Monthly Archives: October 2016
Johnson-Weld, Libertarians, Politics, Presidential race 2016
Where Libertarians Stand on the Presidential Race
by JOHN ADAMS •
Libertarians have a political philosophy, and may also be members of a political party using that same name. For those of us who are both ideologically libertarian and members of the national party (as I am), the statement yesterday from Libertarian vice presidential candidate Bill Weld (a former Republican governor of Massachusetts), summaries nicely our views on the 2016 presidential race.
I’ve reproduced Gov. Weld’s full statement below, and I’d not quibble with a single word of it:
“It is a privilege and an honor to participate in this year’s national election campaign. I am grateful to Governor Gary Johnson for the opportunity to do so. Under Governor Johnson’s leadership the Libertarian Party has made great strides in this election cycle. Gary and I will carry our message of fiscal responsibility, social inclusion, and smaller government through November 8, and I hope that this election cycle will secure for the Libertarian Party a permanent place in our national political dialogue.
“We are making strides toward breaking the two party monopoly, and America will be stronger when we do, but given the position of the Commission on Presidential Debates, the deck is still stacked against even a credible third party ticket with two proven former Governors.
“Against that backdrop, I would like to address myself to all those in the electorate who remain torn between two so-called major party candidates whom they cannot enthusiastically support. I’m speaking particularly to those Republicans who feel that our President should exhibit commonly accepted standards of decency and discipline.
“I would not have stepped out of the swirl of the campaign to make this statement if I did not fear for our country, as I do.
“A President of the United States operates every day under a great deal of pressure — from all sides, and in furtherance of many different agendas. With that pressure comes constant criticism.
“After careful observation and reflection, I have come to believe that Donald Trump, if elected President of the United States, would not be able to stand up to this pressure and this criticism without becoming unhinged and unable to perform competently the duties of his office.
“Mr. Trump has some charisma and panache, and intellectual quickness. These qualities can be entertaining. Yet more than charisma, more even than intellectual ability, is required of a serious candidate for this country’s highest office. A serious candidate for the Presidency of the United States must be stable, and Donald Trump is not stable.
“Throughout this campaign, Mr. Trump has demonstrated an inability to handle criticism or blame well. His first instinct is to lash out at others. When challenged, he often responds as a child might. He makes a sour face, he calls people by insulting names, he waves his arms, he impatiently interrupts. Most families would not allow their children to remain at the dinner table if they behaved as Mr. Trump does. He has not exhibited the self-control, the discipline, or the emotional depth necessary to function credibly as a President of the United States.
“From the beginning of his campaign, Mr. Trump has conjured up enemies. First it was eleven million criminals in our midst, all bent on obtaining the benefits of citizenship, at our expense. Over time, the enemies became any trading partner of the United States. He says they are nothing but foreigners seeking to threaten our livelihoods. Now we have reached the point where his idea of America’s enemies includes almost anyone who talks or looks different from him. The goal of the Trump campaign, from the outset, has been to stir up envy, resentment, and group hatred.
“This is the worst of American politics. I fear for our cohesion as a nation, and for our place in the world, if this man who is unwilling to say he will abide by the result of our national election becomes our President.
“This great nation has weathered policy differences throughout our history, and we will do so again. Not in my lifetime, though, has there been a candidate for President who actually makes me fear for the ultimate well-being of the country, a candidate who might in fact put at risk the solid foundation of America that allows us to endure even ill-advised policies and the normal ebb and flow of politics.
“In the final days of this very close race, every citizen must be aware of the power and responsibility of each individual vote. This is not the time to cast a jocular or feel-good vote for a man whom you may have briefly found entertaining. Donald Trump should not, cannot, and must not be elected President of the United States.”
Via STATEMENT BY GOV. BILL WELD REGARDING THE FINAL WEEKS OF THIS ELECTION @ Johnson-Weld 2016.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 10.26.16
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning, Whitewater.
Midweek in Whitewater will be rainy, with possible thundershowers, and with a daytime high of forty-eight. Sunrise is 7:23 AM and sunset 5:54 PM, for 10h 30m 55s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 16% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Tech Park Board meets at 8 AM, and the Community Development Board at 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1881, the most famous gunfight in the Old West takes place in Tombstone, Arizona Territory:
The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a 30-second shootout between lawmen and members of a loosely organized group of outlaws called the Cowboys that took place at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona Territory. It is generally regarded as the most famous shootout in the history of the American Wild West. The gunfight was the result of a long-simmering feud, with Cowboys Billy Claiborne, Ikeand Billy Clanton, and Tom and Frank McLaury on one side and town Marshal Virgil Earp, Special Policeman Morgan Earp, Special Policeman Wyatt Earp and temporary policeman Doc Holliday on the other side. All three Earp brothers had been the target of repeated death threats made by the Cowboys, who were upset by the Earps’ interference in their illegal activities. Billy Clanton and both McLaury brothers were killed. Ike Clanton claimed he was unarmed and ran from the fight, along with Billy Claiborne. Virgil, Morgan, and Doc Holliday were wounded, but Wyatt Earp was unharmed. The shootout has come to represent a period of the American Old West when the frontier was virtually an open range for outlaws, largely unopposed by law enforcement officers, who were spread thin over vast territories.
The gunfight was not well-known to the American public until 1931, when Stuart Lake published an initially well-received biography, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal, two years after Earp’s death.[1] The book was the basis for the 1946 film My Darling Clementine, directed by John Ford,[1] and the 1957 film Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, after which the shootout became known by that name. Since then, the conflict has been portrayed with varying degrees of accuracy in numerous Western films and books, and has become an archetype for much of the popular imagery associated with the Old West.
On this day in 1818, Wisconsin receives her first counties:
1818 – First Counties in Wisconsin Declared
On this date Lewis Cass, governor of the Michigan Territory, declared the first counties in Wisconsin. The counties included Michilimackinac (all areas drained by Lake Superior tributaries), Brown, and Crawford counties, which were separated through Portage. Michilimackinac County is now part of the state of Michigan. Governor Cass later became the Secretary of War under President Andrew Jackson, as well as the Minister to France and a Michigan Senator. Cass, a Democrat, also ran for president in 1848, but lost to Whig Zachary Taylor due to factions within the Democratic Party and the formation of the Free Soil Party. [Source: Historic Elmwood Cemetery and Foundation]
JigZone’s dailly puzzle for Wednesday is of tennis balls:
America, City, Development, Economy, Free Markets
Small Towns in America Can Thrive
by JOHN ADAMS •
I posted recently about James Fallows’s Eleven Signs That a City Will Succeed.
(See, from FW, James Fallows on ‘Eleven Signs a City Will Succeed’ (Part 1) and an assessment of those signs for Whitewater, James Fallows on ‘Eleven Signs a City Will Succeed’ (Part 2).)
In the video below, James & Deborah Fallows talk about how (comparatively) smaller cities in different parts of the country are thriving. It’s a brief video, but from it one might be led to a deeper, if different, assessment of how a community can succeed.
Of this point one may be certain: it never was, and it never will, be true that boosterism brings lasting success to a community.
I’m not convinced, absent more information, exactly why these towns are succeeding, but I’ve no doubt that America’s future is bright nationally, and can be bright locally, too.
The job market in the United States is constantly shifting—especially in small towns that were once totally reliant on large factories for jobs. While politicians focus on failing industries, things looks different from the local perspective. Atlantic national correspondent James Fallows and contributing writer Deborah Fallows travelled to Pennsylvania, California, and Kansas to understand what transformations were happening in various industries. “These perceived weaknesses are actually our strength,” says one young resident of Erie, Pennsylvania.
Via The Atlantic.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 10.25.16
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning, Whitewater.
Tuesday in town will be cloudy with a high of fifty-four. Sunrise is 7:21 AM and sunset is 5:55 PM, for 10h 33m 34s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 23.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
Common Council meets this evening at 6:30 PM, and the Fire Department will hold a business meeting at 7 PM.
I want to say to you, Mr. Zorin, that I do not have your talent for obfuscation, for distortion, for confusing language, and for doubletalk. And I must confess to you that I am glad that I do not!
But if I understood what you said, you said that my position had changed, that today I was defensive because we did not have the evidence to prove our assertions, that your Government had installed long-range missiles in Cuba.
Well, let me say something to you, Mr. Ambassador—we do have the evidence. We have it, and it is clear and it is incontrovertible. And let me say something else—those weapons must be taken out of Cuba.
Next, let me say to you that, if I understood you, with a trespass on credibility that excels your best, you said that our position had changed since I spoke here the other day because of the pressures of world opinion and the majority of the United Nations. Well, let me say to you, sir, you are wrong again. We have had no pressure from anyone whatsoever. We came in here today to indicate our willingness to discuss Mr. U Thant’s proposals, and that is the only change that has taken place.
But let me also say to you, sir, that there has been a change. You—the Soviet Union has sent these weapons to Cuba. You—the Soviet Union has upset the balance of power in the world. You—the Soviet Union has created this new danger, not the United States.
And you ask with a fine show of indignation why the President did not tell Mr. Gromyko on last Thursday about our evidence, at the very time that Mr. Gromyko was blandly denying to the President that the U.S.S.R. was placing such weapons on sites in the new world.
Well, I will tell you why—because we were assembling the evidence, and perhaps it would be instructive to the world to see how a Soviet official—how far he would go in perfidy. Perhaps we wanted to know if this country faced another example of nuclear deceit like that one a year ago, when in stealth, the Soviet Union broke the nuclear test moratorium.
And while we are asking questions, let me ask you why your Government—your Foreign Minister—deliberately, cynically deceived us about the nuclear build-up in Cuba….
On this day in 1909, an explosion hits the Pabst Brewery:
On this date a major boiler house explosion devastated three stories at Pabst Brewing Company early in the morning. The damage was estimated at about $250,000, one worker was killed and another was injured. Pabst Brewing Company filed a claim with its insurer, the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, to recover damages from the explosion. [Source: Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company]
JigZone‘s puzzle of the day is of a clock face:
Campaign Ads, Politics
‘Please Re-Elect Gerald’
by JOHN ADAMS •
In Travis County, Texas, incumbent Commissioner Gerald Daugherty has probably one of the best political ads of the season –
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Young Frankenstein
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, October 25th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Young Frankenstein @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building.
In Young Frankenstein, an “American grandson of the infamous scientist, struggling to prove that his grandfather is not as insane as people believe, is invited to Transylvania, where he discovers the process that reanimates a dead body.”
The 1974 comedy classic, directed by Mel Brooks, stars Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman, Cloris Leachman, and Peter Boyle, with a run time of one hour, forty-six minutes. The film carries a PG rating from the Motion Picture Association of America.
One can find more information about Young Frankenstein at the Internet Movie Database.
Enjoy.
Elections
Needless Election Anxiety
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a story over at Vox, from Brian Resnick, reporting that ‘Election anxiety is real. A majority of Americans report “significant stress” due to 2016.’
Resnick writes that
[t]he American Psychological Association has released some preliminary data from its upcoming annual “Stress in America” report, on the nation’s level of anxiety specifically around this election.Around half of people surveyed (52 percent) say the election “is a very or somewhat significant” source of stress in their lives. The breakdown by party is about even: 59 percent of Republicans and 55 percent of Democrats say this election is causing them stress.
There’s much at stake, but nationally, statewide, or locally there’s no reason for anxiety over November 8th’s results. We’re a resilient people, having been through conditions far more difficult than those we face today. We’ve come through a revolution, a civil war, two world wars, a cold war, a depression, a great recession, and significant periods of protest until legal reform. We’re more than able to manage the current elections, whatever their results.
Far from being a source of anxiety, our exercise of fundamental rights should be a source of confidence for us.
Think too much about today, and the sky might seem to be falling. Look back even briefly at our history, and one has cause for equanimity. more >>
Music
Monday Music: The Black Keys, Turn Blue
by JOHN ADAMS •
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 10.24.16
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning, Whitewater.
Monday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of fifty-five. Sunrise is 7:20 AM and sunset is 5:56 PM, for 10h 36m 15s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 32.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission is scheduled to meet today at 4:30 PM.
On this day in 1861, Abraham Lincoln receives the first transcontinental telegraph message:
On October 24, 1861, with the push of a button, California’s chief justice, Stephen J. Field, wired a message from San Francisco to President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, congratulating him on the transcontinental telegraph’s completion that day. He added the wish that it would be a ‘means of strengthening the attachment which binds both the East and the West to the Union.’
A rudimentary version of the Internet — not much more advanced than two tin cans and a string — had been born. But it worked, and it grew.
Just a few years after the nation was wired, telegraph technology would be extended to the rest of North America, and soon cylindrical wires from Mexico to Canada would jangle with little bursts of electromagnetic juice, sending messages of every kind and redefining how communication can mean business.
On this day in 1933, a noted aviator visits Janesville:
1933 – Amelia Earhart Visits Janesville
On this date Amelia Earhart spoke to the Janesville Woman’s History Club as part of the group’s 57th anniversary celebration. Four years later, Earhart disappeared as she attempted to fly across the Pacific Ocean. [Source: Janesville Gazette 10/24/1933, p.2]
JigZone‘s puzzle for Monday is of a bronze statue:
Adventure, Faraway Places, Sports
China: A Skier’s Journey
by JOHN ADAMS •
China: A Skier's Journey from Jordan Manley on Vimeo.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 10.23.16
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning, Whitewater.
Sunday in town will be sunny and mild with a high of sixty-seven. Sunrise is 7:19 AM and sunset 5:58 PM, for 10h 38m 57s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 42.6% of its visible disk illuminated.
Friday’s FW Poll asked readers whether they thought that the Cubs or Dodgers would win the National League Championship Series. Most respondents (70.83%) thought that the Cubs would win, and they did win last night by shutting out Los Angeles 5-0 at Wrigley Field.
On this day in 1942, the Allies launch the Second Battle of El Alamein:
The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October–11 November 1942) was a decisive[9][10] battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. With the Allies victorious, it marked the watershed of the Western Desert Campaign. The First Battle of El Alamein, had prevented the Axis from advancing further into Egypt. In August 1942, Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Law Montgomery took command of the Eighth Army following the sacking of General Claude Auchinleck and the death of his replacement Lieutenant-General William Gott in a plane crash.
The British victory turned the tide in the North African Campaign and ended the Axis threat to Egypt, the Suez Canal and the Middle Eastern and Persian oil fields via North Africa. Second El Alamein revived the morale of the Allies, being the first big success against the Axis since Operation Crusader in late 1941. The battle coincided with the Allied invasion of French North Africa in Operation Torch, which started on 8 November.
On this day in 1921, it’s a first for the Packers:
On this date the Green Bay Packers played their first NFL game. The Packers defeated the Minneapolis Marines 7-6, for a crowd of 6,000 fans and completed their inaugural season with 3 wins, 2 losses, and 2 ties. [Source: Packers.com]
Science/Nature, Space
The Search for a Ninth Planet
by JOHN ADAMS •
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 10.22.16
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning, Whitewater.
Saturday in town will be cloudy in the morning, but sunnier in the afternoon, with a daytime high of sixty. Sunrise is 7:18 AM and sunset 5:59 PM, for 10h 41m 40s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 52.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
On October 22 at 7:00 pm EDT, President Kennedy delivered a nationwide televised address on all of the major networks announcing the discovery of the missiles.
It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.[58]
Kennedy described the administration’s plan:
To halt this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba, from whatever nation or port, will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back. This quarantine will be extended, if needed, to other types of cargo and carriers. We are not at this time, however, denying the necessities of life as the Soviets attempted to do in their Berlin blockade of 1948.[58]
On this day in 1843, a noted agricultural scientist is born:
1843 – Stephen Moulton Babcock Born
On this date Stephen Moulton Babcock was born in Bridgewater, New York. From 1887 to 1913, he was a professor of agricultural chemistry at the University of Wisconsin and chief chemist for the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station. In 1890 Babcock developed the Babcock test for determining the butterfat content of milk. The test advanced the modern dairy industry as it permitted rapid and accurate grading of milk at markets, discouraged adulteration and thinning practices, and promoted the development of better dairy strains. Babcock worked for 43 years at the University of Wisconsin, where he established a laboratory to conduct pioneering research in nutrition and vitamin chemistry. Babcock died on July 2, 1931.