Author Archives: dave cieslewicz

Just a brief riff today about Democrats, urgency and “root causes.” “Root causes,” is a favorite phrase among Democrats. They want to find the root causes of crime, of inflation, of poverty, of everything. Vice President Kamala Harris wants to discover the root causes of the immigration problem at the southern border. When she visitedContinue reading “Root Out the “Root Causes””

On the Land O Lakes Trails in the Ottawa National Forest yesterday afternoon. First time out this year, the conditions were perfect. More snow on the way today and a lot more tomorrow.

What’s Job #1 for the Democrats? Pass their big social/climate spending bill? Nope. The thing they absolutely must do is keep Sen. Joe Manchin in the party. Manchin’s been under friendly fire for much of the year because he’s been holding up the B5 (that’d be Biden’s Build Back Better Bill). Some of that criticismContinue reading “Keep Manchin in the Fold”

On December 8, 1980 I was living in Adams Hall on the UW Campus. My routine was to listen to the radio for an hour or so in my room after dinner. I remember hearing about John Lennon’s death during that hour. I listened to his music for the rest of the night.

Do you ever read the Madison papers and find yourself thinking, ‘oh, for cryin’ out loud…‘? Madison has a long tradition of hard-left activists. They’ve never been charming, but they’ve sometimes been entertaining and, once in a while, they’ve even been right. Recently, they’ve just been themselves, which is to say annoying. Here are someContinue reading “Hard-Left Follies”

According to a story in today’s Appleton Post Crescent, three brothers from New London, ages 22, 21 and 19, were aboard the USS Oklahoma when it was bombed at Pearl Harbor 80 years ago today. Their father had written the Navy just two weeks before the attack, asking that his sons be split up toContinue reading “Pic of the Day/The Barber Brothers”

Eighty years ago today, to put it gently, Japan invited us into WW II. We accepted the invitation. It seems incredible now, but it took the United States only 40 months to defeat Hitler and only another four months to bring down Japan. Then, for those of you (well, that’s pretty much all of you)Continue reading “Getting Clear About Democracy”

First blizzard of the season. Several inches of snow, 35 mph wind gusts and falling temps all day. I took this picture from the warm safety of my living room. Not pictured here: roaring fire behind me.

The last thing our country needs is to fan the flames of another already hot issue. But that’s what’s likely to happen when the Supreme Court issues its ruling — probably next June — on the latest challenge to Roe v. Wade. Most legal tea leave readers that I’ve come across seem to think thatContinue reading “A Middle Ground on Abortion”

Good Sunday morning. For your Sunday jazz selection, and in keeping with the season, let’s try John Coltrane’s version of “My Favorite Things.” Today we’re going to hear from former Montana Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock. Bullock ran for president in 2020 and then U.S. Senate. He lost both races, but I was impressed with himContinue reading “Dems Need to Get Out More”