What Word Will Open The Conversation

Image Source: Getty / David Becker

Ironically, last night I was watching the news about the Las Vegas mass shooting when a commercial came on for a law firm advertising to sue if injured by someone texting and driving.

In 2015, 3,477 lives were lost to distracted driving according to the NHTSA. 3,500 people and we jumped on passing laws to reduce that. Will the laws stop it from happening altogether? No. But lobbyists and lawmakers thought that was enough people to try to do something that would save even one life if not hundreds or thousands.

Do cars kill people? No. The person driving it does - whether from texting, or drinking, or otherwise operating impaired. Sound familiar? Did that stop people from putting controls on the use of vehicles? No. Are safety regulations on sale, ownership, licensing, insurance (‘controls’) bans on automobiles? No.

But one individual can kill dozens and injure hundreds, every year, in addition to so many other useless deaths through the use of guns whether suicide, accidental or purposeful, and we do nothing. One man injured almost 1/6 as many as the distracted driving deaths in minutes, killing close to 60 as of this writing (and the number could still increase.) But to so many the word 'control' has been warped to mean 'ban' and 'seizure'. What word can we use so we can reasonably discuss options?

An entire city was virtually shut down for a day or more, because of one man - an American - with dozens of guns. Will we do something? Anything?

Westallion Brewing To Host Puerto Rico Relief Fundraiser

The microbrewing community always seems willing and able to step up to help others when needed. Westallion Brewing Company, a new West Allis microbrewery, is showing themselves to be just another in the line of brewers doing great things for the community and beyond. On October 20 they are holding an event to raise funds for Puerto Rico relief efforts.

October 20 may seem a bit away to raise funds, don't they need it now? Of course they do, but disaster relief is a tricky thing. Money is needed up front, and its important for it to go places where it will do the most help. But often people forget that it is an ongoing effort well past the initial event. Rebuilding of homes and lives needs to take place. Puerto Rico will be needing huge, long-term efforts to rebuild as their entire infrastructure is pretty much wiped out. This will take lots of time and money, and though it is a U.S. territory, it often gets forgotten by the public and the government. To me its great that they are doing this in a few weeks when people may have started to forget about their needs.

Warby Parker Eyeglasses Bring BuyOneGiveOne Model to MKE

Yeah, that guy wears 'em.

Warby Parker, an eyeglass company with a bold business model, opens a new Milwaukee store - its first in the area - this Friday.  Located at 315 N Broadway, the store will bring their David vs. Goliath battle against big eyeglass companies (really one company that manufactures for most brands) to Milwaukee, and with it affordable, stylish glasses with a BuyOneGiveOne charitable model - donating a pair of glasses to someone in need for each pair sold.

Montucky Cold Snack Sort Of Local Brew Supports Causes

I was just at one of my favorite Milwaukee bars, well favorite anywhere,  Boone & Crocket, drinking a brew I had never seen or tried before, Montucky Cold Snack, when I noticed something cool about the can. No not its temp, but the fact it states that 8% of proceeds to local charities.

So, full disclosure, this blog is about Milwaukee and Wisconsin and in this case 'local' doesn't mean here - it means Montana, home of Montucky, and some surrounding states. What makes MCS 'local' to us here is that it is brewed in LaCrosse, WI. So maybe, now that it's distributed & served here, local support could include our fine state.

Colectivo Myanmar Coffee Supports Relief Efforts

Milwaukee born and raised Colectivo Coffee seems to constantly roll out the types of charitable efforts we love at GMM, the ones men just may do, namely easy ones. Buy something, give something is usually the model here. It's a bonus when what you buy is exceptionally good, and in the case of what we promote at GMM - man-friendly. Well, for Colectivo that's fairly easy - coffee is after all universal and their products are as a rule exceptional. Right now their Coffee of the Week is  a Featured Farm Series coffee that checks all the boxes.

Buy a bag of this unique, flavorful coffee and $1 goes to relief efforts in Myanmar by way of the UN's World Food Programme which helps not only Myanmar but other areas with conflict.