Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will see a high of eighty-seven and a chance of  an afternoon thunderstorm.  Sunrise is 5:16 AM and sunset 8:36 PM, for 15h 20m 17s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 29.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Library Board meets this evening at 6:30 PM.

The War of 1812 begins two-hundred six years ago on this day.

Recommended for reading in full — Attorney General Sessions’s misuse of scripture —

 The Rev. Dr. Margaret Aymer and Laura Nasrallah write What Jeff Sessions got wrong when quoting the Bible:

A complete reading and understanding of Romans 13 — and the Bible more broadly — reveals more love and care for neighbors and immigrants than Attorney General Jeff Sessions would have us believe. On June 14, Sessions spoke in Fort Wayne, Ind., to a group that included law enforcement officers and others in the community. His remarks directly addressed “religious leaders” and “church friends.” Sessions used the words of the apostle Paul to justify current policies of separating children from parents, as families seek to enter the United States:

“Illegal entry into the United States is a crime — as it should be,” he said. “Persons who violate the law of our nation are subject to prosecution. I would cite you to the apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13 to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order.”

….

We write as biblical scholars and as Christians to argue that Sessions has misused this passage from Romans.

First, the Bible shouldn’t — and can’t — be used to argue against immigration. Passages from Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and the prophets argue for care for the stranger and the immigrant: “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 19:33-34 NRSV).

We can turn to the New Testament, as well. Jesus’ words as cited in the parable of the Good Samaritan call Christians to ask “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). These words demand that we expand our definition of neighbor — as did the Samaritan — to include the stranger and the foreigner, and that we serve that neighbor with our own time and financial resources.

Second, Romans 13 is the most-cited text in the Bible in debates in revolutionary America, according to James P. Byrd’s “Sacred Scripture, Sacred War: The Bible and the American Revolution.”Christians then knew that the passage might be read to demand loyalty to Britain. So instead they read this passage to argue that they should obey only just rulers, not tyrants, and that just rulers supported liberty. They used it to argue that the Bible spoke for freedom.

….

Finally, if we do take Romans 13 as a keystone for action, then we have to put the small portion Sessions quotes within a larger context. The apostle Paul also argues in the same passage that all commandments are summed up in the teaching “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Romans 13:9). Paul continues, pointedly, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). Paul here echoes the law (Leviticus 19:18) and teachings of Jesus (Matthew 22:19). This is a central message of the scriptures.

 Elizabeth Bruenig writes Sessions invents a faith all his own:

Good morning.

Father’s Day in Whitewater will be a sunny day with a high of ninety-two.  Sunrise is 5:15 AM and sunset 8:36 PM, for 15h 20m 07s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 19.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1885,  the Statue of Liberty arrives in New York harbor “aboard the French frigate Isère — in 214 crates that held the disassembled gift from the people of France. Nearly a quarter-of-a-million onlookers lined Battery Park, while hundreds of boats pulled into the harbor to welcome the Isère.”

Recommended for reading in full — articles on immigration policy — 

Julie Hirschfeld Davis reports Trump Again Falsely Blames Democrats for His Separation Tactic:

President Trump on Saturday repeated his false assertion that Democrats were responsible for his administration’s policy of separating migrant families apprehended at the border, sticking to a weeks long refusal to publicly accept responsibility for a widely condemned practice that has become a symbol of his crackdown on illegal immigration.

“Democrats can fix their forced family breakup at the Border by working with Republicans on new legislation, for a change!” Mr. Trump said in a morning post on Twitter.

It came the day after his administration said that it had taken nearly 2,000 children away from their parents in a six-week period ending last month, as part of a new “zero tolerance” policy that refers for criminal prosecution all immigrants apprehended crossing the border without authorization.

The White House defended the practice this week, saying the president was merely enforcing the law. And in recent speeches around the country, Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, has made a spirited case for it, arguing that a strict approach is a vital tool for deterrence.

Katy Vine recounts What’s Really Happening When Asylum-Seeking Families Are Separated (“An expert [Anne Chandler] on helping parents navigate the asylum process describes what she’s seeing on the ground”):

There is no one process. Judging from the mothers and fathers I’ve spoken to and those my staff has spoken to, there are several different processes. Sometimes they will tell the parent, “We’re taking your child away.” And when the parent asks, “When will we get them back?” they say, “We can’t tell you that.” Sometimes the officers will say, “because you’re going to be prosecuted” or “because you’re not welcome in this country,” or “because we’re separating them,” without giving them a clear justification.

In other cases, we see no communication that the parent knows that their child is to be taken away. Instead, the officers say, “I’m going to take your child to get bathed.” That’s one we see again and again. “Your child needs to come with me for a bath.” The child goes off, and in a half an hour, twenty minutes, the parent inquires, “Where is my five-year-old?” “Where’s my seven-year-old?” “This is a long bath.” And they say, “You won’t be seeing your child again.” Sometimes mothers—I was talking to one mother, and she said, “Don’t take my child away,” and the child started screaming and vomiting and crying hysterically, and she asked the officers, “Can I at least have five minutes to console her?” They said no.

In another case, the father said, “Can I comfort my child? Can I hold him for a few minutes?” The officer said, “You must let them go, and if you don’t let them go, I will write you up for an altercation, which will mean that you are the one that had the additional charges charged against you.” So, threats. So the father just let the child go. So it’s a lot of variations. But sometimes deceit and sometimes direct, just “I’m taking your child away.”

Parents are not getting any information on what their rights are to communicate to get their child before they are deported, what reunification may look like. We spoke to nine parents on this Monday, which was the 11th, and these were adults in detention centers outside of Houston. They had been separated from their child between May 23 and May 25, and as of June 11, not one of them had been able to talk to their child or knew a phone number that functioned from the detention center director. None of them had direct information from immigration on where their child was located. The one number they were given by some government official from the Department of Homeland Security was a 1-800 number. But from the phones inside the detention center, they can’t make those calls.

Kristine Phillips reports ‘America is better than this’: What a doctor saw in a Texas shelter for migrant children:

Kraft, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said colleagues who were alarmed by what was going on at the border invited her to see for herself, so she visited a shelter run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

“We needed to see what was happening and tell the country and the world about it,” she said.

One thing immediately became clear to Kraft: Those who work at this shelter, whom she declined to name for privacy reasons, were doing what they could to make sure the children’s needs are met. The children were fed; they had beds, toys, a playground and people who change their diapers. But there are limits to what workers could do. Not only could they not pick up or touch the children; they could not get their parents for them.

“The really basic, foundational needs of having trust in adults as a young child was not being met. That contradicts everything we know that the kids need to build their health,” Kraft said.

[‘Where’s Mommy?’: A family fled death threats, only to face separation at the border.]

Such a situation could have long-term, devastating effects on young children, who are likely to develop what is called toxic stress in their brain once separated from caregivers or parents they trusted. It disrupts a child’s brain development and increases the levels of fight-or-flight hormones in their bodies, Kraft said. This kind of emotional trauma could eventually lead to health problems, such as heart disease and substance abuse disorders.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issused a Statement from Daniel Cardinal DiNardo:

Fort Lauderdale, FL—”At its core, asylum is an instrument to preserve the right to life. The Attorney General’s recent decision elicits deep concern because it potentially strips asylum from many women who lack adequate protection. These vulnerable women will now face return to the extreme dangers of domestic violence in their home country. This decision negates decades of precedents that have provided protection to women fleeing domestic violence. Unless overturned, the decision will erode the capacity of asylum to save lives, particularly in cases that involve asylum seekers who are persecuted by private actors. We urge courts and policy makers to respect and enhance, not erode, the potential of our asylum system to preserve and protect the right to life.

Additionally, I join Bishop Joe Vásquez, Chairman of USCCB’s Committee on Migration, in condemning the continued use of family separation at the U.S./Mexico border as an implementation of the Administration’s zero tolerance policy. Our government has the discretion in our laws to ensure that young children are not separated from their parents and exposed to irreparable harm and trauma. Families are the foundational element of our society and they must be able to stay together. While protecting our borders is important, we can and must do better as a government, and as a society, to find other ways to ensure that safety. Separating babies from their mothers is not the answer and is immoral.”

The United Church of Christ issues U.S. interfaith leaders urge government to #KeepFamiliesTogether:

Recently, the Administration announced that it will begin separating families and criminally prosecuting all people who enter the U.S. without previous authorization. As religious leaders representing diverse faith perspectives, united in our concern for the wellbeing of vulnerable migrants who cross our borders fleeing from danger and threats to their lives, we are deeply disappointed and pained to hear this news.

We affirm the family as a foundational societal structure to support human community and understand the household as an estate blessed by God. The security of the family provides critical mental, physical and emotional support to the development and wellbeing of children. Our congregations and agencies serve many migrant families that have recently arrived in the United States. Leaving their communities is often the only option they have to provide safety for their children and protect them from harm. Tearing children away from parents who have made a dangerous journey to provide a safe and sufficient life for them is unnecessarily cruel and detrimental to the well-being of parents and children.

As we continue to serve and love our neighbor, we pray for the children and families that will suffer due to this policy and urge the Administration to stop their policy of separating families.

Charles C. Camosy, of Democrats for Life, writes that You Can’t Be Pro-Life and Against Immigrant Children:

We are in the midst of a serious crisis for vulnerable children and families, though, and these “pro-life, pro-family” organizations have been largely silent.

The crisis is the Trump administration’s practice of separating children from undocumented parents, even when the families are asking for asylum. In one particularly horrific case, a mother said that her baby was taken from her while she was breast-feeding.

The number of children being taken is so large that the administration, using the fear these children must feel as a means of deterring undocumented immigration, is apparently building “tent cities” around military bases to house them.

Given their support of the administration, and an unwillingness to speak critically about immigration policy, “pro-life, pro-family” organizations now risk being tied to these and other horrific practices.

Psychologist J. A. Coan writes The Trump administration is committing violence against children:

As a clinical psychologist and neuroscientist at the University of Virginia, I study how the brain transforms social connection into better mental and physical health. My research suggests that maintaining close ties to trusted loved ones is a vital buffer against the external stressors we all face. But not being an expert on how this affects children, I recently invited five internationally recognized developmental scientists to chat with me about the matter on a science podcast I host. As we discussed the border policy’s effect on the children ensnared by it, even I was surprised to learn just how damaging it is likely to be.

At minimum, forced separation will cause these children extreme emotional distress. Most of us know this intuitively. Less intuitive, as Nim Tottenham of Columbia University told me, is that “the sadness is not the thing that really matters here. What matters is this is a trauma to the developing nervous system.” Extreme emotional responses to separation from parents is part of evolution’s plan to keep those parents close — to “break any parent’s heart,” as Megan Gunnar of the University of Minnesota said. That’s because throughout human evolution, an absent caregiver has meant almost certain death. Jude Cassidy of the University of Maryland put it best: When faced with separation from loved ones, “we fight as if it’s a matter of life and death, because it is.”

But little minds and hearts can maintain that level of distress only for so long before the children face a horrifying decision: Continue, through severe emotional pain, to call out for their parents, or proceed on the assumption that their parents are gone. As Dylan Gee of Yale University explained, for those who choose the latter path, their brains will start down a course of “accelerated development” — they’ll mature more quickly. The problem is that rapid maturation often comes at the cost of cognitive and emotional inflexibility later on, as well as the assumption that the world is extremely dangerous and threats must be avoided automatically, without thinking.

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will see a sunny day with a high of ninety-two.  Sunrise is 5:15 AM and sunset 8:35 PM, for 15h 19m 53s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 11% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1903,  Ford Motor Company is incorporated.

Recommended for reading in full —

 Philip Rucker describes ‘Dictator envy’: Trump’s praise of Kim Jong Un widens his embrace of totalitarian leaders:

President Trump’s praise Friday for Kim Jong Un’s authoritarian rule in North Korea — and his apparent envy that people there “sit up at attention” when the 35-year-old dictator speaks — marked an escalation of the American president’s open embrace of totalitarian leaders around the world.

Reflecting on his impressions of Kim following their Singapore summit, Trump told Fox News: “He’s the head of a country, and I mean he’s the strong head. Don’t let anyone think anything different. He speaks, and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.”

It was unclear whether Trump was referring to Americans generally or only to his staff. His interview took place along the West Wing driveway, and as the president talked about “my people,” he gestured toward the White House.

Later, when pressed by a CNN reporter about the comment, Trump claimed it had been a joke. “I’m kidding,” he said. “You don’t understand sarcasm.”

Whether jesting or not, no U.S. president has been as free in his admiration of dictators and absolute power as the 45th, historians say. And Trump’s interest in the subject seems to be growing as he becomes better acquainted with some of the world’s authoritarian leaders, including Kim, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, whom Trump said he may try to meet one-on-one this summer.

(Trumpism has three fundamental characteristics: authoritarianism, bigotry, and a license to self-dealing by leading operatives.)

 Jennifer Rubin writes Reporting on Trump’s lies requires identifying the lies:

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow touched off an interesting social media debate when she suggested that because her obligation is to tell her viewers the truth, she tries not to quote President Trump. “Because I generally feel like I can’t trust what purports to be information from this president, I just try to do the news without words from him, most of the time.”

Ah, to live in a world without listening to Trump’s voice or reading his blatant, infuriating lies! But how do news outlets fairly tell viewers and readers what Trump is lying about if they don’t tell them about the lies?

The problem, I would suggest, is the way Trump’s lies are presented. The most mind-numbing version of this consists of repeating the lie, with the addition “Trump says.” For example: “North Korean leader is smart and handsome, Trump says.” Now that’s a fictional example (I hope), but it’s not helpful insofar it does not explain why that pronouncement is newsworthy: not because Kim Jong Un really is smart and handsome, but because Trump is trying to spin the world by elevating a murderous tyrant and whitewashing crimes against humanity. What’s important is Trump revealing himself to either be a liar or deluded — which doesn’t require quoting the president. The better headline would be, “Trump heaps praise on notorious dictator.”

Jeff Horwitz reports They were brought down by the Facebook privacy scandal. Now they’re working for Trump’s 2020 re-election:

A company run by former officials at Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm brought down by a scandal over how it obtained Facebook users’ private data, has quietly been working for President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election effort, The Associated Press has learned.

The AP confirmed that at least four former Cambridge Analytica employees are affiliated with Data Propria, a new company specializing in voter and consumer targeting work similar to Cambridge Analytica’s efforts before its collapse. The company’s former head of product, Matt Oczkowski, leads the new firm, which also includes Cambridge Analytica’s former chief data scientist.

Oczkowski denied a link to the Trump campaign, but acknowledged that his new firm has agreed to do 2018 campaign work for the Republican National Committee. Oczkowski led the Cambridge Analytica data team which worked on Trump’s successful 2016 campaign.

The AP learned of Data Propria’s role in Trump’s re-election effort as a result of conversations held with political contacts and prospective clients in recent weeks by Oczkowski. In one such conversation, which took place in a public place and was overheard by two AP reporters, Oczkowski said he and and Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, were “doing the president’s work for 2020.”

Heather Long observes Trump is betting American families are willing to pay for his trade war:

This is no longer a war of words between Trump and China. There are actual economic consequences now. The result is that Americans will almost certainly face higher costs as companies pay more for parts they need to build cars, dishwashers and tractors, and then firms turn around and pass those higher prices onto consumers.

All of Trumps tariffs so far — on China, on steel and aluminum, on washing machines and on solar panels — will end up costing the average U.S. family $80 a year, Moody’s Analytics estimates in a report to be released next week. If Trump continues to pile tariffs on China (he has threatened to do another $100 billion) and China retaliates, then the cost to the average family would rise to $210, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs has also forecast rising prices from the tariffs.

The Tax Foundation, a think tank that supported Trump’s tax law, predicts that more than 45,000 jobs will be lost because of the tariffs Trump has issued so far. They also forecast a small hit to the economy and wages. Analysts Kyle Pomerleau and Erica York argue that the tariffs will hurt the economy because prices will rise, reducing profits for companies and costing consumers more. Alternatively, tariffs could cause the U.S. dollar to rise, which usually makes it more difficult for American companies to sell their products abroad, another potential hit to jobs and the economy.

(Emphasis added.  Even an organization that supported Trump’s tax bill contends that tens of thousands will be unemployed under his trade policy.)

 Ponder The Art of Fishing With Birds:

Along the scenic Lijiang River in China, brothers Huang Yuechang and Huang Mingde have been keeping up a centuries-old tradition of fishing with cormorant birds. Forgoing nets and modern fishing poles, these brothers have cultivated relationships with their birds in a way that’s found them success in cormorant fishing for more than six decades. But with no young fishermen choosing this ancient method, they may be the last ones to carry on this rare Chinese tradition.

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will see a morning thundershower and a high of eighty-nine.  Sunrise is 5:15 AM and sunset 8:35 PM, for 15h 19m 35s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 4.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1215,  King John of England agrees to, and so places his seal on, the Magna Carta.

Recommended for reading in full —

 Keegan Kyle reports Wisconsin county left 26 rape kits untested when Attorney General Schimel was the DA:

WAUKESHA – As Waukesha County district attorney, Brad Schimel allowed at least 26 rape kits to remain untested, adding to a statewide backlog he is now vowing to clear out as Wisconsin attorney general.

In one case with an untested kit, a 3-year-old girl’s parents worried she was molested at a party. In another, a teen reported falling asleep and waking up to a friend raping her. In a third, a homeless mother reported being raped at a motel near popular shopping centers.

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin identified the 26 kits by obtaining more than a dozen documents from Waukesha County police agencies under state open records laws. They are among 86 rape kits left untested in Waukesha County since 2002.

See also, from Keegan on 6.14.18, Delays, blunders and police neglect in Wisconsin’s response to rape kits.

Garry Kasparov ponders World Cup 2018 and the ugly side of the beautiful game:

It’s just as clear why FIFA and the IOC like having their events hosted by autocratic regimes, despite their tired pabulum about ideals. In the wake of the Sepp Blatter-era corruption scandals, FIFA is moving to make the World Cup bidding process more transparent. This is laudable, although my personal experience battling the international chess federation, FIDE, taught that these transparency initiatives are often designed to buy time to find better ways to hide the money. International sports organizations often exploit a legal limbo between jurisdictions, a quasi-diplomatic status that is easily abused.

What is to be done? As a sportsman who represented my country for decades, the Soviet Union and then Russia — and yes, chess is sport if you’re doing it right — I have trouble with boycotts that unfairly punish athletes. Had a unified international response against Russia hosting the World Cup come early enough it might have been possible to relocate it. Qatar is still scheduled to host the Cup in 2022 despite numerous abuses and scandals, and after North Korea’s propaganda coup at the PyeongChang Winter Games this year, it’s clear that collective response is a lost cause.

Everyone moves on to the next event, the next crisis. Russia has already been forgiven for the worst doping scandal in history. FIFA’s massive 2015 corruption case is still in the courts.

In Sochi, activists used the international media presence to expose Russia’s anti-LGBTQ laws, although Putin was quick to clamp down as soon as the Games were over. An environmental activist arrested during the Games was put in prison for two years for spray-painting a protest message on a fence.

But during the World Cup, the police might be relatively cautious in handling foreign visitors and journalists. The bold should exploit this to peek behind the curtain and report truthfully on the dire conditions in Russia.

We can support the beautiful game without supporting the world’s ugliest regimes.

Michael E. Miller, Emma Brown, and Aaron C. Davis report Inside Casa Padre, the converted Walmart where the U.S. is holding nearly 1,500 immigrant children:

BROWNSVILLE, Tex. — For more than a year, the old Walmart along the Mexican border here has been a mystery to those driving by on the highway. In place of the supercenter’s trademark logo hangs a curious sign: “Casa Padre.”

But behind the sliding doors is a bustling city unto itself, equipped with classrooms, recreation centers and medical examination rooms. Casa Padre now houses more than 1,400 immigrant boys in federal custody. While most are teenagers who entered the United States alone, dozens of others — often younger — were forcibly separated from their parents at the border by a new Trump administration “zero tolerance” policy.

On Wednesday evening, for the first time since that policy was announced — and amid increased national interest after a U.S. senator, Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley, was turned away — federal authorities allowed a small group of reporters to tour the secretive shelter, the largest of its kind in the nation.

 Matt Wilstein writes ‘Daily Show’ Exposes Sean Hannity’s Trump-Kim Hypocrisy:

Fox News host Sean Hannity has been as enthusiastically supportive of President Donald Trump’s meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as you would expect. And the president rewarded him handsomely with an interview from Singapore that will air Tuesday night.

But as The Daily Show expertly demonstrated in an online-only video that hit Twitter just as Hannity’s broadcast began, he was not quite as supportive of handing diplomatic victories to murderous dictators when Barack Obama was in office.

For instance, Hannity said Trump “deserves a lot of credit for being willing to talk to somebody that everybody thought would be a bad idea.” And yet, after Obama shook hands with Raul Castro for the first time in 2013 at Nelson Mandela’s funeral in South Africa, Hannity asked, “Is it just me or does it look like President Obama is more willing to give his time to our enemies than our allies?”

Sean Hannity EVISCERATES Sean Hannity pic.twitter.com/EOxp0FSrAR

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) June 13, 2018

 Meet The World’s Most Elusive Bird:

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with morning shower and a high of eighty-two.  Sunrise is 5:15 AM and sunset 8:34 PM, for 15h 19m 13s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 0.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1801, Benedict Arnold dies in London.

Recommended for reading in full —

 Keegan Kyle reports Delays, blunders and police neglect in Wisconsin’s response to rape kits:

State investigator Jeff Twing was just trying to find out how many untested rape kits the Vernon County Sheriff’s Department had in its storage room.

The department seemed too busy to count its own kits, so Twing offered to make the two-hour trip northwest from Madison to Viroqua to help.

A litany of excuses followed.

Sheriff’s Deputy Ted Harris said he couldn’t meet with Twing, a Wisconsin Department of Justice agent, because he was out of town that day. Another day, the deputy had dinner plans. And when Twing offered another date, Harris replied that he would be “installing window treatments” for a side job and was unavailable. He suggested Twing could speak with a different deputy in a few weeks.

That was in 2016 — more than two years after the justice department learned that over 6,000 rape kits were sitting, untested, in storage rooms at police stations and hospitals across Wisconsin. The kits can contain evidence vital to catching sexual predators or freeing the wrongly convicted, but had never been sent to state crime labs for analysis.

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign writes Big Donors Get Big Tax Breaks (“Corporate welfare recipients contributed more than $800,000 to Gov. Walker”):

Owners and employees from about two dozen companies that received corporate welfare from the state in 2017 have contributed more than $800,000 to Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign.

These companies were among the 59 businesses that were awarded nearly $3 billion in economic development tax credits and loans last year by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. The giveaways were made so the companies would either locate or expand their operations in the state. Most of the recipients, 50 of 59 (or 85 percent), were businesses already located in Wisconsin.

Owners and employees of 25 companies, which contributed about $809,000 to Walker’s campaign between January 2009 and December 2017, received about $66 million in tax credits or cheap loans. The top contributors and the giveaway the companies received were:

Generac Power Systems, of Waukesha, about $231,000 in contributions. Most of these contributions, $220,000, were made by the company’s founders, Robert and Patricia Kern. The company received a $10 million tax break.

Masters Gallery Foods, of Oostburg. Together with its parent, Sargento, the companies contributed $146,850. Masters Gallery received a $2.5 million tax break.

Johnsonville Sausage, of Sheboygan Falls, about $128,700 in contributions. The company received a $10 million tax break.

Fisher Barton Blades, of Watertown. The company’s parent, Fisher Barton Group, contributed $97,350. Fisher Barton Blades received a $180,000 tax break.

Kwik Trip, of La Crosse, about $91,200 in contributions. Most of these contributions, about $60,400, were made by Kwik Trip owners Don and LaVonne Zietlow. The company received a $21 million tax break.

The top recipient of economic development tax credits and loans in 2017 was Foxconn, which received nearly $2.9 billion to build a $10 billion liquid crystal display manufacturing plant in Racine County. State fiscal estimates say the Foxconn project will likely end up costing taxpayers about $4.5 billion in state tax breaks, grants, worker training, highway improvements, and other giveaways. Walker’s campaign did not receive a contribution from Foxconn executives as of the end of 2017.

Kelly Weill and Gideon Resnick report Trump Endorses Corey Stewart, the Alt-Right’s Favorite Candidate (“A pro-Confederate friend of anti-Semites got a presidential boost after winning the Republican nomination for Senate in Virginia”):

Two years ago, Corey Stewart was too extreme for the Trump campaign. This morning, he got Trump’s endorsement to run for Senate.

Stewart won the Republican nomination for Senate in Virginia on Tuesday. A county board member, Stewart almost won the Republican nomination for Virginia governor last year on a campaign of defending Confederate statues. Since then, he’s risen on the back of the alt-right, attending events with an architect of the violent Charlottesville rally and giving money to an anti-Semitic candidate in Wisconsin.“Congratulations to Corey Stewart for his great victory for Senator from Virginia,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “Now he runs against a total stiff, Tim Kaine, who is weak on crime and borders, and wants to raise your taxes through the roof. Don’t underestimate Corey, a major chance of winning!”

(Of course Trump endores him.  This is what Trump is, what Trump proudly professes, and what Trump intends for all this continent.)

  Alan Neuhauser writes Trump Plan to Prop Up Coal, Nuclear Won’t Protect the Electric Grid (“The Trump administration says it needs to support struggling coal and nuclear plants to safeguard the grid. Experts say it’ll do the opposite):

Much remains unclear about the proposal, including how it will be implemented and how many plants it will seek to prop up. However, it encountered swift opposition from a broad range of energy experts, industry executives and advocates from across the spectrum. It’s also expected to face legal challenges in federal court, particularly from natural gas and renewables companies, which compete with coal and nuclear plants for market share.

Notably, a dispersed electric grid – one that relies on a diverse array of wind and solar power, in addition to natural gas, hydropower and, perhaps one day, advanced nuclear – is widely seen as far more resilient to attack or accident than one that depends on large, centralized power resources such as coal or large-scale nuclear.

The Defense Department, for example, is expected to spend as much as $1.4 billion by 2026 on developing decentralized electric systems known as micro-grids, and the Energy Department in 2015 partnered with private firms to research and develop distributed energy systems to boost the resilience for the civilian grid.

“If you really want security, you get away from all that and you decentralize the grid,” says David Bookbinder, chief counsel at the Niskanen Center, a libertarian-leaning think tank in the nation’s capital.

In particular, he continues, “residential solar is the single most secure form of power we have in the United States: It’s secure both from a fuel supply side – no one’s blocking the sun – and a distribution side: it goes from roof into your house, so there’s no problem with the transmission. That is a secure energy supply.”

Trump last year introduced a 30 percent tariff on imported solar panels, which is expected to crimp the solar industry’s growth in the coming years.

The biggest threat to the nation’s electric grid, meanwhile, isn’t believed to be an attack or accident that would take down a power plant but instead a disruption of the distribution network: the transmission lines, transformers and substations that carry electrons from the nation’s power plants to its homes and businesses.

Tech Insider recounts 5 Realistic VR Experiences That Tricked Our Senses:

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of seventy-nine.  Sunrise is 5:15 AM and sunset 8:34 PM, for 15h 18m 47s of daytime.  The moon is new today.

Whitewater’s Finance Committee is scheduled to meet at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1863, the Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, continues:

Wisconsin troops were still engaged in the Siege of Vicksburg. The 8th, 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 20th, 23rd, 25th,27th, 29th and 33rd Wisconsin Infantry regiments, the 1st, 6th, 7th and 12th Wisconsin Light Artillery batteries and the 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry were among Union forces surrounding the city.

Recommended for reading in full —

Molly Beck reports Democrats pick up long-held GOP seat, Republicans hold on to another in special elections:

MADISON – Wisconsin Democrats came one step closer to gaining control of the state Senate by picking up a seat held by Republicans for more than 40 years, while the GOP held on to an Assembly seat in a pair of special elections Tuesday.

Caleb Frostman topped Rep. Andre Jacque in the 1st Senate District and Jon Plumer defeated Ann Groves Lloyd in the 42nd Assembly District.

Frostman will be the first Democrat to represent the northeast Wisconsin district since the 1970s — a win Democrats are hailing as more evidence of a so-called blue wave ready to flip more Republican-held seats in elections later this year.

Mike Allen writes of the The Trump movie, starring him and Kim:

President Trump’s wooing of Kim Jong-un at the Singapore summit included the iPad showing (in English and Korean) of a “Destiny Pictures” movie trailer, made by the White House’s National Security Council, starring themselves saving the world.

• There are dunked basketballs, exploding bombs, flourishing labs and cities — all designed to show Kim what’s possible if he engages with the West, and to warn him darkly of the alternative.
• From the voiceover: “Only the very few will make decisions or take actions that renew their homeland and change the course of history … Two men. Two leaders. One destiny. … A story about a special moment in time when a man is presented with one chance that may never be repeated. What will he choose?”
• From Trump’s presser: “I showed it to him … toward the end of the meeting. And I think he loved it. … [W]e had it on a cassette … an iPad.  … [A]bout eight of their representatives were watching it, and I thought they were fascinated.”

….

Be smart … A well-wired Republican tells me: “This is the return of the 70s/80s ‘buddy movie’ — but one of the buddies is a murderous dictator.

(Trump’s video is a political perversity, a paean to himself as much as Kim Jong-un. The truth about North Korea:  Atrocities Under Kim Jong-un: Indoctrination, Prison Gulags, Executions and Yeonmi Park’s I Escaped North Korea. Here’s My Message for President Trump.)

  Max Boot describes A summit without substance:

Kim won an invaluable propaganda windfall: Ruling one of the poorest and most despotic countries in the world (North Korea’s gross domestic product is smaller than Vermont’s), he was recognized as an equal by the leader of the world’s sole superpower — not just an equal, indeed, but a valued friend. Trump claimed to have established a “special bond” with Kim just a day after one of his aides said there was a “special place in hell” reserved for the prime minister of Canada. (The aide, Peter Navarro, has now admitted his comment was “inappropriate.”)

Trump can barely stand to be in the same room with the leaders of the United States’ democratic allies, but he reveled in his quality time with Kim – “a very talented” and “very smart” man who “loves his country very much” and who, in turn is loved by his own people. If Kim does indeed love his country, he has a funny way of showing it, since he enslaves his own citizens. If you want to learn more about Kim’s atrocities, all you have to do is reread Trump’s own Jan. 30 State of the Union address, which gave chapter and verse on the “depraved character of the North Korean regime.”

There was, however, scant mention of North Korean human rights abuses on Tuesday. That would have been a downer for a president who has plenty of other downers to deal with — from a special counsel investigation to a botched Group of Seven summit. Trump was in full salesman mode in Singapore, touting a meeting that he claimed had gone “better than anybody could have expected.”

  There was one bit of substance – a concession from Trump – and the Committee to Investigate Russia asks Did Trump’s Surprise Concession Come from Putin?:

The following passage appeared in a Wall Street Journal article published in January titled, “Talking to Trump: A How-To Guide:”

He can be persuaded to change his mind……especially if it is tactfully done…

Around the same time, Mr. Trump had an idea about how to counter the nuclear threat posed by North Korea, which he got after speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin: If the U.S. stopped joint military exercises with the South Koreans, it could help moderate Kim Jong Un’s behavior. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis used an approach that aides say can work: “He says, ‘Your instincts are absolutely correct,’ and then gets him [the president] to do the exact opposite of what his instincts say,” said one person close to the White House. Mr. Trump dropped the idea, although he has ordered aides to give the exercises a low profile, eliminating press releases and briefings about them.

After his summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un in Singapore Monday, President Trump declared he was doing exactly what Putin had recommended, catching both South Korea and the Pentagon off guard.

CBS News:

Mr. Trump also announced an end to joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises, a goal long-sought by North Korea. The move surprised many at the Pentagon and in Seoul.

“We will be saving a tremendous amount of money. Plus, I think it’s very provocative,” Mr Trump mentioned.

New York Times:

Hours after Mr. Trump’s announcement in Singapore, American troops in Seoul said they are still moving ahead with a military exercise this fall — Ulchi Freedom Guardian — until they receive guidance otherwise from the chain of command.

Lt. Col. Jennifer Lovett, a United States military spokeswoman in South Korea, said in an email that the American command there “has received no updated guidance on execution or cessation of training exercises — to include this fall’s schedule Ulchi Freedom Guardian.”

“We will continue with our current military posture until we receive updated guidance from the Department of Defense,” she added.

(…)

… Mr. Trump’s promise to end joint military exercises with Seoul left many South Koreans stunned. The annual exercises have been an integral part of the alliance, forming the bulwark of South Korea’s defense against North Korea and Seoul’s sense of security among bigger powers in the region.

(…)

The South Korean Defense Ministry hurriedly issued a curt statement saying that it was trying to figure out Mr. Trump’s intentions.

American officials said the military exercises are important because the allies use them to ensure readiness and promote the ability to operate with similar equipment and tactics. On a strategic level, they demonstrate the strength of the decades-long alliance with South Korea.

(…)

The president’s statement also confused officials in Washington. While “war games” would be canceled, Vice President Mike Pence assured Republican senators that routine military exercises involving American and South Korean troops would continue, said Senator Cory Gardner, Republican of Colorado.

A deer visits Washington’s Metro:

Seems like *everyone* wants to get aboard the @Capitals train this morning! (Crystal City Station, 8:30 a.m. today — this little guy somehow wandered into the tunnel & ended up at the station. Safely exited through the tunnel back toward DCA.) #OHDEER #ALLCAPS #WMATA #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/3ibeGuYwUe

— Metro (@wmata) June 12, 2018

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater be cloudy with occasional showers, and a high of seventy-nine.  Sunrise is 5:15 AM and sunset 8:34 PM, for 15h 18m 17s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 2.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets this evening at 6 PM.

On this day in 1899, a tornado strikes New Richmond:

On this date the worst tornado disaster in Wisconsin history occurred. The storm virtually leveled New Richmond on the day the Gollmar Brothers Circus came to town. At the time, New Richmond was a prosperous town of 2500 people and one of the most scenic places in Wisconsin. On the day of the storm, the streets were filled with residents and tourists waiting for the afternoon circus parade. Shortly after the circus ended, the tornado passed through the very center of town, completely leveling buildings. Over 300 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Massive amounts of flying debris resulted in multiple deaths in at least 26 different families. In all, the storm claimed 117 lives and caused 150 injuries.

Recommended for reading in full —

Maya Salam and Matthew Haag describe Atrocities Under Kim Jong-un: Indoctrination, Prison Gulags, Executions:

In North Korea, these crimes “entail extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation,” concluded a 2014 United Nations report that examined North Korea. [Full article offers detail on the brutality of the North Korean regime.]

Yeonmi Park writes I Escaped North Korea. Here’s My Message for President Trump (“Yeonmi Park fled North Korea when she was 13. She is now fighting for the millions of other North Koreans still living under the oppressive regime of Kim Jong-un.”):

In this video op-ed, a North Korean defector, Yeonmi Park, urges the United States to put pressure on Kim Jong-un to end his human rights abuses. She tells President Trump that now is not the time for photo opportunities, but rather strong actions. Millions of North Koreans are suffering under the Kim regime and Mr. Trump must do something to help them, she says.

Ms. Park recently published her memoir, “In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom.” She is on the board of directors of the Human Rights Foundation.

  James Hohmann observes In Kim he trusts. Trump sounds naive after meeting North Korea’s leader:

“I think he might want to do this as much or maybe even more than me,” the president said during a 65-minute news conferenceon Tuesday, after spending four hours with Kim in Singapore.

“My whole life has been deals,” he added later. “I know when somebody wants a deal. … I just feel very strongly — my instinct … — they want to make a deal.”

Eager to cement what he’s calling “a very special bond” with Kim, Trump is giving someone the benefit of the doubt who has done little or nothing to earn it.

“I do trust him, yeah,” the president told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in an interview that aired on “Good Morning America.” “He really wants to do a great job for North Korea. He’s de-nuking the whole place, and I think he’s going to start very quickly. He really wants to do something I think terrific for their country.”

(Emphasis in original.)

Amy Brittain, Ashley Parker, and Anu Narayanswamy report Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump made at least $82 million in outside income last year while serving in the White House, filings show:

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the president’s daughter and son-in-law, brought in at least $82 million in outside income while serving as senior White House advisers during 2017, according to financial disclosure forms released Monday.

Trump earned $3.9 million from her stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington and more than $2 million in severance from the Trump Organization, while Kushner reported over $5 million in income from Quail Ridge, a Kushner Cos. apartment complex acquired last year in Plainsboro, N.J.

The filings show how the couple are collecting immense sums from other enterprises while serving in the White House, an extraordinary income flow that ethics experts have warned could create potential conflicts of interests.

Here’s The Truth About Pelorus Jack: