Good morning.

Whitewater’s work week begins with a rainy day, and a high of forty-eight. Sunrise is 7:03 AM, and sunset 4:22 PM, for 9h 18m 41s of daytime. The moon is new today, with just .9% of its visible disk illuminated.

The city’s Urban Forestry Commission meets today at 4:30 PM.

On this day in 1520, Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition reaches the Pacific. On this day in 1901, UW football has its first undefeated season (9-0), following a win over the University of Chicago (35-0).

Worth reading in full —

The Journal Sentinel‘s Dave Umhoefer writes that For unions in Wisconsin, [it’s been] a fast and hard fall since Act 10: “But the scene in the basement of the MTEA [Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association] complex, five years after the passage of Act 10, was a reminder of the hard and fast fall organized labor has taken in Wisconsin. Even as one of the stronger locals in the state, MTEA membership is down by about 30% since Act 10. Nationally, no state has lost more of its labor union identity than Wisconsin since 2011, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis found. Union members made up 14.2% of workers before Act 10, but just 8.3% in 2015. That was nearly double the drop of Alaska, the runner up. The bottom line: 132,000 fewer union members, mostly teachers and other public workers — enough to fill Lambeau Field and Miller Park, with thousands more tailgating outside. The decline has put Wisconsin, the birthplace of public-employee unions, near the bottom third of states for unionized workforce. Southern and western states make up most of the lowest tier.”

Scott Bauer of the Associated Press writes that politicians can find No easy answers to Wisconsin road funding problem: “Just in case anyone thought solving Wisconsin’s $1 billion transportation budget deficit was going to be as simple as throwing some asphalt over a pothole, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has a reality check: “No Easy Answers.”  That’s the title of a 27-page document Vos distributed to Republican Assembly members in advance of the next legislative session, laying out possible solutions to the funding shortfall. Figuring out what to do about Wisconsin’s crumbling roads, and massive ongoing highway projects in the most populated parts of the state, is expected to be one of the most difficult issues the Legislature faces next year.  The fight is also revealing tensions among Republicans who control state government.”

Daniel Drezner writes that Trump likes to be ‘unpredictable.’ That won’t work so well in diplomacy:  “The search for meaning in Trump’s word salads won’t be easy. Indeed, an adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Reuters that Trump’s aides informed him that “we don’t have to take each word that Mr. Trump said publicly literally.”  Trump’s short fuse could win him some near-term foreign policy accomplishments. And the ambiguity of a president who contradicts himself frequently could sow confusion among rivals of the United States. The problem is that it will also sow confusion among key allies and partners. Ultimately, Trump’s bluster and impulsiveness will hurt our national interest. If allies — or enemies — stop believing what they hear from the White House, Trump is likely to blunder into conflicts that are not of his own choosing.  Part of the problem with trying to identify the meaning of Trump’s words is that Trump himself does not put too much stock in them. From his very first book — which he didn’t write — Trump proclaimed his faith in “truthful hyperbole.” His rise to political prominence came from lying about President Obama’s citizenship status. During his presidential campaign, Trump and his aides gaslighted on a regular basis: In one debate, Trump flatly denied that he had called global warming a Chinese hoax — when he very clearly had . According to every reputable fact-checker, Trump lied far more frequently than Hillary Clinton.”

Amber Phillips explains Why down-ballot Democrats could be in the minority for years to come: “….their efforts may come too late for this next redistricting battle. They have got only two election cycles — 2018, 2020 — to catch up before it is time to redraw the maps for the next 10 years. And Democrats are in such a big hole that it may take even more time to rebuild their majorities in state chambers, which means they could be locked out of the redistricting process in some key states for another decade.”

Some techniques are useful across centuries, in new contexts. Turns out, there are things ancient mariners had techniques in common with NASA scientists:

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a likelihood of light rain tis afternoon, and a high of forty-eight.  Sunrise is 7:02 AM and sunset 4:23 PM, for 9h 20m 11s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 3.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1942, the French scuttle dozens of warships and submarines in Toulon to prevent their capture by Nazi Germany.  On this day in 1903, legendary football halfback and coach John McNally (Johnny Blood) is born.

Worth reading in full — 

John Avalon writes that Fidel Castro Finally Dies, But His Apologists Live On: “Cuba’s communist dictator Fidel Castro certainly enjoyed a cult of personality courtesy of self-styled humanists who still contort themselves to overlook his horrific record of human rights abuses, murder and repression.  But his detractors almost always had more direct experience in dealing with his radius of damage than his defenders. History will not absolve Castro for repeated assaults on freedom clothed in populist garb. Whether it was torturing and executing political opponents, rounding up homosexuals, creating neighborhood networks to spy on fellow citizens, or encouraging the Soviet Union to nuke the United States, he was a bully and a thug: the latest in a long line of self-interested opportunists who rule through fear and pretend that it is love.”

Cleve Wootson writes that [Justin] Trudeau called Castro a ‘remarkable leader.’ Twitter imagined what he would say about Stalin: “Trudeau’s positive statements about Castro met with an instant backlash in Canada and elsewhere. Political scientist Ian Bremmer, the president of Eurasia Group, tweeted, “Cubans deserve better.” Maxime Bernier, a Canadian politician, suggested Trudeau didn’t know the difference between “longest serving president” and “dictator”….Trudeau’s statement even sparked the hashtag #trudeaueulogies, as people chimed in with positive things about historically evil people…

“Mr. Stalin’s greatest achievement was his eradication of obesity in the Ukraine through innovative agricultural reforms.” #TrudeauEulogies

— Melissa Lantsman (@MelissaLantsman) November 26, 2016

….

Saddened about the passing of Sauron who, while heavy-handed, did advocate for open borders and usher in industrial era. #trudeaueulogies

— Elana Fric Shamji (@ElanaFricShamji) November 26, 2016

….”

In a lengthy story, Times reporters Paddock, Lipton, Barry, Nordland, Hakim, and Romero find that Trump partnered with the grandson of Brazil’s last dictator. Their Rio hotel is now a target of a graft investigation: “The examination of the project by Mr. Lopes, the federal prosecutor, has already found a series of “highly suspicious” potential irregularities warranting a criminal investigation, according to court documents. “It is necessary to verify if the favoritism shown by the pension funds to LSH and the Trump Organization was due to the payment of illicit commissions and bribes,” Mr. Lopes said in documents filed in October. In his filings, Mr. Lopes said the size of the hotel investments relative to the overall holdings of the small pension funds reflected a highly unusual level of risk, especially for an unfinished venture that failed to capitalize fully on the demand for accommodations during the Olympics. Going further, Mr. Lopes positioned the inquiry within a broader investigation of public pension funds, pillars of the Brazilian economy that often work in tandem with large state-controlled banks and energy companies. Mr. Trump first took interest in a Rio hotel venture in 2012, when Ivanka Trump was having lunch in Florida with Paulo Figueiredo Filho, a businessman who is a grandson of João Figueiredo, the last autocrat of Brazil’s 21-year military dictatorship, which ended in 1985. The younger Mr. Figueiredo spearheaded the hotel venture until recently.”

i24 News reports that the Wife of Putin’s spokesman draws ire for Holocaust themed ice dance show: “A pair of Russian ice skaters caused a social media firestorm after performing a choreographed piece dressed as Jewish concentration camp prisoners. The pair, Andrew Burkovsjy and Tatiana Navka, who is the wife of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, donned black and white striped jumpsuit with yellow star of David patches and completed the look with make up making them appear gaunt and malnourished.”

Anthony Bourdain contends that for scrambled eggs, simple is better:

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be cloudy in the morning, sunnier in the afternoon, with a high of forty-eight. Sunrise is 7:01 AM and sunset 4:23 PM, for 9h 21m 46s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 7.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1838, the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature assembles in Madison for the first time.

Worth reading or watching in full —

Fidel Castro’s dead, but the Cuba Archive has a record of the people his regime killed or tortured: “Cuba Archive’s Truth and Memory Project documents deaths and disappearances resulting from the Cuban revolution and studies transitional issues of truth, memory and justice. This seeks to help Cubans attain their rightful freedoms, foster a culture of respect for life and the rule of law, and honor the memory of those who’ve paid the highest price.”

Putin’s been busy, as Researchers Identify 200 Websites That ‘Reliably Echo Russian Propaganda’ to Millions of Americans: “Russia had a hand in spreading fake news to millions of Americans during the election cycle, according to two independent research groups, PropOrNot and Foreign Policy Research Institute. The Washington Post was the first media outlet to report PropOrNot’s findings that there are over 200 websites described as “routine peddlers of Russian propaganda during the election season, with combined audiences of at least 15 million Americans.” The most recognizable names on the list of “sites that reliably echo Russian propaganda” include Alex Jones’ Infowars, Julian Assange’s Wikileaks and Matt Drudge’s Drudge Report. Others include The Federalist Papers, ZeroHedge, the Free Thought Project and USAPoliticsNow.”

Netflix & Amazon subscribers have The Heavy Water War (original title: Kampen om tungtvannet; Norwegian with English subtitles) on offer: “A mini-series based on the true story of the Norwegian saboteurs who crippled Nazi Germany’s nuclear weapons research program.”

Simon Denyer writes about how China wants to give all of its citizens a score – and their rating could affect every area of their lives: “This is not the dystopian superstate of Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report, in which all-knowing police stop crime before it happens. But it could be China by 2020. It is the scenario contained in China’s ambitious plans to develop a far-reaching social credit system, a plan that the Communist Party hopes will build a culture of “sincerity” and a “harmonious socialist society” where “keeping trust is glorious.”  A high-level policy document released in September listed the sanctions that could be imposed on any person or company deemed to have fallen short. The overriding principle: “If trust is broken in one place, restrictions are imposed everywhere.” A whole range of privileges would be denied, while people and companies breaking social trust would also be subject to expanded daily supervision and random inspections.  The ambition is to collect every scrap of information available online about China’s companies and citizens in a single place – and then assign each of them a score based on their political, commercial, social and legal “credit.”

We may someday build a city on the moon, but we may not truly be the ones to do so:

Good morning.

Whitewater’s Friday will be cloudy with a high of forty-one.  Sunrise is 7 AM and sunset 4:22 PM, for 9h 23m 23s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 13.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1783, British soldiers evacuate New York, their last stronghold during the Revolution; George Washington later led the Continental Army into Manhattan.  On this day in 1863, fourteen Wisconsin units – seven infantry, seven artillery – participate in breaking the siege at Chattanooga.

Worth reading in full —   

Craig Timberg reports on how two teams have researchers have concluded that Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election: “Russia’s increasingly sophisticated propaganda machinery — including thousands of botnets, teams of paid human “trolls,” and networks of websites and social-media accounts — echoed and amplified right-wing sites across the Internet as they portrayed Clinton as a criminal hiding potentially fatal health problems and preparing to hand control of the nation to a shadowy cabal of global financiers. The effort also sought to heighten the appearance of international tensions and promote fear of looming hostilities with nuclear-armed Russia.  Two teams of independent researchers found that the Russians exploited American-made technology platforms to attack U.S. democracy at a particularly vulnerable moment, as an insurgent candidate harnessed a wide range of grievances to claim the White House. The sophistication of the Russian tactics may complicate efforts by Facebook and Google to crack down on “fake news,” as they have vowed to do after widespread complaints about the problem.”

Those who thought that Trump would #DraintheSwamp are in for disappointment (one of many), as Trump [is] expected to tap billionaire investor Wilbur Ross for commerce secretary: “Wilbur Ross, the billionaire investor considered the “king of bankruptcy” for buying beaten-down companies with the potential to deliver profits, is expected to be President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for commerce secretary, two officials with knowledge of the decision said.  Ross helped shape the Trump campaign’s economic agenda, particularly its hard-line stance on the need to renegotiate — or even withdraw from — free trade agreements. That position resonated with the working class voters who were instrumental in delivering Trump’s upset victory. Elevating Ross to a position in his Cabinet could suggest that Trump intends to nurture the nationalist streak that was one of the hallmarks of his campaign.”

Yair Rosenberg describes (one way) How to Fight Anti-Semitic Trolls and Bigotry Online:

In How Journalists Need to Begin Imagining the Unimaginable, Eric Umansky interviews Masha Gessen on Trump’s transformative campaign: “Many reporters had gone directly from the state of total disbelief that Trump will never be the Republican nominee, even when he had the nomination locked in. Their argument, when I would ask people, they would say, “Well, I just can’t imagine it happening.” Well, if you can’t imagine it happening, that’s your problem. When somebody says, “I can’t imagine it happening,” that’s a problem. Then what happened was that there was this whole direction of coverage that held, incredibly to me for the entire campaign, this idea that Trump was somehow Putin’s agent and that Russia was meddling in the election and that Russia was rigging the election. There’s a little tiny bit of evidence for it, but that’s a classic conspiracy theory phenomenon where’s there is a little bit of evidence but that’s not what happened. What happened was an American phenomenon, a home-grown potential autocrat who was elected by Americans. It was so difficult to imagine that this was happening here that it was actually easier to do this complete bend over backwards maneuver that would position him as some sort of agent of Putin and Clinton’s campaign ran with it.

Americans had Thanksgiving dinner here, and the astronauts of the International Space Station prepared for it, too:

Good morning.

Thanksgiving in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of forty.  Sunrise is 6:59 AM and sunset 4:24 PM, for 9h 25m 05s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 20.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

On 11.24.1963, nightclub owner Jack Ruby shoots and kills Lee Harvey Oswald.  On this day in 1971, a man popularly described as D.B. Cooper extorts a $200,000 ransom by hijacking a Boeing 727 and afterward parachuting from the plane to an undetermined fate.

Worth reading in full — 

Joseph Diedrich, following Leonard Read’s I, Pencil essay, writes in I, Thanksgiving Dinner that it takes a market to make a modern Thanksgiving meal: “Thanksgiving dinner is made of several components: turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, corn, squash, pumpkin, milk, butter, and so on. Grandma buys each of these raw ingredients from the grocery store. Think about what it takes to run such a store. Contemplate all the unsung heroes — all the hands that contribute to a successful market. The butcher cleans, defeathers, and prepares the turkey. The baker bakes numerous loaves of bread to be cubed for dressing. Shelf stockers display produce. Clerks transact Grandma’s purchase. A bagger bags her items. Thanksgiving dinner depends on the successful interaction of every one of them, each with unique skills.  Of course, none of the ingredients starts at the grocery store. Each one comes from a different farm: potatoes from Idaho, cranberries from Wisconsin, corn from Nebraska, and milk from California. In addition, Grandma uses 12 — 12! — spices to flavor her dishes, none of which originated in the United States. Grandma is talented. But do you really think she knows how to extract nutmeg from the Myristica fragrans tree in the Banda Islands?”

Anthony Comenga, correctly refuting revisionists and neo-Confederates, asks Why Did the Southern States Secede? and gives the only correct answer: “It shouldn’t need to be said, but the Confederacy didn’t stand for opposing federal overreach or eliminating handouts to big business—it stood for slavery.”

Steve Chapman knows that Trump’s building plan is bridge to nowhere (a waste Whitewater’s residents know about from their own experience): “Boosting federal investment in infrastructure has never had so many enthusiasts. During the presidential campaign, it was the rare chorus that Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders could all join in singing.  House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says she’s eager to work with Trump on it. Her GOP counterpart, Kevin McCarthy, expects Republicans to cooperate with their president.  Both the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are in favor. And why not? Not only will we get more modern facilities, we are told, but the gusher of money will invigorate the economy and create lots of blue-collar jobs.  But such investments don’t always work out the way they’re supposed to. Pouring funds into highways, bridges, airports, dams and other projects is easy. Spending money wisely is hard. What beckons on the horizon, as Obama discovered after getting his $840 billion stimulus in 2009, often turns out to be a mirage.”

Tom Haudricourt is watching while [Ryan] Braun waits to see if he’ll remain with Brewers: “Braun knows he came close to being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 31 because the club kept him apprised of talks that broke off before the midnight deadline for post-season eligibility. Those talks led to the common perception that the teams are destined to re-engage on Braun, but it hasn’t happened yet.  Braun revealed that he made one change on his no-trade list after the season but wouldn’t reveal the team he substituted. The previous list allowed trades without his permission to the Dodgers, Angels, Giants, Diamondbacks, Padres and Marlins. Braun, who lives in Malibu, Calif., played college ball at Miami but might have changed that team because it is so far from his growing family.”

There are many things for which to be thankful, among them not being stuck on the 405 Freeway in West L.A. on Tuesday –

Happy Thanksging.

Good morning.

Whitewater’s Wednesday will be rainy with a high of forty-two.  Sunrise is 6:58 AM and sunset 4:25 PM, for 9h 26m 48s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 29.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1889, the jukebox was first installed for commercial use, at the Palais Royal Saloon in San Francisco.  On this day in 2006, former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko died in London from radiation poisoning after making a deathbed statement blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Also in 11.23.1889, the first University of Wisconsin football game took place, although it did not end well for Wisconsin (Calumet Club of Milwaukee 27, Wisconsin 0). On November 23, 1909, “A.E. Graham of Janesville was put on trial for selling oleo as butter. Oleo, an early form of margarine, was outlawed in the dairy state of Wisconsin. On January 27, 1910, he was found guilty in federal court and sentenced to 18 months in Fort Leavenworth Prison.”

Worth reading or watching in full — 

Nico Savidge reports that UW-Madison slips in ranking as research spending declines: “Spending on research at UW-Madison declined by more than $100 million between 2012 and 2015, leading the university to fall from the top five of the National Science Foundation’s ranking of research institutions for the first time in more than four decades….Tom Evenson, a spokesman for Gov. Scott Walker, downplayed the NSF ranking Tuesday, noting that UW-Madison recently rose in a U.S. News and World Report ranking of top public universities and saying the institution “remains a ‘research powerhouse.’”

Jacob Carpenter writes that Inmate families want outside investigation into deaths: “The families of two Milwaukee County inmates who recently died in jail are calling for outside investigations into the unexplained deaths of their loved ones, saying they fear the county Sheriff’s Office won’t conduct thorough, impartial reviews.  Leon Limon, the brother of 38-year-old Kristina Fiebrink, and Gail Stockton, the mother of 29-year-old Michael Madden, said a recent spate of deaths at the Milwaukee County Jail has them concerned about the quality of any investigations by the Sheriff’s Office, which runs the jail.  They are also frustrated at how little the Sheriff’s Office has told them regarding when and how the investigations will be done. Fiebrink died in late August, Madden in late October.  “I just don’t feel like it’s going to be fair,” Limon said. “They’re not going to say, ‘My co-worker let this girl die.'” State law allows local agencies to investigate deaths at jails they run, so long as the death didn’t directly result from an officer’s actions or inaction.”

In South Korea, a Samsung Raid Deepens South Korean Political Crisis:

At Trump Tower, there’s been no better time to hawk trinkets, as one reads in At Donald Trump’s Properties, a Showcase for a Brand and a President-Elect: ““I bought it for my two sons,” said Shanon Loggins, 47, of Lufkin, Tex., showing off a golden shopping bag embossed with the Trump crest that carried two bottles of Success by Trump, a fragrance for men. “They need to be successful,” she explained. Business is good for Donald J. Trump. People are flocking to his Midtown Manhattan skyscraper, dining in his restaurants and buying his wares. Reporters are fastidiously chronicling the comings and goings of his transition team, his self-branded properties providing the backdrop for television live shots. Mr. Trump has taken the staid task of preparing to assume the presidency and turned it into an exercise in conspicuous self-promotion and carefully choreographed branding.”

Great Big Story describes The Fire That Inspired ‘Smoke on The Water’:

The Fire That Inspired ‘Smoke on The Water’ from Great Big Story on Vimeo.

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy, with a high of forty-three, and a one-third chance of afternoon showers.  Sunrise is 6:57 AM and sunset 4:25 PM, for 9h 28m 35s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 38.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1963, Pres. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas.  On this day in 1906, noted Wisconsin lawyer and UW Regent Elizabeth Hawkes was born.

Worth reading in full —

Locally, Walworth County’s just not growing anymore: “Through the 1990s until about 2008, Walworth County was one of the fastest-growing counties in the state, according to census numbers from the Wisconsin Department of Administration.  Since then, however, population growth in the county has stagnated.  Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, said the reason for flat growth is simple: The number of people dying matches the number being born or moving to the county.  He said the alliance predicted slow growth from 2010 to 2040. The trend is an issue for the whole state, not just Walworth County, Berry said.  “One of Wisconsin’s biggest challenges is that few people leave the state, but few people come,” Berry said.  For some, flat population growth is not worth a worry. But for others, slowing growth can make modernizing public infrastructure more difficult.”

Ed Trevelen reports that a Federal judges panel finds state redistricting plan an ‘unconstitutional gerrymander’: “A panel of federal judges on Monday ruled that Wisconsin’s 2011 legislative redistricting plan, created by Republican leaders virtually in secret, is an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.  The map “was intended to burden the representational rights of Democratic voters … by impeding their ability to translate their votes into legislative seats,” wrote federal appeals court Judge Kenneth Ripple, the senior judge on the three-judge panel, adding that “the discriminatory effect is not explained by the political geography of Wisconsin nor is it justified by a legitimate state interest.  “Consequently, Act 43 constitutes an unconstitutional political gerrymander,” Ripple wrote.”

Ananya Bhattacharya’s reports on a Handy cheat sheet of false and misleading “news” sites: “In the wake of a debate over the role of fake news in the US election, a professor is doing what Facebook has failed to: identifying untrustworthy sources.  Melissa Zimdars, an associate professor of communication and media at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, has created a public Google Doclisting news sites that distribute incorrect information. Titled “False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and Satirical ‘News’ Sources,” the list includes blatantly incorrect URLs like”abcnews.com.co” and “drudgereport.com.co,” but also sites whose stories are of dubious origin and sourcing.”

Tanya Ganeva writes about drug warrior Jeff Sessions’s ridiculous anti-drug crusade: “A few days ago, it looked as if the popularity and profitability of marijuana would spare pot reform from the lurching chaos of Donald Trump’s administration. But then Sen. Jeff Sessions — probably the only person on earth who’s nostalgic about Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign — was announced as President-elect Trump’s choice for attorney general.  As my fellow guest blogger Steven Hale wrote on Friday, Sessions’s record and public statements indicate that he’ll be a nightmare for civil liberties. In terms of drug policy, Sessions stands out even in the GOP for his steadfast rejection of scientific evidence.”

Toads get around well enough, but no one would call them graceful —

I just love how ungainly these #toads are in #slowmo! pic.twitter.com/94x1fHGJWp

— Grantham Ecologist (@GranthamEcology) October 27, 2016