Let’s start by giving Gov. Tony Evers’ People’s Maps Commission its due. It fulfilled its assignment. The commission produced new legislative maps that were fair in the sense that they were drawn in compliance with current legal standards, and more or less blindly to partisan advantage. And while the products themselves (three sets of mapsContinue reading “Reading the Maps”
Author Archives: maplesdave
Pic of the Day/Joe Hesse
Went to my sheepshead friend Joe Hesse’s memorial service today. Joe was a beloved German and French teacher at Stoughton High School. After our last game, shortly before he died, Joe’s lasts words to us were, “See you on the other side, boys.” See you there, Joe. You buy the first pitcher.
Evers Doubles Down on His Pardon Peril
Last night, for the first time in 20 years, a Madison police officer was shot. We’re lucky that the officer’s injuries are not life-threatening, but it’s yet another indication of the dramatic rise in shootings here and nationwide. And the Democrats sleep. Here’s more evidence that Democrats just aren’t getting how dangerous crime is —Continue reading “Evers Doubles Down on His Pardon Peril”
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.”
