Wisconsin Right Now

This is a guest opinion column by Barbara Dittrich. On the Wisconsin August referendum times 2: With billions of your hard-earned dollars on the line, shouldn’t you have some idea where they are being spent? Shouldn’t you have a voice in your state government that can influence how those dollars are allocated? VOTE YES to give yourself a voice. It’s election season, and in addition to being out campaigning for my own reelection to the Wisconsin State Assembly, I am out educating voters to say “YES” to their own best interests on the August 13th primary ballot. Two Wisconsin August referendum ballot questions appear on the second side of your ballot that are key to restoring our state’s constitutional foundations as originally intended. With absentee ballots already in the hands of those who choose to vote by mail, I have also had several people reach out to me asking what the questions mean and how they should vote. I urge you to restore your own voice and best interests b...

Various Observations Reporters and Their Questions - What is really neat is that probably 90% of the reporters here are really friendly, honest, and some of them are wearing conservative hats or other stuff. However, there are two that we’ve run into that have their own agenda. Example - When the delegate next to me was interviewed about Nikki Haley before Haley spoke, she talked about how Nikki would speak to uniting the party, etc., and I was watching the face of the reporter and the reporter immediately stopped the interview and walked away when he didn’t get the answer he wanted. His questions were designed to be decisive and he wasn’t going to report on any delegate who didn’t give him what he wanted - which was a phony story. Surprise Guests - Once again, Trump and Vance showed up, not to speak, but to listen. That says a lot. They’re there to listen to DeSantis, Haley, and regular Americans that are speaking. Yes, about every other speaker is a regular, everyday American...

I’m here as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin - a Great City on a Great Lake, and I’m going to share life with you as a delegate. I brought along my service dog Lambeau (it’s amazing how many people don’t know how to spell that! haha.) With over 16,000 reporters at Fiserv Forum, Lambeau has been ‘interviewed’ (photographed) I would say more than 250 times in his first day. He’s stolen the show - not on purpose, but because the Wisconsin delegation, being the host state, is seated right up front - and Lambeau lies down right alongside the aisle with thousands of reporters walking by every minute. (Reporters and photographers are allowed to roam the floor, so like a swarm of honey bees, they’re everywhere, clogging up the aisles, blocking our view, etc. but they are also all good-natured, friendly, courteous, and doing their jobs well.) But let’s backtrack a little. We arrived in Milwaukee by pickup truck on Sunday around noon, deliberately tryi...

The Columbus, Ohio, police chief immediately released body cam videos showing that Columbus police officers stopped a knife attack when they shot a man near the RNC in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The dramatic body cam video, which you can watch below, shows that officers witnessed a man with a knife chasing after another man. They shot him to death before he could stab the man he was running after. Be forewarned that the video is graphic. [video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://www.wisconsinrightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/officer_1_2024-07-16_redacted.mp4"][/video] Although the video shows the officers stopped a man from being seriously harmed or killed, making their actions heroic, protests quickly erupted and dominated the website of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which identified the deceased man as Samuel Sharpe Jr., reporting that he lived in a tent city. Even Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson acknowledged the reality of what unfold...

Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee and daughter-in-law of former President Donald Trump, appeared saddened but proud when recalling the "frightening" assassination attempt Saturday against her father-in-law at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. “There is no doubt that Saturday was one of the most frightening moments of my father-in-law’s life,” Lara Trump told the audience at Tuesday night's Republican National Convention. “Millimeters separated him from life and certain death. And yet, it was in the midst of it all, as he was jostled off stage by Secret Service, that he knew how defining that moment would be for our country, and he hoisted his fist in the air.” The crowd erupted into chants of “fight, fight, fight!” The assassination attempt on Trump, and a general belief among Republicans that a win for their candidate in November will refortify national security, dominated the topics discussed during the later portion of the Republican Natio...

The sloped roof where a would-be assassin took aim at former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania wasn’t safe enough for snipers. This is a reason for not posting someone there, U.S. Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle said in an interview with ABC News on Tuesday. “That building, in particular, has a sloped roof at its highest point,” she said. “And so, you know, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof.” “And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside,” Cheatle added. The comment comes three days after 20-year-old Thomas Crooks opened fire on a crowd in Butler, Pa., l ess than 15 minutes after Trump took the stage , striking him in the ear. Trump was wounded but has continued his schedule, arriving in Milwaukee, Wis., on Sunday for the Republican National Convention and appearing in the main arena Monday night. Since then, authorities – n...

Western Wisconsin’s congressman says he was assaulted at Milwaukee’s Republican National Convention, but a women’s group disagrees. Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden took social media Tuesday to say a protester with the group Code Pink assaulted him while he was standing in line at the RNC. “While standing in line to enter an event at the RNC today, I was assaulted by what appeared to be a member of the pro-Hamas group CODEPINK. A nearby police officer witnessed this assault and I understand they have been arrested,” Van Orden said. “This appears to be an incident of political violence and I will never tolerate this. Regardless of the severity of the violence, political violence is political violence.” Code Pink almost immediately said Van Orden was the one who bumped into who they called a “visibly Palestinian” woman. “CODEPINK's Palestine Organizer Nour [Jaghama] has been unjustly arrested at the RNC after a congressman shoved past her and had her arrested on fal...