Good morning.

Good Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 50.  Sunrise is 6:32 AM and sunset 7:23 PM, for 12h 50m 13s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 70.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1865, defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg forces the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government to abandon Richmond, Virginia.

Recommended for reading in full — 

 David Smith writes Biden’s cabinet meeting proves the reality TV presidency wasn’t renewed:

Poor old Joe Biden. He might have won the electoral college and the popular vote but he’ll never feel the love of his underlings like Donald Trump did.

The former president’s first full cabinet meeting in June 2017 remains an unparalleled opera of oleaginousness. Secretary after secretary all but flung themselves at his feet, sang songs of praise and paid homage to the divine emperor of the universe.

Has any parent ever known such undying adoration from their child? Only King Lear from Goneril and Regan, perhaps. And most telling was the fact that the world was allowed to see it. Trump made sure it was one more chapter in his reality TV presidency.

Not really Biden’s style. His first cabinet meeting on Thursday was relocated to the East Room because of coronavirus restrictions – the 16 permanent members wore face masks and sat in a giant square with empty chairs between them – but was otherwise a return to the staid old way of doing things.

The main item on the agenda was not the American president’s sculpted handsomeness, nor his towering intellect, nor his indubitable virility, nor his ability to hit holes in one, but merely his freshly announced $2tn infrastructure plan.

Flanked by the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, with the vice-president, Kamala Harris, opposite, Biden said he was asking five cabinet members to “take special responsibility to explain the plan to the American public.”

  Brian Resnick writes Where billions of cicadas will emerge this spring (and over the next decade), in one map: 

For 17 years, cicadas do very little. They hang out in the ground, sucking sugar out of tree roots. Then, following this absurdly long hibernation, they emerge from the ground, sprout wings, make a ton of noise, have sex, and die within a few weeks. Their orphan progeny will then return to the ground and live the next 17 years in silence.

Over the next several weeks, billions of mid-Atlantic cicadas will hear the call of spring and emerge from their cozy bunkers. This year’s group, born in 2004, is known as Brood X. They’ll start their journey to the surface when soil temperatures reach around 64 degrees Fahrenheit.

While they’ll emerge in biblical numbers, they’ll be blanketing only a small slice of the country.

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 40.  Sunrise is 6:34 AM and sunset 7:22 PM, for 12h 47m 20s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 81.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets via audiovisual conferencing at 3:30 PM, and the Whitewater Fire Department is holding a business meeting via audiovisual conferencing at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1970, the Milwaukee Brewers are founded.

Recommended for reading in full — 

Jesse McKinley, Danny Hakim, and Alexandra Alter report As Cuomo Sought $4 Million Book Deal, Aides Hid Damaging Death Toll:

As the coronavirus subsided in New York last year, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had begun pitching a book proposal that would center on his image as a hero of the pandemic. But by early last summer, both his book and image had hit a critical juncture.

Mr. Cuomo leaned on his top aide, Melissa DeRosa, for assistance. She attended video meetings with publishers, and helped him edit early drafts of the book. But there was also another, more pressing edit underway at the same time.

An impending Health Department report threatened to disclose a far higher number of nursing home deaths related to the coronavirus than the Cuomo administration had previously made public. Ms. DeRosa and other top aides expressed concern about the higher death toll, and, after their intervention, the number — which had appeared in the second sentence of the report — was removed from the final version.

The revisions occurred as the governor was on the brink of a huge payoff: a book deal that ended with a high offer of more than $4 million, according to people with knowledge of the book’s bidding process.

 Jessica Brandt writes Washington Needs a Plan for Pushing Back on Autocratic Advances:

The United States and other liberal democracies are engaged in a persistent, asymmetric competition with autocracies—one that is playing out far from traditional military battlefields, in interlocking domains of politics, economics, technology and information. Authoritarian challengers seeking to preserve their grip on power at home have pursued deliberate, though at times subtle, strategies designed to exploit the vulnerabilities of liberal democracies while compensating for vulnerabilities of their own, as they endeavor to fashion a world safe for, if not converted to, their worldview.

….

The United States has been slow to recognize this contest and to develop a national strategy to push back, allowing autocrats to seize the initiative by taking advantage of the openness of its systems. But it is awakening to the challenge. “We’re at an inflection point between those who argue that, given all the challenges we face … autocracy is the best way forward … and those who understand that democracy is essential to meeting those challenges,” President Biden argued in a speech before the Munich Security Conference in February.

Working with its partners and allies, Washington must regain the initiative, and quickly. Fortunately, there are steps the new administration can take to reset the competition on favorable terms, including several that can be implemented without an act of Congress early in Biden’s presidency. That’s important given the urgency of the task and the likelihood that legislative progress, crucial though it may be, is likely to be slow going—even as unified Democratic control opens up new possibilities to make headway.

With that in mind, the Biden administration should start by organizing itself to integrate technology considerations into policy deliberations, recognizing that technology is the most intense domain of competition today—one that underpins all others. Power and influence are being exercised in new places—from social media platforms on American smartphones to international technical standards-setting bodies that once seemed arcane—and that has challenged policy processes and bureaucratic structures.

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 39.  Sunrise is 6:36 AM and sunset 7:20 PM, for 12h 44m 26s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 89.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1889, the Eiffel Tower officially opens.

Recommended for reading in full — 

 Shelley K. Mesch reports Alliant Energy proposes $515 million solar developments; MGE buys into wind farm:

Alliant Energy plans to buy and construct six more solar farms for $515 million to meet its goal of 1,000 megawatts of solar power in Wisconsin by 2023, the company announced Wednesday.

The six projects would add 414 megawatts — enough to power about 100,000 typical homes for a year — to the company’s grid, pending regulatory approval from the Public Service Commission.

With approval, Alliant would develop solar farms in Dodge, Grant, Green, Rock and Waushara counties and would purchase another plant — being developed by National Grid Renewables — in Dodge County.

Alliant requested approval last year to purchase six other projects under development by other companies totaling 675 megawatts in the state for about $900 million. That proposal is still awaiting the PSC’s response.

 AFP reports Antony Blinken says the US will ‘stand up for human rights everywhere’:

The United States will speak out about human rights everywhere including in allies and at home, secretary of state Antony Blinken has vowed, turning a page from Donald Trump as he bemoaned deteriorations around the world.

Presenting the state department’s first human rights report under President Joe Biden, the new top US diplomat took some of his most pointed, yet still veiled, swipes at the approach of the Trump administration.

“Some have argued that it’s not worth it for the US to speak up forcefully for human rights – or that we should highlight abuse only in select countries, and only in a way that directly advances our national interests,” Blinken told reporters in clear reference to Trump’s approach.

“But those people miss the point. Standing up for human rights everywhere is in America’s interests,” he said.

“And the Biden-Harris administration will stand against human rights abuses wherever they occur, regardless of whether the perpetrators are adversaries or partners.”

 Michael Gerson writes The GOP is facing a sickness deeper than the coronavirus:

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 60.  Sunrise is 6:38 AM and sunset 7:19 PM, for 12h 41m 32s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 95.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets via audiovisual conferencing at 4:30 PM.

On this day in 2017, SpaceX conducts the world’s first reflight of an orbital class rocket.

Recommended for reading in full — 

 Steven Lee Myers writes An Alliance of Autocracies? China Wants to Lead a New World Order (‘As President Biden predicts a struggle between democracies and their opponents, Beijing is eager to champion the other side’):

Only days after a rancorous encounter with American officials in Alaska, China’s foreign minister joined his Russian counterpart last week to denounce Western meddling and sanctions.

He then headed to the Middle East to visit traditional American allies, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as Iran, where he signed a sweeping investment agreement on Saturday. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, reached out to Colombia one day and pledged support for North Korea on another.

Although officials denied the timing was intentional, the message clearly was. China hopes to position itself as the main challenger to an international order, led by the United States, that is generally guided by principles of democracy, respect for human rights and adherence to rule of law.

See also William Galston, A momentous shift in US public attitudes toward China (“Although public opinion rarely determines the specifics of U. S. foreign policy, it typically defines the zone within which policies with public visibility can be sustained over time. Recent survey research has underscored a shift in Americans’ attitudes towards China that is far-reaching enough to sustain the most adversarial stance toward the Middle Kingdom since the Nixon administration’s opening of relations half a century ago.”)

(Autocracy is a leadership’s choice; China’s leaders so choose.)

 Catherine Rampell writes Draining the swamp should start in state capitals:

The “swamp” that desperately needs draining isn’t in Washington, D.C. It’s in state capitals around the country, where undemocratic, anti-majoritarian officials are seizing rights from voters and flagrantly thwarting the will of the people.

The past week alone is replete with examples of state lawmakers, typically Republicans, ignoring or suppressing the views of constituents they’re supposed to represent.

In Missouri, Republican legislators announced their refusal to enact and fund an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program — despite the successful ballot initiative last summer adding a Medicaid expansion to the state constitution. One Republican lawmaker argued that the ballot measure, despite receiving a majority of the votes cast, cannot possibly represent the “will of the people.”

This follows similar GOP attempts in recent years to undermine popular ballot measures in other states, including one in Utah also expanding Medicaid, one in Florida restoring voting rights to people with felony convictions and one in Maine raising the minimum wage.

Michael Sainato reports AT&T said Trump’s tax cut would create jobs – now it’s laying off thousands of workers:

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 63.  Sunrise is 6:39 AM and sunset 7:18 PM, for 12h 38m 39s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 99.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets via audiovisual conferencing at 4:30 PM.

On this day in 1865, Federal forces under Major General Philip Sheridan move to flank Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee as the Appomattox Campaign begins.

Recommended for reading in full — 

 Katelyn Ferral reports No action from Wisconsin lawmakers more than a year after National Guard sex assault scandal:

Following a year of historic National Guard activity in Wisconsin, and despite a 2019 federal investigation calling for reforms, state legislators have done nothing to change the law on how the force handles sexual assault and addresses discrimination.

The Guard, along with Gov. Tony Evers, say they support reforms to the state’s military law, called the Wisconsin Code of Military Justice, to align it with national standards for addressing sexual assault, victims rights and discrimination and other crimes within the force.

“Gov. Evers continues to urge the Legislature to improve the Wisconsin Code of Military Justice as the National Guard Bureau recommended to protect our servicemembers and survivors and prevent sexual harassment and assault in the Guard,” said Evers spokesman Britt Cudaback in an email.

Captain Joe Trovato, the Guard’s spokesman, said the Wisconsin Guard has had some preliminary discussions with lawmakers to update the code but had no details on specific changes or a timeline for them.

  Kari Paul reports Leaked memo shows Amazon knows delivery drivers resort to urinating in bottles:

Amazon caused an uproar on Thursday when it denied reports that its delivery workers have been forced to urinate in bottles due to lack of access to bathrooms, but a leaked internal memo shows the company has been aware of the problem for at least several months.

Documents provided by employees at Amazon to the Intercept showed that an email sent in May 2020 admonished workers for urinating in bottles and defecating in bags while on the job.

“This evening, an associate discovered human feces in an Amazon bag that was returned to station by a driver,” the email reads. “This is the 3rd occasion in the last 2 months when bags have been returned to station with poop inside. We understand that DA’s [driver associates] may have emergencies while on-road, and especially during Covid, DAs have struggled to find bathrooms while delivering. Regardless, DAs cannot, MUST NOT, return bags to station with poop inside.”

The email went on to say: “We’ve noticed an uptick recently of all kinds of unsanitary garbage being left inside bags: used masks, gloves, bottles of urine.”

Meryl Kornfield reports GOP candidate from New Jersey accused of pandering after he transforms into cowboy for Texas run:

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 45.  Sunrise is 6:41 AM and sunset 7:17 PM, for 12h 35m 43s of daytime.  The moon is full with 99.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1979, a coolant leak at the Three Mile Island‘s Unit 2 nuclear reactor outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania leads to the core overheating and a partial meltdown.

Recommended for reading in full — 

 Samuel Weinstein writes The Antitrust Cases Against Facebook And Google: In Search of a Smoking Gun: 

For an antitrust plaintiff, the most powerful pieces of evidence often can be the defendant’s own documents. Customer and competitor testimony can be helpful to understand the competitive impact of a merger or specific conduct, though both customers and rivals may have biases that color their views of the case. Third-party testimony—from industry analysts, for example—also can be persuasive. But when the defendant’s own words support the plaintiff’s theory of the case, that can be outcome shifting. In the Microsoft case, the government effectively used Bill Gates’ emails and other internal Microsoft documents against the company. Doug Melamed, the Antitrust Division’s Acting Assistant Attorney General at the time the case was litigated, stated in a recent interview that the government’s case “was built on these emails.”

By this measure, the FTC’s Facebook complaint bodes well for its case. It is replete with powerful Facebook documents that directly support the FTC’s theory of the case. The agency alleges that Facebook engaged in a combination of anticompetitive acquisitions (Instagram and WhatsApp) and exclusionary conduct involving access conditions on its application programming interfaces (APIs). Its case with regard to Facebook’s acquisition strategy is neatly summarized by a line from a 2008 email from Mark Zuckerberg: “it is better to buy than compete.” This statement has the same pithy (and damaging) quality as the line attributed to a Microsoft executive that the company’s strategy was to “cut off Netscape’s air supply.”

  Kelly Mena reports Former Trump chief of staff calls ex-President’s Capitol riot claims ‘manifestly false’:

Mick Mulvaney, who stepped down as Trump’s special envoy to Northern Ireland after the insurrection, called Trump’s comments that his supporters were “hugging and kissing” police officers and posed “zero threat,” despite widespread violence, “manifestly false.”

“I was surprised to hear the President say that. Clearly there were people who were behaving themselves, and then there were people who absolutely were not, but to come out and say that everyone was fine and there was no risk, that’s just manifestly false — people died, other people were severely injured,” Mulvaney told CNN’s Pamela Brown on “Newsroom.”

“It’s not right to say there was no risk, I don’t know how you can say that when people were killed,” he added.

Ari Berman writes John Roberts Said “Things Have Changed Dramatically” in the South. Georgia Shows Why He’s Wrong:

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 52.  Sunrise is 6:43 AM and sunset 7:16 PM, for 12h 32m 49s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 97.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1981, the Solidarity movement in Poland stages a warning strike, in which at least 12 million Poles walk off their jobs for four hours.

Recommended for reading in full — 

Shawn Hubler, Tim Arango, and Anemona Hartocollis report U.S.C. Agrees to Pay $1.1 Billion to Patients of Gynecologist Accused of Abuse (‘The staggering sum — a combination of three sets of settlements with hundreds of alleged victims of Dr. George Tyndall — sets a record for collegiate sex abuse payouts’):

“On one hand, it really exemplifies the gravity of what Tyndall’s survivors had to experience, and really set in stone our truth as to what occurred,” said Ms. Morgan, now a 27-year-old lawyer. “But it’s also a really grueling reminder of the price tag U.S.C. was willing to put on our safety and our mental health.”

John C. Manly, who represented the third group of plaintiffs, said that “the reason U.S.C. paid this money was that there was culpability — they knew early on, in the early ’90s and all the way through his tenure that this was happening.”

This week’s settlement, which he said would be distributed among the plaintiffs in awards ranging from about $250,000 to several million dollars, will provide by far the largest per-victim payout, he said. But combined, the outcome of the litigation sends a message, he added: “If you’re an institution of higher education, you will pay if you do this.”

  Anne Applebaum describes The Science of Making Americans Hurt Their Own Country:

The problem is not only the outgrowth of the peculiar climate created by Donald Trump—however simple and satisfying such an explanation might be. Think, for a moment, about why the Russian state indulges in this kind of activity, year in and year out, despite the political costs and the risk of sanctions: Because it’s very cheap, it’s very easy, and a lot of evidence suggests that it works.

For decades now, Russian security services have studied a concept called “reflexive control”—the science of how to get your enemies to make mistakes. To be successful, practitioners must first analyze their opponents deeply, to understand where they get their information and why they trust it; then they need to find ways of playing with those trusted sources, in order to insert errors and mistakes. This way of thinking has huge implications for the military; consider how a piece of incorrect information might get a general to make a mistake. But it works in politics too. The Russian security services have now studied us and worked out (it probably wasn’t very hard) that large numbers of Americans—not only Fox News pundits and OANN broadcasters but also members of Congress—are very happy to accept sensational information, however tainted, from any source that happens to provide it. As long as it suits their partisan frames, and as long as it can be used against their opponents, they don’t care who invented it or for what purpose.

As a result, supplying an edited audiotape or a piece of false evidence to one of the bottom-feeders of the information ecosystem is incredibly easy; after that, others will ensure that it rises up the food chain. Russian disinformation doesn’t succeed thanks to the genius of Russians; it succeeds thanks to the sharp partisanship of Americans. Russian disinformation works because Americans allow it to work—and because those same Americans don’t care anymore about the harm they do to their country.

Slideshow: Spring in blossom around the world:

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 51.  Sunrise is 6:45 AM and sunset 7:15 PM, for 12h 29m 55s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 92.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1945, the Battle of Iwo Jima ends as the island is officially secured by American forces.

Recommended for reading in full — 

 Sarah Binder writes Mitch McConnell is wrong. Here’s the filibuster’s ‘racial history’: