Good morning.
Thursday in Whitewater will see afternoon showers and a high of 74. Sunrise is 5:21 AM and sunset 8:22 PM for 15h 00m 19s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 14.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1805, Napoleon assumes the title of King of Italy and is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in Milan Cathedral, the gothic cathedral in Milan.
Jack Kelly reports Wisconsin Elections Commissioner Dean Knudson to resign:
Dean Knudson, a Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, will resign after serving almost five years on the commission, he announced Wednesday.
Speaking at a meeting scheduled to elect the commission’s next chair, Knudson said he would continue to serve until Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, appoints his successor.
During his remarks, Knudson said, “I will put my conservative record against anyone in the state of Wisconsin, and yet, now I’ve been branded a RINO (Republican in name only).”
Knudson said he’s received that brand because “two of my core values are to practice service above self and to display personal integrity.”
He continued: “And to me, that integrity demands acknowledging the truth even when the truth is painful. In this case, the painful truth is that President (Donald) Trump lost the election in 2020. Lost the election in Wisconsin in 2020. And the loss was not due to election fraud.”
Knudson also took an indirect jab at fellow GOP commissioner Robert Spindell, who is vying to be WEC’s next chair. Spindell was one of 10 Republicans in the state who posed as a false elector for former President Donald Trump.
“Unfortunately now, elected officials, appointed officials and candidates at the highest levels in my party have refused to believe that President Trump lost,” he said. “Even worse, some have peddled misinformation and perpetuated falsehoods about the 2020 election.”
A majority of Knudson’s fellow Wisconsinites, and a majority of his fellow Americans, did not think Trump’s loss was ‘painful’; an eight-million-vote national majority received Trump’s loss with relief and optimism for the future. There was no time suitable to brook false claims about the 2020 election.
The best one can say: better late than never for Dean Knudson.
Lost beneath the leaves, lasers reveal an ancient Amazonian civilization: