Author Archives: dave cieslewicz

Maybe some day Annie Kuster will be as much a household name as Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. Rep. Kuster (D-New Hampshire) is a leader in the New Democrat Coalition, a group of moderate Democrats that has announced its early support for the budget deal between Pres. Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy that would avert aContinue reading “Deal Strengthens the Middle”

For Memorial Day here’s a song by Tim Buckley, Once I Was. It’s not specifically about veterans, but it was used in the final scene of the 1978 Vietnam War drama, Coming Home. It’s a poignant reminder of the cost of war and lives cut short, sometimes to protect our freedom or to fight tyranny,Continue reading “Once I Was”

There’s an old saying in politics. When you’ve dug yourself a hole, drop the shovel. That’s true many times, but not always. A case in point is Target and its celebration of Pride Month. They went all in with rainbow displays and tee shirts with provocative messages. And they went full-out LGBTQ++++ with a swimwearContinue reading “Off Target”

UW men’s basketball coach Greg Gard received a $30,000 bonus for his team’s appearance in the NIT. The school got paid about $26,000 for being there. So, essentially, in a disappointing season that saw the Badgers miss the big dance, Gard pocketed all the money the school got for going to the little dance, andContinue reading “Gard Got It All”

One of the things I hear about from readers most consistently is my somewhat frequent assertion (I just did it again yesterday) that Donald Trump is a fascist. Well, he is. He meets the definition. Here’s part of the definition of a fascist from my online dictionary: “a person who is extremely right-wing or authoritarian; a person who is very intolerant or domineering.” You don’t think TrumpContinue reading “Yeah, Trump’s a Fascist”

Let me dispense with the suspence right away. No, I will not vote for a Republican for president in the general election in 2024. But what about the Wisconsin primary next April? I’ll have nothing to vote for in the Democratic column, so I’ll feel like a free agent. And what if, by the timeContinue reading “Could I Vote For a Republican?”

It seems to me that all the debt ceiling drama is overwrought. It would certainly be a mess if the government defaulted, but predictions of armageddon are probably over-stated. Since it has never happened before nobody knows what would really happen. In any event, we’re not likely to have to find out. It looks likeContinue reading “Debt Limit Drama: Meh”

Goodbye ACC. So long, PAC 12. Aloha, Big 12. The Power Five conferences will, by the time this decade is out, be the Power Two. That’s the clear implication from a lot of observers, the most recent of which appeared in this morning’s State Journal sports pages. The paper ran a piece by Omaha WorldContinue reading “The Big Two”

Conservative commentator David Blaska and I have one thing in common in addition to a first name. We don’t mind angering our friends. Blaska wrote an oped this morning in the Wisconsin State Journal explaining why he’ll never vote for Donald Trump again. His argument was strategic more than anything: Trump is a loser whoContinue reading “Blaska and Me”

As a self-proclaimed moderate you’d think I’d love No Labels. I don’t. I really, really don’t. Here’s why. No Labels is a sort of third party movement designed to push the two major parties toward the center. They would do that with what is essentially a big threat. They will run some sort of self-styledContinue reading “Check the Label”