together, we will strengthen the resistance to Trump’s fascist regime through monitoring, documenting, and disseminating instances of government abuse, one beer at at time.

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 from the Minocqua Brewing Company.

Last night at 6 pm, we aired the second “Up North Podcast” which featured our all-star team of Substack writers that you hear from each week in print.

Wisconsin’s president of the American Federation of Teachers, Jon Shelton, and the head of Wisconsin’s “Fighting Oligarchy” coalition, Simon Rosenblum-Larsen, helped us understand what it’s going to take to organize a general strike to bring down Trump’s regime, (Note it’s gonna be hard but not impossible).

Here’s Jon talking about Trump’s assault on labor and how we’re currently living under an authoritarian regime

Here’s Simon talking about how the Fighting Oligarchy coalition in Wisconsin is trying to turn the tide and build a check on the Democratic Party to drag them back to focusing on the working class.

And finally, here’s a clip with WHBY 106.3 FM Appleton’s Ben Cominos and WCPT 820 AM Chicago’s Patti Vasquez talking about how our current government shutdown is based on a lie, and how Trump would rather shut down government than keep your healthcare costs from going up.

In the next few weeks, we’re going to be adding feeds of both Ben’s and Patti’s radio show to our Substack page, but those shows will be behind a paywall.

I know that hard-hitting progressive political analysis in the Midwest is urgently needed right now because we’re living in an age where corporate media has caved to Trump and legacy journalists still haven’t learned that “both-side-ism” isn’t real news if one side is a lie.

But that hard-hitting political analysis comes at a price, and the sale of my beer, cider, coffee, and other progressive products doesn’t yet cover the expense of growing this top-ten ranked U.S. political Substack page into a real source for news and political organizing.

We have over 250K subscribers to this page, but only about 400 of you have opted to become paying subscribers. If you appreciate what we’re trying to do here in the Midwest, and appreciate all of our weekly writers/contributors, I urge you to upgrade to become a paying subscriber.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for sticking with the Minocqua Brewing Company. Together, we can broadcast the truth about what is happening to our country, one beer and Substack subscription at time.

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

Ok folks, I just interviewed Krista Lesiecki, the teacher in Ellsworth, WI that was was put on leave because she posted criticisms of Charlie Kirk on her personal Facebook Page.

The Washington Post wrote about it here.

Her ultimate separation from the district, which she just spoke about in this interview, happened tonight. We didn’t get into what the separation entailed, because this will surely end up in the courts

What we do know is that MAGA Congressman Derrick van Orden threatened to withhold federal funds from her school district unless she was fired, which is a blatantly illegal.

Krista now has to look for another teaching job and will most definitely need money if she wants to fight this violation of her speech in court.

She has set up a gofundme account, and here it is.

Please throw some money in it and get her back on her feet and ready to fight.

Also, if there is any other teacher in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, or Iowa that has been fired for their posts about Charlie Kirk, please find us. We’ll try to help you get back on your feet too.

Email us at [email protected], and send us the clipping about you getting fired or suspended.

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Thank you Tasha King, Frances Esmond, Cary Knudson, Susan Jensen, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

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

Kirk Bangstad here, owner of the Minocqua Brewing Company.

I just got off of a zoom with Dan Boggs, a fishing guide from Stevens Point, Wisconsin, who was arrested and jailed last Friday for simply drinking a beer at my taproom.

I know that since I'm so progressive, many people on the right might take what I say with a grain of salt, so I wanted to have Dan tell his story of what happened unedited, so you can all hear someone else's side of the story.

In short, what he said was that nobody in Wisconsin or America, not even Gregg Walker of the Lakeland Times, should ever have the power to pick up the phone and have an entire bar arrested because that guy doesn't like the bar owner across the street.

But don't take it from me, here's Dan's story

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In Patti and Kirk’s last episode covering the "Right Wing War on Education,” they talked to Dountonia Batts and Dr. Preston Green about the issue of race as it relates to voucher schools.

 

This is important because private school vouchers are often presented as opportunities specifically advantageous for students of color. So it is fair to ask … Are they? Hint hint, they aren’t.

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On this episode of The Right Wing War on education, Michael Johnson, Superintendent of the Eau Claire school district, John Gaier, Superintendent of the Neillsville school district, and with Chris Hambuch Boyle, the Northern Wisconsin Regional Coordinator for the Wisconsin Public Education Network, talk about how our public school tax dollars are flowing out of rural small towns #upnorth to support private (and often religious) schools in their communities and in urban areas far away from their districts.

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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