Good morning.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with occasional thunderstorms and a high of seventy-five. Sunrise is 5:18 AM and sunset 8:37 PM, for 15h 19m 11s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 97.6% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1963, President Kennedy delivers his now-famous Ich bin ein Berliner speech in West Berlin.
Miller Center: June 26, 1963: “Ich bin ein Berliner” Speech
I am proud to come to this city as the guest of your distinguished Mayor, who has symbolized throughout the world the fighting spirit of West Berlin. And I am proud to visit the Federal Republic with your distinguished Chancellor who for so many years has committed Germany to democracy and freedom and progress, and to come here in the company of my fellow American, General Clay, who has been in this city during its great moments of crisis and will come again if ever needed.
Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was “civis Romanus sum.” Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is “Ich bin ein Berliner.”
I appreciate my interpreter translating my German!There are many people in the world who really don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass’ sic nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.
Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us. I want to say, on behalf of my countrymen, who live many miles away on the other side of the Atlantic, who are far distant from you, that they take the greatest pride that they have been able to share with you, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years. I know of no town, no city, that has been besieged for 18 years that still lives with the vitality and the force, and the hope and the determination of the city of West Berlin. While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of. the Communist system, for all the world to see, we take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as your Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.
What is true of this city is true of Germany—real, lasting peace in Europe can never be assured as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men, and that is to make a free choice. In 18 years of peace and good faith, this generation of Germans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite their families and their nation in lasting peace, with good will to all people. You live in a defended island of freedom, but your life is part of the main. So let me ask you, as I close, to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today, to the hopes of tomorrow, beyond the freedom merely of this city of Berlin, or your country of Germany, to the advance of freedom everywhere, beyond the wall to the day of peace with justice, beyond yourselves and ourselves to all mankind.
Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.
All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words “Ich bin ein Berliner!”
Recommended for reading in full —
Alan Rappeport reports Trump Threatens Harley-Davidson as Company Shifts Production Overseas:President Trump lashed out at one of his favorite American manufacturers on Tuesday, criticizing Harley-Davidson over its plans to move some of its motorcycle production abroad and threatening it with steep punitive taxes.
In a series of tweets on Tuesday, the president accused the Wisconsin-based company of surrendering in Mr. Trump’s trade war with Europe and said the firm would lose its “aura” if it produced bikes overseas.
“If they move, watch, it will be the beginning of the end — they surrendered, they quit!” he wrote. “The Aura will be gone and they will be taxed like never before!”
The attack came a day after Harley-Davidson announced that it would move some of its production abroad in response to stiff retaliatory tariffs that the European Union imposed in response to Mr. Trump’s trade measures. Rather than raise prices to cover the new 31 percent tariff on bikes it exports to the European Union, Harley said it would shift some of its production to overseas facilities to avoid the tariffs.
(Trump’s trade war undermines America competitiveness, and when companies try to compensate for the consequences of his harmful economic policies, he threathens them with even worse consequences.)
Matthew DeFour reports As immigration debate rages, Scott Walker is not weighing in:On Monday, Walker refused to comment on Trump’s statement questioning whether detained immigrants should receive basic due process rights, saying “that’s a federal jurisdiction.”
But in response to another question, he explained that he wants to reduce or eliminate international tariffs imposed by the Trump administration that led to Harley-Davidson’s announcement Monday that it is moving some production overseas.
“Obviously, tariffs we just talked about are a federal issue, but they directly impact the businesses in the state of Wisconsin,” Walker said.
When it was pointed out that immigrant labor has a major impact on the state’s dairy industry and Walker’s own re-election campaign has used the deployment of Wisconsin National Guard troops to the border in online ads, Walker continued to resist taking a position on immigration.
(So much for being ‘Unitimidated.’ Marc Thiessen wrote Walker’s book, but didn’t manage to give Walker the characteristic of the title.)
Molly Beck reports Justices are considering limits on how the Wisconsin public records law applies to courts:Jay Rosen contends It’s time for the press to suspend normal relations with the Trump presidency:MADISON – The state Supreme Court is deliberating over how the state’s public records law applies to justices, judges and other court officials — setting off alarm bells with government transparency advocates.
It’s unclear exactly what the justices are considering — the state’s court system director said earlier this month the high court intended to decide whether the court system is subject to Wisconsin’s public records law.
But on Monday, the Supreme Court spokesman indicated the court is weighing something narrower: whether email addresses for judges and justices should be released, potentially answering a long-debated question of whether unsolicited, direct communication from the public can disrupt the judicial process.
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A records request filed June 12 by conservative radio show host Mark Belling seeking email addresses for judges, justices and other court officials prompted the review, Sheehan said.
The court’s deliberations are troubling state government watchdogs who are worried the court could go further and end up matching an unsuccessful effort by the state Legislature three years ago to keep private nearly every record created by a lawmaker.
Lena Masri reports Astronomers at famed Greenwich observatory turn eyes to the skies again after 60-year break:In 2012 the government of Canada announced that it would suspend diplomatic relations with Iran. “Canada views the government of Iran as the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today,” said the foreign minister.
Journalists charged with covering him should suspend normal relations with the presidency of Donald Trump, which is the most significant threat to an informed public in the United States today.
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I began making this point on the third day of his presidency, January 22, 2017, when I said the press should send interns to the White House briefing room. Normal practice would not be able to cope with the political style of Donald Trump, which incorporates a hate movement against journalists.
“Send the interns” means our major news organizations don’t have to cooperate with this. They don’t have to lend talent or prestige to it. They don’t have to be props. They need not televise the spectacle live (CNN didn’t carry Spicer’s rant) and they don’t have to send their top people. They can “switch” systems: from inside-out, where access to the White House starts the story engines, to outside-in, where the action begins on the rim, in the agencies, around the committees, with the people who are supposed to obey Trump but have doubts… The press has to become less predictable. It has to stop functioning as a hate object. This means giving something up. [Rosen lists other ways to suspend normal relations in the full article.]
After a 60-year hiatus, astronomers at the Royal Observatory Greenwich in London are studying the sky again.
The observatory, which is home to the Prime Meridian of the World and Greenwich Mean Time, has installed a new telescope that will allow astronomers to study the surface of the sun, star clusters and perhaps even exploding stars in other galaxies. The telescope is named after Annie Maunder, one of the first women scientists to work at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
The Royal Observatory was founded in 1675 by King Charles II and it was a working observatory until 1957, when its instruments were moved to Herstmonceux in Sussex, England. The observatory then became a museum and place that educates the public about modern astronomy. With the new telescope, the site will go back to being a working observatory.