Author Archives: dave cieslewicz

The other day, in the Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan gave advice to her Republican Party. What is their job, she asked? “It is to be sane,” she wrote. “It is to stand against excess. It is to put itself forward as worthy of leadership. It has to be centrist in its mood and attitudes, and inContinue reading “‘Seinfeld’ As Political Movement”

Tomorrow it will be eight degrees for a high here in Watersmeet. A nice breeze will make it less toasty, though. I’m going skiing. Nothing unusual about that. I’ve been out cross country skiing on 10 of the last 12 days. I love winter. I love cold weather. Now, there’s nothing wrong with people whoContinue reading “Cold”

On February 3rd state Department of Justice personnel, Dane County Sheriff’s deputies and Madison police sought to arrest a man named Quadren Wilson on the city’s far east side. Several shots were fired, none by Wilson, and Wilson was hit five times. He was taken to a hospital for treatment, but then released after onlyContinue reading “What the Hell’s Going On?”

We’ve been saving up small stories of moderate, bipartisan political courage and today we’d like to share them with you along with a nice round of applause for the pols who have done the right thing. Let’s start with former Vice President Mike Pence. Last week Pence finally came out and said plainly that DonaldContinue reading “In Praise of Pols”

The government should pay off all of our car loans. It’s the progressive thing to do. The hard-left is disappointed that Pres. Joe Biden hasn’t made good on a pledge to pay off $10,000 of every student’s loan debt, no questions asked. Progressives think even Biden’s pledge was too modest. Sen. Elizabeth Warren would goContinue reading “Let’s Pay Off Everyone’s Car Loan”

When I started writing in support of Judge J. Michele Childs for the Supreme Court I didn’t realize that she would be opposed by the hard-left in the Democratic Party. So, that was a happy surprise. Now there’s reason to support her all the more. Last week the Washington Post reported on the growing unrestContinue reading “Biden’s Sister Souljah Moment”

Good Sunday morning. Today we’re going to hear from our old friend, New York Times columnist John McWhorter. In this post from last month, in light of the most recent legal challenge before the Supreme Court, McWhorter makes the case for keeping affirmative action, but retooling it to focus on addressing economic disadvantages instead ofContinue reading “Refocussing Affirmative Action”

Today we’re going to hear from Jessica Bennett, an opinion writer for the New York Times. Bennett’s piece, headlined If Everything is ‘Trauma,’ Is Anything? appeared on February 4th. One of our enduring themes here at YSDA is that we’ve become a culture of whiners. Instead of encouraging the positive human trait of cheerfully turningContinue reading “Suck It Up, People”

This has been a good week for Pres. Joe Biden. There are indications that he may have concluded that he’s done enough to placate the hard-left in his party and now he’s going to move back to the center. This week Biden dusted off a fight against cancer that he started as Vice President, madeContinue reading “Biden Moves Center”

Senate candidate Alex Lasry just dumped another $2 million into his own campaign. When a guy can treat that kind of cash like kindling, well, I guess his kids will still be able to eat, but you start to wonder what the point is. I’m at a loss to understand what Lasry’s theory of theContinue reading “Why Does Lasry Continue?”