Category Archives: Uncategorized

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul announced yesterday that he won’t run for governor after all. This makes him the best qualified candidate. Kaul had been widely expected to be the heir apparent to Gov. Tony Evers who is not seeking a third term. Now, it’s true that his heirness wasn’t all that apparent as KaulContinue reading “Kaul’s Catch 22”

CBS has taken an important move toward reestablishing public faith in legacy media by hiring Bari Weiss as its news director. Weiss is cofounder of The Free Press, an online news source that I’ve found to be as objective and even-handed as any out there. Before that she worked for Tablet, an excellent centrist website,Continue reading “A Good Move by CBS”

Let’s be clear about what Donald Trump did this week. He took the next big step in overthrowing American democracy. In an unprecedented move, he ordered the 800 top U.S. military leaders to Washington for a reason he didn’t specify. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth blathered on about the “warrior ethos” and hit the usual cultureContinue reading “The Coup Started This Week”

One of the enduring themes here at YSDA is that everything in this world is not about race and gender. My biggest concern, among many, with the Madison school board is that they seem to believe just the opposite. Case in point is their comments when they awarded themselves a big pay increase the otherContinue reading “Madison School Board Rewards Itself For Failure”

As expected, Missy Hughes, Wisconsin’s economic development director, joined the growing Democratic primary field looking to succeed Gov. Tony Evers. I like her profile: 17 years as an executive at Organic Valley and then six years heading up Evers’ development department. I also like the lane she’s chosen, which suggests she leans moderate. “Right nowContinue reading “Missy Hughes, A Politician, Joins the Race”

I’m told I’m supposed to hate Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos. The most recent reason is that Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post, spiked an editorial that would have endorsed Kamala Harris for president. In fact, there was a day last fall when I was supposed to boycott Amazon in protest. Liberals wereContinue reading “Why I Love Amazon, And What the Dems Can Learn From It”

Kamala Harris is under the impression that anybody still cares. In her account of the 2024 presidential contest she bites the hand that fed her while Biden still apparently believes that he could have won in 2024. But here’s the thing: Democrats — and everybody else — have moved on. Harris writes many dumb thingsContinue reading “Harris & Biden Are So 2024”

There’s the world you and I live in. Then there’s the universe occupied by Luke Fickell, Chris McIntosh and Jennifer Mnookin. That trio is enjoying a lazy cruise down the River D’Nile. Fickell has solidified the growing notion that he wasn’t the right guy to lead the Badger football program. McIntosh, the UW Athletic DirectorContinue reading “Snip the UW’s Golden Parachutes”

If you were to guess at the persona of the country’s longest serving legislator you might come up with someone like Bill Clinton. Gregarious, smooth, glib, manipulative and ruthless when he thought he needed to be.  It turns out that the man who holds the national record for legislative service, at 64 years, is Madison’sContinue reading “The 64-year Question”

Public broadcasting took a big hit with the loss of federal funds and in some states even their state support is shrinking. My own view is that NPR and PBS earned all this by dismissing well documented charges of liberal bias that went on for decades. But these stations are still left with substantial resourcesContinue reading “Public Broadcasting’s Real Challenge”