Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of fifty-seven. Sunrise is 6:24 AM and sunset 7:28 PM, for 13h 04m 26s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 85.7% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}one hundred fiftieth day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}
On this day in 1862, Union forces under the command of Gen. Grant defeat Confederates at the Battle of Shiloh in southwestern Tennessee. On this day in 1970, the Milwaukee Brewers play their first game at County Stadium.
Recommended for reading in full —
Annysa Johnson and Kevin Crowe report that Wisconsin voters continue to approve more school referendums as $700 million OK’d this week: “Voters across Wisconsin agreed Tuesday to boost local school spending by an additional $700 million, approving the majority of referendums school districts placed on the ballots. In all, voters agreed to take on an additional $464.7 million in new debt for building projects — on top of the $1.35 billion approved last year — and to contribute an additional $235 million for operating expenses. Of the 65 questions before voters Tuesday, 40, or 62% passed, including a near-record $181.3 million sought for the burgeoning Verona Area School District in Dane County. But more than a third of the measures failed, an outcome district officials say will force them to cut programming, lay off staff, and eliminate or defer building maintenance and improvements.”
Adam Taylor reports that Trump loves a conspiracy theory. Now his allies in the fringe media say he’s falling for one in Syria: “Across the Internet, an alternative take on the horrific attack — widely attributed to the Syrian government — has begun to spread. It was a “false flag,” the theory goes, designed to trick Trump into intervening more forcefully in the Syrian war. Those spreading this theory are often closely linked to the “alt-right,” a small, far right movement whose members are known for espousing racist, anti-Semitic and sexist points of view. One of the most notorious figures associated with the movement, Mike Cernovich, posted tweets on Wednesday claiming that the gut-wrenching footage of victims of the attack had been faked.”
Note: There’s ample evidence that the gas attacks against civilians were both genuine and devasating; Trump’s trafficked in so many lies, and his most rabid supporters are so accustomed to lies, that now a conspiracy-driven chief executive faces his own conspiracy-driven vanguard.
Maggie Haberman, Jeremy Peters, and Peter Baker report that It’s Bannon vs. Kushner: “WASHINGTON — Thick with tension, the conversation this week between Stephen K. Bannon, the chief White House strategist, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, had deteriorated to the point of breakdown. Finally, Mr. Bannon identified why they could not compromise, according to someone with knowledge of the conversation. “Here’s the reason there’s no middle ground,” Mr. Bannon growled. “You’re a Democrat.” The schism within Mr. Trump’s perpetually fractious White House has grown in recent weeks, fueled by personality, ideology and ambition. At its core are Mr. Bannon, the edgy, nationalist bomb-thrower suddenly in the seat of power, and Mr. Kushner, the polished, boyish-looking scion of New Jersey and New York real estate. Even as Mr. Kushner’s portfolio of responsibilities has been expanding, Mr. Bannon’s in recent days has shrunk with the loss of a national security post.”
The Los Angeles Times editorial board writes that, in reponse to Trump, California Fights Back: “For starters, California should continue to pursue its agenda on human and civil rights, on clean air, water and climate change, and on equality. Trump can dismantle the federal Clean Power Plan, but he can’t stop the state from moving toward its renewable energy goal of 50% by 2030 as laid out in SB 350 two years ago. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can reduce national fuel efficiency standards, but if it seeks to revoke California’s waiver that lets the state set its own, tougher rules, state lawmakers should fight back, including taking the agency to court if necessary. Trump can continue his counterproductive and mean-spirited efforts to deport non-criminal immigrants living in the country illegally, but the state’s local law enforcement agencies are not legally required to do the feds’ job for them; they should not.”
What would an orchestra of typerwiters sound like? Playing Against Type: The Typewriter Orchestra shows —
Playing Against Type: The Typewriter Orchestra from Great Big Story on Vimeo.
For pre-digital natives, there’s nothing quite as nostalgia-inducing as the manual “click,” “clack” and “ding” sounds of an old mechanical typewriter. That’s why The Boston Typewriter Orchestra is making these old machines quite literally “sing” again. Since 2004, this six-man ensemble has been playing a range of covers and original songs on both desktop and portable machines from years past. And if you thought all typewriters emitted the same sounds, think again. This orchestra’s sonorous symphonies have captivated crowds all over New England.