Category Archives: Uncategorized

Yesterday Madison mayoral candidate Gloria Reyes made her first detailed pitch to voters in a Sunday oped in the Wisconsin State Journal. It left a whole lot to be desired. Reyes focussed her entire column on public safety. On one level that makes some sense as she’s a former cop, she oversaw the Police DepartmentContinue reading “Weak Start For Reyes”

The last time I shot a deer it was 2018. That was the first year we lived in a condo. So when I headed to deer camp I had to walk two blocks on the near west side to my car while carrying my deer rifle. A young woman was coming the other way onContinue reading “Midwest: Cervid habeas corpus”

I thought about watching the U.S. play England yesterday in a World Cup game. Then I forgot. Then, while watching Iowa play Nebraska in a surprisingly fun game of real football, I saw the score roll across the bottom of the screen. U.S. 0, England 0. Perfect. All that running around for an hour orContinue reading “The World Cup! Eh.”

I know. You wish you lived in Georgia so that you could be enjoying another three weeks of nonstop political ads.  But don’t despair. Another election is just around the corner and you can be sure that you will receive breathless emails and mailers telling you that this will be the most consequential election ofContinue reading “The Next Crucial Election”

We’re nothing here at YSDA if not iconoclastic. So, today, as writers across the land go on and on about what they’re grateful for –family, friends, football (though not so much in Wisconsin this year) — let us stop and give thanks for coal, oil and natural gas. I’m mostly serious. Virtually all of theContinue reading “Grateful For Fossil Fuels”

Student loan forgiveness may very well be dead. That would be a good thing because it was always a terrible idea. Two Federal courts have tossed a monkey wrench into Pres. Joe Biden’s plan to unilaterally cancel up to $20,000 in student debt. The Administration is appealing and it seems likely that the issue willContinue reading “Alternatives to Loan Forgiveness”

It wasn’t so long ago that Democrats saw America’s growing Hispanic population as their ticket to long-term majorities. But a funny thing has happened on the way to inevitability. The national Hispanic vote has moved ten points toward Republicans just since 2018, accelerating a trend that had begun earlier. This month Republicans won all ofContinue reading “Hispanics Could Save the GOP”

I’m writing this on Monday, but I know exactly where I’ll be when this posts at 6AM on Saturday. I am in a deer stand on the far side of what we call the “front hill” at the Jordahl farm in Richland County. It is dark and cold, but it was a long, hilly walkContinue reading “Eulogy And The Hunt”

Today is the most wonderful day of the year. It’s the Friday before opening day of gun deer season in Wisconsin. If you stop by Farm and Fleet (or is it Fleet Farm?) you’ll find it to be “Orange Friday.” And it’s not about fruit or Protestants in Ireland. About a half million hunters willContinue reading “The Best Day of the Year”

Dane County and the City of Madison passed their 2023 budgets this week. The net result is that local government is moving ahead with one flawed and unnecessary building project while it continues to dither about a necessary one. Last night the Madison City Council did what I expected they’d do. To make up forContinue reading “The Wrong Building”