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Daily Bread, Kamala Harris, Never Trump, Presidential Race 2024, Trump, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 10.12.24: Jill Stein (Catspaw for Trump)

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a chance of late afternoon showers and a high of 67. Sunrise is 7:05, and sunset is 6:16, for 11 hours, 11 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous, with 69.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1773,  America’s first insane asylum opens1.

Unlike her morbidly obese and delusional opponent, Kamala Harris is in excellent health:

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  1. Mar-a-Lago remains in operation to this day. (I’m teasing: Williamsburg, Virginia was the site of America’s first insane asylum; Mar-a-Lago will be the site of her last one.) ↩︎

Daily Bread, Elections, Harris-Walz, Never Trump, Politics, Presidential Race 2024, Republicans, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 10.4.24: Harris, Cheney, and Wisconsin Republicans

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 70. Sunrise is 6:56, and sunset is 6:29, for 11 hours, 34 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent, with 2.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1957, Sputnik 1 becomes the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.

There’s no one who now knows, truly, what will be the outcome of the 2024 presidential race, in Wisconsin or anywhere else. It’s enough to take a position, first to hold that position against opposition, and thereafter to advance from it against opposition. One watches and acts without foreknowledge of the final result. A letter yesterday is like that, as Erik Gunn reports Wisconsin GOP group launches pro-Harris campaign with open letter:


Two dozen Wisconsin Republicans, including former lawmakers, other former elected officials and a GOP sitting district attorney, have signed an open letter declaring their support for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in her campaign for president and condemning the Republican nominee former President Donald Trump.

The Harris campaign released the letter early Thursday, describing it as the product of months of outreach by the campaign and by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to Republicans.

“We, the undersigned, are Republicans from across Wisconsin who bring the same message: Donald Trump does not align with Wisconsin values,” the letter says. “To ensure our democracy and our economy remain strong for another four years, we must elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the White House.”

The letter was released as part of the launch of a formal Wisconsin Republicans for Harris-Walz organization, with just over a month to go before the Nov. 5 election.

“Wisconsin Republicans for Harris-Walz will play a pivotal role in facilitating Republican-to-Republican voter contact,” said the Harris-Walz campaign announcement Thursday. Through phone banking and networking with “Republican organizations, businesses, and community groups,” the GOP-oriented group will focus “in part on the more than 120,000 Wisconsinites who voted against Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary earlier this year,” the campaign announcement said.

Trump’s Wisconsin primary opponent, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, finished with more than 16% of the vote in Ozaukee, 12% in Washington and 14% in Waukesha counties.

Liz Cheney joins Harris rally at historic birthplace of the GOP in swing state Wisconsin:

Daily Bread, Elections, Harris-Walz, Never Trump, Politics, Presidential Race 2024, US Senate Race 2024, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 10.3.24: Perhaps Accurate for a Moment with Much Ahead

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 76. Sunrise is 6:55, and sunset is 6:31, for 11 hours, 37 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent, with 0.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

There will be a Home Buyer’s Educational Event at the Community Engagement Center, 1260 W Main St. in Whitewater from 6 to 7:30 PM.

On this day in 1952, the United Kingdom successfully tests a nuclear weapon in the Montebello Islands, Western Australia, to become the world’s third nuclear power.

The Marquette Law School Poll, a respected survey of political preferences, issued its latest findings yesterday. Here are some key results of their latest work:

I’ve reported poll results before, in these races and others, and yet one should be clear with oneself: these are no more than possible descriptions of sentiment at those brief moments when respondents answered a pollster’s questions.

With differences between the candidates so stark, and thus stakes so high, the course both practical and moral is simply to carry on, march on, and slog on in support of one’s candidates.

If ever one’s conscience were to be one’s guide, now’s the time.

Java In zero-g! How the space coffee cup works:

Astronauts on the International Space Station have a zero-g cup for their java. Find out about it here.

Bigotry, Daily Bread, Immigration, Mendacity, Never Trump, Presidential Race 2024, Trump, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 9.29.24: 8 Clips of Trump at Prairie du Chien, Only Yesterday

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 78. Sunrise is 6:50, and sunset is 6:38, for 11 hours, 48 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent, with 9.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1789, the United States Department of War first establishes a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.

The Prairie du Chien Area Arts Center, where Trump held an indoor rally yesterday, is 142 miles by road from Whitewater. Not far at all. Whitewater has had a bitter taste of what grandstanding and lying against immigrants can mean. See The Local Press Conference that Was Neither Local Nor a Press Conference. We are fortunate that we have not experienced even worse lies about our city. See It Might Have Been Us.

Trump’s full remarks at that Prairie du Chien venue are available online. Aaron Rupar and Acyn have published pertinent clips from his remarks.

1. Trump lies about conditions in Wisconsin when he says that “I will liberate Wisconsin from this mass migrant invasion of murderers, rapists, hoodlums, drug dealers, thugs, and vicious gang members.”

Wisconsin is not beset this way; Whitewater is not beset this way. Whitewater, in particular, is a beautiful place to live. Indeed, I wish more people would move here. There’s no better place to live.

Trump’s claims about immigrant crime statistics nationwide are false. See Daniel Dale, Fact check: To attack Harris, Trump falsely describes new stats on immigrants and homicide:

Former President Donald Trump is wildly distorting new statistics on immigration and crime to attack Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump falsely claimed Friday and Saturday that the statistics are specifically about criminal offenders who entered the US during the Biden-Harris administration; in reality, the figures are about offenders who entered the US over multiple decades, including during the Trump administration. And Trump falsely claimed that the statistics are specifically about people who are now living freely in the US; the figures actually include people who are currently in jails and prisons serving criminal sentences.

2. Trump insists “You gotta get these people back where they came from. You have no choice. You’re gonna lose your culture.” Which culture? He’s speaking to his audience, not all Americans. Many have forefathers who came here generations ago, before the Revolution, whether willingly or in enslavement — Trump’s culture is not their culture. He, himself, looks — and is — unacculturated. It is instead many newcomers from so many parts of the world who look — and are — properly acculturated. The nation benefits from their presence.

3. Trump insists that “these people [immigrants] are animals.” Immigrants aren’t animals; Trump’s crowd wants to believe immigrants are animals. Trump’s audiences feel better about themselves if they’re given his permission to feel worse about others.

4. Trump notices a fly in the room (“Oh, there’s a fly. I wonder where the fly came from”) and implies that immigrants brought the fly. There were no immigrants in the room, so perhaps that insect’s presence has another, more proximate cause.

5. Trump pits racial minority against racial minority: “They’re taking all of our Black population’s jobs.” Trump has a long history of racial discrimination in his businesses; his professed regard for Black workers is disingenuous.

6. Trump whines about Kamala Harris’s border remarks from Friday that “then I have to sit there and listen to her bullshit last night. And who puts it on? Fox News. And they shouldn’t be allowed to put it on.” He’s a weak & vain man who wants to talk but cannot brook the contrary speech of others. (Kamala Harris’s thorough assessment of immigration is available at Harris delivers campaign remarks in Arizona after visit to border. See also FREE WHITEWATER, VP Kamala Harris (and Republicans & Trump) on Border Security.)

7. Trump remarks that “global warming doesn’t work anymore, because it’s actually cooling.” He confuses a change in terminology with a change in environmental forces, and fallaciously implies that the former negates the veracity of the latter. Trump plays to the willing, delighted ignorance of his audience.

8. Trump contends that there were “40 to 50,000 people at least out there… It looked like when Lindbergh landed in New York. Do you remember that? Thousands of people… they’re probably leaving and walking home.” The entire city of Prairie du Chien has a population of only about 5,500. There were never forty to fifty thousand people outside. Indeed, the ordinary venue at which he spoke holds only 766 at capacity.

A small point, by the way, in light of his other remarks: Lindbergh did not land in New York — he landed in Paris.

Trump has his history, like so much else, backwards.

Daily Bread, Harris-Walz, Immigration, Kamala Harris, Never Trump, Presidential Race 2024, Trump

Daily Bread for 9.28.24: VP Kamala Harris (and Republicans & Trump) on Border Security

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 77. Sunrise is 6:49, and sunset is 6:40, for 11 hours, 51 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent, with 15.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1781, French and American forces backed by a French fleet begin the Battle of Yorktown.

Kamala Harris Describes Trump’s Opposition to a Border Bill:

Republicans Admit that Trump Killed the Border Bill:

Even Trump Admits He Killed the Border Bill:

VP Kamala Harris Speaks at Length on a Strong Border Plan:

Daily Bread, Harris-Walz, Kamala Harris, Never Trump, Presidential Race 2024, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 9.22.24: National Geographic’s Thunderstorms 101

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Good morning.

Fall begins in Whitewater with thunderstorms and a high of 70. Sunrise is 6:42, and sunset is 6:51, for 12 hours, 8 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous, with 73.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1862, Pres. Lincoln releases a preliminary version of the Emancipation Proclamation. 

There is beauty and power in the natural order. Today’s storm is a fitting beginning to Fall in Whitewater. Quite lovely. National Geographic offers a primer on thunderstorms:

At any moment, about 2,000 thunderstorms are occurring worldwide. Learn how thunderstorms form, what causes lightning and thunder, and how these violent phenomena help balance the planet’s energy and electricity.

Via Cats of Yore:


Daily Bread, Harris-Walz, Kamala Harris, Never Trump, Presidential Race 2024, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 9.21.24: Vice President Kamala Harris Campaign Rally in Madison

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 87. Sunrise is 6:41, and sunset is 6:52, for 12 hours, 11 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous, with 83.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1942,  the Boeing B-29 Superfortress makes its maiden flight.

Friday’s Vice President Kamala Harris Campaign Rally in Madison, Wisconsin:

Vice President Kamala Harris in Madison, Wisconsin, as she speaks about what is at stake in this election. Help Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz protect our fundamental freedoms and defeat Donald Trump. Take action at go.kamalaharris.com.

Cats with jobs:

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Daily Bread for 8.28.24: Live by Siphoning, Perish by Siphoning

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 83. Sunrise is 6:16, and sunset is 7:34, for 13h 17m 38s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 27.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Lakes Advisory Committee meets at 4:30 PM, and the Finance Committee meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1830, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad‘s new Tom Thumb steam locomotive races a horse-drawn car, presaging steam’s role in U.S. railroads.

Screenshot: RFK Jr. explains that whole dead bear cub incident
Screenshot: Stein impersonates a homegrown candidate in campaign video

Yesterday’s post looked at the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s dismissal of a complaint designed to keep the Green Party off the Wisconsin 2024 presidential ballot. See Green Party Worries Needlessly about Risks to Its Vote-Siphoning Operation in Wisconsin.

And look, and look: in an alternative history of our time, there might have been a legitimate Green Party candidate fighting for environmental issues, etc. That’s not Jill Stein. She is Putin’s catspaw: easily a fellow traveler, if not a fifth columnist. Her presence on the ballot serves only to siphon votes from the Democratic candidate. In this way, the right judicial decision (to keep her on the ballot) turns out to be the wrong political decision (Stein’s candidacy serves only those at home and abroad who would weaken American liberal democracy).

If, however, the adversaries of the American liberal democratic tradition won a small victory by keeping Stein on the ballot to pull left-learning voters, they suffered an equal defeat yesterday when the Wisconsin Elections Commission ruled to keep Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the Wisconsin ballot. MAGA-supporting RFK Jr. wanted to be off the Wisconsin ballot precisely because he knows (with what’s left of his brain) that he draws from MAGA-leaning voters.

Live by siphoning, perish by siphoning. These scheming candidates and their foreign backers are as risible as they are wrong.

Through all this, the right choice is stark and the imperative clear: Harris-Walz. Never Trump means never Trump.

Daily Bread, Harris-Walz, Never Trump, Presidential Race 2024, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.6.24: Wednesday in Eau Claire, Dueling Rallies

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy and windy with a high of 74. Sunrise is 5:53, and sunset is 8:08, for 14h 14m 55s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 4.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1960, Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.

Anya van Wagtendonk reports Democrats and Republicans will have dueling rallies in Eau Claire tomorrow:

Eau Claire will be host to not one, but two presidential campaign stops on the same day this week. 

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, announced last week she’d visit the western Wisconsin city with her as-yet-unannounced running mate on Wednesday, Aug. 7. [Since this report, the Harris Campaign announced Gov. Tim Walz as V.P. Harris’s running mate.]

On Monday, the Trump campaign announced that Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance , the Republican vice presidential nominee, will hold a rally in Eau Claire that same day.

There’s a false quadrennial complaint that the two major parties are the same. The complaint has never been accurate; it’s never been less accurate than now. Democrats Harris-Walz and Republicans Trump-Vance could not be further apart and yet be in the same society.

If it all seems the same, the problem isn’t with the choice. It’s with the grasp of those who can’t see the differences.

The choice is stark and the imperative clear: Harris-Walz.

Never Trump means never Trump.

Private Cygnus cargo ship captured by space station robotic arm:

The Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft was captured by the International Space Station’s robotic arm on on Aug. 6, 2024 at 3:11 a.m. (0711 GMT). [Full Story](https://www.space.com/cygnus-ng-21-ar…) According to Space.com. the freighter — named the S.S. Richard “Dick” Scobee, after the commander of the tragic STS-51-L mission of the space shuttle Challenger — delivered nearly 8,200 pounds (3,720 kilograms) of food, scientific gear and other supplies to the ISS.

America, Daily Bread, Kamala Harris, Never Trump, Politics, Presidential Race 2024

Daily Bread for 7.22.24: America Is a Dynamic Place

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 81. Sunrise is 5:37, and sunset is 8:25, for 14h 47m 17s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 4:30 PM. The Whitewater School Board goes into closed session shortly after 5:45 PM, and returns to open session at 7 PM.

On this day in 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act passes in the British House of Commons, initiating the gradual abolition of slavery in most parts of the British Empire.

America is a dynamic country, socially, economically, and politically. Yesterday was an excellent example of that evident truth.

Zach Beauchamp perceptively draws lessons from yesterday’s political developments:

It’s enough to make even the most jaded observer a little more optimistic about American democracy — for at least two big reasons.

First, it shows that there can still be standards in politics. 

American politics isn’t just made up of two parties, wholly owned by party elites, locked in a mortal and uncompromising struggle to the death. At least one of our parties is capable of policing its own: challenging an incumbent president and, ultimately, convincing him to step aside. The contrast with the GOP’s behavior after Trump’s many scandals — from the Access Hollywood tape to the January 6 Capitol riot — is unmistakable.

Second, Biden’s departure shows that unexpected things can still happen.


This is hard to prove, but I think so much of the polling showing public distrust in the American government is rooted in a sense that it’s stuck: that what’s happening right now isn’t working, and that no one is capable of doing anything surprising to right the ship. But a president abandoning a reelection campaign is nothing if not surprising. 
Politicians like Trump, in both the United States and elsewhere, thrive on the notion that the system is broken and nothing can be done to fix it. This is a problem not just because those specific politicians are dangerous, but because distrust rots democracy’s foundations.

Indeed.

This tiny solar-powered flyer weighs less than a paper plane:

Researchers have overcome efficiency and power issues to create what they believe to be the world’s lightest and smallest sunlight-powered rotorocraft.
Micro aerial vehicles or MAVs could have a host of applications from environmental monitoring to search and rescue. But currently, these tiny flying machines have a problem — endurance. MAVs that weigh less than 10 grams are normally limited to around 10 minutes of flying time.
To increase flying time, other types of propulsion have been tested, but these still require bulky power systems on the ground to take off, preventing any craft from freely flying.
One solution could be solar power. But until now no solar powered MAV has been capable of untethered sustained flight in natural sunlight.
So to solve this, researchers have developed CoulombFly, a solar-powered MAV propelled by a new extremely efficient electro-static motor and powered by incredibly light solar panels.

Conservative Populism, Daily Bread, Education, Freedom of Speech, Never Trump, Reasoning, School District, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 3.26.24: These Aren’t the MAGA Claims You Were Looking For

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 52. Sunrise is 6:44 and sunset 7:15 for 12h 30m 43s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 1812, a political cartoon in the Boston-Gazette coins the term “gerrymander” to describe oddly shaped electoral districts designed to help incumbents win reelection.

A brief post today, about Boardmember Maryann Zimmerman to follow yesterday’s post about conservative populism more generally. (A more detailed series on the district and proposals to improve governance can wait until after the election. Too many people in this town have election fever, and it’s left them dehydrated and decomposed. Their malady is not mine.)

Anyone who has visited this site knows that this bleeding-heart libertarian blogger is, and always will be, an opponent of conservative populism, MAGA, Trumpism, or whatever one calls that ideology. Never Trump before Never Trump, so to speak. See yesterday’s example Rep. Mike Gallagher Knows that MAGA Will Be Someone Else’s Headache Soon.

I am also someone whose family, teachers, and professors did their level best to inspire in me a respect for principle, reasoning, and tradition (in that order). Any success that this pupil has had in that regard owes only to them; they had poor clay with which to work. All their effort on my behalf, over so many years, leads me now and again to see something clearly.

And this is one of those times: the claims and proposals that boardmember (and whistleblower) Maryann Zimmerman has made since December are not conservative populist claims. They are claims of no single ideology or partisan view.  Mrs. Zimmerman may hold, as I think she does, conservative populist views. To the extent that she holds those views — but only to the extent that she holds those views — we would find ourselves in disagreement.

Some of her ardent supporters most assuredly hold conservative populist views. To the extent that they hold those views — but only to the extent that they hold those views — we would find ourselves in disagreement.

If in this beautiful city, the answer to Mrs. Zimmerman’s nonpartisan concerns and proposals is an answer directed in opposition to conservative populism, then that answer is misdirected, to the degradation of scholastic standards.  

It’s that simple.

I’ve never met Mrs. Zimmerman; we may never meet.  One needn’t have met her to grasp that she is willing to speak and write in support of her views when, by striking contrast, the current board president has done no better than to beg off every question with the false, self-protective claim that he cannot speak for legal reasons. (Those who know the law know that those assertions are not merely false but risibly self-serving.)

The district has a superintendent who not only won’t speak but has tried to prevent others from speaking. In Maryann Zimmerman’s recent claims, and in her composed defense of them, there’s no trace of partisan ideology. She’s been admirably clear and steady. Others want to see what’s not there; they are looking into an empty room.

These aren’t the MAGA claims they were looking for.

Total Solar Eclipse 2024 explained. Date, maps, times and more:

The United States, Mexico and Canada will experience a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. Space.com’s Brett Tingley explains what you can expect. Total solar eclipse 2024: Everything you need to know: https://www.space.com/41552-total-sol…

WARNING: People should always use protective solar eclipse eyewear when viewing a solar eclipse.

Credit: Space.com | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, GreatAmericanEclipse.com 

Conservative Populism, Daily Bread, Never Trump, Populists, Presidential Race 2024, Trump, Trumpism

Daily Bread for 5.11.23: ‘You Can — and You Will’

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Good morning. Thursday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 79. Sunrise is 5:35 AM and sunset 8:06 PM for 14h 31m 28s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 63% of its visible disk illuminated. The Whitewater Aquatic and Fitness Center Subcommittee meets at 6 PM.  On this day…

Daily Bread, Herrenvolk, Never Trump, Politics, Press, Trumpism

Daily Bread for 10.15.22: For the Press, a Duty of Conduct as Though a Free Society Still Matters

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Good morning. Saturday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 53. Sunrise is 7:09 AM and sunset 6:11 PM for 11h 02m 15s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 70% of its visible disk illuminated. There will be a Lakes Project Community Meeting at 10 AM.  On this day in…

Authoritarianism, Daily Bread, Elections, Fellow Traveler, Fifth Columnist, Liberal Democracy, Libertarians, Liberty, Nativism, Never Trump, Putin, Trumpism, Voting Rights

Daily Bread for 9.25.22: Putin Rigs the Vote

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Good morning. Sunday in Whitewater will be windy with afternoon thundershowers and a high of 65. Sunrise is 6:46 AM and sunset 6:45 PM for 11h 59m 24s of daytime. The moon is new with 0.1% of its visible disk illuminated.   On this day in 1237, England and Scotland sign the Treaty of York, establishing…