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NOTE: One of the opinion pieces contains language that may be offensive to some readers

NEWS

Wisconsin’s Legislature and Gov. Tony Evers need to approve a plan to finance $448 million of long-term renovations at American Family Field — or perhaps risk the Milwaukee Brewers moving to another city.

That’s the indirect message delivered Thursday by Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert Manfred on a visit to Milwaukee − part of a series of visits Manfred makes to MLB cities.

To be sure, Manfred didn’t explicitly say the Brewers might leave Milwaukee once the team’s lease of American Family Field expires at the end of 2030.

And the ballclub’s principal owner, Mark Attanasio, has said repeatedly he wants the team to stay in Milwaukee for the long term.

But Manfred told reporters it’s important that a ballpark funding plan be promptly approved by government officials.

And he cited the Oakland Athletics’ ballpark, the publicly owned Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, as a cautionary tale.

The Athletics are planning to move to Las Vegas under a tentative deal just announced by Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo.

The team’s move is being prompted in part by the Oakland ballpark’s conditions. Major League Baseball in 2021 granted the franchise permission to pursue relocation after deciding the stadium was no longer a viable option for the Athletics.

“This ballpark is an asset,” Manfred said about American Family Field.

“I think the Brewers are interested in a long-term relationship and an extension of the lease that’ll keep them here,” he said.

Evers, a Democrat, in February proposed providing state cash for long-term renovations at American Family Field.

Republicans who control the Legislature rejected Evers’ proposal but have been negotiating a separate deal that has yet to be unveiled.

The renovations will cost an estimated $428 million over roughly the next 20 years, according to a study commissioned by the Brewers and reviewed by a consultant hired by the state Department of Administration.

That tab rises to $448 million with an inflation contingency. That covers such items as upgrades to the seats, concourses and gathering spaces − similar to what’s been happening at other Major League Baseball stadiums.

Evers says keeping the Brewers in Milwaukee would generate an estimated $400 million in state sales and income taxes over 20 years.

—The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The state Senate should amend sweeping legislation boosting funding to local governments to forgo referendums on Milwaukee sales taxes and allow the county to levy a higher sales tax than what is in the current bill, a coalition of Milwaukee-area business leaders, organizations and others said in a letter Thursday.

The request for the additional sales tax funding — for the county, an additional 0.5% sales tax as opposed to the 0.375% increase in the current bill — reflects costs to the county that are contained in the legislation plus the county’s existing unique public safety costs as opposed to solely addressing its pension obligations, said Brandon Weathersby, spokesperson for County Executive David Crowley.

As written, the legislation passed by the Assembly and now before the Senate would allow the City of Milwaukee to levy a 2% sales tax while Milwaukee County could add a 0.375% sales tax on top of its current 0.5% tax, if voters approve.

—The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Wisconsin students say growing up hiding under art tables and pushing their desks up against classroom doors in preparation for violence has been traumatizing.

“I remember being in fifth grade and my teacher saying she would do anything she could to protect us, but if something went wrong, we had to do anything to protect ourselves — even grab our scissors or chairs,” said Adeline Gent, a student at Koshkonong Trails Charter School and a founder of Cambridge’s March for Our Lives chapter, a nation-wide organization devoted to gun violence prevention.

“Right after the Parkland shooting, we were looking at which marching band instruments would be best to defend us,” said Tyler Kelly, a Carthage College student who advocates against gun violence.

The students spoke Wednesday during a day-long Emergency Gun Violence Summit in Milwaukee hosted by Forward Latino.

“You are always scared of some gun violence happening,” said Makena Kimminau, a junior at Mukwonago High School. “There is not enough happening with mental health. At our school, there are four counselors for 2,000 students so if students want to talk, it takes so long to make something happen.”

Kylie Rich, who is also a junior at Mukwonago High School, said if a water bottle drops on the floor, people jump, thinking it is a gun shot.

“If the announcement tone comes on, students fear that this will be the dreaded day we hear that something has happened,” Rich says. “It has become a normalized fear in schools.”

—WI Public Radio

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced his 2024 candidacy. The RINOs and the unhinged Left focused more on the bumpy rollout on Twitter Spaces than what has transpired over the past 24 hours.

The establishment media also highlighted the glitchy announcement, marred by roughly 20 minutes of technical glitches. They also had to have been irritated by the fact DeSantis was making his official 2024 announcement with Elon Musk.

Over 700,000 people tuned into the event. DeSantis is everywhere, and he’s banked nearly $9 million in the first 24 hours of his campaign.

—Townhall

Former President Donald Trump holds a massive 42-point lead in Iowa, according to a recent survey conducted from May 19- 22 by Emerson College Polling. Trump holds 62 percent of the support among likely primary Republican candidates, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis received 20 percent.

Trump’s commanding lead out of Iowa reflects similar results from Emerson polling done in New Hampshire on March 3-5 where the former president had a 41-point lead.

—RedState

A majority of Californians say that Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein should resign, according to a recent survey.

Feinstein, who recently returned to the Senate following a protracted absence due to health reasons, has declared that she will retire at the end of her current term in 2025.

Fifty-two percent of Californians, however, believe her resignation and the governor’s appointment of a replacement “would benefit the state because a successor could better represent California’s interests in the Senate,” according to a University of California, Berkeley poll, per KRON4. A further 56%, meanwhile, want to vote on her ultimate successor

Less than a quarter, 21%, believe she should finish her term. She further enjoys a mere 29% approval rating among voters, dropping 8 points from her February position, before her hospitalization. Sixty-seven percent agreed that “Feinstein’s latest illness underlines the fact that she is no longer fit to continue serving in the U.S. Senate.”

The California senator missed 91 floor votes since her hospitalization with shingles earlier this year. Her wheelchair-bound return to the Senate prompted further concerns as to her health and it ultimately emerged that she had contracted encephalitis during her absence.

—Just the News

Almost two-thirds of Americans believe the media is now “truly the enemy of the people,” according to a new Rasmussen poll.

A total of 59 percent of likely voters either strongly or somewhat agree with the statement that the media is the enemy of the people, the survey found.

Unsurprisingly, the belief is more prominent among Republicans at 77 percent.

However, only a slim majority of Democrats disagree.

The poll further noted that among Democrats, there had been an 11-point drop in trust in the media, a signal that the tide may be turning.

But overall, a majority of 52 percent of Americans say they don’t trust political news being pumped out by the controlled establishment media.

—Daily Fetched

The unofficial start of the summer travel season is here, with airlines hoping to avoid the chaos of last year and travelers scrounging for ways to save a few bucks on pricey airfares and hotel rooms.

Some travelers say they will settle for fewer trips than they hoped to take, or they will drive instead of fly. Others are finding different money-saving sacrifices.

The number of people going through U.S. airports hit pandemic-era highs last weekend, and those records are almost certain to be broken over the Memorial Day holiday.

AAA predicts that 37 million Americans will drive at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home this weekend, an increase of more than 2 million from Memorial Day last year but still below pre-pandemic numbers in 2019. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 10 million travelers between Friday and Monday, a 14% increase over the holiday in 2022 and slightly more than in 2019.

With more travel comes more expense. The average rate for a U.S. hotel room last week was $157 a night, up from $150 in the same week last year, according to hotel data provider STR. And the average daily rate for other short-term rentals such as Airbnb and Vrbo rose to $316 last month, up 1.4% from a year ago, according to AirDNA, which tracks the industry.

There is a bit of good news for drivers, however: The national average for a gallon of regular was $3.56 at midweek, down from $4.60 at this time last year, according to AAA. Renting a car is also cheaper than a year ago, when some popular destinations ran out of vehicles. Travel company Expedia said larger inventories let the companies rent more cars at lower prices.

For air travelers, airline industry officials say carriers have fixed problems that contributed to a surge in flight cancellations and delays last summer, when 52,000 flights were nixed from June through August. Airlines have hired about 30,000 workers since then, including thousands of pilots, and they are using bigger planes to reduce flights but not the number of seats.

—Associated Press

It’s not just Bud Light dabbling with marketing tweaks disregarding their current customer base to cater to a niche demographic. Degrading and dismissing your entire business to essentially rebuild from scratch from just transgenders, who don’t even make up three percent of the population, and I’m being generous here, is a surefire way to destroy a brand. It’s mind-numbing that the Left has managed to destroy beer drinking. Bud Light is an established brand. Like Santa Claus, it was omnipresent—and they ruined it. But they’re not the only ones being thrown into the customer pyre—Target decided to dabble with trans fashion, including tuck-friendly bathing suits.

When you lose $ 9 billion in a week, the market is telling you something.

Via NY Post: “Target has lost $9 billion in market value since angry social media users called for a boycott of the Minneapolis-based retailer over its rollout of the “PRIDE” collection featuring LGBTQ-friendly clothing for children. A week ago Wednesday before the controversy erupted, Target’s stock closed at $160.96 a share, giving the big-box chain a market capitalization of $74.3 billion. As of early trading on Thursday, however, shares of the company were trading off 1% at $141.76 — capping a weeklong tumble that has shrunk the “cheap chic” discount retailer’s value to $65.3 billion. That amounts to a 12% drop that has shaved a whopping $9 billion off the company’s market capitalization.”

There’s no way to phrase this delicately: no one wants this crap. They don’t want it near the kids’ section.

—Townhall

First Lady Jill Biden suffered a Jeb Bush “please clap” moment on Thursday when her applause line fell utterly flat during an event in Washington.

“I’ve visited red states and blue states and I’ve found that the common values that unite us are deeper than our divisions,” Biden told an audience at the Reagan Institute Summit on Education in Washington, DC.

After saying the line, the first lady paused for a moment before reacting with surprise at the spectators’ non-reaction.

“And, um, I thought you might clap for that,” said Biden, drawing laughs and applause.

The first lady’s plea for plaudits was reminiscent of former Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush’s viral moment of desperation on the campaign trail in 2016.

The former Florida governor asked an audience in New Hampshire with a mixture of politeness and exasperation to “please clap” after delivering a line from his stump speech that was meant to rouse the crowd — but didn’t.

—NY Post

OPINION

Forget ‘Pride,’ How About A ‘Dignity’ Month?

Have you heard the news? Gay people are wildly oppressed in the United States because state governments are moving to protect children from having their bodies permanently butchered over Internet memes and insistent teachers union members, or something. Also, Florida is removing children’s books with graphic depictions of sex, particularly between men and boys, from public school libraries (though adults can buy them anywhere if they’re perverted weirdos who feel compelled to expose their kids to such things).

June is “Pride Month,” because attention whores need attention. Though you’d be forgiven if you thought every single day was “Pride Day” given how the media sucks up to the Alphabet Mafia. And speaking of attention whores, have you ever seen a “Pride Parade”? Probably not. But if you have, it’s something really gross. Not because there are gay people all over the place – personally, I couldn’t care less what adults do with each other – but because it’s all about sex. It’s not a celebration of sex, it’s about getting laid.

More than 20 years ago now, I was visiting a friend in Baltimore who lived on what turned out to be the parade route for the Pride parade that was happening that weekend. It was a Saturday and it was packed, there was no going anywhere because of the crowd, we were stuck. So we sat in his second floor apartment in this old row house mansion and watched until it was clear and we could move around.

We sat on the window ledge and watched. It was gross.

Most participants in the actual parade were at least half naked, and by that I don’t mean they weren’t wearing shirts. No genitals were flopping around, but asses were. And various devices that simulate male genitals were worn by a lot of women and men.

Yes, there were a lot of kids there, sitting on curbs and being handed penis-shaped suckers and condoms by coked-out men wearing sex toys on the ass-less chaps.

That day now seems quaint compared to what you see today. The Los Angeles Dodgers have embraced one such gay public sex group in the name of “Pride,” giving the finger to normal people (if there are any left in LA).

What that group, which I won’t bother to name, or any other like it needs isn’t pride, it’s dignity.

As was my understanding, at least before witnessing the truth for myself all those years ago, this “Pride” was about being comfortable with yourself and not being ashamed to be gay. What it has become is an orgy trying desperately to shock normal people, when all it really is now is gross.

If your “identity” is based on who you sleep with, you suck at life. If you’re a pin-cushion for perverts to shock straight people, you are a pathetic creature. Have some dignity.

If bans on sexually explicit drag shows for children are preventing your “Pride Parade,” you are likely in more need of some dignity than anyone else in history, ever. And you’re about the least likely to understand that or ever have any. Good riddance.

—-Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast and author of the book, Outrage, INC.

Women’s and girls’ sports are under attack from men who pretend to be women to hide their inadequacies in their own sports leagues. The most vulnerable population, however, are those girls who are playing sports in grade school.

It has become common to see story after story about boys in girl locker rooms and boys overpowering the girls in the sport they are competing in. Although these young girls express their discomfort with boys in their locker rooms or boys in their bathrooms, concerns are swept under the rug. Often, the schools girls attend have policies in place that allow children to use the facilities aligned with the gender they identify with. Many girls have also reported being singled out and offered counseling to cope with their discomfort and to learn to be inclusive. These responses from school personnel leave the girls feeling unheard and hopeless. This is when parents step in.

Moms across the country have been at the forefront of the parental rights battle. Mothers have been doxed, assaulted, called names, and deemed domestic terrorists for protecting their children from the K-12 cartel. Mothers have taken the arrows happily and continue to do so because they are advocating for their children. One must wonder: Where are the fathers?

Fathers must be at the forefront of protecting female-only spaces. Fathers must be at school board meetings advocating for the removal of harmful policies that jeopardize their daughters’ safety. Mothers can do this too, but we cannot deny that when a father stands up for his daughter, the room listens.

From Hollywood to mom groups, fathers are depicted as helpless and useless without the mother’s help. Movies portray fathers as parents who cannot function, and wives in mom groups often bash their husbands publicly to gain sympathy from other moms. The feminist movement has demasculinized men and in the process also taken their role as the protectors of their home.

If any fathers are reading this, your daughter needs you. Daughters must know that their father is ready to protect them from anything and anyone. Advocating for your daughter can be sending an email to the school principal asking for policies regarding girls’ sports and girl-only spaces. Advocating for your daughter can be setting up a meeting with the school district’s superintendent or school board to discuss concerns.

Daughters never forget when their father stands up for her. It is a memory that she will keep for the rest of her life. Current culture and feminism have not been kind to fathers. However, it is time for fathers to stand up.

—Scarlen Valderaz is a first-generation Mexican American born and raised in San Diego, California. Valderaz now exposes activism and harmful agendas in public schools nationwide. Her writing aims to shed light on the state of our public schools and the natural conservatism that exists in the Hispanic community.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY – In 1967, arguably the greatest album ever, was released. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band sat at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart for 27 weeks, selling 2.5 million copies in the first three months, and 32 million to date. It was lauded by critics for its innovations in songwriting, production, and graphic design, for bridging a cultural divide between popular music and high art, and for reflecting the interests of contemporary youth and the counterculture.

Paul McCartney said:

“We were fed up with being the Beatles. We really hated that f****** four little mop-top approach. We were not boys, we were men… and thought of ourselves as artists rather than just performers.”

Rolling Stone magazine’s Langdon Winner recalled:

“The closest Western Civilization has come to unity since the Congress of Vienna in 1815 was the week the Sgt. Pepper album was released. In every city in Europe and America the radio stations played… and everyone listened.”

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said:

“Not once does the diversity seem forced. After Sgt. Pepper, there were no rules to follow – rock and pop bands could try anything, for better or worse.”

Author Jonathan Gould wrote that Sgt. Pepper was:

“The catalyst for an explosion of mass enthusiasm for album-formatted rock that would revolutionize both the aesthetics and the economics of the record business in ways that far out-stripped the earlier pop explosions triggered by the Elvis phenomenon of 1956 and the Beatlemania phenomenon of 1963.”