FREE WHITEWATER

Conspiracy Theories, Crime, Daily Bread, Elections, Fraud, Mendacity, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.31.26: Conspiracy Theorist (and Convicted Felon) Is Wrong About Wisconsin’s Voter Rolls

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 24. Sunrise is 7:10 and sunset is 5:06 for 9 hours 56 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 97.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1865, the House of Representatives passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery, and submits it to the states for ratification. (The Senate had previously passed the amendment on April 8, 1864.)

There are elections ahead in 2026, and if there’s an election ahead, then there’s an opportunity for conspiracy theorists to spread false claims about those elections. Convicted federal felon Peter Bernegger (for fraud, fittingly) is back with new lies about Wisconsin’s voter rolls:

A misleading claim that Wisconsin has more registered voters than people eligible to vote is gaining traction on social media, including in posts shared this week by President Donald Trump. 

[…]

The posts circulating this week cite a video asserting that Wisconsin’s voter rolls contain more than 7 million names — far more than the state’s voting age population — and are overlaid with text reading, “This Is Not a Glitch — This Is Election Fraud Waiting To Happen.”

The video features Peter Bernegger, an entrepreneur who has been convicted of mail fraud and bank fraud. Bernegger has repeatedly promoted false theories about the 2020 election in Wisconsin legislative hearings and repeatedly filed unsuccessful lawsuits against election officials in search of proof for his claims. 

But his claim conflates two datasets in Wisconsin’s voter registration system: the Wisconsin voter list and active registered voters. 

[…]

As of July 2025, the state had about 8.3 million names on its list — in line with the number Bernegger cites. But of them, only 3.7 million were active registered voters. The remaining roughly 4.6 million are inactive voters. Inactive records include people who previously registered to vote but later moved out of state, died, lost eligibility because of a felony conviction, or were ruled incompetent to vote by a court. Those individuals haven’t been removed from the voter list, but because of their inactive status, they cannot vote unless they re-register, which requires proof of residency and a photo ID.

(Emphasis added.) See Alexander Shur, No, Mr. President. Wisconsin’s voter roll figures aren’t a sign of ‘fraud waiting to happen’ (‘People on Wisconsin’s inactive list aren’t eligible to vote, but their records stay on file indefinitely — a practice that actually helps reduce the likelihood of fraud, election officials say’), Wisconsin Watch, January 30, 2026.

A successful conspiracy theory requires a suspicious claim (why are the voter rolls so big?) but deceptively conceals a sensible explanation (some of those names are marked as inactive and cannot vote). Bernegger is not a federal felon because he tried to steal a loaf of bread — he’s a federal felon because he’s a defrauding liar.

Some men stay in the same lane their entire lives.

Daily Bread, Gubernatorial Race 2026, Wisconsin, WisDems, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 1.30.26: These Are the Gubernatorial Primaries the WISGOP and WisDems Were Always Likely to Have

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 16. Sunrise is 7:11 and sunset is 5:05 for 9 hours 54 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 92.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1862, the Union Navy launches the American ironclad warship the USS Monitor.

There’s a story at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel describing how Trump’s Tom Tiffany endorsement scrambles Wisconsin governor race.

I don’t see how.

Trump was always going to endorse someone, and that candidate would thereafter secure the WISGOP nomination in August. For the WISGOP, the only candidate who mattered was going to be the one with Trump’s endorsement, and Trump was sure to endorse someone. No one on this planet spends more time interjecting himself into issues of all sorts, political or apolitical, than Donald J. Trump. The name for a primary and general election candidate for the WISGOP needs no surname — DONALD J. TRUMP’S CHOICE is name enough for most Republican voters.

For the WisDems, by contrast, this was always going to be a race through to the August primary. (Mandela Barnes is popular with many voters, but not so much that he will have an inevitable march toward August 11.)

Those conditions do not describe a ‘scrambled’ race — they describe a predictably top-down WISGOP contest and a predictably competitive WisDems contest. This was, by late January or early February, the probable state of play. And so it is.

Meet the crawling, grabbing spider-hand robot:

Human hands are incredibly dexterous tools — but they have their limits. They are asymmetric, they only have a single thumb, and fundamentally, they’re connected to our arms. But none of that poses a problem for this robot claw. Its symmetrical design means it can seamlessly approach different tasks without having to twist to find the right angle, six fingers mean the design can juggle multiple objects at the same time and, if needed, it can simply leave its arm behind, perfect for dangerous or hard-to-reach places.

Daily Bread, Gubernatorial Race 2026, Politics, Trump, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 1.29.26: Statewide Is National

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 13. Sunrise is 7:12 and sunset is 5:04 for 9 hours 52 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 85.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1891, following the death of her brother Kalakaua, Lili‘uokalani is sworn in as the first and only queen of the Hawaiian Kingdom. (Her reign would end two years later when the Hawaiian monarchy was abolished following a U.S. military-supported coup d’état.)

Yesterday’s post contended that, with Mr. Trump’s endorsement of U.S. Rep. Tiffany, the WISGOP Gubernatorial Primary Is Effectively Over.

Yes.

WPR.org screenshot

See Shawn Johnson, Republican Josh Schoemann drops out of Wisconsin governor’s race (‘Schoemann, the Washington County executive, announced his decision the day after he failed to receive the endorsement of President Donald Trump’), Wisconsin Public Radio, January 28, 2026.

The WISGOP is merely a chapter, however small, of a national party. That national party is closer to a movement than an ordinary political party. That movement has a base, a core, that follows the will of one man. Those running statewide in the WISGOP are not running for office — they are running for that one man’s endorsement for office.

Those who tell you that these are ordinary times could not be more wrong. See generally A Conventional Framing for Unconventional Times.

Hubble and AI discover over a thousand unusual astronomical objects:

A new AI-assisted method was used to sift through Hubble archive data to discover “nearly 1400 anomalous objects,” according to ESA and NASA.

Daily Bread, Gubernatorial Race 2026, Politics, Trump, WisDems, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 1.28.26: WISGOP Gubernatorial Primary Is Effectively Over

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 14. Sunrise is 7:13 and sunset is 5:02 for 9 hours 47 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 75.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1958, the Lego company patents a design of its Lego bricks that is still compatible with bricks produced today.

Wisconsin’s gubernatorial primary election is August 11, but the WISGOP race effectively ended Tuesday night:

WPR.org screenshot

President Donald Trump has endorsed U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua, in his bid to be the next governor of Wisconsin. 

Trump announced the endorsement Tuesday night, writing on his social media platform Truth Social that Tiffany had his “Complete and Total Endorsement.” 

“He will fight to advance Common Sense Values, and put WISCONSIN, AND AMERICA, FIRST,” Trump wrote.

See Anya van Wagtendonk, President Trump endorses Tom Tiffany for Wisconsin governor, Wisconsin Public Radio, January 27, 2026.

The first consequence of Trump’s endorsement of Tiffany is that all the candidates in the WisDems primary have by contrast become a few years younger, a few years quicker in their steps, and no less than 86.7% more appealing than before.

Sometimes, but only for a while:

Click image to play video

Campaign Ads, Daily Bread, Politics, WisDems, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 1.27.26: Contributions Tell What Donors Think

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 13. Sunrise is 7:14 and sunset is 5:01 for 9 hours 47 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 66.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 2010, Apple announces the iPad.

Rich Kremer reports today that ‘fundraising reveals party priorities in battle for Wisconsin Legislature.’ The headline and story are spot-on — fundraising tells us what party donors think are the odds of taking one chamber of the Legislature or another. These donors may be right or wrong about the bets they’re placing. Kremer writes of what their contributions reveal about their sense of the race:

During the last half of 2025, the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee raised around $4.5 million with the help of a $3 million donation from GOP megadonor Elizabeth Uihlein and another $1 million donation from fellow megadonor Diane Hendricks. The group ended the year with around $5.2 million in the bank. 

During the same period, the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee raised just more than $1.1 million, which included $175,000 from Democratic megadonor and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and $100,000 donations from Lynde Uihlein of Milwaukee and David Hall of Pewaukee. The Democrats’ committee ended the period with around $241,000 in the bank. 

It was a different story on the Senate side of the fight for legislative control. The State Senate Democratic Committee raised around $772,000, while the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate raised around $307,000. At the end of the year, however, the GOP group had more money in the bank than its Democratic counterpart.

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Political Science Professor Anthony Chergosky told WPR the best way to determine how political parties feel about upcoming elections is to see where their donors are putting their money. He said the latest Wisconsin data “reflects the simple math that Republicans are more likely to maintain control of the Assembly majority than they are to maintain control of the Senate majority.”

See Rich Kremer, Fundraising reveals party priorities in battle for Wisconsin Legislature, Wisconsin Public Radio, January 27, 2026.

Of the $4.5 million that the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee raised, $4 million — 89 percent — came from 2 donors. Campaign money makes a difference, but bets from a couple of donors who bet large and often tell more about what they think than anything else.

It’s been a theme here at FREE WHITEWATER that Wisconsin politics (and politics elsewhere) is increasingly national in focus. That focus will be so intense this fall, and views so firm among so many voters, that big donors with long-standing commitments and long-standing preferences won’t matter as much as in prior years.

City, Culture, Daily Bread, Local Government, Open Government

Daily Bread for 1.26.26: Tactical Emulation in Whitewater Will Perpetuate Error

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 9. Sunrise is 7:15 and sunset is 5:00 for 9 hours 45 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 54.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater School Board meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1962, Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon. The space probe later misses the Moon by 22,000 miles.

For many years, until the beginning of the last decade, Whitewater was mostly a center-right town. For the special-interest men who dominated community development, and found any number of operatives and catspaws to stack on the Whitewater Common Council, this political orientation probably seemed like the natural order of the universe. Their outward profession of faith was boosterism, and their inner belief was personal entitlement. A small and beautiful city run like a company town, or closer still to the truth, run like a company store.

Readers have sometimes written to ask why I did not concentrate on the special-interest men from FREE WHITEWATER‘s beginnings in 2007. I’ve two answers. First, there was a worse problem back then. Second, I did not believe that any normal community would continue to pay much attention to that ilk.

(Note well: When I described members of that clique as town squires, etc., it was not because I was envious — it was because I thought they were ridiculous. It seemed reasonable that they’d fade on their own.)

And yet, time erodes all, including the plans of these now-aged men. The city’s demographic has changed (from a preponderance of residents of longstanding families to one of newer residents, by ideology, and by ethnicity.) These older cronies and entitled types are still around, but others have come forward, a bit younger and often with a different partisan ideology. They’ve grown tired of listening to, and being under the control of, a few entitled Boomers. Whitewater understandably deserves more than an American version of the British aristocracy, where the Duke of Cadbury or the Viscount of Yorkshire Pudding dominates politics for life.

(Again, an aside: While it’s certain that I don’t support yesterday’s tired special-interest men, and Whitewater will be better off when they stop obstructing possibilities, I am not a member of any faction in this city. If that’s not obvious, then nothing is. My tenets are my faction — of policy in this city I neither need nor want more. Actually, of policy in this city, no one needs more than his or her unselfish convictions, steadfastly held. This is the true high ground, the good ground on which to fight, being both right and formidable. Family, friends, and cats are private matters, not policy ones. Those who hold to their own unselfish tenets will find that, in fact, family, friends, and cats will respect them all the more for it.)

So, what’s all this about tactical emulation? New people, new factions, new ideas have — and should — come along to uplift this city. What a terrible waste it would be for residents who offer new and better to adopt the tactics of old and worse. Good ideas for this city, advanced with yesteryear’s bad tactics, are not primarily good ideas — they’re primarily bad tactics. The corruption of an action (using corruption as the Ancients would have, as the rejection of the common good in service of a private advantage) indelibly taints a policy or program.

Along will come an act utilitarian who will insist he’s simply looking for the greatest good for the greatest number, only to injure others for his defined good. Later will come along a rules-based utilitarian who insists he’s rules-based, and would not step on anyone based on his rules, except in this one case right now where he has to make an exception…

No and no again.

New ideas and new people should not, and if they are to advance this city’s betterment must not, emulate yesterday’s old tactics.

Daily Bread, Health, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.25.26: DeForest, Wisconsin Returns to Reason, Plans to Refluoridate Its Water

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 10. Sunrise is 7:16 and sunset is 4:58 for 9 hours 42 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 43.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1964, Blue Ribbon Sports, which would later become Nike, is founded by University of Oregon track and field athletes.

DeForest, Wisconsin has decided to refluoridate its water supply. It’s one small step, from one Wisconsin community, back from crackpottery:

The action follows a protracted controversy that inflamed local politics in the village of some 12,000 people.

Fluoride can be naturally present in drinking water, and many communities in the U.S. add fluoride to their water supply to maintain levels that are ideal for preventing tooth decay.

Fluoride strengthens teeth, which helps stop cavities. For that reason, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has previously celebrated water fluoridation as one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.

But fears about the effects of fluoride in water supplies have been spreading for decades in communities across the country, including DeForest. And U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy is among those promoting false information about fluoride.

Last February, DeForest trustees voted 4-3 to stop adding fluoride to the village’s water supply. This week, trustees took another step toward reversing that decision. 

The board voted 5-2 on Tuesday night to direct village staff to prepare a resolution that would rescind the prior anti-fluoride resolution. Trustees are expected to approve the new resolution during a meeting next month. After that, it will likely take several months before added fluoride is re-introduced to the water, Village Administrator Bill Chang wrote in an email to WPR.

See Sarah Lehr, DeForest prepares to reintroduce fluoride to its water after protracted controversy, Wisconsin Public Radio, January 22, 2026.

We live in a time beset by ignorance, intemperance, and outright idiocy. DeForest now looks to be on the mend, and one wishes that community a full recovery.

Moment Alex Honnold climbed to the top of Taipei 101 skyscraper without ropes:

Cheers erupted from a street-level crowd as he reached the top of the spire of the 508-meter (1,667-foot) tower about 90 minutes after he started. Wearing a red short-sleeve shirt, Honnold waved his arms back and forth over his head.

Daily Bread, Games/Puzzles, Sports, Weather, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.24.26: Crokicurl in Altoona

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be cold with a high of 1. Sunrise is 7:16 and sunset is 4:57 for 9 hours 41 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 32.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1984, Apple Computer places the Macintosh personal computer on sale in the United States.

By Sailko – Own work, CC BY 3.0, Link.

Crokicurl puts a new spin on sport of curling:

Curling is a well-known pastime both in the Upper Midwest and across Canada. Popular in Canada, but largely unknown to the south, is a tabletop board game called Crokinole. Both games are deceptively simple at first, but rely on a lot of strategy to master. Crokicurl combines them.

Ice Pancakes Roll Over Waves on Lake Michigan:

Pancake ice formed on Lake Michigan as cold weather passed through portions of Indiana and Michigan as part of a massive winter storm.

Conservation, Daily Bread, Legislation, Legislature, Nature, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.23.26: Conservation Lite

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be cold with a high of -5. Sunrise is 7:17 and sunset is 4:56 for 9 hours 39 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 23.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1957, American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, which later renames it the “Frisbee.”

It was probable that the Assembly majority would let the existing Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program expire, then replace that program with something less robust, and give it the same name as the original. Mission accomplished:

A pared-back proposal that will continue the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship program, but without allowing for new land acquisition, passed the Assembly on Thursday, eliciting critical reactions from Democrats who said it won’t uphold the legacy of the program.

The Warren Knowles-Gaylord Nelson Stewardship Program was initially created during the 1989-1990 legislative session and signed into law by former Gov. Tommy Thompson. With the goal of preserving wildlife habitat and expanding outdoor recreation opportunities throughout the state, the program has authorized state borrowing and spending for state land acquisition and for grants to local governments and nonprofit conservation organizations. It has traditionally received bipartisan support in Wisconsin as it has been reauthorized several times over the years.

Two GOP bills, coauthored by Rep. Tony Kurtz (R-Wonewoc) and Sen. Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point), passed the Assembly in a 53-44 vote along party lines. The bills would extend the program for an additional two years, but in a limited form.

Under the amended proposal, the Knowles-Nelson program would be reauthorized until 2028, but the money set aside would mostly be for maintaining land that has already been purchased under the program.

The program’s land acquisition provisions have been essentially stripped in the legislation. 

See Baylor Spears, Assembly passes pared down Knowles-Nelson stewardship bill that limits land acquisition, Wisconsin Examiner, January 23, 2026.

Bright aurora lights up Alaska sky:

The northern lights lit up the night sky over Fairbanks, Alaska, on Jan. 21, with ribbons of green and pink shimmering above snow-covered woodland.

City, Film

Film: Tuesday, January 27th, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, After the Hunt

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Tuesday, January 27th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of After the Hunt @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:

Psychological Drama/ Thriller Rated R (Language; moderate sexual content)

2 hours, 18 minutes (2025)

A college professor (Julia Roberts) finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues, and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light. Also stars Andrew Garfield. An AARP 2026 Movies from Grown Ups Award nomination for Julia Roberts.

One can find more information about After the Hunt at the Internet Movie Database.

Daily Bread, Law, Litigation, Madison, Voting Rights, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.22.26: City of Madison Argues Wrongly on Absentee Ballots

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 22. Sunrise is 7:18 and sunset is 4:55 for 9 hours 37 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 15 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1968, Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar Module into space.

By NASA – Public Domain, Link.

It’s sometimes the case, too often, regrettably, that in defending against accusations or litigation, a public institution will advance an argument that protects the institution but harms the public. That’s the situation with the City of Madison’s argument that absentee ballots are a privilege, not a right:

Gov. Tony Evers is pushing back against arguments Madison city officials made in a recent lawsuit contending they can’t be sued for failing to count nearly 200 mail-in ballots in 2024 because absentee voting is not a right but a privilege.

A group of Madison voters represented by the liberal law firm Law Forward sued city and county election officials in March over the city’s failure to count 193 absentee ballots cast during the 2024 presidential election.

The voters are accusing the former Madison clerk of disenfranchising their right to vote in a class-action lawsuit.

[…]

A Dane County Circuit judge overseeing the lawsuit granted a motion from Evers earlier this month to file a brief that the governor’s attorney said would argue the Madison officials’ position “ignores longstanding state constitutional protections” and a state Supreme Court interpretation of the state law at issue that argues otherwise. Evers’ brief is due Jan. 23. 

In recent filings, Witzel-Behl and Madison officials argue the voters’ constitutional protections were removed when they decided to vote absentee.

“The Complaint’s prefatory allegations in (the complaint) describe the right to vote as ‘fundamental’ and ‘sacred,’ and cite a century-old precedent that the right to vote ‘may not under our Constitution be destroyed or even unreasonably restricted.’ … These points are undoubtedly true. However, the manner in which Plaintiffs exercised their right to vote – by absentee ballot – took the process out of its core constitutional protection,” the officials argue. “When the absentee process unfortunately results in a vote not being counted, it is not a violation of a constitutional right.””

See Molly Beck, Evers pushes back against Madison argument in absentee ballot lawsuit, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 22, 2026.

Here we are: the City of Madison, to defend itself against litigation, argues for the effective disenfranchisement of 193 of its own voters.

Attorney Haas argues that the defense in the City of Madison’s legal brief is merely about the amount of damages (a monetary amount) that need to be paid in this case. Perhaps he thinks this is clever representation, but it’s closer to the British insult that sometimes one is ‘too clever by half.’ The affected voters will not see this defense as supportive of their voting rights and the majority of Madison residents will not see this defense as supportive of their voting rights. Only the opponents of absentee voting will find this defense supportive of their interests.

Note well: This is an occasion when a lawyer, representing a public client, undermines the rights of those that the public client is, itself, obligated to represent. Always a mistake, always a serious mistake, and always a mistake requiring a genuine remedy.

An immediate remedy would be for the City of Madison to withdraw its line of defense. A later remedy would be for a court to reject that defense if it is not withdrawn.

In other cases, a genuine remedy may require a public client to seek new in-house or outside counsel, and to remove officials who supported an egregious line of defense.

James Webb Space Telescope delivers ‘clearest infrared look’ of Helix Nebula:

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured an amazing closeup of the Helix Nebula. “Blistering winds of hot gas from the dying star are crashing into colder shells of dust and gas that were shed earlier in its life, sculpting the nebula’s remarkable structure,” according to the European Space Agency.