FREE WHITEWATER

Conspiracy Theories, Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 11.14.24: Imperfect Justice

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 53. Sunrise is 6:46, and sunset is 4:33, for 9 hours, 46 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous, with 97.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Involvement & Cable TV Committee meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 1851,  Moby-Dick is published in the United States.

We awake to news of imperfect justice, as Oliver Darcy reports Not Satire: The Onion acquires Infowars (‘As part of the deal, The Onion will own Infowars’ website, product inventory, customers lists, social media accounts, and intellectual property’):

The Onion has successfully acquired Infowars. 

The satirical news outlet purchased Alex Jones‘ right-wing conspiracy empire at a court-ordered auction, the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting announced Thursday. 

“The dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for,” said Robbie Parker, whose daughter was killed in the 2012 school shooting.

As part of the deal, The Onion, owned by Twilio co-founder Jeff Lawson and led by chief executive Ben Collins, acquired Infowars’ website, product inventory, customers lists, social media accounts, and intellectual property. 

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But the Sandy Hook families increased the size of The Onion’s bid by agreeing to forgo a portion of the money Jones owes them. 

“From day one, these families have fought against all odds to bring true accountability to Alex Jones and his corrupt business,” Chris Mattei, an attorney for the Connecticut families, said in a statement. “Our clients knew that true accountability meant an end to Infowars and an end to Jones’ ability to spread lies, pain and fear at scale.”

See Oliver Darcy, Not Satire: The Onion acquires Infowars, Status (November 14, 2024).

Every so often, a notorious liar, a peddler of conspiracy theories large and small, meets a fitting fate. This is one such occasion: that the brand he built and wielded against grieving families is now the property of a satirical publication.

Not enough, by far, but something.

AI robot wages war on weeds:

Carpetbaggers, Daily Bread, Elections, Entitlement, Eric Hovde, US Senate Race 2024, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.13.24: Describing Eric Hovde Accurately

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with evening showers and a high of 54. Sunrise is 6:45, and sunset is 4:33, for 9 hours, 48 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous, with 92.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Lakes Advisory Committee meets at 4:30 PM.

On this day in 1833, the Great Meteor Storm of 1833 takes place:

Although it has been suggested the Leonid meteor shower and storms have been noted in ancient times, it was the meteor storm of November 12–13, 1833 that broke into people’s modern-day awareness. One estimate of the peak rate is over one hundred thousand meteors an hour, while another, done as the storm abated, estimated in excess of 240,000 meteors during the nine hours of the storm, over the entire region of North America east of the Rocky Mountains.

It’s been over a week, in a state where margins of electoral victory survive scrutiny (despite conspiracy theories and speculation), and yet losing candidate Eric Hovde admits he lost, but won’t concede. In this, Hovde is true to form, confirming what critics (as I am) saw about him. Wisconsin Public Radio describes Hovde’s stance accurately:

See Rich Kremer, One week after Senate race was called for Tammy Baldwin, Eric Hovde admits he lost, but won’t concede, Wisconsin Public Radio, November 13, 2024.

Hovde, accurately described.

Previously at FREE WHITEWATER: Hovde’s Out-of-State Bank Recipient of Bogus Positive Reviews, Hovde Rationalizes His Ignorance and Sloth, California Carpetbagger with a Utah Bank Doesn’t Bother to Read Farm Bill on Which Wisconsin Agriculture Relies, Hovde & Baldwin, Hovde Spreads Lies About Hurricane Response (Of Course He Does), These Aren’t Subtle Men, Eric Hovde’s Banking Deal with a Cartel-Linked Mexican Bank, Hovde’s Evident, Ignorant Racism, Eric Hovde Treats Wisconsin as a Side Hustle,  It’s Not Going So Well for Hovde, Eric Hovde Should Fire His Political Consultants and Hire a Therapist, Tim Michels 2.0 Eric Hovde Announces U.S. Senate Run, and Another Vanity Candidate.  

Cats with Jobs:

View on Threads

Courts, Daily Bread, Law, Legislation, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.12.24: Oral Argument at the Wisconsin Supreme Court Over an Abortion Ban

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 49. Sunrise is 6:43, and sunset is 4:34, for 9 hours, 50 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous, with 85.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 5 PM, and the Public Art Committee meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1938, Nazi Germany issues the Decree on the Elimination of Jews from Economic Life prohibiting Jews from selling goods and services or working in a trade, totally segregating Jews from the German economy.

Todd Richmond reports Wisconsin Supreme Court grapples with whether state’s 175-year-old abortion ban is valid:

A conservative prosecutor’s attorney struggled Monday to persuade the Wisconsin Supreme Court to reactivate the state’s 175-year-old abortion ban, drawing a tongue-lashing from two of the court’s liberal justices during oral arguments.

Sheboygan County’s Republican district attorney, Joel Urmanski, has asked the high court to overturn a Dane County judge’s ruling last year that invalidated the ban. A ruling isn’t expected for weeks but abortion advocates almost certainly will win the case given that liberal justices control the court. One of them, Janet Protasiewicz, remarked on the campaign trail that she supports abortion rights.

….

The ban stood until 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide nullified it. Legislators never repealed the ban, however, and conservatives have argued the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe two years ago reactivated it. 

Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit challenging the law in 2022. He argued that a 1985 Wisconsin law that prohibits abortion after a fetus reaches the point where it can survive outside the womb supersedes the ban. Some babies can survive with medical help after 21 weeks of gestation.

Urmanski contends that the ban was never repealed and that it can co-exist with the 1985 law because that law didn’t legalize abortion at any point. Other modern-day abortion restrictions also don’t legalize the practice, he argues.

Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper ruled last year that the ban outlaws feticide — which she defined as the killing of a fetus without the mother’s consent — but not consensual abortions. The ruling emboldened Planned Parenthood to resume offering abortions in Wisconsin after halting procedures after Roe was overturned.

Urmanski asked the state Supreme Court in February to overturn Schlipper’s ruling without waiting for a lower appellate decision.

See Oral Argument in Josh Kaul v. Joel Urmanski, as DA for Sheboygan County, WI 2023AP002362 at Wiseye (free subscription req’d):

Wisconsin Supreme Court: Josh Kaul v. Joel Urmanski

As noted in yesterday’s post there is, however, a constitutional Supremacy Clause that, if relied upon following federal restrictions, would make state action moot.

Why methane emissions matter in the fight against climate change:

Courts, Daily Bread, Federal Government, Law, Legislation, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.11.24: Wisconsin Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Abortion Lawsuit

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Good morning.

Veterans’ Day in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 50. Sunrise is 6:42, and sunset is 4:35, for 9 hours, 52 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous, with 75.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Plan & Architectural Review Commission meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1918, Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car in the forest of Compiègne.

Sarah Lehr reports Wisconsin Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in abortion lawsuit (‘The case involves a 19th century law previously interpreted as banning abortions in the state’):

The state Supreme Court will hear Monday from attorneys on both sides of a case that could decide the future of abortion rights in Wisconsin.

Oral arguments are scheduled to begin at 9:45 a.m. before the seven-justice court, which flipped to a liberal majority in August of last year. 

Planned Parenthood is currently providing abortions at several clinics in Wisconsin, citing a lower court decision. But a ruling from the state’s highest court could provide more finality and clarity about the legal status of abortion in Wisconsin.

There is, however, a Supremacy Clause that, if relied upon following federal restrictions, would make state action moot.

Bells return to Notre Dame Cathedral after 2019 fire:

Daily Bread, Dogs, Science/Nature

Daily Bread for 11.10.24: The Neuroscience Behind… Wet Dog Shakes

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy, with scattered morning showers, and a high of 58. Sunrise is 6:41, and sunset is 4:36, for 9 hours, 57 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous, with 65.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1958, the Hope Diamond is donated to the Smithsonian Institution by New York diamond merchant Harry Winston.

The neuroscience behind wet dog shakes:

When a dog shakes water off its fur, it is not just a random flurry of movements — nor a deliberate effort to drench anyone standing nearby.

This instinctive reflex is shared by many furry mammals including mice, cats, squirrels, lions, tigers and bears. The move helps animals to remove water, insects or other irritants from hard-to-reach places. But underlying the shakes is a complex — and previously mysterious — neurological mechanism.

Now, researchers have identified the neural circuit that triggers characteristic ‘wet dog’ shaking behaviour in mice — which involves a specific class of touch receptors, and neurons that connect the spinal cord to the brain.

November Meteor Showers 2024 (Leonids in Mid-November):

See also Leonid meteor shower: All you need to know in 2024.

Daily Bread, Food

Daily Bread for 11.9.24: ‘Man With the Secret To Perfect Ribs’

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 58. Sunrise is 6:40, and sunset is 4:37, for 9 hours, 57 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous, with 54.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1938,  Kristallnacht occurs, instigated by the Nazis using the killing of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpanas as a sham justification.

We Found the Man With the Secret To Perfect Ribs:

Food lover Mark Gevaux known as ‘The Rib Man’ and London’s ‘Godfather of Street Food’ became a butcher at 12. After losing his leg in a car accident he had to find a new way to follow his dream, which led him to become the go-to for making the BEST pulled BBQ ribs for football matches. Foodies, what’s your go-to sauce for the perfect pulled ribs?
00:00 Intro
00:26 Who is the rib man?
1:26 Firing up the BBQ
3:19 The fatal accident
4:03 A new beginning with pulled ribs
4:37 Taste the sauces
5:33 Let’s check on the ribs!
6:39 Taste test!
7:30 Serving up tasty ribs

Meanwhile in Arizona:

Daily Bread, Nature, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.8.24: 24,000 Black Bears

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 56. Sunrise is 6:38, and sunset is 4:38, for 9 hours, 59 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent, with 43.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1972, American pay television network Home Box Office (HBO) launches.

Wisconsin Life | Inside the den: DNR researchers track Wisconsin’s black bears:

Aerial footage shows scale of wildfires burning in California:

Cats

Friday Catblogging: A Cat History Tour in NYC

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Alaina Demopoulos reports From Truman Capote to feline firefighters – a day out at New York’s historical cat walking tour:

Emily Warren Roebling was a groundbreaking engineer who took over construction of the Brooklyn Bridge after her husband, who had been leading construction, and son died of decompression sickness. On 24 May 1883, Roebling became the first human to cross the bridge during its opening ceremony. But the first creature to cross the bridge did so about a month earlier, when a cat named Ned claimed the honor.

According to a New York Times article dug up by historian Peggy Gavan, a saloon keeper named CW McAuliffe and the city alderman James J Mooney set up the stunt, searching through Brooklyn strays to find a cat that, as they put it, “was inclined to see the world”. The pair stumbled upon a gray cat they named Ned, who, with the blessing of the bridge’s chief engineer, was placed in a basket and let out on the center of the structure, and walked toward Manhattan.

That’s just one tidbit you’ll learn on Gavan’s new Cats About Town walking tour, a two-hour romp through Brooklyn Heights that covers New York City history from a feline’s perspective. Don’t ask Gavan, a licensed tour guide, about architecture or celebrity sightings – over the course of two miles, she only covers cats, which surprisingly play an important role in the city’s formative years.

See also the website of Cats About Town: NYC’s First Walking Tours for Cat Lovers.

City, Film

Film: Tuesday, November 12th, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Fabulous Four

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Tuesday, November 12th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of The Fabulous Four @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:

Comedy

Rated R (language)

1 hour, 38 minutes (2024)

Two female friends travel to Key West to be bridesmaids in a college girlfriend’s surprise wedding. Sisterhood is rekindled in a fun sort of way! Starring Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Megan Mullally, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Michael Bolton.

One can find more information about The Fabulous Four  at the Internet Movie Database.


Daily Bread, Elections, Presidential Race 2024, US Senate Race 2024, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.7.24: Wisconsin Turnout High

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 56. Sunrise is 6:37, and sunset is 4:39, for 10 hours, 2 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent, with 33.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1910,  the first air freight shipment (from Dayton, Ohio, to Columbus, Ohio) is undertaken in a Wright (Brothers) Model B.

The Associated Press reports Wisconsin turnout in presidential race nears 73%:

About 73% of Wisconsin’s voting-age population cast ballots in the 2024 presidential race, with the raw number of voters topping out at the highest in state history, based on unofficial results.

Nearly 3.4 million people in Wisconsin cast ballots in the presidential race won by President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday, and the number is likely to increase slightly as the few remaining outstanding ballots are tabulated. Just over 3.3 million voted for president in the 2020 election.

The turnout percentage of 72.6% in Wisconsin, with a voting-age population of just under 4.7 million people, is just below the 72.9% seen in 2020.

The highest turnout percentage since at least 1948 was 73.2% in 2004, based on records from the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

Fewer people voted in the two other statewide contests in this year’s election. About 30,000 fewer people voted in the race for U.S. Senate between Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republican Eric Hovde. And more than 193,000 fewer people voted for a constitutional amendment limiting voting to U.S. citizens.

Snacking armadillo:

America, City, Daily Bread, Elections, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.6.24: Eight Years On

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 54. Sunrise is 6:36, and sunset is 4:36, for 10 hours, 4 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent, with 23 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1971,  the United States Atomic Energy Commission tests the largest U.S. underground hydrogen bomb, code-named Cannikin, on Amchitka Island in the Aleutians.

Eight years ago, after an election night, I wrote a post entitled Unexpected and Expected. The first paragraph from that post, with a few changes, is fitting yet again:

Last night’s election results are both [generally] unexpected (nationally) and expected (locally), I’d say.  Few thought that Trump would win the presidency, but many of the other results for Wisconsin or Whitewater were easier to predict.

Trump’s victory nationally will be the big topic for years, first about its cause and then about its effects. Because I believe that national shapes local (and that purely hyper-local assessments are short-sighted), Trump’s win (coupled with a Republican Congress [Senate and possibly House] and a conservative Supreme Court) will transform this city as it will much larger places.

None of us can say how this story unfolds, and in any event it matters still more how we in this small city respond to what unfolds. Each day, one begins anew, confronting the challenges of the moment.

For national, state, and local election results see AP Election Results and Journal Sentinel 2024 Wisconsin General Election Results.

NASA’s Perseverance rover captures Martian moon Phobos eclipse the sun:

The Mastcam-Z camera on NASA’s Perseverance rover captured the Martian moon Phobos on Sept. 30, 2024 as it eclipsed the sun.

America, City, Daily Bread, Elections, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.5.24: Election Day

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will see afternoon showers with a high of 66. Sunrise is 6:34, and sunset is 4:41, for 10 hours, 7 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent, with 15.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1872, in defiance of the law, suffragist Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time, and is later fined $100.

A wooden ballot box used in the northeastern United States circa 1870. From the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution in the Vote: The Machinery of Democracy exhibit.

Fireball lights up skies over Ohio, Pennsylvania and Toronto:

The American Meteor Society recieved several reports of fireball in the skies over Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ontario and more on Oct. 21, 2024.

43rd Assembly District, City, Daily Bread, Elections, Legislature

Daily Bread for 11.4.24: In the 43rd District Race, Scott Johnson’s Disqualifying Situation

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 69. Sunrise is 6:33, and sunset is 4:42, for 10 hours, 9 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent, with 8.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to Tutankhamun‘s tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

In the 43rd Assembly District, Whitewater resident Brienne Brown is running against Jefferson resident Scott Johnson.

Here is a map of the 43rd Assembly District’s boundaries:

Whitewater, the largest city in the district, is at the northeast corner of the map. Jefferson is in another district.

On April 11th, Scott Johnson published an announcement for his candidacy for the 43rd Assembly seat.

On August 12th, Johnson attended a meeting of the Whitewater Planning Board. At that meeting, Johnson spoke during public comment on a proposed apartment complex on the east side of Whitewater.

Here’s how Johnson began his remarks (with his full remarks available online):

“Good evening. I’m Scott Johnson, I’m not from this local community…”

Johnson does not live in Whitewater, and he does not live anywhere else in the district. It’s lawful to do what Johnson is doing, but it’s irresponsible and selfish.

The proper order for a candidacy goes like this: live in the district, learn about the district, and run only after you have lived here.

This reasonable & responsible sequence applies to Republicans, Democrats, and independents.

All the rest — claims and counterclaims, opposition research and replies — should be secondary and subordinate to a candidate’s residency in this community before he runs for office.

I have always — always — encouraged people to move to Whitewater. Johnson should first sell his out-of-district residence, move here to Whitewater (his best option) or elsewhere in the district (a second-best choice), live here with us, and only then consider a candidacy after living with us.

It’s beautiful here. Whitewater has options for homes and apartments, including among them several senior living facilities.

If Johnson does not believe this district is good enough for a residency-first approach, then this district is too good for Johnson.

No yielding whatever on this fundamental point.

Uncovering a lost mountain metropolis:

An isolated plateau in the highlands of southeastern Uzbekistan in Central Asia, looks like an expanse of rolling hills. But look closer and a shard of pottery or the stony remnant of an ancient wall might hint at an archaeological secret hidden for hundreds of years. Now a team of archaeologists have used drone-mounted LiDAR to virtually peel back the layers of sediment and vegetation. Revealing two ancient cities, much larger than previously imagined, built 2,000 metres above sea level. The finding of these urban centres, called Tashbulak and Tugunbulak, at such high altitudes, may mean that highland areas may have played a more important role in medieval trade than previously thought. Read the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158…