Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of twenty-nine. Sunrise is 6:11 AM and sunset 5:57 PM, for 11h 46m 04s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.7% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}one hundred twenty-third day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}
On this day in 1941, Pres. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease policy “(An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States”, (Pub.L. 77–11, H.R. 1776, 55 Stat. 31, enacted March 11, 1941) under which the United States supplied Free France, the United Kingdom, the Republic of China, and later the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, and materiel between 1941 and August 1945.” On this day in 1839, the Territorial Legislature passes an act that officially recognizing Dane County and calling for the election of county officers on the first Monday of May, 1839.
Recommended for reading in full —
Peter Baker and Matthew Rosenberg report that Michael Flynn Was Paid to Represent Turkey’s Interests During Trump Campaign: “WASHINGTON — The candidate he was advising last fall was running on a platform of America First. The client he was working for last fall was paying him more than $500,000 to put Turkey first. Michael T. Flynn, who went from the campaign trail to the White House as President Trump’s first national security adviser, filed papers this week acknowledging that he worked as a foreign agent last year representing the interests of the Turkish government in a dispute with the United States. His surprising admission, coming more than four months after the election, raised further questions about the rise and fall of a presidential confidant who was forced to resign after 24 days in office for withholding the full story of his communications with Russia’s ambassador. Even now, out of government and out of favor, Mr. Flynn and his contact with foreign figures presented a new headache for a White House eager to move on.”
Ronald Klain describes The winning argument Democrats have against Trump [and not only Democrats, of course] : “Most of the country is divided between those who love Trump for the cultural war he is waging, no matter what else he does, and those who loathe him for his divisiveness, even if he somehow produces results on other issues. As a consequence, the future of Trump’s coalition — and the success of his presidency — turns on voters caught between the two groups, voters who were troubled by Trump’s outrageous behavior and statements, but “held their noses” to support him out of a belief that he would produce change on health care, jobs, trade and incomes. These “in spite of the outrages” voters are looking for results on bread-and-butter issues. Trump is not delivering for them, his claims to the contrary notwithstanding. Democrats need to point this out — relentlessly. Take health care. During the campaign, Trump promised immediate action to repeal and replace Obamacare. In the world according to Trump, everyone was “going to end up with great health care for a fraction of the price” that would “take place immediately after we go in.” Now, 122 days [as of 3.10.17] after the election, Trump’s laughable promise to call a special session of Congress to repeal Obamacare has evaporated. The plan circulated this week by House Republicans is under fire from conservatives and liberals. And Trump has still failed to put forward any approach of his own. About that “great health care for a fraction of the price”? Don’t hold your breath.”
James Poniewozik describes Sean Spicer’s Briefings, Cringe TV for an Audience of One: “As long as you don’t care too much about facts, you can learn a lot from a Sean Spicer daily briefing. The White House press secretary has said that whatever your lying eyes told you, President Trump’s swearing-in had “the largest audience to witness an inauguration, period.” He has insisted that the president’s travel ban against majority-Muslim countries, which the president called a “ban,” was not a ban. He has claimed, falsely, that former President Obama tapped a Fox News reporter’s phones. But Mr. Spicer’s performance — strident, defensive, stressed-out — carries a wealth of information: about Mr. Trump’s image obsession, about what the president expects of his underlings, about the impossibility of contorting one’s self into a human bridge between reality and Mr. Trump’s agitated mindspace. The real story, every briefing, is what Mr. Spicer can’t say and how he doesn’t say it.”
Jeff Potrykus reports on UW 70, Indiana 60: Balanced scoring, defense lead way: “Second-seeded UW overcame early rebounding issues in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament Friday night at the Verizon Center but gradually took control on both ends en route to a 70-60 over the 10th-seeded Hoosiers. “I think our system…they want to get up and down,” said senior guard Zak Showalter, one of five UW players who scored in double figures. “They load their team with shooters and guys who can get ’em up in a hurry. “If we can get a good look on the offensive end and set our defense…I think that is to our advantage. I think that’s why we handle them so well.” Save for brief stretches, UW (24-8) handled the white-hot Hoosiers on both ends of the court to advance to the semifinals, set for 2:30 p.m. (Central) Saturday. UW will face No. 6 Northwestern (23-10), a 72-64 winner over No. 3 Maryland in the final game Friday.”
Taichi Kitamura of Sushi Kappo Tamura describes process of making the best dang sushi rice you’ve ever had: