Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of thirty-two. Sunrise is 7:23 AM and sunset 4:25 PM, for 9h 01m 49s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 35.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Fire Department will hold a scheduled business meeting at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1864, Gen. Sherman offers a Christmas gift to Pres. Lincoln, and the president later replies with gratitude:

Sherman telegraphed to President Lincoln, “I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition, also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton.”^[15] On December 26, the president replied in a letter:^[16]

Many, many thanks for your Christmas gift – the capture of Savannah. When you were leaving Atlanta for the Atlantic coast, I was anxious, if not fearful; but feeling that you were the better judge, and remembering that ‘nothing risked, nothing gained’ I did not interfere. Now, the undertaking being a success, the honor is all yours; for I believe none of us went farther than to acquiesce. And taking the work of Gen. Thomas into the count, as it should be taken, it is indeed a great success. Not only does it afford the obvious and immediate military advantage; but, in showing to the world that your army could be divided, putting the stronger part to an important new service, and yet leaving enough to vanquish the old opposing force of the whole—Hood’s army—it brings those who sat in darkness, to see a great light. But what next? I suppose it will be safer if I leave Gen. Grant and yourself to decide. Please make my grateful acknowledgements to your whole army, officers and men.

Worth reading in full —

Oleg Kashin writes of Rex Tillerson’s Special Friend in the Kremlin: “[Head of Rosneft, Russia’s state oil company Igor I. ] Sechin is not just the chief executive of Rosneft, he is also one of the heroes of contemporary Russian politics. He is believed to have served as a K.G.B. agent in Africa and had no real experience in the business world until he was over 40. He didn’t come to lead the state oil company because of his business acumen; he earned his position through his loyalty to Mr. Putin. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mr. Sechin aligned himself with Mr. Putin, another former K.G.B. officer, as he began consolidating power in post-Soviet politics. Everywhere Mr. Putin went, Mr. Sechin was by his side as a trusted aide and adviser.”

Well, she’s found an inside job after all, as Kellyanne Conway, ‘Trump Whisperer,’ Will Be Counselor to President: ”She is a tireless and tenacious advocate of my agenda and has amazing insights on how to effectively communicate our message,” Mr. Trump said. “I am pleased that she will be part of my senior team in the West Wing.” Ms. Conway stood by Mr. Trump after a 2005 video surfaced in which he spoke in vulgar terms about groping women, proving her loyalty and helping to secure her position as someone who will have the president’s ear on a wide variety of topics. Ms. Conway has been a favorite strategist for conservative candidates, such as Newt Gingrich in the 2012 presidential race, and she was an adviser to Vice President-elect Mike Pence in his run for governor of Indiana.”

Steve Reilly of USA Today reports that some Teachers who sexually abuse students still find classroom jobs: “When it came time to deal with the Orangefield High School football coach, administrators didn’t fire McFarlin or report him to police. They didn’t even notify Texas education officials who had the power to take away his teaching license. Instead, they let him become someone else’s problem. They hid his behavior from state regulators, parents and coaches. All McFarlin had to do was go teach somewhere else. “This incident does not have to end McFarlan’s (sic) career,” school district attorney Karen Johnson wrote in a letter in 2005 to then-superintendent Mike Gentry. In the letter, Johnson recommended the district negotiate “a graceful exit” for the teacher. Less than two years later, McFarlin, then 38, landed a job at a nearby school district, where no one had any idea about his past problems. In 2011, he had sex with one of his students, a 16-year-old girl.”

Philip Rucker and Karen Tumulty report that Donald Trump is holding a government casting call. He’s seeking ‘the look.’: “Trump’s closest aides have come to accept that he is likely to rule out candidates if they are not attractive or not do not match his image of the type of person who should hold a certain job. “That’s the language he speaks. He’s very aesthetic,” said one person familiar with the transition team’s internal deliberations who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “You can come with somebody who is very much qualified for the job, but if they don’t look the part, they’re not going anywhere.” Several of Trump’s associates said they thought that John R. Bolton’s brush-like mustache was one of the factors that handicapped the bombastic former United Nations ambassador in the sweepstakes for secretary of state. “Donald was not going to like that mustache,” said one associate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak frankly. “I can’t think of anyone that’s really close to Donald that has a beard that he likes.”

Chefs in Chicago are helping make ‘elite’ cuisine approachable:

While New York might be the city most known for excellent cuisine, the food scene in Chicago is increasingly innovative and vibrant, especially on the weekends. At EL Ideas restaurant, people pay a fixed price for a unique and interactive experiences. For example, guests eat the first course of caviar by licking it off their plate, no silverware allowed. “Chicago is an exciting food town,” says Phillip Foss, the chef and owner of EL Ideas. “Chefs here in Chicago are actually pushing a little bit harder to explore the boundaries of what a restaurant can be.” This is the eighth and final episode in The Atlantic’s video series “Saturday Night in America,” which uncovers pockets of nightlife across the nation. It was directed by Ben Wu and David Usui of Lost & Found Films.

Good morning.

In Whitewater, we’ll have a cloudy Wednesday with a high of thirty-two. Sunrise is 7:22 AM and sunset 4:24 PM, for 9h 01m 42s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 45.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM, and her Parks & Recreation Board at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1898, Marie Sklodowska-Curie and her husband Pierre Curie discover radium in a uraninite sample.  On this day in 1862, the 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry (3,500 strong) sets out for Vicksburg, Mississippi (arriving on 1.5.1863).

Worth reading in full — 

Neil MacFarquahr and Andrew E. Kramer report on How Rex Tillerson Changed His Tune on Russia and Came to Court Its Rulers: “MOSCOW — As a member of the U.S.-Russia Business Council and chief executive of Exxon Mobil, Rex W. Tillerson frequently voiced doubts about Russia’s investment climate, saying as late as 2008 that Russia “must improve the functioning of its judicial system and its judiciary. There is no respect for the rule of law in Russia today”….[yet] oil industry experts and other analysts say, as Mr. Putin consolidated his control over Russia’s oligarchs, Mr. Tillerson underwent a profound change of outlook. He came to realize that the key to success in Russia, a country deeply important to Exxon’s future, lay in establishing personal relationships with Mr. Putin and his friend and confidant, Igor Sechin, the powerful head of Rosneft, the state oil company.”

Bruce Vielmetti reports that Megyn Kelly, Fox News win in Wisconsin court: “back when she was hosting “Kelly’s Court,” on a Fox News show called America Live in 2011, she and two guests breezily tossed out some commentary a former North Shore firefighter claims were defamatory. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Conen eventually dismissed the case, in part because he felt the segment clearly was not a serious news program, only a mock judicial debate. The plaintiff appealed. On Tuesday, the Court of Appeals also sided with Kelly. “While the commentary may have been sarcastic, belittling, and impolite, that does not make it defamatory,”  wrote a panel of the District 1 court. The decision came from judges Kitty Brennan, Joan Kessler and William Brash. “It is a prized American privilege to speak one’s mind, although not always with perfect good taste, on all public institutions.”

Michael Gerson observes that The GOP is at its peak, but conservatism has hit rock bottom: “Conservatives believe that human beings are fallible and prone to ambition, passion and selfishness. They (actually, we) tend to become swaggering dictators in realms where we can act with impunity — a motor vehicle department office, a hostile traffic stop, a country under personal rule. It is the particular genius of the American system to balance ambition with ambition through a divided government (executive, legislative and judicial). The American system employs human nature to limit the power of the state — assuming that every branch of government is both dedicated to the common good and jealous of its own power….This is not the political force that has recently taken over the Republican Party — with a plurality in the presidential primaries and a narrow victory in November. That has been the result of extreme polarization, not a turn toward enduring values. The movement is authoritarian in theory, apocalyptic in mood, prone to conspiracy theories and personal abuse, and dismissive of ethical standards. The president-elect seems to offer equal chances of constitutional crisis and utter, debilitating incompetence.”

Daniel Drezner enumerates Donald Trump’s three types of norm violations, but it’s the third of the three that matters: “The final set of violations are the ones where Trump is taking steps that run afoul of deeper norms, some of which are even enshrined in the Constitution: His refusal to properly divest from his company, which set up massive conflicts of interest in foreign policy. The possible violations of the emoluments clause of the Constitution. Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn occupying positions of power in the White House. His reliance on his family as close advisers to the point where they are sitting in on meetings they should not be attending. His desire to make his staff sign nondisclosure agreements. His open war with the intelligence community. His laying the groundwork for his own private security force. These are the areas in which Trump is not only eviscerating existing norms, but creating a new set of arrangements that seem like a breeding ground of corruption, favoritism and the further erosion of trust in the political system.”

Could one have a bicycle-powered house?  NPR’s Skunk Bear investigates —

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be much warmer than yesterday, with a high of thirty under mostly sunny skies. Sunrise is 7:22 AM and sunset 4:23 PM, for 9h 01m 40s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 55.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

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

On this day in 1860, South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the Union. On this day in 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was formally completed with a transfer ceremony in New Orleans.  In December 1941, large numbers of Wisconsinites begin enlisting for military duty during the Second World War, with about 320,000 serving during the course of the war.

Worth reading in full — 

Patrick Marley reports that Wisconsin Attorney General Schimel considers reopening Lincoln Hills probe: “Madison — After saying last week he was “in the dark” on an investigation into Wisconsin’s juvenile prison, Attorney General Brad Schimel changed course Monday and said his office now may issue charges over alleged inmate abuses. Schimel’s sharply different tone came a day after a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation reported that state officials missed a series of warning signs coming from Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls, which share a campus 30 miles north of Wausau. The Republican attorney general headed a criminal investigation into the facility for a year, but turned it over to the FBI in early 2016. He told the Journal Sentinel on Thursday he had not been seeking updates on the investigation and didn’t know its status….When told FBI hadn’t visited Lincoln Hills for nearly a year, Schimel said he was surprised to hear that, but wasn’t bothered. He struck a much different tone Monday, after the Journal Sentinel’s story appeared. In an interview with The Associated Press, Schimel said his agency may “step back in” and re-launch its own investigation.”

Eli Lake proposes that Obama Should Out Putin’s Wealth as Payback for Election Hacking: “U.S. officials have hinted before that they know more than they are saying about Putin’s money. Adam Szubin, the acting undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, told the BBC in January that Putin “supposedly draws a state salary of something like $110,000 a year. That is not an accurate statement of the man’s wealth, and he has long time training and practices in terms of how to mask his actual wealth.” In October, retired Admiral James Stavridis told NBC News: “It’s well known that there’s a great deal of offshore money moved outside of Russia from oligarchs. … It would be very embarrassing if that was revealed, and that would be a proportional response to what we’ve seen”….The effect of a disclosure by the Obama administration though would be apparent in the West. Putin may not care whether his citizens know how corrupt he is. But I bet his Western bankers and business partners do. Fiona Hill, a senior fellow and Russia expert at the Brookings Institution, told me Monday: “The one thing about revealing this information is that it would stigmatize his wealth. This is shining a spotlight on him and his allies.”

Jennifer Rubin writes that Trump revels in fake news and phony claims: “here is what is different about Trump: He doesn’t try to get it right. He doesn’t assume that people care about the truth or that the truth is important. He will repeat blatant untruths (e.g. Arab Americans celebrated after 9/11, President Obama wasn’t born in the United States, he won by a landslide, we don’t know whether Russia hacked us), and then try to bully those who dispute him. Rather than engage on the facts, Trump insults, demeans and bullies the messenger. Critical voices — even “Saturday Night Live” — are, in his view, “losing” business (even when they are not), because for Trump, financial success makes one good and truthful while financial distress means one is bad and a liar.”

Rich McCormick writes that the Rogue One director says its original ending was very different [spoilers in linked story]: “Rogue One could have been a very different film. Reports of extensive reshoots persisted during its production, and the fact it underwent severe story surgery is backed up by shots seen in the trailers that didn’t make it into the final film. We may never know what the first version of the first Star Wars spinoff looked like, but director Gareth Edwards — who spoketo movie magazine Empire this month — has confirmed that Rogue One’s original ending was one such cutting-room casualty.”

One sees that some Britons decided to send a meat pie to the edge of space, about 100,000 feet above the Earth —

Good morning.

Whitewater’s Monday will be mostly sunny with a high of fourteen.  Sunrise is 7:21 AM and sunset 4:23 PM, for 9h 01m 41s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 65.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Library Board meets tonight at 6:30 PM. Whitewater’s School Board meets tonight, with open session scheduled for approximately 7 PM.

On this day in 1843, Charles Dickens publishes A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas. On this day in 1813, Wisconsin’s first governor, Nelson Dewey, is born.

Worth reading in full —

Michael Wines reports that for All This Talk of Voter Fraud? Across U.S., Officials Found Next to None: “After all the allegations of rampant voter fraud and claims that millions had voted illegally, the people who supervised the general election last month in states around the nation have been adding up how many credible reports of fraud they actually received. The overwhelming consensus: next to none. In an election in which more than 137.7 million Americans cast ballots, election and law enforcement officials in 26 states and the District of Columbia — Democratic-leaning, Republican-leaning and in-between — said that so far they knew of no credible allegations of fraudulent voting. Officials in another eight states said they knew of only one allegation.”

David Corn asks Did Russia Spy on Donald Trump When He Visited Moscow?: “With the Washington Post‘s bombshell report that the CIA has assessed that the Russian hacking of Democratic targets was done as part of a Kremlin operation to help Donald Trump win the election, here’s an intriguing question: Has Russian intelligence spied on the president-elect and, if so, what private information has it collected on him? A counterintelligence veteran of a Western spy service in October told Mother Jones that he had uncovered information—and had sent it to the FBI—indicating Russian intelligence had mounted a yearslong operation to cultivate or co-opt Trump and that this project included surveillance that gathered compromising material on the celebrity mogul. Yet there have been no indications from the FBI whether it has investigated this lead. Still, several intelligence professionals say Trump would have indeed been a top priority for Russian intelligence surveillance—especially when he was in Moscow in November 2013 for the Miss Universe pageant, which he owned at the time.”

Anthony Faiola reports that In Poland, a window on what happens when populists come to power: “WARSAW — The Law and Justice Party rode to power on a pledge to drain the swamp of Polish politics and roll back the legacy of the previous administration. One year later, its patriotic revolution, the party proclaims, has cleaned house and brought God and country back to Poland. Opponents, however, see the birth of a neo-Dark Age — one that, as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to move into the White House, is a harbinger of the power of populism to upend a Western society. In merely a year, critics say, the nationalists have transformed Poland into a surreal and insular place — one where state-sponsored conspiracy theories and de facto propaganda distract the public as democracy erodes. In the land of Law and Justice, anti-intellectualism is king. Polish scientists are aghast at proposed curriculum changes in a new education bill that would downplay evolution theory and climate change and add hours for “patriotic” history lessons. In a Facebook chat, a top equal rights official mused that Polish hotels should not be forced to provide service to black or gay customers. After the official stepped down for unrelated reasons, his successor rejected an international convention to combat violence against women because it appeared to argue against traditional gender roles.”

Jessie Opoien writes of someone Excommunicated: Charlie Sykes is leaving radio as he questions the direction of the Republican Party: “Sykes has become one of the state’s most influential conservative voices over nearly a quarter-century, but in the last year his opposition to Republican president-elect Donald Trump has earned him an audience beyond Wisconsin. His combative interview with Trump during the state’s presidential primary propelled him into multi-year contracts with NBC and MSNBC and attracted national reporters who sought to capture the story of a prominent conservative who refused to support the Republican nominee. A month before Trump was elected, Sykes announced his plans to leave WTMJ. He said the decision was made more than a year ago, for both personal and professional reasons. Sykes turned 62 this year and his father, Jay Sykes, died at 63. He wants to spend more time writing, traveling and with his family. If he had any doubts about the move, the political climate of 2016 erased them.”

Small-business computers have come a long way since the IBM 5100 —

Good morning.

Here in Whitewater we’ve partly cloudy skies and a high of minus one ahead for Sunday. Sunrise is 7:21 AM and sunset 4:23 PM, for 9h 01m 47s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 74.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1865, slavery ends in the United States as the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed by the states on December 6th, goes into in effect after Sec. of State Seward’s certification. (“Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”)  On this day in 1950, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin makes an unsuccessful bid to be the site of the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Worth reading in full —

John Schmid reports that, in a troubled area, a Faith-based pay-what-you-can cafe opens in Sherman Park: “The Tricklebee Cafe, an elegant pay-what-you-can restaurant at 4424 W. North Ave., held its grand opening this week. In a community with an abundance of empty storefronts, the faith-based nonprofit favors vegetarian fare and furnished itself with the pews, pulpit and hymnal board of a former church in northern Wisconsin. “We will never turn anyone away if they don’t have the means to pay,” said the Rev. Christie Melby-Gibbons, an ordained pastor of the Moravian Church, a Protestant denomination. Nor will the Tricklebee turn away patrons who feel philanthropic enough to pay above and beyond the suggested per-meal donation of $5.69-$6.46, a range calculated to cover the cost of procuring locally grown organic food, utilities, rent and a “living wage” for the paid staff. “If people want to ‘pay it forward,’ we gracefully accept that, too,” Melby-Gibbons said. The cafe is open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. It launched without fanfare in time for Thanksgiving and used the past month to develop a daily operating rhythm for the kitchen that begins with early morning baking. It reserved its formal inaugural opening for this week.”

Although some Britons worry that Brexit will harm their economy, at least one has found work, as Mike McIntire describes How a Putin Fan Overseas Pushed Pro-Trump Propaganda to Americans: “The Patriot News Agency website popped up in July, soon after it became clear that Donald J. Trump would win the Republican presidential nomination, bearing a logo of a red, white and blue eagle and the motto “Built by patriots, for patriots.” Patriot News — whose postings were viewed and shared tens of thousands of times in the United States — is among a constellation of websites run out of the United Kingdom that are linked to James Dowson, a far-right political activist who advocated Britain’s exit from the European Union and is a fan of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. A vocal proponent of Christian nationalist, anti-immigrant movements in Europe, Mr. Dowson, 52, has spoken at a conference of far-right leaders in Russia and makes no secret of his hope that Mr. Trump will usher in an era of rapprochement with Mr. Putin.”

(There’s limitless audacity in a Briton calling his site a ‘patriot news network.’)

Those who’ve for years argued a so-called ‘states’ rights’ case might want to think about what it means when huge and powerful California takes up that position against a Trump Administration. James Fallows annotates Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent speech to  the American Geophysical Union:

“From 4:30 to 5:15 [in the video], Brown begins one of his “we’re ready to fight” riffs. The speech as a whole is unpolished, but among its charms is Brown’s ability to seem self-aware and even self-mocking. An example is in this passage: First he says that Big Tobacco was brought down by a combination of scientists and lawyers. Then, “And in California, we’ve got plenty of lawyers! … We’ve got the scientists, we’ve got the lawyers, and we’re ready to fight!”

At 5:30, he introduces the “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Brown? You’re not a country” argument, about the way California has used its technical advances and sheer scale to set national and even international environmental standards. “We have a lot of firepower! We’ve got the scientists. We’ve got the universities. We have the national labs. We have a lot of political clout and sophistication for the battle. And we will persevere!”

So many are Trump’s conflicts of interest that one has trouble keeping track. Jeremy Venook provides Donald Trump’s Conflicts of Interest: A Crib Sheet: “legality does not imply propriety. Unless Trump acts to put appropriate distance between himself and his business ventures, these questions are likely to continue throughout his time in the Oval Office. Below is an attempt to catalogue the more clear-cut examples of conflicts of interest that have emerged so far; the most recent entries appear at the top.

• Those Certificates of Divestiture
• That Carrier Deal
• That Blind-Trust Issue
• Those Fannie and Freddie Investments
• That Phone Call With Taiwan
• That Deutsche Bank Debt
• That Secret Service Detail
• That Property in Georgia (the Country)
• That Phone Call With Erdogan
• That Las Vegas Labor Dispute
• That Hotel in Washington, D.C.
• That Argentinian Office Building
• Those Companies in Saudi Arabia
• That British Wind Farm
• Those Indian Business Partners
• That Envoy From the Philippines“

Courtesy of the European Space Agency, one sees how beautiful Mars is —