Good morning.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny, with a high of 77. Sunrise is 5:18 and sunset is 8:27 for 15 hours 9 minutes of daylight. The moon is a waning gibbous with 95.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Alcohol Licensing Committee meets at 5 PM, and the Whitewater Common Council meets at 6 PM.
On this day in 1774, Parliament establishes the Quartering Act of 1774, allowing a governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters were not provided.
It’s June 2, and yesterday was the filing deadline for Wisconsin’s gubernatorial candidates. With petition signatures yet to be verified, it’s a wide field:
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who has been endorsed by both President Donald Trump and the state Republican Party, was the only GOP candidate to submit signatures to run for governor, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
The eight Democrats running are former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Madison state Rep. Francesca Hong, former Greater Milwaukee Committee President Joel Brennan, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, Madison state Sen. Kelda Roys, former Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Secretary Missy Hughes and Minocqua Brewing Company owner Kirk Bangstad.
David D. King, a Milwaukee pastor, is running for governor as an independent.
The Democratic field is not quite as large as it was in 2018, when the eventual Gov. Tony Evers emerged from a ballot of 10, but the sizeable field means the candidates will have their work cut out for them as they seek to build name recognition and war chests ahead of the August primary.
See Anya van Wagtendonk, Wisconsin’s crowded governor’s race remains crowded after filing deadline, Wisconsin Public Radio, June 1, 2026.
The November election was always fated to be a contest between one servile Trump supporter and someone else. This stark choice places a heavy burden on Wisconsin’s Democrats — make a mistake and this beautiful state will be beset with four years of Mr. Trump’s man living in Maple Bluff.
Along comes Rep. Francesca Hong, energetic and photogenic, faring well in early polling. I’ll not doubt the value of energy; I’ll acknowledge, but not credit, the advantage of appearance.
Her democratic socialism scarcely matters to this free-market man, as she would have no chance whatever of governing this state as a democratic socialist. More importantly, there are far worse threats today than democratic socialism will ever be. The greatest danger this nation faces comes from Mar-a-Lago, not the Bronx. Ocasio-Cortez, Mamdani, and Sanders are not the Soviets. It’s a discrediting embarrassment that some pretend otherwise.
The recurring problem with Hong’s candidacy is her astonishing naiveté. Wisconsin saw this recently with her views on policing, where Hong held to her earlier position on the abolition of police departments. See Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck, ‘Defund then abolish’: A leading Democrat in Wisconsin governor’s race urged abolishing police, CNN, May 22, 2026. See also Rep. Francesca Hong on Policing.
No and no again — the practical goals for policing are an end to grandiosity, refusal to admit error, and excessive use of force. We will always need police departments; America need not accept mediocre ones.
Rep. Hong has only compounded her fantastical view favoring an end of police departments with musings about the end of prisons:
On May 16, Hong was asked by a member of a crowd gathered by the Taylor County Democratic Party what she would do in an “ideal world” to handle criminal offenders and to curb recidivism.
“I think that my perfect world would be a world without prisons, right, because we all see the humanity in one another and then we know nobody’s disposable,” Hong told the crowd, according to audio obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
See Molly Beck, Democrat Francesca Hong speaks about an ideal world ‘without prisons,’ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 29, 2026.
(In fairness, a world without police departments would quickly lead to a world without prisons, as one cannot imagine criminals simply turning themselves in.)
As a gubernatorial nominee, Rep. Hong would be sure to face a torrent of effective campaign ads placing her views on policing and prisons against photos of violent criminals. Pictures of every sadistic, unrepentant murderer in this state’s history would appear against the Democratic nominee’s words in WISGOP ads.
There are two emerging political risks this state faces. The greater risk is that Tom Tiffany might become governor. The lesser, related risk is that Francesca Hong wouldn’t be able to stop him.
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Upcoming posts (in no decided order): A Whitewater Comparative Analysis, Whitewater’s Workforce, and Outcome-Driven Argumentation.
What’s Up for June 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA:
On June 17, from some locations, the Moon passes in front of Venus in an event called a lunar occultation. For viewers outside the exact viewing path, the Moon and Venus may still appear close together. [Important safety note: For many viewers, this event happens during the daytime. Never point binoculars, a telescope, or a camera near the Sun unless you are using proper solar-safe equipment.]
June also brings the summer solstice, marking the start of astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere. And once the sky gets dark, look for the Summer Triangle and deep-sky objects like the Dumbbell Nebula, Ring Nebula, North America Nebula, and Veil Nebula.
0:00 Intro
0:11 Venus and Jupiter after sunset
0:23 Planetary conjunction
0:35 Mercury joins the lineup
1:09 Moon passes in front of Venus
2:03 Summer solstice
2:43 Summer Triangle and deep-sky objects
3:27 Moon phases