ASIAN WISCONZINE ONLINE


  • Home

Wingra Lake in Madison, Wisconsin



Heidi Pascual's web site



Editorial: Over a Cup of Tea



Guest Editorial:

OCA Celebrates Historic AAPI Victories Nationwide



OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates celebrates a historic election year for Asian American and Pacific Islander candidates. AAPI leaders won races at every level of government, reflecting the growing power and influence of AAPI voters, one of the nation’s fastest-growing voting blocs.


OCA congratulates all newly elected leaders, including Zohran Mamdani, the first South Asian and Muslim elected Mayor of New York City Kaohly Her, the first Hmong American elected Mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota Ghazala Hashmi, the first Muslim and first South Asian American elected Lieutenant Governor of Virginia Swarnjit Singh, who made history as Connecticut’s first Sikh mayor after being elected Mayor of Norwich. OCA also celebrates Aftab Pureval, the first Asian American Mayor of Cincinnati, and Michelle Wu, the first Asian American and woman to become Mayor of Boston, both of whom secured their second terms this year. Another historic first includes May Nivar, the newly elected Delegate for Virginia’s District 57, who will be the first Chinese American delegate in the Virginia House of Delegates and an OCA member from OCA - Central Virginia. -- READ MORE


DECEMBER 2025 ISSUE
Vol. 20 No. 12



OUR STORIES & FEATURES





Leaders on the Right Must Unequivocally Condemn Antisemitism



By Neera Tanden, Ben Olinsky


Tucker Carlson’s interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes has divided the right, exposing a dangerous and complicated relationship with antisemitism.


It has become difficult to go a week without learning of a new, dangerous incident of antisemitism and its platforming or defense by prominent American leaders. In a recent public event and report, the Center for American Progress detailed the sharp rise in antisemitism and the urgency in combating it, providing concrete policy proposals to do so, including expanding education around the Holocaust, Jewish history and culture, and antisemitism prohibiting the banning of books expanding training for federal law enforcement, the military, and veterans and codifying civil rights law to cover antisemitism. Yet—despite the ideological right making antisemitism the center of its attacks on universities and the left over the past year—their movement is now being riled by divisions over its leaders’ and organizations’ tolerance and support for antisemitism. It is past time for leaders on the right to immediately stop their politicization of antisemitism and for leaders across the ideological spectrum to make sincere efforts to root out and condemn antisemitism in their own movements, institutions, and parties. Indeed, a central element of fighting antisemitism is to never give it safe harbor.


Recent events shine a particularly unflattering look at the dangerous new acceptance of white nationalism and antisemitism among the ideological right in America. Last week, Tucker Carlson hosted 27-year-old white supremacist Nick Fuentes on an episode of the “Tucker Carlson Show,” which was seen by 5 million viewers and counting. -- READ MORE


Everybody Likes Unions



By Aurelia Glass


At a time when Americans cannot agree on many things, unions have achieved popularity across nearly every age group regardless of partisan affiliation or education.



For several years, public support for labor unions has reached heights not seen since the 1960s, and even though Americans are polarized toward other American institutions, unions maintain strong public support across all age groups and across educational and partisan lines.



New Center for American Progress analysis of American National Election Studies (ANES) data on eligible voters in 2024 shows:

• Every generation expresses positive overall feelings toward unions, with younger generations supporting unions the most.

• On average, self-identified Republicans and Democrats of all but one generation express approval of unions, with only Republican Baby Boomers expressing slightly less than neutral approval.

• Across generations, the working class has similarly strong support for unions, and unions have especially high support among the college-educated members of younger generations.



Echoing the results of a similar CAP analysis using 2020 data, these findings suggest that the broad-based support unions won over the past several years has remained durable. Unions boost wages and empower workers to achieve meaningful improvements in their working conditions and in their ability to support their families. -- READ MORE



5 Ways the Trump Administration Is Forcing Families To Go Hungry



By Ryan Koronowski and Kyle Ross


To hear the Trump administration tell it, it’s congressional Democrats who are to blame for the pain vulnerable Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients and food bank clients are feeling. However, it is the administration itself that is preparing to illegally halt payments come November 1.


While the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has said it will refuse to spend funds that it is legally required to provide SNAP beneficiaries during a shutdown, the Trump administration has actually been waging a systematic assault on food assistance since January. In fact, the administration’s choices reflect its shutdown priorities: It is leaving SNAP unfunded while rewarding ICE agents with “super checks” for their deportation efforts and overreach—all while giving Argentina a $40 billion bailout.


This blatant refusal to use required money for SNAP is part of a larger trend. The Trump administration and congressional Republicans have cut grants for food banks and school meals incinerated 500 tons of emergency food meant for children passed the largest SNAP cuts in history (nearly $187 billion) in the Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) imposed tariffs that have increased food prices prevented states from being reimbursed for covering the cost of SNAP benefits and even hid evidence to conceal the harms of these cuts.


Below, we detail five specific ways the Trump administration has already been salting the earth for food banks and hungry families, making its shutdown tactics even more harmful. -- READ MORE



7 Policy Recommendations for Combating Antisemitism in the United States



By Ben Olinsky

On May 25, 2023, the United States government published the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, a historic framework laying out a whole-of-society approach to combating what has been called the “oldest hatred.” Representing extensive consultation with the American Jewish community, the strategy came at a pivotal moment, as antisemitism had been on the rise in the United States, representing nearly two-thirds of reported religiously motivated hate crimes in the country. Yet only months after its publication, the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel and the resulting war in Gaza drove a further surge in antisemitism. This has raised deep concerns for the Jewish community even as the public’s perception of antisemitism has been complicated by fierce debates over Israel’s conduct in Gaza and its connection to political battles dividing the United States.


Now more than ever, the National Strategy’s whole-of-society approach to combating antisemitism is needed and must be further expanded to include actions that unify Americans against antisemitism—both by combating those drivers that are shared with other forms of hate and by tailoring responses to antisemitism’s unique characteristics. Similarly, the surge in antisemitism demands a response that protects the Jewish community, which is most acutely and directly affected by it and safeguards America’s broader society, freedom, and democracy, which have historically provided a haven for Jews in the United States -- READ MORE


Trump’s Attacks on Multilateralism Make America Weaker, Not Stronger



By Ryan Mulholland & Damian Murphy


The G20 gathers in South Africa on November 22 and 23 for its annual leaders’ meeting—absent, of course, U.S. President Donald Trump, whose antipathy toward international collaboration is perhaps matched only by his impulse to conflate belligerence on the world stage with actual leadership. Vice President JD Vance was scheduled to represent the United States, but the president then announced that no U.S. official would attend, citing widely discredited claims that genocide is being committed against white South Africans. The Trump administration’s actions continue its pattern of abandoning opportunities for international engagement. Within the past month, the president has also skipped the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting in Korea as well as the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP) in Brazil, forgoing opportunities that could have—and should have—been used to advance U.S. interests.



Today, as a result of the administration’s aversion toward traditional forms of cooperation—and the fact that many international institutions are in need of updates and modernization—the foundations of post-war multilateralism appear shakier than ever. The first year of the Trump administration has seen an unprecedented assault on international norms and the institutions that facilitate global cooperation, not from an entity on the outside looking to reorder global power structures but from the United States itself—in many ways the largest beneficiary of multilateralism to date. Trump’s actions have left the United States isolated on the world stage, damaged the country’s long-term security, and weakened the country’s ability to shape the future in a way that benefits American consumers, workers, and businesses. ​-- READ MORE



Fact Sheet: Expanding the Public Safety Workforce



By Allie Preston, Rachael Eisenberg & Kirby Gaherty



Localities nationwide experience a range of public safety challenges depending on community dynamics, people’s circumstances, and available resources. Police, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians work tirelessly to respond to calls for service and support community members through an emergency. However, a wide range of community concerns fall outside the core responsibilities and training of these traditional first responders.



For too long, it has fallen on police to fill this gap in public safety services—to take on the work of nurses, mediators, counselors, and housing specialists. To address this gap in first response services, and to allow police to focus on the important job of solving violent crime, cities are building and resourcing programs that hire civilian professionals with a wide range of expertise. This includes expertise in deescalation, conflict mediation, and providing connections to community-based services that improve outcomes for people in need and make entire communities safer. While programs may require staffing with different skills and training, different safety protocols and governing structures, and different funding sources, cities have learned important workforce development lessons through implementation that can be applied across program types.



This fact sheet summarizes a recent report from Center for American Progress that brings together lessons learned from multiple cities, collected through interviews and research available in the field, to provide guidance to localities looking to adapt this work to their communities. ​-- READ MORE



Local News in Wisconsin and Madison WI





Gov. Evers Responds to Trump Administration Correspondence Suggesting Wisconsin Should Return FoodShare Payments



Mayor Rhodes-Conway Proposes Amendment to Lower Property Taxes



MORE NEWS & FEATURES



Value Our Families Statement in Response to Trump Administration’s Announcement on Refugees



Americans Continue To Build a Peaceful Mass Movement To Force Trump Administration Changes



CAPAC Releases ‘Spill the Tea’ Episode on President Trump's Broken Promises



Become a Part of the Dane County Team!


We offer a wide range of benefits including fully paid dental and HMO health insurance premiums for full time employees. The County will also provide contributions towards POS health insurance premiums, retirement, and short/long term disability. Additional benefits available include long term care, vision coverage, flex spending account and deferred compensation programs paid in full by the employee, and 6 weeks of paid parental leave for birth or adoption of a child (for further details visit www.countyofdane.com/emprel).


For current job openings go to: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/countyofdane

Like our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DaneCountyEmployeeRelations



TO ADVERTISE OR SEND FEEDBACK, PLEASE CONTACT:





heidipascual2016@yahoo.com




ARCHIVES