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Presidential Race 2024

Daily Bread, Elections, Presidential Race 2024, US Senate Race 2024, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.7.24: Wisconsin Turnout High

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 56. Sunrise is 6:37, and sunset is 4:39, for 10 hours, 2 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent, with 33.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1910,  the first air freight shipment (from Dayton, Ohio, to Columbus, Ohio) is undertaken in a Wright (Brothers) Model B.

The Associated Press reports Wisconsin turnout in presidential race nears 73%:

About 73% of Wisconsin’s voting-age population cast ballots in the 2024 presidential race, with the raw number of voters topping out at the highest in state history, based on unofficial results.

Nearly 3.4 million people in Wisconsin cast ballots in the presidential race won by President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday, and the number is likely to increase slightly as the few remaining outstanding ballots are tabulated. Just over 3.3 million voted for president in the 2020 election.

The turnout percentage of 72.6% in Wisconsin, with a voting-age population of just under 4.7 million people, is just below the 72.9% seen in 2020.

The highest turnout percentage since at least 1948 was 73.2% in 2004, based on records from the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

Fewer people voted in the two other statewide contests in this year’s election. About 30,000 fewer people voted in the race for U.S. Senate between Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republican Eric Hovde. And more than 193,000 fewer people voted for a constitutional amendment limiting voting to U.S. citizens.

Snacking armadillo:

Daily Bread, Elections, Law, Presidential Race 2024, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.3.24: Monitors for Wisconsin Election

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 60. Sunrise is 6:32, and sunset is 4:44, for 10 hours, 12 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent, with 4.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1943, five hundred aircraft of the U.S. 8th Air Force devastate Wilhelmshaven harbor in Germany.

Here’s Part Two of best to have a plan, best to adopt the plan before the election. Rich Kremer reports US DOJ sending staff to monitor Wisconsin election Tuesday:

The U.S Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division will post election monitors in four Wisconsin locations Nov. 5. The news comes as Wisconsin’s top elections administrator says local clerks have been preparing for any potential election day problems since 2020.

The DOJ announced Friday it will “monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws” in the cities of Milwaukee, Wausau and the Rusk County Towns of Lawrence and Thornapple during Tuesday’s presidential election.

The DOJ sued the Towns of Lawrence and Thornapple in September, accusing local officials of breaking federal law for not making at least one accessible voting machine available to voters with disabilities during elections in April and May. The Town of Thornapple is currently appealing a preliminary injunction requiring it to bring the accessible voting machine back for the upcoming election.

In Wausau, the Wisconsin Department of Justice has taken over an investigation into whether the city’s mayor broke the law by removing a ballot drop box outside city hall Sept. 22.

Wisconsin wouldn’t need federal monitors it didn’t have crackpots and conspiracy theorists interfering or lying about voting in the state. Yet, as we do have crackpots and conspiracy theorists interfering and lying about voting here, it’s best to have monitors.

“We Made Glastonbury Festival’s Biggest Spider”:

Arcadia turns military scrap into iconic Glastonbury stages like the Spider and Dragonfly. Founded by Bertie Cole and Pip Rush, their creations host DJs like Fatboy Slim, thrilling festival audiences worldwide.

Daily Bread, Elections, Law, Presidential Race 2024, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.2.24: Wisconsin Approves Recount Guidance

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 57. Sunrise is 7:31, and sunset is 5:45, for 10 hours, 14 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent, with 1.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The UW-Whitewater Homecoming Parade takes places at 10 AM, beginning at the corner of Prince and Main and ending at the corner of Prairie Street and Starin Road.

On this day in 1960, Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the trial R v Penguin Books Ltd, the Lady Chatterley’s Lover case.

Best to have a plan, best to adopt the plan before the election. Baylor Spears reports that the Wisconsin Elections Commission approves presidential recount guidance:

Commissioners unanimously approved the communication, which includes information about recount deadlines, information needed to determine recount fees, minor revisions to the recount manual and about how commission staff plans to compile unofficial county results to track recount margins.

A recount must be requested within one business day of the elections commission receiving all the completed county canvasses. The deadline for a recount would be Nov. 30.

“We’ve presented a timeline that shows exactly when the various aspects of a recount would take place, so that again our local election officials and any potential parties to a recount would be able to prepare for that possibility and understand when that recount could potentially occur,” Wolfe said.

The communication will also include information to help clerks make preliminary estimates of the cost of a recount. Wolfe said election officials should plan ahead so that if a candidate is within the recall margin and asks for a recount, officials can produce a cost estimate quickly, which the candidate must pay for. In 2020, former President Donald Trump paid $3 million for recounts in Milwaukee and Dane Counties, which confirmed President Joe Biden’s victory.

“We don’t want to be thinking about it for the first time when there is some type of recount pending,” Wolfe said. “We want to think about it ahead of time and make sure that everybody’s prepared to provide that information in a very expedited way.”

Wisconsin has a decentralized election system with 1,850 Municipal clerks and 72 County clerks — a total of 1,922 local election officials. On election night, municipal clerks will report unofficial results to their county clerks. The Commission plans to go to each county’s website, see the unofficial results that have been posted, and enter the data in a spreadsheet for the federal contest and for any other state-level contest where the margin may be close and post it publicly.

What’s Up: November 2024 Skywatching Tips from NASA:

This month, catch planetary views of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, witness a close pass of the Parker Solar Probe by Venus, and get ready for an occultation of the bright star Spica by the Moon. 0:00 Intro 0:20 November planet highlights 1:38 Venus & Parker Solar Probe’s flyby 3:03 Occultation of Spica 4:25 October photo highlights 4:38 November Moon phases.

Harris-Walz, Kamala Harris, Politics, Presidential Race 2024

Daily Bread for 10.22.24: A Reminder on Jill Stein

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 57. Sunrise is 7:17, and sunset is 6:00, for 10 hours, 43 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous, with 68 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy, after internal counsel from Dwight D. Eisenhower, announces that American reconnaissance planes have discovered Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, and that he has ordered a naval quarantine of the Communist nation.

It’s understandable that voters would be curious about different candidates. Some ordinary voters might want, reasonably, to take a look at Jill Stein, for example. Prospective voters, however, are not Stein; well-meaning and curious people should not be confused or conflated with this aged perennial candidate. She may seem as through she’s a viable choice, but looking closely she’s a shill for Putin and an effective vote for Trump.

Lawrence O’Donnell describes Stein’s Trojan Horse candidacy aptly:

And look, and look… there’s a distinction to draw. Voters are sometimes mistaken and misguided, and should be critiqued cautiously. Candidates and their operatives, especially someone like Stein, do not deserve gentle care and feeding.

(In a comment and my reply about Stein here at FREE WHITEWATER from two months ago, this libertarian blogger yielded no ground to a Stein operative, and ended further comment from him at a moment of my choosing. Stein and her campaign team, in Wisconsin and elsewhere, are experienced politicos who deserve no particular caution or deference.)

This libertarian blogger is not a Democrat, but instead is a Never Trump man who knows that Trumpism can only be overcome by joining the largest possible coalition. That coalition is composed mostly, but not exclusively, of Democrats. That coalition has Kamala Harris as its standard bearer. Harris does not have my partial or sometime support: she has my full and complete support in defense of our constitutional order. I am not hesitant about supporting her; I am wholly supportive of her and her defense of our centuries-long liberal democratic tradition against autocracy.

It’s important both to take a principled position and hold that position against opposition. Cannot imagine another other way, truly.

Bear Seizes Control of Gatlinburg, TN (Demands daily supply of honey):

Daily Bread, Immigration, Presidential Race 2024, Trump

Daily Bread for 10.21.24: Fact Checking Trump on Immigration

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 79. Sunrise is 7:16, and sunset is 6:02, for 10 hours, 46 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous, with 77.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Library Board meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1897, the Yerkes Observatory is dedicated:

Founded by astronomer George Hale and located in Williams Bay, the Yerkes Observatory houses the world’s largest refracting optical telescope, with a lens of diameter 102 cm/40 inches. It was built through the largess of the tycoon Charles Tyson Yerkes, who rebuilt important parts of the Chicago transportation system after the fire. Situated in a 77-acre park on the shore of Lake Geneva, this observatory was the center for world astronomy in the early 20th century and invited a number of astronomers from around the world, including Japan, for scientific exchange.

Trump has said much about immigration. The Marshall Project has published Fact-checking Over 12,000 of Donald Trump’s Statements About Immigration. The fact check is detailed, and I’d encourage readers to review the full article. Below are summaries of the main points of the fact check:

TRUMP: “Under Border Czar Harris, our communities are being ravaged by migrant crime.”

FACT CHECK: According to a consistent, overwhelming amount of criminology research, immigrants to the United States, both legal and undocumented, have committed less crime than native-born Americans going all the way back to the 1870s.

TRUMP: “[South American countries are] emptying out their prisons and their mental institutions into the United States of America.”

FACT CHECK: Experts and journalists find no evidence that South American countries are intentionally freeing mentally ill and incarcerated people to infiltrate the U.S.

TRUMP: “Cases like Kate Steinle, murdered in San Francisco by a five-time deported illegal immigrant, or cases like Sarah Root… or my friend Jamiel Shaw who lost his incredible son…”

FACT CHECK: Trump relies on emotionally powerful anecdotes to portray an alleged crime wave by undocumented immigrants, but research shows that immigrants commit less crime than native-born Americans.

TRUMP: “They want [unauthorized immigrants] voting, because they believe they’ll be voting for Democrats every single time.”

FACT CHECK: There is no evidence that Democratic immigration policies have led to any meaningful increase in noncitizen voting, or in any form of demographic advantage for the party.

TRUMP: [Democrats] want sanctuary cities, which means crime and drugs and death.”

FACT CHECK: Research consistently shows no link between sanctuary policies and increased crime rates. Instead, migrants in sanctuary cities are less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens, with cities tending to experience decreases in property crime and homicide rates.

TRUMP: “Do you want to hear ‘The Snake?’…This was an old song that I revised… Think of it as the people that we’re letting in.

FACT CHECK: The daughters of Oscar Brown Jr., the original writer of the snake song, said Trump’s interpretation is dishonest and immigrants are not dangerous like the snake.

TRUMP: “We have no idea who they are. They want to come into our country. They may be ISIS. It may be the great Trojan Horse of all time. Who knows?”

FACT CHECK: Arab and Muslim refugees from the Middle East are unlikely to enter the U.S. due to rigorous vetting. In the rare cases they were accepted, they have been connected to planning or carrying out acts of terrorism in only a handful of instances since 1980.

TRUMP: “Illegal aliens coming into our country under Biden are treated better than our vets.”

FACT CHECK: While it’s true many undocumented people make use of public benefits, their monetary contribution to the country likely exceeds the cost of the benefits they consume, and they do not receive more benefits than citizens who are veterans.

TRUMP: “Democrats are the party of open borders, socialism, and crime, whether you like it or not.”

FACT CHECK: The claim that Democrats want open borders is false, since their recent policies focus on enforcing border laws and reducing illegal crossings.

TRUMP: “Dwight Eisenhower – nice guy – he moved a million and a half people out of the United States.”

FACT CHECK: Trump claims a 1950s-era deportation operation was “humane” and resulted in over a million deportations, but that number is contested, and the initiative took a steep humanitarian toll.

TRUMP: “They’ve taken the jobs of African Americans and Hispanics, and that was obvious to me. Next is gonna to be unions, you watch.”

FACT CHECK: Trump greatly overstates the tenuous connection between people who cross the border illegally to the “taking” of Black or union jobs.

TRUMP: “Believe me, it’s gonna work. Walls work.”

FACT CHECK: The reality of building a border wall is complex, and the barrier has proven to be ineffective, costly to taxpayers, and a driver for more dangerous modes of entry into the country. Historically, many undocumented immigrants overstay their legal visas, something a wall wouldn’t prevent.

TRUMP: “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats… They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

FACT CHECK: There is no evidence to support claims that Haitian migrants are abducting, killing or eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio.

State officials discuss election security concerns:

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:

Daily Bread, Elections, Presidential Race 2024, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 9.3.24: Wisconsin One of Seven Key Campaign States

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 75. Sunrise is 6:23, and sunset is 7:24, for 13h 00m 54s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 0.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1783, the American Revolutionary War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain (ratification being later completed in 1784).

Steve Peoples, Thomas Beaumont, and Amelia Thomson-Deveaux report in Presidential Campaigns Brace for an Intense Sprint to Election Day that Wisconsin is one of seven critical states for both major campaigns:

After a summer of historic tumult, the path to the presidency for both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump this fall is becoming much clearer.

The Democratic vice president and the Republican former president will devote almost all of their remaining time and resources to just seven states [story highlights Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada]. They will spend hundreds of millions of dollars targeting voters who, in many cases, have just begun to pay attention to the election. And their campaigns will try to focus their messages on three familiar issues — the economy, immigration and abortion — even in the midst of heated debates over character, culture and democracy.

The candidates will debate in one week in what will be their first meeting ever. The nation’s premier swing state, Pennsylvania, begins in-person absentee voting the week after. By the end of the month, early voting will be underway in at least four states with a dozen more to follow by mid-October.

Wisconsin is again, as she’s has been for over a dozen years, among the most intense of political battlegrounds.

What’s in the Sky for September 2024:

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.