Good morning. Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 72. Sunrise is 5:30 AM and sunset 8:11 PM for 14h 40m 28s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 99.4% of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1911, in Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, the United States…
Race
Race, Sen. Ron Johnson
Of Johnson and Others: ‘Let Them Keep Talking’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Robin Givhan writes of Ron Johnson, and others, in Just let them keep talking: A certain caste of people is talking and talking — unleashing their prejudices and their irrational fears, trafficking in anger and personal pathos. They’re melting down on television. They’re litigating their hurt feelings. They’ve not been canceled by the culture —…
America, Culture, Freedom of Speech, Justice, Local Government, Race
‘A New Generation Challenges the Heartland’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Last July, Tim Craig and Aaron Williams reported A new generation challenges the heartland (‘Big changes in small towns are fueling a racial justice movement across the Midwest’). They wrote last summer that The number of young people of color living in the Midwest has surged over the past decade, as the older white population…
Authoritarianism, Law, Never Trump, Race, Republicans, Trump, Trumpism
Trump’s Refusal: Explanations Particular and General
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There’s more than one explanation for Trump’s refusal to concede: that he cannot manage the narcissistic insult of defeat, that he wants to support Georgia’s Republicans in a January 5th runoff, or that he wants to bolster his chances of a following after January 20th (for a television network, another campaign, or simply to vacuum…
Kenosha, Never Trump, Police, Protests, Race, Trump, Trumpism, Unfit
The Advantage for His Opponents in Trump’s Visit to Kenosha
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
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…
America, Culture, Documentary, Film, History, Race
A Black Cowboy’s Story
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Cowboys are among the most iconic figures of the American West. They’re mythologized as strong, independent people who live and die by their own terms on the frontier. And in movies, the people who play them are mostly white. But as with many elements of Americana, the idea of who cowboys are is actually whitewashed…
Culture, Freedom of Speech, Politics, Protests, Race
Widespread, Continuing National Support for Racial Justice Protests
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Steven Long and Justin McCarthy of Gallup report Two in Three Americans Support Racial Justice Protests: WASHINGTON, D.C. — About two in three Americans (65%) support the nationwide protests about racial injustice that followed the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in late May. Half say they feel “very” (23%) or…
America, Equality, History, John Lewis, Justice, Law, Liberty, Race
Wake up!
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Advertising, Culture, Fox News, Race, Tucker Carlson
Tucker Carlson is the Future of Fox Cable
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Long after Trump fades & falters, there will be a large audience for lumpen revanchists on Fox News. These dead-enders won’t quickly meet their end – they’ll be a faction, and so an audience, waiting for a someone to inspire them in their ethnic prejudices, economic ignorance, and conspiracy theories. Fox News will exist after…
America, Police, Protests, Race, Trump
Why Now?
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
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…
Coronavirus, Culture, Police, Public Health, Race
Frontline: Race, Police, and the Pandemic
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
As streets across America erupt into clashes over racism during the coronavirus pandemic, Jelani Cobb of The New Yorker examines a connection between George Floyd’s death and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 deaths among African Americans: “the thing that ties them together is empirical evidence of a phenomenon that had been dismissed otherwise.” Cobb describes how the relationship…
Culture, Diversity, Equality, Integration, Race
Karen Attiah on Diversity and Integration
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This morning, Karen Attiah of the Washington Post observed the difference between diversity and integration. Through remarks on Twitter (@KarenAttiah), in a thread quoted below, Attiah notes the greater importance of integration over mere acknowledgments of diversity — (1) I didn’t get a chance to say it on @TheTakeaway with @tanzinavega but I was struck when…
America, Bigotry, Culture, Law, Race
Trevor Noah on Racial Injustice
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
America, Bigotry, History, Mendacity, Politics, Race, Wisconsin, WISGOP
WISGOP Treasurer Brian Westrate ‘Well Understands’ Nothing
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A horde of ignorant, but racially motivated, men infest the Wisconsin GOP. Brian Westrate is a good example of playing to this bad condition: in an attempt to discourage racist Republicans from displaying Confederate banners at a protest, he erroneously (and outrageously) contended that he did “well understand that the Confederacy was more about states…