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Daily Bread for 3.14.25: Schumer Gets the Criticism He Deserves

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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, Democrats, Education, Elections, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 12.8.24: A Challenge (from the Left) in the State Superintendent Race

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 50. Sunrise is 7:13, and sunset is 4:20, for 9 hours, 7 minutes of daytime. The moon is in its first quarter with 50.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1941, President Roosevelt declares December 7 to be “a date which will live in infamy,” after which the U.S. declares war on Japan.

Jill Underly, Wisconsin’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, faces a challenge from the left in her race for re-election:

Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly, who is running for her second term in office with the backing of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, faces a challenge from Sauk Prairie School District Superintendent Jeff Wright, a Democrat who says he wants to improve DPI’s communication. 

Elections for the state superintendent are technically nonpartisan. Candidates run on the same ballot in the February primary, and the top two advance. The primary is Feb. 18, 2025 and the general election is April 1. No other candidates have entered the race so far.

….

Prior to winning her first term in 2021, Underly served as the superintendent of Pecatonica School District, a rural district in southwestern Wisconsin. She has also previously worked as a principal, a teacher and a state consultant to Title I schools in Milwaukee and across the state.

Wright, who launched his campaign about a month after Underly, has served as the superintendent of Sauk Prairie School District since 2019 and was named Administrator of the Year in 2024 by the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance. He also previously served as a principal in Chicago. He hasn’t held public office before, but has run unsuccessful campaigns in 2016 and in 2018 for the state Assembly. 

Wright said in an October interview with the Examiner that he probably aligns closely with the current superintendent on many issues, but he thinks there is currently a “disconnect” between DPI and schools.

“They’re not bringing the people together from the teachers’ union, the administrators’ associations and other groups to have an active conversation about what concrete steps are we taking right now to get this work done,” Wright said. “Schools want to know what’s happening at the DPI. We don’t want to be surprised by changes. We want to be in conversation so that it’s very clear that we’re working on the same team.”

See Baylor Spears, State superintendent race kicks off: Underly faces challenge from Sauk Prairie superintendent, Wisconsin Examiner, December 5, 2024.

Underly has the backing of the state’s Democratic Party, and Wright has the backing of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) Political Action Committee and Kirk Bangstad’s Minocqua Brewing Company SuperPAC.

I’m not a Democrat (rather a Never Trump libertarian who supported Harris-Walz), but it’s hard for me to see how these political action committees can overcome the organizational strength of a major political party. There’s as yet no announced Republican candidate in the race, but there is sure to be at least one (for an office that is, nominally, non-partisan).

Admittedly, any campaign, against almost any incumbent, is likely to make headway with the contention that the public has a lack of information (or in the case of the DPI, technical information that’s been made readily comprehensible to most residents). No one ever went broke, so to speak, by arguing that government statistics were opaque. Still: an outsider’s climb against an organizationally-backed candidate is uphill.

Watch this bird-inspired robotic drone leap into the air:

City, Culture, Democrats, Local Government, Politics, School District, University, Whitewater's Local Politics 2021

Whitewater’s Local Politics 2021: The Subcultural City

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This is the sixth in a series on Whitewater’s local politics of 2021. There’s no politically predominant group in Whitewater. Strictly speaking, a subculture implies a dominant culture, but it’s less dramatic to describe Whitewater as several subcultures than as balkanized. One might call the city multicultural, but that term often implies an acceptance of…

America, Democrats, Never Trump, Trump

The Democratic National Convention 2020, Fourth Night: Biden

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Every party needs a nominee, and to advance their views, and oppose the views of Trumpism’s nativist horde, these Democrats have chosen Biden. A year ago, Trump’s pressure campaign against Ukraine made clear how much Trump worried over Biden’s possible nomination. In Biden’s acceptance speech last night, one can see why Trump selfishly worried about Biden, but…

America, Democrats, Never Trump, Trump

The Democratic National Convention 2020, Third Night: The Case Against Trump and for a Better America

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In one night, through two speakers, the Democrats succinctly made their case against Donald Trump (through Barack Obama) and for an alternative (through Kamala Harris). There have been, we may be grateful, few times that America has faced so existential a threat as Trumpism. No one would envy us these times; no caring person would…

America, Democrats, Liberty, Never Trump, Trump

The Democratic National Convention 2020, Second Night: The Roll Call Vote That Looks Like America

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Under the threat from Trumpism, the Democrats of this convention have built a coalition, of themselves supportive independents, that looks like America. In their roll call vote last night, one saw the success of their efforts. Those opposed to Trump might have wilted under pressure from the power of the federal executive branch, but they…

America, Coronavirus, Democrats, Libertarians, Liberty, Never Trump, Trump

The Democratic National Convention 2020, First Night: Kristin Urquiza Remembers Her Father

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So, the Democrats held the first night of their audiovisual convention Monday night. There were, watching, millions of us who are not Democrats, but are yet resolved and confirmed against Trump his autocratic nativism. Although some like us have melted away, for the remnant of which we are a part Never Trump means never Trump.  We…

America, Democrats, Education, Politics, Republicans

Differing Partisan Views on Education

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A few days ago, a commenter (‘J’) at this website linked to the Pew Research Center’s latest survey data on partisan views of education.  See The Growing Partisan Divide in Views of Higher Education.  Kim Taylor (of Pew) summarizes the survey: Americans see value in higher education – whether they graduated from college or not. Most say…

Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Crime, Democrats, Harassment, Law, Misconduct, Republicans, Trump, University, UW System

Immoral (and Unnecessary) Compromises

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There’s a certain kind of Republican who rationalizes Trump’s many vices because, well, Trump has nominated some conservative judges. (Hugh Hewitt, who’ll rationalize anything to keep a job on the Salem talk radio network comes to mind. See It’s the Supreme Court, stupid.) If there’s an equivalent of this, it’s a certain kind of Democrat…