Category Archives: Uncategorized

UW and Blank Look Silly

My alma mater is looking foolish. In the last few years the UW administration, led by Chancellor Rebecca Blank, has made three decisions that are now coming back to haunt them. They sifted and winnowed and somehow still managed to miss the truth. Or, more accurately, they knew the truth and chose to ignore itContinue reading “UW and Blank Look Silly”

What If It’s Not All About Race?

The racial achievement gap in the Madison school district, like most others across the country, has long been a topic of discussion, a flurry of programs and lots of public and private investment, all with a notable lack of success. But what if we’re trying to solve the wrong problem? It is a matter ofContinue reading “What If It’s Not All About Race?”

Biden is Right on the Border

Pres. Joe Biden is making the hard, but correct, call on Haitian refugees and others camped near Del Rio, Texas. What is the greatest threat to liberal democracy in the world? Far-right populism. And what is driving far-right populism more than anything else? Immigration. More accurately, not so much the normal, regularized immigration between nations,Continue reading “Biden is Right on the Border”

Beware the Culture Wars

Once sleepy school board meetings are erupting in shouting matches. Republican legislators are introducing bills that would ban teaching Critical Race Theory and prevent adding discussions of LGBTQ+ issues to human growth and development classes. There is a roiling debate over what public schools should teach kids, and the answers aren’t as easy as eitherContinue reading “Beware the Culture Wars”

Bad Signs For Evers

Opponents of the massive power line between Iowa and Middleton, known as the Cardinal-Hickory Creek Line, have just passed the 50,000 signature mark on a petition against the project’s path through a sensitive wildlife refuge. All those signers are a bad sign for Gov. Tony Evers, who appears to support the line. Driftless Defenders is organizingContinue reading “Bad Signs For Evers”

Men of Color Move Away From the Dems

I used to like reading New York Times columnist Charles Blow. Then Donald Trump got elected and Blow became one of those liberals who just totally lost it. He decided that he would not let his righteous anger ever abate. He became preachy, insufferable and, for me at least, pretty much unreadable. But I readContinue reading “Men of Color Move Away From the Dems”