Friday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 45. Sunrise is 7:21 and sunset is 4:49, for 9 hours, 27 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 86 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1944, Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties.
Angela visits the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, 8,600 acres between La Farge and Ontario, to learn about its bid to become the state’s second International Dark Sky Park. Executive director Jason Leis and electrical engineer Scott Lind demonstrate their efforts to maintain low light pollution through special fixtures and community outreach.
SpaceX launched its Starship rocket on its latest test flight, but the spacecraft was destroyed following a thrilling booster catch back at the pad. The spacecraft was supposed to soar across the Gulf of Mexico from Texas on a near loop around the world similar to previous test flights
The suspected sightings are far and wide across the country. In Essex, a fisherman was hissed at by a black leopard (he noticed its rosettes) at 5am as he disturbed it cornering a muntjac deer. In Somerset, a dog walker watched a black leopard take down a roe deer in the adjacent field – she located the dragged and neatly eaten carcass three days later, when she felt safe to return. In Dorset, a woman watched a black leopard effortlessly descend a tree after targeting a squirrel’s drey 12m up.
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So how did these cats spill into our landscapes? Quite simply, they were put here. They are likely the result of dumped pets and guard animals, released collections, discarded military mascots, illegally traded wildlife, and leakage from run-down, homespun zoos. While various big cats have always been collected, the mystique of the black leopard has an enduring appeal, making it a particularly popular choice to keep in captivity.
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We must also look at the scientific evidence. Positive DNA results proving the presence of big cats in Britain are limited, yet do exist. There are six publicly known positive DNA results that match the leopard (Panthera pardus), two from recent years: from Gloucestershire in 2022, from a hair snagged on a barbed-wire fence in the vicinity of a sheep kill; and from Cumbria in 2023, when DNA was found on a carcass – again, of a sheep.
Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 35. Sunrise is 7:22 and sunset is 4:47, for 9 hours, 26 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 92.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1945, Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.
Whitewater has geese at Cravath, but not far away by the Great Lakes one can find large numbers and varieties of gulls.
Blue Origin launched its massive new rocket on its first test flight Thursday, sending up a prototype satellite to orbit thousands of miles above Earth. [While the rocket reached orbit to launch a satellite, the first-stage booster missed its landing on a barge in the Atlantic. See Marcia Dunn, New Glenn rocket reaches orbit on first test flight, Associated Press, January 16, 2025.]
Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 20. Sunrise is 7:22 and sunset is 4:46, for 9 hours, 24 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 96 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1967, the first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles. The Packers defeat the Chiefs 35–10.
It is from our daughter-in-law in Seattle that we first learned the term The Big Dark for winter at that high latitude. These months, in the Pacific Northwest and Wisconsin, bring less daylight, more nighttime. The Big Dark.
The term has other uses. All of us, politically, are now in a big dark: while one can dimly see the terrain, there’s not enough light to be confident when placing each and every footstep. Predicting any given step, any given day, always has some uncertainty. It has greater uncertainty now, as unpredictability is among the characteristics of the populism that holds sway.
A story in the Journal Sentinel about prospective Wisconsin 2026 gubernatorial candidates might make sense in ordinary times, as statewide campaigns have to fundraise long in advance of election day. See Molly Beck and Lawrence Andrea, Republican challengers start to line up as Gov. Tony Evers considers 2026 run for 3rd term, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 14, 2025. In these times, the story is of limited use to anyone other than campaign teams.
Who’s running in 2026 matters far less than what happens, and who’s running, in 2025. It’s better to turn away from next year’s possibilities and list in this year one’s principles, all the better to meet challenges and threats far closer than next year’s candidates.
Overused but never more useful: first things first. Far too soon for 2026.
The Dakar Rally, an annual rally raid organized by the Amaury Sport Organization, is currently happening in Saudi Arabia. AP photographer, Christophe Ena, offers a behind-the-scenes look into how he captures the off-road motorsport event, frame-by-frame.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 15. Sunrise is 7:23 and sunset is 4:45, for 9 hours, 22 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 99.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Tech Park Innovation Center Advisory Board meets at 8:30 AM, the Public Works Committee meets at 5 PM, and the Landmarks Commission meets at 6 PM.
On this day in 1784 it’s the first Ratification Day, as the Confederation Congress (under the Articles of Confederation) ratifies the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain:
By the United States in Congress assembled, a proclamation : Whereas definitive articles of peace and friendship, between the United States of America and His Britannic Majesty, were concluded and signed at Paris, on the 3rd day of September, 1783 … we have thought proper by these presents, to notify the premises to all the good citizens of these United States … Given under the seal of the United States, witness His Excellency Thomas Mifflin, our president, at Annapolis, this fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four …
Yesterday’s post, Debunking Grifters and Crackpots on Social Media, described the skill with which Dr. Jessica Knurick refuted false nutritional claims on social media. In this clash of ideas, Knurick applied her field’s expertise in reply others’ weak or mendacious claims. A few points about expertise appear below.
First, this libertarian blogger has not described himself on this site as an expert in some particular field. FREE WHITEWATER is, by design, a website for all readers of ‘commentary on politics, policy, and popular culture, published from Whitewater, Wisconsin since 2007.’ I have a profession, but this website isn’t designed merely for that profession. (FREE WHITEWATER would look very different if were otherwise.) It’s meant to be as it is. And so, and so, I’m not referring to myself as an expert in anything that follows.
Second, as someone wrote to me last night, nutrition expert Dr. Knurick takes a dim view of, in her words, capitalism1. (That’s true, she does, and anyone who followed her work, as I have, would know as much.) And yet, and yet, I did not tout her expertise in economics but rather her expertise in nutrition. She’s strong there: that was the full reach of my endorsement (although I’m sure she’s a fine person and an asset to her community).
Third, a responsible community, and responsible political leadership, should at the least allow those with a strong expertise or understanding to speak responsively to others’ claims (especially others’ tendentious claims). While any resident should be allowed to stand at the lectern and speak, afterward members of the government should be able to reply to unsupported claims or weak arguments. Residents should be able to speak; a responsible board or council should allow members of the government to reply after all residents have finished speaking.
I’m not writing here about general, non-agenda public comment, but about residents’ specific comments on points that are on the agenda.
Otherwise, at that meeting, one hears only one side of the issue. ‘We’ll get to the other side later’ impoverishes the discussion. Whitewater should expect of her government that it be capable of replying then and there. Holding back the government reply to placate a few residents only serves to create the false impression that a point from the lectern is more serious, and so needing of study, than it truly is2.
If there is a government employee who can answer a point after residents’ points have been made, based on that employee’s knowledge, he or she should be allowed — indeed, afforded the opportunity — to do so. More speech means more speech3.
Bluntly: keep the discussion going, as the strength of a claim is often revealed only after it meets a reply. If a reply is available readily, then it should be heard, not postponed.
How could one not admire Dr. Knurick’s argumentation, for example, on nutrition? It’s cultivated abilities like hers, of so many in so many fields, that have made America a global leader.4
Whitewater should not hold back members of an administration with equivalent abilities.
__________
Private ownership of capital is merely one part of a productive, advanced economics. It’s much more than that, as myriad free, voluntary transactions: of capital, labor, goods, and services. All of it, all of those, where one chooses freely. ↩︎
If there’s a ready answer, boards and commissions only undermine rigorous discussion to placate a few by contending that something needs to be looked into. ↩︎
Not merely more speech for one’s friends at the lectern. ↩︎
Despite a bumpy phase of inflation shocks and high interest rates, the US economy has continued to outpace the growth rates of other advanced economies. Since January 2020, growth in US real GDP has touched 10%, three times the G7 average.
Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 17. Sunrise is 7:23 and sunset is 4:44, for 9 hours, 21 minutes of daytime. The moon is full with 99.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Planning & Architectural Review Commission meets at 6 PM.
On this day in 1953, an article appears in Pravda falsely accusing some of the most prestigious and prominent doctors, mostly Jews, in the Soviet Union of taking part in a vast plot (the so-called Doctors’ plot) to poison members of the top Soviet political and military leadership.
On social media, principally TikTok or Instagram, there are thousands of accounts that that make wholly false claims that ordinary foods and products contain poisons: did you know that?, look what I’ve found, can you believe?
On platforms with so many conspiracists, there’s an unfortunate need for a knowledgeable, reasonable, and intelligent person to refute hysterical lies. How fortunate for a marketplace of ideas that Dr. Jessica Knurick (PhD, RDN) offers concise and compelling refutations to so many distortions.
Below, I’ve embedded her latest critique of a false nutrition claim:
Well done. This libertarian blogger has argued, sensibly, that those who make claims should show their own work1. Showing one’s own work does not mean that there is no expertise, or that there are no experts. There are.
Dr. Knurick uses her evident expertise to refute fallacies, misunderstandings, and outright lies about nutrition. That’s not my field2, yet one can — or at least should — be able to see the difference between sound and unsound claims.
A quick example: Over the years, I can scarcely count the number of times that I’ve listened to non-lawyers in Whitewater and beyond try their hands at statutory interpretation and go wildly wrong. Admittedly, it should be easier to read our own laws; regrettably, it’s not. ↩︎
A young gorilla rescued from a plane’s cargo hold is recovering at an Istanbul zoo, while wildlife officers consider returning him to his natural habitat.
Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy & windy with a high of 34. Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset is 4:43, for 9 hours, 19 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 97.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
But [Waukesha County Circuit Court judge and Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate] Schimel suggested there are other perks to being a judge than having your own potty.
“You set your own hours,” Schimel said. “I set the hours. Certainly, I’ve got to get my cases done, but I can decide — you know what? — if I want to do golf on Thursday afternoon, I can do that.”
The same, Schimel said, is not true for lawyers, who have to show up in court when told to do so. He said he doesn’t misuse that power. And, he said, there are times he’s had to work “all day and into the evening.”
But that appears to be the exception.
“I’m home for dinner most nights now,” he said. “I shoot in two sporting clays leagues. Or I was until I made this announcement (to run for the Supreme Court). I was shooting in two shooting clays leagues a week. I was doing all this, playing band rehearsals.”
Saturday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 30. Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset is 4:42, for 9 hours, 18 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 93.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
This bomb disposal unit in Northeastern France is removing unexploded bombs still left behind from World War One. Watch the heroes saving civilians from injury, terror attacks, and even death.
Friday in Whitewater will be snowy & cloudy with a high of 29. Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset is 4:40, for 9 hours, 16 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 86.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 2 PM.
On this day in 1776, Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet Common Sense.
Yesterday, I posted on the statewide race for Superintendent of Public Instruction, and mentioned local races that were contested. One Wisconsin election, however, is sure to attract attention far beyond the Badger State:
About $5 million has already been raised by two judges vying to be the next justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, with Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, the candidate backed by Democrats, claiming she’s outraised former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel by $600,000.
While detailed reports aren’t due until Jan. 15, both candidates released fundraising totals Wednesday covering a period ending Dec. 31.
Schimel’s campaign said it raised $1.5 million between July 1 and Dec. 31, and a grand total of $2.2 million since he got into the race in November 2023.
….
Crawford’s campaign said she raised $2.8 million since entering the race in June 2024, seven months after Schimel. During the July to December reporting period, Crawford’s campaign said it raised more than $2.4 million from donors in 71 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties and ended the period with $2.1 million in the bank.
There’s Wisconsin’s big contest for 2025, with only few other high-profile elections nationally (notably, gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia). Our Wisconsin Supreme Court election will receive attention, and money, from across America.
The 2023 election spending between Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz and former Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly was well over $50 million, and it’s a comfortable guess that this race will top that figure.
Employers added 256,000 workers last month, surpassing economist expectations of 155,000 jobs added, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data on Friday showed.
Tuesday, January 14th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of The Apprentice @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Period Drama/Biography
Rated R (language)
2 hours, 2 minutes (2024)
The story of how a young Donald Trump started his real estate business in the 1970’s and 80’s in New York with the helping hand of the infamous lawyer, Roy Cohn. Starring Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong.
Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 27. Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset is 4:39, for 9 hours, 15 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 78.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Public Arts Commission meets at 5 PM.
Statewide, there will be a February primary election for Wisconsin’s Superintendent of Public Instruction. In this statewide race, it’s not merely contested but contested in a way that requires a primary election:
Three candidates have filed nomination papers for state Superintendent of Public Instruction, which means there will be a primary election next month for Wisconsin’s top education post.
State Superintendent Jill Underly has two challengers: Sauk Prairie School District Superintendent Jeff Wright, and Brittany Kinser, a former special education teacher and reading advocate.
The primary will be held Feb. 18 with the top two candidates facing each other in the nonpartisan election on April 1.
Locally, we’ll have, it seems, contested races for the Whitewater Unified School District Board and one of our city’s assembly districts before the voters in April. That’s all to the good: voters will be able to see differences between candidates.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 21. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset is 4:38, for 9 hours, 14 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 67.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Lakes Advisory Committee meets at 4:30 PM.
For today, a quick update on two votes from the 1.7.25 Whitewater Common Council on development. I supported both proposals, but I’d say the Council’s votes (with 6 council members present) went as one would have expected. There were no genuine surprises, to my mind:
1. A 4-2 vote against the proposal of Premier Real Estate Management to purchase a 10.96 acre parcel of vacant land (Tax Parcel No. /A4444200001) owned by the City located on East Main Court to develop a 60-unit multi-family housing units on the property. (Video @ 1:53:20.)
2. A 6-0 vote in favor of the proposal (letter of intent), for the Neumann-Hoffmann project, where the Neumann Companies will develop a significant residential project at a portion of Tax Parcel WUP 00324 lying north of the Hwy. 12 Bypass and a portion of Tax Parcel WUP 00325 lying north of the Hwy. 12 Bypass and east of Indian Mound Parkway on about 67 acres for 150 homes and 60 multifamily units. (Video @ 2:12:09.)
Dr. Amanda Bauer is reimagining the future of Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay as a historic outpost for space exploration and future artistic collaboration.
