Author Archives: dave cieslewicz

Something’s rotten in Baraboo. In 2018 some male students at the junior prom had their picture taken while making a Nazi salute. Two years later the school district paid out over $860,000 to the family of a student who had been harassed because of her race. And at last spring’s high school graduation, a fatherContinue reading “Baraboo: More Speech is the Answer”

This week’s quote comes to us from none other than Penelope Hegseth, the mother of Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s choice to be Secretary of Defense. In an email to her son, obtained by the New York Times, she told him: “On behalf of all the women (and I know it’s many) you have abused inContinue reading “The Q&Q For 12/7/24”

This fall a third of Wisconsin school districts passed referendums to increase taxes. The total bill will be $4.4 billion. On the one hand, we have to acknowledge that voters chose to tax themselves, so that indicates support for schools, and we have to give people some credit for understanding the implications for their familyContinue reading “The Tax Revolt to Come”

A liberal Dane County judge has struck down Act 10, the 2011 law that defanged most public employee unions in Wisconsin. The action will next move to the Supreme Court, whose liberal majority will no doubt uphold that ruling should the case reach them before August. But is that a good thing? And what wouldContinue reading “Would Voters Repeal Act 10?”

Democrats have an identity crisis. They are perceived to be something they’re not, which is out of the mainstream. They can thank a vocal minority in their ranks — the hard-left — for that perception. In fact, I refer to the left wing of the party as the “hard-left,” not as “progressives.” That’s because there’sContinue reading “Free Us From the Hard-Left”

I won’t be the first writer to observe that the roles have been switched. In the 1960’s and 1970’s it was the left that saw our institutions as corrupt tools of oppression. Now it’s the hard-right. This makes sense if you think about it. It’s those without power who are most likely to see powerfulContinue reading “Who’s the Radical Now?”

See? That’s going to be the reaction of millions of Americans upon learning that Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, after he swore on multiple occasions that he wouldn’t. Last week, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote a thoughtful piece about how Trump supporters view our institutions. Basically, they see them all as rottenContinue reading “Biden Destroys His Legacy”

This week’s quote comes to us from none other than UW senior football player Hunter Wohler, who after Wisconsin ended its season yesterday with another dismal performance, said: “I know coach Fick is going to give everything he can and everything he has to this program and to this team, 100% and without a doubt.”Continue reading “The Q&Q For 11/30/24”

Let’s say you’re a minimum wage worker and you screw up and get fired. What’s your payout? You’re lucky if you get your last paycheck. Now, let’s say you’re a CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation and you run your company into the ground. What happens? More often than not, you get all the millionsContinue reading “Money For Nothin’”

As a Democrat, I’ve been spending the last few weeks sifting through the wreckage of the last election, looking for anything that can be salvaged. Here’s one thing. The results sent a message, loud and clear, that voters don’t want to be thought of as faceless members of tribes defined by their race, gender identityContinue reading “Thankful For Individualism”