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Daily Bread for 6.14.22: When (Local) Government Treats Abnormal as Normal

Good morning. Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 97. Sunrise is 5:15 AM and sunset 8:34 PM for 15h 19m 13s of daytime.  The moon is full with 100% of its visible disk illuminated. Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 6 PM. On this day in 1775,  the Continental Army is established by…

Daily Bread for 6.13.22: Wisconsin Examiner Reports ‘Complaints mount over conduct of Whitewater PD’

Good morning. Monday in Whitewater will see afternoon thundershowers with a high of 87. Sunrise is 5:15 AM and sunset 8:34 PM for 15h 18m 47s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.5% of its visible disk illuminated. Whitewater’s Planning Commission meets at 6 PM. On this day in 1777,  Gilbert du Motier,…

Daily Bread for 6.7.22: Big Changes Require Big Explanations

Good morning. Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 74. Sunrise is 5:16 AM and sunset 8:31 PM for 15h 14m 50s of daytime.  The moon is in its first quarter with 49.4%% of its visible disk illuminated. The Whitewater Unified District School Board meets in closed session at 6 PM and…

Daily Bread for 1.31.22: COVID-19 the leading cause of death in the line of duty for Wisconsin police officers and firefighters

Good morning. Monday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 31.  Sunrise is 7:09 AM and sunset 5:07 PM for 9h 58m 21s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 0.7% of its visible disk illuminated.  Whitewater’s Library Board meets at 6:30 PM.  On this day in 1846, after the Milwaukee…

Daily Bread for 8.21.21: Hundreds of Wisconsin Police Officers Back on the Job after Being Fired or Forced Out

Good morning. Saturday in Whitewater will be variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms and a high of 81. Sunrise is 6:08 AM and sunset 7:46 PM, for 13h 37m 26s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.9% of its visible disk illuminated.  On this day in 1911, the Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincenzo…

‘Communicate, Communicate, Communicate’ Isn’t So Easy in a Fractured Town

Some years ago, an administrator (no longer with the school district) told others that a good practice for leaders was to ‘communicate, communicate, communicate’ with the community. The concept makes sense: craft a message and then make sure it’s heard by repeating it. In a small town, how hard could that be? As it turns…

The Advantage for His Opponents in Trump’s Visit to Kenosha

Despite the requests of Wisconsin’s governor and Kenosha’s mayor, Trump is set on visiting Kenosha tomorrow. There’s no power to stop him from attending, however recklessly disruptive the visit may prove to be. There is, however, an advantage for Trump’s opponents in his visiting Kenosha on September 1st. With two months to go until November…

Built Against Substantive Change

Over time, no matter how small the city, national conditions and trends make their way to the edge of town. Some towns will address these conditions, but others will be resistant to substantive change. For those towns in the latter category, business as usual and rhetorical feints suffice in response to powerful forces to which…

Why Now?

Social historians, looking at the many protests against police violence (protests taking place across America and in other countries) will be able (if imprecisely) to assess the motivations of these recent events. Of two things one can be confident, without being a historian: these protests are in response to specific acts of law-enforcement violence, with…

Cameras, Not Committees

Recent protests across America against excessive and biased use of police force began after ordinary people in those communities recorded official (to the point of murderous) actions, and then shared their recordings with others. It was not government – local, state, or federal – that promptly shared these recordings of excessive force; it was ordinary…