WADE RATHKE is the founder of ACORN, Chief Organizer at ACORN International, and Author of "Nuts & Bolts", "Citizen Wealth", "Global Grassroots", and "The Battle for the 9th Ward".
Ottawa The real business of the convention is on Saturday. Members from the host city come pouring into the hall. Delegations line up and chant there way into the building. The convention t-shirts are everywhere, saying “Protect Our Homes.” The morning speakers were led by Alejandro Ruiz-Vargez, chairing her first convention, though she …
Ottawa One of the highlights of the ACORN Canada conventions every two years is the Member Speakout. In the US, this was also one of my favorites. There, like in Canada, the leaders moderate the event, often in the US with the staff scurrying about in preparation for other events. In Canada, it comes …
Ottawa Trump went traveling. There were no state dinners this time. He was visiting a farm in Wisconsin in a Congressional district in trouble in a state that he narrowly won in 2024, but has been breaking hard against him more recently. Farmers, including in the vetted panel, gave him an earful, and, …