Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be cloudy in the morning, sunnier in the afternoon, with a high of forty-eight. Sunrise is 7:01 AM and sunset 4:23 PM, for 9h 21m 46s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 7.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1838, the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature assembles in Madison for the first time.

Worth reading or watching in full —

Fidel Castro’s dead, but the Cuba Archive has a record of the people his regime killed or tortured: “Cuba Archive’s Truth and Memory Project documents deaths and disappearances resulting from the Cuban revolution and studies transitional issues of truth, memory and justice. This seeks to help Cubans attain their rightful freedoms, foster a culture of respect for life and the rule of law, and honor the memory of those who’ve paid the highest price.”

Putin’s been busy, as Researchers Identify 200 Websites That ‘Reliably Echo Russian Propaganda’ to Millions of Americans: “Russia had a hand in spreading fake news to millions of Americans during the election cycle, according to two independent research groups, PropOrNot and Foreign Policy Research Institute. The Washington Post was the first media outlet to report PropOrNot’s findings that there are over 200 websites described as “routine peddlers of Russian propaganda during the election season, with combined audiences of at least 15 million Americans.” The most recognizable names on the list of “sites that reliably echo Russian propaganda” include Alex Jones’ Infowars, Julian Assange’s Wikileaks and Matt Drudge’s Drudge Report. Others include The Federalist Papers, ZeroHedge, the Free Thought Project and USAPoliticsNow.”

Netflix & Amazon subscribers have The Heavy Water War (original title: Kampen om tungtvannet; Norwegian with English subtitles) on offer: “A mini-series based on the true story of the Norwegian saboteurs who crippled Nazi Germany’s nuclear weapons research program.”

Simon Denyer writes about how China wants to give all of its citizens a score – and their rating could affect every area of their lives: “This is not the dystopian superstate of Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report, in which all-knowing police stop crime before it happens. But it could be China by 2020. It is the scenario contained in China’s ambitious plans to develop a far-reaching social credit system, a plan that the Communist Party hopes will build a culture of “sincerity” and a “harmonious socialist society” where “keeping trust is glorious.”  A high-level policy document released in September listed the sanctions that could be imposed on any person or company deemed to have fallen short. The overriding principle: “If trust is broken in one place, restrictions are imposed everywhere.” A whole range of privileges would be denied, while people and companies breaking social trust would also be subject to expanded daily supervision and random inspections.  The ambition is to collect every scrap of information available online about China’s companies and citizens in a single place – and then assign each of them a score based on their political, commercial, social and legal “credit.”

We may someday build a city on the moon, but we may not truly be the ones to do so:

Good morning.

Whitewater’s Friday will be cloudy with a high of forty-one.  Sunrise is 7 AM and sunset 4:22 PM, for 9h 23m 23s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 13.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1783, British soldiers evacuate New York, their last stronghold during the Revolution; George Washington later led the Continental Army into Manhattan.  On this day in 1863, fourteen Wisconsin units – seven infantry, seven artillery – participate in breaking the siege at Chattanooga.

Worth reading in full —   

Craig Timberg reports on how two teams have researchers have concluded that Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election: “Russia’s increasingly sophisticated propaganda machinery — including thousands of botnets, teams of paid human “trolls,” and networks of websites and social-media accounts — echoed and amplified right-wing sites across the Internet as they portrayed Clinton as a criminal hiding potentially fatal health problems and preparing to hand control of the nation to a shadowy cabal of global financiers. The effort also sought to heighten the appearance of international tensions and promote fear of looming hostilities with nuclear-armed Russia.  Two teams of independent researchers found that the Russians exploited American-made technology platforms to attack U.S. democracy at a particularly vulnerable moment, as an insurgent candidate harnessed a wide range of grievances to claim the White House. The sophistication of the Russian tactics may complicate efforts by Facebook and Google to crack down on “fake news,” as they have vowed to do after widespread complaints about the problem.”

Those who thought that Trump would #DraintheSwamp are in for disappointment (one of many), as Trump [is] expected to tap billionaire investor Wilbur Ross for commerce secretary: “Wilbur Ross, the billionaire investor considered the “king of bankruptcy” for buying beaten-down companies with the potential to deliver profits, is expected to be President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for commerce secretary, two officials with knowledge of the decision said.  Ross helped shape the Trump campaign’s economic agenda, particularly its hard-line stance on the need to renegotiate — or even withdraw from — free trade agreements. That position resonated with the working class voters who were instrumental in delivering Trump’s upset victory. Elevating Ross to a position in his Cabinet could suggest that Trump intends to nurture the nationalist streak that was one of the hallmarks of his campaign.”

Yair Rosenberg describes (one way) How to Fight Anti-Semitic Trolls and Bigotry Online:

In How Journalists Need to Begin Imagining the Unimaginable, Eric Umansky interviews Masha Gessen on Trump’s transformative campaign: “Many reporters had gone directly from the state of total disbelief that Trump will never be the Republican nominee, even when he had the nomination locked in. Their argument, when I would ask people, they would say, “Well, I just can’t imagine it happening.” Well, if you can’t imagine it happening, that’s your problem. When somebody says, “I can’t imagine it happening,” that’s a problem. Then what happened was that there was this whole direction of coverage that held, incredibly to me for the entire campaign, this idea that Trump was somehow Putin’s agent and that Russia was meddling in the election and that Russia was rigging the election. There’s a little tiny bit of evidence for it, but that’s a classic conspiracy theory phenomenon where’s there is a little bit of evidence but that’s not what happened. What happened was an American phenomenon, a home-grown potential autocrat who was elected by Americans. It was so difficult to imagine that this was happening here that it was actually easier to do this complete bend over backwards maneuver that would position him as some sort of agent of Putin and Clinton’s campaign ran with it.

Americans had Thanksgiving dinner here, and the astronauts of the International Space Station prepared for it, too:

Good morning.

Thanksgiving in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of forty.  Sunrise is 6:59 AM and sunset 4:24 PM, for 9h 25m 05s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 20.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

On 11.24.1963, nightclub owner Jack Ruby shoots and kills Lee Harvey Oswald.  On this day in 1971, a man popularly described as D.B. Cooper extorts a $200,000 ransom by hijacking a Boeing 727 and afterward parachuting from the plane to an undetermined fate.

Worth reading in full — 

Joseph Diedrich, following Leonard Read’s I, Pencil essay, writes in I, Thanksgiving Dinner that it takes a market to make a modern Thanksgiving meal: “Thanksgiving dinner is made of several components: turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, corn, squash, pumpkin, milk, butter, and so on. Grandma buys each of these raw ingredients from the grocery store. Think about what it takes to run such a store. Contemplate all the unsung heroes — all the hands that contribute to a successful market. The butcher cleans, defeathers, and prepares the turkey. The baker bakes numerous loaves of bread to be cubed for dressing. Shelf stockers display produce. Clerks transact Grandma’s purchase. A bagger bags her items. Thanksgiving dinner depends on the successful interaction of every one of them, each with unique skills.  Of course, none of the ingredients starts at the grocery store. Each one comes from a different farm: potatoes from Idaho, cranberries from Wisconsin, corn from Nebraska, and milk from California. In addition, Grandma uses 12 — 12! — spices to flavor her dishes, none of which originated in the United States. Grandma is talented. But do you really think she knows how to extract nutmeg from the Myristica fragrans tree in the Banda Islands?”

Anthony Comenga, correctly refuting revisionists and neo-Confederates, asks Why Did the Southern States Secede? and gives the only correct answer: “It shouldn’t need to be said, but the Confederacy didn’t stand for opposing federal overreach or eliminating handouts to big business—it stood for slavery.”

Steve Chapman knows that Trump’s building plan is bridge to nowhere (a waste Whitewater’s residents know about from their own experience): “Boosting federal investment in infrastructure has never had so many enthusiasts. During the presidential campaign, it was the rare chorus that Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders could all join in singing.  House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says she’s eager to work with Trump on it. Her GOP counterpart, Kevin McCarthy, expects Republicans to cooperate with their president.  Both the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are in favor. And why not? Not only will we get more modern facilities, we are told, but the gusher of money will invigorate the economy and create lots of blue-collar jobs.  But such investments don’t always work out the way they’re supposed to. Pouring funds into highways, bridges, airports, dams and other projects is easy. Spending money wisely is hard. What beckons on the horizon, as Obama discovered after getting his $840 billion stimulus in 2009, often turns out to be a mirage.”

Tom Haudricourt is watching while [Ryan] Braun waits to see if he’ll remain with Brewers: “Braun knows he came close to being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 31 because the club kept him apprised of talks that broke off before the midnight deadline for post-season eligibility. Those talks led to the common perception that the teams are destined to re-engage on Braun, but it hasn’t happened yet.  Braun revealed that he made one change on his no-trade list after the season but wouldn’t reveal the team he substituted. The previous list allowed trades without his permission to the Dodgers, Angels, Giants, Diamondbacks, Padres and Marlins. Braun, who lives in Malibu, Calif., played college ball at Miami but might have changed that team because it is so far from his growing family.”

There are many things for which to be thankful, among them not being stuck on the 405 Freeway in West L.A. on Tuesday –

Happy Thanksging.

Good morning.

Whitewater’s Wednesday will be rainy with a high of forty-two.  Sunrise is 6:58 AM and sunset 4:25 PM, for 9h 26m 48s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 29.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1889, the jukebox was first installed for commercial use, at the Palais Royal Saloon in San Francisco.  On this day in 2006, former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko died in London from radiation poisoning after making a deathbed statement blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Also in 11.23.1889, the first University of Wisconsin football game took place, although it did not end well for Wisconsin (Calumet Club of Milwaukee 27, Wisconsin 0). On November 23, 1909, “A.E. Graham of Janesville was put on trial for selling oleo as butter. Oleo, an early form of margarine, was outlawed in the dairy state of Wisconsin. On January 27, 1910, he was found guilty in federal court and sentenced to 18 months in Fort Leavenworth Prison.”

Worth reading or watching in full — 

Nico Savidge reports that UW-Madison slips in ranking as research spending declines: “Spending on research at UW-Madison declined by more than $100 million between 2012 and 2015, leading the university to fall from the top five of the National Science Foundation’s ranking of research institutions for the first time in more than four decades….Tom Evenson, a spokesman for Gov. Scott Walker, downplayed the NSF ranking Tuesday, noting that UW-Madison recently rose in a U.S. News and World Report ranking of top public universities and saying the institution “remains a ‘research powerhouse.’”

Jacob Carpenter writes that Inmate families want outside investigation into deaths: “The families of two Milwaukee County inmates who recently died in jail are calling for outside investigations into the unexplained deaths of their loved ones, saying they fear the county Sheriff’s Office won’t conduct thorough, impartial reviews.  Leon Limon, the brother of 38-year-old Kristina Fiebrink, and Gail Stockton, the mother of 29-year-old Michael Madden, said a recent spate of deaths at the Milwaukee County Jail has them concerned about the quality of any investigations by the Sheriff’s Office, which runs the jail.  They are also frustrated at how little the Sheriff’s Office has told them regarding when and how the investigations will be done. Fiebrink died in late August, Madden in late October.  “I just don’t feel like it’s going to be fair,” Limon said. “They’re not going to say, ‘My co-worker let this girl die.'” State law allows local agencies to investigate deaths at jails they run, so long as the death didn’t directly result from an officer’s actions or inaction.”

In South Korea, a Samsung Raid Deepens South Korean Political Crisis:

At Trump Tower, there’s been no better time to hawk trinkets, as one reads in At Donald Trump’s Properties, a Showcase for a Brand and a President-Elect: ““I bought it for my two sons,” said Shanon Loggins, 47, of Lufkin, Tex., showing off a golden shopping bag embossed with the Trump crest that carried two bottles of Success by Trump, a fragrance for men. “They need to be successful,” she explained. Business is good for Donald J. Trump. People are flocking to his Midtown Manhattan skyscraper, dining in his restaurants and buying his wares. Reporters are fastidiously chronicling the comings and goings of his transition team, his self-branded properties providing the backdrop for television live shots. Mr. Trump has taken the staid task of preparing to assume the presidency and turned it into an exercise in conspicuous self-promotion and carefully choreographed branding.”

Great Big Story describes The Fire That Inspired ‘Smoke on The Water’:

The Fire That Inspired ‘Smoke on The Water’ from Great Big Story on Vimeo.

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy, with a high of forty-three, and a one-third chance of afternoon showers.  Sunrise is 6:57 AM and sunset 4:25 PM, for 9h 28m 35s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 38.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1963, Pres. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas.  On this day in 1906, noted Wisconsin lawyer and UW Regent Elizabeth Hawkes was born.

Worth reading in full —

Locally, Walworth County’s just not growing anymore: “Through the 1990s until about 2008, Walworth County was one of the fastest-growing counties in the state, according to census numbers from the Wisconsin Department of Administration.  Since then, however, population growth in the county has stagnated.  Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, said the reason for flat growth is simple: The number of people dying matches the number being born or moving to the county.  He said the alliance predicted slow growth from 2010 to 2040. The trend is an issue for the whole state, not just Walworth County, Berry said.  “One of Wisconsin’s biggest challenges is that few people leave the state, but few people come,” Berry said.  For some, flat population growth is not worth a worry. But for others, slowing growth can make modernizing public infrastructure more difficult.”

Ed Trevelen reports that a Federal judges panel finds state redistricting plan an ‘unconstitutional gerrymander’: “A panel of federal judges on Monday ruled that Wisconsin’s 2011 legislative redistricting plan, created by Republican leaders virtually in secret, is an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.  The map “was intended to burden the representational rights of Democratic voters … by impeding their ability to translate their votes into legislative seats,” wrote federal appeals court Judge Kenneth Ripple, the senior judge on the three-judge panel, adding that “the discriminatory effect is not explained by the political geography of Wisconsin nor is it justified by a legitimate state interest.  “Consequently, Act 43 constitutes an unconstitutional political gerrymander,” Ripple wrote.”

Ananya Bhattacharya’s reports on a Handy cheat sheet of false and misleading “news” sites: “In the wake of a debate over the role of fake news in the US election, a professor is doing what Facebook has failed to: identifying untrustworthy sources.  Melissa Zimdars, an associate professor of communication and media at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, has created a public Google Doclisting news sites that distribute incorrect information. Titled “False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and Satirical ‘News’ Sources,” the list includes blatantly incorrect URLs like”abcnews.com.co” and “drudgereport.com.co,” but also sites whose stories are of dubious origin and sourcing.”

Tanya Ganeva writes about drug warrior Jeff Sessions’s ridiculous anti-drug crusade: “A few days ago, it looked as if the popularity and profitability of marijuana would spare pot reform from the lurching chaos of Donald Trump’s administration. But then Sen. Jeff Sessions — probably the only person on earth who’s nostalgic about Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign — was announced as President-elect Trump’s choice for attorney general.  As my fellow guest blogger Steven Hale wrote on Friday, Sessions’s record and public statements indicate that he’ll be a nightmare for civil liberties. In terms of drug policy, Sessions stands out even in the GOP for his steadfast rejection of scientific evidence.”

Toads get around well enough, but no one would call them graceful —

I just love how ungainly these #toads are in #slowmo! pic.twitter.com/94x1fHGJWp

— Grantham Ecologist (@GranthamEcology) October 27, 2016

Good morning,

The work week in Whitewater begins with partly cloudy skies and a high of thirty-eight.  Sunrise is 6:55 AM and sunset 4:26 PM, for 9h 30m 25s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 48.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s library board meets this evening at 6:30 PM, and the area school board meets in regular session at 7 PM.

Worth reading in full —

Sapna Maheshwari describes How Fake News Goes Viral: A Case Study: “Eric Tucker, a 35-year-old co-founder of a marketing company in Austin, Tex., had just about 40 Twitter followers. But his recent tweet about paid protesters being bused to demonstrations against President-elect Donald J. Trump fueled a nationwide conspiracy theory — one that Mr. Trump joined in promoting.   Mr. Tucker’s post was shared at least 16,000 times on Twitter and more than 350,000 times on Facebook. The problem is that Mr. Tucker got it wrong. There were no such buses packed with paid protesters….While some fake news is produced purposefully by teenagers in the Balkans or entrepreneurs in the United States seeking to make money from advertising, false information can also arise from misinformed social media posts by regular people that are seized on and spread through a hyperpartisan blogosphere.  Here, The New York Times deconstructs how Mr. Tucker’s now-deleted declaration on Twitter the night after the election turned into a fake-news phenomenon. It is an example of how, in an ever-connected world where speed often takes precedence over truth, an observation by a private citizen can quickly become a talking point, even as it is being proved false.”

Bob McGinn watches as the Packers’ season careens out of control: “The Packers drooped to 4-6 with their fifth defeat in the last six games. They’re two games behind Detroit and Minnesota in the NFC North and in a four-way tie for 11th place in the NFC.  Of the 16 teams in the conference, the Packers find themselves ahead of only Chicago (2-8) and San Francisco (1-9). Yes, their situation is that bad.  “Six losses puts your ass against the wall,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “Disappointing. Reality is we are 4-6. We understand clearly what is in front of us.  ”This is no time for personnel evaluation or coaching evaluation. This is our football team, the 2016 Green Bay Packers. We are going to rally and stick together.”  It’s the Packers’ worst position after 10 games since McCarthy’s first season, when a 4-6 record turned into 8-8.”

Simon Nixon finds that The EU’s New Bomb Is Ticking in the Netherlands: “….the risk to the EU comes from a new generation of Dutch euroskeptics who are less divisive and concerned about immigration but more focused on questions of sovereignty—and utterly committed to the destruction of the EU. Its leading figures areThierry Baudet and Jan Roos, who have close links to British euroskeptics. They have already scored one significant success: In 2015, they persuaded the Dutch parliament to adopt a law that requires the government to hold a referendum on any law if 300,000 citizens request it. They then took advantage of this law at the first opportunity to secure a vote that rejected the EU’s proposed trade and economic pact with Ukraine, which Brussels saw as a vital step in supporting a strategically important neighbor.  This referendum law is a potential bomb under the EU, as both Dutch politicians and Brussels officials are well aware. Mr. Baudet believes he now has the means to block any steps the EU might seek to take to deepen European integration or stabilize the eurozone if they require Dutch legislation. This could potentially include aid to troubled Southern European countries such as Greece and Italy, rendering the eurozone unworkable.”

Matt O’Brien ponders Donald Trump and the end of history: “From Europe’s anti-immigrant parties edging closer to power to Britain’s all-but-winning it with the country’s vote to leave the European Union to Trump’s ascension to the White House, Francis Fukuyama’s famous idea that free-market liberal democracy had vanquished all its ideological foes and was the “final form of human government” seems to be, well, a little more temporary. Just as he could have told you himself. Fukuyama, you see, believed that just because we’d reached the end of history didn’t mean we’d stay in the end of history. That peace and prosperity might not be enough for some people who would, “struggle for the sake of struggle” simply “out of a certain boredom” from living in a world that doesn’t seem to have meaning or identity any more. And so we might see a 227 year-old republic succumb to someone who evinced only the slightest respect for constitutional norms and even less for minority groups.”

Le Croisic is beautiful by air as a video from that city’s tourism bureau proudly demonstrates: