Category Archives: Uncategorized

In the last year or so two major changes have combined to make big time college sports more fair to the players. First, the NCAA finally caved to the inevitable and allowed players to make money off their own “name, image and likeness” — basically they could make commercials for local car dealerships or whatever,Continue reading “College Sports Improving Rapidly”

The fate of the iconic walleye was sealed on December 12, 2000. That’s the day that the Supreme Court essentially awarded the presidency to George W. Bush over Al Gore. Gore was a leader on climate change and his administration would have pushed aggressive policies to fight it at a time when something still mightContinue reading “Midwest: Walleyes”

My Google calendar reminded me the other day that it was the start of LGBTQ+ Month. In February it let me know that it was Black History Month. In March it was Women’s History Month. I watched a lot of college basketball that month. I saw a Buick commercial approximately one million times in whichContinue reading “The Culture Wars Are Over; Liberals Won”

The rest of the class got the assignment in on time. Only Alex Lasry made an excuse for why he couldn’t. I guess the dog ate his homework. Let me begin by acknowledging that everybody I know who knows Lasry says that he’s a good person. Decent, hard-working, likable. That’s fine and the quality ofContinue reading “Lasry: Dog Ate My Homework”

Wisconsin Elections Commissioner Dean Knudson abruptly resigned last week. Knudson is a sane Republican who admits the obvious — Donald Trump lost — and thinks his party should move on from conspiracy theories. For that he’s been vilified by some of his fellow party members and he says that party leadership made it clear toContinue reading “Knudson Throws in the Towel”

My book, Light Blue is subtitled, “How center-left moderates can build an enduring Democratic majority.” Today, let’s talk about “enduring.” Democrats are likely to get toasted in this fall’s midterm elections. For those of us who shade left of center, that’s bad news, but not as bad as what might happen in 2024. Luckily, differentContinue reading “The Need for the Long Game”

In a friendly conversation over a couple of beers the other night, some left-center and right-center friends and I discussed the sad state of the two parties. The Republicans are obsessed with relitigating the 2020 elections while Democrats obsess over various issues of identity, like which bathroom transgender people can use. Meanwhile, the bulk ofContinue reading “The Middle May Be Bigger Than We Think”

Last week 10 people were gunned down at a Buffalo supermarket in what appears to be a racist attack. Yesterday, 19 children and two adults were murdered in a Texas elementary school. In both cases the killer was a young man with a military-style weapon that nobody outside of the military should be able toContinue reading “Another Mass Shooting; Expect Nothing to Happen”

The change in priorities is most striking on that bellwether of the hard-left, the Madison City Council. It used to be that the First Commandment was to honor thy neighborhood. Neighborhoods — often led by just a few highly motivated and opinionated activists — were all powerful. Alders were loathe to oppose anything their neighborhoodContinue reading “One Way Woke is Good”

The senseless dustup over the appointment of UCLA Law School Dean Jennifer Mnookin as the new UW Madison Chancellor has raised a more interesting — and worthwhile — question about the Wisconsin Idea. In case you were tending to more important matters, here’s a quick recap. The Board of Regents — both Democratic and RepublicanContinue reading “Midwest: Wisconsin Idea Has to Flow in Both Directions”