Saturday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 42. Sunrise is 6:09 AM and sunset 7:38 PM for 13h 29m 05s of daytime. The moon is full with 99.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 2018, The New York Times and the New Yorker win the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for breaking news of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse scandal.
Following a decision of the United States Supreme Court in March, on Friday the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in favor of Republican-proposed state legislative maps. (The Friday decision does not affect Congressional districts, as those district boundaries had already been approved in state and federal rulings.)
The WISGOP least-change maps that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has adopted cement for another decade a gerrymandered Republican advantage:
Robert Yablon, University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor and redistricting expert, said the court’s decision had reinforced a map that was “strikingly” gerrymandered.
“And it means that although this state is often a 50-50 state one where Democrats have frequently managed to win statewide races, they are going to have virtually no chance of taking control of the Legislature,” Yablon said in an interview with PBS Wisconsin.
An analysis of the competing redistricting plans by Marquette University’s John Johnson found that in a statewide tie, Republicans would be expected to win 63 out of 99 Assembly seats and 23 out of 33 Senate seats under the new GOP map.
(Any least-change approach this decade was assured of preserving last decade’s maximum-change gerrymandering.)
It’s likely that there will be additional challenges to these state districts, but if so those challenges (of dubious prospects based on the latest relevant U.S. and Wisconsin high court decisions) would come too late to change 2022 legislative boundaries.
Candidates for state legislative offices, who under Wisconsin law can circulate petitions beginning April 15th, will now know the boundaries of their districts.
Immediately below, the decision from the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Good Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 45. Sunrise is 6:11 AM and sunset 7:37 PM for 13h 26m 19s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.1% of its visible disk illuminated.
A few days ago, State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski visited the Whitewater Unified School District’s Lakeview School, and thereafter issued a press release about a grant to the district. The press release, issued from Godlewski’s office on 4.12.22, made the rounds in Whitewater.
One day later and a thousand miles away, Jennifer Rubin wrote about the U.S. Senate race in which Godlewski is one of several candidates. SeeDemocrats must make a strategic choice in Wisconsin’s Senate race. There is an unexpected, but happy, synchronicity in Rubin’s post: she reminds that local isn’t merely local. Wisconsin and America are enmired in a national conflict, the outcome of which will exert an influence greater than any local grant (however welcome).
Rubin is a former Republican, and since the emergence of Trump has committed herself (by intellect, industry, and insight) as a part of a grand coalition in support of the constitutional order (and so necessarily against Trumpism). Others of us, including this libertarian blogger, are also part of that coalition. While Democrats are most of this alliance, there are others of us who are not, and have never been, Democrats.
The outcome of this political conflict between Democrats and Republicans is not a matter of indifference to those of us who are neither.
And so, and so, Rubin and others of us wonder about the best choices that our shared alliance will make.
Rubin considers Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate race:
The good news for Democrats is that their front-runner in Wisconsin’s Senate primary seems to be course-correcting. The bad news is that it might be too little, too late.
“Lieutenant Gov. Mandela Barnes has tried to stake out his place as a liberal candidate seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. “But Barnes is now distancing himself from two unpopular, far-left political movements — defunding police and abolishing ICE — despite support from groups backing these efforts and past social media activity referencing these causes.”
….
One can imagine that Sen. Ron Johnson, the Republican incumbent whom Barnes would face should he win his party’s nomination, would like nothing more than to make this a race against “socialism.” Johnson has a boatload of controversies and gaffes, including his latest flub when he admitted that the plastics business he owned, as well as some of his prominent donors, benefited from the small-business tax provision that he pushed for in the 2017 tax cuts.
….
It is not as if Democrats lack sensible candidates. Sarah Godlewski, the state treasurer, has run a savvy campaign appealing to all segments of the party, including rural counties (which she won in her treasurer’s race). She has mastered the art of advancing center-left ideas that work in Wisconsin with none of the firebrand rhetoric better suited for Vermont or Massachusetts. Meanwhile, Tom Nelson, the county executive for rural Outagamie County and former state assemblyman, has been called a “scrappy” underdog. His pro-union bona fides and working-class constituents give him the feel of a rural populist. Those two candidates, however, have a combined total of 17 percent, roughly 20 points behind Barnes in recent internal polling, although a large percentage of voters remain undecided.
It’s likely that Barnes will receive the Democratic nomination on August 9th. If so, Barnes will deserve and receive support from those of us who rightly see the unsuitability — indeed detestability — of Johnson.
And yet, and yet, some of us who are not Democrats, but no less committed to an alliance in defense of liberal democracy, worry about whether some candidates will prove capable of withstanding the well-funded, divisive onslaught Johnson is sure to undertake.
Would Godlewski fare better in the fall than Barnes? Some of us feel that she might. We will, of course, defend any of the possible nominees against Johnson, but an easier defense would be preferable to us than a harder one.
In any event, with so much at stake, how near-sighted it would be to think local is merely local.
Feral cats are having a “field day” at the Oakland Coliseum, according to stadium authority executive director Henry Gardner.
An estimated 30 to 40 cats and kittens have made the 130-acre property in East Oakland home, multiplying in population over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, Gardner told The Oaklandside.
“The good news is the cats have been on rat patrol and they have done an excellent job. We have not seen a rodent in almost two years,” Gardner said in a phone interview. “You have to give them an ‘A’ for dealing with the rodents but we don’t need as many in the army right now. We are overstaffed.”
The kittens, who are bold and “don’t know any better,” according to Gardner, have been spotted inside the Oakland Arena and baseball stadium on the outfield turf. Once a bustling complex with three professional sports teams, the Oakland A’s remain the only anchor tenant after the Warriors moved to San Francisco and the Raiders to Las Vegas.
….
Ann Dunn, director of Oakland Animal Services, estimates the cat population to be 40 to 50 and said “if you see that many, there are probably more.” Another feline colony across a canal from the Coliseum on Hegenberger Drive has easily another 100 cats, Dunn said.
….
“It’s a situation that is absolutely out of control,” Dunn said of the increasing cat population in Oakland. “The thing that is so heartwarming is everyone [at the Coliseum and Hegenberger] has the shared goal of doing what’s best for the cats. No one has asked us to remove the cats in a way that would harm them.”
Thursday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 44. Sunrise is 6:13 AM and sunset 7:36 PM for 13h 23m 33s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 93.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Board of Zoning Appeals meets at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1912, the British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 23:40 (and sinks the morning of April 15th).
Populism doesn’t emerge merely anywhere, as though at randon. Many afflictions may weaken a community (from natural disatsters to bad policy), but thereafter weak communities are vulnerable to worse maladies.
It’s in those already-afflicted communities that populism finds hospitable soil, and then salts that soil so that nothing else will grow.
Mistakes about budgets and buildings are for populism an invitation to impose restrictions on speech and expression.
The fewer the mistakes, the fewer the opportunities for something worse.
Expectations of competency and critiques of incompetency are safeguards against threats worse than mere error.
What has hapened and what will happen to the people of Urkraine matters incomparably. And yet, it says much about Ukrainaians that even during war, they’ve shown a concern for animals. Puppy Rescued From Rubble in Ukraine:
Wednesday in Whitewater will see scattered thundershowers with a high of 69. Sunrise is 6:14 AM and sunset 7:35 PM for 13h 20m 46s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 87.2% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1970, an oxygen tank aboard the Apollo 13 Service Module explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the Apollo command and service module (codenamed “Odyssey“) while en route to the Moon.
The conservative populists, filled with energy (and often exercising that energy within their own echo chamber), speak and act in communities that aren’t always receptive to their messaging. In some cases, they underestimate the strength of motivated opponents. See Mequon-Thiensville School District Rejects Recall and How Mequon-Thiensville Residents Saved Their Schools. (This spring, residents of that district again rejected two candidates who were in favor of last fall’s failed Mequon-Thiensville recall.)
Populism represents a challenge both for what it will do if in power (they’ll spend as much as anyone, while imposing their cultural demands on everyone) and for its opportunistic nature (they’ll make any argument, or seize on anyone else’s argument, in pursuit of office).
They argue in bad faith.
For those who present a critique in good faith, a populist faction represents a pre-election impediment: they’ll take good-faith arguments and use them for in bad faith for their own ends. They’ll talk about fiscal prudence until they assume office and spend. They’ll talk about open government until they assume office and insist that there are facts they simply cannot reveal (‘there are things you don’t know’). They’ll talk about respect while treating others shamefully. They’ll insist on their liberty as a faction while denying individual liberty to others.
The populists make others’ good-faith claims about spending, open government, academic success, and managerial competency harder to make, lest they leverage those sincere claims for their own, immediate advancement.
Anyone who cared about his or her community would see that populism represents two risks, not one: bad ideas, and co-opting good ideas for bad ends.
Whitewater is better off for populist failures this spring, as the opportunity for a fair critique is therefore unencumbered by others’ destructive ambitions. A serious critique should be made, in any event. It’s simply easier to make in a climate free of populist insincerity.
Tuesday in Whitewater will see scattered rain and thundershowers with a high of 61. Sunrise is 6:16 AM and sunset 7:34 PM for 13h 17m 58s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 79.6% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 4:30 PM, and the city’s Public Works Committee meets at 6 PM.
Last night, Whitewater’s school board met in special session. The board held a closed session at 6 PM, and an open session beginning at 7:30 PM. A video of the open session is embedded, below.
The open session agenda did not include an item for public comment, but a brief opportunity for public comment was added impromptu. See Video @ 29:45. (At this meeting, the public comment was about commencement speakers, but the comment might have been on any number of subjects and been as worthy.)
Monday’s meeting was a special meeting, and the board president exercised authority under 187 (2) to permit public comment. That was the right decision, in light of Whitewater Unified School District Policy 810 on school-community relations:
The School Board believes that the public schools belong in every sense to the people, reflect the community they serve, and can never be any stronger than the public is willing and able to make them.
Meeting the needs of the community and gaining the support to meet those needs depends upon two-way communication between the Board and the public. The Board, therefore, will make every attempt to make known its plans and actions and encourages the community to make known its desires.
For open government and transparency in a situation like this, policy and law should be a floor, and not a ceiling, on public participation.
Policy 187’s distinction between public participation at regular meetings and special meetings, is, however, a mistake. Any open session of the Whitewater Unified School District should have the same robust provisions for public comment.
There is no open meeting so special, nor any elected or appointed official so special, that he or she should not patiently listen to public comment.
A simple principle: there should be ample opportunity for public comment at every open public meeting, every single time.
It was the right decision to afford public comment at the 4.11.22 meeting. It would be an even better decision to abolish Policy 187’s unjustified distinction between public comment at types of open meetings.
Monday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 57. Sunrise is 6:18 AM and sunset 7:33 PM for 13h 15m 09s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 70.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Planning Commission meets at 6:00 PM, and the Whtewater Unified District School Board meets in closed session at 6 PM and open session at 7:30 PM.
MADISON – A third Republican eyeing the governor’s office traveled to Donald Trump’s Florida resort this week as Wisconsin’s Democratic incumbent used his opponents’ trips to see the former president to build a campaign war chest.
A pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago has become a requisite for Wisconsin Republicans in 2022 and Rep. Tim Ramthun, a Republican from Campbellsport, arrived there Thursday as he crafts a campaign largely on the idea that President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory is illegitimate.
….
Ramthun’s visit, to attend a fundraiser for Arizona governor candidate Kari Lake, was the latest in a string of trips Republicans have made in the last month to see Trump as their primary field for governor takes shape.
Former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, who is running against Ramthun in the GOP primary for governor, traveled to Mar-a-Lago in early March. Former Gov. Tommy Thompson, who is mulling whether to get in the race, met with Trump at the club last week.
A spokeswoman for Kevin Nicholson, who also is running for governor, did not respond to whether Nicholson was also planning to take a trip.
Nicholson will go, even if it means sneaking in a back gate and jumping into a buffet line. They’ll all end up going, where going is, to any reasonable person, disqualifying.
Palm Sunday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 57. Sunrise is 6:19 AM and sunset 7:32 PM for 13h 12m 20s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 62.4% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 837, Halley’s Comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU (3.2 million miles).
John Heilemann talks with his pal Nicolle Wallace, host of Deadline: White House on MSNBC, about the January 6th committee and Liz Cheney’s battle against authoritarianism in the Republican Party, assesses whether the threats to American democracy posed by the far right are worse than those of Al-Qaeda, weighs in on the missing seven and a half hour gap in the White House phone logs on 1/6 and the incompetence of the Trump administration, and explains why the Department of Justice may be more willing to investigate Hunter Biden than Donald Trump.
Tune in to the full episode to hear about the latest bombshell reporting on efforts to subvert the 2020 election — namely, a series of text messages revealing that conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, pressured then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to overturn Biden’s victory.
Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 46. Sunrise is 6:21 AM and sunset 7:30 PM for 13h 09m 31s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 52.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1959, NASA announces the selection of the United States’ first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the “Mercury Seven.”
Friday in Whitewater will see scattered rain and snow showers with a high of 36. Sunrise is 6:23 AM and sunset 7:29 PM for 13h 06m 40s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 43.4% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1911, Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers superconductivity.
A University of Wisconsin System survey of students on the highly-politicized topic of free speech on campus has been delayed following weeks of fallout and the resignation of a chancellor.
Tim Shiell, director of UW-Stout’s Menard Center for the Study of Institutions and Innovation, sent an email Wednesday to UW System’s interim president, Michael Falbo, to say the survey would be delayed until fall 2022. UW System officials released the email to reporters Thursday.
The postponement would give the research team time to “answer fully and accurately the avalanche of questions arising and lay the groundwork for a successful survey,” Shiell wrote.
In an interview with the Journal Sentinel, Shiell elaborated on the decision to delay the survey, saying there were several UW campuses that needed more time to prepare while conducting other planned surveys.
He also said the resignation of Jim Henderson, interim chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, inquiries about where the funding for the survey came from, and the overall debate surrounding it pushed the group to delay. There are many “fair questions” that need to be addressed, he said.
“We want to make sure we have a quality research project and given all the hoopla that’s arisen around this at this point, the research team just felt we couldn’t do the survey now and feel like the results were going to be reliable and credible,” he said.
The research team, with Shiell in the lead, will conduct the survey through the UW System’s Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service.
Perhaps, as Shastri’s headline implies, Henderson’s resignation is primarily a reaction to a speech survey. Under that reading, Henderson resigned because he (and others) had concerns about what they saw as a politicized survey process. Henderson’s brief resignation email to Interim System President Falbo can be read that way.
Henderson’s resignation announcement to the UW-Whitewater campus, and his remarks to Wisconsin Public Radio, are not, however, so narrowly confined. They suggest, and so one can reasonably infer, broader concerns about politicization.
There’s a speech survey, but beyond that single issue, there are likely other relevant and material concerns, the possibility of which deserves greater scrutiny.
Tuesday, April 12th at 1 PM, there will be a showing of The Smallest Show on Earth @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Comedy
Rated G
1 hour, 20 minutes, black and white (1957)
A young couple (Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna) inherit a debt-ridden old movie theater, appropriately nicknamed “The Flea Pit,” and the three eccentric senior citizens who work there (Margaret Rutherford, Peter Sellers, Bernard Miles). An amusing, beautiful little comedy!
Mark dedicates this film is dedicated to Deb, for allowing him to show movies to some of the smallest (and largest) crowds, ever!
Cats’ Pink House is a holiday home in Taiwan that includes cat ladders, a rotating carousel-shaped climbing frame and a fluffy pink swing for the owner’s feline companions.
KC Design Studio made everything pink, even the basketball hoop and court for the human occupants.
While it’s true that cats see in what, for us, are pastel colors, this design presents an abundance (in my view an extremeover-abundance) of pink. And yet, it’s a cats’ room, not a humans’ room, so if they like the colors, that’s what should matter most.
Thursday in Whitewater will see scattered rain and snow showers with a high of 40. Sunrise is 6:24 AM and sunset 7:28 PM for 13h 03m 50s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 33.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets at 6 PM, the Common Council meets at 6:30 PM, and the Whitewater Fire Department also meets at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Yamato, one of the two largest ever constructed, is sunk by United States Navy aircraft during Operation Ten-Go.
One saw on April 4th, in an announcement to the UW-Whitewater community, that Interim Chancellor Jim Henderson had resigned:
Dear Colleagues:
One of my three goals for my time as interim chancellor has been to help this campus hire the best chancellor possible who will be here for the long term. Over the past few days it has become clear to me that I cannot make progress on that goal. Given that, I feel that it is in both the best interest of UW-Whitewater and me personally that I resign my position as interim chancellor, and I have submitted my resignation effective at the end of the day today.
I have greatly enjoyed my time with you. I so admire all of you and what you are accomplishing for the students at both the Whitewater and Rock County campuses. I wish you the best going forward and thank you all for the incredible support that you’ve given me over the past 9 months.
Official statements, and Henderson’s remarks about his resignation reported afterward, suggest that Henderson had more than one reason for his abrupt departure. That’s common; people sometimes leave a position for more than one reason.
What strikes me as curious is that there’s been a shift in reporting away from Henderson’s own stated, general reason for his departure to a singular one. A singular motivation strikes me as unlikely.
A review of recent reporting appears below —
Henderson’s statement to the campus. Under a fair reading of Henderson’s explanation, he expressly links his departure to difficulties in helping to find “the best chancellor possible who will be here for the long term. Over the past few days it has become clear to me that I cannot make progress on that goal.”
Initial Reporting. Kelly Meyerhofer’s initial reporting at the State Journal from 4.5.22 on Henderson’s departure notes both the abruptness of the resignation and his concern about finding a replacement:
Jim Henderson, who took over as leader of the 11,500-student university last July, said in a statement that one of his goals as interim chancellor was to help hire the best chancellor for the long-term success of UW-Whitewater.
“Over the past few days it has become clear to me that I cannot make progress on that goal,” he said.
UW-Whitewater’s interim chancellor resigned earlier this week because the University of Wisconsin System moved forward with a survey that will ask students about free speech rights despite his and other chancellors’ objections
Jim Henderson, who assumed the helm of the Whitewater campus last summer, tendered his resignation Monday saying in a statement he couldn’t effectively recruit a permanent chancellor for a search that hadn’t yet begun.
However, in an interview Tuesday with the Wisconsin State Journal, he elaborated on his departure and emphasized that a major reason for his decision was UW System leadership’s handling of the free speech survey.
….
The free speech survey will be sent to undergraduates on all campuses Thursday and must be completed by May 6. Questions will assess students’ knowledge about the First Amendment, how much they value free speech, whether they see problems with a lack of diverse viewpoints, whether they censor themselves, and whether they have ever been sanctioned or punished for exercising their free speech rights.
The Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service, a unit of the System, is administering the survey. The work is funded by UW-Stout’s Menard Center for Public Policy and Service, which began in 2017 with a donation from the conservative Charles Koch Foundation.
Meyerhofer reports on how Interim System President Mike Falbo explained his (Falbo’s) reversal to allow the survey:
Michael Falbo, who took over as interim System president last month, said he met with chancellors a few weeks ago to discuss the survey. Chancellors raised concerns, leading Falbo to decide the System would not participate in the survey.
However, Falbo said in a statement to the State Journal that his stance changed last week after Menard Center director Tim Shiell emailed him saying the chancellors’ concerns are based on incomplete and perhaps mistaken information.
But Henderson describes Falbo’s rationale for reversal differently:
Henderson said he worried about students experiencing survey fatigue this spring because of two others already in the works, one of which is required for an upcoming accreditation visit and another that will ask about mental health initiatives. He also said chancellors were told the survey had to be conducted this spring because external funding was contingent on that timeline, which was something chancellors questioned.
“First Amendment rights are vital to the UW-Whitewater community, and they have demonstrated that they are able to assure that a variety of voices are heard on campus in a respectful way, so we didn’t view this as crucial to serving our students,” he said. “We should be able to determine the prioritization of surveys administered on our campuses.”
Henderson also said Falbo, in explaining the reversal of his decision to chancellors, focused on the political fallout of not doing the survey — not on Shiell’s arguments [UW-Stout Prof. Timothy Shiell, survey architect] for moving forward with the project, as Falbo told the State Journal.
It’s possible, but improbable, that Henderson is misquoting what Falbo said. Under Henderson’s account, Falbo introduced political considerations into his explanation for reversal. Falbo either mentioned politics or he didn’t. It’s more likely that Falbo either carelessly or candidly admitted a political calculus for sending the survey than that Henderson fabricated Falbo’s words and abruptly resigned afterward.
There is no account anywhere that suggests Henderson is either dishonest or intemperate. On the contrary, it’s notable that, in the many conversations over Henderson’s tenure in which someone has mentioned him to me, every person to whom I have spoken or written has thought well of him.
(Obvious point: this libertarian would not be opposed to an academic free-speech survey, so long as it was sent at the right opportunity and had no political agenda.)
In an interview Tuesday with Wisconsin Public Radio, Henderson said he was breaking his silence to make sure people know his departure has nothing to do with UW-Whitewater.
“UW-Whitewater is a first-rate comprehensive (university) that serves students exceedingly well,” Henderson said. “The faculty, they’re dedicated to the students, and I want to make sure that everyone understands that. I think it’s a wonderful university.”
Henderson said he resigned because he felt there was a lack of support from UW System leadership. Because of that, Henderson said, he could not encourage other higher education leaders he knows to apply for the UW-Whitewater chancellorship.
“I wouldn’t encourage anyone to apply for a chancellorship in the UW System at this point,” Henderson said. “Because I felt like we had established a level of collaboration and trust between the chancellors and the leadership that was not honored.”
Henderson wouldn’t say what specific issue or disagreement with UW System administrators broke that trust.
Faculty and administrators have said they’re worried the survey may be used by Republicans in the state Legislature for political attacks against the state’s higher education system and that they object to how UW System leadership has managed the survey’s rollout.
According to reports from the Wisconsin State Journal and the Chronicle for Higher Education, interim UW System President Michael Falbo had initially declined to hold the survey following pushback from chancellors but backtracked later. Rep. David Murphy (R-Greenville) was involved in the process of pushing the survey forward, according to the Chronicle report.
In this WPR interview, however, Henderson does not attribute his departure merely to the free-speech survey. On the contrary, his interview explanation is consistent with a broad concern about governance of local campuses. Meyerhofer is right to report that Henderson’s departure may be linked to a free speech survey. The survey is manifestly part of Henerson’s concerns, but someone who resigns so suddenly probably had more on his mind than one disagreement on policy with Interim System President Mike Falbo.
