As a general rule, contested elections are preferable to uncontested ones. That rule applies in Whitewater: there have been too few contested elections, and too many of the same people carrying on as though political offices were freehold estates.
City
Assault Awareness & Prevention, CDA, Charity, City, Corporate Welfare, Culture, Dogs, Economy, Education, Federal Government, Foxconn, Free Markets, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, Police, Politics, School District, State Capitalism, State Government, University, UW System, WEDC, Wisconsin
The Broad Outlines of 2019
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
For many years, I would begin the year with predictions for the twelve months ahead. Events since 2016 have made predictions harder, but one can still discern some short-term developments for the city. These prospects, of course, form an online of topics to ponder, and about which to write (often requiring that one return to the…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Crime, Culture, University
Elizabeth Bruenig Writes of Amber Wyatt
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
In September, Elizabeth Bruenig wrote about Amber Wyatt, a classmate she barely knew in 2006 when both attended a high school in Arlington, Texas. Wyatt was raped that year, and when she reported the crime, she found, in Bruenig’s words, that ‘few believed her. Her hometown turned against her. The authorities failed her.’ I first…
City, Film
Film: Monday, December 31st, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This Monday, December 31st at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (Comedy/Musical/Romance) Monday, December 31, 12:30 pm. Rated PG-13. 1 hour, 54 min. (2018) It’s five years later, and daughter Sophie (Amanda…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economy, Foxconn, Government Spending, Mendacity, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, WEDC, Wisconsin
Foxconn Roundup: Outside Work and Local Land
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Foxconn’s boosters each day inch closer to a corporate welfare version of Scientology: it doesn’t make any sense, but adherents keep to themselves and repeat a shared list of crackpot claims. The latest news to pierce the cultists’ bubble: Molly Beck and Rick Romell report Wisconsin taxpayers could pay Foxconn for work done outside of Wisconsin,…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Litigation, Nepotism, Sexual Harassment, That Which Paved the Way, University, UW System
The Limits of an Institutional Deal
by JOHN ADAMS • • 7 Comments
Yesterday, UW-Whitewater Chancellor Beverly Kopper announced that she was resigning her position as of 12.31.18. Later in the day, the UW System publicly announced that Kopper would be on leave at her former salary for eight months, and then in the fall have the option of returning to UW-Whitewater’s Psychology Department as a professor. See…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Culture, Misconduct, Nepotism, Public Relations, Sexual Harassment, That Which Paved the Way, University, UW System
Kopper Resigns, Whitewater Remains
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
One reads that Beverly Kopper, UW-Whitewater chancellor, has resigned her position effective 12.31.18. Her resignation was generally expected for at least the last few weeks, and was, more importantly, necessary. This was a public matter involving a spouse appointed to a public position accused of sexual harassment by at least five women while the appointing chancellor kept…
City, Film
Film: Wednesday, December 19th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Left Hand of God
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This Wednesday, December 19th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of The Left Hand of God @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building: The Left Hand of God (Drama/Inspirational) Wednesday, December 19, 12:30 pm Rated PG. 1 hour, 27 min. (1955) In 1947, at a remote Catholic mission in China, arrives…
Bad Ideas, City, Politics
The Myth of the Adult in the Room
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
National stories – about national principles – apply to places big and small, including Whitewater, Wisconsin. Monica Hesse’s John Kelly and the myth of the ‘adult in the room’ summarizes about a national figure a myth that’s common locally, too: If you can remember back to Kelly’s appointment, six thousand years ago in 2017, the…
Babbittry, CDA, City, Economy, Local Government, Poverty
Reported Family Poverty in Whitewater Increased Over the Last Decade
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Over the last ten years, while Wisconsin and America recovered from the Great Recession, in Whitewater poverty among families with children actually increased. The Great Recession – deep and painful for many, lasted from December 2007 to June 2009. Afterward, most parts of America saw recovery, sometimes slow, sometimes rapid, but recovery by either definition. That’s why for…
City, Culture, Demographics, Development, Economy, Local Government, State Capitalism, Wisconsin
The ‘Real’ Residents
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Emily Badger reports Are Rural Voters the ‘Real’ Voters? Wisconsin Republicans Seem to Think So: In much of Wisconsin, “Madison and Milwaukee” are code words (to some, dog whistles) for the parts of the state that are nonwhite, elite, different: The cities are where people don’t have to work hard with their hands, because they’re collecting…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, December 11th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Man Who Invented Christmas
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This Tuesday, December 11th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of The Man Who Invented Christmas @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building: The Man Who Invented Christmas (Biography/Comedy/Drama) Tuesday, December 11 @ 12:30 pm Rated PG. 1 hour, 44 min. (2017) Believe it or not, there was a time when Charles…
Animals, Cats, City, Dogs
Friday Cat and Dog Blogging: Beanie Shows the Way Forward
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Longtime readers know that this website has warned residents about the dangers of marauding coyotes, and their stealthy efforts to overwhelm civilization and rule this planet. See Coyotes Begin War Against Humanity. Reports about coyote designs on Milwaukee (part of FW’s Daily Bread post for today) show how little time is left to act. Doubtless,…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economy, Foxconn, Government Spending, Mendacity, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way
Foxconn Roundup: Indiana Layoffs & Automation Everywhere
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A sensible person would never have listened to a Walker Administration operative in Whitewater tout Foxconn without laughing or looking about for a nearby tomato. No sensible person would have made that operative a guest speaker at an annual dinner or written about the event without criticism. (See, about that Greater Whitewater Committee dinner and that…