Good morning.
Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 88. Sunrise is 5:17 AM and sunset 8:37 PM for 15h 20m 05s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 26.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater Fire Department, Inc. holds a business meeting at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1969, IBM announces that effective January 1970 it will price its software and services separately from hardware thus creating the modern software industry.
Senator Ron Johnson finds himself a national news story yet again, for reasons as embarrassing to Wisconsin as ever. Johnson’s work is part tragedy, part farce. Colby Itkowitz reports Sen. Ron Johnson under fire over fake-electors disclosure at hearing.
First, the career tragedy:
This week, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot revealed that Johnson’s chief of staff tried to deliver to Vice President Mike Pence a slate of fake electors backing Trump, raising questions about the Wisconsin Republican’s role in a deliberate and coordinated plan to block Biden’s win and give Trump the presidency.
The disclosure also underscores the extent of Johnson’s role as one of Congress’s most prominent election deniers and Jan. 6 apologists — spreading conspiracy theories about rigged votes and playing down the severity of the violent assault on the Capitol as mostly “peaceful,” while floating the idea that it might have been an inside job by the FBI.
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Johnson has denied his involvement in the plan to deliver to Pence fake Trump electors. A text message shown at the hearing, from Johnson chief of staff Sean Riley to Pence aide Chris Hodgson and sent minutes before the joint session of Congress to certify the Biden win, said “Johnson needs to hand something to VPOTUS please advise.”
Then, the farce:
Later, Johnson left the Capitol trailed by reporters asking him about the text messages. Johnson held his phone to his ear and said he was on a call, but a reporter challenged the senator, saying that he could see the screen and knew Johnson wasn’t talking to anyone.
When Marargaret Hamilton Reprised Her Role as the Wicked Witch of the West on Sesame Street: