Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos
A safe place for moderates in a polarized world
Latest from the blog
Empty Glass
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning the Madison City Council did the right thing. It fired interim Police Monitor Aeiramique Glass. Glass harassed a Madison police officer to the extent that she now faces criminal charges for it and she irresponsibly called for the city to be “burned down,” but she was actually fired…
What Government Can Learn From the Brewers
Maybe the Milwaukee Brewers can teach us something about government spending. The Brewers’ payroll ranks 19th among the 30 Major League clubs. Their World Series opponents, the Tampa Bay Rays, rank 28th. And the team that the Rays dispatched for the American League pennant, the Cleveland Guardians, ranked dead last. Meanwhile, the LA Dodgers’ payroll…
My Opponent in November: Populism
I’m a Democrat who would like to see some Democrats lose in November. At the top of that list is Abdul El-Sayed, the socialist-lite who is running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan. According to a recent story in the Free Press: “Progressives believe El-Sayed will be a bellwether for the future of the Democratic…
The Quote & Quiz For 10/17/26
This week’s quote comes to us from none other than Donald Trump who, in recounting a conversation with his new (now former) press secretary Katie Zacharia, said: “Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider. Katie, do you need this? I don’t think you need this.” How long was Zacharia on the job? A) Long enough…
You Gotta Like the Dems’ Chances
It’s October and there’s a whole lot of politics goin’ on. If control of the Wisconsin governor’s and attorney general’s offices, both houses of the Legislature, and both houses of Congress weren’t enough, the Madison mayor’s race is, all of a sudden, an actual race with a crowded field of credible candidates. We’ll leave the…
Rubio’s Speech
One of the more important moments for the future of American democracy will occur in the summer of 2028 when Republicans decide how to move on after Trump. Will they continue with his brand of blood and soil Christian nationalist populism or return to the roots of the party? The contest shaping up now appears…
Why the Hard-Left Is So Insufferable
Zohran Mamdani is learning what every candidate elected with support from the left learns eventually: you can’t win. Last week on the third anniversary of the October 7th massacre, Mamdani issued a statement that he probably thought was carefully balanced between lamenting the attacks while also hitting Israel for its response. He made sure to…
The Wrong Scandal
The games were exciting enough. I watched every inning of the Brewers’ four game series with the San Diego Padres and it was maybe the best string of baseball games I’ve ever witnessed. But during the late night broadcasts from the West Coast, one of the ads caught my attention. At first I thought maybe…
Dems Need Humility
If Democrats do as predicted and do well in November, they need to be serious about what that means. It means they have two years to get in position to take back the White House in 2028. Everything they do should be focussed on that. And from this follows the one word that should guide…
My Kind of Democrat
Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is my kind of Democrat. The Blue Dog from Washington state keeps winning in a district that Donald Trump has carried… three times. To learn more about one of the few moderates in a party that’s gone off the rails, check out this interview in one of my favorite online publications,…
Crowley Still Has The Edge
The latest Marquette poll is out and it’s sort of good news for Democrats. Kind of. The bottom line is that Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley still has pretty much the same edge that he held over Republican Tom Tiffany a month or so ago. Although, an already close race appears to be tightening a…
Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad
There will be three state constitutional amendments on your November ballot. While it’s likely that all three will pass, the YSDA editorial board (composed of our publisher, editor and chief editorial writer, all currently occupied by the same person) supports two of them. Veto overreach. The first amendment would further restrict the Governor’s line item…
Kill the Bill
The so called “Protect College Sports Act” protects only the schools, coaches and administrators. It’s a ripoff for the players and the taxpayers. The bill passed the U.S. Senate last night, but is likely to die in the House, as well it should. Here’s what this awful legislation would do: Revenue Sharing & NIL: It increases…
Let’s Do Something Radical on Property Taxes
Here’s a modest idea: what if we took schools off the property tax? I mean entirely. Doing that would address multiple problems while creating one big new one. First, the good news. Here are the problems it would address. High property taxes. Wisconsin has the 10th highest property taxes in the nation and schools make…
Here’s How to Use $3 Billion
The State of Wisconsin has a projected $3 billion surplus. Here’s the YSDA plan for it. Put $1 billion toward state parks. Our parks and natural areas have an estimated $1.3 billion in deferred maintenance. That’s everything from deteriorating roads and trails to failing waste treatment facilities at campgrounds. Parks are important for tourism, but…
MMSD’s Five Clouds
Strategic plans are always a waste of time and resources. Because they are always written by committees they read like what committees write. They say nothing. And often at great length. Nobody ever looks at a strategic plan after it is finished. Employees hate these exercises because they see them for what they are and…
Why Does AI Want to Kill Us?
Today I want to explore a question I raised in passing yesterday in my piece on data centers. It goes to the “soul” of artificial intelligence. In recent months there has been this growing concern that AI has loosed its chains and is now running rampant. And the assumption is that it intends to do…
Sorting Out Data Centers
Data centers have become central to election campaigns all over the country this fall and that’s certainly true here in Wisconsin. So, let’s think about them. Like most pols, both David Crowley and Tom Tiffany were all over data centers as recently as a year ago. Both touted them as job generators and harbingers of…
Notes on Conservatism
One of my summer projects was to do some ideological remodelling. I ripped my convictions down to the studs and then rebuilt them. But I left the foundation in place. I never questioned being a moderate. The question was whether I wanted to build back as a nonpartisan, moderate Democrat or a conservative independent. So,…
How Much Does it Matter?
Okay, folks, let’s take a deep breath. Even though we’ve dodged the bullet of a Francesca Hong nomination, the predictable breathless babbling is oozing up from both sides. To hear the partisans tell it this will be yet another “most consequential election of our lifetimes,” never mind that we’ve already had a couple dozen of…
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