Good morning. 
Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of forty-six. Sunrise is 6:21 AM and sunset 5:50 PM, for 11h 29m 22s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 76.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
Today is the one thousand two hundred thirteenth day.
Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets at 6 PM.
On this day in 1946, Winston Churchill’s Sinews of Peace address at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri uses the term “iron curtain” in the context of Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe.
Recommended for reading in full —
David Welna reports Freedom House Report Finds Freedom On The Wane Worldwide:
Twenty five of the 41 “established democracies” identified by Freedom House saw net losses in democracy since 2006. “The most common areas of decline,” says Repucci, “took place in functioning of government, freedom of expression and belief, and rule of law.”
A decade ago, Freedom House rated freedom in the United States on a par with nations such as Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In its latest report, the U.S. ranking has dropped 8 points, behind Slovakia and Mauritius and just ahead of Argentina and Croatia.
Much of the blame for the slide in the U.S. standing gets placed on President Trump.
“The Trump administration has failed to exhibit consistent commitment to a foreign policy based on the principles of democracy and human rights,” the report states. “[Trump] has also given a pass to tyrannical leaders whom he hopes to woo diplomatically, including Vladimir Putin of Russia and Kim Jong-un of North Korea.”
“Fierce rhetorical attacks on the press, the rule of law, and other pillars of democracy coming from American leaders, including the president himself,” are also noted by Freedom House, which relies on federal funding for most of its $38 million annual budget.
“An ongoing decline in fair and equal treatment of refugees and asylum seekers,” the report adds, “is also particularly worrisome for a country that takes pride in its traditional role as a beacon for the oppressed.”
See Freedom in the World 2020: A Leaderless Struggle for Democracy.
Molly Beck reports Wisconsin joins border wall lawsuit, says diversion of defense funds hurts Oshkosh Corp.:
Wisconsin and 18 other states are suing President Donald Trump’s administration over diverting $3.8 billion in public funds to help pay for the construction of a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.
The lawsuit comes after Oshkosh Corp. learned in February it was poised to take a $101 million hit from the Defense Department’s plan to divert nearly $4 billion from elsewhere in its budget to build 177 miles of a border wall.
“This diversion by the Trump Administration is a wasteful use of taxpayer dollars and neglects the needs of our state National Guard units,” Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement. “There is simply no justification for the president’s continued desire to create a crisis at the border, and this move negatively impacts not only Wisconsin’s economy but the safety of our communities.”
Evers on Wednesday authorized Attorney General Josh Kaul to join the multi-state lawsuit, which was filed by California’s attorney general.
A first look at the planned cuts related to the border wall shows that $101 million will be moved from the production of vehicles known as Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks that the U.S. Army has relied on to carry munitions and other critical supplies.
Curiosity Mars Rover Snaps 1.8 Billion-Pixel Panorama (narrated video):