Category Archives: Uncategorized

It’s welcome, but odd, that Damar Hamlin’s heart stoppage has produced so much soul searching on behalf of NFL players and fans — and so much well-orchestrated concern among NFL executives. Hamlin’s heart stopped after making a hit in a Monday night game. He plays defensive back for the Buffalo Bills and the Bills wereContinue reading “NFL: How Can We Watch This?”

I’m stuck on these two sentences. I keep reading them over and over again: Nearly 1 in 5 licensed drivers in Wisconsin — 770,000 — have at least one conviction for operating while intoxicated. And more than 20,000 have at least five OWIs. These facts didn’t even make it into the headline or the ledeContinue reading “770,000”

Yesterday was a good day for American democracy at every level. Here in Madison, 45 candidates filed papers for 20 seats on the City Council. Eight districts will need primaries and only six seats will go uncontested. This is further evidence that moves to make the Council smaller and full-time (and therefore less responsive) areContinue reading “A Good Day For Democracy”

Since November the statements out of Gov. Tony Evers, Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu have been encouraging. They’re talking compromise on the next state budget. They all recognize that when you’re problem is a multi-billion dollar surplus (it’s projected to be somewhere in the $7 to $9 billion range) this isContinue reading “A Nice Problem to Have”

Here’s my tale of woe. The front wheel fell off my electric bike. Luckily, this did not occur while I was riding it, but while I was transporting it on the back of my car. Back in September I arrived home after a nice ride on the Vilas County Trails without a front wheel. TodayContinue reading “Abolish the Postal Service?”

Unpredictable things will happen next year, of course, but there is a political schedule that must be kept and results will need to be filled in. It will be an off-off year. No national races, no legislative races, except a special election here and there. But still a lot will happen in 2023. Here’s whatContinue reading “2023 in Politics”

Here’s a project for liberals in 2023: try to understand Trump voters. Stop hating them. Don’t discard them in your basket of deplorables. And, my God, do not feel sorry for them or try to educate them! Instead, be educated by them. It’s my fervent hope for the New Year that Donald Trump is finished.Continue reading “A New Year’s Resolution For Liberals”

I freely admit it. I watched the Harry and Meghan show on Netflix. The whole thing. All six episodes. Six bloody hours of the damn thing. A fair question is why? Well, for one thing, we like to kick back with some screen time between Christmas and New Years and we had already watched WhiteContinue reading “What I Learned From Harry & Meghan”

It was a pretty good year here at YSDA. Readership was up by 30%, though in truth the month-over-month increases trailed off to nothing in the fourth quarter. So, it’s possible that the readers we’ve got are the readers we’re going to have and the growth spurt is over. If that’s the case then pleaseContinue reading “Top Ten Posts of ’22”

It’s tradition in journalism and commentary that everybody needs to write about what a rotten year the previous one has been. But that’s emphasizing the negative. Let’s turn that frown upside down, people! Some really good things happened in 2022. Here’s my list. The Mid-Terms, National. Up until the evening of November 8th I thoughtContinue reading “The Year in Good News”