Coming to a City or Town Near You

 

We are witnessing the Democratic Party takeover by communists determined to destroy our way of life. The success of the “Democratic Socialist” candidates in Democratic primaries all across the country is like a lethal, mutant virus that has escaped the lab that created it and is threatening every living thing in its path. Until now, the liberal extremism of communities like Wisconsin’s Madison has been little more than the butt of jokes for those with common sense. Laughingly referred to as the “people’s republic of Madison” or “77 square miles surrounded by reality”, places like Madison have existed in their bubbles impacting primarily the lives of those who choose to be part of them. The joke is no longer amusing. It is paving the way for the radicals who want to replace the democratic republic created by our Constitution with a freedom suppressing, classless society, and abandon capitalism, the economic engine that makes “the American dream” a real possibility for everyone who is willing to chase it.

 

Community of Tolerance or Leadership Incompetence?

 

On July 22, the Madison Police Department received a call about a man stealing bicycles and checking car doors along the street. They responded and the man, 38-year-old Corey Ruiz, took off on a bike. By the time they caught up with him, there were four officers involved. He physically resisted the officers who unsuccessfully attempted to subdue him with a taser. He pulled out a knife and, when he injured one of the officers, was shot by that officer and died.

 

Protesters immediately converged on the intersection where the shooting occurred, and it quickly morphed into an encampment complete with tents, food preparation, and portable toilets, which the Mayor insists were not paid for by the city and the protesters immediately vandalized with graffiti. The city did, however, provide salt trucks to cordon off the ends of the street, literally blocking traffic from this busy thoroughfare and making it impossible for the business owners on the street to operate. The site became a magnet for the homeless and grew each day into an increasingly hostile and dangerous place. Protesters appointed their own “perimeter monitors,” clad in high visibility vests and equipped with walkie talkies, who were preventing members of the media from reporting on what was happening. One reporter on the scene said he was threatened with death if he didn’t back away.

 

Community outrage and the rush to judgment were fueled by comments from Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway in a news conference on July 23 when she said, “It does not matter who you are or what your past is, you should not lose your life as a result of an encounter with law enforcement.”  “Leaders” with political agendas opted to irresponsibly fan the flames rather than do their part to tamp down emotion and lead with facts and objectivity. The Dane County District Attorney said the Ruiz death will make the community more fearful of police. Civil rights attorney Ben Crumb, an ever-present figure in high profile incidents involving minorities and the police, described Ruiz as a brother, a son, and a dad, and accused the police of executing him in cold blood in broad daylight. Francesca Hong, who is expected to win the Democratic primary for Wisconsin Governor on August 11, was quick to the scene with a bullhorn. She amped up the crowd with “This was an execution and it never should have happened.”  “A man died at the hands of state-sanctioned violence.” And “yet another Black family lost a son to police violence; how many more must suffer?”

 

On July 23, the Chief of Police held a briefing on the shooting. A protester approached the front of the room, took the microphone away from the Chief, and announced he did not want to hear anything he was saying. He ranted for 14 minutes while the chief passively stood down.

 

The Wisconsin Professional Police Association, the union that represents law enforcement throughout Wisconsin, issued a statement that included this reminder: “A fair and credible process requires that conclusions follow the evidence – not preclude it.

 

Consistent with policy when there are police officers involved in a shooting, the officers were placed on administrative leave, and the Wisconsin Department of Justice is leading the investigation. The investigation will not have the benefit of footage from body cameras because the Madison Police Department does not use them.

 

In 2026, more than 94% of police departments serving cities with populations of 250,000 – 500,000 use body cameras. Madison, a city of 286,000, has been debating the matter since 2014. Those who are opposed argue cameras are a violation of privacy; will make illegal aliens less likely to talk to police; could lead to more criminal charges being filed; and may provide more evidence to convict the accused. The last proposal to fund cameras came before the Common Council in November 2025 and failed 17-3. The Police Chief has now developed a $400,000 plan (a fraction of the $49 million police department capital budget) to integrate cameras into the department over three years and the Mayor says she will support it.

 

In 2020, Madison created the Office of the Independent Police Monitor in response to demands for civilian oversight of police activity. Five years later not a single investigation had been completed or report filed. In 2025, Aeiramique “Meeka” Glass was hired to lead the office. She is being paid $150,000 a year despite having been fired from a similar position in Baltimore. She is suing Baltimore for her firing. Last week Glass posted on Facebook, “I will burn this city down,” after being involved in an altercation with police that was documented in aerial photos released by the police. The Mayor called the post “disturbing.” 

 

The aldermen who were pushing the failed amendment to purchase body cameras last year argued that the Office of the Independent Police Monitor has been unproductive and hasn’t produced any tangible results …but this is the Madison way.

 

Eleven days into the protest, the Mayor issued a statement putting the protesters on notice that “the best path forward is for the occupation to end peacefully so the real work of healing the community and enacting change can begin.” She announced that cars blocking the street would be towed but gave no deadline for the encampment to disperse. She appealed to the protesters to show concern for others, telling them residents in the area were unable to sleep due to the noise and “people need to be able to access their homes and jobs, so they don’t lose them; and businesses need to be able to open.”  At nearly two weeks, protesters, who were unmoved by the Mayor’s pleas, were greeted at dawn by city workers equipped with bullhorns and accompanied by police, physically breaking down the encampment and ordering people to leave peacefully. Protesters started fires and threw things… arrests were made. Though the occupation was forcibly ended, protesters continued to return to the intersection every night starting fires, emptying dumpsters into the street, and taunting the police promising things are “about to get bad.” The arrests continued.

 

Any time a human being dies at the hands of another, it is a hideous thing. It is true that Corey Ruiz was a son, a brother, and a father. His mom called him “an exceptional guy” when standing alongside Ben Crump and addressing the protesters in the aftermath of his death. It is also true that Corey Ruiz was a career criminal who had been menacing people in the Madison area for 20 years. He had been convicted of 40 misdemeanors and felonies including resisting an officer causing substantial bodily harm, battery or threat to law enforcement, possession of cocaine and marijuana, and robbery by force and strangulation.

 

Ruiz’s threats were documented in his arrest records and included, “I’ll beat the s*** out of you..” “You better kill me now.” And “I hope the next offender you come across kills you and everyone you care about.”  Enforcing the law is challenging and dangerous work.

 

The Mayor was reckless and wrong when she said, “you should not lose your life as a result of an encounter with law enforcement,” implying the police response was related to Ruiz’s criminal history and not his actions during the altercation; and also hinting a death at the hands of law enforcement cannot be justifiable.  The Professional Police Association was correct when it said, “a fair and credible process requires conclusions follow the evidence.”  Weeks of emotion-filled anarchy leave little reason for optimism that the findings of an objective, fact-based investigation of this incident will be accepted by many in the community unless it finds the officer who killed Ruiz committed murder.

 

The Bridge to Communism

 

The bridge to communism has been under construction in strongholds of liberal extremism like Madison for decades. Generations of young Americans who have not been taught how to live are easily led by slick talkers who promise them a utopian society with a government that will take care of them, with little expected in return.

 

The core values of truth, personal responsibility, self-sufficiency, and reasoned thinking, all essential to freedom, are being snuffed out with messages of entitlement, dependence, victimization, and an obsession with feelings and emotions promoted in liberal college environments and spewed by the political pied pipers infesting the country. Growing numbers of young Americans find themselves entering adulthood without the resilience or skills they need to create a productive, joyful life for themselves. They have been denied the vital life experiences of winning, losing, struggling, achieving, and failing under the guise of protecting them from their fragile emotions. Unprepared for the responsibilities and rewards of freedom, the young Americans who are gravitating to the call to dismantle our government are a hot mess. Their willingness to cast their votes against freedom makes them dangerous.

 

Mobilize

 

Francesca Hong, 37, is a product of the Madison culture. We will find out on Tuesday whether she will be the Democratic candidate for Wisconsin Governor in November. Her life and work history are evidence that she is unqualified for any executive position, much less Governor of the State. She is further disqualified to be the Governor of Wisconsin by her mental unwellness, diagnosed as Bi-polar Disorder; her history of self-harm by cutting herself; and her history of psychiatric hospitalization. Even more disqualifying is her unapologetic and boldly articulated political agenda that would set Wisconsin on the path to communism. Nevertheless, she has amassed enthusiastic support from Democratic primary voters.

 

The Democratic Party has been doing all it can to block Hong from becoming their candidate, but every indication is they will fail unless they cheat to take her down. They have no principles and, as we have seen all across the country and most recently last Tuesday in the Michigan Senate primary, if Hong wins, the Party will quickly pivot to fully support her and do everything they can to get her elected. Winning is the only thing that matters to them.

 

There has never been a candidate more out of step with the voters of Wisconsin than Francesca Hong. Cheating will be the only path to a Democratic win in November if Hong is on the ballot. The more than 4 million names of ineligible voters on the Wisconsin Registered Voter List, multiple other unaddressed election system flaws, and the intense motivation of the Democratic Party to cheat in November will create a very high risk that the results that are reported will not accurately reflect the will of the people.

 

Now is a critical time for every freedom loving Wisconsin voter to mobilize. We must accelerate our demands to correct election system flaws and turn out to vote in numbers that will, once again, make the November election too big to rig. The spirit and determination that put Wisconsin in the win column for Donald Trump in 2024 are urgently needed now. If you miss the significance of this moment, expect to see the growing march toward communism coming to a city or town near you.