Christina Lieffring

Missed the Sopranos when that was a thing, so I'm watching it now with my husband. Tony's mother is the best-written villain of all time. I reflexively cringe whenever she comes on screen.

Detroit police chief plans to "terminate" two officers who contacted Border Patrol amid traffic stops Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison says the two incidents happened in the last few months, on Dec. 16, 2025, and Feb. 9, 2026.

Cops in places with policies against coordinating with ICE are pretending to call ICE for "translation services" which of course prompts the feds to drive over & kidnap the non-english-speaking person without being explicitly tipped off that they might be undocumented www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news...

The Transformative Power of the White ‘Race Traitor’

"The first person to be executed for treason in the US was not a spy or someone who sold secrets to a foreign government. It was not a Confederate general who took up arms against his government. It was an abolitionist named John Brown." from @nhannahjones.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/m...

Despite more men, more manufacturing, and virtually no threat of invasion, the Union kept flailing and failing for the first two years of the Civil War because white northerners and their political leaders expected that white southerners would be overtaken by unionist sentiment and return freely.

I’m howling.

The Wall Looks Permanent Until It Falls On the optimism of preparation in a time of democratic decay.

Here’s the full piece on why I’m optimistic, even in dark times:

open.substack.com/pub/data4dem...

Screenshot of a data visualization titled “The Cost of American Exceptionalism,” subtitled “What would change if the U.S. matched the OECD average?” The page explains that each card shows how outcomes would change if the U.S. matched the average of 31 peer democracies. Below, a section labeled “Economy & Inequality” displays eight cards comparing U.S. figures to OECD averages. Highlights include: +$19K per household per year in redistributed income and +$96K in redistributed wealth if the top 1% matched OECD shares; a 71% lower CEO-to-worker pay ratio (from 354× to 101×); 50 million more workers with union coverage; 26 million more people with health insurance; $2.1 trillion saved annually in healthcare spending; $691 less per person per year in prescription drug costs; and intergenerational economic mobility being twice as high. Each card shows the U.S. value alongside the OECD average.

If there's one empirical insight I'd want everyone to understand about American politics, it's this:

America's problems are solved problems. Just not here.

What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵

this is the sickest shit ive ever seen

If a conservative anywhere has to hear, encounter, or be subject to judgement based on an opinion they disagree with that’s maoism but if conservatives use state power to prosecute, defund, or censor you that’s fine because they’re just entitled to do that for reasons

Tone Madison's favorite songs of 2025 A sampling of the local music that helped us get through the year.

for @tonemadison.bsky.social this week, I wrote about a handful of my fav 2025 tunes from Avoidancepolicy + Carl Johnson, Jonathon Millionaire, Mr. Chair, @rockstarelise.com, and @sirsigra.bsky.social.

thx to our music editor @stevenmps.bsky.social for all his essential editorial planning.

Senate Democrats absolutely have to shut the govt down to stop this ICE insanity in the Twin Cities. This is not sustainable & cannot be normalized. Any Democratic vote to provide money to the thugs who are brutalizing this community is a grave betrayal to the people here. Accountability can't wait.

We need to pick up this Overton Window and throw it as far as we can. Stop waiting for shit to “be popular” and start advocating for what is transparently right.

YouTube video by Jesse Welles Good vs. Ice

Jesse Welles on Renee Good's death at the hands of ICE.

Now they'll circle the wagons,
drape the man in a flag,
and say, "Don't trust what your eyes can see."
They'll say, "It's her fault instead
for getting shot in the head
when we all watch the same damn thing.

Local Journalists Weigh-In on Upcoming 2026 Elections - WORT-FM 89.9 Christina Lieffring, Enjoyiana Nururdin, and Faye Parks break down the races in this busy election year with host Dana Pellebon.

🎙️Today is the deadline for candidate filings in the state of Wisconsin. @stinadale.bsky.social, Enjoyiana Nururdin, and @fayeparks.bsky.social break down the races in this busy election year with host Dana Pellebon.

Listen here: www.wortfm.org/local-journa...

Democrats need to understand that they can just say “It’s insane to threaten Greenland” and “I don’t think ICE should murder Americans in the street” and you don’t need to pretend to link it to the affordability crisis.

Say bad things are bad.

The US has already killed innocent civilians in Venezuela. Stop acting as though this attack was legitimate and the only problems are in a hypothetical future.

YouTube video by Gogol Bordello Gogol Bordello - Immigraniada (We Comin' Rougher)

This should be our theme song.

youtu.be/aKpgb2WrGo0?...

(End screen notes that no human is illegal.)

Support us – Tone Madison A message from Christina Lieffring, Managing Editor We can’t do what we do at Tone Madison without support from our readers—nor do we want to. We publish hard-hitting investigations, deep […]

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Help us reach our goal during NewsMatch so our small-but-mighty publication can keep publishing the perspectives you really care about.

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support Tone Madison so we can persist with unparalleled local coverage of the arts (and incredible interviews just like this). only a few days remain to maximize the impact of your donation through NewsMatch. ty!

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"Full of heart and unafraid to punch up, Tone Madison is my dose of bold reporting on Wisconsin politics, education, and labor. They're on the pulse of the Madison housing crisis, the local music scene, and so much more. It's their brand of independent analysis that cuts through a sea of corporate media," says Sara Gabler, Talk Producer at WORT-FM and Tone Madison contributor. 12x your new monthly donation. Donate Today.

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Understand, Ron Johnson is incredibly stupid as well as morally bankrupt

Could an exhibition like Guiding Ethos find a home in Madison? A group show at Appleton's Trout Museum stands up for "political" art in an era of cowardice and compliance.

"The question of honest work in colonial systems and fine arts institutions raises the specter of censorship, particularly of art that is deemed 'political.' But what makes a work of art political or apolitical?" asks Managing Editor @stinadale.bsky.social after a visit to the Trout Museum of Art.

Photo of a very, very wide freeway with varying levels of congestion. A quote at the bottom from Lewis Mumford reads “Adding highway lanes to deal with traffic congestion is like loosening your belt to cure obesity”

just one more lane…

Why decline all these chances to defend feminism? Because to participate would be accepting the premise that our rights and humanity are up for debate in the first place.

Once you’ve conceded that it’s reasonable to ask whether women’s equality was a mistake, you’ve already lost.

"Tone provides the best analysis of housing and poverty issues in local government through a lens of the impact on economic inequality," says Andy Heidt, reader and board member at Madison Area Community Land Trust. Help us continue this crucial reporting. 12x your new monthly donation.

This year we've...

• Questioned how local governments allocate resources by pointing out the impacts on the most vulnerable.

• Interrogated the narratives that lead to harmful economic policies.

• Championed the perspectives of workers and organized labor.

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The mental gymnastics to blame the left for anything and everything

How do you write an entire piece about the bystander without ever naming him?

His name is Ahmed el Ahmed. Is that the problem for you all?

A wrong Grok post making up a white guy who stopped the Australian mass shooting.

BBC 'Hero' who wrestled gun from Bondi shooter named as Ahmed al Ahmed Emily Atkinson Sun, December 14, 2025 at 1:06 p.m. CST 2 min read A "hero" bystander who was filmed wrestling a gun from one of the Bondi Beach attackers has been named as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed. Video verified by the BBC showed Mr Ahmed run at the gunman and seize his weapon, before turning the gun round on him, forcing his retreat. Mr Ahmed, a fruit shop owner and father of two, remains in hospital, where he has undergone surgery for bullet wounds to his arm and hand, his family told 7News Australia.

This is fucking grim. Somebody invented a white guy, an "IT professional" named Edward Crabtree, who stopped the Bondi shooting and spread it all over the internet, which was picked up by AI agents and slop aggregation sites.

The real hero is a fruit stand owner named Ahmed el Ahmed.

Madison Alternative Comics Fest showcases a rising art form through diverse voices Madison's answer to the alternative comic festival circuit debuts at Aubergine on December 13.

"As comic artists themselves, the MAC Fest organizers are using their intimate knowledge of opportunity gaps within the movement to carve out a new space for growth."

@cmy-kay.bsky.social previews the inaugural event at Aubergine (1226 Willy St) this Sat, Dec 13, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.