Barnes, Mandela lt gov
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></font></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 10 22</font></div><div style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: small;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">United States Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) is trailing in the polls ahead of the November midterm elections to Wisconsin's Democratic Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes. With just forty days to go, a group of climate activists has obtained a statue made of feces in Johnson's honor that they are showcasing around the Badger State metropolis</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ron-johnson-manure-sculpture-climate-change_n_6335c9f8e4b08e0e606bb6b7" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">According to </a><em><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ron-johnson-manure-sculpture-climate-change_n_6335c9f8e4b08e0e606bb6b7" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">The Huffington Post</a></em>, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"activists with the progressive groups NextGen PAC and MoveOn hosted events around the city with a six-foot-tall, 80-pound 'scatue' of Johnson made out of dried cow manure. The kaka creation silently stood with activists in solidarity as they protested Johnson’s belief that climate change is 'bullsht,' a claim he made last year."</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Johnson, who denies that burning fossil fuels is triggering ecological disruptions around the world, said last year that “I don’t know about you guys, but I think climate change is ― as Lord [Christopher] Monckton said ― bullsht,” incorrectly adding that “there are more and more scientists” who are “just laying this to waste.”</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><strong>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/09/infiltrated-gop-senator-democrats-life/" target="self" title="view post: 'Infiltrated': GOP senator angered that Democrats are allowed to participate in American life" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">'Infiltrated': GOP senator angered that Democrats are allowed to participate in American life</a></strong></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Per </span><em style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">HuffPost</em><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, "Thursday’s tour of the sh*t statue, which was created by 'a manure artist' from Colorado, is part of a broader effort by progressive activists to unseat Johnson. During their stop at the </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the groups collected students’ pledges to vote and urged them to show up for </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Johnson’s Democratic challenger," who happens to be in charge of incumbent Democratic Governor Tony Evers' climate change task force.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">“Young people are fired up because they understand the urgency of the climate crisis and are hungry for change,” Sonja Chojnacki, the Wisconsin state director of NextGen PAC, told <em>HuffPost</em>. “We are ready to roll up our sleeves and get people to the polls. Ron Johnson must go!”</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><strong>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/a-tool-of-vladimir-putin/" target="_self" title="view post: Watch: Ron Johnson whines that 'people in Wisconsin think I'm a tool of Vladimir Putin'" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Watch: Ron Johnson whines that 'people in Wisconsin think I'm a tool of Vladimir Putin'</a></strong></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">no lnx twt</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Ron Johnson challenger says senator is 'bought and paid for' by Big Pharma</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Elizabeth Preza August 17, 2022</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The campaign of Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is running to unseat U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, declared Tuesday that the Republican incumbent "is bought and paid for by Big Pharma."</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That charge came in response to Johnson's Monday comments about Medicare negotiating the cost of certain prescription drugs, which is included in the Inflation Reduction Act that U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law Tuesday afternoon.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Appearing on "The Brian Kilmeade Show," Johnson told the Fox News host that "when you start punishing the pharmaceutical industry, you're gonna have less innovation; you're gonna have fewer lifesaving drugs. That's not a good thing."</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Barnes—who won the Democratic primary last week—said Tuesday that "while Ron Johnson is worried about protecting the bottom lines of big pharmaceutical companies, I'm worried about working families across Wisconsin who are forced to choose between putting food on the table or affording the medication they need."</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"For over a decade, Ron Johnson has put big corporations and his wealthy donors before the working people he was elected to represent," he asserted. "In the Senate, I'll hold Big Pharma accountable and ensure every Wisconsinite has a fair shot."</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The progressive Democrat's campaign also highlighted recent reporting by The Cap Times that </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Johnson, while chairing the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in 2018, "declined to subpoena Teva Pharmaceuticals as part of a Democrat-led investigation of the drugmaker's role in the opioid epidemic." In the months that followed, the company donated to both Johnson's campaign and an affiliated political action committee (PAC).</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Johnson spokesperson Alexa Henning told the Madison-based newspaper that the "senator appreciates the support that people offer, but he doesn't personally track who gives what, and donations never impact his views on issues or how he votes." </span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">She added that asking about Teva's contributions "is another politically motivated hit job by the c</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">orporate media and cheered on by their allies in the Democrat Party."</span></b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Barnes' campaign, meanwhile, said Tuesday:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Ron Johnson has a long history of selling out Wisconsinites in favor of his large corporate donors. Earlier this year, Johnson justified sending 1,000 good-paying, family-sustaining jobs out of Wisconsin by claiming, "It's not like we don't have enough jobs here in Wisconsin." Reporting later showed the company shipping jobs out of state, Oshkosh Corp., "ranks seventh among Johnson's top career contributors."</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Johnson, a businessman, was elected to the Senate in 2010 and won a second term in 2016.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In his bid to replace Johnson, Barnes has secured the support of various progressives groups across Wisconsin and the nation along with local, state, and federal elected officials, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On the healthcare front, Barnes backs not only drug pricing reforms like those in the new law but also putting the United States on a path to universal healthcare by passing Medicare for All legislation at the federal level.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"In the richest nation in the world," the candidate says in a campaign video, "no one should be going bankrupt because of their medical bills."</div></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div>