dave cieslewicz

Pic of the Day/Dave’s Supper Club

I’ve always wanted to have my own Northwoods supper club (but only in high concept; I wouldn’t want to do all that actual work.) Now, I’ve got my theme down. It would be “Dave’s Supper Peninsula Club: Where the Elite Retreat to Eat Meat.”

Kloster Muck

We now have a better understanding of why Speaker Robin Vos won’t release the names of people working with Michael Gableman on his “investigation” into last November’s election. He’s embarrassed — and he has every right to be. Vos hired the former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, who was never considered the sharpest member of theContinue reading “Kloster Muck”

Pic of the Day/Empty Dock

The fishing boat and kayaks went into the garage yesterday. Fall’s coming… and so are the guys who take in the dock.

The Gableman Follies

Let us review. Joe Biden won the November election in Wisconsin by about 20,000 votes. That has been confirmed through the normal, rigorous and demonstrably accurate canvass process and reconfirmed through extraordinary recounts and in court challenges from former Pres. Donald Trump and his pals. It’s fair to say that this has been the mostContinue reading “The Gableman Follies”

The Complications of James Madison

James Madison was a complicated man. He was perhaps the primary inventor of what most people in all the American generations since his time have thought of as “freedom.” But now the narratives about both James Madison and freedom are changing. A new generation no longer accepts the idea that Madison and many of theContinue reading “The Complications of James Madison”

Let the People Decide

The Madison City Council has identified affordable housing as a key city goal and, to its credit, it seems to understand that the best way to restrain the growth in housing costs is to simply build more of it. It’s a refreshing acknowledgement that the free market can work. But there’s a catch. In 2023Continue reading “Let the People Decide”

Mural Makes Good Trouble on Monroe St.

Sometimes art should sooth us and sometimes it needs to challenge us. The new mural on Monroe Street does the latter. The mural on the side of Neuhauser Pharmacy, on the corner of Monroe and Harrison streets, depicts a line of children of color standing in front of a vending machine. Bad stuff is beingContinue reading “Mural Makes Good Trouble on Monroe St.”

Oh, For Cryin’ Out Loud

I’m pro-choice. This weekend’s antics didn’t help the cause. If you wonder why the Democratic brand is so tarnished look no further than this paragraph from a story in yesterday’s Wisconsin State Journal: The day before the Bans Off Our Bodies march, UW-Madison’s BIPOC Coalition, originally a co-sponsor of the event, published a statement rescindingContinue reading “Oh, For Cryin’ Out Loud”

Pic of the Day/Courthouse

The Marquette County Courthouse, Marquette, Michigan, where “Anatomy of a Murder” was filmed. It was a classic 1959 Otto Preminger film often cited as the most realistic courthouse drama ever made. Starred Jimmy Stewart and Lee Remick with a score by Duke Ellington. Visited it yesterday on a warm October afternoon.

Senate Race Update

About once a month I’ll be checking in on the U.S. Senate race in Wisconsin. Here’s this month’s take on who’s up and who’s down. It’s going to be hard for any Democrat to win the U.S. Senate seat now held by Ron Johnson. I know. You cannot believe I’m saying this. Isn’t Ron JohnsonContinue reading “Senate Race Update”