Author Archives: dave cieslewicz

The Democrats have abandoned Iowa. The party leadership, at the urging of Pres. Joe Biden, has kicked the Hawkeyes to the curb, replacing their caucus with South Carolina’s primary as their first contest in the race for the party’s presidential nomination. Strictly speaking, this is probably just symbolic. In the 10 meaningful caucuses since 1972,Continue reading “Midwest: So Long, Iowa”

Let’s start by giving the Madison School Board credit for voting unanimously to reinstate Sennett Middle School Principal Jeffrey Copeland in a special meeting last night. Copeland, in his brief tenure at the school in September, had quickly won the respect of teachers and parents and probably students for setting high standards, backing up teachersContinue reading “Copeland is Back, But Where’s Jenkins?”

This week I wrote a couple of posts that prompted responses that made me rethink what I wrote. I’m not changing my position in either case, but the responses were thoughtful and deserve consideration. The first case involved a post from Wednesday in which I praised Madison School Board President Ali Muldrow for indicating sheContinue reading “Going Deeper”

Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report made a cogent observation in her weekly appearance on the PBS News Hours this past Monday. She noted that the House majority that Nancy Pelosi led when she first became Speaker in 2007 was far more diverse than the group of Democrats, now in a slim minority, thatContinue reading “Dems Keep Moving Coastal”

All kinds of interesting things going on, so let’s cover some ground this morning. Muldrow Makes Sense Last night the Madison School Board was its usual opaque self. The Board was supposed to rule on the appeal of his dismissal by former Sennett Middle School Principal Jeffrey Copeland. After a brief closed session meeting, theContinue reading “Lots To Cover”

When the child tax credit program expired at the end of last year I thought there would be a political outcry. There was a shrug. Last December, just as the expanded credit was about to expire, a poll found that 51% of Americans were okay with that and, it seems, the other half weren’t allContinue reading “The Ideology of Entitlement”

Yesterday Madison mayoral candidate Gloria Reyes made her first detailed pitch to voters in a Sunday oped in the Wisconsin State Journal. It left a whole lot to be desired. Reyes focussed her entire column on public safety. On one level that makes some sense as she’s a former cop, she oversaw the Police DepartmentContinue reading “Weak Start For Reyes”

The last time I shot a deer it was 2018. That was the first year we lived in a condo. So when I headed to deer camp I had to walk two blocks on the near west side to my car while carrying my deer rifle. A young woman was coming the other way onContinue reading “Midwest: Cervid habeas corpus”

I thought about watching the U.S. play England yesterday in a World Cup game. Then I forgot. Then, while watching Iowa play Nebraska in a surprisingly fun game of real football, I saw the score roll across the bottom of the screen. U.S. 0, England 0. Perfect. All that running around for an hour orContinue reading “The World Cup! Eh.”

I know. You wish you lived in Georgia so that you could be enjoying another three weeks of nonstop political ads.  But don’t despair. Another election is just around the corner and you can be sure that you will receive breathless emails and mailers telling you that this will be the most consequential election ofContinue reading “The Next Crucial Election”