Author Archives: dave cieslewicz

I guess it’s better than nothing. I had expected that, per usual, the two incumbents up for reelection to the Madison School Board would face no opposition. So, I was pleasantly surprised that both Blair Mosner-Feltham and Nikki Vander Meulen will have opponents. The trouble is that their opponents are not raising the issues thatContinue reading “Some Choice For Madison School Board”

The field for the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin governor is set and it’s lacking a key ingredient. There is no one looking to occupy the moderate lane. What we’ve got are six candidates cramming into the main liberal-activist lane, one candidate looking to be the Badger Mamdani and one candidate who has a sailboat inContinue reading “Where’s the Moderate in Dem Primary?”

Only fools try to predict the future. Okay, so let’s get started then. This should be a good year for Democrats. Not because anybody is excited about them (the party’s approval ratings are at an all-time low), but because it’s a mid-term election with an unpopular Republican in the White House. Moreover, people continue toContinue reading “Will Blue Collar Voters Be Back in Play?”

This year I was in despair. For the first time in years I couldn’t come up with enough material to fill my annual list of words and phrases that are so over-used or pretentious that I want them destroyed. But then I asked Isthmus staff for suggestions and associate editor Linda Falkenstein came through withContinue reading “These Words Must Be Destroyed”

I write this morning from a place I wasn’t supposed to be at. For the second time in about a month a blizzard tore through the Upper Peninsula, shut down the power to our cabin and threatened our plumbing. So, for the second time in a month I hopped in the car and drove theContinue reading “Closing Out the Year in the Cold”

For the seven plus years that we’ve lived here I’ve seen this same guy begging for money outside of our building. He stations himself outside of a grocery store, which occupies the ground floor of our building in the heart of the affluent, uber-liberal west side of Madison. And he does very well. I hadContinue reading “Homelessness & Personal Responsibility”

It’s a holiday tradition here at YSDA. Our little gift for helping you end a get-together with friends or family that might have gone on just a little too long. You’re a delightful host and so, of course, your guests will want to stay into a night that is so deep. But you’re sleepy. WhatContinue reading “And To All, A Good Night”

After the 2024 debacle, the Democratic National Committee commissioned a post-mortem study. DNC Chair Ken Martin has just announced that we should all just forget about it. Everything’s fine. Let’s move on. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, he’s got a point. Democrats have been winning elections or coming close inContinue reading “Nothin’ To See Here”

The American left defines itself by what it’s against. Don’t knock it. Being against Donald Trump has been a godsend. There’s no need to deal with its own deep unpopularity, to abandon any of its eccentric causes or to develop any kind of sensible, centrist agenda for positive change. Just not be Trump. It works!Continue reading “AI Will Be A-OK”

When will they ever learn? When will they eeeee-ver learn? “Blowin’ in the Wind” is a liberal anthem, but liberals need to take its lesson. Donald Trump just keeps playing the same damn card and liberals keep falling for the same trick. So, yesterday when Trump’s handpicked board announced that it was renaming the KennedyContinue reading “Rename the Kennedy Center”