? This Tuesday, September 24th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of The Upside @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Tuesday, September 24, 12:30 PM (Comedy/Drama) Rated PG-13; 2 hours, 6 minutes (2017). The relationship between a wealthy quadriplegic man (Bryan Cranston) and an unemployed ex-convict (Kevin Hart) who is…
City
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Crime, Culture, Distraction, Newspapers, University, UW System, Wisconsin
Truth-Telling and Tale-Weaving
by JOHN ADAMS •
In conditions of real injury, in which truth-telling is important, tale-weaving about irrelevant matters is worse than wasteful: it’s a misdirection from the significant to the insignificant. Three recent stories illustrate the critical difference between these approaches. As a truth-telling story, Hope Kirwan of Wisconsin Public Radio reports ‘Students Deserve To Be Heard’: UW-La Crosse…
City, Conflicts of Interest, Ethics, Local Government, Newspapers, School District, Whitewater, WI Conflict of Interest Gallery™
The Whitewater, WI Conflict of Interest Gallery™
by JOHN ADAMS •
Ours is an era of conflicts of interest and self-dealing. Conflicts of interest sometimes begin with ignorance but they persist through arrogance. Simple principles of separation between roles that were once understood and respected (in the main) are now commonly rationalized away. If one bemoans degraded national ethics, one should be clear that local officials…
CDA, City, Development, Economy, Local Government, Poverty, Taxes/Taxation
Trump Tax Bill is the Predictable Failure Sensible People Warned It Would Be
by JOHN ADAMS •
In Whitewater, there’s a business lobby that amounts to a right-wing landlord or two, the dogsbodies who follow three paces behind, and the municipal officials who have been, variously, beguiled or browbeaten into asserting that government-directed capital spending means general prosperity. It doesn’t; it’s the great myth of municipal policy. A building here, a building…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, September 10th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Best of Enemies
by JOHN ADAMS •
? This Tuesday, September 10th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of The Best of Enemies @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Tuesday, September 10, 12:30 PM (Biography/Drama/History) Rated PG-13; 2 hours, 13 minutes (2019). In 1971 Durham, NC, civil rights activist Ann Atwater (Taraji P. Henson) faces off against…
CDA, City, Congress, Corporate Welfare, Free Markets, Gerrymandering, Government Spending, Local Government, Never Trump, Politics, Republicans, State Capitalism, That Which Paved the Way
F. James Sensenbrenner Heads for the Exit
by JOHN ADAMS •
One reads that F. James Sensenbrenner, the pro-Trump septuagenarian multimillionaire congressman from a gerrymandered district that stretches all the way down to Whitewater, is retiring when his current term ends. Consigned to the minority forever must look unappealing. How time flies! It was not long ago that then-chairman of the Whitewater Community Development Authority was scampering…
City, Education, Fact Checking, Marketing, Mendacity, Public Relations, University, UW System
The Marketing of Misinformation: UW-Whitewater’s Use of a Counterfeit ‘Campus Safety’ Study
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Film
Film: Wednesday, September 4th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Guilty
by JOHN ADAMS •
? This Wednesday, September 4th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of The Guilty @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Wednesday, September 4, 12:30 PM (Crime/Drama/Thriller) Rated R (Language); 1 hour, 25 minutes (2018) Winner of the AARP Movies for Grownups Best Foreign Film Award. A taut, twisty Danish detective…
ACLU, Asylum, City, Immigration, Law, Laws/Regulations, Local Government, Migrants
Derechos de los Inmigrantes — Immigrants’ Rights
by JOHN ADAMS •
Posted originally on 7.14.19, now updated with additional information from the Spanish-language section linked below. Independientemente de su estatus migratorio, usted tiene derechos garantizados por la Constitución. Aprende más aquí sobre sus derechos como inmigrante y cómo expresarlos. …. Agentes policiales pregunta sobre mi estatus migratorio Cómo reducir el riesgo para usted mismo Mantener la…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, August 27th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, BlacKkKlansman
by JOHN ADAMS •
? This Tuesday, August 27th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of BlacKkKlansman @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Tuesday, August 27, 12:30 PM (Biography/Crime/Drama) Rated R (Language, violence); 2 hours, 15 minutes (2018). Based on a true story: an African American police officer in Colorado Springs, CO, successfully manages…
City, Culture, University
Integration of University and Community
by JOHN ADAMS •
In Whitewater, where a campus of the UW System represents a majority of the city’s residents, the integration of campus and community is an obvious need. One thinks of this when reading Deborah and James Fallows, The Choices Facing Community Colleges. (These authors are describing two-year programs, not a comprehensive four-year program as with UW-Whitewater,…
CDA, City, Development, Economy, Government Spending, Local Government, Poverty
Common Council, 8.20.19: Fiscal & Economic
by JOHN ADAMS •
Yesterday, I posted about part of a Whitewater Common Council meeting that addressed a traffic signal at a dangerous intersection. See Common Council, 8.20.19: Misperception. There was another topic at that meeting: the annual audit of the city’s fiscal condition (link below). In another place and time, the fiscal condition of government might be decisive…
Accidents, City, Common Council, Local Government, State Government, Transportation
Common Council, 8.20.19: Misperception
by JOHN ADAMS •
A portion of Wisconsin [U.S.] Highway 12 rings Whitewater. Called by residents simply the bypass, it takes traffic around the city, with a few points of intersection to Whitewater along the route. A traffic signal at one of those intersections has had its own green light for a left-hand turning lane, and this likely causes…
City, Film
Film: Wednesday, August 21st, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The History Boys
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Wednesday, August 21st at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of The History Boys @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Wednesday, August 21st; 12:30 PM Rated R for language, sexual content (2006). Remember the professor or teacher that made you think and wonder, and inspired you…? In 1980s England, an…