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Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy Theories, Crackpots, Daily Bread, Fellow Traveler, Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 4.22.25: Ron Johnson Thinks the U.S. Government Was Behind 9/11

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 64. Sunrise is 6:01 and sunset is 7:45, for 13 hours, 44 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 33.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 1970, the first Earth Day is celebrated.

“Ron Johnson” by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Over his years in office, Ron Johnson has descended into error, fallacy, and conspiracy. He continues to fall, now into the false claim that the U.S. Government was responsible for 9/11:

Johnson said he’s talked to former U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, who recently appeared on former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s show alleging a cover-up. Weldon has pushed Trump to reinvestigate 9/11.

“I will work with him to expose what he’s willing to expose,” Johnson said. “My eyes have been opened up.”

In the interview, Johnson questioned how a third building, World Trade Center 7, could have collapsed in “any other way than a controlled demolition.”

Conspiracy theorists claim planted explosives caused it to fall. Others question how it collapsed when no airplane struck it.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, whose investigation into the collapse Johnson called corrupt, determined that debris from destruction of the Twin Towers started fires on floors of Building 7. The sprinkler system failed, and heat from the flames meant a structural column failed, ultimately causing the whole building to fall.

Johnson has also claimed that the Great Depression was “pretty well planned,” adding he knew it sounds like a conspiracy theory. In his interview with Benny Johnson, the senator said he knew they would both be considered conspiracy theorists.

See Hope Karnopp, Ron Johnson suggests more congressional hearings into 9/11, spreads conspiracy theory, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 21, 2025.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s World Trade Center Investigation was exhaustive and definitive. Ron Johnson has no rational justification to doubt their work.

Benny Johnson, no relation to Ron except in perfidy, is one of a few men “secretly funded by Russian state media employees to churn out English-language videos that were “often consistent” with the Kremlin’s “interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions in order to weaken U.S. opposition” to Russian interests, like its war in Ukraine.” See also Shannon Bond, Jude Joffe-Block, and Caitlin Thompson, How Russian operatives covertly hired U.S. influencers to create viral videos, National Public Radio, September 5, 2024.

Ron Johnson has been and will always be a striving, seeking conspiracist. For more on Johnson, see a dedicated category at FREE WHITEWATER on his political career.

Poás volcano erupts in Costa Rica:

The Poás volcano, one of Costa Rica’s most popular tourist attractions, erupted suddenly on Monday, arousing the interest of many social media users and amateur volcanologists.

Conspiracy Theories, Courts, Daily Bread, Gableman, Law, Low Standards, Misconduct, Speaker Vos, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 4.20.25: Gableman Was an Embarrassment Yet Vos Appointed Him Anyway

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy, with scattered afternoon showers, and a high of 52. Sunrise is 6:04 and sunset is 7:43, for 13 hours, 39 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 55.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1836, following earlier debate, Congress passes and President Andrew Jackson approves a resolution creating the Wisconsin Territory with an effective date of July 3, 1836.

At Wisconsin Watch, Tom Kertscher chronicles former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman’s history of disreputable conduct long before Robin Vos appointed him in 2021 as a special council. It shows how much was known of Gableman’s unworthy conduct, including insobriety, by ranking members of the WISGOP:

In October 2008, just two months after Gableman was sworn in [as a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court], the state Judicial Commission filed a complaint against him, alleging his ad violated the state judicial code of conduct. 

The commission dropped the case in 2010 after the Supreme Court deadlocked 3-3 on what to do about the complaint. Gableman didn’t participate. The other three conservative justices said that while the ad was “distasteful,” its statements were “objectively true” and protected by the First Amendment.

….

Ethics complaints were filed with two state agencies over Gableman’s acceptance of two years of free legal services, likely worth tens of thousands of dollars, in the case filed against him over the Butler ad. As a justice, Gableman did not recuse himself from cases argued by Michael Best & Friedrich, the law firm that provided his free legal aid. He ruled in favor of the firm’s clients five times, more than any other justice during his tenure on the court, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. No action was taken against him from those complaints.

Insobriety:

Wisconsin Watch has learned that while a justice, Gableman attended the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland — in possible violation of judicial rules prohibiting attendance at party conventions — and while there, he appeared intoxicated and was escorted out of the convention hall after causing disturbances, according to two Wisconsin Republicans in attendance and a third briefed on the incident shortly after it happened.

Former longtime state GOP leader Steve King recalled then-U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy telling him that Gableman “has a problem and we need to get him back to his hotel.”

These WISGOP men knew then, but are only talking now.

Vos — years later —  has regrets about selecting Gableman as special counsel:

Gableman was paid $117,000, more than double the $55,000 that had been budgeted, according to a previously unreported document Wisconsin Watch obtained from the Assembly clerk.

“He paid no attention to detail, he delegated almost all the work to somebody else and very poor follow-through,” Vos told Wisconsin Watch. “It seemed like Mike Gableman was more concerned about the money he was earning as opposed to finding the truth.”

See Tom Kertscher, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court has become hyper political. The rise and fall of Michael Gableman’s career shows how that happened (‘The former Supreme Court justice has agreed to surrender his law license after years of avoiding consequences for his behavior, including a previously unreported incident at the 2016 Republican National Convention’), Wisconsin Watch, April 16, 2025.

A person of normal judgment would have known that Michael Gableman wasn’t the man for any serious job. Gableman is a former justice and past embarrassment to Wisconsin. Robin Vos, by contrast, remains a current legislator and ongoing embarrassment.

See also Henry Redman, Gableman’s law license suspended for three years, Wisconsin Examiner, April 7, 2025 and from FREE WHITEWATER, Justice Comes for Former Justice Gableman and Vos Catches on Years Too Late.

How High Can Easter Bunnies Iggies Jump?:

Authoritarian Populism, Conservative Populism, Conspiracy Theories, Daily Bread, Decay, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 4.17.25: The Extremism of, and Within, the WISGOP

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 67. Sunrise is 6:09 and sunset is 7:39, for 13 hours, 30 minutes of daytime. The moon a waning gibbous with 81.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.


On this day in 1970, the damaged Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.

The WISGOP has long tolerated, and encouraged, crackpot theories and extremism (e.g., COVID denialism, lies about national elections, lies about state elections, nativism, and junk health & nutritional claims). Now, however, the party’s leaders find the miasma too much to tolerate as it wafts toward their leadership:

The Republican Party of Wisconsin has created a new process to oust county party officials and members of a state executive committee if they harass or publicly defame state party officials or Republican lawmakers.

The changes are being attacked by local GOP chairs who’ve been at odds with state party leadership, but a top Republican says the party is “trying to take the temperature down” when it comes to contentious votes on party business.

The changes were approved by the GOP’s state executive committee Sunday. They state that while volunteers and “grassroots members” have the right to elect leaders at the county and congressional district level, those individuals “should be working in coordination to achieve the Republican Party of Wisconsin’s goals and mission.”

A code of conduct requires local, regional and state GOP leaders to treat GOP officials with respect, support candidates endorsed by the Republican Party and not engage in “sexual, verbal, or physical harassment” of fellow Republican Party members.

(Emphasis added.)

See Rich Kremer, Wisconsin GOP creates process to remove local party officials for harassment, defaming Republican leaders (‘Changes come after some GOP county chairs have criticized state party and called for Chair Brian Schimming to resign’), Wisconsin Public Radio, April 17, 2025.

The party is so morally degenerated that it now needs a rule (ostensibly) to protect its leaders from the very conduct that rank-and-file party members have inflicted on others for years. From Republican to Populist to Authoritarian, the WISGOP has been a descent into lumpen members’ threats against supposed ideological enemies for years.

For those types, there’s no greater shudder of excitement than that…

Microplastic pollution found in insect casing from 1971:

Tiny particles of plastic are everywhere today, but a discovery in a museum collection proves that this isn’t a new phenomenon. While combing through drawers of caddisfly specimens, researchers found evidence of microplastic particles being used as a building material by caddisfly larvae as far back as the 1970s and 1980s. This shows that microplastics were present in rural freshwater streams long before scientists started studying them in earnest.

Conspiracy Theories, Courts, Daily Bread, Elections, Schimel, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 3.20.25: Schimel Remixes Yesteryear’s WISGOP Conspiracy Theories

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 40. Sunrise is 6:57 and sunset is 7:07, for 12 hours, 10 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 68 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1815,  after escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his “Hundred Days” rule.

Look who’s pushing with yesteryear’s bogus claims:

The Republican-backed candidate in Wisconsin’s closely watched state Supreme Court race has resurfaced long debunked concerns about voting fraud because of the late reporting of ballots in Milwaukee just two weeks before the April 1 election.

Brad Schimel, a former Republican attorney general, spoke of the possibility of “bags of ballots” and fraud in Milwaukee during an interview Tuesday on conservative talk radio. Schimel faces Democratic-backed Susan Crawford in the April 1 election with majority control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court at stake.

Schimel, in an interview on WISN-AM, said his supporters need to “get our votes banked, make this too big to rig so we don’t have to worry that at 11:30 in Milwaukee, they’re going to find bags of ballots that they forgot to put into the machines.”

Schimel said that happened in 2018 and in November “when (U.S. Senate candidate) Eric Hovde was ahead all night, and then all of a sudden, Milwaukee County changed that.”

What’s the plain truth about how ballots are processed? It’s this:

Milwaukee’s absentee ballots are counted at a central location and reported all at once, often well after midnight on election day. Elections officials for years have made clear that those ballots are reported later than usual due to the sheer number that have to be counted and because state law does not allow them to be processed until polls open.

See Scott Bauer, Republican-backed Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate resurfaces unproven fraud concerns, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 19, 2025.

When the WISGOP loses, it screams against voting counting; when the WISGOP wins, it holds its tongue.

These ‘unproven fraud concerns’ are the work of excuse-makers.

A Baraboo Circus Artist:

Artist Joan Stevens helps preserve Circus World Museum’s historic wagon collection.

Conspiracy Theories, Daily Bread, Gableman, Legislature, Misconduct, Speaker Vos, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.26.24: Vos Right at Least Once! (But He Was Originally Wrong About Even This)

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 36. Sunrise is 7:00, and sunset is 4:23, for 9 hours, 23 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 18.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 1838, the Legislature assembles in Madison for the first time:

[A]fter moving from the temporary capital in Burlington, Iowa, the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature assembled in Madison for the first time. Two years earlier, when the territorial legislature had met for the first time in Belmont, many cities were mentioned as possibilities for the permanent capital — Cassville, Fond du Lac, Milwaukee, Platteville, Mineral Point, Racine, Belmont, Koshkonong, Wisconsinapolis, Peru, and Wisconsin City. Madison won the vote, and funds were authorized to erect a suitable building in which lawmakers would conduct the people’s business. Progress went so slowly, however, that some lawmakers wanted to relocate the seat of government to Milwaukee, where they also thought they would find better accomodations than in the wilds of Dane Co. When the legislature finally met in Madison in November 1838 there was only an outside shell to the new Capitol. The interior was not completed until 1845, more than six years after it was supposed to be finished.

One might imagine that Speaker Robin Vos has never been right about anything. It’s not true! He’s right about at least one thing:

In a Sunday morning interview on WISN-TV’s “Upfront,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos repeated calls for former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who he hired, then fired, to investigate the 2020 election, to be disbarred and “never allowed to practice law in Wisconsin again.”

“I certainly hope Michael Gableman loses his law license. I hope he goes back to work at Home Depot, where he was working prior to working for us,” Vos said. “As I look at what the Office of Lawyer Regulation is saying happened, it’s an embarrassment for anybody who practices law.”

The Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation filed a disciplinary complaint Tuesday alleging Gableman violated the Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys, including engaging in “disruptive behavior” during a court hearing, making false statements about the integrity of a judge and violating the state’s open records law.

Emphasis added.

See Hope Karnopp, Robin Vos again calls for Michael Gableman to be disbarred after 2020 election review, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 25, 2024.

Vos is right that Gableman should lose his law license, but it was Vos, himself, who hired Gableman: “working for us.”

Even on the rare occasion that Vos proves right, it turns out he’s to blame for the original wrong.

Quick snack:

Conspiracy Theories, Courts, Daily Bread, Gableman, Law, Laws/Regulations, Misconduct, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.20.24: Justice Comes for Former Justice Gableman

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be windy with snowy conditions in the evening and a high of 41. Sunrise is 6:53, and sunset is 4:27, for 9 hours, 33 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 73.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Parks and Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1945, the Nuremberg trials against 24 Nazi war criminals begin at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg.

These many years later, former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice and current conspiracist Michael Gableman now finds himself the subject of a professional disciplinary complaint:

The Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) filed a disciplinary complaint against former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman on Tuesday. In 10 counts, the complaint alleges Gableman violated numerous provisions of the Wisconsin Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys during and after his much-maligned investigation of the 2020 election. 

….

The first two counts against Gableman involve statements and actions he took after filing subpoenas against the mayors and city clerks of the cities of Green Bay and Madison. The complaint alleges that Gableman mischaracterized discussions he had with the lawyers for both cities, communicated with Green Bay’s city attorney when the city had obtained outside counsel in the matter, lied to Green Bay city officials about the work of his investigation and mischaracterized those actions when he filed a petition with a Waukesha County Circuit Court attempting to have the mayors of both cities arrested for not complying with his subpoenas. 

The third count alleges that Gableman made false statements in his testimony to the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections when he accused officials at the Wisconsin Elections Commission, as well as the mayors of Green Bay and Madison, of “hiring high-priced lawyers” to conduct an “organized cover-up.”

See Henry Redman, Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation files disciplinary complaint against Gableman (‘Complaint alleges 10 counts of violations of state attorney code of conduct against former Supreme Court justice’), Wisconsin Examiner, November 19, 2024.

Redman’s reporting summarizes all ten Office of Lawyer Regulation complaints against Gableman. The full complaint appears immediately below:

Powered By EmbedPress

The Wisconsin Supreme Court adjudicates complaints from the Office of Lawyer Regulation alleging attorney misconduct under a set of published court rules. See SCR 20A, 20B (2023).

The Wisconsin Supreme Court will decide what, if any, sanctions Gableman merits against him. Apart from any disciplinary action (rightly decided only on the rules and facts before the court) one can say even now that Gableman’s political influence over the last four years has been among the most controversial of recent memory.

See from FREE WHITEWATER a post category dedicated to Michael Gableman.

Fox & Badger Enjoy a Snack:

Conservative Populism, Conspiracy Theories, Daily Bread, Eric Hovde, US Senate Race 2024, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.19.24: A Concession Laced with Lies

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 59. Sunrise is 6:52, and sunset is 4:27, for 9 hours, 35 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 82.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1863, Pres. Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address at the dedication ceremony for the military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Eric Hovde has not once — not once — disappointed his critics during his U.S. Senate race. He’s been consistently and unfailingly unworthy of the office. Even during his stubbornly-delayed concession, Hovde proved himself worthy, offering a concession speech laced with lies:

Twelve days after news organizations called the Wisconsin U.S. Senate race for Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin, Republican candidate Eric Hovde conceded the race.

Hovde announced on Nov. 18 that he would not seek a recount. In the same video posted to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, he repeated falsehoods about Milwaukee’s absentee ballots.

“The results from election night were disappointing, particularly in light of the last-minute absentee ballots that were dropped in Milwaukee at 4 a.m., flipping the outcome,” Hovde said.

….

Wisconsin election experts told PolitiFact that this early morning influx of ballots was expected — and they not only don’t signal anything nefarious, they resulted from adherence to the law.

That’s because state law does not allow election workers to process absentee ballots before Election Day — a bipartisan bill to change that passed the Assembly, but Republicans in the state Senate did not take it up.

The claims echo falsehoods about the 2020 election, which included the same criticisms of Milwaukee’s early morning absentee ballot influxes.

“This is something that everybody who’s familiar with elections in Wisconsin understands will happen,” said Jay Heck, executive director of the public advocacy group Common Cause Wisconsin.

See Hope Karnopp, As he concedes, Eric Hovde earns a ‘Pants on Fire’ for absentee ballot claim, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 19, 2024.

Hovde’s not a conservative populist, but the conservative populists traffic in conspiracy theories (about elections, vaccines, ‘a deep state,’ fluoride in the water, etc.). This out-of-state man knows his party’s base, and it’s simply impossible for him to leave them with an admission of his undoubted failure. Something, somewhere, had had to go wrong, had to be untoward: the populists will never blame themselves, and so will never admit an honest and lawful defeat.

Hovde: true to form, to the end.

Previously at FREE WHITEWATER: Eric Hovde’s Bad Math, Describing Eric Hovde Accurately, Hovde’s Out-of-State Bank Recipient of Bogus Positive Reviews, Hovde Rationalizes His Ignorance and Sloth, California Carpetbagger with a Utah Bank Doesn’t Bother to Read Farm Bill on Which Wisconsin Agriculture Relies, Hovde & Baldwin, Hovde Spreads Lies About Hurricane Response (Of Course He Does), These Aren’t Subtle Men, Eric Hovde’s Banking Deal with a Cartel-Linked Mexican Bank, Hovde’s Evident, Ignorant Racism, Eric Hovde Treats Wisconsin as a Side Hustle,  It’s Not Going So Well for Hovde, Eric Hovde Should Fire His Political Consultants and Hire a Therapist, Tim Michels 2.0 Eric Hovde Announces U.S. Senate Run, and Another Vanity Candidate.  

USC Student Rocket Group Shatters Amateur International Space Record:

Aftershock II is believed to be the world’s first civilian-built rocket to reach an altitude of 470,000 feet. The latest rocket designed and built by the student-run USC Rocket Propulsion Lab (USCRPL) at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, has broken the international altitude record – reaching further into space than any non-governmental and non-commercial group has ever flown before.

Conspiracy Theories, Daily Bread, Elections, Eric Hovde, U.S. Senate, US Senate Race 2024, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.15.24: Eric Hovde’s Bad Math

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 54. Sunrise is 6:47, and sunset is 4:31, for 9 hours, 44 minutes of daytime. The moon is full with 99.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1777, after 16 months of debate, the Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation (only coming into force after ratification in 1781).

While Eric Hovde lost the race for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin (see below), he’s doing better with conspiracy theorists on X:

Social media posts about election fraud in Wisconsin have surged since Election Day, surpassing all other battleground states, according to data collected by PeakMetrics, a software analytics company.

Between Nov. 6 and Nov. 12, the number of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, mentioning election fraud in Wisconsin surged from 2,570 to 22,589 — an approximately 789% increase, according to the report. There has been no evidence to suggest voter fraud is a common issue in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Republican Eric Hovde has been among those sowing doubts about voting integrity on X following the election, which he lost to Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

See Maia Pandey and Alex Groth, Posts on X about Wisconsin election fraud have increased nearly tenfold since Election Day, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 15, 2024.

Two days ago, I posted on a headline that nicely summarized Eric Hovde’s claims about his election loss: One week after Senate race was called for Tammy Baldwin, Eric Hovde admits he lost, but won’t concede.

Hovde’s claims about his loss to Tammy Baldwin are easily debunked, as Ricardo Torres writes at the Journal Sentinel:

Hovde went on to say that at 4 a.m. Milwaukee updated its count to include roughly 108,000 absentee ballots and that Baldwin won “nearly 90% of those ballots.”

“Statistically, this outcome seems improbable,” Hovde said. “As it didn’t match the pattern from same day voting in Milwaukee, where I received 22% of the vote.”  

….

Absentee ballots are just a portion of the total votes in any election. But since Hovde is focused on absentee ballots, it’s fairly easy to see his claim is incorrect by going to the city of Milwaukee’s election results page. It should be noted that some absentee voters chose third party candidates for U.S. senate or skipped that race.

Milwaukee received 108,964  absentee ballots by Nov. 5, according to the unofficial count. 

Of that group, Baldwin received 88,229 and Hovde received 17,699 absentee ballots. 

So Baldwin got about 80.9% of the absentee vote and Hovde got about 16.2% of it. 

Clearly Baldwin did not get “nearly 90%” of the absentee ballot vote.

Baldwin’s absentee ballot vote in Milwaukee was similar by proportion to her Election Day in-person vote in Milwaukee. Torres continues:

On Election Day itself, there were 140,043 votes cast in Milwaukee, according to the unofficial count. Of that number Baldwin received 102,598 and Hovde received 29,574.

So Baldwin pulled down 73.2% of the vote on Election Day compared to Hovde’s 21.1% of that vote. 

See Ricardo Torres, Fact check: Hovde’s claim Baldwin won ‘nearly 90%’ of absentee votes is a flop, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 15, 2024.

The wide disparities that Hovde claims are false: Baldwin did somewhat better with absentee ballots, but there was no statistically improbable result as Hovde claims.

Previously at FREE WHITEWATER: Describing Eric Hovde Accurately, Hovde’s Out-of-State Bank Recipient of Bogus Positive Reviews, Hovde Rationalizes His Ignorance and Sloth, California Carpetbagger with a Utah Bank Doesn’t Bother to Read Farm Bill on Which Wisconsin Agriculture Relies, Hovde & Baldwin, Hovde Spreads Lies About Hurricane Response (Of Course He Does), These Aren’t Subtle Men, Eric Hovde’s Banking Deal with a Cartel-Linked Mexican Bank, Hovde’s Evident, Ignorant Racism, Eric Hovde Treats Wisconsin as a Side Hustle,  It’s Not Going So Well for Hovde, Eric Hovde Should Fire His Political Consultants and Hire a Therapist, Tim Michels 2.0 Eric Hovde Announces U.S. Senate Run, and Another Vanity Candidate.  

Castle appears to ‘float’ in clouds in eastern France:

Drone views show the medieval castle of Haut-Koenigsbourg, as if it were floating in clouds on a foggy day. Built in the 12th century by a Germanic imperial family, the castle was a mountain fortress which was later besieged and pillaged.

Conspiracy Theories, Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 11.14.24: Imperfect Justice

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 53. Sunrise is 6:46, and sunset is 4:33, for 9 hours, 46 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous, with 97.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Involvement & Cable TV Committee meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 1851,  Moby-Dick is published in the United States.

We awake to news of imperfect justice, as Oliver Darcy reports Not Satire: The Onion acquires Infowars (‘As part of the deal, The Onion will own Infowars’ website, product inventory, customers lists, social media accounts, and intellectual property’):

The Onion has successfully acquired Infowars. 

The satirical news outlet purchased Alex Jones‘ right-wing conspiracy empire at a court-ordered auction, the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting announced Thursday. 

“The dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for,” said Robbie Parker, whose daughter was killed in the 2012 school shooting.

As part of the deal, The Onion, owned by Twilio co-founder Jeff Lawson and led by chief executive Ben Collins, acquired Infowars’ website, product inventory, customers lists, social media accounts, and intellectual property. 

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But the Sandy Hook families increased the size of The Onion’s bid by agreeing to forgo a portion of the money Jones owes them. 

“From day one, these families have fought against all odds to bring true accountability to Alex Jones and his corrupt business,” Chris Mattei, an attorney for the Connecticut families, said in a statement. “Our clients knew that true accountability meant an end to Infowars and an end to Jones’ ability to spread lies, pain and fear at scale.”

See Oliver Darcy, Not Satire: The Onion acquires Infowars, Status (November 14, 2024).

Every so often, a notorious liar, a peddler of conspiracy theories large and small, meets a fitting fate. This is one such occasion: that the brand he built and wielded against grieving families is now the property of a satirical publication.

Not enough, by far, but something.

AI robot wages war on weeds:

America, Conspiracy Theories, Daily Bread, Elections

Daily Bread for 10.25.24: Conspiracy Theories & Lies Grip Nation

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 61. Sunrise is 7:21, and sunset is 5:56, for 10 hours, 35 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent, with 38.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Adlai Stevenson shows the United Nations Security Council reconnaissance photographs of Soviet ballistic missiles in Cuba.

Matt Vasilogambros reports ‘Firehose’ of election conspiracy theories floods final days of the campaign:

In the final days of the presidential election, lies about noncitizens voting, the vulnerability of mail-in ballots and the security of voting machines are spreading widely over social media.

Fanned by former President Donald Trump and notable allies such as tech tycoon Elon Musk, election disinformation is warping voters’ faith in the integrity of the democratic process, polls show, and setting the stage once again for potential public unrest if the Republican nominee fails to win the presidency. At the same time, federal officials are investigating ongoing Russian interference through social media and shadow disinformation campaigns.

The “firehose” of disinformation is working as intended, said Pamela Smith, president and CEO of Verified Voting, a nonpartisan group that advocates for responsible use of technology in elections.

“This issue is designed to sow general distrust,” she said. “Your best trusted source is not your friend’s cousin’s uncle that you saw on Twitter. It’s your local election official. Don’t repeat it. Check it instead.”

Although human affairs are disordered, some happy traditions carry on. Animals enjoy eating pumpkins before Halloween:

Conspiracy Theories, Daily Bread, Elections, Voting Rights, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 9.27.24: Performative Voting Disruption in Wausau

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 74. Sunrise is 6:48, and sunset is 6:42, for 11 hours, 54 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent, with 23.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1066, William the Conqueror and his army set sail from the mouth of the Somme river, beginning the Norman conquest of England.

Believe in election conspiracies long enough (like the notion that ballot drop boxes lead to fraud), run for office on that theory, and soon you’ll be mugging for the camera while carting away a ballot drop box.

Scott Bauer reports Wisconsin district attorney pursuing investigation into mayor’s removal of absentee ballot drop box:

In this photo provided by Wausau Mayor Doug Diny, Diny uses a dolly to remove the city’s lone drop box from in front of City Hall in Wausau, Wis., on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (Doug Diny via AP)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin district attorney said Thursday that her office is pursuing an investigation into the removal of an absentee ballot drop box by the mayor of Wausau.

Mayor Doug Diny removed the drop box, located outside of City Hall, on Sunday and distributed a picture of himself doing it while wearing worker’s gloves and a hard hat. Diny is a conservative opponent to drop boxes. He insists he did nothing wrong.

The drop box was locked and no ballots were in it. The city clerk notified Marathon County District Attorney Theresa Wetzsteon and she said in an email on Thursday that she is requesting an official investigation with the assistance of the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

Wetzsteon said she was waiting to hear back from DOJ on her request.

A spokesperson for DOJ did not immediately return a message Thursday.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers weighed in on Thursday, calling the removal of the drop box “wrong.” Evers said it should be restored “immediately”:

“Drop box voting is safe, secure, and legal,” Evers posted on the social media platform X. “As elected officials, we should be working to make it easier—not harder—for every eligible Wisconsinite to cast their ballot. That’s democracy.”

Diny wears a hard hat in his posed publicity photo. It’s a smart move — you never know when an incontinent pigeon might be flying overhead. Honest to goodness — he looks ridiculous to the sensible, and sensible only to the ridiculous.

International Space Station flies directly over massive Hurricane Helene in time-lapse:

The International Space Station flew directly over Hurricane Helene on Sept. 26, 2024. Full Story: https://www.space.com/hurricane-helen… Major impacts from inland flooding is expected along the path of Helene well after landfall, according to statement from NOAA. Credit: Space.com | footage courtesy: NASA | edited by Steve Spaleta (https://x.com/stevespaleta)

Conservative Populism, Conspiracy Theories, Daily Bread, Elections, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 9.15.24: Continuing Threats Against Wisconsin Election Officials

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 85. Sunrise is 6:36, and sunset is 7:02, for 12h 26m 43s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 90.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1832, the Ho-Chunk and the United States sign a treaty stipulating that the Ho-Chunk cede lands lying to the south and east of the Wisconsin River and around the Fox River of Green Bay. (More than one nation was involved in these treaty councils with the United States in 1832: “with the Ho-Chunk (Sept. 15) and the Sauk and Fox (Sept. 21). The Ho-Chunk ceded all their remaining territory south of the Wisconsin River; the Sauk & Fox ceded the Iowa shore of the Mississippi.”)

On this day in 1835,  HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galápagos Islands. The ship lands at Chatham or San Cristobal, the easternmost of the archipelago.

How threats are escalating for Wisconsin’s public officials:

From local clerks to state Supreme Court justices, elected officials in Wisconsin are being threatened and harassed — in person and online — fueled by tense political rhetoric and conspiracy theories.

Jurors help detain a man fleeing a courthouse in handcuffs:

A man convicted of assaulting a 14-month-old child was seen on surveillance fleeing a #courthouse in #Maine. He later appears to trip and fall in a yard where two jurors and a detective apprehend him.

Conspiracy Theories, Courts, Daily Bread, Elections, Law, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 9.13.24: Wisconsin Supreme Court Takes Case on Future of Elections Commission Chairwoman

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 82. Sunrise is 6:34, and sunset is 7:06, for 12h 32m 27s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 73.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1956, the IBM 305 RAMAC is introduced, the first commercial computer to use disk storage.

By Norsk Teknisk Museum – https://digitaltmuseum.org/011015239966/22-0-ibm-modell-305-ramac/media?slide=0, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=124744659

Scott Bauer reports The Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear a case on the future of the state’s elections leader:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would hear a lawsuit that could determine whether the state’s top elections official could remain in her post after Republicans who controlled the state Senate sought to fire her last year.

….

Meagan Wolfe serves as the nonpartisan administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, an agency run by a bipartisan board that oversees elections in the key presidential battleground state. Republicans unhappy with her, especially after the 2020 election won by President Joe Biden, have attempted to oust her from her job.

Wolfe has been the subject of conspiracy theories and targeted by threats from election skeptics who falsely claim she was part of a plot to rig the 2020 vote in favor of Biden. Biden defeated Donald Trump in 2020 by nearly 21,000 votes in Wisconsin, and his win has withstood two partial recounts, a nonpartisan audit, a conservative law firm’s review, and multiple state and federal lawsuits.

….

Senate Republicans voted in September 2023 to fire Wolfe, despite objections from Democrats and the Legislature’s nonpartisan attorneys, who said the Senate didn’t have the authority to vote at that time because Wolfe was a holdover in her position and had not been reappointed.

Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul sued to challenge that vote, and in court filings, Republican legislative leaders changed course and claimed their vote to fire Wolfe was merely “symbolic” and had no legal effect. They also asked the judge to order the elections commission to appoint an administrator for the Senate to vote on.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Ann Peacock, in a January ruling, said Wolfe is legally serving as administrator of the elections commission as a holdover given that the commission deadlocked on whether to reappoint her. The Senate’s vote to remove her had no legal effect and the commission has no duty to appoint a new leader while Wolfe is serving as a holdover, Peacock ruled.

Republican leaders of the Legislature appealed and asked the state Supreme Court to take the case directly, skipping a state appeals court, which it agreed to do on Wednesday.

It’s astonishing how many repercussions and lawsuits Wisconsin has endured from election conspiracists.

Hikers caught in torrential downpour in the Grand Canyon:

Hikers touring the Grand Canyon in Arizona had to stop for shelter while heavy rainwater fell. The downpour caused flash floods in the area.

Conspiracy Theories, Crackpots, Daily Bread, Elections, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.15.24: Wisconsin Conspiracy Theorists Take Losses

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 76. Sunrise is 6:02, and sunset is 7:55, for 13h 52m 30s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 78.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1944,  Operation Dragoon begins as Allied forces land in southern France.

Sarah Lehr reports Two of Wisconsin’s most vocal election deniers lost their bids for the state Legislature Tuesday, coming up short in Republican primaries:

In suburban Milwaukee, state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, lost to state Sen. Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, in a race for the recently redrawn 24th Assembly District.

And in eastern Wisconsin’s new 20th Senate District, former state Rep. Timothy Ramthun of Campbellsport was defeated by state Sen. Dan Feyen of Fond du Lac.

….

Brandtjen lost despite being endorsed by former President Donald Trump ahead of the primary. Brandtjen has promoted false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and has echoed calls for the results to be overturned in Trump’s favor.

These two defeats are not enough, but they are something. Some days one settles for something.

A Scottish origin for Stonehenge’s mysterious Altar Stone:

Stonehenge, the Neolithic stone circle on Salisbury Plain in southern England, has captivated archaeologists, antiquarians and sightseers for centuries. For decades researchers have tried to find the origins of the stones, with some being sourced to the surrounding landscape and some from the Preseli Hills in Wales. But new geochemical analysis of the Altar Stone, a partially buried slab of sandstone at the center of the stone circle, suggests that this stone originally came from the Orcadian Basin in Scotland, over 700 kilometers away.