FREE WHITEWATER

Daily Bread for 12.14.16

Good morning.

Midweek in Whitewater will be chilly, with gradually clearing skies and a high of fifteen.  Sunrise is 7:18 AM and sunset 4:21 PM, for 9h 02m 57s of daytime.  The moon is full, with 99.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Aquatic Center Board meets at 7 AM, and her Tech Park Board at 8 AM.

On this day in 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen becomes the first man to reach the South Pole. On this day in 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner delivers his “Significance of the Frontier in American History” address at the forty-first annual meeting of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

Worth reading in full —

Eric Lipton, David E. Sanger, and Scott Shane describe The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the U.S.: “An examination by The Times of the Russian operation — based on interviews with dozens of players targeted in the attack, intelligence officials who investigated it and Obama administration officials who deliberated over the best response — reveals a series of missed signals, slow responses and a continuing underestimation of the seriousness of the cyberattack….The low-key approach of the F.B.I. meant that Russian hackers could roam freely through the committee’s network for nearly seven months before top D.N.C. officials were alerted to the attack and hired cyberexperts to protect their systems. In the meantime, the hackers moved on to targets outside the D.N.C., including Mrs. Clinton’s campaign chairman, John D. Podesta, whose private email account was hacked months later.”

Liz Wahl, formerly of the Russia Today network, describes how Trump Is Using Our Old Putin TV Propaganda Playbook: “When news came out that the CIA believes Russia had intervened in America’s election to help elect Trump, his transition team denied it: “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again.’” Invoking Iraq is a common tactic of deflection in Russian media. Asking “What about Iraq?” is meant to bring the conversation to a halt and absolve the Kremlin of any wrongdoing. How dare the U.S. assert any moral superiority after invading Iraq? On my final day of anchoring at RT, when it became apparent Russian forces were present in Ukraine, the news director demanded I pose this question to former Congressman Ron Paul: “The mainstream media has been covering Ukraine non-stop. John Kerry famously said ‘You just don’t invade another country on phony pretext’ Why didn’t the mainstream media challenge the secretary of State regarding pretext to war in Iraq?”

In a post about hacking (Former CIA officer Evan McMullin weighs in on Trump hacking denial), Jennifer Rubin breaks news of a future politics: “[McMullin] says he will be starting a new organization within the month “to stand up for liberty and equality.” What form that takes and whether it spurs Republicans to confront the incoming president, whose actions would prompt calls for impeachment if he were a Democrat, remain to be seen. Nevertheless, McMullin may fill a much-needed role of conservative watchdog.”

Gina Barton reports that in Wisconsin, 3,000 [were] sent to prison without new convictions in 2015: “Nearly 3,000 people in Wisconsin were sent back to prison last year even though they were not found guilty of new crimes, according to a report released Tuesday. Some were on probation when the violations occurred. Others had been released from custody but were still being supervised by the Department of Corrections. About 70% of them were suspected of criminal activity, the department says. But because they were not formally charged, they did not have due process rights in court. These ex-offenders were re-incarcerated for “technical violations,” which also can include things such as accepting a job without permission, missing a meeting with their probation and parole officer, or leaving their home counties.A Journal Sentinel investigation published last year found the process that forces violators back behind bars relies largely on the judgment of individual parole agents, which can vary widely. Once accused of violations, people on parole can be sent back to prison for years without proof beyond a reasonable doubt — and they are left with little chance of a successful appeal.”

They’ve been friends for a long time, one hears, and there are still cabinet positions to fill…


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