FREE WHITEWATER

City, Culture

The Seats in the House

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At public meetings, people who are hard of hearing or weak of eyesight should receive preference to sit close to the meeting’s speakers. People who have difficulty walking should receive a preference to sit near an exit.

Otherwise, in a well-ordered environment, leaders will sit in the back, allowing non-leader residents to sit closer to the front. The better view (except for the disabled) belongs to non-leaders.

The opposite often happens among Old Whitewater’s leaders. They sit in the front row, backs to everyone else in the room, arms folded, almost never looking back at others. They speak as though there were only two groups in the room: guest speakers and these entitled few. They do not hesitate to push themselves forward; they take first for themselves.

This is funny, of course, because there are no dignitaries, VIPs, notables, etc., in Whitewater.

Where are there dignitaries, VIPs, notables, etc.? Buckingham Palace, perhaps, but even that’s doubtful.

In Whitewater, there’s truly not one dignitary. We’re better off.

In any case, one might happily yield the front to others for another reason.  The back of the room allows one to survey the entire scene – speaker, entitled few, and residents.

It is the entire scene, viewed quietly and without commotion, that should matter more than the view closer to a few prominently, but selfishly placed, local grandees.

Good Ideas, League of Women Voters, Local Government, Politics

How to Build a Better Candidate Forum

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Posted originally 2.16.16. Reposted 3.8.18. A private local organization, in the habit of hosting candidate debates forums, may freely follow its national organization’s practices. Fair enough.

Whitewater, however, would do better if she adopted better standards. There are two easy ways that Whitewater can make her candidate forums much better.

➤ Release Candidate Statements Before the Forum Takes Place. It’s a poor practice to hold a forum on March 10th, for example, but post candidates’ completed questionnaires “by the end of the day, Monday, March 12.”

Those attending a forum should be able to read, and ask questions based on, the candidates’ prepared statements. Releasing statements after the forum deprives residents of an informative written statement of a candidate’s positions before he or she speaks.

Releasing candidates’ statements before the forum is useful in a second way. If statements are released before a forum, then there can be no possibility – even as a suspicion – that candidates’ written answers might be altered at a candidate’s behest to adjust for political advantage after the forum.

Statements released before the forum assure those asking questions will be better informed, and prevent the possibility of pressure for alteration afterward.

➤ Hold the Forum Even if Some Candidates Cancel. A policy that requires cancellation of an entire event if one candidate in a single contested race cancels favors gamesmanship from a better-know candidate and short-changes the community on information about every other candidate.

If a better-known candidate in a contested race knows that by canceling (for whatever reason) he or she can prevent a lesser-known candidate from speaking, that familiar candidate has an incentive to cancel.  In this way, the familiar candidate could deny a needed forum to a lesser-known one, and to all the community.

Worse – and stranger still – is the absurd claim that if a candidate in a contested race cancels, then the entire forum should be canceled, including for candidates in other races:

“Although only the Councilmember at Large seat is contested, the League invited the uncontested candidates to share their views as well. However, should either one of the two candidates running for the At Large seat choose not to participate, the forum will be cancelled. The League has a long tradition of not supporting “empty-chair” debates or forums because any candidate in a contested race, who appears alone, has the distinct advantage of presenting partisan views and comments without challenge.”

Were those invited candidates in uncontested races able legitimately to speak? If so, then there’s nothing about the absence of candidates in different races that would make the invited, uncontested candidates’ remarks more or less legitimate. If the invited candidates in uncontested races were not able legitimately to speak in the first place, they never should have been invited.

(Needless to say, a properly organized forum of sound principles would have found each candidate’s participation legitimate.)

Finally, the use of partisan here is odd (to the point of silliness). First, Whitewater’s local races are, by law, non-partisan.

Second, in the ordinary definition of the term –  as support for a party, cause, faction, person, or idea – all candidates in all cases are partisan. Honest to goodness, they’re all supporting some discernible thing, aren’t they?  Even if they’re supporting their own sense of entitlement (!), that’s a kind of partisan view.

Worse, of course, is a policy that rewards a candidate who cancels by allowing him or her to stifle everyone else of information. If the worry is uncontested views, it’s the canceling candidate who creates that situation, to everyone else’s detriment. Candidates  declining a forum shouldn’t have the power to cancel all other presentations.

A better practice would issue candidate statements before a forum, and would hold a forum for any and all candidates (and residents) wishing to attend.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.8.18

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of thirty-four. Sunrise is 6:17 AM and sunset 5:53 PM, for 11h 36m 36s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with  58.1% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}four hundred eighty-third day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}

Whitewater’s Fire Department will hold a business meeting at 5 PM, and her Police & Fire Commission will meet at 5:15 PM (update: canceled).

On this day in 1854, Commodore Perry makes his second visit to Japan: “After initial resistance, Perry was permitted to land at Kanagawa, near the site of present-day Yokohama on March 8, 1854, where, after negotiations lasting for around a month, the Convention of Kanagawa was signed on March 31, 1854. Perry signed as American plenipotentiary, and Hayashi Akira, also known by his title of Daigaku-no-kami signed for the Japanese side.”

Recommended for reading in full —

➤ Sari Horwitz and Devlin Barrett report Mueller gathers evidence that 2017 Seychelles meeting was effort to establish back channel to Kremlin:

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has gathered evidence that a secret meeting in the Seychelles just before the inauguration of Donald Trump was an effort to establish a back channel between the incoming administration and the Kremlin — apparently contradicting statements made to lawmakers by one of its participants, according to people familiar with the matter.

In January 2017, Erik Prince, the founder of the private security company Blackwater, met with a Russian official close to Russian President Vladi­mir Putin and later described the meeting to congressional investigators as a chance encounter that was not a planned discussion of U.S.-Russia relations.

A witness cooperating with Mueller has told investigators the meeting was set up in advance so that a representative of the Trump transition could meet with an emissary from Moscow to discuss future relations between the countries, according to the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

➤ Peter Coy contends Trump’s Hard-Line Take on Trade Plays Into China’s Hands:

The tragedy is that Trump has made the U.S., rather than China, the focus of the world’s opprobrium. Citing national security as a justification for the metals tariffs will give other countries the excuse to do the same, tearing a hole in the delicate web of trade agreements the U.S. spent decades spinning. And applying the tariffs to all countries, as he has threatened to do, weakens the united front of American trading partners that’s needed to confront China and get it to change its behavior. “This will be seen as the latest, and one of the more significant, signals that the U.S. under Trump is not a reliable economic partner,” says Roland Rajah at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based think tank.

As critics are fond of pointing out, China is the 11th-biggest seller of steel to the U.S. and comes in fourth in selling America aluminum. The Trump tariffs are a serious risk for about “zero percent” of the Chinese economy, Bloomberg Economics analyst Tom Orlik wrote on March 1. Far more affected will be Canada, the No. 1 exporter to the U.S. of both metals.

➤ Max Bouchet and Joseph Parilla explain How Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs could affect state economies:

At least three scenarios are possible for U.S. regional and state economies. The argument in favor of the tariffs is that they are a counterweight against foreign producers of aluminum and steel that have flooded the U.S. market, putting American companies at a disadvantage. And for those metro areas and states that concentrate steel and aluminum production, this may represent a welcome relief.

However, the decision may put regions and states at an economic disadvantage, in at least two additional ways.

The first mechanism is via retaliatory tariffs from other countries on key American export industries. While it is unclear whether other countries will respond with their own retaliatory measures, Canada, China, and the European Union (EU) have signaled that they will respond by increasing tariffs on American-made products, potentially curbing exports. It is still too early to tell whether Trump’s move will result in a larger scale trade war, but changing the export competitiveness in particular products and industries will come to ground differently based on the unique export strengths of cities, regions, and states. The EU has already identified three iconic American products—bourbon, blue jeans, and motorcycles. Interestingly all implicate the states of key congressional leaders.

The second mechanism is through the ripple effects of higher prices for steel and aluminum imports, two critical inputs for industries as diverse as auto manufacturing, brewing, and construction. Using U.S. Census Bureau data on imports, we can examine how higher tariffs on aluminum and steel will implicate state economies that rely on those materials to support their key industries.

➤ Motoko Rich and  Ernesto Londono report U.S. Allies to Sign Sweeping Trade Deal in Challenge to Trump:

TOKYO — A trade pact originally conceived by the United States to counter China’s growing economic might in Asia now has a new target: President Trump’s embrace of protectionism.

A group of 11 nations — including major United States allies like Japan, Canada and Australia — is set to sign a broad trade deal on Thursday that challenges Mr. Trump’s view of trade as a zero-sum game filled with winners and losers. Covering 500 million people on either side of the Pacific Ocean, the pact will represent a new vision for global trade as the United States threatens to impose steel and aluminum tariffs on even its closest friends and neighbors.

Mr. Trump withdrew the United States from an earlier version of the agreement, then known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a year ago as one of his first acts in office. It will be undeniably weaker without the participation of the world’s biggest economy.

But the resuscitated deal could serve as a powerful sign of how countries that have previously counted on American leadership are now forging ahead without it.

“Only free trade will contribute to inclusive growth of the world economy,” Taro Kono, Japan’s foreign minister, told a group of ministers from Southeast Asian countries in Tokyo on Thursday. “Protectionism isn’t a solution.”

➤ Sara Nealeigh reports Kayakers report bloody otter attack on Braden River:

Sue Spector, who spoke with FOX 13, said she needed stitches as a result of the attack.

“It was very pristine and very nice and I heard someone make a comment that, ‘Oh, there’s an otter!’” Spector told FOX 13. “And then all of a sudden he jumped on the kayak and two seconds later he jumped on me.”

A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman confirmed Monday the agency is investigating reports of kayakers injured by a river otter on the Braden River in Manatee County over the weekend and officials are looking for the otter.

The first report was received Saturday by FWC, saying two people were injured after they were bitten by a river otter while kayaking, according to a statement from FWC public information coordinator Melody Kilborn.

Sunday, FWC received two more reports of kayakers who were attacked and bitten by a river otter about two miles from the previous day’s attack.

Kakistocracy, Trump

Trump Administration Departures

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Brian Steler sent along to his readers a photo showing the departures – so far – from the Trump Administration. Stelter writes that

On MSNBC Tuesday night, Lawrence O’Donnell joked that this graphic is a “copyrighted feature of Rachel Maddow’s show:” Her “big board” of Trump admin departures. The list keeps getting longer and the font keeps getting smaller. “We have never seen a graphic like that in any White House at this point,” O’Donnell said…

No doubt, these departing second-raters will be replaced by even worse operatives.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.7.18

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of thirty. Sunrise is 6:18 AM and sunset 5:52 PM, for 11h 33m 42s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with  67.4% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}four hundred eighty-second day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}

On this day in 1965, during the Selma to Montgomery marches, Bloody Sunday leaves protesters severely injured:

The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile (87 km) highway from Selma, Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery. The marches were organized by nonviolent activists to demonstrate the desire of African-American citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote, in defiance of segregationist repression, and were part of a broader voting rights movement underway in Selma and throughout the American South. By highlighting racial injustice, they contributed to passage that year of the Voting Rights Act, a landmark federal achievement of the Civil Rights Movement.

…

The first march took place on March 7, 1965, organized locally by Bevel, Amelia Boynton, and others. State troopers and county possemen attacked the unarmed marchers with billy clubs and tear gas after they passed over the county line, and the event became known as Bloody Sunday.[6][7] Law enforcement beat Boynton unconscious, and the media publicized worldwide a picture of her lying wounded on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.[8]

Recommended for reading in full —

➤ Betsy Woodruff and Spencer Ackerman report Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Received Inside Info From Russia Probe (“Closed-door testimony before the House Russia probe is supposed to stay behind closed doors. Somehow, it got into the hands of another witness—and key Trump confidant—instead”):

On Dec. 19, 2017, a former staffer for Sen. John McCain named David Kramer testified before the House intelligence committee behind closed doors. He’d played a role in bringing the salacious and unverified Steele dossier to the FBI’s attention, and members peppered him with questions about it.

Then something unusual happened. Word of Kramer’s testimony got out—to the lawyer of another witness.

The following, based on conversations with multiple sources familiar with the matter, illuminates the extraordinary breakdown of trust between committee investigators and the witnesses they call. It also suggests that some people working on the committee investigation may be trying to covertly assist one of the president’s closest allies—when the president’s inner circle is ostensibly a focus of their probe.

A few days after Kramer’s testimony, his lawyer, Larry Robbins, got a strange call. The call was from Stephen Ryan, a lawyer who represents Trump’s longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen. Cohen is facing scrutiny from special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional investigators regarding potential coordination between Trump’s team and the Kremlin. He featured prominently in the Steele dossier—the document that Kramer handled—and is suing BuzzFeed for publishing it.

➤ Rosalind S. Helderman, Tom Hamburger, and Josh Dawsey report Special counsel has examined episodes involving Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime lawyer:

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has requested documents and interviewed witnesses about incidents involving Michael Cohen, the longtime lawyer for President Trump whose wide-ranging portfolio has given him a unique vantage point into Trump’s business, campaign and political activities.

There is no indication that Cohen is a subject or target of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. But the scrutiny of his interactions is another sign of the far-reaching nature of the special-counsel probe, which is examining members of the president’s inner circle and aspects of Trump’s past business outreach to Russia.

As one of Trump’s closest advisers, Cohen played a role in at least two episodes involving Russian interests that have drawn Mueller’s attention, according to several people familiar with document subpoenas and witness interviews.

One area of focus has been negotiations Cohen undertook during the campaign to help the Trump Organization build a tower in Moscow. Cohen brought Trump a letter of intent in October 2015 from a Russian developer to build a Moscow project. Later, he sent an email to Russian President Vladi­mir Putin’s chief spokesman seeking help to advance the stalled project. He said he did not recall receiving a response.

➤ Jennifer Jacobs reports Trump Confronted Cohn on Trade Hours Before Resignation, Sources Say:

President Donald Trump demanded economic adviser Gary Cohn’s cooperation on tariffs in a meeting in the Oval Office Tuesday — asking Cohn directly if he would support his decision to move forward with the plan.

Trump, during the trade policy meeting in the Oval Office Tuesday, asked for an update on the legal paperwork that will make the tariffs official and discussed the timing of the signing of the tariffs order. He then sought confirmation that everyone — and especially Cohn — was willing to stand behind him.

According to one source with knowledge of the exchange, Trump specifically asked Cohn: We’re all on the same team, right? He then asked if Cohn was going to support the president on the issue.

Cohn didn’t answer, the people said.

➤ Linda Qiu describes  President Trump’s Exaggerated and Misleading Claims on Trade (“The president’s claims about massive trade deficits, tariffs and the World Trade Organization are overstated and contradicted by his own economic report”):

In defending his embrace of steep tariffs — and in comments that seem to encourage a trade war — President Trump has repeatedly claimed massive trade imbalances, unfair practices and an international system that benefits everyone but the United States.

But these claims are often overstated and contradicted by his own economic council. Here is a fact-check of recent comments that Mr. Trump has made on trade deficits, the World Trade Organization and tariffs.

“We have a trade deficit of $800 billion a year.” — March 6 remarks

This is exaggerated.

A White House spokesman said the $800 billion deficit figure that Mr. Trump has cited refers to the trade balance in goods. The Department of Commerce reported a $810 billion deficit in goods in 2017, but a total trade deficit of $566 billion that includes a trade surplus in services.

Mr. Trump’s preoccupation with trade in goods contradicts his own White House economic report, which he signed and was released in February.

The United States’ economy has shifted “away from manufacturing and toward service provision industries” in recent decades, according the report. “Focusing only on the trade in goods alone ignores the United States’ comparative advantage in services.”

Like most developed countries, the United States is primarily a services economy, said Scott Lincicome, a trade analyst at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. And American service sectors — like accounting, finance, technology, engineering and law — are globally dominant.

“By focusing only on goods, you make it seem far weaker than it actually is,” Mr. Lincicome said. Doing so also means “ignoring a large, growing and vibrant part of the economy,” he said.

➤ James Gorman and Christopher Whitworth describe Pelican Spiders, Ancient Assassins That Eat Their Own Kind:

America, Charity, Immigration

Supporting Civil Disobedience in Support of Dreamers

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A hard condition of our communities is found among Dreamers vulnerable to unjust deportation; the hard work on their behalf is found among those who have actively protested in defense of those Dreamers.

For the rest of us, Voces de la Frontera offers an opportunity to contribute to pay the fines of twenty-three who protested at the Racine office of US Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. I’ve contributed, and I hope that others will, too.

Below readers will find the original fundraisng letter from Voces de la Frontera, in English and Spanish:

March 5th.

Today, 23 brave community members were arrested in an act of civil disobedience at the Racine office of US Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. They were demanding Speaker Ryan protect immigrant youth and pass the clean Dream Act now!

Will you take five minutes to contribute $20 towards the fines these bold leaders have been ordered to pay?

Click here to donate. 

All 23 have been released! Among those arrested in Wisconsin were children of immigrant parents, public school teachers, a union ironworker, elected officials, Catholic Workers, and retirees.

Today has been an incredible day. In the hours leading up to the civil disobedience, hundreds of students from five Milwaukee and Racine high schools walked out of classes and marched on Paul Ryan’s Racine office.

We took these bold actions because after today, immigrant youth will begin losing DACA protections in much higher numbers, thanks to the President’s cruel decision to eliminate the program, and Speaker Ryan’s refusal to allow a vote on the clean Dream Act.

While we acted in Wisconsin, dozens of leaders in Washington, D.C. were arrested outside of Ryan’s Washington office as part of the national fight for the clean Dream Act now.

Click here to donate to the fund to pay the fines of the 23 Wisconsin leaders arrested today. 

Thank you, and please share the link to the fundraiser!

Hoy, 23 miembros de la comunidad valientes fueron arrestados en un acto de desobediencia civil en frente de la oficina de Racine del líder de la Cámara de Representantes de Estados Unidos, Paul Ryan. ¡Exigieron que Ryan proteja a los jóvenes inmigrantes y apruebe el limpio Dream Act ahora!

¿Tomarán cinco minutos para contribuir $20 hacia las multas que estos audaces líderes han sido ordenados a pagar?

Haga clic aquí para contribuir.

¡Todos los 23 han sido liberados! Los arrestados en Wisconsin incluyeron hijos de padres inmigrantes, maestros de las escuelas públicas, un herrero sindicalista, oficiales electos, Trabajadores Católicos y jubilados.

Hoy ha sido un día increíble. En las horas antes de la desobediencia civil, cientos de estudiantes en cinco preparatorias en Milwaukee y Racine salideron de sus clases y marcharon a la oficina de Paul Ryan en Racine.

Tomamos estas acciones audaces porque después de hoy, los jóvenes inmigrantes comenzarán a perder las protecciones de DACA en números mucho más altos, gracias a la cruel decisión del Presidente de eliminar el programa, y gracias a Paul Ryan, que ha rechazado hasta ahora permitir un voto sobre el Dream Act limpio. ??

Mientras actuábamos en Wisconsin, docenas de líderes en Washington, DC también fueron arrestados afuera de la oficina de Ryan en Washington como parte de la lucha nacional por el Dream Act.

Haga clic aquí para donar al fondo para pagar las multas de los 23 líderes de Wisconsin arrestados hoy.

Gracias, ¡y favor de compartir la página para recaudar los fondos!

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.6.18

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will see some snow with a high of thirty-nine. Sunrise is 6:20 AM and sunset 5:51 PM, for 11h 30m 47s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with  76.5% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}four hundred eighty-first day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}

The Whitewater Common Council meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1475, Michelangelo is born in the Republic of Florence. On this day in 1862, the 4th Wisconsin Cavalry heads south:  “the 4th Wisconsin Cavalry (then an infantry unit) embarked to join the “Army of the Gulf.” It arrived below New Orleans on March 12, 1862, and landed in New Orleans on May 1. The 4th was at once assigned to active service and joined an expedition up the Mississippi River against Vicksburg in May. By June they occupied Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The troops there were employed in several successful expeditions during that winter, and remained in the area through most of the war. In June of 1862, its commander was punished for refusing to return escaping slaves to their masters (more information on this event is at Turning Points in Wisconsin History). In 1863 the unit was equipped as a Cavalry Regiment; it returned to Wisconsin in 1866.”

Recommended for reading in full —

➤ ABC News reports on a change of ownership:

(Cathartic… See also Thugs, Leeches, Shouting and Shoving at Trump Hotel in Panama.)

➤ Ella Nilsen and Rachel Wolfe report Trump operative Sam Nunberg can’t stop talking:

There were some serious fireworks in Trump-Russia investigation world today, and they all happened on live television. [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

They came in the form of former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg, who went on several afternoon television shows on MSNBC and CNN and made eye-popping statements about the Trump campaign, after it was revealed a grand jury had subpoenaed him as part of the Russia investigation. [Washington Post / Josh Dawsey]

Among other things, Nunberg appeared to ask CNN’s Jake Tapper for legal advice, refused to turn over his emails, suggested special counsel Robert Mueller has “something” on Trump, and said he believed former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page colluded with the Russians. [CNN / Eli Watkins]

Nunberg’s biggest grievance in being subpoenaed seemed to be being asked to dig through years’ worth of emails and turn them over to Mueller’s team or going in for questioning. [MSNBC / Katy Tur]

In case there was any doubt of how he felt, Nunberg made it clear. “Screw that,” he told CNN’s Gloria Borger. “Why do I have to go? Why? For what?” [CNN / Eli Watkins]

That brings us to the question: Who the hell is Sam Nunberg? [Haley Byrd via Twitter]

Nunberg is a conservative activist with roots in New York. He was a Trump acolyte before the real estate mogul formally launched his presidential campaign in summer 2015. [BuzzFeed / McKay Coppins]

Before Trump, Nunberg worked in political opposition research. He was also mentored by the original “dirty trickster” Roger Stone, and worked for Stone’s consulting firm, which counted Trump as a client back in 2015. [BuzzFeed / McKay Coppins]

Nunberg certainly has a history of his mouth getting him into trouble; he was fired by the Trump campaign just a few months after it launched, due to some racist Facebook posts. [CNN / Jeremy Diamond]

If Nunberg was trying to tell Mueller that there’s no there there, he failed spectacularly. It’s far more likely his performance today will pique the special counsel’s interest. [Atlantic / Adam Serwer]

(Trump’s crew is disordered, drunk, or delusional.)

➤ Mark Treinen and Alan Hovorka report UW-Stevens Point plans to cut 13 majors, add or expand 16 programs:

STEVENS POINT – The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point would eliminate more than a dozen majors including history, political science and geography under a proposal announced Monday.

The university also might lay off faculty as a result of program changes.

The proposal is part of a plan to address a projected deficit of $4.5 million over two years because of declining enrollment and lower tuition revenues.

UW-Stevens Point also would add or expand 16 programs “in areas with high-demand career paths” to increase overall enrollment on the campus, according to a news release.

…

The 13 programs that would be eliminated because of low enrollment are: American studies, art (but not graphic design), English (other than English for teacher certification), French, geography, geoscience, German, history (social science for teacher certification would continue), music literature, philosophy, political science, sociology (social work major would continue) and Spanish.

(One can expect similar liberal arts reductions elsewhere, as Stevens Point is not alone in having troubled finances.)

➤ Philip Rucker reports Trump claims ‘there is no chaos’ in White House, but warns of future firings:

President Trump claimed Tuesday that “there is no chaos” in response to recent reports in The Washington Post and elsewhere of volatility in his White House. But he also warned of future staff firings because, the president said, he is “always seeking perfection.”

In a morning tweet, Trump wrote, “The new Fake News narrative is that there is CHAOS in the White House. Wrong! People will always come and go, and I want strong dialogue before making a final decision. I still have some people that I want to change (always seeking perfection). There is no Chaos, only great Energy!”

(Oh, brother.)

➤ This Special Training Keeps Astronauts From Vomiting Everywhere:

Government Spending, University, UW System

Subsidies for Subsidies

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In Wisconsin, UW System schools typically rely on private foundations to offset the costs of some university expenses. This make sense – alumni and other donors can support activities at their schools. What happens, though, when private foundations designed to supplement public programs wind up depending, themselves, on public money?

One finds that even subsidies, so to speak, have their own subsidies: private organizations that are supposed to be helping the UW System schools by reducing universities’ reliance on tax dollars are, in fact, receiving large sums of public money:

The 112-page audit report estimated $258 million has flowed from UW System schools to private foundations over the last 10 years, and lax record-keeping makes it unclear whether the total was actually higher.

Auditors highlighted blurred lines created when university employees are assigned to work for the foundations without clear guidelines to ensure that the schools are reimbursed and lines of authority remain clear.

…

“The proactive steps we announced last spring are a step in the right direction in providing additional accountability and transparency in the UW System’s relationships with its fundraising and real estate foundations,” [System President Ray] Cross said.

“While we have made significant progress, we appreciate the feedback from LAB [Legislative Accounting Bureau] in assisting us in those efforts,” he said. “We continually strive to ensure the ongoing integrity, efficiency, and transparency of these organizations.”

But the audit report said Cross in April made efforts to tighten financial rules for fewer than one-third of the private foundations. By December, the System was able to show auditors only one contract demonstrating that a school and a foundation were in compliance with new policies.

In December, the UW System Board of Regents formally approved the new policies aimed at ensuring responsible dealings with 28 primary fundraising and real estate foundations.

But Cross and the board didn’t address about 62 other private organizations that were paid an estimated $168 million in 2007 to 2017, auditors said.

Via UW subsidizing private groups that are supposed to subsidize it, audit says.

(What a gift Cross is to contemporary bureaucratic thinking: instead of admitting how far he’s fallen short, he unctuously praises auditors for “the feedback from LAB in assisting us in those efforts” – efforts of course he either didn’t undertake or undertook so poorly millions were not accounted properly.)

Here’s the executive summary of the audit:

Here’s the UW-Whitewater specific part of the audit, page 6-15 (with UW-Whitewater mentioned elsehere in the full audit):

UW-Whitewater Foundation (UW-Whitewater)

FY 2007-08 through FY 2016-17

Reported Net Assets: $29.4 million, as of June 30, 2016.

Memorandum of Understanding: In effect in June 2017. Bylaws: In effect from October 2008 through June 2017.

Board of Directors: UW employees served simultaneously as voting members of the foundation’s board. More than three UW employees served on the foundation’s board at some point from FY 2007-08 through FY 2016-17.

Executive Director as of June 30, 2017: The Vice Chancellor for University Advancement at UW-Whitewater also worked as the executive director of the foundation.

Number of UW Employees as of June 30, 2017: The foundation provided reimbursement to UW-Whitewater for some of the salary and fringe benefit costs of two UW-Whitewater employees who worked for the foundation. The foundation did not provide reimbursement for the salary or fringe benefit costs of the UW-Whitewater employee who worked as the executive director.

Approval of Financial Transactions: Two UW-Whitewater employees were authorized to approve financial transactions on behalf of the foundation.

Office Space: The foundation paid an annual fee to use office space at UW-Whitewater. The fee was $2,040 from FY 2007-08 through FY 2015-16. Information indicated this amount was half of the fair-market rate when the original lease for office space was signed in 1992.

New Memorandum of Understanding as of June 7, 2017

The UW System President required UW institutions to comply by November 1, 2017, with written requirements previously provided to all chancellors in April 2017. We requested that UW System Administration provide us with all new memoranda of understanding, which must contain the provisions that are now required by the Board of Regents policy. Most memoranda of understanding referred to related agreements that contained additional information.

Board of Directors: Not all UW employees are prohibited from serving as voting members of the foundation’s board, and the total number of UW employees serving on the board is not limited.

Executive Director: The Vice Chancellor for University Advancement at UW-Whitewater also works as the executive director of the foundation.

Number of UW Employees: Reimbursements for the salary and fringe benefits costs of any UW employees who work for the foundation are required to be documented in a separate agreement. We were not provided such an agreement.

Approval of Financial Transactions: The foundation is required to have policies defining the circumstances in which UW employees may approve transactions on its behalf.

Office Space: The foundation is required to pay an annual fee of $2,040 to use office space at UW-Whitewater. Information indicated this amount is half of the fair-market rate when the original lease for office space was signed in 1992.

Here’s a link to the full, 112-page audit: Relationships between the University of Wisconsin and Certain Affiliated Organizations, Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau, Report 18-4 March 2018.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.5.18

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will see snow with a high of thirty-seven. Sunrise is 6:22 AM and sunset 5:50 PM, for 11h 27m 53s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with  85.6% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}four hundred eightieth day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}

On this day in 1953, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin dies. On this day in 1935, the controversial Elizabeth “Baby Doe” McCourt pass away: “On this date, the controversial wife of Horace (H.A.W.) Tabor, silver mine owner during the 19th century Colorado gold and silver booms, died. Born Elizabeth Bondeul McCourt in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1854, she was first married to Harvey Doe, Jr. of Oshkosh but in 1880 divorced him on the grounds of adultery. She then moved to Colorado where she married Leadville’s silver king, Horace Tabor. Despite great wealth, she died penniless and alone in Leadville: she froze to death in a cabin near the famous Matchless mine, which in its heyday had produced $10,000 worth of silver ore per day. Elizabeth and Horace are the subject of an American opera, ‘The Ballad of Baby Doe’.”

Recommended for reading in full —

➤ The New York Times observes Donald Trump Sure Has a Problem with Democracy:

But Donald Trump just doesn’t get it. There’s something in the man that impels him reflexively to celebrate the authoritarian model. At a Republican fund-raiser on Saturday night, in remarks reported by CNN, President Trump lavished praise on President Xi Jinping of China, who recently consolidated his power and moved to change the rules so he could effectively become “emperor for life.”

“He’s now president for life. President for life. No, he’s great,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Xi to the Republican donors, at a luncheon at Mar-a-Lago. Then he went on seemingly to express interest in doing the same thing in the United States so that he too could rule forever. “And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot some day.”

Mr. Trump was surely joking about becoming president for life himself. But there can be little doubt now that he truly sees no danger in Mr. Xi’s “great” decision to extend his own rule until death. That craven reaction is in line with Mr. Trump’s consistent support and even admiration for men ruling with increasing brutal and autocratic methods — Vladimir Putin of Russia, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, to name a few.

➤ Khrishnadev Calamur enumerates Nine Notorious Dictators, Nine Shout-Outs From Donald Trump (“The president of the United States continues to heap praise on the world’s most reviled rulers”) [full list in original story]:

Russian President Vladimir Putin

What Trump said about him: “If he says great things about me, I’m going to say great things about him. I’ve already said, he is really very much of a leader. I mean, you can say, ‘Oh, isn’t that a terrible thing’—the man has very strong control over a country. Now, it’s a very different system, and I don’t happen to like the system. But certainly, in that system, he’s been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader.”

…

Trump also said in 2016 that Libya would be better off “if [Moammar] Gaddafiwere in charge right now.” He once tweeted a quote from Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist leader, and later defended the tweet, saying: “Mussolini was Mussolini … It’s a very good quote. It’s a very interesting quote… what difference does it make whether it’s Mussolini or somebody else?”

…

Trump even said China’s brutal crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989 “shows you the power of strength,” contrasting the Communist Party’s action with the United States, which he said “is right now perceived as weak.” Trump made those comments in 1990. When asked about the remarks during the presidential debate in 2016, Trump defended himself and appeared to take the Chinese Communist Party’s view of the events at Tiananmen. He dismissed the deadly military response as a “riot.”

➤ Gardiner Harris reports State Dept. Was Granted $120 Million to Fight Russian Meddling. It Has Spent $0:

As Russia’s virtual war against the United States continues unabated with the midterm elections approaching, the State Department has yet to spend any of the $120 million it has been allocated since late 2016 to counter foreign efforts to meddle in elections or sow distrust in democracy.

As a result, not one of the 23 analysts working in the department’s Global Engagement Center — which has been tasked with countering Moscow’s disinformation campaign — speaks Russian, and a department hiring freeze has hindered efforts to recruit the computer experts needed to track the Russian efforts.

The delay is just one symptom of the largely passive response to the Russian interference by President Trump, who has made little if any public effort to rally the nation to confront Moscow and defend democratic institutions. More broadly, the funding lag reflects a deep lack of confidence by Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson in his department’s ability to execute its historically wide-ranging mission and spend its money wisely.

Mr. Tillerson has voiced skepticism that the United States is even capable of doing anything to counter the Russian threat.

➤ Kirk Semple, Ben Protess, and Steve Eder report Thugs, Leeches, Shouting and Shoving at Trump Hotel in Panama:

…in recent days, guests have witnessed a decidedly less glamorous side of the operation: Yelling and shoving matches involving security personnel and others, the presence of police in Kevlar helmets, and various interventions by Panamanian labor regulators, forensic specialists and a justice of the peace.

The source of the drama? The businessman who recently purchased a majority stake in the hotel wants the Trumps out. And the Trumps, who have a long-term contract to manage the property, are refusing to go.

In a letter marked “Private & Confidential” to the hotel’s other owners, the businessman, Orestes Fintiklis, likened the Trumps to leeches who had attached to the property, “draining our last drops of blood,” according to a copy reviewed by The New York Times. He has also filed legal actions accusing the Trump family business, the Trump Organization, of mismanaging the hotel.

The Trump Organization, in turn, has accused Mr. Fintiklis of using “thug-like, mob-style tactics” in trying to force his way into the hotel’s administrative offices, which prompted the physical and verbal altercations, and of engaging in a “fraudulent scheme” to strip the property of its Trump management and branding. Mr. Fintiklis’s criticisms of the company’s management “are a complete sham and a fraud,” the company said in a court filing.

➤ So, Why Does Bluetooth Still Suck?

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.4.18

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be mild and sunny with a high of forty-seven. Sunrise is 6:23 AM and sunset 5:48 PM, for 11h 24m 59s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with  92.2% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}four hundred seventy-ninth day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}

On this day in 1789, the federal government under the U.S. Constitution begins. On this day in 1863, the 22nd Wisconsin Infantry fights in the Battle of Thompson’s Station, also known as the Battle of Spring Hill, approximately 30 miles south of Nashville, Tennessee.

Recommended for reading in full —

➤ The Washington Post‘s Fact Checker reports In 406 days, President Trump has made 2,436 false or misleading claims (Updated March 1, 2018):

(The database is interactive, and lists each false claim and the number of times Trump made it.)

➤ Steven Mufson and Damian Paletta report In his expanding war over global trade, Trump aims harsh rhetoric at close U.S. allies:

In his expanding war over global trade, President Trump has aimed his harshest rhetoric at an unlikely target — the closest U.S. allies.

In Twitter posts while at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday, Trump vowed to strike back at European leaders who said they would retaliate for his promised tariffs on aluminum and steel.

Bring it on, Trump warned.

(Trump is both economically ignorant and a helpmate to Putin & Russia’s longstanding policy goal of dividing America from her democratic European allies.)

➤ Christopher Mathias, Jenna Amatulli, and Rebecca Klein report Exclusive: Florida Public School Teacher Has A White Nationalist Podcast (“Dayanna Volitich suggests Muslims be eradicated from the earth, believes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories … and teaches middle school social studies”):

Dayanna Volitich, a 25-year-old social studies teacher at Crystal River Middle School in Florida, has been secretly hosting the white nationalist podcast “Unapologetic” under the pseudonym “Tiana Dalichov” and bragging about teaching her views in a public school, HuffPost has discovered.

In her most recent podcast on Feb. 26, a guest railed against diversity in schools, dismissing the idea that “a kid from Nigeria and a kid who came from Sweden are supposed to learn exactly the same” and have the “same IQ.” Volitich enthusiastically agreed with the guest, and went on to argue that “science” has proven that certain races are smarter than others.

In the same episode, Volitich boasted about bringing her white nationalist beliefs into the classroom and hiding her ideology from administrators. She said that when parents complained to the school’s principal about how she is injecting political bias into the classroom, Volitich lied to the principal and said it was not true.

“She believed me and backed off,” she said.

Volitich also agreed with her guest’s assertion that more white supremacists need to infiltrate public schools and become teachers. “They don’t have to be vocal about their views, but get in there!” her guest said. “Be more covert and just start taking over those places.”

“Right,” Volitich said. “I’m absolutely one of them.”

➤ The Associate Press reports SEC dropped inquiry a month after firm aided Kushner company:

The Securities and Exchange Commission late last year dropped its inquiry into a financial company that a month earlier had given White House adviser Jared Kushner‘s family real estate firm a $180 million loan.

While there’s no evidence that Kushner or any other Trump administration official had a role in the agency’s decision to drop the inquiry into Apollo Global Management, the timing has once again raised potential conflict-of-interest questions about Kushner’s family business and his role as an adviser to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump.

The SEC detail comes a day after The New York Times reported that Apollo’s loan to the Kushner Cos. followed several meetings at the White House with Kushner.

“I suppose the best case for Kushner is that this looks absolutely terrible,” said Rob Weissman, president of Public Citizen. “Without presuming that there is any kind of quid pro quo … there are a lot of ways that the fact of Apollo’s engagement with Kushner and the Kushner businesses in a public and private context might cast a shadow over what the SEC is doing and influence consciously or unconsciously how the agency acted.”

➤ This Pink Winged Stick Insect is Hiding in Plain Sight:

This is a pink winged stick insect at the Montreal Zoo. These guys have quite the camouflage on them. Despite growing up to 21 inches in length, these insects are able to hide in plain sight, blending in among sticks and foliage. As camouflage is their primary defense, many stick insects are nocturnal and will play dead in the face of attack. Unfortunately, heavy deforestation has made the future of this species precarious.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 3.3.18

by  • 

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of forty-seven. Sunrise is 6:25 AM and sunset 5:47 PM, for 11h 22m 05s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with  96.8% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}four hundred seventy-eighth day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}

On this day in 1879, Congress creates the U.S. Geological Survey. On this day in 1862, the Siege of New Madrid, Missouri begins: “Union General John Pope began the siege of New Madrid, Missouri. The 8th and 15th Wisconsin Infantry regiments and the 5th, 6th and 7th Wisconsin Light Artillery batteries took part in this effort to open the Mississippi River to Union shipping.”

Recommended for reading in full —

➤ John Harwood considers Trump’s embrace of Russia: The evidence on public display already paints a jarring picture:

But whatever the special counsel concludes legally about “collusion,” evidence on public display already paints a jarring picture. It shows an American president who has embraced Russian money and illicit favors, while maintaining rhetoric and policies benefiting Russia and undercutting national security officials of his own country.

Long before running for president, Trump relied on Russian money.

His partners in the Trump Soho project in New York, announced in 2006, included a former official of the Soviet Union and a Russian who confessed to felony fraud involving organized crime. Son Donald Trump Jr. said two years later that money was “pouring in from Russia” for “high-end product.”

The same year, a Russian oligarch paid Trump $95 million for a Florida mansion Trump bought in 2004 for less than half that price. Showcasing a family golf course in 2013, Eric Trump told a journalist that Russian financiers provided what American banks would not. (The younger Trump later denied saying so.)

Donald Trump openly courted Russian President Vladimir Putin while staging a beauty pageant in Moscow. With help from the same organized-crime-linked felon who collaborated on Trump Soho, Trump sought to develop real estate in the Russian capital while seeking the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

(Emphasis in original.)

➤ Jim Tankersley reports Trump’s Steel Tariffs Raise Fears of a Damaging Trade War:

Even the prospect of a trade war could hurt the economic expansion underway. That’s because any uncertainty can prompt companies to curtail investment or hold off on hiring.

If other countries follow up on their threats to retaliate, the pain could be significant. Beyond tariffs, their tools include taking strategic strikes at certain industries or taking their grievances to the World Trade Organization.

Any actions threaten the global supply chains on which the American economy is heavily dependent. The number of workers who will lose out if countries are cut off from America far exceeds the number who stand to gain from the pending tariffs.

“Industries that buy steel and aluminum, not to mention agricultural exporters, employ many times more people than the industries that the president wants to protect,” said Peter A. Petri, an economist and trade expert at Brandeis University’s International Business School. “Whether we go through with his approach is anyone’s guess, but business investment depends on predictable policy, and relentless chaos takes its toll even if cooler heads prevail on the policies that the president is tweeting about.”

➤ Marwa Eltagouri reports Shortly before Trump announced tariffs, his former adviser dumped millions in steel-related stocks:

President Trump’s decision Thursday to impose crippling tariffs on the imports of steel and aluminum took many by surprise — particularly investors, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the day’s tradingdown more than 400 points, or 1.7 percent, at 24,608.

But one billionaire investor and former Trump adviser, Carl Icahn, was seemingly unvexed, having dumped a million shares tied to the steel industry a week before the president announced 25 percent tariffs for foreign-made steel.

A Feb. 22 SEC filing shows Icahn sold off his $31.3 million stake in the Manitowoc Company, which is a leading global manufacturer of cranes for heavy construction based in Manitowoc, Wis., according to the company’s website. Since Trump’s announcement Thursday, Manitowoc’s stock has plummeted to about $26. Icahn — who has had majority interest in several companies including Motorola, Xerox, Family Dollar and Pep Boys — had sold his shares for about $32 to $34 each, according to the SEC disclosure, which was first reported by Think Progress.

➤ Jennifer Rubin contends Trump’s calamities are coming faster — and in bunches:

Now, anyone who is surprised by the utter chaos, the ethical sleaze, the policy incoherence and the nepotism/cronyism was not paying attention during Trump’s career in real estate or during his campaign. This is how Trump ran his family operation, stumbling through one failed venture after another. This is how Trump wound up declaring bankruptcy multiple times. No one — not Kelly, Ivanka, Jared, the GOP Congress or even Hicks — can keep him on task. Trump is still indifferent to learning policy and is prone to prattle in public about subjects he doesn’t bother to study. No one else can make up for his lack of diligence, ethics and decency. This is not so much as an administration as a weird fusion of the court of Louis XIV and the Mafia, all built around a cult of personality that lacks any self-restraint or awareness.

Republicans who empowered him and refused to stand up to him have a giant mess on their hands — a dysfunctional government and a looming electoral disaster. Trump will either be compelled to leave office or will continue to spin out of control. Aides tell the press this is a new level of chaos. Don’t worry — it’ll get worse. It always does.

➤ At Camp Sundown, children with xeroderma pigmentosum have a chance to camp and play together:

A day at Camp Sundown begins just after the last rays of the sun have disappeared from the horizon. Shielded by a cloak of darkness, campers flood the grounds to play soccer and drive Go-Karts. For these children, who suffer from a rare UV light-sensitivity, nocturnality is the norm. They are allergic to sunlight. They rarely see the light of day.

Sundown, directed by Liza Mandelup, is an intimate portrait of life in a short-lived haven for children with xeroderma pigmentosum. According to the National Library of Medicine, affected children develop a severe sunburn after spending just a few minutes in the sun. “Society is not set up for these kids to live a normal life,” Mandelup told The Atlantic. “They have to stay out of the sun for their entire lives. This camp is created so that for two weeks, these kids can feel like they’re normal. They wait all year for these two weeks. This is the best time of their lives.”

Ultimately, Mandelup said she “was inspired by the normalcy that someone can create from any situation.”

City, Demographics

As We Are

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One begins – with optimism – from where one is. A community is much more than demographics, of course, but we are much less than we could be if we do not consider our circumstances using the best available measurements. Acting by and for a part, rather than the whole, is a common-yet-debilitating policy mistake. From the latest data, ACS 2012-2016 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates:

Cats

Friday Catblogging: The Turkish Van

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Here are six facts about Vans that will have even the staunchest members of #TeamDog donating all of their money to a Turkish cat conservation clinic, probably.

1.  They are striking in appearance.

Turkish Vans have medium-to-long, silky white hair with just the occasional spot of color — which only appears on the head or the tail due to a pigmentation condition.

2.  Their eyes are especially captivating.

Genetically, the breed has three eye colors — blue, yellow, and green — and they are frequently mismatched, giving Turkish Vans that coveted David Bowie effect.

3.  They love to swim.

These strange kitties evolved around Lake Van, so they are predisposed to swimming. Modern Turkish Vans probably won’t leap into a random lake … but they just might jump into your pool.

4.  They play fetch.

Turkish Vans are extremely social and bond very strongly with their owners. They love attention and they love to play, even initiating games of fetch with their humans. Your move, dog lovers.

5.  They are extremely rare.

The Cat Fanciers’ Association registers approximately 100 Vans each year in the U.S., making them one of the rarest cat breeds — and proving why we need to protect them from extinction.

6.  They’re frighteningly good jumpers.

Due to their large paws and strong musculature, Turkish Van can hop from your kitchen floor to the top of your fridge without thinking twice. Who says white cats can’t jump?

Via What the Eff Is a Rare Turkish Van Cat and What Is It Doing in the Pool?