Plan for Chicago

By Rob Lyons So after visiting the Republican Convention in Milwaukee last month, I’ll be in Chicago this week to check out the Democrats.  I’ll stay at the Ancient Dragon Zen Gate Zen Center, thanks to a generous invitation from Laurie Hogetsu Belzer, the guiding dharma teacher.  Sunday morning I’ll Read more…

Project 2025

Project 2025 by Rob Lyons Thursday July 18 brought the curtain down, mercifully, on the 2024 Republican National Convention. Donald Trump accepted the Republican Presidential nomination with a gracious and conciliatory speech about national unification.  For fifteen minutes he did quite well, sounding presidential after all:  this is what a brush Read more…

The Gall

by Rob Lyons, Thursday July 18, 2024 Months ago, when the Milwaukee Mayor and Aldermen were sold on the idea of hosting this convention, they were told it would pump $200 million in outside spending into the local economy.  The reality has fallen far short.  Many convention delegates stayed out Read more…

Fly on the Wall

by Rob Lyons This afternoon I wasn’t able to find much happening either in the realm of protest or local counter-programming, so I decided to go exploring.   I drove around town aimlessly.  I stopped at Comet Coffee and had the veggie scramble for lunch. I blundered onto a freeway heading Read more…

Street Protest

by. Rob Lyons, Monday July 15 This afternoon the Republican National Convention officially opened in Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum.  Across the river at Red Arrow Park, less than half a mile distant, more than a thousand protestors from 100 organizations joined together in the “Coalition to March on the RNC,” speaking Read more…

On the eve of the RNC

by Rob Lyons The events of the past 24 hours have shaken everybody’s confidence, and heightened the fear that our fragile peace may be splintered at any moment.  Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has called for guns to be banned within the “soft perimeter” around Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum, but the Secret Read more…