On a national level, the state of Wisconsin sits in third place for most bars per capita, behind the lightly-populated South Dakota and Montana. A survey conducted a while back found the city of Milwaukee second only to New Orleans in urban bar density. As most people know, the city has a lengthy history with beer brewing. (It has not just a brand of beer labeled after it but also a sports team named after the practice, after all.) Currently, the town sports 27 breweries and taprooms.

Republicans will be enjoying the sipping and cigar smoking with aplomb this summer as the GOP National Convention will be staged in Cream City. However, they may need to call ahead just to be sure their destination is in operation!

It was just over one month ago when it was announced the Editor In Chief of Rolling Stone Magazine, Noah Schactman, was stepping down. One could say he possibly escaped. Hired away from The Daily Beast in the summer of 2021, Noah was going to transform and grow the news division of Rolling Stone. That it became mostly a carbon copy of that leftist outlet is hardly a surprise, and yet, since his departure, it has only devolved into being even more laughable.

Case in point: The magazine tells us that, due to the convention, some political fallout is being felt in the local economy. Business owner Rick Ramirez has declared he does not intend to conduct business with the arriving tide of Republicans. Okay, “fallout” might be a bit of an overexaggeration. Heck, the word “felt” is probably hyperbolic, for that matter. A bar is said to be closing when the convention roars into town. 

That’s it — “a” bar.

Ramirez tells Rolling Stone that The Mothership, which he often refers to as “the mommy” in his posts, “has a chosen voice.” That voice made waves on social media Wednesday when he announced that he would be closing down the bar in mid-July when the Republican National Committee (RNC) is scheduled to hold its 2024 convention in the heart of Milwaukee.

This…is news? I guess we can say that Schactman did not leave behind his best recruits. This is the same magazine that weeks ago made the desperate move of placing actress Kristen Stewart on the cover wearing a jockstrap and proclaiming her gayness. (Though known already for some time.) Then, there was a follow-up article that claimed that “Right-wingers are terrified” of this magazine cover. Oh…kay then, we suppose…

One natural reaction to this non-story would be to invoke something akin to the years of lawsuits where a conservative business owner was forced to bake a cake or provide other services to a gay clientele demand. Something like, “Just pour the drink!” would make for a pithy retort. But despite the expectation of some kind of conservative blowback to a dive bar closing up shop for a week, the most you are likely to hear is, “Want to go to one of the hundreds of other places to grab some hooch?”

The funniest part of all this is that estimates have about 50,000 people coming into Milwaukee for the week, with expectations that up to $200 million will be poured into the local economy. If one establishment announces it will not pour drink for detestable Republicans, that is unlikely to be noticed. Ricky can go ahead and make a statement, and his nearby competition will make a profit. 

And we are relatively certain that the convention will go off without any indication of being affected. But thank you for this update, Rolling Stone – you have served less of a purpose than The Mothership will be serving in July.