Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of seventy-five.  Sunrise is 6:09 AM and sunset 7:45 PM, for 13h 36m 09s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 61.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

  On this day in 1485, Richard III meets his end at the Battle of Bosworth Field.

Recommended for reading in full:

Jim Tankersley and Emily Cochrane report Budget Deficit on Path to Surpass $1 Trillion Under Trump:

The deficit — the gap between what the government takes in through taxes and other sources of revenue and what it spends — will reach $960 billion for the 2019 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. That gap will widen to $1 trillion for the 2020 fiscal year, the Congressional Budget Office said in updated forecasts released on Wednesday.

The updated projections show deficits rising — and damage from Mr. Trump’s tariffs mounting — faster than the office had previously predicted. In May, the budget office said it expected a deficit of $896 billion for 2019 and $892 billion for 2020.

That damage would be even higher if not for lower-than-expected interest rates, which are reducing the amount of money the government has to pay to its borrowers. Still, the 2019 deficit is projected to be 25 percent larger than it was in 2018, and the budget office predicts it will continue to rise every year through 2023.

By 2029, the national debt will reach its highest level as a share of the economy since the immediate aftermath of World War II.

Elaina Plott writes Trump’s Phone Calls With Wayne LaPierre Reveal NRA’s Influence:

Earlier this afternoon [8.20], according to a person briefed on the call, the president told LaPierre in another phone call that universal background checks were off the table. “He was cementing his stance that we already have background checks and that he’s not waffling on this anymore,” the source told me. “He doesn’t want to pursue it.” In the call, the source added, Trump said he wanted to focus now on “increasing funding” for mental-health care and directing attorneys general across the country to start prosecuting “gun crime” through federal firearms charges from the Justice Department.

The NRA has been consumed by internal strife in recent months, including attempted coups from within, investigations into questionable spending by top executives, and a messy battle with its former advertising agency—all of which the group’s officials calmly refer to as “family issues.” Accordingly, many have speculated that the gun lobby’s clout is not what it once was, that its so-called family issues have caused the NRA’s grip on the GOP to soften. But as the conversations between Trump and LaPierre show, the NRA continues to influence gun policy, or lack thereof, in the Republican Party. Even with its leadership in disarray, the group has once more ensured that modest gun-control efforts are a nonstarter, turning a president who once boasted that he wasn’t “afraid” of the NRA into one of its most reliable advocates.

See also Investigators Are Zeroing in on Top NRA Leaders’ Russia Ties.

Looking at Mass Shootings That Happen Every Year:

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of seventy-nine.  Sunrise is 6:08 AM and sunset 7:47 PM, for 13h 41m 28s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 70.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Tech Park Board meets at 8 AM and the Police and Fire Commission at 6:30 PM.

  On this day in 1944, Allied armies close the Falaise Pocket, trapping tens of thousands of German soldiers, and assuring the liberation of Paris.

Recommended for reading in full:

 Will England describes Seeking democracy on the streets of Russia:

Protests in Moscow this summer were ignited when independent candidates for the city council in next month’s elections were stricken from the ballot for various implausible reasons. Demonstrators are calling for a genuine, democratic choice.

….

The crowds this summer have been younger, more raucous, edgier than in that long-ago time [the ‘90s]. Their clothes look like clothes the world over. They’re jaded, but angry. The police are a lot less sympathetic. Protesters I’ve spoken with are curiously pessimistic, yet committed. Andrei Kolesnikov, an analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Center, told me they don’t expect the government to listen to reason, as that ’60s generation did. They’re looking to force change through numbers.

So where does Russian public opinion stand? Denis Volkov, of the independent Levada polling organization, told me that while support for the protests is strong in Moscow, they haven’t made a substantial impression on the majority of Russians.

Nationwide, nevertheless, support for the authorities has been trending downward. Putin’s party, United Russia, has less than 30 percent support, and some candidates for local office are running away from it.

Matthew Luxmoore reports Teenage Sexual Assault Victim Fights To Break Russia’s Culture Of Victim-Blaming:

“Women are afraid of being blamed — by relatives, by society, and by the state,” she said. “They’re afraid to hear ‘it’s your own fault.'”

Against the backdrop of her arrest and prosecution [for defending herself against an assailant], Ageny has emerged as a prominent advocate for justice for rape and assault victims. She launched a website and the Instagram hashtag …. “it’s not my fault” — under which assault and rape victims are posting their stories and supporting one another.

Ageny is also working to bring attention to resources available to such women and to shed light on what she and others allege is a lack of action and an unsympathetic attitude on the part of state officials.

Her trial is yet to begin, as investigators continue to compile the case. In an interview, Salomatov said Ageny’s main problem is a lack of evidence of her assault. She has no obvious injuries, and no witnesses to summon. It’s her word against the word of her alleged attacker.

“This is the main legal shortcoming in Russia: There’s no clear law on how to defend oneself when the perpetrator has left no physical mark,” Salomatov told RFE/RL.

(This isn’t only a Russian problem.)

The Rise of Toyota: 

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of eighty-one.  Sunrise is 6:07 AM and sunset 7:48 PM, for 13h 41m 28s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 79% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s common council meets at 6:30 PM.

  On this day in 1794, American troops under General “Mad” Anthony Wayne defeat a confederation of Indian forces led by Little Turtle of the Miamis and Blue Jacket of the Shawnees.

Recommended for reading in full:

The Washington Post‘s editorial board writes Trump risks turning a chance for success in Afghanistan into a shameful failure:

U.S. NEGOTIATORS are reportedly racing to complete a flimsy peace accord with Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents in the coming days before President Trump unilaterally announces a U.S. troop withdrawal. If so, they and Mr. Trump are repeating the mistake for which they long blamed President Barack Obama — committing to troop pullouts from conflict zones without first ensuring that the result is not a military and political disaster. While an accord that ends Afghanistan’s decades of war — and the nearly 18-year-old U.S. mission — is much to be wished for, it should not happen on the terms Mr. Trump appears prepared to accept.

….

If the result of a quick withdrawal is the collapse of the government and the reestablishment of sanctuaries for terrorists, the United States could be dragged back into the conflict at a far greater cost — as happened in Iraq three years after the pullout.

An acceptable agreement with the Taliban would condition the final withdrawal of U.S. troops on a settlement between the insurgents and the Afghan government. It would also provide for a continuing presence of U.S. counterterrorism forces to strike the Islamic State and other emerging terrorist threats. If Mr. Trump agrees to a pullout that omits such requirements, he will risk turning what could still be a successful outcome for the United States in Afghanistan into a shameful failure.

A.C. Thompson reports “Dirtbag,” “Savages,” “Subhuman”: A Border Agent’s Hateful Career and the Crime That Finally Ended It:

Border Patrol agent Matthew Bowen had been investigated for years before he used his 4,000-pound truck to assault a fleeing migrant.

Bowen climbed behind the wheel of a Border Patrol pickup truck and used it to strike a Guatemalan migrant in a dusty parking lot in southern Arizona. Bowen eventually was arrested by federal authorities in May 2018 and charged with using his Ford F-150 pickup, a 4,000-pound vehicle, to menace the man as he tried to flee Bowen and other agents on foot. The truck, according to an affidavit filed by prosecutors in court, hit the man twice and came within inches of running him over. Prosecutors accused Bowen of using “deadly force against a person who was running away from him and posed no threat.”

Reversing Extinction for the Northern White Rhino:

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of eighty-two.  Sunrise is 6:06 AM and sunset 7:50 PM, for 13h 44m 07s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 86.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

  On this day in 1812, the USS Constitution earns her nickname Old Ironsides by defeating the HMS Guerriere in an engagement 400 miles southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Recommended for reading in full:

Mary Papenfus reports Mississippi ICE Raids Separate Mom From Her Breastfeeding Baby Girl:

The massive raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at Mississippi food-processing plants earlier this month has separated a young mother from her nursing 4-month-old daughter, the Clarion Ledger reports.

The mom, arrested at Koch Foods in Morton, where she had worked for four years, is now being held in a Louisiana facility while her husband cares for the couple’s three children and continues to work. He faces his own deportation hearing, but not until 2021, according to the Ledger, which didn’t reveal the identities of the parents, who fear reprisals.

All three children, who were born in the U.S., are American citizens.

Erin Doherty reports Democrats’ Desire For Electable Candidates May Be Driven By Older Voters:

Many Democrats say the most important quality they look for in a 2020 candidate is that the person can beat President Trump. But this might not be true of younger Democrats, many of whom are saying that they care more about a presidential candidate’s policies — and less about their chances of beating Trump.

Recent polls from YouGov/HuffPost and Gallup show an age split on whether voters prioritize policy or electability. Both polls found that younger Democrats tended to prioritize nominating a candidate whose positions on issues were closest to their own over a candidate who they believed had the best chance of defeating Trump. Conversely, older Democrats were more likely to want an electable candidate even if they disagreed on the issues.

And this generational divide may be reflected in the patterns of support for former Vice President Joe Biden. Voters of all ages often name Biden as the candidate with the best chance of beating Trump. But a Quinnipiac University poll from early July found that while 28 percent of Democrats over 50 rate Biden as their first choice, just 17 percent of Democrats between 18 and 49 said the same.

It’s possible that the reason more older Democrats prioritize choosing a candidate who can win in the general election is that they have lived through other administrations and have seen how they’ve governed, according to Rey Junco, a senior researcher at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. Junco said older Americans could be “more concerned about the autocratic tendencies in the current administration” than younger Americans, and as a result want a candidate that has the best chance of winning in 2020.

But by prioritizing electability, older Democrats may wind up backing a candidate with a major weakness: an inability to drive youth turnout.

 How The NRA Ended Up On The Verge Of Bankruptcy:

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will see morning thunderstorms with a high of eighty.  Sunrise is 6:05 AM and sunset 7:51 PM, for 13h 46m 45s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 91.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1864, the 2nd, 6th, 7th, 37th, and 38th Wisconsin Infantry regiments take part in the Battle of Globe Tavern.

Recommended for reading in full:

Progressive evangelical (and Sanders supporter) Elizabeth Bruenig writes delicately of Trump-supporting evangelicals in In God’s country (‘Evangelicals view Trump as their protector. Will they stand by him in 2020?’).

Conservative evangelical Michael Gerson writes more fittingly of Trump-supporting evangelicals in Some white evangelicals are difficult to recognize as Christians at all:

Massive budget cuts to hunger-relief programs in Africa, refusing to take in desperate Syrian refugees and separating crying children from their parents at the border are tolerable, but using the Lord’s name in vain is a bridge too far? Pathological lying, spreading conspiracy theories, misogyny, making racist comments and dehumanizing others are permissible, but swearing somehow crosses the line?

How we order our outrage says much about us. Do we feel the violation of a religious rule more intensely than the violation of human dignity? Do we prioritize our religiosity above our anthropology — above our theory of human beings and their rights?

This kind of Pharisaical preference for rules over humans reveals a large gap of spiritual education. In a poll conducted last year by the Pew Research Center, only 25 percent of white evangelical Christians said the United States has a responsibility to accept refugees, while 65 percent of those not affiliated with a religion affirmed that duty. What could possibility explain this 40-percentage-point gap in inclusion and compassion? For a certain kind of secularist, this reveals cruelty, corruption and hypocrisy at the heart of the Christian faith. But traditionally, many of the institutions that do refugee resettlement have been Christian.

The problem does not lie in Christianity but in the moral formation of Christians. Are they getting their view of refugees from Christian sources? Or are they taking their view from Fox News, talk radio and Trump? I suspect the latter. And the worship of political idols is ultimately a spiritual problem — a different kind of blasphemy.

These challenges run deeper than politics. Many white evangelical Christians hold a faith that appeals to the comfortable rather than siding with the afflicted. They have allied themselves with bigots and nativists, risking the reputation of the gospel itself. And, in some very public ways, they are difficult to recognize as Christians at all.

(Both Bruenig and Gerson are – in the complimentary language of our era – gifted. Yet Bruening’s admirable intellect fails her here, as she gives too much credence to self-identification at the expense of identity.  Gerson comes closer to the truth that self-identification becomes incredible when in opposition to any reasonable identity. Tabbies can, if they wish, call themselves lions; no one else is obligated to believe them.)

India’s Swimming Camels:

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of eighty-two.  Sunrise is 6:04 AM and sunset 7:53 PM, for 13h 49m 22s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 96.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1864, Wisconsin soldiers bury Confederate dead at Cedar Mountain, Virginia.

Recommended for reading in full:

Colbert King writes Don’t waste your breath trying to convince Trump supporters he’s repugnant:

The sad truth is that with all that Trump has said and done, millions of Americans don’t see where he has ever crossed the line.

Slurring Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists? Calling for a ban on all Muslims coming into the country? Suggesting that a U.S.-born judge overseeing a Trump University lawsuit should recuse himself because of his Mexican heritage (“He’s a Mexican,” Trump said)? Saying people in the United States from Nigeria will never “go back to their huts”? Referring to Haiti and African countries as “s—hole countries” while wishing the United States would take more people from places like Norway? Tweeting that four black and brown members of Congress — three of them born in the United States — should “go back” to their countries of origin? Launching a slimy birther crusade against President Barack Obama? Constantly resorting to racially charged language?

….

It doesn’t bother them at all when Trump resorts to racist, sexist and religiously intolerant tropes in his onslaughts.

Face it. They helped put — and are now fighting like mad to keep — a prejudiced president in the White House. What does that say about them?

What does it say about the rest of us if we let them?

(Emphasis added.  See also Trump, His Inner Circle, Principal Surrogates, and Media Defenders and Trumpism Down to the Local Level. It’s Trumpist officials and self-described movers-and-shakers at all levels who should be the main focus of one’s efforts.)

Riley Vetterkind reports GOP Twitter block will cost Wisconsin taxpayers $200,000:

Wisconsin taxpayers will pay a liberal group’s attorneys $200,000 because Republican lawmakers blocked them on Twitter.

State officials agreed Thursday to pay the legal bills for One Wisconsin Now’s attorneys. A federal judge ruled in January that Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Rep. John Nygren, both Republicans, had infringed on the group’s First Amendment rights.

One Wisconsin Now routinely criticizes Republicans on Twitter and other platforms. In 2017, it sued Vos, Nygren and then-Rep. Jesse Kremer of Kewaskum for blocking it.

U.S. District Judge William Conley concluded the three lawmakers had acted unconstitutionally by blocking the group on Twitter “because of its prior speech or identity.”

Kremer didn’t run for reelection and was dropped from the lawsuit after he shut down his official Twitter account.

(Infringement is expensive; don’t infringe.)

Republican stronghold Orange County goes from red to blue: