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Author Archive for JOHN ADAMS
Conspiracy Theories, Crackpots, Daily Bread, Gableman, Speaker Vos, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 3.28.24: Vos Catches on Years Too Late
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Good morning.
Thursday in Whitewater will see scattered afternoon showers with a high of 52. Sunrise is 6:41 and sunset 7:17 for 12h 36m 31s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 90.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1979, a coolant leak at the Three Mile Island‘s Unit 2 nuclear reactor outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania leads to the core overheating and a partial meltdown.
One could say better late than never, but Speaker Robin Vos’s better-late-than-never recognition of Michael Gableman’s misconduct comes only after years of conspiracy-mongering. Anya van Wagtendonk report Vos: Gableman, leader of failed 2020 election probe, should be ‘disbarred’ (‘Assembly Speaker Robin Vos hired former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, and fired him 14 months later’):
Michael Gableman — the former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who led a pricey probe into the 2020 presidential election that turned up no evidence of wrongdoing — should be “disbarred,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said in an interview that aired over the weekend.
Vos, who initiated that investigation, told WISN-TV’s “UpFront” program that hiring Gableman “is probably the single biggest embarrassment that I have ever had.”
“I hope eventually he gets disbarred,” Vos, R-Rochester, said. “He should not be an attorney. Anybody who thinks about hiring him, call me, because I will tell you what an awful decision that I made to hire him.”
Well, yes. Gableman should be disbarred. Vos did make an awful decision.
The two deserve only each other.
Runaway ostrich chased by South Korean police:
City, Daily Bread, Education, Excuses and Rationalizations, Freedom of Speech, Open Government, Reasoning, School District
Daily Bread for 3.27.24: “Nice Person, But…”
by JOHN ADAMS • • 8 Comments
Good morning.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 39. Sunrise is 6:42 and sunset 7:16 for 12h 33m 37s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 95.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1975, construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.
Yesterday’s post, These Aren’t the MAGA Claims You Were Looking For, seemed clear to me. While opinions on local issues differ, residents should be able to discern plainly-stated views. (Opinions in Whitewater — and even basic accounts of events — vary among residents now more than at any time since FREE WHITEWATER began publication in 2007. See Rashomon-upon-Cravath.)
Of that post, summarized:
(1) The post was about open government1.
(2) A more detailed series on the district and proposals to improve governance can wait until after the election.
(3) Too many people in this town have election fever, and it’s left them dehydrated and decomposed. Their malady is not mine.
(4) The claims and proposals that boardmember (and whistleblower) Maryann Zimmerman has made since December are not conservative populist claims. They are claims of no single ideology or partisan view.
(5) I’ve never met Mrs. Zimmerman and it’s not as though we’re in a knitting club together2.
(6) The current board president has done no better than to beg off every question with the false, self-protective claim that he cannot speak for legal reasons and the district has a superintendent who not only won’t speak but has tried to prevent others from speaking.
That’s yesterday’s post in a nutshell.
And yet, and yet, a community leader wrote me last night to explain to me that, thirteen months ago, Mrs. Zimmerman voted not to deny a petition to alter district boundaries regarding a taxed property, concluding from her vote that Mrs. Zimerman was a “[n]ice person, but she does not know what she is doing.” (I responded bluntly via email.)
This emailer’s claim might as well have been a parody of whataboutism3.
The overall policy competency of this boardmember wasn’t the point of my post. (It’s evident that she’s as capable as others on the board. Practically, whether intentional or not, this boardmember alone has been able to knock the board president and the district administration back on their heels. It’s much easier to paint a single boardmember as ignorant than it is to admit — or perhaps grasp — that official responses to that boardmember have been strategically and tactically inept. That’s not the fault of students, parents, or residents. It’s the responsibility of boardmembers and administrators who’ve exacerbated the issue through their own responses.)
A tax issue from thirteen months ago matters not at all now. The insular frustration that’s come to district officials from more recent events, the excuse-making and rationalization of fumbled and self-injurious responses, evidently grips them.
What matters most is a better path than the one that overreaching and underthinking officials have taken.
Other district officials made that mess.
Nice people, but they do not know what they’re doing.
Belgian farmers spray manure towards police who respond with water cannon4:
1. Of limited, responsible, open government with individual rights, of progressive theology through traditional liturgy, and of cats, this libertarian blogger is, it happens, a true believer.
2. It’s not as though Boardmember Zimmerman and I are in a knitting club together. I don’t knit, and have no idea if she does. Nonetheless, all my best to the knitters of Whitewater and the sheep who’ve supplied their yarn. I have only love in my bleeding-libertarian heart for all of them.
3. The emailer pointed me to the minutes of the year-ago discussion, but in any event, the minutes are not the first place to look. A recording of the meeting would be the first, best place to look. Again and again: no record like a recording. After reviewing the recording, it seems to me that there were issues that no one considered fully. It certainly wasn’t obvious — except to those of narrow and motivated reasoning — that there was one only way to vote on items.
4. Does anyone know if some of these district officials have visited a Belgian farm lately?
Conservative Populism, Daily Bread, Education, Freedom of Speech, Never Trump, Reasoning, School District, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 3.26.24: These Aren’t the MAGA Claims You Were Looking For
by JOHN ADAMS • • 6 Comments
Good morning.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 52. Sunrise is 6:44 and sunset 7:15 for 12h 30m 43s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 5 PM.
On this day in 1812, a political cartoon in the Boston-Gazette coins the term “gerrymander” to describe oddly shaped electoral districts designed to help incumbents win reelection.
A brief post today, about Boardmember Maryann Zimmerman to follow yesterday’s post about conservative populism more generally. (A more detailed series on the district and proposals to improve governance can wait until after the election. Too many people in this town have election fever, and it’s left them dehydrated and decomposed. Their malady is not mine.)
Anyone who has visited this site knows that this bleeding-heart libertarian blogger is, and always will be, an opponent of conservative populism, MAGA, Trumpism, or whatever one calls that ideology. Never Trump before Never Trump, so to speak. See yesterday’s example Rep. Mike Gallagher Knows that MAGA Will Be Someone Else’s Headache Soon.
I am also someone whose family, teachers, and professors did their level best to inspire in me a respect for principle, reasoning, and tradition (in that order). Any success that this pupil has had in that regard owes only to them; they had poor clay with which to work. All their effort on my behalf, over so many years, leads me now and again to see something clearly.
And this is one of those times: the claims and proposals that boardmember (and whistleblower) Maryann Zimmerman has made since December are not conservative populist claims. They are claims of no single ideology or partisan view. Mrs. Zimmerman may hold, as I think she does, conservative populist views. To the extent that she holds those views — but only to the extent that she holds those views — we would find ourselves in disagreement.
Some of her ardent supporters most assuredly hold conservative populist views. To the extent that they hold those views — but only to the extent that they hold those views — we would find ourselves in disagreement.
If in this beautiful city, the answer to Mrs. Zimmerman’s nonpartisan concerns and proposals is an answer directed in opposition to conservative populism, then that answer is misdirected, to the degradation of scholastic standards.
It’s that simple.
I’ve never met Mrs. Zimmerman; we may never meet. One needn’t have met her to grasp that she is willing to speak and write in support of her views when, by striking contrast, the current board president has done no better than to beg off every question with the false, self-protective claim that he cannot speak for legal reasons. (Those who know the law know that those assertions are not merely false but risibly self-serving.)
The district has a superintendent who not only won’t speak but has tried to prevent others from speaking. In Maryann Zimmerman’s recent claims, and in her composed defense of them, there’s no trace of partisan ideology. She’s been admirably clear and steady. Others want to see what’s not there; they are looking into an empty room.
These aren’t the MAGA claims they were looking for.
Total Solar Eclipse 2024 explained. Date, maps, times and more:
The United States, Mexico and Canada will experience a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. Space.com’s Brett Tingley explains what you can expect. Total solar eclipse 2024: Everything you need to know: https://www.space.com/41552-total-sol…
WARNING: People should always use protective solar eclipse eyewear when viewing a solar eclipse.
Credit: Space.com | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, GreatAmericanEclipse.com
Congress, Conservative Populism, Daily Bread, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 3.25.24: Rep. Mike Gallagher Knows that MAGA Will Be Someone Else’s Headache Soon
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning.
Monday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 56. Sunrise is 6:46 and sunset 7:14 for 12h 27m 48s of daytime. The moon is full with 99.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 4:30 PM.
On this day in 1655, Christiaan Huygens discovers Saturn‘s largest moon, Titan.
Not every issue from a conservative populist (MAGA, Trumpism, etc.) is an issue of conservative populism. One presumes the conservative populists and other ideological groups all tie their shoes the same way. (Whether Mr. Trump, in particular, can reach his own shoes awaits video evidence.)
And yet, and yet, some issues are germane to conservative populism, including the shaky GOP majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Of that shaky majority, Rep. Mike Gallagher knows that MAGA will be someone else’s headache soon. Lawrence Andrea reports 8th District Republicans criticize Mike Gallagher’s early departure from Congress:
Gallagher, who chairs the high-profile select committee on China, received intense scrutiny from his party’s right flank in February after voting against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and he announced his retirement just days later. His decision Friday to depart before the end of his term has only intensified that ire as some on the right see the move as deliberate to keep Republicans’ House majority slim.
….
Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said last week Gallagher “should be expelled if he refuses to leave immediately in order to allow his district to hold a special election,” and Bruesewitz said he hopes Greene would move to expel Gallagher should he not resign earlier.
An aide to Greene did not respond to Journal Sentinel questions about her plans.
Gallagher’s office, meanwhile, labeled false the claims that his departure was a deliberate attempt to hurt Republicans, who will temporarily have just a one-seat majority after April 19, further complicating their ability to pass their agenda.
A spokesman for Gallagher told the Journal Sentinel that Gallagher’s move was a family decision and said House leadership had been aware of his plans for weeks and approved the timeline.
It’s improbable that Gallagher cares what Greene, Republicans in the 8th, or anyone else thinks about the timing of his departure.
Note well, Whitewater: While Gallagher’s departure is a MAGA issue (their politics have wrecked the House GOP caucus), some local issues that local conservative populists present in this town are not MAGA issues at all. They are, instead, issues applicable across the political spectrum.
Well-read people defending education need not — should not — conflate claims (too much synthesis, too little analysis?). (Of officials in the Whitewater Unified School District, on the board and at Central Office: they do not honor the instituitions from which they were graduated by conflating specific claims with general ideologies.)
Now, here’s a national issue that is a MAGA issue (and how to address it!) — Rep. Jared Moskowitz Dares Republicans to Impeach Biden:
Music
Monday Music: Samantha Fish, No Angels
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Daily Bread, Education, Law, Legislation, Misconduct
Daily Bread for 3.24.24: Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Students Against Strip Searches and Sexual Misconduct
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 38. Sunrise is 6:48 and sunset 7:13 for 12h 24m 52s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 99.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of shogun from Emperor Go-Yozei, and establishes the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo, Japan
Long overdue, but as Baylor Spears reports Gov. Evers has signed bipartisan legislation to protect students against strip searches and sexual misconduct:
Gov. Tony Evers signed education-related legislation Friday, including a measure to tighten protections for students against strip searches and sexual misconduct.
One measure, Senate Bill 111, now 2023 Wisconsin Act 198, was introduced in reaction to a 2022 incident in which a Suring School District employee, who was searching for vaping devices, allegedly ordered six teenage girls to undress down to their underwear. Neither the students’ parents or law enforcement were informed about or present at the time of the strip search.
The law redefines the meaning of “strip search” and “private area” to include undergarments in order to protect students from any official, employee or agent of any school or school district conducting strip searches.
Rep. David Steffen (R-Green Bay), who coauthored the legislation, said in a statement that “being treated with dignity and basic privacy is something that every student should expect when they enter our schools.
“The event at Suring revealed a statutory loophole that needed to be closed,” Steffen said. “This bill will protect our students from experiencing such intrusive searches in the future.”
Another measure, Senate Bill 333, now 2023 Wisconsin Act 200, seeks to better protect students by making sexual misconduct against a student by any school staff member or volunteer a Class I felony. It also adds more violations to the offenses where the state superintendent would be required to revoke a license without a hearing, and prohibits a licensee from ever having their license reinstated by the state superintendent if they are convicted of a crime against a child that is a Class H felony or higher or a felony invasion of privacy or sexual misconduct by a school staff person or volunteer.
It should not have required reporting on strip searches over a vape pen for this legislature and this governor to agree on legislation against those kinds of searches.
Better late than never is worse, and too late, for some.
Daily Bread, Drink, Faraway Places
Daily Bread for 3.23.24: Tiny Windows Serving Wine
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 34. Sunrise is 6:49 and sunset 7:11 for 12h 21m 58s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 97.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1909, Theodore Roosevelt leaves New York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The trip is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.
A glass of wine…served out of a window 🍷
In Florence, Italy there are tiny little windows built into the side of most noble palaces. And from these tiny windows, wine is served.
Affectionately known as “buchette del vino”, Florence’s wine windows date back to the 16th Century, and were a means for noble families to sell their wine directly to the public. Their usefulness, however, really became apparent during the Covid-19 pandemic, and doubled as a unique solution to minimizing contact and halting the spread of illness.
We explore the history and preservation of these wine windows, and how they are still used today. Watch as @JacobHarrell guides you through this story.
‘The Empire (State Building) strikes back with a ‘Star Wars’ light show:
Daily Bread, Government Spending, State Government, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 3.22.24: Less State Office Space Means More (in Taxpayer Savings)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be snowy with a high of 37. Sunrise is 6:51 and sunset 7:10 for 12h 19m 02s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 93.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1765, the British Parliament passes the Stamp Act that introduces a tax to be levied directly on its American colonies.
Sarah Lehr reports State agencies could offload even more office space, remote work audit finds (‘State administrators say they’re tightening up policies for tracking remote work’):
Wisconsin state agencies could consider offloading even more office space than previously planned, according to an audit presented to state lawmakers this week.
Three years ago, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration released a Vision 2030 plan, which laid out a roadmap for the state workforce in the coming decade. Because of the continued popularity of remote work, it called for consolidating state office space and for selling multiple state buildings in the coming years.
In all, state officials say Wisconsin could save $9 billion in occupancy costs plus more than a half a billion dollars in deferred maintenance expensive by cutting down on office space, according to an update to the plan released last spring.
There’s a hard-nosed (but short-sighted) attitude that says state office workers should sit all day at their office desks. As it turns out, those state office desks are in state office buildings, and state office buildings do not pay for themselves. If workers who do not interact directly with the public can do their work remotely, then the rest of Wisconsin should not be paying for office buildings for those very workers.
It shows a lack of foresight to say one is holding office workers accountable for their in-person attendance when that in-person attendance does not account for wasted money on state buildings.
The State of Wisconsin can and should sell office buildings that have become relics of a last-century service model.
‘Paddington’ bears spotted in Bolivian forest raise hopes for species’ survival:
Cats
Friday Catblogging: They’re Only Misunderstood
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Colleen Grablick reports Cats aren’t jerks. They’re just misunderstood (‘Feline researchers say many cats are quite social. Yours might even want to learn a few tricks):
Monique Udell is the director of the Human-Animal Interaction Lab at Oregon State University, which has been investigating the social potential of domestic cats. According to Udell, cats actually have a “flexible” social structure, meaning they can exist successfully on their own or in groups, depending on early life experiences (such as whether they were exposed to humans as babies) and their environment.
“What we’re finding is that when we give them the same kinds of opportunities or challenges that we regularly give dogs, that oftentimes cats not only can engage in high levels of social behavior, but many cats actually prefer social interaction,” Udell says.
Of course, no one — cat or human — wants to be around others all the time. Leslie Sinn, a veterinary behaviorist in Ashburn, Va., says domestic cats, just like their wild ancestors, navigate conflict by dispersal; they remove themselves from an uncomfortable situation as protection. “That’s often where we run into issues in our home, because there’s limited movement that can take place in order to be able to avoid conflict,” she says.
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, March 26, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Nyad
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Tuesday, March 26th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Nyad @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Drama/Biography
Rated PG-13
2 hours, 1 minute (2023)
The remarkable, true story of athlete Diana Nyad (Annette Bening) who, at age 60, and with the help of her partner and coach (Jodie Foster), commits to achieving her lifelong dream of swimming the 110 miles from Havana to Key West, Florida. This film earned Oscar nominations for both actresses!
One can find more information about Nyad at the Internet Movie Database.
CDA, City, Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 3.21.24: The Agenda for the March CDA Meeting
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning.
Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 39. Sunrise is 6:53 and sunset 7:09 for 12h 16m 06s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 88.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1963, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary closes.
Linked above is the agenda for the 3.21.24 meeting of the Whitewater Community Development Authority. Embedded below is the agenda for that meeting.
Athens zoo welcomes the birth of a rare pygmy hippo:
City, Competition, Daily Bread, Free Markets, Housing, Law, Litigation
Daily Bread for 3.20.24: A Legal (and Free Market) Victory Against the National Association of Realtors®
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning.
The first full day of Spring in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 40. Sunrise is 6:55 and sunset 7:08 for 12h 13m 11s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 81.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Parks & Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1815, after escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his “Hundred Days” rule.
For generations, the National Association of Realtors® has controlled (as though it were part monopoly, part cartel) the process of buying and selling homes. That control has now come to an end with much of the credit going to a personal injury lawyer in Missouri and his five clients.
The end of the Association’s stranglehold on the housing market is a legal victory that’s brought about a free-market victory for buyers and sellers. See Powerful Realtor Group Agrees to Slash Commissions to Settle Lawsuits (‘The National Association of Realtors will pay $418 million in damages and will amend several rules that housing experts say will drive down housing costs’) and Five Ways Buying and Selling a House Could Change (‘The National Association of Realtors has agreed to change its policies to settle several lawsuits brought by home sellers — a move that could reduce commissions’).
These changes won’t solve housing shortages in Whitewater or other small towns, but they will benefit buyers and sellers across the nation in reduced commissions. (America has had among the highest commission fees in all the developed world.)
Well, done, Missouri attorney Michael Ketchmark and clients. You’ve helped all the nation end entrenched, expensive, anti-competitive practices.
Notre Dame Cathedral could reopen at the end of 2024 as new spire emerges:
City, Daily Bread, Education, Freedom of Speech, School District, Speech & Debate, Tragic Optimism
Daily Bread for 3.19.24: Better Days for the Whitewater Schools
by JOHN ADAMS • • 12 Comments
Good morning.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 53. Sunrise is 6:57 and sunset 7:07 for 12h 10m 16s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 73.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater Common Council meets tonight at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1918, the US Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.
I went to sleep last night nearly a pessimist; I awoke this morning an optimist yet again. People choose freely, sometimes well, sometimes poorly. For the Whitewater Unified School District, these many months — ending at last night’s board meeting — were a time of free choice for the district’s board president and the district’s superintendent.
The board president has chosen not to run for reelection; the superintendent has chosen to seek employment elsewhere. In both cases, those decisions are right for those officials and for the Whitewater Schools. Some relationships, including political and employment ones, sadly become irretrievably broken. Repair requires reconciliation, and reconciliation requires a willingness to accept the principles on which a sound relationship rests.
For the Whitewater Schools, reconciliation required these officials to make a choice and commitment they chose not to make. See Speech & Debate in the Whitewater Schools. See also What Ails, What Heals, and Heals & Ails, General & Particular, Public & Private.
No one should be compelled to choose; it must be a free decision. One wishes the best to both — truly — in the future. They deserve situations suitable to them. Not every fit is a good fit. The Whitewater Unified School District’s board will soon have the opportunity to choose a new president. That board will be able to oversee the selection of a new superintendent at the earliest opportunity, either through her employment elsewhere, a settlement agreement, or if regrettably necessary through lawful public action of the board.
For Whitewater, the daunting — yet hopeful — building of a new administration in a new district awaits. We need not fear that a choice today will lead to worse outcomes tomorrow. This community can achieve for its students academic success, athletic accomplishment, and artistic achievement under principles of individual rights and tolerance for all, without prejudice toward race, ethnicity, gender, or orientation.
The principles of limited, open, responsible government and individual rights hold the commanding heights. They occupy good ground; they have a defensible position. Those who hold these values will over-match those who oppose them. We need not be afraid of what comes next — we will shape what comes next.
The work of crafting a new district begins. It is the work of years to come. It will require ongoing attention. Sometimes hard, but easier if we join together. Sometimes daunting, but always possible.
It’s spring break for the Whitewater Schools next week, but while our students, teachers, and families enjoy their well-deserved vacation, others of us can begin our reflections and recommendations for the future.
The Whitewater Schools will come through just fine.