For all the discussion of politics over these last three years, America now comes to a critical year ahead. In these next twelve months, we’ll see primaries, conventions, a general election, and thereafter possible challenges to, and necessary defenses of, the constitutional order. When was there another year so important to America as 2020 looks…
City
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, December 31st, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Yesterday
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
?? This Tuesday, December 31st at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Yesterday @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: (Comedy/Fantasy/Musical/Romance) Rated PG-13. 1 hour, 56 minutes. (2019) Following a massive power outage, a struggling musician wakes up in an alternate timeline, discovering he’s the only person on Earth who remembers…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, December 17th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, We’re No Angels
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
?? This Tuesday, December 17h at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of We’re No Angels @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Comedy/Romance (1955) Rated G; 1 hour, 46 minutes. At Christmas, three Devil’s Island escapees (Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov, Aldo Ray) hide out in the home of a kindly, failing…
City, Television
Tuesday, December 10th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, A Holiday Program of Three Classic TV Shows
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This Tuesday, December 10th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of three classic television shows (during a program of two hours in length) @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” a Honeymooners version of “The Gift of the Magi,” originally telecast live in black-and-white on December…
CDA, City, Local Government, Newspapers, Open Government
Who Implied That Toppers Might Move Its Headquarters? Whitewater’s City Manager, That’s Who
by JOHN ADAMS • • 4 Comments
In a Janesville Gazette story from 12.5, Whitewater’s city manager, Cameron Clapper, is reported as saying that another paper’s coverage incorrectly implied that Toppers Pizza might move its Whitewater headquarters. In fact, the video of a recent Community Development Authority (CDA) meeting from 11.21.19 reveals that it was Clapper, himself, who implied that Toppers might move.…
Business, City, Local Government, Newspapers
Local Government’s Failure to Speak Independently and Effectively
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
There’s a story at the Janesville Gazette that illustrates the inability of Whitewater, Wisconsin’s local government to communicate effectively on its own. The story, primarily, is about the ongoing search for a stand-alone grocery store to come to Whitewater. See Whitewater city manager remains ‘optimistic’ city will get a grocery store (Beleckis, reporter; Schwartz, editor). Routine,…
America, Authoritarianism, Babbittry, Bigotry, Boosterism, City, Law, Liberty, Local Government, Mendacity, Never Trump, Politics, Resistance, Trump
Forget the Tender Feelings of a Pernicious Faction
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
Over at the Journal Sentinel, Craig Gilbert writes about the political divide in For voters in this purple part of Wisconsin [Richland Center], the impeachment fight is a symbol of broken politics. The story establishes a false equivalence between those who support impeachment and those who oppose it, as though the conflict between these views…
America, City, Impeachment, Law, Liberty
Statement and Testimony of Gordon Sondland, American Ambassador to the European Union
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
There’s an oft-repeated saying that all politics is local. It’s false, at least in our time: in hamlets, villages, towns, and cities our politics is national (and constitutional). In fairness, I’ve always inclined to this view, but it would be better to be wrong than to be proved right under these conditions. It should be…
City, Education, School District
Whitewater Schools’ State Report Cards
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction annually issues report cards measuring schools’ performance across several major categories. Whitewater’s detailed report card results appear below, first for the district, and then for each of her five schools (one high school, one middle school, and three elementary schools). These documents are available here for download – in full…
City, Congress, Fifth Congressional District, Never Trump, Politics, Scott Fitzgerald, WISGOP
Her Constituents Can Be Proud
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Here in Whitewater, part of the gerrymandered Fifth Congressional District, we have for a congressman a septuagenarian multi-millionaire (Sensenbrenner) who votes with Trump, and his most-likely successor is a state senator (Fitzgerald) who sings a Trump train song. Men who tried all day to be embarrassments wouldn’t be able to match Sensenbrenner’s and Fitzgerald’s natural tendencies…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, November 12th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, They Shall Not Grow Old
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
?? This Tuesday, November 12th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of They Shall Not Grow Old @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: (Documentary/History/War) Rated R; 1 hour, 29 minutes. Through groundbreaking computer restoration technology, Director Peter Jackson creates a moving realistic depiction of World War 1, as never before…
America, City, Never Trump, Trump
Yet Again, All Eyes on Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
America, Babbittry, Bad Ideas, Boosterism, City, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Local Government, Mendacity, Newspapers, State Capitalism
What the New Dealers Got Right – What Whitewater’s Local Notables Got Wrong
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
There’s sound reason to doubt that the New Dealers’ economic solutions to the Great Depression were effective, but there’s no doubt that Roosevelt’s Brain Trust was hard-working, smart, and candid in its description of America’s economic problems. For a critical assessment of the New Deal, written accessibly, see The Forgotten Man: A New History of…
City, Holiday
Boo! Scariest Things in Whitewater, 2019
by JOHN ADAMS • • 4 Comments
Here’s the thirteenth annual FREE WHITEWATER list of the scariest things in Whitewater. (The 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 editions are available for comparison.) The list runs in reverse order, from mildly scary to truly frightening. 10. Meeting Videos. There must be something intimidating about meeting videos, because it takes…