88 results for author: Joyce Luedke

Will We Survive

Nicholas Kristof is a Conservative columnist for the New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/30/opinion/gaza-harris-trump.html In his article, “Don’t Let Liberal Purity Elect Trump,” Kristof lists the dangers if Donald Trump is elected. I will summarize Kristof’s main points. “So to those so upset about Bidens’ policies in the Middle East that they are thinking about voting for Trump, staying home or voting for a third-party candidate-I understand. But don’t allow this anger to elect Trump, for that would amplify the suffering abroad that rightly upsets you. Refusing to vote may seem like a noble gesture, but it’s a ...

Sounding the Alarm!!

Retired General Mark A. Milley is sounding the alarm as to how dangerous Donald Trump has become. Milley served as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for more than a year under Trump and continued in that role during President Biden’s presidency. General Milley served more than 40 years in the military and retired in September 2023. In a retirement speech, Gen. Milley laid out his concerns regarding Trump: “We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, to a tyrant or dictator or a wannabe dictator.” “By the following year, Milley was receiving a ‘nonstop barrage of threats’ that he attributed to Trump’s political rhetoric ...

Preserve Democracy, Please Vote

Mrs. Juntti was my 1st and 2nd grade teacher in a small elementary school in northern Wisconsin. Mrs. Juntti gave me some of the greatest gifts I could ever receive. She taught me to read which opened my world to all the amazing things in life! Mrs. Juntti taught me how to write—another gift that has no measure. Mrs. Juntti gave me the gift of music. She played the piano in our small classroom as we learned to sing, America the Beautiful, God Bless America, My Country Tis of Thee, This Land is Your Land, Beautiful Dreamer, Oh! Susana, How Great Thou Art, and other songs I had never heard before. After the first week of first grade, I knew I ...

We The People

“Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.” We sang this song in elementary school and Sunday School when I was a kid. To this day, I believe that each and every person is precious and has a purpose in life. The Constitution states: “We the people.” This means every child/grownup has the right to live in a safe place, be free from discrimination, to learn, work, and contribute. We are all immigrants!! The Indigenous people were the first to arrive. Look at the hate that was directed at them. They were slaughtered. Black people were brought from ...

Something More Than Free

Does a song and its lyrics hit home and make you think? Something More Than Free, by Jason Isbell is one of those songs. “I don’t think on why I’m here, where it hurts, I’m just lucky to have the work.” “I thank God for the work.” Are you thankful for the crews who work in the hot blazing sun, in the rain and in the winter to fix our roads, streets, and bridges; and plow the snow and keep the roads safe? Are you thankful for the $550 billion over fiscal years 2022-2026 from the Infrastructure Act that will provide jobs to build mass transit, water infrastructure, broad band and other critical services? Are ...

Mom’s Story

Mom’s Story April 21, 2024 My Mom was born in 1914. From what I understand, she was born in a two-room log cabin that was part of a lumber camp in northern Wisconsin. Her parent’s borrowed some money to buy 20 acres of cut-over land to begin a small family farm in northern Wisconsin. She would tell me that they never went hungry; although, she wanted her mother to buy a box of cornflakes which they couldn’t afford. She worked hand in hand with her parents on the farm, along with three of her uncles who lived with them as the farm eventually grew to 160 acres. Mom had two younger brothers who also worked on the farm. As we know from ...

Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

Senator Tammy Baldwin joined the Democrats in the U.S. Senate and worked to pass the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Nineteen Republicans also voted in favor of the Law. Unfortunately, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin voted “No.” President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act November 15, 2021. Two years after the passing of this historic legislation, Wisconsin has received over $5.1 billion to kickstart over 300 new infrastructure projects. Some of these projects include repairs to Wisconsin’s major airports, lead pipe replacements, power grid enhancements, improvements to our ...

Heal Medicare

Do You Know Where Your Ancestors Came From?

The United States is a country of immigrants and they came for many reasons. Donald Trump’s grandfather, Frederick, was born in 1869 in Kallstadt, which was in the Kingdom of Bavaria. He immigrated to the US in 1885 to escape three years of compulsory military service in Germany. Frederick’s wife, Elisabeth Christ, also lived in Kallstadt and immigrated to the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Trump Donald Trump’s father, Fred, married a woman, Mary Anne MacLeod, who was born in Scotland. https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2018/01/15/the-president-in-1885-didnt-stop-immigrant-friedrich-trump-from-coming-to-americ...

February 26-March 1st is Public School Week in Wisconsin

My mother, Elvie, grew up during the Depression on a family dairy farm in Maple, Wisconsin. She graduated from a small elementary school that educated children from first through eighth grade. Because she was the oldest of three children, she was needed on the farm and was unable to attend a high school in Superior. Thankfully, that was not the case for me when I graduated from 8th grade in the Northwestern School District. I was able to graduate from Northwestern High School which is located in Maple. How did this come to pass? The Miracle of Maple, written by Taisto Hayrinen, describes the process of funding and building Northwestern High ...