Good morning.
Here in Wisconsin it’s election day in the Spring Primary; two (Holtz, Humphries) of the state superintendent candidates call each other liars. Well done, candid politicians, well done. In Whitewater, we’ll have a day of morning clouds and afternoon sunshine, with a high of sixty-two. Sunrise is 6:41 AM and sunset 5:35 PM, for 10h 54m 12s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 25.6% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}one hundred fifth day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}
On this day in 1885. the Washington monument is dedicated. On this day in 1918, the Wisconsin Assembly rejects (by a 76-15 margin) a denunciation of Sen. Robert LaFollette and the nine Wisconsin congressmen who refused to support World War I.
Recommended for reading in full —
Jason Stein reports that Scott Walker’s budget would shrink parole agency to 1 employee: “MADISON – The state’s parole system for roughly 3,000 long-time state inmates would drop from eight employees to just one, under Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal. As a lawmaker in the late 1990s, Walker championed the state’s truth in sentencing law to ensure tough sentences on convicted criminals. Now as governor, Walker wants to sharply downsize the system for handling the potential release of state inmates who are still subject to the rules that were in effect prior to the debut of truth in sentencing in 2000. The move is in keeping with other actions of the governor, such as his decision not to issue pardons. If the state loses some of its staff experienced in judging the risk of paroling inmates, the effect will likely be more people remaining in prison for longer, Madison attorney Lester Pines said.”
Michael Rosenwald reports on Trump’s dislike for Camp David in Mar-a-Lago 3, Camp David 0. With Trump as president, is the rustic Md. retreat doomed?: “THURMONT, Md. — Dwayne Snurr, a janitor and lifelong resident of this rural, working-class town 60 miles from the White House, was eating chicken wings in a cafe off Main Street last week when he began chewing over a locally important subject: President Trump’s taste in vacations. “I guess he’s got that place down in Florida,” Snurr said, referring to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Palm Beach resort. “When you have a place like that, I have to assume you prefer the beach and nice weather.” Trump’s Florida compound and his other gold-laden properties have been top of mind lately in Thurmont, where just a few miles up a winding mountain road presidents have vacationed and cajoled world leaders at Camp David — deep in the woods, in cozy cabins, a total anathema to Trump. “Camp David is very rustic, it’s nice, you’d like it,” Trump said in an interview with a European journalist just before taking office. “You know how long you’d like it? For about 30 minutes.”
Peter Baker and Sewell Chan describe the process From an Anchor’s Lips to Trump’s Ears to Sweden’s Disbelief: “….in that moment was born a diplomatic incident that illustrates the unusual approach that President Trump takes to foreign policy, as well as the influence that television can have on his thinking. After watching the program, Mr. Trump threw a line into a speech the next day suggesting that a terrorist attack had occurred in Sweden the night before. Just like that, without white papers, intelligence reports, an interagency meeting or, presumably, the advice of his secretary of state, the president started a dispute with a longtime American friend that resented his characterization and called it false. The president’s only discernible goal was to make the case domestically for his plans to restrict entry to the United States.The Swedes were flabbergasted.“We are used to seeing the president of the U.S. as one of the most well-informed persons in the world, also well aware of the importance of what he says,” Carl Bildt, a former prime minister of Sweden, said by email on Monday. “And then, suddenly, we see him engaging in misinformation and slander against a truly friendly country, obviously relying on sources of a quality that at best could be described as dubious.”