In times of high unemployment, of course it makes sense to get people back to work. Jobs, jobs, jobs isn’t a bad mantra when people don’t have work. (Work isn’t simply about an income, but a place in society.) Today is not, however, the Great Depression. Listen to ‘development professionals’ go on about job-creation at…
City
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economy, Foxconn, Government Spending, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way
Foxconn’s Predatory Reliance on Eminent Domain
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Taiwanese-owned Foxconn is relying on eminent domain to seize Wisconsinites’ private homes for the sake of that foreign company’s project. Principles of eminent domain, sadly, have been vastly increased since a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision expanded government’s power to take from ordinary homeowners, among others. Those expanded governmental powers mean that residents who lose their…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Culture, Misconduct, Nepotism, Sexual Harassment, That Which Paved the Way, University, UW System
A Defense That’s Worse Than Nothing
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Retired UW-Whitewater professor Brian Kevin Beck contends that Kopper shouldn’t leave [the] Chancellor post. (Candidly, there’s a chance that his defense is so bad that it’s an intentional parody of a defense. It’s hard to believe anyone who served on a worthy faculty could reason so poorly.) Beck argues that (1) misconduct involving Kopper’s public…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, October 23rd, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Rider
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This Tuesday, October 23rd at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of The Rider @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building: The Rider (Drama/Western) Tuesday, October 23 12:30 pm Rated R (language). 1 hour, 44 min. (2017) After suffering a near-fatal head injury, a young cowboy/rodeo rider undertakes a search for a…
Babbittry, Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economy, Foxconn, Free Markets, Government Spending, Local Government, Mendacity, Open Government, Politics, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Tony Evers, WEDC, Wisconsin
The Walker Cabinet Officers’ Open Letter
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Four cabinet secretaries of the Walker Administration have come forward to criticize the governor, and three of them have co-written an open letter against Walker’s relentless emphasis on political gain over sound policies. One of the signatories of the letter is Paul Jadin, who was Walker’s first Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation leader. It says all…
City, Elections, Never Trump, Politics, Trump
Hyper-Local Politics is Finished (It’s Just That Not Everyone Sees it Yet)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Hyper-localism in politics has affected – and harmed – Whitewater and countless other small towns. The idea that there were better local standards on economics, open government, and politics than the best American standards was always a truly risible conceit. The best standards on these matters were always broad and wide. (See How Many Rights for…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Culture, Ethics, Misconduct, Nepotism, That Which Paved the Way, University, UW System
Another ‘Advisory Council’ Isn’t What Whitewater Needs
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Whitewater has a same-ten-people problem, derived from a few people living behind (metaphorically) a narrow and high perimeter fence, with those few often producing mediocre work, while the city’s economy stagnates. And yet, and yet – one reads that even during the third investigation for sexual harassment & assault concerning the relative she appointed, supervised,…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Bad Ideas, City, Culture, Ethics, Local Government, Mendacity, Official Misconduct, Politics, That Which Paved the Way, Trump, University
Act Utilitarianism Isn’t Merely a National Scourge
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Trump justifies his treatment of Christine Blasey Ford by the outcome of the Kavanaugh hearings: “It doesn’t matter. We won.”
One wouldn’t have to go to Washington, or wait for Trump to speak, to find this sort of act utilitarianism. Long before Trump’s 2016 campaign, officials and self-described community leaders in small towns across America shared a similar calculus. For the sake of some imagined overall gain, individual injuries and injustices have been swept aside.
And so, and so — officials justify financial and personal injuries to individuals on behalf of the supposed greater good of being ‘community-minded,’ of defending the ‘university family,’ or some such collective claim.
Trump’s act utilitarianism did not begin with Trump: it grew in cities and towns in which factions decided they’d take what they want, and conveniently sweep aside others by use of nebulous ‘community’ principles. (In the video above, Trump betrays his amorality early on, as he shrugs his shoulders when part of Christine Blasey Ford’s injury is recounted to him.)
In most of these cases of supposed collective gain, of course, it turns out to be a particular politician, particular businessman, or particular university official who reaps the most at the expense of ordinary individuals, but these community leaders would prefer one didn’t look too closely into that selfish benefit, thank you kindly.
Whether a highly-placed person’s selfish gain, or community’s supposed overall gain, the disregard for individual rights reveals a dark, calculating amorality.
Bad Ideas, City, Culture, Government Spending, Local Government, Mendacity, Newspapers
Why Dirty Dogs Roam With Impunity
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
I’ve written before about the foul mess that is the ‘Warriors and Wizards’ festival in Jefferson (formerly a Harry Potter festival before Warner Bros. shut that usage down). So, how is it that city officials, ‘development professionals,’ lying publishers, and bottom-shelf promoters get away with wasting tens of thousands in public funds each year while simultaneously…
43rd Assembly District, Authoritarianism, Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Economics, Economy, Immigration, Law, Liberty, Local Government, Never Trump, Politics, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
The ‘Republican’ Candidate’s Meet and Greet
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
One reads that the self-described Republican candidate for the 43rd Assembly District will hold a meet and greet next week at a private establishment in town. Good for him – free speech is a core political right. (He’s also scheduled to appear at a local candidate’s forum this week. See The First & Last Questions.) He’s a…
43rd Assembly District, City, Elections, Politics, Trump
The First & Last Questions
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There’s a local debate candidate forum scheduled for this weekend between the Democrat and Republican running for the 43rd Assembly district (a portion of which includes Whitewater). The Whitewater Area League of Women Voters is hosting this event, and writes to reassure prospective attendees that they may “ask questions of the candidates by writing them…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, October 9th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Victoria and Abdul
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This Tuesday, October 9th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Victoria and Abdul @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building: Victoria and Abdul (biography, drama, romance, history) Tuesday, October 9, 12:30 pm Rated PG-13. 1 hour, 51 min. (2017) In 1887, when Abdul Karim, an Indian clerk in his twenties,…
CDA, City, Economy, Local Government, Poetry, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Walworth County, WEDC, Wisconsin
Majority of Walworth County’s Renters are Rent-Burdened
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A new study, Paying the Rent, from the Wisconsin Policy Forum finds that a majority of Walworth County’s renters are rent-burdened, placing the county in the top five most distressed in the state by that measurement. (There are, of course, 72 counties in Wisconsin, so Walworth County is among the weakest of a very large…
City, Culture, Local Government, School District, University
No Principle But Principle
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Over these years that I have written, Whitewater has seen two city managers, three chancellors, four district administrators, and dozens upon dozens of other municipal, school district, and university officials. During this time, this ilk has relied on projects, press releases, committees, and conferences to advance itself at the expense of the community it professes…