Author Archives: dave cieslewicz

The Taliban are a bunch or psychopaths. And now we’re going to give them a country back. Under Taliban rule girls can’t go to school and women can’t hold most jobs. They are essentially prisoners in their own homes. And it only gets worse from there. Women are sometimes publicly flogged for transgressions like notContinue reading “Stay in Afghanistan”

What is infrastructure? It’s whatever Joe Manchin says it is. There is a truly ridiculous debate going on right now about the definition of a single word. Pres. Joe Biden has outlined an ambitious set of investments that he defines as infrastructure. Republicans say it includes things that aren’t infrastructure. The hard-left says that itContinue reading “The Hard Stuff”

The Democratic primary for the right to take on Sen. Ron Johnson (should he decide to run for a third term — see below) is starting to fill up. There are now three announced candidates and at least as many waiting in the wings. Here’s a quick review of the field as it starts toContinue reading “Handicapping the Senate Race”

Today’s “progressives” aren’t progressive at all. Back when I was in politics (I was retired by the voters exactly a decade ago) “progressive” was just what liberals called themselves. Ronald Reagan had done such a thoroughgoing job of destroying the word “liberal” (not without a big assist from liberals themselves) that liberals needed to findContinue reading ““Hard Left”, Not “Progressive””

On today’s date in 1865 Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theatre. He died the next morning. He was our greatest president and he was a moderate. Lincoln was assailed by both sides. He was careful during his 1860 campaign and during the early part of his presidency to tread a fine line on theContinue reading “Lincoln, the Moderate”

Yesterday’s shooting of Daunte Wright in a Minneapolis suburb is only the latest, but maybe the most impactful, evidence of the value of body worn police cameras. The video from officer Kim Potter’s camera makes it clear that, in a moment of high stress, she pulled her gun when she intended to use her taser.Continue reading “Madison Needs Cop Cams”

When it comes to people’s sexuality I figure it’s none of my damn business. I’m glad that at least one Republican still agrees. Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) did the right thing when he vetoed a bill that would have prevented gender affirming treatments for those under 18 years old. Unfortunately, his fellow Republicans in theContinue reading “Asa Hutchinson Does the Right Thing”

Madisonians decisively rejected the idea of a full-time city council by a 58-42 percent margin in an advisory referendum on April 6. But the geography of that vote is interesting and it represents a subtle change in how Madison votes. The full-time council idea lost in every part of the city with the exception ofContinue reading “Liberal v. Liberal”

It’s a free country and I believe in maximum free speech. People should be able to say things that I find offensive and even fact-free, if they like. Yes, that includes former (and how wonderful is it to use that word in reference to this guy?) Pres. Donald Trump. But it also applies to theContinue reading “The Ungracious Brandi Grayson”

Pres. Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill is about more than good roads. It’s about demonstrating that democracy is stronger than authoritarianism. China is delivering prosperity, it’s getting stuff done, it’s starting to influence the world. The Chinese model is a combination of aggressive capitalism, centralized planning and authoritarian rule. What makes it work is that theContinue reading “China Road”