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Daily Bread for 9.13.24: Wisconsin Supreme Court Takes Case on Future of Elections Commission Chairwoman

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 82. Sunrise is 6:34, and sunset is 7:06, for 12h 32m 27s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 73.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1956, the IBM 305 RAMAC is introduced, the first commercial computer to use disk storage.

By Norsk Teknisk Museum – https://digitaltmuseum.org/011015239966/22-0-ibm-modell-305-ramac/media?slide=0, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=124744659

Scott Bauer reports The Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear a case on the future of the state’s elections leader:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would hear a lawsuit that could determine whether the state’s top elections official could remain in her post after Republicans who controlled the state Senate sought to fire her last year.

….

Meagan Wolfe serves as the nonpartisan administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, an agency run by a bipartisan board that oversees elections in the key presidential battleground state. Republicans unhappy with her, especially after the 2020 election won by President Joe Biden, have attempted to oust her from her job.

Wolfe has been the subject of conspiracy theories and targeted by threats from election skeptics who falsely claim she was part of a plot to rig the 2020 vote in favor of Biden. Biden defeated Donald Trump in 2020 by nearly 21,000 votes in Wisconsin, and his win has withstood two partial recounts, a nonpartisan audit, a conservative law firm’s review, and multiple state and federal lawsuits.

….

Senate Republicans voted in September 2023 to fire Wolfe, despite objections from Democrats and the Legislature’s nonpartisan attorneys, who said the Senate didn’t have the authority to vote at that time because Wolfe was a holdover in her position and had not been reappointed.

Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul sued to challenge that vote, and in court filings, Republican legislative leaders changed course and claimed their vote to fire Wolfe was merely “symbolic” and had no legal effect. They also asked the judge to order the elections commission to appoint an administrator for the Senate to vote on.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Ann Peacock, in a January ruling, said Wolfe is legally serving as administrator of the elections commission as a holdover given that the commission deadlocked on whether to reappoint her. The Senate’s vote to remove her had no legal effect and the commission has no duty to appoint a new leader while Wolfe is serving as a holdover, Peacock ruled.

Republican leaders of the Legislature appealed and asked the state Supreme Court to take the case directly, skipping a state appeals court, which it agreed to do on Wednesday.

It’s astonishing how many repercussions and lawsuits Wisconsin has endured from election conspiracists.


Hikers caught in torrential downpour in the Grand Canyon:

Hikers touring the Grand Canyon in Arizona had to stop for shelter while heavy rainwater fell. The downpour caused flash floods in the area.

Daily Bread for 9.12.24: The Extremism of Election Conspiracy Theorists

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 85. Sunrise is 6:32, and sunset is 7:08, for 12h 35m 19s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 64 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

This day in 490 BC is the conventionally accepted date for the Battle of Marathon at which the Athenians and their Plataean allies defeat the first Persian invasion force of Greece.


One of two election law cases before the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday reveals the extremism of election conspiracy theorists. Of that case (Wisconsin Voter Alliance v. Secord) and one other, Henry Redman reports in Wisconsin Supreme Court hears arguments in two election cases:

The first case involves a right-wing election conspiracy group, Wisconsin Voter Alliance, which has spent years casting doubt on the results of the 2020 election by alleging fraud in the state’s election system. The group, founded by conspiracy theorist Ron Heuer, has been filing records requests with counties across the state seeking documents showing the identities of people in Wisconsin who have been declared incompetent by a judge and had their right to vote taken away. 

….

The Wisconsin Voter Alliance has asked for the names and addresses of people who have been declared incompetent in guardianship cases so the group can compare that list with the voter rolls in the statewide voter registration database and find any people who have been voting despite having the right to do so taken away. County officials across the state have been denying these requests because state law requires that any court records in these cases “pertinent” to the declaration of incompetency be kept secret. 

Open access to public records is a right, and a significant one, but not unlimited. Here, a private party wants to conduct its own examination, but as Redman reports the argument from Walworth County’s counsel, there is already a lawful public process to investigate people declared incompetent from voting:

Samuel Hall, the attorney representing Walworth County, argued the law requires that these records be kept confidential. 

“Now the purpose behind the request and who the requesters are, as noble as they may be, are irrelevant under Wisconsin public records law,” Hall said. “The truth of the matter is that the District 2 Court of Appeals decision blasts open the door for the personal information of some of the most vulnerable people in our communities to be broadcast, not only to those with noble and good intentions, but to those who might do these folks harm or seek to defraud them.” 

He added that to the extent that there is an interest in conducting oversight of this government function — in which the court system is required to make local election clerks aware of decisions so the clerks can update voting records — there are plenty of avenues to do so without a private citizen or organization getting access to information state law deems confidential. 

“To the extent that there’s a desire to have oversight or a watchdog, per se, it doesn’t need to be done by a private individual or a private organization. Voting when ineligible to do so is a class I felony,” Hall said. “If there is a concern that that is going on, reporting it to law enforcement, reporting it to a local sheriff, could lead to a criminal investigation. We have a legislative process where even, you know, the Assembly or Senate could conduct inquiries, or the Wisconsin Elections Commission itself could conduct inquiries. None of that has happened here. This is a private organization seeking personal information of court documents that the Legislature has already deemed closed.” 

That’s spot on: a private party’s right to review incompetency records has already been decided by the Legislature. (That this private party would very much like to see these records doesn’t matter; it’s law not private feeling that should govern here.)


SpaceX Polaris Dawn crew steps out of capsule for first private spacewalk:

Daily Bread for 9.10.24: Baldwin Leads Hovde

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 81. Sunrise is 6:30, and sunset is 7:11, for 12h 41m 02s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 43.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 5 PM, and her Community Involvement and Cable TV Commission also meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 1846, Elias Howe is granted a patent for the sewing machine.


A recent CBS poll of US Senate races simply confirms what’s evident in Wisconsin: Baldwin leads Hovde. Kabir Kanna reports CBS News poll for 2024 Senate races shows Democrats lead in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin:

Though Democrats face a formidable U.S. Senate map in 2024, they’re currently ahead in three key races. 

In CBS News’ first poll of the race for Michigan’s open Senate seat, Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin is leading former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers by seven points. Meanwhile, Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin are ahead in their reelection bids by seven points and eight points, respectively.

….

Two months lie ahead, but Wisconsin’s a tough state for a carpetbagger. See also  Tim Michels 2.0 Eric Hovde Announces U.S. Senate Run.


Hydration:

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

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 for 9.2.24: Labor Day

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 74. Sunrise is 6:22, and sunset is 7:25, for 13h 03m 42s of daytime. The moon is new with 0.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1945, the Japanese Instrument of Surrender is signed by Japan and the major warring powers aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Japanese Government on board the USS Missouri (BB-63) on 2 September 1945. Lieutenant General Richard K. Sutherland, U.S. Army, watches from the opposite side of the table. Foreign Ministry representative Toshikazu Kase is assisting Mr. Shigemitsu. Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives. By Army Signal Corps photographer LT. Stephen E. Korpanty; restored by Adam Cuerden – Naval Historical Center Photo # SC 213700, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93758525

A reminder, although one shouldn’t be needed: free markets are markets in capital, labor, and goods & services. Not one — all. Erik Gunn writes Report shows improvements for Wisconsin workers while shortcomings persist:

Wisconsin workers’ wages are up and the racial and gender gaps they face are smaller, says a new Labor Day report. But the gaps haven’t been eliminated and challenges such as the scarcity and cost of child care continue to keep some in the state who want jobs from joining the workforce.

Those and other trends are mapped in the 2024 edition of The State of Working Wisconsin, released just before the Labor Day weekend by the High Road Strategy Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The Working Wisconsin report examines the economy from the vantage point of how it affects workers. It is issued annually by the center, a nonprofit that researches and promotes solutions to social problems that focus on “shared growth and opportunity, environmental sustainability, and resilient democratic institutions as necessary and achievable complements in human development.”

See also State of Working Wisconsin 2024:

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The US Department of Labor presents The History of Labor Day:

Daily Bread for 8.30.24: Poet Anja Notanja Sieger Types Your Story

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 79. Sunrise is 6:18, and sunset is 7:31, for 13h 12m 05s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 11.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1862,  Wisconsin troops rest on the White House lawn:

The 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin Infantry regiments fought in the Second Battle of Bull Run. By the end of this third day, more than 18,000 soldiers had been killed or wounded and Union forces had been pushed back to Washington, D.C. When the Wisconsin regiments arrived in Washington, they rested on the White House lawn. According to historian Frank Klement, “President Lincoln came out with a pail of water in one hand and a dipper in the other. He moved among the men, offering water to the tired and thirsty. Some Wisconsin soldiers drank from the common dipper and thanked the President for his kindness.”

On this day in 1945, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Douglas MacArthur, lands at Atsugi Air Force Base.


‘Writing is listening’ Poet Anja Notanja Sieger types your story | Wisconsin Life:

Setting up a vintage typewriter in public spaces throughout Milwaukee, poet and performance artist Anja Notanja Sieger crafts custom poems on demand that create intimate connections with her audience. From anxious poems to marriage vows, Sieger’s spontaneous creativity has made her and her typewriter poetry beloved in the city’s cultural scene.

Daily Bread for 8.28.24: Live by Siphoning, Perish by Siphoning

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 83. Sunrise is 6:16, and sunset is 7:34, for 13h 17m 38s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 27.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Lakes Advisory Committee meets at 4:30 PM, and the Finance Committee meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1830, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad‘s new Tom Thumb steam locomotive races a horse-drawn car, presaging steam’s role in U.S. railroads.


Yesterday’s post looked at the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s dismissal of a complaint designed to keep the Green Party off the Wisconsin 2024 presidential ballot. See Green Party Worries Needlessly about Risks to Its Vote-Siphoning Operation in Wisconsin.

And look, and look: in an alternative history of our time, there might have been a legitimate Green Party candidate fighting for environmental issues, etc. That’s not Jill Stein. She is Putin’s catspaw: easily a fellow traveler, if not a fifth columnist. Her presence on the ballot serves only to siphon votes from the Democratic candidate. In this way, the right judicial decision (to keep her on the ballot) turns out to be the wrong political decision (Stein’s candidacy serves only those at home and abroad who would weaken American liberal democracy).

If, however, the adversaries of the American liberal democratic tradition won a small victory by keeping Stein on the ballot to pull left-learning voters, they suffered an equal defeat yesterday when the Wisconsin Elections Commission ruled to keep Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the Wisconsin ballot. MAGA-supporting RFK Jr. wanted to be off the Wisconsin ballot precisely because he knows (with what’s left of his brain) that he draws from MAGA-leaning voters.

Live by siphoning, perish by siphoning. These scheming candidates and their foreign backers are as risible as they are wrong.

Through all this, the right choice is stark and the imperative clear: Harris-Walz. Never Trump means never Trump.


Daily Bread for 8.27.24: Green Party Worries Needlessly about Risks to Its Vote-Siphoning Operation in Wisconsin

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 94. Sunrise is 6:15, and sunset is 7:36, for 13h 23m 08s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 37.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1832, Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk tribe of Native Americans, surrenders to U.S. authorities, ending the Black Hawk War.

On this day in 1878,  Christopher Latham Sholes patents the typewriter:

The idea for this invention began at Kleinsteuber’s Machine Shop in Milwaukee in the late 1860s. A mechanical engineer by training, Sholes, along with associates Carlos Glidden and Samuel Soulé, spent hours tinkering with the idea. They mounted the key of an old telegraph instrument on a base and tapped down on it to hit carbon & paper against a glass plate. This idea was simple, but in 1868 the mere idea that type striking against paper might produce an image was a novelty. Sholes proceeded to construct a machine to reproduce the entire alphabet. The prototype was sent to Washington as the required Patent Model. This original model still exists at the Smithsonian. Investor James Densmore provided the marketing impetus that eventually brought the machine to the Remington Arms Company. Although Remington mass-marketed his typewriter beginning in 1874, it was not an instant success. A few years later, improvements made by Remington engineers gave the machine its market appeal and sales skyrocketed. [Source: Wisconsin Lore and Legends, p.41]


Last week, advocates for the Green Party expressed alarm that the Wisconsin Supreme Court asked that political party to file briefs in a lawsuit from the Wisconsin Democrats aimed at keeping the Greens off the November ballot. Wisconsin’s high court gave the Greens a tight deadline, leading the party to contend it was being treated unfairly.

Yesterday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court dismissed the suit aimed at keeping the Greens off the ballot. The Greens misunderstood the purpose of the tight deadline to file briefs. Henry Redman reports that

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit from the Democratic National Committee challenging Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein’s placement on the ballot in November. 

With just one day before the Wisconsin Elections Commission decides which candidates will be allowed on the ballot this fall, the Court moved quickly in the case, asking parties late last week to file briefs in response to the Democrats’ petition to the Court before the Green Party of Wisconsin even had a lawyer. 

The Democrats had previously filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) against the Green Party’s candidate for president, Jill Stein, alleging she should not be placed on the state’s presidential ballot because the Green Party of Wisconsin does not have official state officers who can serve as presidential electors.

The WEC denied the Democrats’ complaint on a technicality, prompting the party to bring the lawsuit to the Supreme Court. 

Earlier this year, the WEC voted to allow the Green Party onto the ballot because it got at least 1% of the vote in a statewide election in 2022. 

(Emphasis added.)

The Wisconsin Supreme Court set an accelerated briefing deadline not to burden the Greens but to dispose of the complaint against them before the Elections Commission meeting.

Admittedly, there’s something laughable about an established political party (Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has been running for president, while simping for Putin, for years) whose Wisconsin Party officials whine that

According to Michael J. White, co-chair of the Wisconsin Green Party, his party had no legal representation in Wisconsin when he was notified of the court order.

“That just strikes me as a little bit unreasonable,” he told WPR on Thursday afternoon.

Pete Karas, the state Green Party’s elections chair, said they found a lawyer “around midnight” after “a zillion phone calls.” That lawyer is Milwaukee-area attorney Michael Dean.

The next morning, the party sent out a mass email to its followers asking for donations.

“Lawyers are expensive, and we need your help today to ensure we can pay for these much-needed legal fees,” the mailer said.

Funny that the Green Party didn’t have a Wisconsin lawyer beforehand. One would have expected a better level of preparation from a 2024 vote-siphoning operation.


Daily Bread for 8.26.24: A New Season (The Best Season) Draws Close

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 92. Sunrise is 6:14, and sunset is 7:37, for 13h 23m 08s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 48.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1920,  the 19th Amendment to United States Constitution takes effect, giving women the right to vote.


Wisconsin’s breathtaking fall landscapes:


New robot will clean up dangerous ‘space junk’:

Space is littered with man-made trash that threatens satellites, space missions and life on Earth. A newly designed European Space Agency robot will drag the junk back toward Earth, where it will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere or drop into the ocean.

Daily Bread for 8.22.24: More (and Less) Important Political Trends

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 76. Sunrise is 6:10, and sunset is 7:44, for 13h 34m 01s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 88.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Board of Zoning Appeals meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1902, Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to make a public appearance in an automobile.

On this day in 1920, native Milwaukee runner Arlie Schardt won a gold medal in the 3,000-meter team race at the Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium. Schardt was part of a three-man team that included Hal Brown and Ivan Dresser.


There’s more than one political trend at play in Wisconsin: Craig Gilbert writes As DNC gathers, Democrats grapple with its fall among Wisconsin’s rural voters and Bruce Thompson writes WOW Counties Turning Less Republican (‘Ozaukee and Waukesha now less red while Washington County resists the trend’).

These stories aren’t equally useful, and it’s easy to see why. Gilbert wants to highlight continued decline of Democrats in rural counties, but the story head doesn’t match the story itself:

The Democratic Party’s geographic foothold has shrunk in Wisconsin, amid a plunge in support among rural voters in the central, western and northern counties.

The new election map has a lot less “blue” than the old one.

That hasn’t stopped Democrats from winning big elections, which it has done with regularity in the Trump era. Winning statewide races is not about winning the most counties or the greatest acreage, but the most votes.

(Emphasis added.)

Those areas where one finds the most votes are also where most people live, and where legislative districts are situated by population. The headline says trouble (Democrats have to ‘grapple’) but results in statewide race after statewide race say otherwise.

The decline among Democrats in low-population areas is offset by gains among Democrats in areas of high population. Bruce Thompson writes:

The Milwaukee area is following the national trend in which close-in suburbs become increasingly Democratic, while more rural areas become more Republican. Though there are many theories on what is driving this trend, it still remains something of a mystery. But clearly the trend is changing two of the three WOW counties.

The increasingly blue Milwaukee area has a greater population than the rural counties that Gilbert over-emphasizes.

Two analyses, Gilbert’s and Thompson’s, but only the latter presents the key trends perceptively all the way through from head to tail.


Tiger almost bites woman’s hand at New Jersey zoo (Alternative Title: Do Not Pet Zoo Tigers):

New Jersey authorities shared footage of a woman putting a hand through the fence in a tiger enclosure at the Cohanzick Zoo.

Daily Bread for 8.21.24: Wisconsin’s Capitol Building

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 74. Sunrise is 6:09, and sunset is 7:45, for 13h 36m 42s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 95 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Parks & Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1911, The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee.


Always striking:


How Atoms Are Defying Gravity in NASA’s Cold Atom Lab:

NASA’s Cold Atom Lab studies the quantum nature of atoms, the building blocks of our universe, in a place that is out of this world – the International Space Station. This animated explainer explores what quantum science is and why NASA wants to do it in space. Quantum science has revolutionized our understanding of the physical world and led to new technologies including cellphones, computers, medical devices, and GPS. However, Earth’s gravity poses challenges for studying the quantum behaviors of atoms. To overcome those challenges, Cold Atom Lab operates in microgravity. Using lasers and magnetic fields, scientists run the lab remotely from Earth, cooling groups of atoms to temperatures colder than any naturally occurring matter in the universe. Cold atoms, nearly motionless, reveal their behaviors more clearly. The absence of Earth’s gravity allows for prolonged atom study, opening new avenues in quantum exploration.

Daily Bread for 8.18.24: Prof. Anthony Chergosky on Wisconsin’s 2024 Partisan Primary Vote

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 78. Sunrise is 6:06, and sunset is 7:50, for 13h 44m 40s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1937, a lightning strike starts the Blackwater Fire of 1937 in Shoshone National Forest, killing 15 firefighters within three days and prompting the United States Forest Service to develop their smokejumper program.


Anthony Chergosky on Wisconsin’s 2024 partisan primary vote:

UW-La Crosse political science professor Anthony Chergosky considers the rejection of two proposed state constitutional amendments and outcomes of two congressional races in the 2024 partisan primary.

Ferris wheel catches fire at German music festival:

A Ferris wheel caught fire and injured a number of people at the Highfield music festival near Leipzig in eastern Germany.

Daily Bread for 8.16.24: Wisconsin State Parks Remain Popular After Pandemic

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 83. Sunrise is 6:03, and sunset is 7:53, for 13h 49m 55s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 87 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1930,  the first color sound cartoon, Fiddlesticks, is released by Ub Iwerks.


Evan Casey reports Wisconsin state park use remains high since COVID-19 pandemic boom (‘Wisconsin Policy Forum report found state park sticker sales in 2023 were up nearly 50 percent from 2019’):

When businesses shuttered and schools went remote during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Wisconsin residents flocked to parks and nature trails across the state.

Now, a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum found that Wisconsinites are still using state parks at higher rates than before the start of the pandemic. The report found there were 518,848 state park sticker sales recorded in 2023, up from 346,491 in 2019 — a nearly 50 percent increase. 

Tyler Byrnes, the lead researcher on the report, said there were massive increases in outdoor recreation seen across the state in 2020.

See Wisconsin Policy Forum, Staying Engaged in Outdoor Pursuits:

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A small benefit following a large tragedy.


Snow leopard cubs begin exploring at Virginia zoo:

The Metro Richmond Zoo announced the birth of two female snow leopards, Sasha and Kira. They were born to parents Elsa and Nitro on April 28. At the beginning of August, they were old enough to begin exploring their outside habitat.

Daily Bread for 8.15.24: Wisconsin Conspiracy Theorists Take Losses

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 76. Sunrise is 6:02, and sunset is 7:55, for 13h 52m 30s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 78.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1944,  Operation Dragoon begins as Allied forces land in southern France.


Sarah Lehr reports Two of Wisconsin’s most vocal election deniers lost their bids for the state Legislature Tuesday, coming up short in Republican primaries:

In suburban Milwaukee, state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, lost to state Sen. Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, in a race for the recently redrawn 24th Assembly District.

And in eastern Wisconsin’s new 20th Senate District, former state Rep. Timothy Ramthun of Campbellsport was defeated by state Sen. Dan Feyen of Fond du Lac.

….

Brandtjen lost despite being endorsed by former President Donald Trump ahead of the primary. Brandtjen has promoted false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and has echoed calls for the results to be overturned in Trump’s favor.

These two defeats are not enough, but they are something. Some days one settles for something.


A Scottish origin for Stonehenge’s mysterious Altar Stone:

Stonehenge, the Neolithic stone circle on Salisbury Plain in southern England, has captivated archaeologists, antiquarians and sightseers for centuries. For decades researchers have tried to find the origins of the stones, with some being sourced to the surrounding landscape and some from the Preseli Hills in Wales. But new geochemical analysis of the Altar Stone, a partially buried slab of sandstone at the center of the stone circle, suggests that this stone originally came from the Orcadian Basin in Scotland, over 700 kilometers away.