Good morning, Whitewater.
Friday in town will be cloudy in the morning, giving way to afternoon clouds and a high of seventeen. Sunrise is 6:55 and sunset 5:22, for 10h 27m 25s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 19.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
It’s Lincoln’s birthday. Every movement has its fringe, and libertarianism is no exception: some who are overly critical of Lincoln’s wartime powers or insufficiently attentive to the Civil War as, from beginning to end, an immoral secession motivated by slaveholders’ interests. Lincoln was incomparably superior to his principal critics and opponents, whatever mistakes he may have made in the course of a long war. See, in particular, Why “Libertarian” Defenses of the Confederacy and “States’ Rights” are Incoherent from Libertarianism.org and Defining Americanism from the Cato Institute’s Unbound series.
Here’s Lincoln, correctly, on Americanism and liberty, as C. Bradley Thompson cites him:
Abraham Lincoln helps us to understand the inconsistent and paradoxical relationship between the ideal and the real in American history. In his 1857 speech on the Dred Scott decision, Lincoln noted that the original theorists of Americanism, our founding fathers,
meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. They meant to set up a standard maxim for a free society, which should be familiar to all, and revered by all; constantly looked up to, constantly laboured for, and even though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people of all colours everywhere.[6]
Lincoln’s birthday remembrance: a great day for a great man.
On this day in 2002, it’s gold for America (and Wisconsin):
2002 – Verona Athlete Wins Gold Medal in 2002 Olympics
On this date Verona’s Casey FitzRandolph won a gold medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games in the Men’s 500 Meters. He began his career on the ice playing ice hockey and was inspired by Madison native Eric Heiden, an Olympic speed skater. FitzRandolph tried speed skating in his hockey skates and soon caught the attention of coaches in Wisconsin. He became an Olympian in 1998, when he placed sixth in the 500 meters and seventh in the 1000 at the Nagano Olympic Games. At the Salt Lake City Games he broke the olympic record in the 500 meters with a time of 1:09:23.
Here’s the Friday puzzle from JigZone: