FREE WHITEWATER

Author Archive for JOHN ADAMS

America, Daily Bread, Economy, Employment, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 9.7.25: ‘The Toughest Time to Find Work’

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 64. Sunrise is 6:26 and sunset is 7:18, for 12 hours, 52 minutes of daytime. The moon is full with 100 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1776, according to American colonial reports, Ezra Lee makes the world’s first submarine attack in the Turtle, attempting to attach a time bomb to the hull of HMS Eagle in New York Harbor.

How odd, how very unexpected, that a man with six business bankruptcies has led America to a place where it’s the toughest time to be searching for work in America in years:

New data last week showed a fourth month of tepid job growth and propelled joblessness to its highest level since late 2021, when the economy was still recovering from the effects of the covid-19 pandemic. Now, as companies wrestle with inflation, economic uncertainty and trade policy whiplash, many are shredding payrolls and shifting tasks to artificial intelligence while pulling in higher profits. And some executives are pointedly broadcasting sizable layoffs as wins, a sign they’re making workforces leaner and more efficient. 

Hardly any corner of the economy is untouched by jobs cuts and slowdown: Employment in all goods-producing industries slumped in August, with the deepest losses coming from manufacturing and mining. The service sector was racked by steep layoffs in business and professional services and IT. 

Meanwhile, job vacancies are shrinking as employers hold fire on hiring, data show. Factor in dimming consumer sentiment — which hit a three-month low in August — and conditions are ripe for labor market gridlock, said Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank in Dallas, leaving the economy “operating in low gear.”

….

Mark Cohen, the former director of retail studies at Columbia Business School, expects those numbers to grow as retailers contend with tariff headwinds and as consumers feel increasingly pessimistic about the economy. 

“There’s enormous uncertainty throughout the economy. Retail and retail support is well over 70 percent of the economy’s makeup, and the inputs to retail are entirely linked to international trade,” he said. “In the face of uncertainty, what choice do they have? Hire fewer people.”

See Taylor Telford, Jaclyn Peiser, and Federica Cocco, Why it’s the toughest time to be searching for work in America in years, Washington Post, September 7, 2025.

Trump’s role was never economic. His role was, is, and always will be to deliver retribution for far-right populists against their ethnic, racial, and cultural enemies.

World’s largest iceberg is beginning to break apart:

The world’s largest and most enduring iceberg is splintering into smaller pieces, to the point that it’s no longer the biggest chunk of ice floating in the oceans. It’s currently drifting between the southern tips of Africa and South America.

Cats, Daily Bread, Good Ideas, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 9.6.25: The Catnapper of Green Bay

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 63. Sunrise is 6:25 and sunset is 7:20, for 12 hours, 55 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1976, Soviet Air Defense Forces pilot Viktor Belenko lands a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate in Japan and requests political asylum in the United States; his request is granted.

There’s no better day than today, crafted by cat lovers as Caturday, to catch up on the adventures of Terry Lauerman, a Green Bay resident who takes naps with cats at Green Bay’s Safe Haven Pet Sanctuary. FREE WHITEWATER first posted about Lauerman in 2018, and I’m happy to read that he’s still doing well (in every sense of that term) in retirement:

At an animal shelter in Green Bay, a retired volunteer is living every cat lover’s — and nap lover’s — dream. 

For seven years, 82-year-old former Spanish teacher Terry Lauerman has been donating his time to Safe Haven Pet Sanctuary. The shelter is dedicated to rescuing cats and dogs with special needs and disabilities. Terry’s specialty? Lying down and snoozing with the shelter’s cats.

“When you get old, you fall asleep easily, so it’s natural,” Lauerman told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”

See Beatrice Lawrence, Wisconsin’s viral ‘Cat Napper’ is living every cat lover’s dream (‘Retiree Terry Lauerman volunteers at Green Bay’s Safe Haven Pet Sanctuary, where he takes naps with the shelter’s special-needs cats’), Wisconsin Public Radio, September 5, 2025.

See also, from 2019, The Senior Taking Naps With Cats:

America, City, Daily Bread, Economy, Employment

Daily Bread for 9.5.25: National Labor Market Stalls

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 62. Sunrise is 6:24 and sunset is 7:21, for 12 hours, 58 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 93.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1774, the First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia.

We had heard, more than once, that the time after January 20th was to be the beginning of a New Golden Age. The claim doesn’t match America’s circumstances:

U.S. job growth slowed significantly in August, a sign the labor market is under increasing stress. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that the United States added 22,000 jobs in August, well below expectations of 75,000. The unemployment rate ticked higher to 4.3%, in line with expectations. 

“The U.S. economy appears to have stagnated” since July, analysts with Citi said in a note this week. They cited a separate survey from the Federal Reserve released Wednesday that showed little to no increase in economic activity or employment over the past several weeks.

Revised data reported by the BLS showed the jobs market actually contracted in June, though it climbed slightly more than initial estimates in July. Combined, employment for the two months is now 21,000 lower than previously reported, the BLS said. The federal statistical agency issues revisions as more businesses and governments provide data, and as seasonal factors get recalculated.

See Rob Wile, The U.S. added just 22,000 jobs in August, confirming dramatic slowdown in the labor market (‘The August report is the first since President Donald Trump fired a top Labor Department official over accusations of releasing inaccurate data’), NBC News, September 5, 2025.

None of this should be surprising. Extreme populism does not, at bottom, have a coherent economics (let alone a sound economics); it has cultural grievances and political scores to settle.

Car goes airborne over Long Island highway:

City, Film

Film: Tuesday, September 9th, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life

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Tuesday, September 9th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Jane Austen Wrecked My Life @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:

Comedy/Romance rated R (language)

1 hour, 38 minutes (2025).

An aspiring author, looking to get more out of life, takes up a writing residency and finds herself in the sort of romantic entanglements that could come from the pages of a Jane Austen novel. Filmed in England and France. Dialogue in English and French with subtitles.

One can find more information about Jane Austen Wrecked My Life at the Internet Movie Database.

City, Daily Bread, Far-Right Populism, Gubernatorial Race 2026, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 9.4.25: Populism Works Its Will on the WISGOP

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 64. Sunrise is 6:23 and sunset is 7:23, for 13 hours, 0 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 87.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Arts Commission meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 476, Romulus Augustulus is deposed when Odoacer proclaims himself “King of Italy,” thus ending the Western Roman Empire.

A simple equation describes the state of the WISGOP: (SOME MONEY) + (PLENTIFUL EXTREMISM) + (MR. TRUMP’S ENDORSEMENT) = WISGOP GUBERNATORIAL NOMINATION. See Far-Right Populists Will Draft the WISGOP Gubernatorial Platform.

Two recent events show the operation of that equation in Wisconsin.

First, it was nearly inevitable that the WISGOP candidates now running for governor (and anyone else who will come along) would compete over the furthest-reaching policies to satisfy the appetites of the populist movement. So they now are, as Republican governor candidates Bill Berrien and Josh Schoemann signal support for troops in Milwaukee:

Whitefish Bay manufacturing CEO Bill Berrien said he supported Milwaukee Police Association President Alex Ayala’s plans to ask the Trump administration to send National Guard troops to Milwaukee, calling the city “one of the most crime-ridden cities in the country.”

And Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Wednesday that he would “proactively work with the President to deploy sufficient law enforcement to keep our neighbors in Milwaukee safe, including the National Guard,” if he’s elected governor.

See Lawrence Andrea, Republican governor candidates Bill Berrien and Josh Schoemann signal support for troops in Milwaukee, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 3, 2025.

How could it be otherwise for them? They’re the equivalent of leaves on a river asking the river to keep flowing. They won’t shape their campaigns, even in part; the populist movement will.

Another element of the equation, the importance of Mr. Trump’s endorsement, saw its expression when Rep. Tom Tiffany received a cautious response from Donald Trump:

When Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced this summer he would not seek reelection in 2026, Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany called President Donald Trump.

“With me considering doing it, I just wanted to make sure the president knew that Gov. Evers is not going to run for re-election. And we talked about it,” said Tiffany, who plans to announce whether he’ll launch a campaign for governor before the end of September. 

“The purpose of that call was to set up the state of play in Wisconsin because the president more than anyone understands the importance of Wisconsin,” Tiffany, who represents the solidly red 7th Congressional District, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

Republican sources have told the Journal Sentinel that Trump declined to endorse Tiffany’s run for governor during his White House meeting. But Tiffany said Trump “didn’t say anything like that to me.”

He said Trump’s top concern during the discussion was maintaining a GOP majority in the House. Trump asked Tiffany what the status of the 7th District would be if Tiffany decided to run for governor. 

See Lawrence Andrea, Considering a run for governor, Rep. Tom Tiffany gets a cautious response from Donald Trump, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 4, 2025.

Oh my — pitiful as it is servile. In Tiffany’s telling, he felt the need to tell Trump that Gov. Evers wasn’t running again. Trump may not know economics, foreign policy, or public health (he doesn’t), but he does know politics. Trump most certainly knew that Tony Evers declined a third run without Tom Tiffany calling the White House. Honest to goodness.

Articles about the local aspects of the Wisconsin gubernatorial race are largely anachronistic. The Wisconsin gubernatorial race will be a national race, as populism and Mr. Trump’s opinion matter far more to the WISGOP.

New Mexico police rescue family from flash flood:

City, Daily Bread, Development, Economy, Housing, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 9.3.25: Projecting the Future of Work in Wisconsin

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy, with scattered showers and a high of 67. Sunrise is 6:22 and sunset is 7:25, for 13 hours, 3 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 80.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Lakes Advisory Committee meets at 4 PM and the Landmarks Commission meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1783, the Revolutionary War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain (that became effective May 12, 1784).

Wisconsin Watch’s Natalie Yahr writes about The Future of Work in Wisconsin (in four categories across six charts): fastest growing jobs, jobs with most openings, declining employment, and popular jobs.

Two notable categories are most popular jobs today by absolute number, and occupations protected to lose the most jobs (also by absolute number):

Many of the jobs shrinking the fastest are ones you might expect: those based on outdated technologies or practices. About one in four positions held by telemarketers, switchboard operators, couriers, door-to-door salespeople and street vendors is projected to vanish by 2032.

Of the top 10 fastest-shrinking jobs, nine don’t usually require a college education. 

Secretaries and administrative assistants are expected to lose the most jobs (2,420), followed by couriers and messengers (1,990), customer service representatives (1,550) and tellers (1,290).

See Natalie Yahr, The future of work in Wisconsin, in six charts, Wisconsin Watch, September 3, 2025.

This city is sensible to do all it can to bolster and expand opportunities both to work and to live in Whitewater. Both are necessary.

Whitewater’s choice is not growth versus no-growth. It’s not business versus residential. It’s growth or decline.   

Kilauea’s on-and-off eruption is back on in Hawaii:

Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano has been shooting lava from its summit crater about once a week since late last year, delighting residents, visitors and online viewers alike with a firehose of molten rock.

Daily Bread, Employment, Labor, Law, Unions, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 9.2.25: Wisconsin Act 10’s Future in Doubt

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 76. Sunrise is 6:21 and sunset is 7:27, for 13 hours, 6 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 71.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Alcohol Licensing Committee meets at 5 PM and the Whitewater Common Council at 6 PM.

On this day in 1864, Union forces enter Atlanta as the city surrenders, ending the Atlanta campaign as a victory for General William T. Sherman.

Was Monday, September 1, 2025, the last Labor Day for the Walker era’s Act 10? That provision faces a likely Wisconsin Supreme Court decision:

A Dane County Circuit Court judge last year ruled that provisions of Act 10 were unconstitutional because the law treats public safety workers differently from other public employees. Judge Jacob Frost later ordered the restoration of collective bargaining powers for all public workers to what they were before Act 10 was adopted — a decision that appears all but certain to be decided by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which has a 4-3 liberal majority.

Fresh off his 2010 victory, then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker in February 2011 unveiled his plan to sweep away decades of protections for state public employees as a way to address a projected $3.6 billion budget deficit. The proposal eventually became known as Act 10, and it hobbled public unions across Wisconsin and remains one of the most divisive measures in state history.

Act 10 effectively ended collective bargaining for most public-sector unions by limiting what they could negotiate over to base wage increases only, limiting those to a rate no greater than inflation.

See Mitchell Schmidt, This could be Wisconsin’s last Labor Day under Act 10, Wisconsin State Journal, September 1, 2025.

The Dane County Circuit Court decision (Judge Jacob Frost) is on appeal. Predicting judicial decisions is a dicey business, and I’ll not offer a prediction here.

(A generation ago, it would still have been clear to most libertarians that any person should be able to form any association, to bargain with any public or private institution. Those are simply rights of association. I’d say that few libertarians now see this, but it’s more accurate to say that there are few libertarians.)

It’s worth noting, however, that Act 10 and Wisconsin’s still-gerrymandered Congressional districts are among the only enduring accomplishments of Scott Walker’s tenure. The WEDC is a shadow of former self, with Foxconn now remembered only as a mistake everyone would like to forget.

What’s changed most in Wisconsin, however, is the party of which Walker is a member. The WISGOP is a far-right party now, lousy with conspiracy theories and nativism, into which Walker, always an awkward man, now only awkwardly fits.

The WISGOP has moved on, even if Wisconsin law has not, and even if the law will not. Disadvantaging some workers over others is weak tea for a party that routinely demands deporting some workers over others. Anti-union is a pale version of anti-immigrant. Today’s WISGOP embraces a more dystopian vision for Wisconsin, one in which Act 10 seems tepid by contrast.

The night sky for September 2025:

Daily Bread, Labor

Daily Bread for 9.1.25: Working Six Jobs to Keep Her Island Afloat

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Good morning.

Labor Day in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 75. Sunrise is 6:20 and sunset is 7:28, for 13 hours, 9 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 62.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1939, Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning the European phase of World War II.

She Works Six Jobs to Keep Her Island Afloat:

For most people, keeping track of one job is complicated enough—now, imagine juggling six. On the small island of North Ronaldsay off the northern coast of Scotland, that’s the case for many of the residents. With a population of just 50, everyone has to work a handful of jobs to keep the island afloat. Sarah Moore is part of North Ronaldsay’s trusted work force. She works as a mailwoman, home care worker, council clerk, airfield attendant, baggage handler, and firefighter. Oh, and did we mention she also keeps a flock of sheep? Sarah moved to the island after searching for quiet from the big city. In North Ronaldsay, she feels like she has found her purpose as a part of something bigger than herself—a caring community.

Sharks could begin losing their teeth more often, study finds:

A new study published in Frontiers in Marine Science found that in more acidic ocean waters, sharks’ teeth were weak, brittle and more prone to breaking.

Daily Bread, Nature, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.31.25: Wisconsin Life | The Mushroom Man of Bayfield

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 73. Sunrise is 6:18 and sunset is 7:30, for 13 hours, 12 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 53.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1939, Nazi Germany mounts a false flag attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, creating an excuse to attack Poland the following day, thus starting World War II in Europe.

Wisconsin Life | The Mushroom Man of Bayfield:

Amateur mycologist Arne Martinson guides mushroom identification tours through northern Wisconsin, discovering unexpected colors among the leaves of the Northwoods, from iconic Amanita muscaria to the deadly destroying angel.

Two Ice Cream Scoops With a Twist:

From Germany’s spaghetti-shaped sundae to Turkey’s stretchy, un-meltable delight, these aren’t your average scoops. Meet the makers behind two of the world’s most unusual ice creams, and discover why dessert is never quite what it seems.
00:00 – Eating Spaghetti Ice Cream in Germany
02:43 – This Turkish Ice Cream Doesn’t Melt

Courts, Daily Bread, Elections, Politics, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.30.25: Justice Bradley Declines Wisconsin Supreme Court Race, Deprecates the Value of Running

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 71. Sunrise is 6:17 and sunset is 7:32, for 13 hours, 14 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 43.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1799, the entire Dutch fleet is captured by British forces under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Sir Charles Mitchell during the War of the Second Coalition.

As she had not been fundraising for her reelection effort, and as she had not applied for a vacancy on the federal bench, it’s unsurprising that Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley declined to run for reelection. What she said about the race is more telling than her own role:

“I will not seek reelection to the Wisconsin Supreme Court because I believe the best path for me to rebuild the conservative movement and fight for liberty is not as a minority member of the Court,” she said in a statement.

See Scott Bauer, A conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice won’t run again, creating an open seat, Associated Press, August 29, 2025.

In her statement, Bradley simultaneously concedes that the judiciary is not her best option, that anyone backed by the WISGOP will be in the minority even if successful, and, incredibly, contends that the far-right populism she supports is a ‘fight for liberty.’ In this, Bradley is right twice and wrong once: she is without the judicial temperament the court requires, and anyone from the far-right who wins will be in the minority, but she’s simply mendacious to claim that it’s a battle for liberty she and far-right populism have in mind.

World’s first gene edited horses are shaking up polo:

Five gene-edited foals, cloned from a polo prize winner, promise greater speed thanks to CRISPR technology. While Kheiron Biotech sees a revolution in polo, breeders and players say gene-editing could threaten the sport’s integrity.

Daily Bread, Politics, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.29.25: Mr. Vance Visits La Crosse

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 72. Sunrise is 6:16 and sunset is 7:33, for 13 hours, 17 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 34.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1949, the Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, known as First Lightning or Joe 1, at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.

It’s fallen to Vice President JD Vance to improve the reputation of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. Yesterday, Vance visited La Crosse, part of Derrick Van Orden’s congressional district, in that effort:

LA CROSSE – Looking to reshape public opinion on the Trump administration’s sweeping tax and spending law, Vice President JD Vance made a stop in western Wisconsin to promote its effects on the manufacturing industry and its efforts to lower taxes for workers while dismissing Democrats’ concerns that it will disrupt access to health care and food aid.

….

Manufacturing and agriculture are the largest sectors of Wisconsin’s economy. The manufacturing industry employs nearly half a million people in the Badger State, and it contributes more than $70 billion per year to the state’s Gross Domestic Product. But economic uncertainty has brought challenges to the industry, as employers struggle to hire and retain workers and combat inflation and rising material costs.

The “One Big Beautiful Bill” contains provisions designed to incentivize manufacturers to invest in research and development and to build new factories in the U.S. Such “Made in America” efforts have seen bipartisan support in Wisconsin.

The law also makes changes to government assistance programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as FoodShare in Wisconsin.

Ahead of Vance’s visit, Gov. Tony Evers’ administration released a new analysis estimating the sweeping tax and spending law will cost the state $284 million every two years once fully implemented.

“I’ve been clear from the get-go that Republicans’ so-called ‘big beautiful bill’ is bad for Wisconsin,” Evers said in a statement. “And now, it’s also clear this bill is just as bad for Wisconsin taxpayers, who will be forced to help foot the bill for Republicans’ red-tape requirements just to make it harder for folks to get the care they need and food to eat.”

See Jessie Opoien and Laura Schulte, Vice President JD Vance, in Wisconsin visit, touts Big Beautiful Bill’s impact on manufacturing jobs, tax cuts, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 29, 2025.

Van Orden’s fate rests on how his constituents view Trump, and (less probably) whether the Wisconsin Supreme Court orders congressional redistricting before the November 2026 election.

For himself, however, Vance is confident that he’s tanned, rested, and ready after the eight vacations he’s taken in the seven months since becoming vice president:

“I've gotten a lot of good on-the-job training over the last 200 days,” JD Vance said in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY, when asked if he was ready to assume the role of commander-in-chief.

— USA TODAY (@usatoday.com) August 28, 2025 at 11:30 AM

Milky Way galaxy seen crossing firmament in timelapse from ancient Syrian city of Palmyra:

The wonders of the universe played out against a magical backdrop in Syria this week. A time-lapse from the ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra shows a Milky Way dancing its way across a star-studded sky. (AP video by Ghaith Alsayed).