Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of thirty-one. Sunrise is 7:23 AM and sunset 4:25 PM, for 9h 02m 07s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 94.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
Today is the seven hundred seventy-fifth day.
On this day in 1814, the War of 1812 ends:
On this date the Treaty of Ghent was signed, ending the the War of 1812 which was fought between the United States and Great Britain from June 1812 to the spring of 1815 (news of the treaty took several months to reach the frontiers of No. America). The treaty provided for the cessation of hostilities, the restoration of conquests, and a commission to settle boundary disputes. John Quincy Adams served as the chief negotiator for the United States. The treaty formalized U.S. possession of land which included present-day Wisconsin.
Recommended for reading in full:
Susan Rice describes The Threat in the White House:
First, it appears that the national security adviser, John Bolton, rarely convenes his cabinet colleagues, known as the principals committee, to review the toughest issues. Instead, key players are cut out, as reportedly the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was from the final, fateful meeting on Syria. Mr. Bolton has not named a replacement deputy national security adviser, leaving vacant a crucial position whose holder typically coordinates the national security agencies in drafting and carrying out policy.
Mr. Bolton has also taken over direct responsibility for managing everything from cyber and terrorist attacks to hurricanes and pandemics — tasks previously assigned to another top-level White House official. Mr. Bolton is also traveling abroad more than most of his predecessors, even as he is playing multiple all-consuming roles. These ill-advised choices alone would cripple national security decision-making.
But a second factor — Mr. Trump himself — has dealt the death blow to effective policymaking. The president couldn’t care less about facts, intelligence, military analysis or the national interest. He refuses to take seriously the views of his advisers, announces decisions on impulse and disregards the consequences of his actions. In abandoning the role of a responsible commander in chief, Mr. Trump today does more to undermine American national security than any foreign adversary. Yet no Republican in Congress is willing to do more than bleat or tweet concerns.
David Frum describes The Self-Delusion of Paul Ryan:
a world of soaring deficits even at the top of the business cycle; a world of corporate tax cuts that have failed to deliver the promised investment boom; a world of trade wars and crashing financial markets—the worst December for U.S. equities since 1931, at the end of a year in which not one of the 15 asset classes measured by JP Morgan outperformed the consumer price index.
These Geckos Can Run on Water (Sort Of):