FREE WHITEWATER

Wisconsin

Business, City, Daily Bread, Economy, Employment, Excuses and Rationalizations, Planning, Tariffs, Taxes/Taxation, Trump, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 4.14.25: Federal Planning for Manufacturing Isn’t Planning at All

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 59. Sunrise is 6:14 and sunset is 7:36, for 13 hours, 22 minutes of daytime. The moon a waning gibbous with 98 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Plan and Architectural Review Commission meets at 6 PM.


On this day in 1958, the Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days. This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a female dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours.

One of the justifications for tariffs is to bring back manufacturing to states like Wisconsin. It’s ill-considered:

But one of the biggest barriers to bringing manufacturing back, both in Wisconsin and nationally, is a labor shortage. 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reportsthe latest data show there were around 1.2 million more jobs open nationally than there were unemployed workers. Wisconsin, meanwhile, has had more openings than job seekers since 2021.

Over the last decade, [founder of the Florida-based Reshoring Initiative Harry] Moser said employers have told him the U.S. labor market is “weak, both in terms of quantity of people and quality of people.” He said there have been efforts in recent years that have helped some, pointing to high school apprenticeship programs. He says Trump’s goal of bringing manufacturing back hinges on workforce.

….

In Wisconsin, a 2023 research report from WMC found the state’s median age was older than the rate nationally, and warned if the population doesn’t grow at a faster rate, workforce shortages would worsen.

“We don’t have enough workers for the jobs that we have, let alone if we want to grow a job (field),” [president of the business lobbying group Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce Kurt] Bauer with WMC said. “This is a significant challenge.” 

See Joe Schulz, Trump says tariffs will bring back manufacturing, but Wisconsin’s labor shortage may stand in the way, Wisconsin Public Radio, April 14, 2025.

One hears talk in Whitewater on recruiting for manufacturing before any other priority. It’s more a diversionary tactic than anything else; these gentlemen are simply looking for something, however implausible, to shift the conversion.

Tariffs for Semiconductors Forthcoming:

City, Daily Bread, Tariffs, Taxes/Taxation, Trump, Trumpism, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 4.13.25: The Anti-Tax Crowd Backed a Taxman

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 66. Sunrise is 6:16 and sunset is 7:35, for 13 hours, 19 minutes of daytime. The moon a waning gibbous with 99.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1960, the United States launches Transit 1-B, the world’s first satellite navigation system.

In Whitewater, and towns across America, the Trump men put up signs reading “TRUMP LOW TAXES, KAMALA HIGH TAXES.” These signs were as ridiculous as they were false: Trump campaigned on tariffs and tariffs are taxes. (Yet the nature of an authoritarian populist movement like theirs is fallacies, fabrications, and as with their claims about COVID or election conspiracies, a refusal to accept contrary evidence.1)

Outside the required orthodoxy of Trumpism, conservative businessmen are among the first to admit the economic damage from these tariffs:

In interviews with Urban Milwaukee, all said the new tariffs will fuel inflation, raising costs for local companies, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and consumers; and that the shock waves created by the policy have the potential to send the U.S. economy into a recession.

“It’s almost unanimous concern, and I have not spoken to any business leader that’s celebrating the tariffs,” said Dale Kooyenga, President and CEO of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, describing the responses he’s heard since the tariffs were announced.

The impact is registering immediately for some businesses, Kooyenga said. Like one local company he spoke with that placed a large product order. The tariff doesn’t apply to the date of purchase, but happens when the goods hit the dock in the U.S. “And so now that their order was so large and the tariff so large,” Kooyenga noted, “it creates significant cash flow issues in a time when interest rates are high.”

The new tariffs will produce a price shock for the local building and trades industry and construction budgets, said Dan Bukiewicz, President of the Milwaukee Building & Trades Council and mayor of the City of Oak Creek. “The reaction is not good,” said Bukiewicz. “From the contractors that perform construction work to small business owners that supply everything from safety vests to gloves, hard hats, safety glasses: [the price of] everything’s going up.” 

See Graham Kilmer, Tariffs Will Hurt Business, Workers in Wisconsin (‘Local business, labor and university experts warn that tariffs will lead to a recession’), Urban Milwaukee, April 7, 2025.

All these loud and proud local anti-tax men supported a candidate who has now inflicted worse than anything they’ve ever complained about.

______

  1. See FREE WHITEWATER, Quick Observations on a Weekend, April 6, 2025. Many of these Trumpists, despite a few having pretensions otherwise, are and will always be Facebook types. See FREE WHITEWATER, Facebook Discussions as Displays of Ignorance, Fallacies, and Marginal Literacy, July 31, 2020. Their preferred medium is more disordered today than it was in 2020. ↩︎

Barred Owl Female Rises To Show Off Duo Of Fluffy Owlets – April 10, 2025:

Watch the female lift up during mealtime to show off her two adorable owlets. The nestlings are 3 and 4 days old as of April 10. Brooding is done solely by the female, and she remains a near constant presence at the nest for at least two weeks until the owlets are large enough to spend some time in the box alone.

Daily Bread, Economics, Economy, Hypocrisy, Ignorance, Tariffs, Taxes/Taxation, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 4.11.25: Clueless and Cowed

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 53. Sunrise is 6:19 and sunset is 7:33, for 13 hours, 14 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1945, American forces liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp:

A detachment of troops of the U.S. 9th Armored Infantry Battalion, from the 6th Armored Division, part of the U.S. Third Army, and under the command of Captain Frederic Keffer, arrived at Buchenwald on 11 April 1945 at 3:15 p.m. (now the permanent time of the clock at the entrance gate). The soldiers were given a hero’s welcome, with the emaciated survivors finding the strength to toss some liberators into the air in celebration.

Later in the day, elements of the U.S. 83rd Infantry Division overran Langenstein, one of a number of smaller camps comprising the Buchenwald complex. There, the division liberated over 21,000 prisoners, ordered the mayor of Langenstein to send food and water to the camp, and hurried medical supplies forward from the 20th Field Hospital.

We hear so much from this rightwing party, from its leaders and activists across the nation, state, and city about low taxes. And yet, and yet, they supported the leader who said time and again that he would raise tariffs. These tariffs are taxes on Americans. Across Wisconsin, the Congressional Republicans who’d scream and squeal at the very mention of taxes are now silent:

A handful of Republicans on Capitol Hill are pushing to give Congress more oversight over President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, but Wisconsin’s Republicans are not among them. 

In interviews with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the state’s GOP delegation largely dismissed questions about legislative oversight, instead praising the president for imposing the levies — some of which were temporarily paused this week — on scores of foreign trading partners.

Sen. Ron Johnson, the only member of the delegation to publicly express concerns over the tariffs, on Thursday predicted measures aimed at giving Congress a bigger role in the tariff process would fail. And Wisconsin’s House members stood in line with Trump’s moves this week that have shaken global markets. 

“I like the way it’s playing out, actually,” Rep. Scott Fitzgerald said Tuesday, when asked if Congress should play an oversight role on the implementation of the tariffs. “I think after a couple days, it’s playing out pretty well.”

See Lawrence Andrea, Wisconsin Republicans silent on tariff oversight as colleagues push for Congress to have a say, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 11, 2025.

Fitzgerald: not merely ignorant, but confidently proud of it.

Note well: At no time, over these many years, have any economic concerns that I have expressed at FREE WHITEWATER ever been about my situation; this libertarian blogger has no personal complaints to make. (Nor would I make them here, even if I had any.)

It’s simply the case that so very many loud & proud anti-tax men are silent on tariffs (being too ignorant or too hypocritical to admit how destructive they are).

World’s oldest gorilla celebrates 68th birthday at Berlin zoo:

Fatou, the world’s oldest gorilla, was presented with a basket full of fruits and vegetables as she celebrated her 68th birthday at the Berlin zoo.

Courts, Daily Bread, Elections, Musk, Scott Walker, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 4.10.25: That Was Walker’s Plan? Well, It Was Dumb Enough to Be Walker’s Plan…

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 46. Sunrise is 6:21 and sunset is 7:31, for 13 hours, 11 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 95 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 837, Halley’s Comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU (3.2 million miles).

Yesterday’s post here at FREE WHITEWATER was about Scott Walker’s irrelevance to current Wisconsin politics. See Scott Walker, Man from Another Era. Bruce Murphy, at Urban Milwaukee, has a revealing post about how Walker tried, and failed miserably, to become relevant again. (As Murphy perceptively notes, the story depends on accepting the veracity of Walker’s account of Walker’s behind-the-scenes conduct.) Murphy lays out the details:

Musk’s approach, if we can believe Scott Walker, came from a plan hatched by Walker and the former Republican governor’s political consultant Keith Gilkes. Their pitch was for Musk to get involved in the Wisconsin race as he did in the presidential race in November. “You were effective in Wisconsin, and you can be effective in this race again in Wisconsin,” Walker said he told Musk.

Except. Musk spent money on a presidential race that polls showed was very close and with Trump leading. A relatively safe investment. And a race so close that the Musk super PAC canvassing voters door-to-door could get a big return from turning out a relatively small number of voters compared to the total number voting in Wisconsin and other swing states in November. Trump won Wisconsin by just over 29,300 votes, a margin of less than 1 percent.

Which is a very different situation than the Supreme Court race in Wisconsin. The state’s previous high court race, in 2023, with the abortion the key issue, was an 11% loss for the conservatives, with liberal Janet Protasiewicz defeating conservative Dan Kelly by more than 203,000 votes. Granted, Schimel was a better candidate than Kelly, but abortion was still going to be a major issue in this year’s election. Moreover, we now know that Republicans knew Crawford was ahead in the race and their polls showed Schimel’s high point in the polls was five points behind. In short, this would not be like the presidential election, where a relatively small increase in turnout could decide the election.

See Bruce Murphy, How Much Did Musk Pay Per Vote?, Urban Milwaukee, April 8, 2025.

Astonishing. This could have been Walker’s plan: it is, after all, Foxconn-level thinking. If Walker is to be believed, Walker was able to persuade Musk to waste tens of millions on a race that Schimel was losing and was likely to keep on losing once the radioactive Musk became involved.

Walker likely did concoct this plan, and get Musk to go along. There is, after all, no evidence whatsoever that the only person who could have concocted a worse plan was involved in the Wisconsin election.

Wile Coyote GIFfrom Wile Coyote GIFs

Advice from cattosbeingcattos:

Daily Bread, Scott Walker, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 4.9.25: Scott Walker, Man from Another Era

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will see evening showers with a high of 46. Sunrise is 6:22 and sunset is 7:30, for 13 hours, 8 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 89.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1865, Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the war.

Scott Walker, former governor of Wisconsin and one-time presidential candidate, spoke in Madison this week. Walker is the president of Young America’s Foundation. It’s a position far from the current center of Republican gravity (in Wisconsin or nationally): far past the asteroid belt, much closer to Neptune than Earth. Walker has a well-paid gig, wears a tie, and appears occasionally to speak. He’s also desperate to trim any position he ever had to remain topical. Here’s Walker describing Trump’s anti-market tariffs:

MADISON – Former Gov. Scott Walker says he’s no fan of tariffs but he’s willing to give President Donald Trump’s gamble on taxing foreign imports a chance.

Walker spoke Monday night to about 100 students and members of the public gathered at UW’s Grainger Hall for an event hosted by Young America’s Foundation, of which Walker is the president.

Walker, who spoke on a variety of topics, said he isn’t typically supportive of tariffs and favors open trade.

But, he said, Trump is doing what he believes needs to be done to get America back on the same playing field as everyone else. Walker said that if anyone had read Trump’s book, “The Art of the Deal,” they would know he’s a fan of tariffs.

“I think that can end up being a good thing as long as we eventually get the free trade because again, then Americans can compete,” he said. “We can innovate.”

See Laura Schulte, Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says Trump’s tariffs should end by Labor Day, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 8, 2025.

Walker is for free trade, unless Trump believes otherwise. Disorder can be a good thing as long as we get order again eventually, filthiness can be a good thing as long as we get cleanliness eventually, illness can be a good thing as long as we are healthy eventually.

It would be better to have order, cleanliness, and health from the start. Walker’s too weak, too needy, to speak sensibly.

A ridiculous man, one of many.

Drone footage shows collapsed roof of Dominican Republic nightclub:

Search efforts continued early on Wednesday after more than 100 people died in a nightclub roof collapse in the Dominican Republic. The popular Dominican merengue singer Rubby Pérez was performing at the Jet Set nightclub when the disaster took place shortly after midnight on Tuesday and was among those killed. Local media said there were between 500 and 1,000 people in the club when the roof collapsed at about 12.44am on Tuesday. The club had capacity for about 1,700 people. Nearly 100 dead in Dominican Republic nightclub roof collapse

Courts, Daily Bread, Gableman, Law, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 4.8.25: Updates on the Careers of Gableman and Bradley

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 42. Sunrise is 6:24 and sunset is 7:29, for 13 hours, 5 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 83 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Tech Park Innovation Center Advisory Board meets at 8:30 AM, the Public Works Committee at 5 PM, and the Community Development Authority at 6 PM.

On this day in 1820, the Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos.

There are updates on the careers of influential two Wisconsinites.

Michael Gableman, former justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and thereafter Speaker Robin Vos’s selection as a paid election conspiracy theorist, has struck a deal with the Office of Lawyer Regulation:

Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who led a widely derided review of the 2020 presidential election,  searching for evidence for baseless accusations of fraud, will have his law license suspended for three years, according to a stipulated agreement between him and the state Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR). 

Law Forward, the progressive voting rights focused firm, filed a grievance against Gableman with the OLR in 2023. The OLR filed a complaint against Gableman in November that alleged, among other counts, that he had failed to “provide competent representation” and to “abstain from all offensive personality” and of violating attorney-client privilege.

The allegations against Gableman stemmed from his treatment of the mayors of Green Bay and Madison, whom he threatened with jail time during his review, false statements he made during testimony to legislative committees, violating the state’s open records laws, breaching his contract with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and, when OLR began investigating him, “making false statements” to the investigators in an affidavit. 

As part of the stipulated agreement, Gableman admitted that “he cannot successfully defend against the allegations of misconduct … and agrees that the allegations of the complaint provide an adequate factual basis in the record.” 

See Henry Redman, Gableman’s law license suspended for three years, Wisconsin Examiner, April 7, 2025.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court will have to approve the agreement between the parties, as is likely. A three-year suspension is lenient; Gableman’s conduct merits permanent disbarment. Vos, regrettably, remains in office despite his own role in selecting (and tolerating too long) Gableman’s cascade of lies.

Screenshot Rebecca Bradley April 5, 2025

When one last heard from Justice Rebecca Bradley, she was bitterly complaining expressing mild disappointment with Judge Susan Crawford’s election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Bradley’s now announced that she will run again next year:

MADISON – Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley said this week she plans to seek another 10-year term in 2026, setting in motion another high-pitched battle for a seat on the state’s highest court.

….

State appeals judge Chris Taylor, a former Democratic state lawmaker, told the Journal Sentinel on Saturday she is considering running for the seat.

Bradley, appointed to the court by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker in 2015 and elected for a full 10-year term in 2016, announced just days after liberals secured control of the court until 2028.

….

Bradley also has been floated as a contender to replace retiring federal judge Diane Sykes on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, which would be a lifetime appointment.

She told Wispolitics she is focused on Wisconsin at the moment.

See Molly Beck, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley announces she’ll seek another 10-year term, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 5, 2025.

At the moment: unless something more secure comes along.

Philippine volcano erupts, shooting ash cloud kilometers into the sky:

America, City, Daily Bread, Local Government, Never Trump, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 4.5.25: Go Outside

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 50. Sunrise is 6:29 and sunset is 7:26, for 12 hours, 57 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 54.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1938, two days after the Nationalist army occupied the Catalan city of Lleida, dictator Francisco Franco decrees the abolition of the Generalitat (the autonomous government of Catalonia), the self-government granted by the Republic, and the official status of the Catalan language.

Our people have a centuries-long tradition of protest. Today, across this continent, Americans will exercise that right against Trump and Musk. There are both in-person and virtual events to which the American people are cordially invited. (You don’t need to be a Democrat, as I am not. Patriotism is your only necessary credential.) There’s no location for Whitewater, but other nearby by locations await (including Walworth, Janesville, Stoughton, Beloit, and Madison):

Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. They’re taking everything they can get their hands on, and daring the world to stop them. On Saturday, April 5th, we’re taking to the streets nationwide to fight back with a clear message: Hands off!

A beginning only: every movement and every coalition has a beginning. Start, then keep going.

Even now, the world watches:

Authoritarian Populism, Authoritarianism, City, Daily Bread, Economics, Economy, Local Government, Nativism, Never Trump, Recession, Special Interests, Tariffs, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 4.4.25: Is Hyperlocal Politics Finally Dead?

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 50. Sunrise is 6:31 and sunset is 7:25, for 12 hours, 54 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 45.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1865, a day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, President Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.

In this last generation, Whitewater, Wisconsin has felt the effects of national calamities: the Great Recession, a pandemic, an insurrection, and now a trade war.

In each case, a small group of local men and women carried on as though local affairs were paramount1; in each case, they did so while conditions in the city grew worse from those national calamities.

Now comes another calamity, and with it a few likelihoods.

Those who supported the authoritarian movement that made a pandemic worse, inspired an insurrection, the return to power of a would-be king, and now a global economic crisis will never admit that they were wrong. Never. They wanted this and they will continue to want this, all of it.

Those who cannot see past Townline Road won’t develop broader horizons. It’s all roads, press releases, and sanewashing with that crew. They’ll keep thinking that if you talk to a hyena in a soft voice that foul creature will give up meat for vegetables. They’d probably keep thinking this even as that carnivore crunched on the nearest human femur2.

There are, however, many more residents in this city, in this state, and this nation who will stand opposed to wholesale ruin.

Of that ruin, there are months and years of damage3 ahead, with this only a portion:

Is “recession” now spelled T-A-R-I-F-F? 

Markets were gripped by the recession trade after President Trump’s tariffs on Wednesday threatened a global trade war. Treasury yields, stock futures and the dollar all plunged.

This isn’t mere market hyperbole. Thursday was only the sixth time in history that the S&P 500 had fallen more than 4% while the dollar also fell more than 1%—with investors shocked that the greenback had failed in its usual role as a safe haven.

The carnage in the markets might be just the beginning: If the biggest U.S. tax rise since at least the 1950s causes the economy to shrink, stocks and Treasury yields still have a long way to go down.

As recessions take hold, stocks are hit both by lower earnings and by lower valuations, as spending falls and savers switch to safer assets. Defensive stocks better able to maintain sales—such as sellers of food and other household staples—beat those selling optional purchases such as luxury goods and cars, known as cyclicals.

See James Mackintosh, Market Upheaval From Trump’s Tariffs Could Be Just the Beginning, Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2025.

______

  1. By contrast, this libertarian blogger has argued that the betterment of the city comes from applying the best of the nation. See FREE WHITEWATER, ‘How Many Rights for Whitewater?’, ‘What Standards for Whitewater?’, and ‘Methods, Standards, Goals’ (2013). ↩︎
  2. The last words of these sad types would likely be along the lines of ‘but I tried to be bipartisan!’ ↩︎
  3. The greater losses have been and will be to individual rights. ↩︎

We’ll have more than egg prices to worry about:

See Matt Grossman, Near-Term Inflation Expectations Surge, Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2025.

City, Courts, Daily Bread, Economy, Local Government, Nativism, Special Interests, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 4.3.25: Adding Another Threat for the Nation, State, and City

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 50. Sunrise is 6:33 and sunset is 7:23, for 12 hours, 51 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 34.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Arts Commission meets at 5 PM, and the Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1865,  Union forces capture Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy.

In October, writing about the scariest things in Whitewater for the year, this libertarian blogger listed the two worst threats to the city as special interests and nativism. Later, in February, I wrote that there was now only one notable kind of conservative in Whitewater, as only the conservative populists matter politically (‘a conservative might imagine himself as something else (a traditionalist or a deal-maker), and might be something else, but only in his house or in his head’).

There’s one more threat to add to the list, brought about by the same movement that is responsible for the other three: A third global recession in 20 years looms.

There’s always someone who thinks that this predatory movement will see the error of its ways. It won’t, not now, not ever. It may lose its grip on the nation, but it will fall to a majority of others outside that movement to turn it aside.

Those who’ve gone this far, these dead-enders, will never repent of the their conduct, of the damage they’ve caused others.

On the contrary, they’ve never been more assured, more self-justified, than now.

The most conservative justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court — she is — seems upset:

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley on Crawford: "I think the way Judge Crawford ran her race was disgusting…I'm not looking forward to working with her. She's bought and paid for by the Democratic Party." Via Vanessa Kjeldsen

— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.bsky.social) April 2, 2025 at 10:15 AM

City, Daily Bread, Elections, Schimel, School District, Susan Crawford, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 4.2.25: Statewide and Local in Whitewater

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 68. Sunrise is 6:34 and sunset is 7:22, for 12 hours, 48 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 22.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Lakes Advisory Committee meets at 4:30 PM, the Public Arts Commission at 5 PM, and the Starin Park Water Tower Committee meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1865,  Union troops led by Philip Sheridan decisively defeat Confederate troops led by George Pickett, cutting the Army of Northern Virginia’s last supply line during the Siege of Petersburg.

The Wisconsin event of the moment: Susan Crawford — intelligent, knowledgeable, and of a proper judicial temperament — won a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In every way that could possibly matter, she was the better candidate.

The statewide race wasn’t close, as Crawford won by over 200,000 votes and ten percentage points. See Patrick Marley, Liberal projected to win Wisconsin Supreme Court race in blow to Trump, Washington Post, April 2, 2025 and Wisconsin Supreme Court Election Result, New York Times, April 2, 2025.

How did Crawford do in the City of Whitewater?

Crawford2,56268%
Schimel1,18932%

How did the School District Referendum fare only in the City of Whitewater (passing by a smaller margin districtwide)?

Yes2,09761%
No1,35739%

How did the Police & EMT Referendum fare in the City of Whitewater?

Yes1,88054%
No1,59946%

Judge Crawford ran ahead of either referendum.

Although a good day, other and challenging days lie ahead for the nation, state, and city.

Planets, Lyrid meteors, the moon and more in April 2025 skywatching:

Jupiter and the crescent moon start off and end the month together. Find out where to see Mars and Venus as well. The Lyrid Meteor Shower peaks on the night of April 21-22. Amazing globular cluster M3 is also available for skywatchers this month.

America, Authoritarian Populism, Authoritarianism, Daily Bread, Elections, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 4.1.25: Wisconsin’s Election Is Only One Moment in a Long Conflict

by  • 

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 42. Sunrise is 6:36 and sunset is 7:21, for 12 hours, 45 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 14.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1865,  Union troops led by Philip Sheridan decisively defeat Confederate troops led by George Pickett, cutting the Army of Northern Virginia’s last supply line during the Siege of Petersburg.

At the Journal Sentinel, Craig Gilbert writes How the election for Wisconsin Supreme Court became ‘a giant political science experiment’:

It’s also — to borrow a phrase I’ve heard more than once from people close to the campaign — a “giant political science experiment.”

What happens when you spend far more money than anybody ever has on a judicial election?

What happens when you do it in America’s most competitive state?

What happens when you do it at a moment of extreme political polarization?

What happens when the world’s richest man makes the election his personal project?

What happens when voters are told that an election for Wisconsin Supreme Court is really about Donald Trump (at a time when Trump is gradually becoming more unpopular)?  

What happens when all this occurs in the fever pitch of the most turbulent launch of an American presidency in anyone’s memory?

We’ll find out.

See Craig Gilbert, Gilbert: How the election for Wisconsin Supreme Court became ‘a giant political science experiment’, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 1, 2025.

Gilbert’s implication that these questions are meaningful is false, and worse than false, it’s nonsense.

We are well past the point of ordinary political assessments through the concepts of conventional political science (let alone a political consultant’s views, honest to goodness). There are serious men and women who look at these days and see attempts to overturn the constitutional order. America now has a large authoritarian movement, a large authoritarian party, obedient to an authoritarian leader.

Gilbert, like many of yesterday’s men and women, cannot grasp how much the nation has changed. Poor man lost his paradigm and can’t see as much. Less political consulting and more political philosophy might have avoided this myopia. America, Wisconsin, and Whitewater are chock-a-block with people like this1.

Many other men and women, across all America, will make the difference in the years ahead. A few national figures are familiar, but many others will emerge, in places and circumstances yet unknown to us.

______

  1. Especially: Those who seek bipartisanship with jackals, hyenas, and wolves will only find themselves no longer bipedal. Every town has too many versions of Senator Schumer. ↩︎

Icelandic town and Blue Lagoon spa evacuated after volcanic eruption:

Authoritarian Populism, Authoritarianism, Courts, Daily Bread, Elections, Law, Musk, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 3.31.25: Musk Has a Good Time in Green Bay

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will see wind gusts and a high of 46. Sunrise is 6:38 and sunset is 7:20, for 12 hours, 42 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 6.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater School Board meets at 7 PM.

On this day in 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry signs the Convention of Kanagawa with the Tokugawa Shogunate, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.

Update No. 2: Turns out Nicholas Jacobs, one of the winners of a million dollars, wasn’t an ordinary attendee but a Wisconsin College Republicans chairman:

One of the recipients of Elon Musk’s $1 million checks at his event in Green Bay Sunday night is the chairman of the Wisconsin College Republicans, sparking some suspicion on social media that the giveaway was fixed.

Nicholas Jacobs, a student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, is listed as the chairman of Wisconsin’s College Republicans chapter. He has made his account private on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that Musk owns.

According to his LinkedIn account, Jacobs worked for the campaigns of U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and Rep. Derrick Van Orden. In the fall of 2024, he worked as a “ballot chase representative” for Turning Point Action, which began as a youth-focused group active on college campuses but has expanded its voter outreach operations, especially in Wisconsin.

See Hope Karnopp, Wisconsin College Republicans chairman received one of Elon Musk’s $1 million checks, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 31, 2025.

And so, and so, of the attendees the breakdown would be two winners in a room full of suckers.

Update No. 1 on yesterday’s post (Wisconsin Courts Won’t Intervene Against Musk): Elon Musk hands out $1 million payments after Wisconsin Supreme Court declines request to stop him:

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Elon Musk gave out $1 million checks on Sunday to two Wisconsin voters, declaring them spokespeople for his political group, ahead of a Wisconsin Supreme Court election that the tech billionaire cast as critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda and “the future of civilization.” 

Elon Musk presents a check for $1 million dollars to a man during a town hall Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Elon Musk presents a check for $1 million dollars to a man during a town hall Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Elon Musk presents a check for $1 million dollars during a town hall Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Elon Musk presents a check for $1 million dollars during a town hall Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

“It’s a super big deal,” he told a roughly 2,000-person crowd in Green Bay on Sunday night, taking the stage in a yellow cheesehead hat. “I’m not phoning it in. I’m here in person.”

….

A unanimous state Supreme Court on Sunday refused to hear a last-minute attempt by the state’s Democratic attorney general to stop Musk from handing over the checks to two voters, a ruling that came just minutes before the planned start of the rally.

See Scott Bauer and Thomas Beaumont, Elon Musk hands out $1 million payments after Wisconsin Supreme Court declines request to stop him, Associated Press, March 30, 2025. See also Wisconsin Supreme Court Kaul v. Musk, Case 2025CV001087, March 28, 2025.

How Tariffs Are Going To Jack Up Car Prices In The U.S.:

Authoritarian Populism, Authoritarianism, Courts, Daily Bread, Elections, Law, Musk, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 3.30.25: Wisconsin Courts Won’t Intervene Against Musk

by  • 

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 64. Sunrise is 6:40 and sunset is 7:19, for 12 hours, 39 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1867, the United States and the Russian Empire agree to the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million, about two cents/acre. The parties later ratify the agreement by treaty, and effective transfer occurs in October 1867.

It was improbable that Wisconsin courts would intervene to prevent Elon Musk from conducting a giveaway (of either hundreds of dollars or even millions of dollars) so close to the April 1st election. American courts are not dispositionally situated to address an authoritarian movement, as these movements act quickly, audaciously, and ignore both law and tradition in pursuit of their goals.

Attorney General Kaul’s litigation against Musk has come to naught:

A Wisconsin appellate court denied the state Democratic attorney general’s request to stop billionaire Elon Musk from handing over $1 million checks to two voters at a rally planned for Sunday, just two days before a closely contested Supreme Court election.

The denial Saturday by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals is the latest twist in Musk’s deep involvement in the race, which has set a record for spending in a judicial election and has become a litmus test for the opening months of Donald Trump’s presidency. Trump and Musk are backing Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel in the race, while Democrats are behind Dane County Judge Susan Crawford.

Attorney General Josh Kaul filed the lawsuit Friday, arguing that Musk’s offer violates the law. Kaul on Saturday later appealed to the state Court of Appeals, after a county court judge refused earlier in the day to hear the request for an emergency injunction to block the payments.

See Wisconsin appeals court won’t stop Musk’s $1M payments to voters after attorney general sues, Associated Press, March 29, 2025. See also the circuit court filing Kaul v. Musk, Case 2025CV001087, March 28, 2025.

Authoritarian movements do not meet their end in the courts; they meet their end through widespread protest and civil disobedience.

Global protests against Tesla CEO Elon Musk:

Agriculture, Culture, Daily Bread, Nature, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 3.29.25: Three Wisconsin Generations Tap Maple Trees

by  • 

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 68. Sunrise is 6:41 and sunset is 7:18, for 12 hours, 36 minutes of daytime. The moon is new with none of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1999, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10,000 mark (10,006.78) for the first time, during the height of the dot-com bubble.

Three generations tap maple trees during Saint Patrick’s season:

Each Saint Patrick’s Day weekend, generations of the O’Brien clan gather in the family’s maple grove to tap the sap, cook the syrup and enjoy each other’s company. The family’s creation of combination sap shed and gathering space ensures their family tradition will go on for many generations.

James Webb Space Telescope captures a ‘cosmic tornado’:

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) captured an amazing video of the outflow Herbig-Haro 49/50 (HH 49/50), a newborn star.