Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Feb. 1
We must stand up to the small-minded, anti-Semitic bigotry of Paul Nehlen
It’s time to take a stand against bigots who enter the public square.
Paul Nehlen, a candidate for Congress, is a bigot.
Even the notorious Breitbart website that gives a boost to other “white nationalists,” no longer supports him. It was Breitbart, under Steve Bannon’s leadership, that helped make Nehlen a public figure, providing positive coverage of his 2016 bid to unseat House Speaker Paul Ryan in the 1st Congressional District’s Republican primary.
At about the same time Bannon left Breitbart to run Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, candidate Trump praised Nehlen, saying he was running “a very good campaign” against Ryan.
Most of the people of southern Wisconsin knew better; Nehlen lost to Ryan by nearly 70 percentage points.
On Tuesday, Nehlen, once again running against Ryan, published a list of his critics:
“Of those 81 people, 74 are Jews, while only 7 are non-Jews,” Nehlen wrote. He posted phone numbers, emails, Twitter handles, inviting his anti-Semite friends and backers to harass them.
Apparently, he’s found that his brand of bitterness sells. In the first three quarters of 2017, Nehlen’s campaign raised nearly $128,000, some of which went to his wife, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission. He hawked campaign merchandise along with his repulsive web and Twitter posts.
“This is not political discourse. This is hatefulness,” said Elana Kahn, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council for the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. “What I’d like to see is the person who holds the seat he is running for speak out: Is this acceptable political discourse?”
Ryan has declined to answer.
Nehlen’s enemies list of “Jews” has deep historical resonance, given the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust in Europe before and during World War II. It’s cruel, of course, and pushes buttons for his fellow bigots - telling them it’s OK to set apart Jewish people for no other reason than that they are Jewish. “He didn’t say who was from Wisconsin, who had a college degree, who liked to eat ice cream,” Kahn said. “That language of America First, there is language … that was used in the run-up to the genocide of the Jews.”
Anti-Semitism, like other forms of bigotry, is rising in Wisconsin and nationwide. While the council’s annual audit of anti-Jewish incidents for 2017 won’t be completed for a week or two, Kahn said there is no doubt that the numbers rose. In 2016, she said, the number of attacks against Jewish people was three times what they had been five years ago.
The council is responding with informational outreach, especially to schoolchildren; there has been a troubling increase in reported incidents among middle schoolers, she said.
“Usually, our goal is education,” Kahn said. “We’re not interested in embarrassing, chastising or censoring anyone. It’s usually about how we can affect change. But there are exceptions. … I think this needs to be called out. This is a time when it needs to be called out.”
Paul Nehlen has a right under the First Amendment to say nearly any hateful thought that pops into his head.
The rest of us have the right to stand up, speak out loudly against him, turn our backs in disgust at his message and show our support for our neighbors of goodwill, whatever their faith, nationality or color.
The last thing we should do is say nothing, stand for nothing, act as if this isn’t happening.
Too many people chose that route in the last century.
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Journal Times of Racine, Feb. 5
Help for foster-care youths is needed
With the rise of the opioid epidemic, more and more youths are getting placed in foster care. In some cases, authorities find the youths when they respond to an overdose call. In other cases, it’s the youth himself or herself who calls to report that mom or dad is passed out and needs help.
It’s tragic. No child should have to go through that.
But when authorizes find children living in those conditions, it is important that they step in and move those children to a safe environment. That is when the state’s foster care system steps in and helps provide a safe environment for the youths.
More needs to be done for these youths, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, was right to form a task force this past summer to help address the needs of those in the foster-care system and of those aging out of the system.
One of the solutions the task force came up with includes free tuition to University of Wisconsin System or Wisconsin Technical College System school.
Youths aging out of foster care in most cases have little support from family. They are often on their own.
A college degree could help put them on the track to success and make the difference between a productive future and incarceration or welfare dependence.
That was, in fact, the goal of the task force. Vos said in a news release. “We need to find ways to better serve our most vulnerable citizens who, at no fault of their own, are put in challenging circumstances … we want every child in Wisconsin to become a productive citizen and be given every opportunity to succeed in life. This includes the thousands of children in the foster care system.”
The state Department of Children and Families reported 7,168 children in out-of-home care in December 2015, an increase from the previous year, the task force news release stated. Most children spend almost a year in the program.
“Unfortunately, studies show that one in five will become homeless after age 18 and only half will be employed by age 24,” the task force news release states. “Few finish high school or go to college; about 60 percent of boys and half of girls are incarcerated at some point in their life.”
The State of Wisconsin needs to do what it can to help these youths. This bill, which has bipartisan support, is a good start.
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Green Bay Press-Gazette, Feb. 3
Educate yourself on dangers of heroin/opioids epidemic
The heroin and opioid epidemic is here, and has been for years.
However, years ago, heroin was thought to be the drug of choice for celebrities, rock stars and metropolitans in big cities.
Not so. It’s here in Wisconsin, from our rural areas to cities big and small.
Stories from a team of journalists from the USA Today Network-Wisconsin bear this out. Last weekend we ran a three-part series on the issue. We reported that most people got hooked on pain medication and turned to heroin as a cheaper alternative. A University of Wisconsin sociology professor said the over-prescription of pain medication has contributed to the opioid epidemic. Some users simply let their recreational use of drugs get out of control and turned to heroin.
This scourge received some attention in the last week here in Wisconsin and outside the state.
- On the national stage, President Donald Trump talked about it in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, saying he’s committed to “fighting the drug epidemic and helping get treatment for those in need.” Last fall, he had his health secretary declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency.
- Also at the national level, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson invited to the State of the Union the woman who prompted his bill, the SOFA Act last fall. SOFA is short for Stopping Overdoses of Fentanyl Analogues Act. The bill would help prosecute the illegal production and distribution of fentanyl analogues, a synthetic opioid used to treat cancer patients but an illegally manufactured or altered version that has had deadly results.
- At the state level, Gov. Scott Walker last week said his administration is “committed to ending the opioid crisis in Wisconsin.” He directed state agencies to adopt the Task Force on Opioid Abuse recommendations to improve awareness and prevention practices.
Closer to home, state Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, has been leading the charge in the Legislature, writing seven state laws to combat the heroin epidemic.
In Brown County, we applaud the efforts currently underway in our community to address this issue, including the Alcohol and Drug Task Force, which is assembled by Beyond Health - the steering committee that oversees Brown County’s community health improvement process.
The attention being paid to this epidemic is welcome.
Consider this from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services: The 827 deaths from opioid overdoses in 2016 in Wisconsin were greater than the number of deaths in car crashes. Overdose deaths from prescription opioids increased 600 percent from 81 in 2000 to 568 in 2016. Overdose deaths from heroin increased from 28 in 2000 to 371 in 2016.
A Department of Corrections official told a Press-Gazette reporter that cases in this region increased 111 percent from 2012 to 2014.
The attention is welcomed because the best way to end this crisis is to prevent it in the first place, and that comes through education.
To do that we have to acknowledge the toll, in the number of deaths of users, in the number of hospitalizations, in the horrendous effect on family, friends and our community.
And we have to focus on prevention, treatment, alternatives to pain management and severe penalties for those who deal in addiction and death.
For those who think it couldn’t happen to them, think again. Read our important series, “Hooked in Wisconsin: When heroin hits home,” to see how no one ever wanted to be a heroin addict.
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