Good morning.
Midweek in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of forty-four. Sunrise is 6:27 AM and sunset 7:26 PM, for 12h 58m 44s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 68.5% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}one hundred forty-eighth day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}
On this day in 1792, Pres. Washington exercises the first presidential veto. On this day in 1865, the 5th, 6th, 7th, 19th, 36th, 37th and 38th Wisconsin Infantry regiments, “hot on the trail of retreating Confederate General Robert E. Lee reached Jettersville, Virginia, on the night of April 5th only to find that Lee’s army had followed a different route.”
Recommended for reading in full —
Annysa Johnson reports that Tony Evers sails into third term as Wisconsin education chief: “Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers sailed into a third term on Tuesday, easily defeating challenger Lowell Holtz to hang on to his post as the state’s top educator. With most of the votes counted, Evers led with 70% to 30% for Holtz. Evers said he was surprised by the margin, but believes his positive campaign resonated with parents and public school advocates at the local level, in contrast with Holtz’s focus on the schools’ deficiencies.”
Paul Farhi reports that Advertisers flee ‘The O’Reilly Factor’ amid sexual-harassment claims against host: “Among the companies that confirmed they were suspending or removing ads from his program were the automakers Hyundai, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Mitsubishi Motors; financial firms T. Rowe Price and Allstate Insurance; drugmakers Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline; plus Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, the online marketing company Constant Contact and men’s apparel seller Untuckit. The list continued to grow late in the day; by early evening, CNN had pegged the number of companies pulling their ads at 18. A prolonged advertiser boycott of O’Reilly could prove financially painful to Fox. O’Reilly’s 8 p.m. news-discussion program is the highest-rated on cable, with an average 4 million viewers. It is also a tent-pole show upon which the rest of the conservative-leaning network depends. Fox counts on O’Reilly to generate an outsize share of its revenue and profit, which reached an estimated $1.7 billion last year, a record since the network’s founding in 1996.”
Matthew Haag and Niraj Chokshi report that Civil Rights Act Protects Gay Workers, Court Rules: “In a significant victory for gay rights, a federal appeals court in Chicago ruled Tuesday that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects gay workers from job discrimination, expanding workplace protections in the landmark law to include sexual orientation. The decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit [N.B.: the Seventh Circuit covers, among other states, Wisconsin], the highest federal court yet to grant such employment protections, raises the chances that the politically charged issue may ultimately be resolved by the Supreme Court. While an appeal is not expected in this case, another appellate court, in Georgia, last month reached the opposite conclusion, saying that the law does not prohibit discrimination at work for gay employees. The ruling on Tuesday comes as gay rights advocates have voiced concern about the potential rollback of protections under President Trump. While the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, many other legal protections, including in employment and housing, have not been extended at all levels to gay people.”
Katie Mettler reports that a New sheriff in town to close Joe Arpaio’s outdoor Tent City jail, of pink underwear fame: “In Arizona’s Tent City Jail, “America’s toughest sheriff” forced his inmates to wear pink underwear, shower with pink towels and sleep on pink sheets. Their meals were meatless and their jumpsuits striped in wide black and white. The only barrier between their bodies and the scorching summer sun was the weathered green canvas of surplus Korean War military tents. Everything they did at Tent City was outside, because Tent City was outside, too. The desert complex — erected in 1993 — became Joe Arpaio’s signature achievement during his 24 years as the Maricopa County sheriff, the physical manifestation of his flashy, Wild West, no-nonsense law and order mentality that made him a national celebrity and treasured ally of President Trump. But it also cast a dark mark on Phoenix and attracted criticism from civil rights groups who called Arpaio’s methods needlessly harsh. In November, the voters ousted Arpaio, a Republican, who faces trial for criminal contempt of court for ignoring a court order in a racial profiling case involving his notorious immigration patrols. Paul Penzone, a Democrat and retired Phoenix police sergeant, was elected on the promise of rolling back existing law enforcement policies he viewed as purposeless and self-aggrandizing. Now he’s following through. First, Penzone ditched the pink panties, then launched an investigation into the practicality of Tent City. On Tuesday, the new sheriff in town announced he would shut it down completely.”
What would life on Mars be like? A team is trying to learn through a simulation:
4/5/17- Bannon has been removed from the National Security Council. His fingers need to be as far away from the nuclear luggage as possible. A small victory.
Yes, indeed – a small but welcome victory.