Category Archives: Uncategorized

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”

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”

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.”

I’m pro-choice. This weekend’s antics didn’t help the cause. If you wonder why the Democratic brand is so tarnished look no further than this paragraph from a story in yesterday’s Wisconsin State Journal: The day before the Bans Off Our Bodies march, UW-Madison’s BIPOC Coalition, originally a co-sponsor of the event, published a statement rescindingContinue reading “Oh, For Cryin’ Out Loud”

The Marquette County Courthouse, Marquette, Michigan, where “Anatomy of a Murder” was filmed. It was a classic 1959 Otto Preminger film often cited as the most realistic courthouse drama ever made. Starred Jimmy Stewart and Lee Remick with a score by Duke Ellington. Visited it yesterday on a warm October afternoon.

About once a month I’ll be checking in on the U.S. Senate race in Wisconsin. Here’s this month’s take on who’s up and who’s down. It’s going to be hard for any Democrat to win the U.S. Senate seat now held by Ron Johnson.  I know. You cannot believe I’m saying this. Isn’t Ron JohnsonContinue reading “Senate Race Update”

Last month, 40 organizations and distinguished individuals, led by the NAACP, sent a letter to the UW Madison and the UW Oshkosh, asking that Frederic March’s name be restored to places of honor on those campuses. Their letter was so important in pushing back against knee-jerk campus politics everywhere that I am including the fullContinue reading “The NAACP Letter”

I’ve got friends visiting at Duck Lake, so this will be a cut-and-paste weekend. Here’s a topical piece from “The Point,” a newsletter from CNN’s Chris Cillizza. On Thursday afternoon, barraged by reporters asking about criticism from the  left for his opposition to a $3.5 trillion budget package, West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin offeredContinue reading “The Middle Disappears”

Fall colors are at peak in the U.P. The dock comes out next week.

Milwaukee Brewers pitching sensation Devin Williams is in the market for a dry waller. Williams was at his Milwaukee area home after celebrating the Brewers’ clinching the Central Division on Sunday evening when, after a few drinks and in response to some unspecified frustration, he punched a hole in a wall. “The whole organization feelsContinue reading “Devin Williams Looking for Dry Waller”