Not So Sweet

UW Madison history professor James Sweet should have known what was coming. Sweet, who is also the current President of the American History Association, wrote a much needed essay in the AHA publication about the dangers of “presentism”, that is the tendency to apply present day perspectives and values to historic events. Predictably, the academyContinue reading “Not So Sweet”

Catching Up on a Few Things

A grab bag today. Biden misses the point. Yesterday Pres. Joe Biden attended union rallies in Milwaukee and Pittsburgh to celebrate Labor Day. But only one out of 10 American workers belongs to a union. If Biden really wanted to connect with labor he would have visited the loading dock at a Wal-Mart or theContinue reading “Catching Up on a Few Things”

The Invisible Workforce

On Labor Day weekend, here’s a question that hard-left Democrats need to ask themselves: If they’re so pro-worker how come workers have been abandoning them in droves? Once the blue collar party, Democrats are fast becoming the party of college-educated, relatively affluent, white collar workers who live in big cities and college towns. And yet,Continue reading “The Invisible Workforce”

The Land of Misfit Toys

The other day David Blaska’s lawsuit was settled, but Blaska won his war back in May. Blaska and the conservative nonprofit law firm WILL went after the Madison City Council for requiring that its new Police Oversight Board be made up of various racial and gender identity groups most definitely not including straight white guys,Continue reading “The Land of Misfit Toys”

Begging the Big Beglinger Question

The latest Marquette University Law School poll came out earlier this month. It’s the first new MU poll since June and it was taken right after the Aug. 9 primaries. Here’s what I think I learned. Is it just a bump? In this latest poll both Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels and Democratic Senate candidateContinue reading “Begging the Big Beglinger Question”

Will Loan Forgiveness Survive?

I’m betting that Pres. Joe Biden’s plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student loan debt won’t happen. Here’s why. For starters it will take awhile for the bureaucratic machinery to be put in place. All kinds of detailed questions need to be worked out and processes, decision-making standards and appeal mechanisms need to beContinue reading “Will Loan Forgiveness Survive?”

MKE, Nuremberg & the GOP

In normal times I’d welcome Republicans to Wisconsin for their national convention in 2024. But this isn’t my father’s Republican Party. It isn’t even my older brother-in-law’s GOP.  The Republican National Committee has now officially chosen Milwaukee for its next confab, which had been a foregone conclusion since its rival, Nashville, balked at approving aContinue reading “MKE, Nuremberg & the GOP”

Biden’s Loan Forgiveness is Unforgivable

Credit Joe Biden with taking a horrible idea and making it better. But the very idea of forgiving any amount of student loan debt is so fundamentally flawed that no amount of lipstick is going to make that pig any prettier. This is pretty clearly something that Biden didn’t want to do. Why else wouldContinue reading “Biden’s Loan Forgiveness is Unforgivable”