Daily Bread, Economy, Tariffs, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 7.27.25: Tariffs Are Making Conditions Hard for Wisconsin Businesses
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 89. Sunrise is 5:41 and sunset is 8:20, for 14 hours, 39 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 8.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1866, the first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable is successfully completed, stretching from Valentia Island, Ireland, to Heart’s Content, Newfoundland.
President Donald Trump’s tariffs are making it harder for Wisconsin businesses to predict the price of raw materials and are straining decades-long relationships with trade partners — and more tariffs are expected to take effect next month.
Many businesses have been hesitant to speak out. But Dale Kooyenga, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, said on Friday that the “vast majority” of businesses in the Milwaukee area have expressed concern about tariffs. He said the companies that “think this is good” represent a minority of businesses.
Kooyenga, a Republican former state lawmaker, said they raise the cost of raw materials manufacturers need to make their goods. And the uncertainty around when new tariffs will be implemented or delayed makes it nearly impossible for businesses to make financial forecasts.
“You have to be a psychiatrist that’s intimately familiar with Trump’s head to know exactly how you are going to forecast the price of copper or aluminum,” he said.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced plans to implement a 50 percent tariff on copper imports. In June, the White House also said it was raising tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from 25 percent to 50 percent. This summer, the administration announced the framework of a trade deal with China that keeps tariffs on that country high at 30 percent.
See Joe Schulz, Trump tariffs are straining Wisconsin business relationships, price predictability (‘Tonnage through the Port of Milwaukee shrunk through early 2025 compared to last year, port director says’), Wisconsin Public Radio, July 22, 2025.
Car explodes in Virginia and fire spreads to other vehicles:
Conservation, Daily Bread, Nature, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 7.26.25: Beautiful Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 81. Sunrise is 5:40 and sunset is 8:21, for 14 hours, 41 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1848, the first governor of Wisconsin, Nelson Dewey, establishes the University of Wisconsin–Madison (then named the University of Wisconsin).
Inside the Loudest Sound Produced on Earth:
Conservative Populism, Daily Bread, Elections, Far-Right Populism, Gov. Evers, Newspapers, Politics, Populists, Social Media, Wisconsin, WisDems, WISGOP
Daily Bread for 7.25.25: Fog-Shrouded Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
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:
Cats
Friday Catblogging: Beachgoer
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, July 29th, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Black Bag
by JOHN ADAMS •
Tuesday, July 29th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Black Bag @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Spy thriller/Mystery/Romance
Rated R (language) 1 hour, 33 minutes (2025)
The tale of a British spy (Michael Fassbender) who must ferret out a traitor in their midst amongst five potential suspects… one of which is his wife (Cate Blanchett). Also stars Pierce Brosnan. An erudite, clever, well-acted cat-and-mouse cloak-and-dagger spy mystery!
One can find more information about Black Bag at the Internet Movie Database.
City, Daily Bread, Library
Daily Bread for 7.24.25: Whitewater Public Library
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Thursday in Whitewater see afternoon thundershowers with a high of 85. Sunrise is 5:38 and sunset is 8:23, for 14 hours, 45 minutes of daytime. The moon is new with 0.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1935, the Dust Bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures to 109 °F (43 °C) in Chicago and 104 °F (40 °C) in Milwaukee.
Whitewater’s public library, now undergoing a renovation, is being renamed, sensibly, the Whitewater Public Library:
The change has been under discussion for months in public meetings of the library board. (As a matter of law, this board was free to change the name, based on the scant conditions of the prior naming agreement, the significant renovation of the building now underway, and a general presumption in Wisconsin law against a perpetual designation in light of the former.)
As it turns out, the library board has picked well: it’s a good name for this town’s library.
Galaxies, exploded stars and more in new NASA Chandra images:
Daily Bread, Elections, Legislature, Politics, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 7.23.25: A Better Wisconsin Politics Requires a Better Wisconsin Legislature
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be increasingly sunny with a high of 91. Sunrise is 5:37 and sunset is 8:24, for 14 hours, 47 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1829, William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter.
A better Wisconsin politics requires a better Legislature, and a better Legislature requires better legislators:
An analysis by Marquette University Law School researcher John Johnson suggests there are four “battleground” state Senate districts in play ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
They include:
- The 5th Senate District held by Sen. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield
- The 17th Senate District held by Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green
- The 21st Senate District held by Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine
- The 31st Senate District held by Sen. Jeff Smith, D-Brunswick
“The good news for Democrats is that I would say all four of these seats lean Democratic, even though three of them have Republican incumbents,” Johnson told WPR. “I say that because not only did (Democratic U.S. Sen.) Tammy Baldwin win a majority of the vote in each of these districts in her 2024 senatorial reelection campaign, so did Kamala Harris, even though she lost the state.”
See Rich Kremer, Fight for control of Wisconsin Senate is shaping up ahead of 2026 election (‘Democrats focused on flipping seats made competitive under new legislative maps’), Wisconsin Public Radio, July 23, 2025.
Want better? Elect more.
What’s happened to Japan? Bear drill takes place following recent attacks in Japan:
Honest to goodness. If bear attacks on people were to befall Whitewater, the residents of this beautiful city should expect more than fireworks as a defense.
City, Daily Bread, Open Government, Police, School District
Daily Bread for 7.22.25: Whitewater School Board Settles on the Only Practical Option It Ever Had
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 85. Sunrise is 5:36 and sunset is 8:25, for 14 hours, 49 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 6.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1990, Greg LeMond, an American road racing cyclist, wins his third Tour de France after leading the majority of the race. It was LeMond’s second consecutive Tour de France victory.
There’s an expression, attributed to Winston Churchill, that ‘Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.‘ A variation would apply to the Whitewater School Board, that the board has at last chosen the only realistic option it had, an agreement with the city’s police department. See previously School District Developments on a New Superintendent, School Resource Agreement, City of Whitewater Renews Proposal and Encourages School District to Negotiate, and Status of a School Resource Officer for Whitewater’s Schools.
City officials are surely pleased, as parents in the district should be, but all of this could have been accomplished without the district’s wasteful, indeed ludicrous, consideration of other options. One can present a serious critique of mistakes over the years by this department without being, as the district’s board has been, utterly impractical.
As with a wasted year over negotiations about the aquatic center, this remains a weak board of limited judgment. (The same often-wrong man who served as board president during most of the tedious pool negotiations urged keeping the public in the dark about the district’s wanderings away from a sensible, local security solution. See Yesteryear’s Familiar Tune.)
Open government is good government, and good government is open government.
Budget, Daily Bread, Elections, Legislature, Wisconsin, WisDems
Daily Bread for 7.21.25: “If Wisconsinites want a better budget…”
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 80. Sunrise is 5:35 and sunset is 8:26, for 14 hours, 51 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 13 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater Common Council & the Whitewater Unified School District Board meet jointly at 6 PM. Whitewater’s Library Board meets at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1983, the world’s lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at -89.2 °C (-128.6 °F).
There’s much talk about whether the recent Wisconsin biennial budget was the best that Wisconsin could do. It’s an editorial from The Cap Times — that’s right, Madison’s Cap Times — that assesses this matter most accurately:
Without Evers’ vetoes, the harm done by President Trump’s big, ugly plan to gut safety net programs — as part of a strategy to provide massive tax cuts for billionaires — would have been even more severe for working Wisconsinites.
But Evers could not veto the 2025-27 budget to perfection, or even to acceptability in the eyes of most Legislative Democrats.
…..
Where this leaves us is with a political reality: if Wisconsinites want a better budget, they have to elect more moderate, liberal and progressive Democrats to the Assembly and Senate.
See Editorial, If you want a better budget, elect a better Legislature, The Cap Times, July 9, 2025.
Yes. Directing criticism toward Evers — the governor of Wisconsin, not a senator from far bluer New York — is merely a work of self-indulgent performance art.
Those who want better will have to work for better by canvassing, voting, and effectively advancing their message at public assemblies.
Those who are not canvassing, voting, and effectively advancing their message at public assemblies will get the legislative majorities that their opponents want.
Common Species From The Panama Hummingbird Feeder Cam:
Charity, City, Daily Bread, Good Ideas, School District
Daily Bread for 7.20.25: A School Supplies Drive for Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 77. Sunrise is 5:34 and sunset is 8:27, for 14 hours, 53 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 22.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1969, Apollo 11‘s crew successfully makes the first human landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later.
The City of Whitewater is conducting a school supplies drive:
The supplies drive runs through 8.11.25.
Best wishes for a successful campaign.
Tiger cub siblings vaccinated at Germany’s Magdeburg Zoo:
Daily Bread, Food
Daily Bread for 7.19.25: A Real New York Sandwich
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be cloudy with scattered thundershowers and a high of 81. Sunrise is 5:33 and sunset is 8:28, for 14 hours, 54 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 33.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 64, the Great Fire of Rome causes widespread devastation and rages on for six days, destroying half of the city.
Here’s the Real New Yorker’s Sandwich:
Daily Bread, Economy, Tariffs, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 7.18.25: Tariffs’ Consequences for Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 78. Sunrise is 5:32 and sunset is 8:29, for 14 hours, 56 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 42.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1821, the United States takes possession of Florida after the Kingdom of Spain cedes the territory.
Tariffs’ effects are notable for Wisconsin manufacturing. In an interview with Kate Archer Kent, President and Managing Director Sandi Siegel of customs brokerage M.E. Dey & Co. described tariffs’ toll on prices:
KAK: Can you bring this down to the micro level in Wisconsin? Are individual consumers and households seeing the effects of these tariffs and trade threats?
SS: I ask customers myself when we meet and talk about the challenges. Are you passing on the tariffs to your customer? Are you absorbing it? How are you managing that? I won’t say all companies, but I’d say most companies can absorb, not happily, but they can absorb a 10 percent increase (from tariffs). When you start getting into some of these higher dollar amounts, like percentages for China and some of the other rate increases going on, that is a different conversation. They certainly are passing on those rates.
One of the bigger impacts that has been coming fast and furious is the (50 percent) steel and aluminum tariffs. We’re a heavy manufacturing community in Wisconsin, and their raw materials are being impacted heavily. My understanding is some of the steel and materials needed can’t be sourced even within the U.S. So there are some definite challenges there that certainly are increasing prices.
See Lauren Cox, How latest Trump administration tariffs and trade disputes are affecting commerce in Wisconsin (‘Changing tariffs and shifting trade negotiation deadlines has created challenges for Wisconsin companies importing and exporting goods’), Wisconsin Public Radio, July 16, 2025.
Watch whale nudge boat during close encounter: