Here’s the first annual FREE WHITEWATER list of reassuring things in Whitewater. (It’s a companion to the eighteenth annual Boo! List of Scariest Things in Whitewater, 2024.) The list runs in alphabetical order. ALDI. This administration brought ALDI. Whitewater wanted a supermarket and the new administration brought one. Well done. The old guard mucked around for…
New Whitewater
City, Daily Bread, New Whitewater, That Which Paved the Way
Daily Bread for 9.6.24: A Whitewater ‘Unburdened by What Has Been’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 81. Sunrise is 6:26, and sunset is 7:18, for 12h 52m 25s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 10.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1946, United States Secretary of State James F. Byrnes announces that the U.S. will follow a policy of economic reconstruction in postwar Germany.
Kamala Harris sometimes uses the expression “what can be, unburdened by what has been.”
The sound implication is that the present is burdened by what has been, but can be unburdened with effort.
Whitewater is like this, as the city is burdened twice-over by her past. First, she’s afflicted by a small faction of ordinary men possessed of extraordinary self-promotion and self-dealing. See A Reminder on Whitewater’s Fumbling & Stumbling Old Guard, The Special-Interest Hierarchy of a Small Town, and The Special-Interest Hierarchy of a Small Town (Adjacent Support).
Second, that small faction diverted attention from basic needs, including the ability of adults to discourse on a proper high-school level, leaving a small number in the community as little more than ignorant (lit., lacking knowledge or awareness) or confused tale-bearers. See Formation, General, Formation Hasn’t Stopped Mattering, and Formation, Moral.
Special interests’ particular avarice, afflicting the town with general stagnation, was worse even than economic: it has led to a decline in acculturation among the portions of the community those interests variously patronized or ignored.
They’ve left the next generation with a significant burden to overcome. Whitewater has made solid progress these last two years, and although we have years to go, we will overcome the burden of the past.
America, Conflicts of Interest, Daily Bread, Economy, Local Government, New Whitewater, Self-Dealing
Daily Bread for 7.25.24: National GDP Grows Solidly at 2.8% for April-June Quarter (and the Question that Growth Presents for Whitewater)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 79. Sunrise is 5:40, and sunset is 8:22, for 14h 41m 27s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 77.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1965, Bob Dylan goes electric at the Newport Folk Festival, signaling a major change in folk and rock music.
There’s good national economic news this morning, as the U.S. economy grew 2.8% in second quarter, a robust strengthening:
The U.S. economy grew at a surprisingly robust 2.8 percent annualized rate in the second quarter, capping two years of solid expansion, despite some signs of softening.
Gross domestic product for the quarter ending in June was double the 1.4 percent reading in the previous quarter, but reflects a general cool-down from last year’s brisk pace, according to Commerce Department data released Thursday morning.
“Economic growth is solid, not too hot and not too cold,” said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at Fwdbonds, a financial research firm. “The soft patch we had at the beginning of the year has gone away and with it, the risks of a recession are dying on the vine.”
These impressive national growth numbers present Whitewater with a challenge:
Why would this beautiful town give time to the same tired, old-guard self-promoters who failed Whitewater in the 2010s? See about that time Whitewater’s Still Waiting for That Boom.
The enervated but agitated defenders of this city’s policymaking ‘tradition’ are simply the peddlers of excuses and lies.
Our next generation can — and already is — doing better for Whitewater.
Breaching whale capsizes boat:
Daily Bread, Education, Good Ideas, New Whitewater
Daily Bread for 7.20.23: An Example of Private Educational Initiative
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning. Thursday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 80. Sunrise is 5:35 AM and sunset 8:27 PM for 14h 52m 19s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 7.3% of its visible disk illuminated. Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM. On this day in 1972, an…
Beautiful Whitewater, Beauty, Charity, City, Culture, Daily Bread, Faraway Places, Local Government, New Whitewater, Open Government, Politics, Poverty
Daily Bread for 8.19.22: Residency Matters, Practically and Ethically
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning. Friday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 79. Sunrise is 6:06 AM and sunset 7:49 PM for 13h 43m 24s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 45.2% of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1812, the American frigate USS Constitution defeats the British frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast…
City, Culture, Daily Bread, Libertarians, Local Government, New Whitewater, Open Government, Politics, School District, University
Daily Bread for 7.8.22: Resentment’s a Distinct Local Explanation for Some Residents
by JOHN ADAMS •
Babbittry, CDA, Culture, Economy, Fortitude, Local Government, Marketing, New Media, New Whitewater, Newspapers, Politics, Press, Social Media, Writing
What Can Be Done About Rural Newspapers (Even Though It Probably Won’t Be)?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Yesterday I wrote that Another Local Paper Changes Hands. With the failure of legacy publishing, what are rural communities to do? (Obvious point: FREE WHITEWATER is not an online newspaper – never aspired to be, never will be. This is a website of independent commentary: aligned with no faction, beholden to no faction.) A few…
City, Law, Liberty, New Whitewater, Trump
On Transgender Americans
by JOHN ADAMS •
One could write about the recent Twitter statement from Trump that “[a]fter consultation with my generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military,” but there’s a broader question than military service. To be sure, I believe…
City, Culture, Hip & Prosperous, Local Government, Marketing, New Whitewater, School District
How Big Averts Bad
by JOHN ADAMS •
If it should be true that small-town Whitewater faces a choice between difficult times now or an extended decline before an out-of-town-led gentrification, that her decline will otherwise be slow but no less signficant as a result, that stakeholder (special interest) politics grips the city, and that this stakeholder politics is really an identity politics…
City, Culture, New Media, New Whitewater
The Lingua Franca of a New Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
If it should be true – and it is – that Whitewater is more diverse than her town fathers care to admit, with the city now a collection of disparate, minority factions, how can one reach a majority with a message? (For Whitewater’s waning notables of this generation, there’s no way to return to their former…
City, Culture, Local Government, New Whitewater
A Small But Diverse City, Seldom Described That Way
by JOHN ADAMS •
About four months ago, a councilman in Whitewater (intelligent, educated) expressed concern that a municipal meeting was poorly attended (it was). His solution was to post notice of the next meeting on the Banner. They city posted a notice there, and the next meeting was still poorly attended (with only a few more people than…
Blogging, Business, CDA, City, Free Markets, Gluttony, Local Government, New Media, New Whitewater, Politics
If Market-Based Solutions Are Superior to Cronyism, Why Are There So Many Cronies?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s a question, concerning even small towns like Whitewater, for which the Financial Times publishes an answer: If market-based solutions are superior to cronyism, why are there so many cronies? First, there aren’t that many cronies (or insistent insiders) in Whitewater or elsewhere, but the few there are manipulate or intimidate weak reporters at local papers into representing their numbers as…
City, Culture, Liberty, Local Government, New Whitewater, Politics
The (Welcome) End of ‘Big’ in a Small Town
by JOHN ADAMS •
I don’t think much of the term ‘movers and shakers’ (that a nearby newspaper used to describe supposedly influential people) or ‘big’ people, etc. The terms almost always exaggerate actual influence. I am sure, though, that a combination of diverse social media, the decline of print, the shifting demographics within Whitewater, and the next generation’s…
Beautiful Whitewater, City, New Whitewater
So What Do You Think of Whitewater?
by JOHN ADAMS •
People, including some from far from our city, often ask me what I think of Whitewater. I think Whitewater is beautiful, and that despite present challenges she has a bright future. Sometimes people say they might like a warmer place in winter, or a bigger place all year. They say this sincerely, and their wishes…