Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of thirty-two.  Sunrise is 7:10 AM and sunset 5:05 PM, for 9h 54m 46s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 26.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1703, the Forty-Seven Ronin, under the command of Oishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master, by killing Kira Yoshinaka.

Recommended for reading in full —

Peter Cary reports Republicans passed tax cuts — then profited (‘The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is a case study of how lawmakers can make themselves richer with the bills they pass’):

When the price of Apple stock hit a then-record high in October 2018, among the shareholders counting their gains were 43 Republicans in Congress, who collectively owned as much as $1.5 million worth of the tech giant’s shares. Apple’s stock jumped 37 percent in its run-up to that record. Several variables were behind the climb, including higher-than-expected earnings.

But congressional Republicans themselves had a hand in the spike, stock analysts say. Legislation they championed — the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — doled out nearly $150 billion in corporate tax savings in 2018 alone. One effect: a big boost in stock prices.

Cutting tax rates for companies like Apple and hundreds of other stocks they own was one of many ways Republican lawmakers enriched themselves after they passed the tax law, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of the 186-page law and members’ financial disclosure forms. Democrats also stood to gain from the tax bill, though not one voted for it; all but 12 Republicans voted for the tax bill.

As part of the bill, Republicans approved tax breaks in 2017 for seven classes of assets many of the wealthier members of Congress held at the time, including partnerships, small corporations, real estate, and several esoteric investment vehicles. While they sold the bill as a package of business and middle-class tax cuts that would not help the wealthy, the cuts likely saved members of Congress hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes collectively, while the corporate tax cut hiked the value of their holdings.

….

Contrary to Republican claims, the law is not paying for itself and is likely to burden the nation with an additional $1.9 trillion in debt over 11 years beginning in 2018, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Steven Pearlstein writes Our current economic boom is a mirage, and our politics are going to break it:

In reality, our current economic boom is a Keynesian mirage. The only reason our economy is growing at all is that because of extravagant tax cuts and undisciplined spending, the federal government last year spent $1 trillion more than it brought in in revenue, even as the Federal Reserve injects an additional $60 billion a month into the financial system. As the International Monetary Fund warned in its annual economic outlook last fall, such a level of fiscal and monetary stimulus is not sustainable, creating risks of inflation, a spike in interest rates or a sharp decline in the value of the dollar, any of which in turn could lead to a recession or financial crisis. In the longer run, this addiction to living beyond our means will also have the effect of making us ever more beholden to the foreign lenders and investors who make it possible.

Closed Caption Glasses: A New Way to Watch Theater:

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of thirty.  Sunrise is 7:11 AM and sunset 5:04 PM, for 9h 52m 27s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 18.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1845, The Raven is first published using Edgar Allan Poe’s name in the Evening Mirror as an “advance copy.” 

Recommended for reading in full —

Ishaan Tharoor writes Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ is no deal at all:

Maybe in the early stages of his presidency, it seemed plausible that a figure as sui generis as President Trump could untangle the Gordian knot of Middle East peace. But rather than working to bridge the profound gap between Israelis and Palestinians that bedeviled U.S. policymakers for decades, the Trump administration has spent the past three years doling out concessions to the former, while placing its boot on the latter.

And so it was not surprising when Trump laid out his supposed “deal of the century” on Tuesday afternoon that the White House’s proposal looked less like a possible agreement than a declaration of terms for Palestinian surrender.

The Trump administration’s now-published “vision for peace,” the culmination of what the president said was “a long and very arduous process,” outlines a scenario in which Israel maintains sovereignty west of the Jordan river, a capital in an undivided Jerusalem, and control over Jewish enclaves and settlements scattered through the Palestinian territories.

None of this, of course, was brokered with the Palestinians, who were absent from the room and rejected talks with Trump officials once it became clear how one-sided their approach was. There were a handful of Arab ambassadors in attendance, but none from states that have served as key interlocutors to the Palestinians — including Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Indeed, most Arab states have already disengaged from or spoken out against the Trump-led initiative.

Palestinians angrily rejected Trump’s plan. “After the nonsense that we heard today we say a thousand no’s to the ‘deal of the century,’ ” said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. “We will not kneel and we will not surrender.”

(Emphasis in original.)

Cancer-survivor canine touts UW-Madison Vet School in upcoming Super Bowl ad:

A new 30-second commercial, titled “Lucky Dog,” will air during the second quarter of Super Bowl LIV. Paid for by WeatherTech, manufacturer of automotive accessories and home and pet care products, the commercial features Scout, a spokescanine and member of the family of WeatherTech founder and CEO David MacNeil. MacNeil brought Scout to the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine in hopes of curing the dog’s canine cancer. The commercial is a “thank you” from MacNeil for the treatment Scout received and offers a link for people to donate to the veterinary school to help fight canine cancer.

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of thirty-two.  Sunrise is 7:12 AM and sunset 5:02 PM, for 9h 50m 10s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 11.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Involvement & Cable TV Commission meets at 5 PM, and the city’s Finance Committee meets at 5:30 PM.  

On this day in 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger breaks apart 73 seconds into its tenth mission, STS-51-L, resulting in the death of all seven crew members.

Recommended for reading in full —

Patrick Marley reports Lobbyists and lawmakers barred from sitting on Gov. Evers’ redistricting commission:

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed an executive order Monday to establish a redistricting commission that excludes political party officials, lobbyists and lawmakers.

He took that step as GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos left open the possibility he would require lawmakers to sign secrecy pledges as part of the redistricting process he will use, just as Republican leaders did the last time they drew maps.

At a Capitol news conference, Evers said the current maps are so pro-Republican that lawmakers feel they can ignore issues that polls have shown to be overwhelmingly popular, such as medical marijuana and universal background checks for gun purchases.

“Elected officials can ignore those numbers and say, ‘Go jump in a lake’ — something’s wrong,” Evers said.

The move is part of Evers’ long-running effort to draw new legislative and congressional districts without concern for partisan advantage. Vos, of Rochester, scoffed at the notion that the commission would come up with truly nonpartisan maps and said Republicans who control the Legislature will draw their own.

(Emphasis added.)

Jennifer Rubin writes Trump’s defense is irrelevant. Only Bolton matters now:

President Trump’s defense attorneys offered some truly bizarre arguments on Monday. Ken Starr, who played the role of Inspector Javert in the Bill Clinton impeachment, whined that impeachment has become too common. No, really. He said that. Meanwhile, attorney Jane Raskin said Rudolph Giuliani was not looking for dirt on former vice president Joe Biden, even though Giuliani in multiple TV interviews said he was, and many of the 17 witnesses called by the House said he was running point on the operation.

Mostly, Monday’s argument came across as tired and utterly irrelevant. What matters now is whether former national security adviser John Bolton and other witnesses will now testify, blowing Trump’s defense to smithereens. As of this writing, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) have said the Bolton bombshell has underscored the need for witnesses.

Bolton’s book is coming out in March, so the facts will be known whether they come out in the trial or not. Trying to prevent Bolton testimony now would be a confession of Republicans’ spinelessness and would be futile to boot. The facts cannot be hidden any longer.

Trying to raise executive privilege claims to prevent Bolton from testifying was already a stretch. The privilege cannot be used to cover up wrongdoing. And asserting it got a whole lot harder in the past 24 hours, thanks to Trump’s decision to publicly tweet about conversations with Bolton, and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney’s written statement about what he heard Bolton say.

New Solar Orbiter will take 1st pics of sun’s poles:

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy, with a high of thirty-five.  Sunrise is 7:13 AM and sunset 5:01 PM, for 9h 47m 54s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 6.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Unified School District meets in closed session at 6 PM, with open session beginning at about 7 PM. 

On this day in 1880, Edison receives a patent for an incandescent light. 

Recommended for reading in full —

Maggie Haberman and Michael S. Schmidt report Trump Tied Ukraine Aid to Inquiries He Sought, Bolton Book Says:

President Trump told his national security adviser in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens, according to an unpublished manuscript by the former adviser, John R. Bolton.

The president’s statement as described by Mr. Bolton could undercut a key element of his impeachment defense: that the holdup in aid was separate from Mr. Trump’s requests that Ukraine announce investigations into his perceived enemies, including former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son Hunter Biden, who had worked for a Ukrainian energy firm while his father was in office.

Mr. Bolton’s explosive account of the matter at the center of Mr. Trump’s impeachment trial, the third in American history, was included in drafts of a manuscript he has circulated in recent weeks to close associates. He also sent a draft to the White House for a standard review process for some current and former administration officials who write books.

Multiple people described Mr. Bolton’s account of the Ukraine affair.

The book presents an outline of what Mr. Bolton might testify to if he is called as a witness in the Senate impeachment trial, the people said. The White House could use the pre-publication review process, which has no set time frame, to delay or even kill the book’s publication or omit key passages.

Emily Holden and Jimmy Tobias report New Emails Reveal that the Trump Administration Manipulated Wildfire Science to Promote Logging (‘The director of the US Geological Survey asked scientists to “gin up” emissions figures for him’):

Political appointees at the Interior Department have sought to play up climate pollution from California wildfires while downplaying emissions from fossil fuels as a way of promoting more logging in the nation’s forests, internal emails obtained by the Guardian reveal.

The messaging plan was crafted in support of Donald Trump’s pro-industry arguments for harvesting more timber in California, which he says would thin forests and prevent fires—a point experts refute.

The emails show officials seeking to estimate the carbon emissions from devastating 2018 fires in California so they could compare them to the carbon footprint of the state’s electricity sector and then publish statements encouraging cutting down trees.

The records offer a look behind the scenes at how Trump and his appointees have tried to craft a narrative that forest protection efforts are responsible for wildfires, including in California, even as science shows fires are becoming more intense largely because of climate change.

James Reilly, a former petroleum geologist and astronaut who also said the numbers would make a “decent sound bite,” and acknowledged that wildfire emissions estimates could vary based on what kind of trees were burning but picked the ones that he said would make “a good story.”

Will Limiting Food Stamp Access Motivate People or Just Remove Benefits?:

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy, with a high of thirty-three.  Sunrise is 7:14 AM and sunset 5:00 PM, for 9h 45m 42s of daytime.  The moon is new with 2.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1925, fire destroys the Whitewater Hospital. 

Recommended for reading in full —

Patrick Marley reports How Gov. Tony Evers’ redistricting plan could give him an advantage in court:

States have to draw new maps every 10 years to account for changes in population. In 2011, Republicans controlled all of state government and were able to put in place maps that gave them big advantages at the polls.

When new maps are drawn next year, Republicans will likely hold the Legislature, but they won’t have the governor’s office. If Evers and Republicans can’t agree on new maps, it will be up to the courts to decide what the new maps will be.

And that’s where Evers’ process can get him an upside.

Republicans drew the 2011 maps in secret, in a secure room in the offices of law firm  Michael Best & Friedrich. The drafters used specialized software to fine-tune the maps to maximize their electoral edge. Republican lawmakers had to sign secrecy agreements to get a peek at what their own districts would look like.

A panel of federal judges found their methods disgusting.

“What could have — indeed should have — been accomplished publicly instead took place in private, in an all but shameful attempt to hide the redistricting process from public scrutiny,” the judges wrote in a 2012 decision.

Those judges – J.P. Stadtmueller, Diane Wood and Robert Dow Jr. — at one point became so frustrated with Republican attempts to block information about how they drew the maps that they ordered lawmakers’ attorneys to pay $17,500 in fines.

Evers is proposing a polar opposite process from the one Republicans used. Under his plan, the commission would hear from people in all eight of the state’s congressional districts. He says the commission would use that information to draw maps that reflect what communities look like and don’t account for partisan advantage.

That could push Republicans to hold a more open map-drawing process than they did last time. If they don’t, they could have a tougher time in court because judges will be considering one set of maps drawn publicly and one behind closed doors.

Anne Gearan reports Trump should apologize for minimizing troops’ injuries, VFW says:

A major veterans group has called for President Trump to apologize for “misguided” remarks minimizing the severity of traumatic brain injuries suffered by U.S. forces in an Iranian air attack earlier this month.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars, the oldest major U.S. veterans group, appears to be the first large veterans organization to publicly chastise the president for dismissing the injuries as “headaches” and “not very serious.”

Trump “minimized these troops’ injuries,” VFW National Commander-in-Chief William “Doc” Schmitz said in a statement Friday, after a Pentagon announcement that the number of injured troops had risen to 34.

“The VFW expects an apology from the president to our servicemen and women for his misguided remarks,” Schmitz said, adding that the White House should join with the organization to educate Americans about a serious injury that can cause depression, memory loss and other debilitating conditions.

Visiting a French Winery Run by Veterans: