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Michelle Bryant: Sometimes love sounds like ‘take that durag off’
The greatest gift our parents gave many of us wasn’t simply unconditional acceptance. It was honest instruction about how to succeed in a world that often judges before it listens.

Paul Fanlund: Francesca Hong’s nomination might not be a done deal
The indication from internal polling is that the final realistic alternative to Rep. Francesca Hong is Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who had dropped out of the race only to return with Evers’ endorsement on July 18.

Mike McCabe: The lights are coming on
Today’s Republican Party likes seeing America become increasingly unjust, ever more in service of the rich and powerful. Those who rule over today’s Democratic Party can live with creeping injustice, they’re too spooked by the word socialist to keep us remembering what an equality-seeking, middle-class-building America looks and acts like.

Bruce Murphy: Journal Sentinel story on Mandela Barnes is irresponsible
No proof of ‘inappropriate behavior.’ Editor Greg Borowski owes readers an explanation.

Jessica McBride: Francesca Hong almost had an anxiety attack being around ‘old white people’ at Culvers, and other news
Hong has shifted into general election mode, so she’s popping up on Fox News and CNN, and it’s going hilariously, in part because Dana Perino and Dana Bash are trawling through her old “abolish pretty much every institution we hold dear” posts.

Rolf Lindgren: Why a burned-out lightbulb cost more than a brand new one in the Soviet Union
Under communism, when the government controlled the means of production, new lightbulbs had a fixed, relatively low official price. The problem was that not enough lightbulbs were produced and demand greatly exceeded supply.

John Liporace: Let’s stop overrating politics and take our power back
We need a cultural shift that redefines success as meaningful only when it lifts others. Today, we celebrate those who rise fastest. Tomorrow, we must celebrate those who bring others with them.

Chali Pittman: Your Right to Know: Campaign finance site a big improvement
Wisconsin Ethics Commission’s new dashboard tries to make campaign finance information more accessible to the public.

Sarah Larsen: After Corey Ruiz shooting, Williamson Street exposes Madison’s deeper failures
The crisis unfolding on Williamson Street didn’t begin with one police shooting. It reflects years of relying on nonprofits, volunteers and police to fill gaps in public health and social service systems, Sarah A. Larsen writes.

Natalie Eilbert: Corey Ruiz needed help. He languished in prison instead.
Ruiz’s troubled life didn’t have to end like this. His final moments will haunt our city. It’s time for us to finally take action and fund programs in the intervening years before violent tragedy strikes again.

Jamie Stiehm: Senate women are losing numbers — and power
After a steady climb, a dramatic decline of women senators is likely on the horizon.

Richard Moore: Thinking like a historian…about what?
Students are asked to examine hardship. They are fed stories of oppression and discrimination. They focus on identity and woke progressive values. They elevate the downtrodden as the sole heroes of history.

Ruth Conniff: It’s been a rough summer; Wisconsin needs to pull together
In the face of these challenges, and under a violent authoritarian regime, it’s easy to see how things can spin out of control. People are angry, desperate, divided. Wikler offers a better vision. We could pull together and recommit to a peaceful, generous and unifying vision.

David Strom: What on Earth is she thinking? Francesca Hong campaigns with Hasan Piker and Ilhan Omar
This says little about where the electorate as a whole is, but quite a bit about where the Democratic Party is right now.

Josh Pade: Kelda Roys and the promise of a Wisconsin that works
Evers laid a strong foundation. Now Wisconsin has the chance to build on it. Kelda Roys is the leader ready to meet this moment.

Ryan Clancy: Democratic socialism is a practical, moral alternative
Democratic socialism provides very different answers to our budget questions.

Rebecca Draeger: Wisconsin’s fragmented safety net: Who administers welfare and workforce development?
Administrative redundancy slows the process of connecting Wisconsinites with assistance and, ultimately, helping them become self-sufficient again. This fragmentation makes it difficult to determine how effective these programs are as a whole.

Bill Kaplan: Delusional imperialism
Wisconsin Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin has courageously and eloquently tried to block Trump’s increasingly delusional imperialism. Her counterpart, Wisconsin GOP U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, has taken the opposite tack.

Dave Zweifel: As a Social Security cliff looms, consumer worries mount
Worries about the future of Social Security are spreading like Canadian wildfires now that recipients are facing the hard, cold fact that benefits will have to be cut if changes aren’t made within the next six years.

Gregg Hoffmann: Green defense against cyber-attacks
Recent cyber-attacks on water systems across the U.S. serve to increase the importance of taking action on green issues.

WisOpinion: ‘The Insiders’ examine the battle for control of the Wisconsin Legislature
The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, review the upcoming races to control the Wisconsin Legislature and the issues that favor each party. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.

Rewind: Your Week in Review for Sept. 18
On this week’s episode of “Rewind,” WisPolitics.com’s JR Ross and Wisconsin Public Radio Capitol Reporter Anya van Wagtendonk discuss Tom Tiffany’s plane crash, the U.S. Supreme Court halting President Trump’s mail-in balloting restrictions, oral arguments before the state Supreme Court in two cases challenging the state’s congressional lines and more.