Good morning.
Following a light snowfall in the morning (with little accumulation), Whitewater will have a cloudy day with a high of thirty. Sunrise is 6:34 AM and sunset 5:40 PM, for 11h 05m 33s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 1.4% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}one hundred ninth day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}
Illustration of Ida Lewis rowing by Phebe Ann Hanaford. Via Wikimedia.
It’s the 175th birthday of Ida Lewis, an American lighthouse keeper rightly honored for rescuing people at sea: “There are no definitive records of Ida’s rescues and she was too modest to recount them herself, though some were documented in local newspapers and at least one garnered national attention; in February of 1881 she ventured into the bitter winter winds to rescue two soldiers who had fallen through the ice while traveling on foot. This act of bravery caught the attention of President Grant who shortly thereafter awarded her the prestigious Gold Lifesaving Medal. Eleven years after her death, the Rhode Island legislature voted to rename her former home, Lime Rock Lighthouse, as Ida Lewis Lighthouse in her honor. It’s important to remember that being a lighthouse keeper required unwavering courage, sheer physical strength, constant diligence, and a willingness to put one’s own life on the line. Ida was so dedicated that supposedly she would rush into inclement weather without shoes or coat so as not a waste a single second. Her life and legacy were not only an honor to research and illustrate, but truly a source of inspiration.”
Recommended for reading in full —
Steve Verburg reports that Wisconsin Senate leader’s [Scott Fitzgerald] bill would relax high-capacity well regs: “The leader of the state Senate’s Republican majority has authored a bill to further relax regulation of high-powered water wells that have been linked to dwindling lakes and rivers in some parts of the state. The bill would allow drilling of wells that pump large quantities of ground water for farms and industry without review by state regulators if the new wells replace existing permitted wells. Conservationists and groups representing waterfront property owners have fought similar proposals — including several that failed last year — because they would eliminate opportunities to adjust well operations when they cause problems for other water users. “It locks in the existing problems, especially in the central area of the state where lakes and streams are drying up,” Amber Meyer Smith of Clean Wisconsin said Wednesday.”
Rachel Abrams profiles The Anti-Trump Activist Taking On Retailers: “SAN FRANCISCO — Sitting in a basement office that she rents by the hour, Shannon Coulter ticks off the activities she gave up in defiance of President Donald J. Trump: renting movies with her husband on Amazon, and shopping at Nordstrom, Macy’s and other retailers that sell Ivanka Trump’s products. A Nordstrom bag sat on a nearby table. It represents a victory lap of sorts for Ms. Coulter, who has almost single-handedly spearheaded a retail revolt against the president and his family. She was wearing a new silver Elizabeth and James lariat necklace purchased at the department store soon after it scrubbed Ms. Trump’s name from its website. “The goal,” Ms. Coulter said, “came originally from a place of really wanting to shop the stores we loved again with a clear conscience.” It’s been a wild ride these past few months for Ms. Coulter, who runs her shoestring movement from her home, or from cheerfully decorated work spaces like this one — surrounded by bright-blue furniture, clam chairs and decorative pillows that feel more Silicon Valley than anti-administration war room….The attention has transformed Ms. Coulter, 45, a digital marketing specialist, into the unlikely general of the digital army now supporting her campaign, Grab Your Wallet.”
Danielle Lerner reports that Muhammad Ali Jr. detained by immigration officials at Fla. airport: “Muhammad Ali Jr., 44, and his mother, Khalilah Camacho-Ali, the second wife of Muhammad Ali, were arriving at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Feb. 7 after returning from speaking at a Black History Month event in Montego Bay, Jamaica. They were pulled aside while going through customs because of their Arabic-sounding names, according to family friend and lawyer Chris Mancini. Immigration officials let Camacho-Ali go after she showed them a photo of herself with her ex-husband, but her son did not have such a photo and wasn’t as lucky. Mancini said officials held and questioned Ali Jr. for nearly two hours, repeatedly asking him, “Where did you get your name from?” and “Are you Muslim?” When Ali Jr. responded that yes, he is a Muslim, the officers kept questioning him about his religion and where he was born. Ali Jr. was born in Philadelphia in 1972 and holds a U.S. passport.”
Aaron Blake offers Stephen Bannon’s nationalist call to arms, annotated: “Bannon participated in a panel discussion with White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and Matt Schlapp, the head of the American Conservative Union. And Bannon’s rhetoric was chock-full of the kind of nationalist, anti-news media rhetoric for which he has become known. He cast the next four years as a constant battle with the media. “If you think they’re going to give you your country back without a fight, you’re sadly mistaken,” he said. It was a window into the worldview of a man whose worldview very much aligns with Trump’s own. Below, we’re posting the conversation in full, with our annotations. To see an annotation, click on the yellow, highlighted text….“
Even small insects can do big things —