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Author Archive for JOHN ADAMS

Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime, Daily Bread, Law, Legislation, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.9.23: Wisconsin Senate Considers Bills to Address Sexual Assault in the Wisconsin National Guard

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 83. Sunrise is 5:55 AM and sunset 8:05 PM for 14h 09m 31s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 38.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1974, as a direct result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office. Vice President Gerald Ford becomes president.

It’s not possible to defend properly while allowing injustices and injuries. And so, it is right and overdue that a state Senate committee hears bills that address WI National Guard’s handling of sexual assault. Baylor Spears reports:

The Senate Labor, Regulatory Reform, Veterans and Military Affairs committee heard testimony from Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Green Bay) and Rep. Tony Kurtz (R-Wonewoc) about a package of bills that seek to change how the Wisconsin National Guard addresses sexual assault. 

The proposed changes originated from a legislative council study committee, which met last year, that was tasked with developing legislation to address the Wisconsin National Guard’s sexual assault and sexual harassment. The committee, which included Wimberger and Kurtz, was formed in response to allegations that surfaced in 2019 and a report by the National Guard bureau of the Department of Defense that found the body’s programs and systems for handling allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment, were non-compliant with federal law and regulation, and were deficient or failing. 

“While the Wisconsin National Guard under the Major General Paul Knapp’s leadership has been diligently working to implement the recommendations contained in the assessment, the study committee identified a number of areas in which legislation will complement the Guard’s genuine efforts to ensure that the men and women who volunteer to serve our state and nation are able to do so in an environment that takes their safety seriously,” Kurtz told the committee. 

SB 166 would make several changes to the Wisconsin Code of Military Justice, including by implementing a policy that ensures that victims of offenses, under the code, are treated with dignity, respect, courtesy and fairness. 

SB 167 would require the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) to compile and submit annual reports. One report, which would be submitted to the governor and the Legislature, would focus on sexual assault and sexual harassment reported by members of the Wisconsin National Guard. The DMA would also need to submit a report that describes any substantive changes to the federal Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) during the prior federal fiscal year to the Legislature. 

SB 168 would require the DMA to establish and maintain a case management system, which would ensure a way for the National Guard to track and manage casework related to misconduct within the Guard.

Sen. Melissa Agard (D-Madison), who also sat on the legislative council study committee, said in a statement that the bills are the “product of bipartisan collaboration.” 

The Wisconsin Legislature should pass these bills and Gov. Evers should sign them. (Note: links to the bills in the cited reporting open into new windows for review of each bill.) 

China tips into deflation as growth woes deepen:

Big Lie, Conspiracy Theories, Daily Bread, Elections, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.8.23: WISGOP Election Official Battles Her Own Party

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 83. Sunrise is 5:54 AM and sunset 8:06 PM for 14h 11m 57s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 48.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1876, Thomas Edison receives a patent for his mimeograph.

Megan O’Matz and Mariam Elba report Bullied by Her Own Party, a Wisconsin Election Official’s GOP Roots Mean Nothing in Volatile New Climate (‘In the face of repeated calls to back Donald Trump’s bogus claims that the 2020 election was stolen, Marge Bostelmann of the Wisconsin Elections Commission remains resolute: “I’m a Republican who stands up for the truth and not for a lie” ‘):

Margaret Rose Bostelmann’s ideals are clear from one glance at her well-kept ranch-style house in central Wisconsin.

A large American flag is mounted near the front door, and a “We Back the Badge” sign on her front lawn announces her support for law enforcement. Bostelmann, a Wisconsin elections commissioner, said she voted for Donald Trump in 2020 and added: “I will always vote Republican. I always have.”

But her fellow Republicans have exiled her and disparaged her, sought to upend her career and, on this day in July, brought the 70-year-old to tears as she discussed what she’s been through over the last several years because she refuses to support false claims that Trump won the state in the 2020 presidential election.

Bostelmann, who goes by Marge, previously served for more than two decades as the county clerk in Green Lake County, overseeing elections without controversy. But two years into her term in a Republican slot on the Wisconsin Elections Commission she became a target, denounced and disowned by the Republican Party of Green Lake County, which claimed she had failed to protect election integrity in the state.

Now a suit filed in June by a Wisconsin man who promotes conspiracy theories about election fraud seeks her removal from the commission. Citing her estrangement from the county party, the suit claims she’s not qualified to fill a position intended for a Republican.

For the evidence-averse, the big election lie is a fundamental truth; challenges to that lie look to them like apostasies.

This mountain of dumped clothes can be seen from space:

City, Daily Bread, Good Ideas, Newspapers

Daily Bread for 8.7.23: Professional Journalism Returns to Whitewater

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 79. Sunrise is 5:53 AM and sunset 8:07 PM for 14h 14m 21s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 58.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Equal Opportunities Commission meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 1947, Thor Heyerdahl‘s balsa wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) journey across the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to prove that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.

This libertarian blogger has consistently maintained that there is no indispensable person in Whitewater, and that the community, so to speak, belongs to everyone and yet no one.  Many people play important roles, in thousands of interactions, each day. 

And yet, and yet, some institutions and professions are especially useful to enrich the town and make Whitewater modern and prosperous. A professional press is one of those institutions.

WhitewaterWise.com, published professionally from the team that has had so much success with FortAtkinsonOnline.com, marks the first instance of solid professional journalism in Whitewater since 2005. The Whitewater’s publication’s publisher and editor first began covering Whitewater twenty years ago at another publication, and has covered our city more recently through FAO. (One can see the success of FAO through its many advertisers in that market who have found and stayed with the publication over the last three years or so. Free markets tell important tales.) 

As I’ve mentioned before, bloggers are not journalists, but rather modern-day electronic pamphleteers. (For the role of pamphleteering in our history, see Bailyn’s Ideological Origins of the American Revolution.) Like many others, I grew up in a newspaper-reading family, with papers, magazines, journals, and books all about. I’ve my own profession and have no claim of (or desire for) journalistic credentials. That’s it. FREE WHITEWATER is its own, independent publication of a different kind. 

I know, however, how important serious, professional journalism is to a community. Genuine professional journalism strengthens a community. While weak, insecure, or shady officials and businesses may dislike solid reporting, it’s easier to say those types simply don’t like or can’t handle good work.  

Good reporting (or blogging, truly, by the way) is thorough. It does not, and would never dare, tell people that it “isn’t necessary to watch the entire meeting, or even every meeting, depending upon what’s on the agenda.” In my own case, this libertarian blogger watches an entire meeting before commenting on even a portion of it (as the whole informs an understanding of particular parts). It should be obvious to anyone that a book review requires reading the entire book, a movie review requires watching the entire movie, etc. Any reader should expect as much of serious reporting on a council or school board. That’s what professional journalism (or solid commentary) requires as a minimum standard. No one uplifts a community with less than thorough standards. 

There’s a place, however, in communities across America and the world, for other kinds of announcements and pictures: Facebook. While Facebook is not and will never be my choice, it’s a great option to publish and share information. In 2006, Facebook was only beginning its climb to global success; it’s now well-established in every city and town.

A group or foundation that wants to support the sharing of basic information and notices most effectively should transition to Facebook for the greatest reach with simplest ease for readers.   

Of the many parts and people needed for a dynamic and prosperous community, professional journalism plays a key role. 

Welcome and best wishes to the team at WhitewaterWise.com

Amazing moon views captured by Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft during orbit insertion: 

Courts, Daily Bread, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.6.23: Wisconsin Supreme Court’s Liberal Majority Hires a Walker Appointee

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 79. Sunrise is 5:52 AM and sunset 8:09 PM for 14h 16m 44s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 70.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1787, sixty proof sheets of the Constitution of the United States are delivered to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority fired courts director Randy Koschnick, but conservative ire has proved overwrought as the majority has replaced the conservative Koschnick with a Walker appointee, Milwaukee County Judge Audrey Skwierawski:

The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s new liberal majority chose an appointee of former Republican Gov. Scott Walker to serve as interim director of state courts just hours after the court’s conservative Chief Justice Annette Ziegler penned a letter Wednesday slamming the majority’s decision to fire the previous director, Randy Koschnick, as being politically motivated.

The court announced that Milwaukee County Judge Audrey Skwierawski will assume the role of interim director starting Thursday. Skwierawski was appointed to the bench by Walker in 2018.

The court’s liberals, who gained control of the body on Tuesday for the first time in 15 years with the swearing in of Justice Janet Protasiewicz, fired Koschnick in a three-sentence letter, writing that he would be let go at the end of the day Wednesday. 

Koschnick, who has held his job since 2017, told media outlets earlier this week that he had received a call from Justice Jill Karofsky saying he’d be fired once the new majority was in place. 

…..

A news release announcing Skwierawski’s hiring noted that she has worked with people across the political spectrum her entire career, including during a 14 year stint as a prosecutor in the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office. She also worked in the Wisconsin Department of Justice under Republican attorneys general J.B. Van Hollen and Brad Schimel.

Skwierawski is easily as qualified as Koschnick, and in any event appointee Koschnick wasn’t entitled to permanent public employment.

See also Journal Sentinel Focuses on a Minor Wisconsin Supreme Court Story (‘Koschnick has been lucky, in fact, that he found a conservative majority willing to give him another six years (2017-2023) on the state payroll after he left the Jefferson County bench’).

Meet the Basque Stone Lifters:

Daily Bread, Dogs, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.5.23: Wisconsin Circus Dogs Perform Jaw-Dropping Tricks

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 83. Sunrise is 5:51 AM and sunset 8:10 PM for 14h 19m 06s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 79.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1864, the Battle of Mobile Bay begins at Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.

Wisconsin Circus Dogs Perform Jaw-Dropping Tricks:

Footage shows sea drone targeting Russian tanker near Crimea:

City, Common Council, Council Leadership, Daily Bread, Law, Local Government

Daily Bread for 8.4.23: Whitewater Needs Neither a King Nor a Mind Reader

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 85. Sunrise is 5:50 AM and sunset 8:11 PM for 14h 21m 25s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 88.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1892, the father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden are found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home. She will be tried and acquitted of the crimes a year later.

A federal, state, or local public body begins, continues, and ends its activities only by the law. American government, in any jurisdiction, is a limited and instrumental institution bound by defined rules and procedures.

Throughout America, there is a vision of small-town life in places like Whitewater that depicts residents gathering at a council meeting to discuss calmly and methodically the issues of the day.  We are hoped to be — meant to be — steady in public. 

Of the last four council presidents, two (Singer, Dawsey-Smith) were notably accomplished at running a meeting well. While this libertarian blogger might have disagreed with some of their particular votes, there was never a time during their respective tenures when they did not manage a meeting well and fairly. Success of this kind is not a matter of ideology (right, center, left) but of understanding of Wisconsin law and proper procedure. They were both successful in leading the council. 

Sadly, that doesn’t always happen, to the detriment of the communities where it does not happen. The Tuesday, August 1st meeting of the Whitewater Common Council was afflicted with multiple efforts to depart from Wisconsin law and practice. Those serious mistakes are addressed below.

Immediately below is a clip of the relevant discussion, and comments thereafter. Obvious point: which specific measures on which this city evaluates its city manager is not my concern. That this city council conducts itself within law and procedure in all its proceedings is my concern. 

Preliminary reminder: the current council president has been in local office of one kind or another for decades. That’s long enough to learn proper procedure.

Bound by the agenda: As the city attorney reminds the council, all discussions are bound by the agenda. Video begins @ 4:38. 

Limits on sessions are set by Wisconsin law. The governing principle of Wisconsin public meetings law is that public meetings are to be open to the public. Wis. Stat. § 19.81 (1), (2). The Whitewater Common Council can meet in closed session only for one of eleven specific reasons.  Wis. Stat § 19.85. Talking about a policy is not one of those exceptions (that the statute refers to as ‘exemptions’) to an open session. Video begins @ 10:09. 

Simply because a council can change a particular internal policy does not mean that council can change an agenda, or exceed agenda limits, during a meeting. The Whitewater Common Council cannot — and must not — depart from Wisconsin’s Public Meetings Law. 

We have no king in Whitewater, acting as he wishes. We have a council composed of seven, a collective body limited under law. 

The role of the city attorney. There’s a nutty discussion from this common council president about his view of the supposed pressure that the city attorney is feeling and about the need to hire a second attorney because of something the council president saw on an org chart. Video begins @ 11:05. Honest to goodness. The city has one city attorney, as cities of similar size do, and nothing about what the council president imagines he senses in someone else, or what he saw on an org chart, impinges on the professional responsibility of this city attorney to this municipality. 

There is no legitimate reason under law or Wisconsin’s rules of professional responsibility to question this city attorney’s conduct or ability. If in my professional judgment — admitted in more than one jurisdiction, under oath, and recognizing that the law is binding on an attorney at all times —  I thought for a moment that there was a concern, then I would raise it. Here, there is nothing to raise. It’s an embarrassingly unfounded claim to contend baselessly otherwise, as mere speculation or supposed mind-reading are not legitimate grounds for claims under Wisconsin law.  

A city serious about doing well by its residents requires serious, disciplined leadership. Right, center, or left matters far less than thoughtful, methodical, and composed. There are people from each part of the political spectrum in Whitewater who are like this, and Whitewater deserves no less in her council leadership.  

All the rest —kings and mind-readers — look ridiculous —

 

Embed from Getty Images    Embed from Getty Images

You Can Have Your Tea and Eat It Too:

Did you know there is one country in the world that eats their tea leaves? Resident foodie, Beryl, guides us through this traditional Burmese ingredient, as we travel to Myanmar to learn about Lahpet Thoke, which uses fermented, pickled tea leaves. With local Nyo Nyo Sein as our guide, we explore the process of fermenting, storing, and serving tea leaves – as well as understanding the significant role this dish plays in Burmese culture.

Beryl then takes us to the only Burmese restaurant in New York, here’s what she ordered: – Lahpet Thoke as well as Bu Thee Kyaw (squash temperature with tamarind garlic dip) – Ohn-No Khaut Swe (noodles in coconut broth with egg and lime).

So there we have it. Tea isn’t just for a cuppa, it’s for supper.

City, Film

Film: Tuesday, August 8th, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Book Club: The Next Chapter

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Tuesday, August 8th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Book Club: The Next Chapter @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:

Comedy

Rated PG-13

1 hour, 47 minutes. (2023)

A sequel to the 2015 hit: follow the four book club best friends as they venture to Italy for sightseeing, adventures, and romance. Returning cast includes Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenbergen, Andy Garcia, Don Johnson, and Craig Nelson.

One can find more information about Book Club: The Next Chapter at the Internet Movie Database.

Cats

Friday Catblogging: Can Cats Eat Bananas?

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Olivia Munson writes Is it OK to feed your cat bananas? What to know before feeding your cat the fruit:

Yes, cats can eat bananas. But just like any other human food, be careful feeding your feline the fruit.

While bananas are not inherently bad for your cat, they’re not that great either.

Bananas have high sugar which can lead to or further complicate diabetes in your cat. It can also cause weight problems, according to Purina.

For humans, bananas are great sources of fiber, potassium and other important nutrients that help us stay healthy. For cats, bananas do not have the same effect.

Cats are “obligate carnivores,” meaning in order to stay healthy a cat’s diet is primarily meat, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Your pet will get most key nutrients from their cat food. So, there is no real benefit to introducing fruit into your cat’s diet, according to Purina.

Feeding your cat bananas may also cause gastrointestinal issues. This includes “diarrhea, constipation, vomiting andregurgitation,” according to Hill’s Pet Nutrition.

If you choose to give your cat bananas, remove the peel since the skin is a “choking hazard and not digestible,” according to Hill’s Pet Nutrition. Feed your cat the banana in small portions.

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Daily Bread, Elections, Fair Maps, Gerrymandering, Law, Legislature, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.3.23: Nineteen Wisconsin Residents File Suit Against Gerrymandered State Legislative Districts

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 87. Sunrise is 5:49 AM and sunset 8:12 PM for 14h 23m 43s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 95.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1977, Tandy Corporation announces the TRS-80, one of the world’s first mass-produced personal computers.

Shawn Johnson reports New lawsuit seeks to overturn Wisconsin’s Republican-drawn legislative maps: 

The lawsuit argues the state’s current legislative district lines, drawn originally by Republicans in 2011 and updated in 2021, violate the Wisconsin Constitution. It asks the court to declare them invalid and eventually decide on new maps.

Should plaintiffs succeed, every state senator would have to run for election under new districts in 2024, effectively resetting a chamber where Republicans currently hold a veto-proof two-thirds majority that gives them the power to impose their legislative will on Democrats.

….

The case was filed with the Wisconsin Supreme Court Wednesday as an “original action” petition, meaning it asks the court to hear the case directly rather than let the lawsuit proceed through the state court system first. Four of the court’s seven justices would need to agree to that expedited timeline, meaning that if all four liberal justices want to pursue the case, they could.

Should the lawsuit succeed, the court could then decide whether to accept maps from parties or appoint a “special master” to handle redistricting itself.

If plaintiffs get their way, a victory would also apply throughout the state, and all at once. While state Senators normally run on staggered four-year terms, it would have all 33 Senate districts up for election in 2024. That would mean half of all Senators would be running in special elections, and they’d need to run for reelection in 2026. All 99 Assembly races would also take place under the new map.

See Press Release, Wisconsin Voters File Challenge to Wisconsin Gerrymandered Legislative Maps (‘National Legal Experts Unite to Restore Democracy in Wisconsin’) and Case 2023AP001399 Petitioners’ Memorandum of Law.

Press Release link.

Memorandum of Law link.

Best wishes to these Wisconsin petitioners in their efforts to restore fair maps to our state. 

Captive-Reared Great Lakes Piping Plovers Released at Cat Islands in Lower Green Bay:

On Wednesday, July 17, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Audubon Great Lakes and partners at Detroit Zoo and University of Minnesota, released four federally endangered Great Lakes piping plover chicks at the Cat Island Restoration Site, in Lower Green Bay.

Daily Bread, Sen. Baldwin, US Senate Race 2024, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.2.23: Rep. Tiffany’s Not Running Against Sen. Baldwin (Because He Knows He’d Lose)

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 85. Sunrise is 5:48 AM and sunset 8:14 PM for 14h 25m 59s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 99.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1939, Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon.

The last established WISGOP officeholder who might challenge Sen. Tammy Baldwin has declined the race. Anya van Wagtendonk reports US Rep. Tom Tiffany won’t challenge US Sen. Tammy Baldwin, leaving Republican field wide open (‘Tiffany announced Tuesday that he’ll run for reelection in his northern Wisconsin Congressional district instead’):

Another prospective Republican candidate for U.S. Senate has announced he won’t run in 2024, leaving U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin without a declared GOP challenger in her reelection bid.

U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua, announced Tuesday that he will seek reelection in his northwestern Wisconsin Congressional district instead.

“While Tammy Baldwin is vulnerable due to her record as a rubber stamp for President Biden, I can make the greatest impact continuing to serve the great people of Wisconsin in the House of Representatives,” Tiffany said in a written statement.

A spokesperson for his campaign said that Tiffany will support whoever runs against Baldwin next year. So far, there are no declared contenders.

Tiffany’s decision comes less than two months after another Republican congressperson, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Green Bay, announced he will not run.

Tiffany entered Congress after winning a 2020 special election in a landslide. He won with a similar margin in 2022.

But he’d face a different electorate running for statewide office, according to Anthony Chergosky, a political scientist at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

“It seems like Tiffany would have a pretty darn good chance at winning the Republican nomination if he opted to run,” Chergosky said. “But he does, after all, represent a very secure district, and running for Senate would have been a major roll of the dice on his part.”

Baldwin’s not vulnerable to any of the WISGOP challengers she’d face. Despite his bluster, Tiffany knows that. 

That’s why he’s not running.

See also Baldwin as the Prohibitive Favorite, Closer to Unbeatable (‘Tiffany, slathered in insurrection, would be a worse version of Leah Vukmir. It would be as though central casting sent over the nuttiest, dog-crap-quality opponent they could find to run statewide against Baldwin. Someone should check if Baldwin has a relative in the WISGOP who’s pushing Tiffany as a choice’), and Gallagher Won’t Run, So Baldwin’s Looking to Win in a Walk. 

No one injured after massive fire engulfs building in San Francisco:

Courts, Daily Bread, Newspapers, Whining, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.1.23: Journal Sentinel Focuses on a Minor Wisconsin Supreme Court Story

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 83. Sunrise is 5:47 AM and sunset 8:15 PM for 14h 28m 14s of daytime. The moon is full with 99.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1893, Henry Perky patents shredded wheat.

Some have spotted a molehill and think they’ve sighted a mountain. Over at the Journal Sentinel, Molly Beck & Daniel Bice focus on a minor tale about the new Wisconsin Supreme Court majority’s possible replacement of the director of the state courts system. Beck & Bice report New liberal majority on state Supreme Court to fire director of state court system:

The new liberal majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is taking its first step by firing the director of the state courts system.

Randy Koschnick, who has held the position since 2017 when he was appointed by the outgoing conservative majority, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he received a phone call Monday afternoon from Justice Jill Karofsky informing him there were enough votes to “fire you tomorrow.”

Koschnick received the call a day before a swearing in ceremony for the court’s newest justice, Janet Protasiewicz, was set to take place in the Wisconsin state Capitol.

“It’s a wrecking ball,” Koschnick said of the move. “I’m not sure what my options are. I’m still exploring my options. I’d like to continue to serve.”

That’s not a ‘wrecking ball,’ but rather common practice to replace an appointee from time to time, and Koschnick (defeated as a Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate in 2009) received his appointment in 2017 more as a consolation prize for running against Chief Justice Abrahamson in ’09 as much as anything else. (If Beck & Bice think Koschnick’s experience in Jefferson County made him the best person in the entire state to serve as court administrator they may be fooling themselves but they’re fooling no readers.)

Koschnick has been lucky, in fact, that he found a conservative majority willing to give him another six years (2017-2023) on the state payroll after he left the Jefferson County bench. 

What’s in the Night Sky August 2023:

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Adventure, Daily Bread, Science/Nature, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 7.31.23: Newport State Park: An International Dark Sky Park

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 81. Sunrise is 5:45 AM and sunset 8:16 PM for 14h 30m 26s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 97.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1777, the Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette “be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States.”

Newport State Park, an International Dark Sky Park:

Newport State Park in Door County, Wisconsin was named one of 48 dark sky parks in June, 2017.

Newport State Park – Dark Sky Park – Door County WI Travel Show:

Scientists wake up a 46,000-year-old worm: