Ruth Conniff

1 month ago | progressive.org | Ruth Conniff

In the middle of the chaos and ugliness emanating from Washington, D.C., as the new Trump Administration issued its mass deportation threats and Elon Musk took a chainsaw to federal agencies, I traveled with a group of dairy farmers and their friends to rural Mexico to visit the families of some of the immigrant workers who do 70 percent of the labor on dairy farms in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

1 month ago | wisconsinexaminer.com | Ruth Conniff

Does it matter to Wisconsin voters that Elon Musk is trying to buy a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court? Maybe not to “Scott A.” as Musk called him, the Green Bay voter to whom Musk gave $1 million as part of his campaign to reward Wisconsinites who sign a petition against “activist judges,” while at the same time handing over their personal data to Musk.

1 month ago | wisconsinexaminer.com | Ruth Conniff

A legacy of Wisconsin’s progressive tradition is its strong open records law, which compels the government to conduct its business in full view of the public and respond promptly to citizen demands for records from state agencies, public schools, city halls and police departments.

1 month ago | wisconsinexaminer.com | Ruth Conniff

It was a blustery, grey Saturday afternoon on March 15 as about 40 people wearing togas, carrying signs and waving upside-down American flags gathered on the steps of the Capitol in Madison to protest Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the current administration’s assault on democracy. The Madison rally, part of a loosely organized nationwide effort launched by the 5051 Movement, was one in a series of 50 protests held in 50 states on a specific day.

2 months ago | wisconsinexaminer.com | Ruth Conniff

In Tlaquilpa, a mountain village in the clouds, women wearing long skirts and colorful blouses walked to mass. Outside a colonial church with bright orange and yellow walls, a crowd of people holding Baby Jesus dolls celebrated Candelaria, the February holiday that combines Catholic and pre-Hispanic traditions, marking the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of spring.