Wisconsin is a small state, yet an important one – in these recent years she has played a significant role in the political life of the country. As one would not wish to live other than in Whitewater, so one could not wish for more valuable ground on which to fight the political conflict of…
City
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 •
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 •
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…
City, Education, School District
Whitewater Schools’ Presentation of Goals
by JOHN ADAMS •
This morning, I posted about the 10.28.19 Whitewater Unified School District board meeting. See School Board, 10.28.19: 3 Points. That post, I mentioned that I would request copies of the goals presentations from Monday night that were not included in the agenda packet. Today, before submitting my request, I received a note from the district…
City, Education, School District
School Board, 10.28.19: 3 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Whitewater Unified School District Board met Monday night. I’ll update this post with the meeting video as soon as the school district posts the video online (as its own policy requires). For now, three points stand out from the agenda items for the meeting. 1. Academic Presentations. There were three presentations on academic plans…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, October 29th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Get Out
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, October 29th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Get Out @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Tuesday, October 29th, 12:30 PM Horror/Mystery/Thriller Rated R (Violence, language); 1 hour, 44 min. This is an unnerving, psychological film in a “Twilight Zone”-style vein. A young African-American (Daniel Kaluuya) visits…
America, City, Economy, Health, Local Government, Opioids
Opioid Crisis : Great Recession :: Dust Bowl : Great Depression
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s a loose analogy (yet a useful one) to say that the opioid crisis is to the Great Recession as the Dust Bowl was to the Great Depression. These deep economic downturns did not cause, respectively, either the Dust Bowl or the opioid crisis, but each downturn did exacerbate the severity of its coincident calamity.…
Boosterism, Business, CDA, City, Congress, Local Government, Taxes/Taxation
Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Thinks (or Hopes) You’re Ignorant or Stupid
by JOHN ADAMS •
Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner, the gerrymandered, septuagenarian multimillionaire whose district (the Fifth) stretches all the way down to Whitewater, must think (or hope) people are ignorant. One can conclude as much because Sensenbrenner contends the reason he’s not attending impeachment hearings is because those hearings are not open to the public. Honest to goodness, Sensenbrenner must…
City, Common Council, Diversity, Local Government, Police, Public Relations
Common Council, 10.15.19
by JOHN ADAMS •
? The Whitewater Common Council met in regular session on Tuesday, October 15th. The meeting agenda is available online. Coffee. It’s not a bad idea to have coffee sessions with law enforcement (8:00 on the video), but it’s worth noting – because it’s true – that community policing depends on positive, routine contact between officers…
City, Education, Language, Newspapers, School District, University, Writing
The Janesville Gazette‘s Sketchy Reporting on Major Topics
by JOHN ADAMS •
The nearby Janesville Gazette, a newspaper that insists ‘local matters,’ too often reports on Whitewater’s local matters in a careless way, ignoring key information. Whether that paper’s omissions are through negligence or by design, reporting like this ill-serves Whitewater. (In fairness, the Gazette long ago ran itself into the ground, and sold out this summer…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, October 8th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Rocketman
by JOHN ADAMS •
? This Tuesday, October 8th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Rocketman @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Tuesday, October 8th, 12:30 PM Biography/Drama/Musical Rated R (Language, sexual content); 2 hours, 1 min (2019). Step inside the story of Sir Elton John (Taron Egerton) and see his rise to…
City, Local Government, Police
Common Council, 10.1.19: A Reminder about Reminders
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Whitewater Common Council met in regular session on Tuesday, October 1st. One wonders: what does it profit a leader to speak another language if he’s ineffectual in the face of injuries to speakers of that language? In the video above, one hears from Whitewater’s city government (beginning at 9:10 on the video): A reminder…
City, Local Government, School District
9.19.19: State of City & State of District Presentations
by JOHN ADAMS •
League of Women Voters: States of the City & the Schools 09/19/19 from Whitewater Community TV on Vimeo. Whitewater’s city manager, Cameron Clapper, and the Whitewater Unified School District administrator, Dr. Mark Elworthy, presented on the states of the city and school district, respectively. Embedded above is a full video of their presentations. The municipal…
City, Crime, Cruelty, Education, Ethnicity, Immigration, Local Government, Mendacity, Migrants, Police, Race, University, UW System
‘Do Deportations Lower Crime? Not According to the Data’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Anna Flagg writes Do Deportations Lower Crime? Not According to the Data: In one of Donald J. Trump’s earliest moves as president, days after his inauguration, he revived the deportation program known as Secure Communities. Proponents argue that it helps prevent crime and also increases the police’s ability to solve crime through collaboration with federal…