FREE WHITEWATER

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.26.25: Consumer Confidence Plummets

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 53. Sunrise is 6:47 and sunset is 7:14, for 12 hours, 28 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 11.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 2024, the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapses following a collision between the MV Dali container ship and one of the bridge’s support pillars, killing 6 people.


The last election was never about egg or gas prices, but for those who think it was, well, Americans’ confidence in the economy’s future is plummeting:

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence continued its sharp 2025 decline as Americans’ views about their financial futures slumped to a 12-year low, driven by rising anxiety over tariffs and inflation.

The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell 7.2 points in March to 92.9, the fourth straight monthly decline and its lowest reading since January of 2021. The reading was short of analysts expectations for a reading of 94.5, according to a survey by FactSet.

The business group found that the measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for income, business and the job market fell 9.6 points to 65.2. 

That’s the lowest reading in 12 years and well below the threshold of 80, which the Conference Board says can signal a potential recession in the near future. The proportion of U.S. consumers anticipating a recession remains at a nine-month high, the board reported.

See Matt Ott, Consumer confidence is sliding as Americans’ view of their financial futures slumps to a 12-year low, Associated Press, March 25, 2025.

Come for the egg prices, stay for the declining economy under an authoritarian federal government.


Family rescues dog moments before tornado blows through:

Daily Bread for 3.25.25: Ron Johnson’s Right (Truly) About Musk & Schimel

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 46. Sunrise is 6:48 and sunset is 7:13, for 12 hours, 25 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 19.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 1655, Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christiaan Huygens.


It’s a week from Election Day, and Ron Johnson’s correct in his recent observation on Brad Schimel’s campaign for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court:

His comments came as he and Schimel joined Musk in a live, half-hour discussion on the social media platform X, which the tech billionaire owns. The conversation took place less than 24 hours after Trump waded into the race with a long-sought endorsement of Schimel.More: All our reporting on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race between Susan Crawford, Brad Schimel

“This is entirely winnable, and you know, if we do win it, again, we have to thank Elon for all the support he’s given this race, and I was really glad to see President Trump throw in his endorsement as well,” Johnson told the 10,000 people on the livestream…..

….

A statement from Crawford’s campaign described the X event as “Elon Musk’s check-in with his $12 million investment.”

“Musk wants a lackey on the Supreme Court who will rule in his company’s favor on their lawsuit against the State of Wisconsin,” said Crawford campaign spokesperson Derrick Honeyman. “Wisconsinites don’t want this slimy and corrupt billionaire running our Supreme Court.”

See Alison Dirr, Elon Musk will be to thank if Brad Schimel wins Wisconsin Supreme Court race, Ron Johnson says, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 22, 2025.


Crews in the Carolinas fight multiple wildfires:

Daily Bread for 3.24.25: Retaliatory Tariffs Target Wisconsin Industries

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 45. Sunrise is 6:50 and sunset is 7:12, for 12 hours, 22 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 28.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 5:30 PM and the Police and Fire Commission at 6 PM.

On this day in 1603,  Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of shogun from Emperor Go-Yozei, and establishes the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo, Japan.


Sowing, reaping:

Farm and construction equipment manufacturers started the year with high hopes for the economy, bolstered by President Donald Trump’s campaign promises to cut taxes on domestic producers and slash government regulations.

But that optimism has given way to fears of a possible recession, sparked by Trump’s international trade war, said Kip Eideberg, senior vice president for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, a national trade group based in West Allis.

“If we are dragged or pushed into a recession as a result of the tit for tat tariffs, that’s a whole ’nother level of pain,” he said. “That’s the biggest fear right now.”

….

China, Canada and the European Union plan to hit Wisconsin’s two largest industries, agriculture and manufacturing, with retaliatory tariffs. The moves come in response to Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum and his broader threats and use of tariffs.

Almost 10 percent of Wisconsin’s jobs — or nearly 300,000 — were in industries those countries are targeting. That’s the largest share of any state in the country, according to an analysis from The New York Times

See Joe Schulz, Retaliatory tariffs target Wisconsin’s top industries, Wisconsin Public Radio, March 21, 2025.

From the New York Times, here’s the portion of the story to which the WPR story refers:

Rural parts of the country are once again at risk from retaliation. Agriculture is a major U.S. export and farmers are politically important to Mr. Trump. And rural counties may have one major employer — like a poultry processing plant — that provides a big share of the county’s jobs, compared with urban or suburban areas that are more diversified.

The retaliatory tariffs target industries employing 9.5 percent of people in Wisconsin, 8.5 percent of people in Indiana and 8.4 percent of people in Iowa. The shares are also relatively high in Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky and Kansas.

See Lazaro Gamio and Ana Swanson, Trade War Retaliation Will Hit Trump Voters Hardest, New York Times, March 15, 2025.


Why humans have puzzle-shaped cells:

The shapes of these cells are puzzling. They have wavy edges and protrusions and fit together a bit like puzzle pieces. But what is it for? New research looking at the lymph capillary cells, found throughout human tissues, has determined how exactly these tiny vessels are able to let fluid and immune cells pass through between them while also being strong enough to resist rupturing under pressure. Their unusual shape seems to be key…

Daily Bread for 3.23.25: Musk to Pay $100 for Each Wisconsin Petition Signature

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will see afternoon showers with a high of 47. Sunrise is 6:52 and sunset is 7:11, for 12 hours, 19 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 38.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1933,  the Reichstag passes the Enabling Act of 1933, making Hitler dictator of Germany.


Musk has the money, and says he’ll pay one-hundred dollars for each Wisconsin signatory on a petition his political action committee is circulating:

A political action committee associated with Elon Musk is offering Wisconsin voters $100 if they sign a petition “in opposition to activist judges” and another $100 if they refer another person who signs the petition. The petition requires people to provide a name, address, email and phone number — information that will help the group make further contact with voters.

The group, America PAC, has reported spending more than $7 million in support of Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel’s campaign for state Supreme Court. Musk himself has contributed more than $13 million to pro-Schimel efforts.

During the campaign, Schimel’s opponent, Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, has accused Musk of trying to buy a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Musk’s company, Tesla, recently filed a lawsuit against the state seeking to change Wisconsin’s law about who can operate car dealerships within the state.

Schimel himself has portrayed himself as a “support network” for President Donald Trump if elected to the Court.

See Henry Redman, Musk PAC offers Wisconsin voters $100 for signing petition against ‘activist’ judges, Wisconsin Examiner, March 21, 2025.

The payment is for a signature in exchange for contact information. The contact information is only useful if those contacted then vote Musk’s way. Those voting Musk’s way are only valuable to Musk if they would not have voted Musk’s way otherwise.

(There might be an opportunity here for people to sign Musk’s petition — whether they choose to ignore any follow-up contact or sign it although they already intend to vote his way — and get paid on Musk’s tab.)

via GIPHY


Trekking the blue ice of Perito Moreno in Argentina as world marks World Glacier Day:

Friday marks the first-ever World Glacier Day, an international observance established by the United Nations to raise awareness about the rapid retreat of glaciers worldwide. As experts warn of accelerating ice loss, visitors at Argentina’s Perito Moreno Glacier watch in awe as massive ice chunks break away and crash into Lake Argentino—a process both natural and symbolic of broader climate concerns. (AP Video/Sara España).

Daily Bread for 3.22.25: Pizza Cooked in a Volcano

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 43. Sunrise is 6:54 and sunset is 7:09, for 12 hours, 16 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 48.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1993, the Intel Corporation ships the first Pentium chips (80586), featuring a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+ MIPS, and a 64 bit data path.


This Pizza is Cooked in a Volcano:

Domino’s, Papa John’s, Pizza Hut… how about Pizza Pacaya? Cue Beryl Shereshewsky. On Guatemala’s Pacaya volcano, Pizza Pacaya offers a unique cooking and dining experience. Chef Mario David García uses the heat from active lava vents to bake pizzas at over 1,800°F, creating a one-of-a-kind cooking method that only a few lucky tourists can experience.

Euclid dark universe detector delivers ‘spectacular new views of the Cosmos’:

Euclid has spotted 26 million galaxies and more in new observations.

Daily Bread for 3.21.25: Whitewater Superintendent Accepts Position at Pennsylvania School District

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 54. Sunrise is 6:55 and sunset is 7:08, for 12 hours, 13 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 60.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1965,  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leads 3,200 people on the start of the third phase of the successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.


On Wednesday evening, this libertarian blogger posted Manheim Township School Board to Vote on Dr. Caroline Pate-Hefty as Next Superintendent. See also Ashley Stalnecker, Manheim Township school board to vote on new superintendent Thursday, Lancaster Online, March 18, 2025.

Last evening, that Pennsylvania school district, located outside Lancaster, Pennsylvania, issued a statement after accepting Caroline Pate-Hefty as their next superintendent.

That full statement appears below:

Manheim Township School District Announces Dr. Caroline Pate-Hefty as New Superintendent 

Lancaster, PA – The Manheim Township School District (MTSD) Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Caroline Pate-Hefty as the district’s next Superintendent of Schools, effective July 1, 2025. The Board officially approved her appointment during its regular meeting on March 20, 2025. Dr. Pate-Hefty will lead MTSD under a five-year contract, ensuring continuity and stability as the district continues its commitment to academic excellence and student success. 

The Board’s decision follows an extensive search and selection process that engaged staff, students, parents and guardians, and community members in identifying the qualities most essential in the district’s next leader. 

Dr. Pate-Hefty brings a wealth of experience in educational leadership, having served as Superintendent of the Whitewater Unified School District (WUSD) in Wisconsin for the past five years. During her tenure, she successfully expanded programming for English Language Learners and improved student achievement in reading and math, ensuring all students received the highest quality education. 

Prior to her time at WUSD, Dr. Pate-Hefty served as Executive Director of Student Services in District #89 in Chicago, where she spearheaded legislation to reintegrate 125 students with disabilities into their home schools, ensuring the most inclusive setting. This initiative not only enhanced educational opportunities for students but also resulted in significant cost savings for the district. She was also part of the leadership team that established the Washington Dual Language Academy, which was later recognized as a “commendable school” by the state of Illinois. 

 Dr. Pate-Hefty holds a Doctor of Education degree from National Louis University of Chicago, a Master of Educational Leadership from Concordia University, and a Bachelor of Special Education degree from the University of Wisconsin Whitewater. She will be relocating to Manheim Township with her husband and two daughters and looks forward to being closer to her oldest son, who will be attending the U.S. Naval Academy in the fall of 2025. 

“I’m truly honored to accept the role of superintendent in Manheim Township,” said Dr. Pate-Hefty. “My family and I are excited to join this incredible community—and we can’t wait to become proud Blue Streaks! Together, we will build on the district’s strong tradition of excellence and remain committed to the achievement of each individual’s potential by providing the opportunities, support, and inspiration every learner deserves!” 

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Pate-Hefty as the next Superintendent of Manheim Township School District,” said Ms. Sara Woodbury, President of the MTSD Board of School Directors.  “Dr. Pate-Hefty is an experienced, data-driven, and strategic superintendent who leads with empathy.  Her proven track record of serving all students and her commitment to excellence make her the right leader for our district.  We are confident that under her guidance, MTSD will continue to thrive and will innovate in ways that challenge and nurture all of our students for success.”

The MTSD Board of School Directors expresses its gratitude to all those who participated in the search process and looks forward to welcoming Dr. Pate-Hefty into the Blue Streaks community.

A reminder to those who will remain in Whitewater, in self-stated public service to the community — Stewart Brand’s famous observation about information is still true:

On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it’s so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information [almost] wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other.

Choose free.


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

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.

Daily Bread for 3.19.25: Musk’s Fraud on Wisconsin

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 42. Sunrise is 6:59 and sunset is 7:06, for 12 hours, 7 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 75.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

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

On this day in 1918,  Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.


The editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes of Musk’s fraudulent mailers attacking Judge Susan Crawford:

If billionaire Elon Musk wants to dump millions on the Wisconsin state Supreme Court race, that’s his prerogative — we’ve come to expect that sort of thing from both sides in a battleground state where control of the court seems to be perpetually in the balance. But, in the interest of voters here, we ask one thing: Be honest about it.

And, above all, do not spread false and malicious information disguised as facts.

Reporting by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Daniel Bice shows we’ve crossed into dangerous territory. A political group funded by Musk manufactured a disinformation campaign against Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge running for a seat on the court April 1.

The disinformation stems from ads, posted on Facebook and delivered in text messages, that are false on two fronts. First, Progress 2028 casts itself as a progressive alternative to the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. It’s not. Progress 2028 is a front for Building America’s Future, a Musk-funded political nonprofit.

Second, it purports to address things Crawford is supposedly committed to, which are actually hot button issues many voters oppose at the gut-level. This makes it doubly specious, because it cynically tries to create a cloak of authenticity when its real mission is to muddy the waters, then dip into the mud to throw it

See Editorial Board, Elon Musk’s despicable disinformation tampers with WI Supreme Court election (‘A political group funded by Elon Musk manufactured a disinformation campaign against Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge running for a seat on the court April 1’), Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 19, 2025.

When Elon Musk call for free speech, he calls for his right to lie; when he calls for free speech absolutism, he calls for his right to lie with abandon.


Susan Crawford for Wisconsin:

Daily Bread for 3.18.25: Early Voting in Wisconsin Begins

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 63. Sunrise is 7:01 and sunset is 7:05, for 12 hours, 4 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 84.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Alcohol and Licensing Committee meets at 5:30 PM. The Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1990, Germans in the German Democratic Republic vote in the first democratic elections in the former communist dictatorship.


Early voting begins today:

Republicans and Democrats fighting for control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court will get a sense Tuesday of how energized their sides are with the start of early in-person voting for the hotly contested race.

Voting begins two weeks before the April 1 election between Republican-backed Brad Schimel and Democratic-supported Susan Crawford in a race for an open seat that will determine whether liberals will continue to have a slim majority on the highest court in a crucial presidential battleground.

The race, which has drawn the attention of President Donald Trump’s adviser Elon Musk and attracted tens of millions of dollars in spending, is seen as a litmus test of how voters are responding to the first months of Trump’s Republican presidency.

See Scott Bauer, Start of early voting in Wisconsin Supreme Court race will test enthusiasm on both sides, Associated Press, March 18, 2025.

In the City of Whitewater, in-person early voting is available at the City Clerk’s Office, 2nd Floor, 312 W Whitewater Street:

Screenshot, In-Person Absentee Early Voting, City of Whitewater, https://www.whitewater-wi.gov/167/Elections-Voting

When an English speaker likes a German song:

Barbaras Rhubarb Bar (feat. Marti Fischer) — Catchy, very catchy:

Daily Bread for 3.17.25: Nativism Will Rationalize Anything for the Cause

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 49. Sunrise is 7:02 and sunset is 7:04, for 12 hours, 1 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 90.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater School Board’s Policy Review Committee meets at 5:30 PM, and the full board goes into closed session shortly after 6 PM, returning into open session at 7 PM. Whitewater’s Library Board meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1776, the British Army evacuates Boston, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.


Lauren Villagran reports This Wisconsin man voted for Trump. Now his wife sits in an ICE detention center:

Bradley Bartell and Camila Muñoz had a familiar small-town love story, before they collided with immigration politics.

They met through mutual friends, had a first date at the local steakhouse, married after two years and were saving to buy a house and have kids. Muñoz was already caring for Bartell’s now 12-year-old son as her own.

But last month, on their way home to Wisconsin after honeymooning in Puerto Rico, an immigration agent pulled Muñoz aside in the airport.

“Are you an American citizen?” asked the agent. She answered no, she wasn’t. She’s from Peru. But she and her husband had taken the legal steps so that one day she might get U.S. citizenship.

….

Before agents led her away, Muñoz pulled off her wedding ring, afraid it might get confiscated. She shoved it into her backpack and handed it to Bartell.

He shook as he watched her disappear. He thought, “What the f— do I do?”

Bartell, however, still supports Trump’s overall immigration policy, while his wife is held in detention:

The money the couple saved for a down payment on a home has evaporated into attorneys fees and savings to pay a bond for her release, if she’s given that chance.Both of them have been thinking a lot about Bartell’s vote for Trump.

“I knew they were cracking down,” he said. “I guess I didn’t know how it was going down.”

He imagined the administration would target people who snuck over the border and weren’t vetted.

But his wife, “they know who she is and where she came from,” he said. “They need to get the vetting done and not keep these people locked up. It doesn’t make any sense.”

See Lauren Villagran, This Wisconsin man voted for Trump. Now his wife sits in an ICE detention center, USA Today, March 16, 2025.

Take a Wisconsin nativist’s new bride, hold her detention in Louisiana (for four weeks so far), in a room with eighty others, and let him talk to her by phone now and again.

How does Bartell feel about all this?

“They need to get the vetting done.”

Bradley Bartell is still supportive of Trumpism, while futilely describing a vetting process that now means nothing to the second Trump Administration. Bartell might simply have said that he wants to see his wife again, and said no more. Instead, he endorsed the general deportation policy.

Nativism will rationalize anything for the cause.

Daily Bread for 3.16.25: Brad Schimel’s Halloween Costume

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will see light snow, mostly cloudy conditions, and a high of 38. Sunrise is 7:04 and sunset is 7:02, for 11 hours, 58 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 95.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1935, Hitler orders Germany to rearm itself in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Conscription is reintroduced to form the Wehrmacht.


Schimel’s supportive costume1:

And for years, Judge Schimel has repeated some of Mr. Trump’s talking points about Wisconsin elections.

During an April 2018 interview with one of the state’s leading conservative talk-radio hosts, Judge Schimel said it was not clear that Mr. Trump, who carried the state in 2016 by fewer than 23,000 votes, or Senator Johnson, who won by about 99,000 votes that year, would have prevailed had the state’s voter identification law not been in place.

In January, he said he did not object to Mr. Trump’s pardons of supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Then there was the Halloween party last year.

In the final week before the election, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. appeared to call Trump supporters “garbage.” Mr. Trump responded by dressing up in a sanitation worker’s reflective vest and driving a garbage truck.

Two days later, when Judge Schimel’s cover band, 4 on The Floor, played a Halloween gig at Michael’s Funky Monkey bar in Waukesha, he wore a reflective vest just like Mr. Trump’s and rocked out while playing the Rolling Stones classic “Sympathy for the Devil.”

See Reid J. Epstein and Steve Eder, The Trump Loyalist Aiming to Swing Wisconsin Back to the Right (‘Brad Schimel, a judge who is so supportive of the president that he dressed up as him for Halloween, is hoping to flip the Wisconsin Supreme Court for conservatives’), New York Times, March 13, 2025.

There are many ways to describe Schimel’s costume choice, some supportive (identifying with his political hero and that hero’s supporters who believe they’ve been insulted), some not (a weak man’s choice, identifying with an autocrat who stokes the narcissistic insult that a populist horde too quickly feels).

Both can be true, but the latter tolls more strongly.

______

  1. The link to the New York Times story is open, and one can play the clip of Schimel with maracas standing around awkwardly groovin’ to the vibe. ↩︎

Cougar cubs:

Daily Bread for 3.15.25: Snowball Fighting as a Sport (Winter Will Be Back Soon Enough)

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 67. Sunrise is 7:06 and sunset is 7:01, for 11 hours, 55 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1991,  the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany comes into effect, granting full sovereignty to the Federal Republic of Germany.


Japan’s Intense Snowball Fighting Sport:

Snowball fighting. Where Dodgeball meets the Winter Olympics. Scenes from Elf and Home Alone come to mind. Well, in Japan, they take Yukigassen, which translates to ‘snow battle’, very seriously… Today, over 100 teams from 15 countries travel to the foot of Mount Usu to compete in the World Championships. In this week’s video, with the help of prior champions, The Tobu Raiders, we break down the rules, the gear and the tips you need to become a champion.

Whitewater could do this, properly organized and managed. Much better than Spring Splash. Lots of college towns have spring events, but a winter snowball competition would be something… special.


Cutting ties:

Daily Bread for 3.14.25: Schumer Gets the Criticism He Deserves

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 74. Sunrise is 7:08 and sunset is 7:00, for 11 hours, 52 minutes of daytime. The moon is full with 99.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1945, the Royal Air Force drops the Grand Slam bomb in action for the first time, on a railway viaduct near Bielefeld, Germany.


There’s national discussion about Sen. Chuck Schumer’s decision to vote in favor of a Republican-supported continuing resolution in the Senate. I’m not a member of the Democratic Party, but as I am a Never Trump libertarian aligned with them on policy toward Trump, Democrats’ frustration with Schumer is understandable to me (although I’ve never thought much of him).

From Bluesky, here’s Democrat Josh Marshall writing about Schumer:

Here’s a scatological comment on reactions to Schumer’s capitulation from comedian, actor, and writer Michael Ian Black:

Indeed.

There’s a local angle in all this. A day or two ago, some Democrats were standing along Main Street in Whitewater with signs protesting recent Trump decisions. Some of them seemed about Schumer’s age, but there they were, lawfully expressing their opposition. Good for them.

And yet, and yet, in every town, including Whitewater, there’s at least one Democratic man of Schumer’s age who would behave as Schumer is behaving, capitulating, yielding, or even carrying the message of the very rightwing populists who would gladly bring about that man’s ruin. (These diffident types would have, of course, one self-serving rationalization or another for their servile behavior.)

Marshall’s words apply to such types as these: foolish and weak men.

They are unsuited to the times. The sooner they fade from the scene the better.


‘Blood moon’ lunar eclipse seen across South America:

Moongazers gathered in Chile, Argentina and Venezuela to observe a total lunar eclipse. The events happen when the moon, Earth and sun align just so. The Earth casts a shadow that can partially or totally blot out the moon

Daily Bread for 3.13.25: The Crawford-Schimel Debate

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 60. Sunrise is 7:09 and sunset is 6:59, for 11 hours, 50 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 99.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1862, an Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves is passed by Congress, effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.


Last night, Susan Crawford and Brad Schimel met in the only debate of their campaign for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court:

Several times, Crawford accused Schimel of saying different things to broader audiences than to audiences made up of his political allies. She called attention to reporting by the Washington Post that Schimel said Trump was “screwed over” by the Supreme Court in its decisions regarding the 2020 election, and reporting by the Wisconsin Examiner that he had told a group of canvassers he’d be a “support network” for Trump. 

“He is not impartial, and he says different things in front of a broad audience like this, where he knows it’s going to be televised, than he’ll say when he’s talking to his political allies,” she said. “He is not trustworthy.” 

On the campaign trail, access to abortion has been one of the most prominent issues. The Court is currently considering a lawsuit that would have the state’s 1849 law declared invalid, while another lawsuit is pending in the lower courts asking if the state’s Constitution grants a right to abortion access. 

Schimel has said he personally opposes abortion, that both of his daughters are adopted and he believes the 1849 statute is a “valid law.” In the debate he repeated what he’s said during the campaign on the issue — that it should be up to the state’s voters. Wisconsin doesn’t allow voters to influence state law through a referendum process. 

See Henry Redman, Supreme Court candidates continue accusations of partisanship in sole debate, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 13, 2025.

Schimel likely knows, if he’s worked up the energy to read the law after his habitually light work schedule, that a voters’ referendum would be advisory,1 and to overturn Wisconsin’s 1849 statutory abortion ban would require a proposed state constitutional amendment2 that the WISGOP legislature would never put before voters.

Schimel being untrustworthy is an axiom. See FREE WHITEWATER, We Now Know that Schimel Has Lied at Least Once (Could Be More!), March 28, 2025.

Shrewd moment of the night came from Crawford:

At one point, in a remark that Crawford said was a “slip of the tongue,” she referred to Musk as “Elon Schimel.”

Worth running an add with that moniker for Schimel…

______

  1. As with a proposed advisory referendum in 2024 that, in fact, never made it out of the Wisconsin Legislature. ↩︎
  2. Gov. Evers has proposed the ability of voters to adopt or repeal state laws without the Legislature, but the WISGOP won’t approve that, either. ↩︎

How to see Thursday’s night, Friday morning’s lunar eclipse:

Look to the sky late Thursday evening to spot a rare blood moon lunar eclipse. The total lunar eclipse will be visible in North America, South America, western parts of Europe and Africa from Thursday, March 13 to Friday, March 14. As the moon passes through the Earth’s innermost shadow, light from the sun passing through the Earth’s atmosphere will be filtered in just the right way to bathe the moon in a reddish, orange hue. Totality – when the moon is completely within the Earth’s inner shadow and turns reddish – will start at 12:26 a.m. EDT and 11:26 p.m. PDT and last about 65 minutes. The phenomenon is visible by the naked eye, but for the best viewing experience, find a dark environment and grab a pair of binoculars or a telescope. According to NASA, another total lunar eclipse won’t be visible in the U.S. until March 2026.