Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of thirty-three.  Sunrise is 7:15 AM and sunset 4:20 PM, for 9h 05m 38s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 10.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Planning Commission meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1864, the 3rd Wisconsin Infantry reaches Savannah, Georgia:

The Wisconsin 3rd Infantry arrived at the front lines for the Battle of Savannah, Georgia. After marching from Atlanta under General William T. Sherman, Wisconsin troops assembled outside the coastal city of Savannah and laid siege to it.

Recommended for reading in full:

  Rosalind S. Helderman, Tom Hamburger, and Carol D. Leonnig report Russians interacted with at least 14 Trump associates during the campaign and transition:

The Russian ambassador. A deputy prime minister. A pop star, a weightlifter, a lawyer, a Soviet army veteran with alleged intelligence ties.

Again and again and again, over the course of Donald Trump’s 18-month campaign for the presidency, Russian citizens made contact with his closest family members and friends, as well as figures on the periphery of his orbit.

Some offered to help his campaign and his real estate business. Some offered dirt on his Democratic opponent. Repeatedly, Russian nationals suggested Trump should hold a peacemaking sit-down with Vladi­mir Putin — and offered to broker such a summit.

In all, Russians interacted with at least 14 Trump associates during the campaign and presidential transition, public records and interviews show.

  Andrew Cohen of the Marshall Project summarizes the latest on The unindicted co-conspirator:

Federal prosecutors allege that President Trump and his former lawyer Michael Cohen conspired to commit campaign finance crimes involving hush money to women. THE NEW YORK TIMES They recommend “a substantial term of imprisonment” for Cohen, who pleaded guilty this summer to tax evasion, false statements, and other crimes. CNN And they say his separate cooperation with Mueller’s Russia investigation should not warrant “extraordinary leniency” given his “pattern of deception that permeated his professional life.” USA TODAY Mueller’s own sentencing memo, meanwhile, chronicles broader collusion and conspiracy evidence extending into Trump’s presidency. POLITICO Finally: A running tally of charges from Mueller’s investigation. NPR

  Tony Newmyer reports U.S.-China trade standoff means no reprieve for rattled investors:

“As far as I’m concerned it’s a hard deadline,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer said in a rare interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Offered a chance to reassure markets, Lighthizer (whose name has also surfaced in speculation about who will replace outgoing White House chief of staff John Kelly) instead gave some cold comfort. He said, in essence, the United States will only agree to forgo more tariffs if the Chinese agree to major structural changes in their economic approach. “It is a very important matter, and there’s a long history of having things not work out.”

Meet The Woman Teaching Tokyo’s Mascots:

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of thirty.  Sunrise is 7:14 AM and sunset 4:20 PM, for 9h 06m 26s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 5.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1844, Milwaukee’s first daily newspaper, the Daily Sentinel, begins publication.  

Recommended for reading in full:

  Mitch Smith, John Eligon, and Monica Davey report Behind the Scenes in Wisconsin: A Republican Power Play, Months in the Making:

Last spring, after Wisconsin Democrats seized a state legislative seat long held by Republicans and sent a liberal justice to the State Supreme Court, Republicans began to worry. Gov. Scott Walker, preparing to seek a third term, warned his fellow Republicans on Twitter of the “risk of a blue wave” and publicly urged them not to be complacent with fall elections ahead.

During the same period, an aggressive and methodical alternate strategy was emerging behind the scenes. Over the summer, Robin Vos, the speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly, sought a detailed analysis from the state’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau of the powers of the governor compared with those of the State Legislature.

By fall, with polls showing an extremely tight governor’s race, Scott L. Fitzgerald, the State Senate majority leader, said he and Mr. Vos had conferred about how best to “put on solid ground” some of the policies the Republicans had advanced during eight years of full control of state government.

“We were kicking it around, nervous about the way the elections were going to go,” Mr. Fitzgerald said in an interview.

When Wisconsin Republicans this week pushed through a sweeping set of bills that diminish the power of the newly elected Democratic governor and attorney general while expanding that of the Republican-held Legislature, Democrats responded with outrage, calling it a swift and sudden power grab by Republicans.

[Read: A hardball maneuver by Republicans in Wisconsin]

But the plans had actually been months in the making, part of what has become a playbook for holding onto power in places where Republicans have had state control to themselves and now face sharing it. North Carolina lawmakers took similar steps when a Democratic governor was elected in 2016, and in Michigan, where Democrats in the midterms won the offices of governor, attorney general and secretary of state, Republican lawmakers were this month weighing new limits to their opponents’ power.

….

“It speaks to a new brand of politics where you’re seeing a rejection of the social contract that exists with the public where we respect the outcomes of elections,” said Gordon Hintz, the Democratic minority leader in the Assembly. “It’s not really about policy. It’s about undermining our democracy.”

(This maneuver was in character for the WISGOP.  See Once a Gerrymanderer…)

The Sounds of Mars: NASA’s InSight Senses Martian Wind:

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of twenty-eight.  Sunrise is 7:13 AM and sunset 4:20 PM, for 9h 07m 16s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 1.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1941, the United States declares war on Japan:

JOINT RESOLUTION Declaring that a state of war exists between the Imperial Government of Japan and the Government and the people of the United States and making provisions to prosecute the same.

Whereas the Imperial Government of Japan has committed unprovoked acts of war against the Government and the people of the United States of America:

Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial Government of Japan which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and the President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial Government of Japan; and, to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States.[8]

Recommended for reading in full:

  Heather Long observes Trump’s two favorite economic metrics — the stock market and the trade deficit — are failing him:

President Trump has made clear that he wants the stock market to rise and the trade deficit to fall, and that his policies will make that happen. But this year, he has been getting the opposite result: The trade deficit is soaring while the market is careening down.

The U.S. trade deficit is at its highest level in a decade, the Commerce Department reported Thursday, and the trade deficit with China is at a record high. Trump’s trade war appears to be making the trade deficit worse as the United States continues to import a lot of foreign goods but has struggled to sell products such as soybeans abroad.

….

“The stock market couldn’t be any more disapproving of the president and his economics team,” Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank, wrote in an email. “This administration has to tone down its war with the world, from European automakers to China importers, or this stock market will completely collapse and make a 2019 recession forecast a reality.”

(Trump’s views, of course, are economically ignorant, and that’s why he’s failing – and harming – America’s workers & investors.  See  Justin Amash responds to Trump in tweets from 12.4 and 12.5.)

Christopher Kuhagen reports A bobcat was spotted in a Whitefish Bay backyard, DNR confirms: 

Bobcats typically are nocturnal, but if they are in a habitat they feel safe they may roam in the nearby area. The animals tend to weigh between 20 and 40 pounds and their diet consists of small game.

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of twenty-three.  Sunrise is 7:12 AM and sunset 4:20 PM, for 9h 08m 12s of daytime.  The moon is new with 0.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service attacks the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor.

Recommended for reading in full:

  Tory Newmyer writes Trump wants to narrow the trade deficit. It just reached a ten-year high:

President Trump’s favored gauge for the health of U.S. trade is veering hard in the wrong direction.

The country’s trade deficit reached a 10-year high in October, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The U.S. bilateral trade deficit with China also reached a monthly record, rising 7.1 percent to $43.1 billion.

Trump has been calling out that gap since the campaign trail as a sign that China is taking advantage of the United States. Never mind that a trade deficit doesn’t mean, as Trump argues, that the United States is losing money to China — rather, simply, that Americans are buying more from the Chinese than the Chinese are buying from Americans.

  Annie Lowrey asks Does Trump Even Understand How Tariffs Work?:

Fundamentally, Trump seems to misunderstand how tariffs work, insisting that they act as a tax on foreign companies and translate into more American wealth. “I am a Tariff Man,” he wrote on Twitter. “When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so. It will always be the best way to max out our economic power. We are right now taking in $billions in Tariffs.” But the tariffs are acting, as one would expect them to act, as a tax on American consumers, raising domestic prices and slowing the domestic economy. (They’re slowing the global economy, too.)

Despite the back-and-forth, it seems likely that at some point Trump will get some trade concessions from the Chinese and both sides will lift their tariffs. At that point, Trump will undoubtedly declare a “win.” But he won’t have managed to change the Chinese economy, revitalize the heartland, or reduce the United States’ trade deficit—which has grown to a record gap with China since he took office.

  Justin Amash responds to Trump in tweets from 12.4 and 12.5:

I am a Liberty Man. Trade is not raid. Voluntary exchanges make Americans wealthier. @POTUS’s tariffs, which create barriers to exchange, are paid for by Americans. Taxing Americans to steer our decisions is social engineering that reduces our economic power and makes us poorer.

….

International trade is like other trade in that it takes place between people or businesses, not countries. Believing that X country is buying/selling Y product from/to the United States likely leads to more mistakes in economic analysis than any other misconception about trade.

Yelping pack brings presence of coyotes alive in Milwaukee area:

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of twenty-seven.  Sunrise is 7:11 AM and sunset 4:20 PM, for 9h 09m 12s of daytime.  The moon is new with 0.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets at 6:00 PM.

On this day in 1884, a 100-ounce (2.83 kg) aluminum apex/lightning-rod tops, and so completes,  the Washington Monument’s construction.

On this day in 1821, Wisconsin’s first post office opens.

Recommended for reading in full:

  Mireya Solís writes Enjoy the Trump-Xi trade war truce while it lasts (“But brace for 2019”):

Moving back from the brink of a tariff spiral that would kill the chances of any bilateral talks is certainly good news. But what Trump and Xi have done is merely punt the ball on heated (and perhaps intractable) trade and investment negotiations to 2019. The structural negotiations highlighted above are supposed to move at a fast clip, with only a 90-day window to show substantial results or end the tariff ceasefire.

  Mark Follman observes The Mueller Investigation Grows More Ominous for Trump and His Inner Circle:

“The time that he can get away with lying to the American people all the time and evading accountability is coming to an end.”

That was one of several pointed remarks on Sunday from Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, as he spoke about Donald Trump and the latest revelations from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. In a plea deal made public on Thursday, the president’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen admitted to lying to Congress about the extent and duration of his boss’ efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign. “The fact that [Trump] was lying to the American people about doing business in Russia and that the Kremlin knew he was lying gave the Kremlin a hold over him,” Nadler said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “One question we have now is, does the Kremlin still have a hold over him because of other lies that they know about?”

  William Saletan writes Trump Is More Loyal to Dictators Than to the U.S.:

Trump’s perpetual dishonesty about U.S. intelligence is a threat to national security and American democracy. It’s also a manifestation of his fundamental disloyalty to the United States. Seven months ago, when Haspel was nominated to succeed Pompeo as CIA director, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner cautioned her about serving “a president who does not always seem interested in hearing, much less speaking, the truth.” Other Trump officials, Warner noted, had been “attacked for telling a truth in public that contradicts the White House narrative.” That’s the paradox of working in Trump’s CIA. The despot you have to manage is your own boss.

Why Do Fish Float Upside Down When They Die?: