Good morning.
Thursday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of fifty-one. Sunrise is 6:26 AM and sunset 7:27 PM, for 13h 01m 35s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 78% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}one hundred forty-ninth day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}
Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission is scheduled to meet at 6 PM, the Fire Department for a Business meeting at 6:30 PM, and Common Council for a session beginning at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1917, the United States declares war on Imperial Germany. On this day in 1831, many of the Sauk leave Wisconsin and Illinois: “the Sauk Indians led by Chief Keokuk left their ancestral home near the mouth of the Rock River and moved across the Mississippi River to Iowa to fulfill the terms of a treaty signed in 1804. Many of the tribe, however, believed the treaty to be invalid and the following spring, when the U.S. government failed to provide them with promised supplies, this dissatisfied faction led by Black Hawk returned to their homeland on the Rock River, precipitating the Black Hawk War.”
Recommended for reading in full —
Matthew Garrahan and Kara Scannell report that a Federal probe into Fox News casts shadow over Murdoch empire: “High quality global journalism requires investment. For Rupert Murdoch, the timing could not be worse. Six years after the tabloid phone-hacking saga engulfed his media empire and torpedoed his bid for Sky, a federal investigation into another company controlled by the 86-year-old billionaire could undermine his latest offer for the European pay-TV group. Sample the FT’s top stories for a week You select the topic, we deliver the news. Select topic Enter email addressInvalid email Sign up By signing up you confirm that you have read and agree to the terms and conditions, cookie policy and privacy policy. The sexual harassment scandal at Mr Murdoch’s Fox News Channel has already cost millions of dollars in payouts to victims after Roger Ailes, its former chairman, was fired last summer following allegations that he harassed a former presenter. Several other women came forward claiming similar treatment, including Megyn Kelly, then the network’s star presenter, and Laurie Luhn, a former Fox News talent booker, who was paid a secret $3.1m settlement by the channel in 2011 in exchange for her silence. Yet the turmoil at the cable news channel is far from over. Fresh allegations of sexual harassment and verbal abuse have been levelled at leading presenter Bill O’Reilly, leading more than 20 companies to pull their advertising from his programme.”
Meg Jones reports that Thousands of birch trees have been poached from the Northwoods: “Brazen thieves armed with axes and chainsaws are plundering parks, forests and private land in Wisconsin’s Northwoods. Their prey? White birch trees. Thousands of trees have disappeared since last fall, stripped branches and stumps left behind at the crime scenes as the beautiful trees are sold to decorate homes and businesses and grace wedding tables. “It appears to be all market-driven,” said Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Warden David Zebro. “The ornamental market people are paying a lot of money for these types of birch trees. We didn’t see this type of issue a year or two ago but it’s certainly here now.” Some birch poachers have been nabbed. Five arrests were made in Washburn County over the winter including a man who admitted to authorities that he was in the area to illegally cut down birch trees but decided instead to break into a cabin and steal a generator. “We found out these people are not discriminate. They’ll steal anything,” said Washburn County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Mike Richter. “We’ve had people say ‘we didn’t know there was anything wrong with it.’ Some said ‘we’re just logging, what’s the problem?’ Well, they don’t own the property, that’s the problem.”
Dana Milbank recounts Personal irresponsibility: A concise history of Trump’s buck-passing: “Here is a partial compilation of his buck-passing since taking office: He blamed the failure of the GOP health-care bill on Democrats, moderate Republicans, conservative Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus, the Heritage Foundation, the Club for Growth and, indirectly, Paul Ryan. He blamed a Yemen counterterrorism raid that didn’t go according to plan both on his generals and on Obama. He blamed airport protests of his travel ban on a Delta Air Lines systems outage and on “the tears of Senator Schumer.” He preemptively blamed future terrorist attacks on the judge who blocked the travel ban and on the court system. He blamed his own decision to remove national security adviser Michael Flynn on the intelligence community, the media and Democrats “trying to cover up” Hillary Clinton’s loss. He blamed his loss of the popular vote on voter fraud….”
Rosie Gray describes one writer’s predictable journey from alt-right website to a Putin-publication in From Breitbart to Sputnik: “A former Breitbart News writer is launching a radio show for Russian propaganda network Sputnik. “I’m on the Russian payroll now, when you work at Sputnik you’re being paid by the Russians,” former Breitbart investigative reporter Lee Stranahan told me. “That’s what it is. I don’t have any qualms about it. Nothing about it really affects my position on stuff that I’ve had for years now.” Stranahan’s new position is the latest twist in the increasingly atomized world of niche right-wing media, which has seen an increase in prominence and influence during the Trump era. It also reflects a realignment on the right towards Russia as the administration, led by an unusually Russia-receptive president, becomes increasingly entangled in a drip-drip of stories about Russian influence.”
London’s testing self-driving shuttles: