Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of forty-five.  Sunrise is 6:47 AM and sunset 7:13 PM, for 12h 25m 30s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 76.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 4:30 PM.

On this day in 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 garment workers in Greenwich Village.

Recommended for reading in full:

Neal K. Katyal – who drafted the special counsel regulations under which Robert Mueller was appointed – writes of The Many Problems With the Barr Letter:

But the critical part of the letter is that it now creates a whole new mess. After laying out the scope of the investigation and noting that Mr. Mueller’s report does not offer any legal recommendations, Mr. Barr declares that it therefore “leaves it to the attorney general to decide whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime.” He then concludes the president did not obstruct justice when he fired the F.B.I. director, James Comey.

Such a conclusion would be momentous in any event. But to do so within 48 hours of receiving the report (which pointedly did not reach that conclusion) should be deeply concerning to every American.

….

His letter says Mr. Mueller set “out evidence on both sides of the question and leaves unresolved what the special counsel views as ‘difficult issues’ of law and fact concerning whether the president’s actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction.” Yet we don’t know what those “difficult issues” were, because Mr. Barr doesn’t say, or why Mr. Mueller, after deciding not to charge on conspiracy, let Mr. Barr make the decision on obstruction.

….

On the law, Mr. Barr’s letter also obliquely suggests that he consulted with the Office of Legal Counsel, the elite Justice Department office that interprets federal statutes. This raises the serious question of whether Mr. Barr’s decision on Sunday was based on the bizarre legal views that he set out in an unsolicited 19-page memo last year.

That memo made the argument that the obstruction of justice statute does not apply to the president because the text of the statute doesn’t specifically mention the president. Of course, the murder statute doesn’t mention the president either, but no one thinks the president can’t commit murder. Indeed, the Office of Legal Counsel had previously concluded that such an argument to interpret another criminal statute, the bribery law, was wrong.

Mikhaila Fogel, Quinta Jurecic, Susan Hennessey, Matthew Kahn, and Benjamin Wittes consider What to Make of Bill Barr’s Letter: 

In other respects, however, Barr’s summary of Mueller’s report is ominous for the president. While Mueller did not find that Trump obstructed his investigation, he also made a point of not reaching the opposite conclusion: that Trump didn’t obstruct the investigation. Indeed, he appears to have created a substantial record of the president’s troubling interactions with law enforcement for adjudication in noncriminal proceedings—which is to say in congressional hearings that are surely the next step.

  What’s Going On With Tesla?:

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will see occasional rain and drizzle with a high of fifty-one.  Sunrise is 6:49 AM and sunset 7:12 PM, for 12h 22m 35s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 84.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1989, the Exxon Valdez runs aground and spills 10.8 million gallons (260,000 bbl) of oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska.

Recommended for reading in full:

  David A. Lieb reports GOP redistricting edge moderated Democrats’ 2018 gains, Associated Press analysis finds: 

The AP examined all U.S. House races and about 4,900 state House and Assembly seats up for election last year using a statistical method of calculating partisan advantage that is designed to flag cases of potential political gerrymandering. A similar analysis also showed a GOP advantage in the 2016 elections.

The AP used the so-called “efficiency gap” test in part because it was one of the analytical tools cited in a Wisconsin gerrymandering case that went before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2017 and is part of a North Carolina case scheduled to be argued on Tuesday before the court. In that case, justices will decide whether to uphold a lower court ruling that struck down North Carolina’s congressional districts as an unconstitutional political gerrymander favoring Republicans.

….

In Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has repeatedly found a heavy GOP bias in the way the state’s 99 Assembly districts were drawn after the 2010 Census, using a different way of measuring the gerrymander than the “efficiency gap.”

In each election from 2012 through 2018, the Wisconsin legislative map has all but ensured Republican control of the Assembly even in years when there are significantly more voters voting Democratic statewide.

Under the GOP-drawn map, more than 60 percent of the Assembly seats are more Republican in their makeup than the state as a whole, giving the party a large “baked-in” edge for legislative control.

Some of the map’s partisan tilt reflects the concentration of Democratic voters in urban areas, especially Milwaukee and Madison. But much of the GOP tilt is a direct byproduct of the way the districts were drawn in 2011 to maximize the number of seats with a Republican tilt.

The efficiency gap analysis showed more states with a Republican edge than a Democratic one in their U.S. and state House districts.

Yet “when you look at the nation as a whole, it’s not just a radically tilted map,” said Eric McGhee, a researcher at the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California who developed the efficiency gap model. “It’s more that in these certain key states, they’re paving the way for things to be much worse in the future” through gerrymandering.

  Are Swedish Meatballs Even Swedish?:

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of fifty-three.  Sunrise is 6:51 AM and sunset 7:11 PM, for 12h 19m 39s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 91.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1865, Wisconsinites defending the Union finish fighting in North Carolina:

On this date, the 21st Wisconsin Infantry, made up mostly of soldiers from the Oshkosh area, finished fighting their way through the South during Sherman’s March to the Sea and reached Goldsboro, N.C., where the campaign in the Carolinas ended. Its veterans reunited 40 years later in Manitowoc.

Recommended for reading in full:

  In February, Mikhaila Fogel, Susan Hennessey, Quinta Jurecic, and Benjamin Wittes offered Four Principles for Reading the Mueller Report:

First, in the absence of some glaring or obvious reason to reject them, people should be prepared to accept Mueller’s prosecutorial judgments. Mueller and his team are not 13 angry Democrats today, and they will not be 13 corrupt Republicans tomorrow. They are professionals who have had access to the best factual record anyone is likely to see. The determination of whether to charge—or not to charge—a given person is an informed professional judgment entitled to the presumption of regularity. The indictments that the special counsel has brought to date are all cases in which other reasonable prosecutors in Mueller’s shoes would have likewise pursued charges. To the extent the cases have been litigated, Mueller has prevailed; there is no indication that he has brought cases that were not substantially merited.

….

Second, people should also accept the factual record described in the report in the absence of specific reason to doubt it. This does not mean that Mueller is some kind of deity, whose word on factual matters is infallible. It is, however, a recognition that Mueller has had the benefit of an elite staff of lawyers and investigators who have had access to an array of witnesses and documents and intelligence available to nobody else. This means, quite simply, that he knows more than everyone else does and is thus in a position to change the working factual record dramatically, whereas onlookers can only argue about the existing record or—in the case of investigative reporters and congressional committees—inch it forward at the margins.

….

Third—and this point significantly qualifies the previous one—the report only covers what it covers. There may be many lines of inquiry the public feels are relevant to L’Affaire Russe, or to ethical and legal questions about the president and his family more generally, that are not within the scope of the Mueller report. The report itself will likely address a far narrower set of questions.

….

Fourth, a decision not to prosecute does not necessarily resolve questions of morality, ethics or impeachability.

(Emphasis in original.)

  Why Chicken Nugget Demand Is Flat:

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of forty-five.  Sunrise is 6:53 AM and sunset 7:09 PM, for 12h 16m 43s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 97.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1765, Britain passes the Stamp Act with an effective date of November 1, 1765:

an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain that imposed a direct tax on the British colonies and plantations in America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp.[1][2] Printed materials included legal documents, magazines, playing cards, newspapers, and many other types of paper used throughout the colonies. Like previous taxes, the stamp tax had to be paid in valid British currency, not in colonial paper money.[3]

Recommended for reading in full:

In a comment last night, Joe highlights the big developments on Thursday in Wisconsin politics (and law, truly).  The first of those was developments was an injunction against legislation from last year’s lame-duck session.  A story and the decision and order in that case (one of four challenging the lame-duck session) appear below.

  Mark Sommerhauser reports Judge blocks GOP lame-duck laws limiting Tony Evers’ powers; Evers seeks to remove Wisconsin from Obamacare challenge:

In a rebuke to Republican legislators, a Dane County judge on Thursday blocked enforcement of laws enacted in December that curtailed the powers of the incoming Democratic governor and attorney general.

Immediately after the ruling, Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul sought to do at least one thing the laws had barred: withdrawing Wisconsin from multi-state legal challenges to the federal health care law known as Obamacare.

Republican legislative leaders promised to swiftly appeal the ruling, issued Thursday morning by Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess. They contend it throws state government into chaos by raising questions about the validity of laws passed in prior extraordinary sessions.

….

But such sessions are not authorized by the state Constitution or state law, Niess wrote in his ruling. The Legislature adopted a joint rule permitting them in the 1977 session, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau.

“There can be no justification for enforcement of the unconstitutional legislative actions emanating from the December 2018 ‘extraordinary session’ that is consistent with the rule of law,” Niess wrote.

In addition to the lame-duck laws, Niess’ ruling also vacates, during the session, 82 nominees and appointees to state boards and councils made by former Gov. Scott Walker.

Hours after the ruling on Thursday afternoon, Kaul asked federal judges to dismiss Wisconsin from two anti-Obamacare lawsuits the state backed under former GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel. It remained unclear late Thursday when federal courts might grant Kaul’s requests.

See Decision and Order:

  Sun Bears mimic facial expressions:

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be increasingly sunny with a high of fifty-one.  Sunrise is 6:54 AM and sunset 7:08 PM, for 12h 13m 48s of daytime.  The moon is full with 99.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1965, the third Selma to Montgomery civil rights march begins:

On Sunday, March 21, close to 8,000 people assembled at Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church to commence the trek to Montgomery.[90] Most of the participants were black, but some were white and some were Asian and Latino. Spiritual leaders of multiple races, religions, and creeds marched abreast with Dr. King, including Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Greek Orthodox Archbishop Iakovos, Rabbis Abraham Joshua Heschel and Maurice Davis, and at least one nun, all of whom were depicted in a photo that has become famous.[68]

Recommended for reading in full:

Patrick Marley reports In Wisconsin gerrymandering case, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos refuses to testify:

MADISON – Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is refusing to testify in Wisconsin’s gerrymandering case, opening a new front in a long-running legal battle over how election maps are drawn.

The Rochester Republican and his attorneys refused to accept a subpoena, turn over documents and agree to have him sit for a deposition because they maintain he is immune from civil legal actions. Democrats suing over the maps filed court documents late Tuesday asking a panel of federal judges to force Vos to testify.

“Assembly members, including Speaker Vos, have waived any claim to legislative immunity in this case by intervening as a defendant and actively participating in the litigation, including filing motions and discovery requests,” attorney Ruth Greenwood wrote in her filing.

An attorney for Vos rejected that argument.

“Subpoenaing Speaker Vos diverts time, energy, and attention away from legislative tasks and disrupts the important work of the Wisconsin Legislature,” attorney Kevin St. John wrote in a letter to Greenwood last month.

(Vos is too busy to discuss the gerrymandering that sustains his political power.)

Anna Andrianova reports Russia Ditches Income Data That Has Slumped for Five Years:

Russia will stop publishing monthly data that’s shown a slump in disposable incomes for five straight years after the indicator was criticized for using methodology that’s decades out of date.

The Federal Statistics Service will start releasing quarterly income data starting next month and historical numbers will be recalculated going back to 2013, head Pavel Malkov said at a briefing with journalists in Moscow. The new methodology will include data on online sales and sales from smaller retailers among other things, he added.

The statistics service, known as Rosstat, comes under regular fire for the quality of its data, especially after growth numbers for 2018 released last month massively outstripped economist estimates. The Economy Ministry took control nearly two years ago and Malkov, a former economy ministry official, was appointed head late last year to address issues including the collection of primary data.

‘Particle’ robots: The bio-inspired bots that move with no brain:

Good morning.

Spring begins in Whitewater with mostly cloudy skies, an occasional shower, and a high of fifty.  Sunrise is 6:56 AM and sunset 7:07 PM, for 12h 10m 53s of daytime.  The moon is full with 99.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Parks and Rec Board meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1854, the Republican Party is founded in Ripon, Wisconsin:

The meeting’s organizer, Alvan E. Bovay, proposed the name “Republican” which had been suggested by New York editor Horace Greeley. You can see eyewitness accounts of the meeting, early Republican campaign documents, and other original sources on our page devoted to Wisconsin and the Republican Party. Though other places have claimed themselves as the birthplace of the Republican Party, this was the earliest meeting held for the purpose and the first to use the term Republican.

Recommended for reading in full:

Robert Kagan writes The strongmen strike back:

Of all the geopolitical transformations confronting the liberal democratic world these days, the one for which we are least prepared is the ideological and strategic resurgence of authoritarianism. We are not used to thinking of authoritarianism as a distinct worldview that offers a real alternative to liberalism. Communism was an ideology — and some thought fascism was, as well — that offered a comprehensive understanding of human nature, politics, economics and governance to shape the behavior and thought of all members of a society in every aspect of their lives.

We believed that “traditional” autocratic governments were devoid of grand theories about society and, for the most part, left their people alone. Unlike communist governments, they had no universalist pretensions, no anti-liberal “ideology” to export. Though hostile to democracy at home, they did not care what happened beyond their borders. They might even evolve into democracies themselves, unlike the “totalitarian” communist states. We even got used to regarding them as “friends,” as strategic allies against the great radical challenges of the day: communism during the Cold War, Islamist extremism today.

Like so many of the theories that became conventional wisdom during the late 20th and early 21st centuries, however, this one was mistaken. Today, authoritarianism has emerged as the greatest challenge facing the liberal democratic world — a profound ideological, as well as strategic, challenge. Or, more accurately, it has reemerged, for authoritarianism has always posed the most potent and enduring challenge to liberalism, since the birth of the liberal idea itself. Authoritarianism has now returned as a geopolitical force, with strong nations such as China and Russia championing anti-liberalism as an alternative to a teetering liberal hegemony. It has returned as an ideological force, offering the age-old critique of liberalism, and just at the moment when the liberal world is suffering its greatest crisis of confidence since the 1930s. It has returned armed with new and hitherto unimaginable tools of social control and disruption that are shoring up authoritarian rule at home, spreading it abroad and reaching into the very heart of liberal societies to undermine them from within.

Robot Learns How to Play Jenga:

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of fifty-two.  Sunrise is 6:58 AM and sunset 7:06 PM, for 12h 07m 56s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 96.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 2003, the Iraq War begins.

Recommended for reading in full:

Conservative Peter Wehner sees A Damaged Soul and a Disordered Personality:

It doesn’t take a person with an advanced degree in psychology to see Trump’s narcissism and lack of empathy, his vindictiveness and pathological lying, his impulsivity and callousness, his inability to be guided by norms, or his shamelessness and dehumanization of those who do not abide his wishes. His condition is getting worse, not better—and there are now fewer people in the administration able to contain the president and act as a check on his worst impulses.

This constellation of characteristics would be worrisome in a banker or a high-school teacher, in an aircraft machinist or a warehouse manager, in a gas-station attendant or a truck driver. To have them define the personality of an American president is downright alarming.

Whether the worst scenarios come to pass or not is right now unknowable. But what we do know is that the president is a person who seems to draw energy and purpose from maliciousness and transgressive acts, from creating enmity among people of different races, religions, and backgrounds, and from attacking the weak, the honorable, and even the dead.

Donald Trump is not well, and as long as he is president, our nation is not safe.

Jennifer Rubin writes Trump is getting worse. And Republicans’ rationalizations are getting weaker:

Unfortunately, most Republicans are fine with Trump, or say they are. They have tax cuts and some judges, so what do they care if the presidency is sullied, racial anger builds, the United States’ reputation in the world is damaged, decency and objective truth are obliterated, and none of our real challenges (e.g. income inequality, climate change) are addressed? Republicans will still tell you that they are victims of liberal elites. In their minds, Trump is just evening the score on their behalf.

There is no moral or intellectual reason that will persuade them. There is no respectful conversation to be had with people who argue in bad faith. The only solution is to defeat Trump and his party so thoroughly that Trumpism is permanently discredited.

JR Radcliffe writes If you just care about Wisconsin connections, here’s your guide for the first four days of the NCAA Tournament:

If there’s one thing that’s difficult during the NCAA Tournament, it’s figuring out where to focus your attention on Thursday and Friday, when as many as four games are going on at the same time. If your allegiance is simply the state of Wisconsin, here’s what to watch for [scheduling and other information folows].

(The whole tournament is worth watching as much as one can, but this is a good Wisconsin-only guide.)

The Truth About Wasabi: