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Daily Bread for 7.2.25: Wisconsin Supreme Court Majority Rules That Last Fifty Years of Wisconsin Abortion Legislation Effects a Repeal of 1849 Abortion Ban

Good morning. Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 84. Sunrise is 5:21 and sunset is 8:36, for 15 hours, 16 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 47.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated. Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets at 6 PM. On this day in 1776, the Continental…

Daily Bread for 6.18.25: Unanimous Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Attorney General’s Core Executive Authority

Good morning. Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with afternoon showers and a high of 76. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset is 8:36, for 15 hours, 20 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 52.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated. Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 5 PM. On this day in…

Daily Bread for 4.21.25: Department of Public Instruction Says No to Trump on DEI

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 56. Sunrise is 6:03 and sunset is 7:44, for 13 hours, 41 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 44.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Library Board meets at 6:30 PM.

This day in 753 BC is the traditional date on which Romulus founds Rome.


The Trump Administration takes an extreme view of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, and assumes that institutions public and private must comply unquestioningly with the administration’s interpretation of that decision. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction chooses otherwise:

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction rejected the Trump administration’s request to certify compliance with a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion in K-12 public schools. 

State Superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement that Wisconsin schools are following the law. 

“We’ve put that into writing to the USDE,” Underly said. “We believe in local control in Wisconsin and trusting our local leaders – superintendents, principals, educators – who work together with parents and families every day to support students. They know their communities best. Washington, D.C. should not dictate how schools educate their kids.” 

The U.S. Department of Education sent a letter earlier this month to state agencies across the country requesting that agencies check with local school districts to ensure they don’t have diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. 

The federal administration is trying to apply the U.S. Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision, which said race-based programs in higher education violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, to K-12 education. The administration said state agencies needed to ensure compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Supreme Court decision. 

Wisconsin is one of several states, mostly led by Democrats, that have pushed back on the request. The Trump administration, which has been targeting diversity efforts in K-12 schools as well as in higher education and other sectors, has threatened that it could pull funding from states that don’t comply with the request.

See Baylor Spears, Wisconsin DPI rejects Trump administration request for certification on DEI ban compliance, Wisconsin Examiner, April 18, 2025.

Critical Race Theory (CRT) was Trumpism’s chief enemy not long ago, but it’s since been replaced with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Trumpism is at bottom a cultural movement,1 seeking to exact revenge against the movement’s cultural enemies (e.g., gays, ethnic minorities, and others identified now and again to give the movement an opponent).

Today it’s DEI. Tomorrow it will be something and someone else. Today will be easier for them if their targets simply comply. They’ll not stop; their grievances are fathoms deep.

There’s no reason to make their lives easier while they make others’ lives harder. They expect swift compliance. Refusing to comply at their mere demand is a strong initial response. They are unworthy of others’ anticipatory obedience (to borrow an apt phrase).

Underly was sensible to respond with a rejection.

_____

  1. Trumpists are laughable on economics, for example, because their authoritarian movement’s sustaining energy is cultural. They’ve no developed economic theories because their attention is elsewhere and they find it’s too much work for middle-aged men and Boomers to rummage around for a coherent economic concept or two. Instead, they wind up plucking terms and assembling them into nothing better than a Frankenstein’s monster ↩︎

Fact Check — What Mars Rovers Really See:

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

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?:

Daily Bread for 4.10.25: That Was Walker’s Plan? Well, It Was Dumb Enough to Be Walker’s Plan…

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 46. Sunrise is 6:21 and sunset is 7:31, for 13 hours, 11 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 95 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 837, Halley’s Comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU (3.2 million miles).


Yesterday’s post here at FREE WHITEWATER was about Scott Walker’s irrelevance to current Wisconsin politics. See Scott Walker, Man from Another Era. Bruce Murphy, at Urban Milwaukee, has a revealing post about how Walker tried, and failed miserably, to become relevant again. (As Murphy perceptively notes, the story depends on accepting the veracity of Walker’s account of Walker’s behind-the-scenes conduct.) Murphy lays out the details:

Musk’s approach, if we can believe Scott Walker, came from a plan hatched by Walker and the former Republican governor’s political consultant Keith Gilkes. Their pitch was for Musk to get involved in the Wisconsin race as he did in the presidential race in November. “You were effective in Wisconsin, and you can be effective in this race again in Wisconsin,” Walker said he told Musk.

Except. Musk spent money on a presidential race that polls showed was very close and with Trump leading. A relatively safe investment. And a race so close that the Musk super PAC canvassing voters door-to-door could get a big return from turning out a relatively small number of voters compared to the total number voting in Wisconsin and other swing states in November. Trump won Wisconsin by just over 29,300 votes, a margin of less than 1 percent.

Which is a very different situation than the Supreme Court race in Wisconsin. The state’s previous high court race, in 2023, with the abortion the key issue, was an 11% loss for the conservatives, with liberal Janet Protasiewicz defeating conservative Dan Kelly by more than 203,000 votes. Granted, Schimel was a better candidate than Kelly, but abortion was still going to be a major issue in this year’s election. Moreover, we now know that Republicans knew Crawford was ahead in the race and their polls showed Schimel’s high point in the polls was five points behind. In short, this would not be like the presidential election, where a relatively small increase in turnout could decide the election.

See Bruce Murphy, How Much Did Musk Pay Per Vote?, Urban Milwaukee, April 8, 2025.

Astonishing. This could have been Walker’s plan: it is, after all, Foxconn-level thinking. If Walker is to be believed, Walker was able to persuade Musk to waste tens of millions on a race that Schimel was losing and was likely to keep on losing once the radioactive Musk became involved.

Walker likely did concoct this plan, and get Musk to go along. There is, after all, no evidence whatsoever that the only person who could have concocted a worse plan was involved in the Wisconsin election.


Advice from cattosbeingcattos:

Daily Bread for 4.8.25: Updates on the Careers of Gableman and Bradley

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 42. Sunrise is 6:24 and sunset is 7:29, for 13 hours, 5 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 83 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Tech Park Innovation Center Advisory Board meets at 8:30 AM, the Public Works Committee at 5 PM, and the Community Development Authority at 6 PM.

On this day in 1820, the Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos.


There are updates on the careers of influential two Wisconsinites.

Michael Gableman, former justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and thereafter Speaker Robin Vos’s selection as a paid election conspiracy theorist, has struck a deal with the Office of Lawyer Regulation:

Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who led a widely derided review of the 2020 presidential election,  searching for evidence for baseless accusations of fraud, will have his law license suspended for three years, according to a stipulated agreement between him and the state Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR). 

Law Forward, the progressive voting rights focused firm, filed a grievance against Gableman with the OLR in 2023. The OLR filed a complaint against Gableman in November that alleged, among other counts, that he had failed to “provide competent representation” and to “abstain from all offensive personality” and of violating attorney-client privilege.

The allegations against Gableman stemmed from his treatment of the mayors of Green Bay and Madison, whom he threatened with jail time during his review, false statements he made during testimony to legislative committees, violating the state’s open records laws, breaching his contract with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and, when OLR began investigating him, “making false statements” to the investigators in an affidavit. 

As part of the stipulated agreement, Gableman admitted that “he cannot successfully defend against the allegations of misconduct … and agrees that the allegations of the complaint provide an adequate factual basis in the record.” 

See Henry Redman, Gableman’s law license suspended for three years, Wisconsin Examiner, April 7, 2025.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court will have to approve the agreement between the parties, as is likely. A three-year suspension is lenient; Gableman’s conduct merits permanent disbarment. Vos, regrettably, remains in office despite his own role in selecting (and tolerating too long) Gableman’s cascade of lies.

Screenshot Rebecca Bradley April 5, 2025

When one last heard from Justice Rebecca Bradley, she was bitterly complaining expressing mild disappointment with Judge Susan Crawford’s election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Bradley’s now announced that she will run again next year:

MADISON – Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley said this week she plans to seek another 10-year term in 2026, setting in motion another high-pitched battle for a seat on the state’s highest court.

….

State appeals judge Chris Taylor, a former Democratic state lawmaker, told the Journal Sentinel on Saturday she is considering running for the seat.

Bradley, appointed to the court by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker in 2015 and elected for a full 10-year term in 2016, announced just days after liberals secured control of the court until 2028.

….

Bradley also has been floated as a contender to replace retiring federal judge Diane Sykes on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, which would be a lifetime appointment.

She told Wispolitics she is focused on Wisconsin at the moment.

See Molly Beck, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley announces she’ll seek another 10-year term, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 5, 2025.

At the moment: unless something more secure comes along.


Philippine volcano erupts, shooting ash cloud kilometers into the sky:

Daily Bread for 4.3.25: Adding Another Threat for the Nation, State, and City

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 50. Sunrise is 6:33 and sunset is 7:23, for 12 hours, 51 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 34.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Arts Commission meets at 5 PM, and the Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1865,  Union forces capture Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy.


In October, writing about the scariest things in Whitewater for the year, this libertarian blogger listed the two worst threats to the city as special interests and nativism. Later, in February, I wrote that there was now only one notable kind of conservative in Whitewater, as only the conservative populists matter politically (‘a conservative might imagine himself as something else (a traditionalist or a deal-maker), and might be something else, but only in his house or in his head’).

There’s one more threat to add to the list, brought about by the same movement that is responsible for the other three: A third global recession in 20 years looms.

There’s always someone who thinks that this predatory movement will see the error of its ways. It won’t, not now, not ever. It may lose its grip on the nation, but it will fall to a majority of others outside that movement to turn it aside.

Those who’ve gone this far, these dead-enders, will never repent of the their conduct, of the damage they’ve caused others.

On the contrary, they’ve never been more assured, more self-justified, than now.


The most conservative justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court — she isseems upset:

Daily Bread for 3.31.25: Musk Has a Good Time in Green Bay

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will see wind gusts and a high of 46. Sunrise is 6:38 and sunset is 7:20, for 12 hours, 42 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 6.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater School Board meets at 7 PM.

On this day in 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry signs the Convention of Kanagawa with the Tokugawa Shogunate, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.


One of the recipients of Elon Musk’s $1 million checks at his event in Green Bay Sunday night is the chairman of the Wisconsin College Republicans, sparking some suspicion on social media that the giveaway was fixed.

Nicholas Jacobs, a student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, is listed as the chairman of Wisconsin’s College Republicans chapter. He has made his account private on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that Musk owns.

According to his LinkedIn account, Jacobs worked for the campaigns of U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and Rep. Derrick Van Orden. In the fall of 2024, he worked as a “ballot chase representative” for Turning Point Action, which began as a youth-focused group active on college campuses but has expanded its voter outreach operations, especially in Wisconsin.

See Hope Karnopp, Wisconsin College Republicans chairman received one of Elon Musk’s $1 million checks, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 31, 2025.

And so, and so, of the attendees the breakdown would be two winners in a room full of suckers.

Update No. 1 on yesterday’s post (Wisconsin Courts Won’t Intervene Against Musk): Elon Musk hands out $1 million payments after Wisconsin Supreme Court declines request to stop him:

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Elon Musk gave out $1 million checks on Sunday to two Wisconsin voters, declaring them spokespeople for his political group, ahead of a Wisconsin Supreme Court election that the tech billionaire cast as critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda and “the future of civilization.” 

Elon Musk presents a check for $1 million dollars to a man during a town hall Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Elon Musk presents a check for $1 million dollars to a man during a town hall Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Elon Musk presents a check for $1 million dollars during a town hall Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Elon Musk presents a check for $1 million dollars during a town hall Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

“It’s a super big deal,” he told a roughly 2,000-person crowd in Green Bay on Sunday night, taking the stage in a yellow cheesehead hat. “I’m not phoning it in. I’m here in person.”

….

A unanimous state Supreme Court on Sunday refused to hear a last-minute attempt by the state’s Democratic attorney general to stop Musk from handing over the checks to two voters, a ruling that came just minutes before the planned start of the rally.

See Scott Bauer and Thomas Beaumont, Elon Musk hands out $1 million payments after Wisconsin Supreme Court declines request to stop him, Associated Press, March 30, 2025. See also Wisconsin Supreme Court Kaul v. Musk, Case 2025CV001087, March 28, 2025.


How Tariffs Are Going To Jack Up Car Prices In The U.S.:

Daily Bread for 3.30.25: Wisconsin Courts Won’t Intervene Against Musk

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 64. Sunrise is 6:40 and sunset is 7:19, for 12 hours, 39 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1867, the United States and the Russian Empire agree to the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million, about two cents/acre. The parties later ratify the agreement by treaty, and effective transfer occurs in October 1867.


It was improbable that Wisconsin courts would intervene to prevent Elon Musk from conducting a giveaway (of either hundreds of dollars or even millions of dollars) so close to the April 1st election. American courts are not dispositionally situated to address an authoritarian movement, as these movements act quickly, audaciously, and ignore both law and tradition in pursuit of their goals.

Attorney General Kaul’s litigation against Musk has come to naught:

A Wisconsin appellate court denied the state Democratic attorney general’s request to stop billionaire Elon Musk from handing over $1 million checks to two voters at a rally planned for Sunday, just two days before a closely contested Supreme Court election.

The denial Saturday by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals is the latest twist in Musk’s deep involvement in the race, which has set a record for spending in a judicial election and has become a litmus test for the opening months of Donald Trump’s presidency. Trump and Musk are backing Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel in the race, while Democrats are behind Dane County Judge Susan Crawford.

Attorney General Josh Kaul filed the lawsuit Friday, arguing that Musk’s offer violates the law. Kaul on Saturday later appealed to the state Court of Appeals, after a county court judge refused earlier in the day to hear the request for an emergency injunction to block the payments.

See Wisconsin appeals court won’t stop Musk’s $1M payments to voters after attorney general sues, Associated Press, March 29, 2025. See also the circuit court filing Kaul v. Musk, Case 2025CV001087, March 28, 2025.

Authoritarian movements do not meet their end in the courts; they meet their end through widespread protest and civil disobedience.


Global protests against Tesla CEO Elon Musk: