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Daily Bread, Federal Government, Freedom of Speech, Liberty, Local Government, New Media, Open Government, Politics, State Government, Writing

Daily Bread for 1.17.26: Revisiting ‘Steps for Blogging on a Policy or Proposal’

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Good morning.


Saturday in Whitewater will see morning snow showers with a high of 19. Sunrise is 7:21 and sunset is 4:48 for 9 hours 27 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 1.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1991, Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning as aircraft strike positions across Iraq.

Twelve years ago, this libertarian blogger listed his Steps for Blogging on a Policy or Proposal. I think it describes today (as it did then) the method at FREE WHITEWATER. That post from 1.21.14 appears in full below:

For bloggers who cover politics, policymaking, etc., just as would have been true of essayists and pamphleteers in an earlier time, it helps to have a method to one’s writing.  In the paragraphs below, I’ll list steps one should take when approaching a topic.

The steps are in a rough order, but in any method, one sometimes returns to an earlier step, or jumps ahead if necessary.

1. Read.  Often long before writing, there’s reading (and listening).  One reads the documents in a proposal, including contracts, studies, and other supporting materials, and listens to presentations on the proposal.

Reading and listening are more than a study of a particular proposal; they are a reliance on what one has read before, on the topic but also on other topics, perhaps seemingly unrelated at first blush.  In the end, what one reads – if it’s any good – is a review of others’ recounted experiences and analyses.

Rely on the sound foundation of the works of respected authors and researchers.

2.  Walk around.  If writing about a place, try to visit it if possible. Maps may produce a poor understanding of distance, line-of-sight, and the influence of weather. Similarly, if writing about devices, try to find one, to hold it in one’s hand, to learn how it looks and feels.

3.  Write initially.  After reading and listening and walking about or examining a device, start writing.

Sometimes, all that one has read or experienced will offer a definite opinion.

Other times, one may begin merely with a series of questions.  It’s rare that a significant topic inspires just one question.  Questions are both a search for information and an expression of prior, informed understanding.

Publish your questions.

It’s not an exercise of due diligence to ask one weak question, to ignore the need for a responsive answer, or to fail to act after the vague answers one receives (or does not even receive).  Asking a question and doing nothing after getting no answer or a poor answer isn’t an exercise in accountability, but instead an abdication of it.

Politics is littered with those who think that one tepid question is enough, and that the mere asking somehow fulfills one’s duty.  America did not become a great and advanced republic through timid political and scientific inquiry.

4.  Informal requests to officials.  If you’ve a few questions you’d like to ask directly, do so with an announcement of those same questions to your readers.

It’s a mistake to think that private conversations with officials will advance blogging on public issues.  (See, as an example, mention in FREE WHITEWATER from 11.6.13 letting readers know that I would be asking Whitewater’s city manager about particular documents.)

Private discussions always run the risk of being manipulated to officials’ advantage.  If one would like to be a tool or toady of government, then one can always join a fish-wrap community newspaper, where every day is an exercise in sycophancy.

5.  Formal requests.  If an inquiry demands a public records request under state or federal law, go ahead and submit one.  As with an informal request to officials, publish the full request online after you’ve submitted it.  Let readers see what you’re seeking from government, verbatim.

In the same way, publish what you receive in reply to your request.  I’ve come to see that it’s a mistake to leave a government’s reply unpublished. Readers should see the full reply.

Be prepared to follow up.  A reply will likely raise other questions.  Let your readers know those questions, including any subsequent, formal records request.

6.  Litigation.  Never threaten what one is not prepared to do; don’t publish threats (of litigation) in any event.

(There was an odd situation like this a year ago between two Wisconsin bloggers, where one of them taunted the other with the risk of a lawsuit.  It was a sorry affair.  The law is not a threat; it’s a defense.)

When writing about a major topic, think – as best as one can – about where it might lead. Most topics, needless to say and thankfully so, will never be the subject of lawsuits.  For a very few, that might be a possibility.

Consult with a lawyer if you have significant questions, about whether to obtain documents, assure open meetings access, protect a right, or advance a vital public policy.  Conversations on any of these topics will be between the lawyer and the blogger-client, and afterward addressed methodically with sangfroid, that cold calm that’s useful for success.

I’m sure I’ve missed much, but here’s the general method, some steps to be repeated, others never to be reached: (1) read & listen (2) visit places & study objects if possible, (3) write, asking questions where necessary, (4) submit informal requests to government if seemingly fruitful, (5) submit formal requests under the law, (6) consult an attorney for advice on rights under the law or limitations on government action.

Having a method for blogging on policy makes writing better for both blogger and readers. It’s as simple as that.

Match this approach with a current list of issues (expressed most recently at FREE WHITEWATER on 10.2.25) and one finds an ordered (and thus orderly) statement of method and concerns.

Budget, Daily Bread, State Government, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.16.26: Wisconsin’s Projected Budget Surplus Grows

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 35. Sunrise is 7:22 and sunset is 4:47 for 9 hours 25 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 5.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1945, with the Third Reich retreating on all fronts, Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.

Wisconsin’s projected state budget surplus looks to be much bigger than previously forecast:

Wisconsin state government may have a lot more money than previously expected after new revenue projections show the state’s budget picture improving by $1.5 billion.

The estimates from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau would leave the state with a $2.5 billion balance at the end of the two-year budget on June 30, 2027. The state was previously expecting a balance of closer to a $1 billion.

While the numbers are still just projections, they’re based in part on trends in actual tax collection and represent a significant uptick in revenue, particularly from the corporate and income taxes.

See Wisconsin’s projected budget surplus jumps to $2.5B, Wisconsin Public Radio, January 15, 2026.

Whether to hold or spend the surplus is sure to be a campaign issue this year, in an environment dominated by discussions of federal budget policy. The bigger the estimated surplus, the more likely the discussion becomes. Campaigns will have a chance to argue for disposition of these billions (save, fund programs, cut taxes, etc.) as either a supplement or an antidote to federal budgetary policy.

Buddhist monks and their dog captivate Americans while on a peace walk:

People react to Buddhist monks participating in the “Walk For Peace,” during a stop in Charlotte, North Carolina. The monks and their dog are walking 2,300 miles from Texas to Washington D.C.

Cats, Science/Nature

Friday Catblogging: A Discovery of Naturally Mummified Cheetahs

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Just as some animals have been naturally fossilized, it’s possible for some animals to be naturally mummified. Thousands of years ago, that’s what happened to some cheetahs on the Arabian Peninsula:

In 2022 and 2023, Ahmed Al-Boug — a wildlife biologist at the National Center for Wildlife in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — and his colleagues conducted a wildlife survey in a network of 134 underground caves in northern Saudi Arabia. In five of those caves, the researchers found preserved cheetah remains: 54 skeletons, but also seven mummies, set and desiccated by the desert’s extreme aridity. Long ago, the cheetahs may have fallen into the caves and were unable to escape.

[…]

The findings give researchers and conservation managers a second gene pool to seed any reintroduction effort in the region, including ongoing efforts by the National Center for Wildlife to breed cheetahs and reintroduce them to Saudi Arabia. When bringing back species to habitats where they’ve been extinguished, it’s ideal to use populations that might have adaptations to local conditions, says Kierepka. The northwest African cheetahs might be adequately related to the ancient Arabian cats to have some of those crucial adaptations. 

See Jake Buehler, How cheetah mummies could help bring the species back to Arabia, Science News, January 15, 2026.

See a naturally mummified cheetah up close:

Researchers found dozens of cheetah skeletons and some mummies (one shown) in underground caves in northern Saudi Arabia. The animals likely fell into the caves and became trapped, leading to their demise. The last cheetahs on the Arabian Peninsula disappeared in the 1970s, but genetic information from these preserved remains may help conservationists pick cheetahs best suited for reintroduction in the region.




Authoritarian Populism, Daily Bread, Hunger, State Government, Trumpism, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.15.26: Wisconsin Moves to Support Program for Local Food Banks After Federal Funding Cuts

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 23. Sunrise is 7:22 and sunset is 4:46 for 9 hours 24 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 10.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1967, the Packers defeat the Chiefs, 35–10, in the first Super Bowl.

In March 2025, the Trump Administration cut about $400 million nationwide from the Local Foods Purchase Assistance Program. The Evers Administration has now acted to fund the program:

New state funding will help Wisconsin hunger relief groups purchase from local farmers. It continues an effort that was disrupted last year after the abrupt end of federal support.

The Food Security and Wisconsin Products Grant Program will receive $10 million over the state’s 2025-27 biennial budget. Half of the funding was distributed last week to Feeding Wisconsin and Hunger Task Force, and will go toward purchasing foods that are at least 51 percent produced or processed in Wisconsin.

Jackie Anderson, executive director of Feeding Wisconsin, said it’s the first time Wisconsin is investing state dollars into this type of hunger-relief effort. And it comes at a critical time.

“We know, as a sector, that donations (of food and money) are decreasing,” Anderson said. “On the flip side, the need is increasing. Across our Feeding America food banks, we’re seeing about a 30 to 45 percent increase in the number of neighbors who are needing to visit pantries.”

See Hope Kirwan, After federal cuts, Wisconsin will fund effort to get local food into food banks (‘Hunger relief groups will receive $10M over the next 2 years to buy food from Wisconsin producers, processors’), January 15, 2026.

There are thousands of federal programs that merit reduction or cancellation before food bank assistance. And yet, there’s an atavistic element to extreme populism: it seeks the reduction of programs it believes (accurately or inaccurately) go toward populism’s ethnic and cultural adversaries (as the populists, and they populists alone, define their adversaries).

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 splashes down and exits capsule in time-lapse – Medical evacuation complete:

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 splashed down on Jan. 15 at 3:41 a.m. EST, off the coast of California, in the Pacific Ocean. Full Story: https://www.space.com/space-explorati… The Crew-11 mission launched to the ISS on Aug. 1, 2025, carrying NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. The quartet wasn’t scheduled to depart until the astronauts of SpaceX’s Crew-12 launched to take their place, but concerns about a medical situation escalated to NASA’s decision of returning the crew early.

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

Daily Bread for 1.14.26: Microsoft’s View on Wisconsin Data Centers

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 23. Sunrise is 7:23 and sunset is 4:45 for 9 hours 22 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 15.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1911, Roald Amundsen‘s South Pole expedition makes landfall on the eastern edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.

Yesterday’s post concerned Wisconsin gubernatorial candidates’ views on data centers. There’s reporting today on Microsoft’s view of Wisconsin data centers:

One of Microsoft’s top executives said he would support a new state law to regulate and set standards for data center developments across Wisconsin. 

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and vice chair, also said he supports a proposal from We Energies for a “Very Large Customer” rate for data centers in the state.

“We want to pay a higher price so that our data center does not increase the price of electricity for consumers,” Smith said in an interview with WPR. “That’s the right thing to do for the state and for our business.” 

See Evan Casey, Microsoft president says he would support a Wisconsin law to regulate data centers (‘Microsoft released a new ‘Community-First AI Infrastructure’ plan Tuesday’), January 14, 2026.

While this libertarian blogger argued yesterday for “as little state regulation as possible, leaving counties and cities with the choice of whether they’d prefer a data center in their community,” Microsoft, the vast corporation, seems to be more amenable to regulation than one libertarian resident would be.

Why? A few reasons come to mind. First, there are different possible regulations. Some regulations might involve rates for electricity (the ‘very large customer rate’) and some regulations might address the very presence of a data center in a community (regardless of the electricity rate it might pay).

Second, Microsoft might calculate it would be able to bear state regulations more easily than competing data centers (from smaller companies that were less well-financed). In this way, Microsoft would benefit from regulations that, in effect, inhibit data-center competition from smaller companies.

Third, the statement from Microsoft’s president and vice chair is only an opening offer, not a final one, from that corporation.

Fourth, of course, Microsoft might simply believe in regulation for the hell of it. That fourth possibility, however, would sit alongside the belief that small flying creatures live on the moon.1

Regulation of data centers in Wisconsin is an evolving discussion; more twists and turns lie ahead.

_____

  1. They don’t. ↩︎

Dog rescued from ice-covered Danube in Budapest:

Hungarian firefighters braved freezing conditions to save a dog that fell into frigid water and broken ice, as extreme winter weather swept across the country.

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

Daily Bread for 1.13.26: Gubernatorial Candidates’ Views on Data Centers

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 50. Sunrise is 7:23 and sunset is 4:44 for 9 hours 21 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 24 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 5:15 PM.

On this day in 1953, an article appears in Pravda accusing some of the most prestigious and prominent doctors, mostly Jews, in the Soviet Union of taking part in a vast plot to poison members of the top Soviet political and military leadership.

Data centers have become a concern for many Wisconsinites. Henry Redman reports on this year’s gubernatorial candidates’ views on data centers:

Here in Wisconsin, communities are grappling with how to make agreements with the big tech companies hoping to build the data centers, how to avoid the broken promises at the top of mind of many Wisconsinites after the Foxconn development in Mount Pleasant failed to live up to its lofty initial projections and how to manage the often huge demands the data centers make on local water supplies and energy. 

Despite those challenges, the construction of a data center can offer benefits to local governments — mostly by boosting property tax revenue from a development that won’t consume many local government services. 

Unlike many other issues, the question of data center development has not become politically polarized, with a range of positions among candidates of both parties. 

“Data centers are a new issue that has not taken on a partisan edge in the public mind,” Barry Burden, a political science professor at UW-Madison, said. “This is likely to change because among politicians Democrats are more skeptical about data centers and Republicans are more enthusiastic about them. If this partisan divide continues or even becomes sharper, the public is likely to begin mimicking the positions taken by party leaders. But at least for a while the issue is likely to cut across party lines.”

In Wisconsin’s crowded open race for governor, most of the candidates told the Wisconsin Examiner they were supportive of some level of statewide regulation on data centers. 

See Henry Redman, What do Wisconsin gubernatorial candidates think about data center development?, Wisconsin Examiner, January 13, 2026.

I’d argue for as little state regulation as possible, leaving counties and cities with the choice of whether they’d prefer a data center in their community. The rush to build data centers may not last, and the centers may take markedly different shapes from one proposal to another.

It’s early in the game to decide more than a minimal set of regulations on their development.

Wildfires in Argentine Patagonia rip through nearly 12,000 hectares of forest:

Raging wildfires in the Argentine Patagonia have blazed through over 12,000 hectares (nearly 30,000 acres) of scrubland and planted and native forests, threatening local communities, according to firefighting authorities.

Daily Bread, Health, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.12.26: Stocking Vending Machines with Flu Tests Is a Sensible Policy

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 43. Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset is 4:42 for 9 hours 18 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 32 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Planning Commission meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1969, the New York Jets defeat the Baltimore Colts to win Super Bowl III in what is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in sports history (Jets 16, Colts 7).

Some Wisconsin counties have begun to stock harm-reduction vending machines with flu tests:

In the midst of an intense flu season, some Wisconsin counties are stocking “public health vending machines” with free flu tests. 

Kenosha County Public Health began stocking vending machines with COVID-19 and flu tests this month. 

Harm reduction vending machines have been popping up across Wisconsin in recent years. They are typically filled with Narcan — a lifesaving drug that reverses opioid overdoses — and fentanyl test strips. Some counties are broadening its public health impact by adding flu testing kits and winter supplies.

[…]

Julie Dabrowski is the communication support coordinator for Crawford County Health and Human Services. She said the program gives residents affordable and accessible health care.

“We do have vending machines on all corners of our county,” Dabrowski said. “So even in some of the most rural areas, they can have access to these products that they wouldn’t be able to unless they went into the city.”

Flu tests in vending machines also allow residents to figure out what treatment to seek while protecting the health of others.

“We thought that would be a great idea, since people need to know whether or not they have COVID, flu A or flu B,” Dabrowski said.

See Steph Conquest-Ware, Some Wisconsin counties are filling ‘harm reduction vending machines’ with flu tests (‘It comes at a time when flu cases are surging nationwide’), Wisconsin Public Radio, January 12, 2026.

Adding flu kits is a good decision: (1) the machines have the capacity to stock different items at the same time, (2) they have become known in their communities, and (3) adjusting the variety of kits to account for shifting community health risks is a rational approach.

Supplies within the machines should be adjusted as needed.

Shapeshifting material changes color and texture:

Researchers have developed a material which can change colour and texture on command, inspired by the shape-shifting camouflage abilities of some cephalapods. The team use a beam of electrons to draw designs onto a polymer which is then exposed to water. When wet, the polymer swells and reveals the textures patterned into it with the electron beam. The researchers say that this tunable photonic skin could be used in wearable devices or soft robots.
Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/d4158…

Conservation, Daily Bread, Nature, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.11.26: A Conservation Success for Wisconsin

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 32. Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset is 4:41 for 9 hours 17 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 41 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1820, the Great Savannah Fire of 1820 destroys over 400 buildings in Savannah, Georgia.

Paul Smith writes of a Wisconsin conservation success story:

As the state approaches the 50th anniversary of its wild turkey reintroduction, the birds are found in all 72 counties, ranging from remote wilds to farms to urban parks.

Combining science-based wildlife management and multiple partners, including local and national conservation organizations and private landowners, the Wisconsin wild turkey project is widely regarded as one of the state’s most successful native species reintroductions.

“Quite frankly, there is nothing like it,” said Rob Keck, CEO of the National Wild Turkey Federation from 1978 to 2008 who now works as Bass Pro Shops hunting and fishing ambassador. “To go from zero to statewide and have decades of growth and stability, it’s remarkable in every aspect.”

Wild turkeys were native to Wisconsin but by the mid-1800s its population was strained. The pressures included the removal of vast areas of timber from southern Wisconsin, high turkey harvests by market and subsistence hunters and the disappearance of source populations in Illinois.

By 1860 wild turkeys were rare in Wisconsin, according to the DNR’s document titled “Ecology of Wild Turkeys in Wisconsin.”

The last wild turkey in Wisconsin’s original flock was killed in 1881 near Darlington, according to the DNR.

[…]

So by the 1970s Wisconsin DNR managers were set on a plan.

[…]

“Textbook case of restoring an animal that was once there, into a favorable environment, and watching it take off,” [then DNR wildlife staffer Charley] Burke said.

In 1983, just seven years after reintroduction, the DNR held the state’s first spring turkey hunting season. In 1989 it offered a fall season, too.

See Paul A. Smith, After 50 years, wild turkey reintroduction ranks among Wisconsin’s greatest wildlife successes (‘The 1976 reintroduction of wild turkeys to Wisconsin restored a native species to the state. After 50 years, it’s considered one of the greatest wildlife success stories in state history’), Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 11, 2026.

Scenes from The Nature Conservancy’s Spring Green Prairie Preserve:

Click image to play video.

Daily Bread, Economy

Daily Bread for 1.10.26: Our New ‘Golden Age’ Looking More Like Tin

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will see morning sleet giving way to less cloudy skies and a high of 35. Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset is 4:40 for 9 hours 16 minutes of daytime. The moon is in its third quarter with 50.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 49 BC, Caesar crosses the Rubicon, precipitating the start of civil war.

It was Mr. Trump who proclaimed that his second administration would bring a “new golden age.” More like the base metals of tin or lead, it turns out:

The U.S. labor market ended 2025 on a soft note, with job creation in December less than expected, according to a report Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Nonfarm payrolls rose a seasonally adjusted 50,000 for the month, lower than the downwardly revised 56,000 in November and short of the Dow Jones estimate for 73,000. 

At the same time, the unemployment rate fell to 4.4%, compared with the forecast for 4.5%. 

See Jeff Cox, U.S. payrolls rose 50,000 in December, less than expected, CNBC, January 9, 2026.

Fires in Argentine Patagonia rip through thousands of hectares of forest:

Since Monday, flames have spread across a vast area of the “Comarca Andina” in southern Argentina, considered one of the top tourist destinations in the heart of the Andes Mountains. More than 350 people were attempting to halt the fire with the help of air support — including helicopters, amphibious planes, and air tankers — according to the government of Chubut province.

Daily Bread, Science/Nature, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.9.26: A Wisconsin Trail Weaving Indigenous Knowledge with Western Science

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 57. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset is 4:39 for 9 hours 14 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 60.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the original iPhone at a Macworld keynote in San Francisco.

Wisconsin Life | Nature trail weaves Indigenous knowledge with Western science:

At the College of the Menominee Nation in Keshena, a “phenology” trail identifies plants by common, scientific and Menominee names. Signs illustrate seasonal phases and traditional uses, braiding together Western science with Indigenous ways of knowing.

Count the Elk:

Click image to play video.

City, Film

Film: Tuesday, January 13th, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale

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Tuesday, January 13th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:

Period Drama Rated PG

2 hours, 3 minutes (2025)

Is this really the final chapter in the favorite 14 year family saga…? Starring Hugh Bonneville and the entire Downton Cast. 

One can find more information about Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale at the Internet Movie Database.

Daily Bread, Elections, Gubernatorial Race 2026, Presidential race 2016, Presidential race 2020, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.8.26: False Political Equivalence from the Journal Sentinel

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 55. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset is 4:38 for 9 hours 13 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 69.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1790, President Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York City.

There is a story today at the Journal Sentinel, framed with the tired formulation that two people are ‘pointing fingers’ at each other about past election actions from two of Wisconsin’s gubernatorial candidates:

“Barnes, who leads the Democratic primary for governor in name identification, criticized Tiffany, a Republican leading the GOP primary race, on the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection for his support of a lawsuit that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“… let’s remind WI that you are an election-denier that tried to overturn the 2020 election at the bidding of Donald Trump,” Barnes said in a post on X. 

Tiffany shot back, reminding X followers of a past post from Barnes following President Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory that questioned its legitimacy.

“The election was, rigged?” Barnes tweeted on Nov. 9, 2016 ? a day after Trump defeated former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by winning key swing states, including Wisconsin.”

See Molly Beck, Barnes, Tiffany point fingers over questioning of election results, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 8, 2026.

This libertarian blogger is skeptical of neither election result (Trump won in ’16, Biden won in ’20). And yet, and yet, for any person of normal discernment, it’s easy to see that Barnes’s unfounded skepticism in 2016 was little more than a social media claim, while in 2021 Rep. Tiffany in Congress actively voted on 1.6.21 to overturn Biden’s victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania.

In her story, Beck reminds readers of Tiffany’s actions only ten paragraphs down.

Tiffany did more than ‘point fingers’ in 2021. He acted affirmatively to reject a lawful election result to support a losing presidential campaign.

That plain truth deserves more than a tenth-paragraph observation.

NASA mulls rare ISS crew return over astronaut health issue:

NASA is considering a rare early return of its crew from the International Space Station over an unspecified medical issue involving one of the astronauts. NASA canceled a planned spacewalk scheduled for January 8, the agency said.