Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 22. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset is 4:32 for 9 hours 7 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1942, thirty-three members of the Nazi Duquesne Spy Ring, headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne, are sentenced in federal court, in the largest espionage case in United States history.

Many years ago, and for many years, a January post at FREE WHITEWATER would offer predictions for the year ahead. They were styled in the fashion of the late William Safire’s predictions at the New York Times. These turbulent recent years have made predictions too audacious to attempt for this blogger (and I think for Safire, too, if he were to see these times).

Instead, rather than specific predictions, one can confidently offer a list of the general forces that are likely to be influential in Whitewater. In this respect, those social forces are roughly the same as those present in the last few years. See What Ails, What Heals (11.14.22) and ‘What Ails, What Heals’ and What’s Changed (10.2.25). While the change over the last three years has been in favor of what heals in this city, those who would drag Whitewater back, by hook or by crook, are relentless and insatiable.

A few remarks follow, however, about the people and factions that comprise the negative and positive elements at work in Whitewater.

Arguments and counter-arguments. Old Whitewater, a culture that praised a few and scorned all others, did not encourage debate among those few, or anyone else. While there were arguments in favor of this project or that, no one was expected to do more than join a chorus of praise for these ideas.

And so, and so, those who came up in Old Whitewater, like the special interest men of this town, had no experience responding to counter-arguments. These men weren’t less intelligent than others, but they were less capable of forming and following a debate with sound reasoning. They are now men in their sixties and seventies whose quality of reasoning was less necessary to them than mere social pressure (‘SHUT UP AND SING OUR TUNE‘). Live your life that way, and your actual argumentation is weak, comprising little more than bad statistics, bad faith claims, and a barrel of fallacies suitable for any discussion.

Residents. Worth repeating in the year ahead:

My remarks concern policies of and within the City of Whitewater, where I am a resident and property owner: residing here in the city, not across the town line; owning a home here in the city, not elsewhere; voting as part of this city’s electorate, not with a different one; loving this small and beautiful community, above any other. Here now forever, happily and thankfully so.

One hopes more people would move to Whitewater. Critics (and supporters) within the city carry more credibility than those who live elsewhere.

The work of a lifetime. If the boosters were bad for this city (and they were), if toxic positivity is bad for this city (and it is), and if the special interest men are advocates of their own interests over the majority (and they are), then there is still work ahead in this city.

January 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA: