Good morning.
Whitewater will see snowfall through the day, on a Monday with a high of thirty-three. Sunrise is 7:08 AM and sunset 6:59 PM, for 11h 51m 48s of daytime. The moon is full, with 99.3% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}one hundred twenty-fifth day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}
On this day in 1781, British astronomer William Herschel discovers the planet Uranus. On this day in 1862, the 8th and 15th Wisconsin Infantry regiments and the 5th, 6th and 7th Wisconsin Light Artillery batteries fight in the Battle of New Madrid, Missouri.
Recommended for reading in full —
James B. Nelson writes that Gov. Scott Walker’s promise to create 250,000 jobs in Wisconsin remains elusive: “More than six years ago as a candidate for governor, Republican Scott Walker promised that if he was elected, the state would add 250,000 private-sector jobs in four years. That goal continues to be elusive. A report issued Thursday by the state Department of Workforce Development includes the final job creation tally for 2016, allowing a look at six complete years under Walker. The latest report showed that the state lost 4,000 jobs in December, putting total state private-sector employment at 2,516,100. For all of 2016, state reports show that employers added 17,200 jobs, by far the lowest annual tally since Walker took office in January 2011. The total number of jobs created since Walker took office is 185,208, or 64,792 short of Walker’s goal of 250,000.”
The New York Times describes the Man Without an ISIS Plan: “On the campaign trail, no foreign policy issue seized Donald Trump more than the fight against the Islamic State. Once president, he signed an executive order giving his generals 30 days to produce a plan to defeat the terrorist group, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis gave him options on Feb. 27. Yet if Mr. Trump has decided on a new plan for defeating ISIS, it isn’t obvious. The missions underway in Iraq and Syria were set in motion by President Barack Obama. While they have achieved some tactical successes, they point to a deepening American military involvement in both countries. The question now is whether Mr. Trump will continue, or accelerate, that trend.”
Kelsey Snell reports that Trump said no Americans would lose coverage under Obamacare repeal. Paul Ryan won’t make that promise: “House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said Sunday that he doesn’t know how many Americans would lose coverage under his proposal to revise the Affordable Care Act, which is under fire from fellow Republicans, AARP and virtually every sector of the U.S. health-care industry. “I can’t answer that question,” Ryan said in an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Margaret Sullivan observes that the Pro-Trump media sets the agenda with lies. Here’s how traditional media can take it back: “A major new study, published in Columbia Journalism Review, detailed just how influential the new media ecosystem has become, calling it a determining factor in Trump’s election….You can’t fight propaganda with standard journalism, [editor of the CJR Kyle] Pope told me. Watchdogging the fake-news machinery and fact-checking relentlessly is part of his prescription. Rosenstiel has suggested other measures: being more transparent about how we gather and verify the news; covering what’s important (not “barking at every car”); and using clearer labels to distinguish news from opinion. I would add that news organizations have to acknowledge their own biases internally, and constantly report against them. The CJR study concludes on a hopeful note: that a renaissance of legitimate journalism may be the result of everything that’s happened. I’d love to think that, but it’s going to take hard work, the kind that doesn’t come easy to journalists: more openness to criticism, continued self-examination and willingness to change.”
Anatomy of a Scene takes a look at ‘Kong: Skull Island’: