Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will see afternoons thunderstorm with a high of fifty-four.  Sunrise is 5:29 AM and sunset 8:13 PM, for 14h 43m 56s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 97.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1954, the United States Supreme Court unanimously decides Brown v. Board of Education. From that decision’s syllabus (a summary of the decision):

Segregation of white and Negro children in the public schools of a State solely on the basis of race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requiring such segregation, denies to Negro children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment — even though the physical facilities and other “tangible” factors of white and Negro schools may be equal. Pp. 486-496.(a) The history of the Fourteenth Amendment is inconclusive as to its intended effect on public education. Pp. 489-490.(b) The question presented in these cases must be determined not on the basis of conditions existing when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted, but in the light of the full development of public education and its present place in American life throughout the Nation. Pp. 492-493.(c) Where a State has undertaken to provide an opportunity for an education in its public schools, such an opportunity is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms. P. 493.(d) Segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race deprives children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities, even though the physical facilities and other “tangible” factors may be equal. Pp. 493-494.(e) The “separate but equal” doctrine adopted in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, has no place in the field of public education. P. 495.(f) The cases are restored to the docket for further argument on specified questions relating to the forms of the decrees. Pp. 495-496.

See also Trump judicial nominees decline to endorse Brown v. Board under Senate questioning.

Recommended for reading in full:

Steve Liesman reports Trump’s tariffs are equivalent to one of the largest tax increases in decades:

President Donald Trump, having championed one of the larger tax cuts in recent years, has now enacted tariffs equivalent to one of the largest tax increases in decades.

A CNBC analysis of data from the Treasury Department ranks the combined $72 billion in revenue from all the president’s tariffs as one of the biggest tax increases since 1993. In fact, the tariff revenue ranks as the largest increase as a percent of GDP since 1993 when compared with the first year of all the revenue measures enacted since then, according to the data.

….

Kent Smetters of the Penn-Wharton Budget Model and a former Treasury official during the Bush administration, estimates that the tariff increase will cost the median U.S. household with earnings of $61,000 about $500 to $550 a year. It’s the equivalent, he said, of raising the Social Security retirement tax by 1 percentage point to 11.6%.

This Musician Plays the Leaf:

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will see an afternoon thunderstorm with a high of seventy-nine.  Sunrise is 5:30 AM and sunset 8:12 PM, for 14h 41m 57s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 92.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1933, the military is mobile against a ‘milk strike’:

seventy-five members of the Janesville-based 32nd Tank Company and 121st Field Artillery were mobilized to quell potential violence in the Wisconsin farmers’ statewide milk strike. The strike was called to protest low milk prices and protesters employed “milk dumping” as their main tactic.

Recommended for reading in full:

The Wall Street Journal‘s editorial board – usually pro-Trump – writes of Trump’s Dubious Hungarian Friend (‘Viktor Orban has done a tremendous job,’ the president says. What a disgrace):

“Respected all over Europe. Probably, like me, a little bit controversial, but that’s OK.” With these remarks, the U.S. president gave his seal of approval to Europe’s leading illiberal politician less than two weeks before elections for the European Parliament.

David Cornstein, the U.S. ambassador to Hungary and a personal friend of Mr. Trump, remarked in a recent interview: “I can tell you, knowing the president for a good 25 or 30 years, that he would love to have the situation that Viktor Orban has.”

This is easy to believe. The 2019 Freedom House survey demoted Hungary’s status from “free” to “partly free.” The report shows that Mr. Orban and his Fidesz party have mounted “sustained attacks on the country’s democratic institutions” by imposing restrictions on—or asserting control over—“the opposition, the media, religious groups, academia, NGOs, the courts, asylum seekers, and the private sector.”

According to the report, Mr. Orban’s administration has deployed government advertising, which represents a substantial share of Hungary’s media revenue, to bolster supportive media outlets and weaken his critics. This encouraged the formation of a massive pro-government media conglomerate, which the government then exempted from Hungary’s antitrust laws, which almost certainly would have prohibited it.

In Hungary, the press has been brought to heel. It is no longer the enemy of the people. No wonder Mr. Trump is envious.

….

Against this backdrop, Mr. Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Viktor Orban was a disgrace that no amount of White House realpolitik can justify.

(Again: Trump’s friends are democracy’s enemies.)

David J. Lynch writes China is paying Trump’s tariffs?:

The president’s continued insistence that China is bearing the cost of his import taxes has become a notable and unusual feature of his “America First” trade offensive. Many industry groups and most economists describe tariffs as a tax on Americans, paid by the American companies that bring foreign goods into the United States.

A pair of recent studies, by two teams of economists from institutions such as the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as well as Princeton, Yale and Columbia universities, both concluded that Americans are bearing nearly the entire cost of Trump’s tariffs.

Why Uber Is Losing Money:

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of seventy-four.  Sunrise is 5:31 AM and sunset 8:11 PM, for 14h 39m 55s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 85.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Parks & Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1941, the first Allied jet-propelled aircraft, a Gloster-Whittle E 28/39, flies. 

Recommended for reading in full:

Annie Lowrey writes How Trump Thinks Tariffs Work (And How They Actually Work):

In Trump’s mind, tariffs are a potent, unilateral weapon, and protectionism is a potent, necessary economic philosophy. He argues that his tariffs are a direct tax on Beijing—a way of sapping Chinese manufacturers, raising American revenue, aiding domestic businesses, and giving Washington leverage in trade negotiations. “Tariffs are NOW being paid to the United States by China of 25% on 250 Billion Dollars worth of goods & products,” he said on Twitter. “These massive payments go directly to the Treasury of the U.S.”

This is not at all how it works; the Chinese government is no more apt to fork over billions of yuan for Trump’s tariffs than Mexico’s government is to pay for a border wall. Rather, tariffs fall on the American importers of Chinese goods, who often pass those cost increases onto American consumers. That means every time Trump raises tariffs, he risks raising costs on families and businesses.

….

Trump’s misconceptions on trade are not limited to tariffs. He continues to argue that the United States’ trade deficit with China is a sign it is getting ripped off, and that it is bleeding itself dry by engaging in commerce with the Chinese: “The United States has been losing, for many years, 600 to 800 Billion Dollars a year on Trade. With China we lose 500 Billion Dollars. Sorry, we’re not going to be doing that anymore!” There are many issues with the two countries’ economic relationship, and many ways that China does not play fair. But trade imbalances are not in and of themselves a bad thing. The United States has a trade deficit with China in large part because goods are cheaper to produce there, and Americans choose to consume huge amounts of them; the deficit is not a way of measuring capital losses in the United States.

As for tariffs bringing “FAR MORE wealth to our Country”: The trade war thus far has not caused tremendous macroeconomic damage. But it has hit certain industries and businesses very hard—dairy farms in Wisconsin, for instance—while increasing consumer prices a smidge. Economists have estimated that Trump’s trade war cost the country a sliver of GDP last year, in part by forcing businesses to rejigger their supply chains. (The pain is worst in heavily Republican counties, one analysis found.) Given Trump’s new tariffs and China’s retaliatory measures, the cost might be yet greater this year.

(Emphasis in original. Trump is an ignorant person’s idea of a knowledgeable person, a dense person’s idea of a clever one.)

High school track star overcomes homelessness, receives college scholarship:

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of sixty-nine.  Sunrise is 5:32 AM and sunset 8:10 PM, for 14h 37m 51s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 76.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 6:00 PM.

On this day in 1804, the Lewis and Clark (Corps of Discovery) Expedition departs for the west: 

President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the expedition shortly after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 to explore and to map the newly acquired territory, to find a practical route across the western half of the continent, and to establish an American presence in this territory before Britain and other European powers tried to claim it. The campaign’s secondary objectives were scientific and economic: to study the area’s plants, animal life, and geography, and to establish trade with local American Indian tribes.

Recommended for reading in full:

Patrick Marley and Molly Beck report Wisconsin Republican Party maxed out credit card, racked up $600 in monthly interest as it tried to save Scott Walker:

The state Republican Party fell so far behind financially in recent months that it missed payments to insurers and racked up nearly $600 a month in interest on a maxed-out credit card, according to a draft of an internal report.

The review, commissioned by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and other top Wisconsin Republicans in the wake of statewide losses in 2018, also showed the party was “recklessly reliant” on consultants, some of whom made more than $500,000 doing routine work for the party.

In a final version of the report released Monday, GOP leaders also concluded the party and statewide campaigns fell short with women by including very few in their 2018 campaigns.

Zach Beauchamp writes Hungary’s leader is waging war on democracy. Today [Monday], he’s at the White House:

[S]ince winning the country’s 2010 election, [Hungarian leader Viktor] Orban has subtly consolidated power and rendered elections almost impossibly unfair. He and allies of his political party, Fidesz, control nearly all of Hungary’s media; he manipulates the state’s economic powers to weaken potential rivals and empower his cronies. Widespread anti-immigrant sentiment, kicked off by the 2015 refugee crisis, has become a key propaganda tool Orban uses to legitimize his power grabs.

Orban has also been explicit that his goal is the defeat of liberal democracy. Trump hasn’t gone that far, but he has flashed some authoritarian instincts, and his party has shown it’s willing to go along. David Cornstein, a longtime Trump associate currently serving as US ambassador to Hungary, told the Atlantic that the president “would love to have the [political] situation that Viktor Orban has.”

It’s hard to imagine a military coup or outright abolition of elections in the United States. It’s much easier to imagine a gradual hollowing-out of democracy akin to what’s happened in Hungary, a rise of soft fascism cheered on by Fox News and Breitbart. (Steve Bannon has called Orban “the most significant guy on the scene right now.”)

‘Disgusting’: Video shows students forcing dog to drink beer from keg:

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of sixty-three.  Sunrise is 5:33 AM and sunset 8:09 PM, for 14h 35m 44s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 66.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Planning Commission meets and 6:30 PM, and the Whitewater School Board in closed session at 6:30 PM, with an open session beginning at 7 PM.  Among the agenda items are numbers 2, 3, and 7:

2. ADJOURN INTO CLOSED SESSION

A. Adjourn into closed session, pursuant to the provisions of Sec. 19.85(1)(c), and (e), Wis. Stats., considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility; deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session, specifically, teacher compensation, to discuss administrator and teacher contracts, evaluations, and performance of duties. (Action Item)

….

3. OPEN SESSION (7:00 pm)

A. Reconvene into open session per Section 19.85 (2) Wis. Stats., for potential action on any matters discussed in closed session. (Action Item)

….

7. ADJOURN INTO CLOSED SESSION (continuation of previous session, if necessary)

A. Adjourn into closed session, pursuant to Section 19.85(1) (c), Wis. Stats., to consider employment, promotion, compensation, or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. Specifically, to discuss administrator contracts, evaluations, and performance of duties with the District’s legal counsel; when closed session ends, the meeting will end (Action Item)

On this day in 1864, the Battle of Resaca, Georgia begins: “From May 13-16, 1864, more than 150,000 soldiers clashed outside Georgia’s capital city, including 10 Wisconsin regiments.”

Recommended for reading in full:

Felicia Sonmez reports Kudlow acknowledges U.S. consumers, not China, pay for tariffs on imports:

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will see brief afternoon showers with a high of fifty-five.  Sunrise is 5:34 AM and sunset 8:07 PM, for 14h 33m 35s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 55.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1949, in the Soviet’s Berlin Blockade ends:

By the spring of 1949, the [Allied responsive] airlift was clearly succeeding, and by April it was delivering more cargo than had previously been transported into the city by rail. On 12 May 1949, the USSR lifted the blockade of West Berlin, although for a time the U.S., U.K and France continued to supply the city by air anyway because they were worried that the Soviets were simply going to resume the blockade and were only trying to disrupt western supply lines. The Berlin Blockade served to highlight the competing ideological and economic visions for postwar Europe and was the first major multinational skirmish of the cold war.

Recommended for reading in full:

Katelyn Ferral reports ‘It was rape:’ Wisconsin Army National Guard officer Megan Plunkett says she was retaliated against, disciplined for reporting sexual assaults:

How Grizzly Bears Saved A Life: