Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos
A safe place for moderates in a polarized world
Latest from the blog
The Problem With Liberals
A lot of voters aren’t voting against liberal policies so much as they’re voting against liberals.
Tom Nelson Might Be the Guy
I had a chance to spend a little time this morning with Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson, one of three announced Democrats to take on sitting Sen. Ron Johnson, assuming he runs again. As the vaccination rate climbs, Nelson feels it’s safe to start venturing out of his garage and basement to make campaign swingsContinue reading “Tom Nelson Might Be the Guy”
The Hard-Left’s Purity Tests
Liz Cheney is standing up to Donald Trump and will likely lose her leadership position, and probably her seat in Congress, because of it. But that’s not good enough for Charles Blow and others in the purity business. Blow is a columnist for the New York Times who vowed to remain red-hot angry for everyContinue reading “The Hard-Left’s Purity Tests”
Trump and Free Speech
It’s a measure of how strongly I believe in free speech that I almost feel that Facebook should allow Donald Trump back on their platform. (Emphasis here on almost.) Yesterday, Facebook’s Oversight Board told the company that it has to decide within the next six months what to do about Trump: ban him permanently, allowContinue reading “Trump and Free Speech”
Liz Cheney’s Profile in Courage
It shouldn’t require massive amounts of political courage to simply acknowledge that a president who lost an election by seven million votes, well, actually lost the election. But it’s a measure of just how far gone the Republican Party is right now that Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming will now almost certainly lose her HouseContinue reading “Liz Cheney’s Profile in Courage”
Could Dems Actually Expand Their Majorities?
I’m starting to think that Joe Biden could pull off the near impossible. I no longer think that it’s out of the question that his party will hold on to — or even expand — their slim majorities in Congress next year. In the 21 mid-term elections since 1934 there have been only two inContinue reading “Could Dems Actually Expand Their Majorities?”
Freedom and Security
The greatest threat to liberal values isn’t any longer the Russian nuclear arsenal. It’s the dynamic Chinese economy. It was buried in Pres. Joe Biden’s speech to Congress and the nation last week, but it may be the most consequential observation he made. About halfway through his speech, Biden mentioned that when he was viceContinue reading “Freedom and Security”
The Streak is Alive! (And Don’t You Just Hate the Cable Companies?)
Brett Favre started 297 consecutive games at quarterback. In baseball, Cal Ripken, Jr., played in 2632 consecutive games. I’m pretty sure nobody is keeping track of consecutive posts to a website blog. But I haven’t missed a day since February 18th, which, by my count, is 74 consecutive days. That’s in the Ryan Braun rangeContinue reading “The Streak is Alive! (And Don’t You Just Hate the Cable Companies?)”
James Carville Goes After “the Faculty Lounge”
Democratic strategist James Carville gave an interview to Vox recently that is so good it’s worth reading in its entirety. Here are some excerpts. “You ever get the sense that people in faculty lounges in fancy colleges use a different language than ordinary people? They come up with a word like “Latinx” that no one else uses.Continue reading “James Carville Goes After “the Faculty Lounge””
Gone Baby, Gone
Just deal with it, Packer fans. Aaron Rodgers is history. Here’s who I care about in the world of sports: 1. The fans, who, by the way, pay all the bills. 2. The players, who actually perform on the field. 3. The owners, who.. what is it that the owners do, exactly, besides print money?Continue reading “Gone Baby, Gone”
Joe Biden is Still a Moderate
Republicans are trying to make the case that Pres. Joe Biden has some how become a socialist. Good luck with that. Part of being moderate is to live in the real political world and Biden is nothing if not a realist. He is a moderate, but he is not an independent. He’s a dyed-in-the-wool DemocratContinue reading “Joe Biden is Still a Moderate”
The Problem With Populism
Should Democrats try to exploit resentments over race or resentments over class? Here’s an idea. What if we dropped appeals to resentment altogether? Every Wednesday, Thomas B. Edsall writes a new Guest Essay (no longer to be referred to as “opeds”) in the New York Times. Edsall is unerringly thoughtful and even-handed, if from aContinue reading “The Problem With Populism”
The Disastrous Language of the Hard-Left
Like Frankenstein’s Monster, it has escaped the laboratory to wreak havoc. White privilege, the patriarchy, intersectionality, toxic masculinity, systemic racism, unconscious bias, erasure. These are words used in academia to describe, in most cases, real phenomena. But when they escaped the ivory towers and entered the broader culture and the world of politics they wereContinue reading “The Disastrous Language of the Hard-Left”
It’s Not All the Same
We need to be able to make distinctions between murder, mistakes and the appropriate use of force, or we’ll never find justice. When I first saw the video of Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for what turned out to be nine minutes and twenty-one seconds I was appalled and outraged. It seemed toContinue reading “It’s Not All the Same”
My Ten Favorite Beers
Hey, folks, it’s Sunday. So, let’s lay off the serious stuff for a day and think about beer. Well, it’s Wisconsin, so maybe this is serious stuff. Anyway, I was inspired this morning to think about my favorite beers by a column by the Wisconsin State Journal’s “Beer Baron,” Chris Drosner. Drosner’s been writing hisContinue reading “My Ten Favorite Beers”
It’s a Big, Beautiful Dangerous World
The other day one of my favorite columnists, David Brooks, wrote a depressing piece about the state of the Republican Party, of which he used to be a member. His premise was that the party is spiraling downward, becoming ever more obsessed with the grievances of its disgruntled base. “The level of Republican pessimism isContinue reading “It’s a Big, Beautiful Dangerous World”
The Wall Street Candidate
Do you like Wall Street? Then you’ll love Alex Lasry. Earlier this week, Urban Milwaukee Editor Bruce Murphy wrote a perceptive piece on the race for the Democratic nomination to take on Sen. Ron Johnson, should he decide to go for a third term. (I found it perceptive because he mostly agreed with my ownContinue reading “The Wall Street Candidate”
Foxconn Still a Con
From the start it was clear to anyone who knew Foxconn’s record that former Gov. Scott Walker’s $4 billion taxpayer give away to the company was, well, a con. Now, after four years of broken promises, false starts and a lot of just plain bizarreness, Gov. Tony Evers’ administration has crafted a much more sensibleContinue reading “Foxconn Still a Con”
Verdict More Evidence For Cop Cams
Much of America breathed a sigh of relief when the jury delivered guilty verdicts in the Derek Chauvin trial. As I wrote yesterday, the opposite verdict would have further eroded Americans’ confidence in their own institutions. But there’s a special meaning in it for Madison. Interviewed on this morning’s Today Show, George Floyd’s brother, Philonise,Continue reading “Verdict More Evidence For Cop Cams”
Accept the Verdict
It may be only a matter of hours, at most days, before the jury in the Derek Chauvin trial delivers a verdict. Whatever it is, I’ll accept it. When we demand justice in a given case we cannot possibly be saying that we demand a conviction. If that were true, then why bother with theContinue reading “Accept the Verdict”
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