Author Archives: dave cieslewicz

I came back from 10 days abroad more liberal than I was when I left. Don’t worry. I’m rapidly being pushed back to the center. I think the main reason I found myself feeling more lefty is that my usual diet of liberal media was interrupted. No NPR. No PBS. Only a limited dose ofContinue reading “Save Me From NPR Liberals”

I have a complicated relationship with the Catholic Church. I was raised in an observant family and I had 12 years of Catholic schooling. But by the end of high school I was done with it. Someplace in there I decided that as soon as I was on my own I’d be out. Part ofContinue reading “The Church Of Burke Or Of Francis?”

No Monday Catch Up this week. I’ve been traveling and haven’t kept up with things as closely as I usually do. But here’s a piece that appeared in Isthmus last week. The only thing Paul Soglin hates more than being mayor of Madison is anybody else being mayor of Madison. I’m not sure who saidContinue reading “Madison Doesn’t Need To Be Rescued”

This is the first time I’ve spent Thanksgiving outside of the United States. It’s weird, but not as weird as you might think. For one thing, a lot of stores here in Vienna have “Black Week” signs and I don’t think it’s a show of solidarity with BLM. It’s an obvious reference to Black Friday,Continue reading “Happy Thanksgiving From Vienna”

On Sunday we visited the American military cemetery in Luxembourg where American Ambassador Tom Barrett (the former Mayor of Milwaukee) laid a wreath in a ceremony where the people of Luxembourg acknowledge the sacrifice of American soldiers who freed them from the Nazis. Over 5,000 GI’s are here, most killed in the Battle of theContinue reading “Is Trump’s “Vermin” Comment Finally Enough?”

We’re not going to write anything about this. We don’t need to. We just ask that you take a look at the chart below and give it some thought.

Welcome to Monday from rainy Luxembourg. Here’s some stuff that happened last week. The fat lady finally sang. The inevitable happened and the Brewers got their big taxpayer funded payday. The state Senate made it go down only slightly easier by nudging up the Brewers’ contribution (which they’ll get from their fans by raising ticketContinue reading “Monday Catch Up: The Fat Lady Sang”

This week’s quote comes to us from the distinguished former Speaker of the House, the Honorable Kevin McCarthy of California, who said: “If I had punched him in the kidneys he’d be on the floor, c’mon.” A) In the fourth grade after confronting Billy O’Keefe who had attempted to steal his lunch money. B) InContinue reading “The Quote & Quiz for 11/17/23”

This has long been my favorite week of the year. It’s the week before the gun deer season opener on Saturday.  But this year is different. For only the second time since 1992 I’m going to miss the season. The other time was in 2020 because of the pandemic. I’ll miss it this year becauseContinue reading “Hunting Alone”

In new Speaker Mike Johnson the Democrats may be dealing with a much stronger and smarter opponent than they had in Kevin McCarthy. Johnson’s opening moves seem masterful. The very first thing he did was tie aid for Israel to a cut in IRS funding. He had to know that would go nowhere, but itContinue reading “Is Mike Johnson a Master Pol?”