☀️ Good morning!

It’s Sunday, November 16, 2025

There’s a lot that’s already been said about the “deal” to end the government shutdown. Instead of sharing 1,000 words rehashing its failings, allow me to share a picture instead (below) — one that captures how low we’ve set the bar for representation.

The picture shows a congressman from a major agricultural district in Wisconsin, one who is supporting a double-whammy of pain for our farmers: trade wars and higher health insurance costs. They could use an independent voice in Washington. Instead, this politician figured out how to get national media attention simply by riding a motorcycle at a time when most other riders know how to read a thermometer.

As always, we invite you to stay up to date with our social media posts and morning radio show, too.

Have a great day!

⏮️ Last Week:  Legalize Marijuana?

Where should Wisconsin be, in your view?

85% said (A) Fully legal

6% said (B) CBD legal

6% said (C) Medical use only

3% said (D) Fully prohibited

Jerry C. (A) –  I’ve smoked pot most of my adult life and at 76 I still do. Not every day but on occasion. And I managed to have a career and family and home. I see little or no downside to legal sales of THC.

Mary D. (B) – Opening the box to allow recreational use at this time would add to the burdens already carried by law enforcement. We human beings have a built-in tendency to overindulge…and then try to do ordinary things like drive or operate heavy machinery already.

Andrew M. (D) – I am a high school teacher and see the effects every day: Brain fog, impaired decision making, decreased reaction time, effects on mental health, effects on physical health and more are real. This would be an invitation to having a workforce of people coming to their jobs putting other people’s safety in jeopardy.

⏭️ This Week: Let’s talk about your friends

A national poll by NBC News showed 82% of Republican respondents said they have a good friend who’s a Democrat. Among Democratic respondents, 64% said they have a close friend who’s a Republican.

What about you? We’re talking about someone you consider a close friend even though there is no doubt they vote opposite of you most of the time.

🄰  I do have a close friend who’s definitely closer to the opposite party. 

🄱  I don’t. Casual friends? Yes. Close friends who are politically opposite of me? I don’t think so. 

If you do, tell us how you handle politics: Talk it out and stay friends? Avoid political talk?

If you don’t, is that just by chance or do you feel you can’t be close to someone whose positions are opposed to yours?

To answer this week’s question, hit reply or email me directly at pat@couriernewsroom.com, and we may share it in a future newsletter or on our radio show.

Absentee ballot drop boxes would be taken away from voters if Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann became governor and had a Legislature controlled by fellow Republicans. The Wisconsin Elections Commission would also be abolished under his plan, with election administration put under the control of a single politician.

Schoemann outlined this slate of election changes during a recent interview.

Along with banning drop boxes, Schoemann would also outlaw “central count” facilities used by larger municipalities to count ballots faster and with more oversight. Because large cities have more ballots that take longer to count, their results are often conveyed in one large number that might not be ready until late on Election Night. Republicans have made these conditions a central focus of election conspiracies, despite no evidence that central counts or drop boxes have led to election fraud.

“It’s a real disappointment because Josh Schoemann has been what Republicans used to be, which was actually conservative and a person you could work with,” Democratic strategist Joe Zepecki told us. “Now he has to cosplay as a Republican extremist and it’s going to get him nothing.”

Read more on our website.

1️⃣ Congressman Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst) could get credit for being a little too honest when it comes to the “concepts of a plan” to replcace the Affordable Care Act. The GOP candidate for governor blasted the ACA during a Milwaukee news conference. But then a local reporter asked why his party still hasn’t put forward an alternative in the 15 years since the ACA passed. Tiffany seemed caught off guard.

“That’s a great question,” he said. “Unfortunately, it has not been done. But no time like the present.”

There is no indication Republicans are working on a replacement plan at the present.

2️⃣ Joel Brennan, a former top official in Gov. Tony Evers’ cabinet, is considering joining the race for governor. Brennan departed as Secretary of Administration to work for the Greater Milwaukee Committee, a group of Milwaukee business and nonprofit leaders who get involved in civic issues. Brennan told WTMJ Radio his previous experience — which also includes being CEO of the Discovery World science center in Milwaukee and leading the city’s Redevelopment Authority — puts him in a unique position to continue a career of public service.

3️⃣  There’s a simple way for Democrats to carry last week’s election successes into 2026, according to Wisconsin Examiner editor-in-chief Ruth Conniff: Listen to the people and understand their refusal to be bullied. Speaking on our radio show, Conniff said Democrats should notice that while universities, news networks, and law firms have all caved in to President Trump’s demands this year, voters were having none of it — and expressed at the ballot box a desire to support candidates who understand their most immediate concerns — skyrocketing prices, a shredding safety net and the disappearing prospect of shared prosperity. 

“Tuesday’s elections,” Conniff said, “showed that we still have a democracy, that voters have a say in how the government is run, and that they won’t put up with an endless cycle of abuse.”

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🏁 Thanks for reading our update.

Have a great week!