Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 84. Sunrise is 5:39 and sunset is 8:22, for 14 hours, 43 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 0.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1965, Bob Dylan goes electric at the Newport Folk Festival, signaling a major change in folk and rock music.
A few remarks on Gov. Evers’s decision not to seek a third term in 2026.
Of Evers. I find myself agreeing with Rep. Mark Pocan about Evers: “I think he is the most quintessential Wisconsin politician I’ve ever seen.” There’s much to admire in that.
Of Newspapers. Wisconsin’s newspapers, like those elsewhere, are in decline. Their weakness (desperation, truly) makes them susceptible to clickbait headlines, and this year and next will reveal how shallow is their reporting and speculative is their analysis. The Journal Sentinel and the State Journal have paltry circulation numbers even in their home cities. Gannett is taking its employees, including those at the Journal Sentinel, through another round of buyouts. The employees who are left will be under pressure to seek attention for their publications any way they can.
(Of paywalls, specifically: any Wisconsin publication with a hard paywall in this environment is an irrelevant publication. I’ve mentioned the State Journal in Madison, but that paper’s influence collapsed a decade ago as both readers and reporters fled for other destinations. Small papers, like the APG publications near Whitewater, are an impossible, nutty combination of paywalled sites that demand confiscatory advertising rates for ads no one will see. They’re unread and too expensive.)
Of Facebook. Facebook remains popular in Wisconsin, and leans toward right-wing populism. It’s a perfect medium for short, scarcely literate assertions and rumors. Expect every day to be filled with another comment about how the WISGOP is on the verge of TOTAL and PERMANENT victory.
If Facebook accurately presented the Wisconsin electorate, Brad Schimel would be awaiting his swearing in ceremony as a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court on August 1st. (Congratulations and best wishes to Justice-elect Susan Crawford.)
Very few Facebook pages are moderated well, and it doesn’t take long for populist trolls to dominate a Facebook page. (Center-left Facebook pages that allow right-wing trolls free rein are the equivalent of people who would allow someone else to vomit on their clothing: allowing as much shows a profound intellectual and psychological confusion.)
Populism of any kind, and certainly of the kind Wisconsin faces, tends toward sarcasm, schadenfreude, and sadism. Those expecting more of the populists are expecting too little of themselves.
Of Political Predictions. None to offer now, as we’ve a long way to go until Wisconsin elections in April, August, and November 2026. (If pressed, I’d say that the WISGOP is likely to lose the Wisconsin Supreme Court race in April 2026, regardless of what Justice Bradley decides.)
In so many critical 2026 elections, and especially with an open Wisconsin governor’s race, one can expect lots of fog-shrouded reporting and Facebook commentary.
Meanwhile, monsoon season prompts rescue in New Mexico: