Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 11. Sunrise is 7:24 AM and sunset 4:38 PM for 9h 13m 08s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 27.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1901, Robert Marion “Fighting Bob” La Follette Sr. is inaugurated as governor after winning the November 6, 1900 election. La Follette was born in Dane County in 1855. A Wisconsin Law School graduate and three-term member of congress, La Follette was renowned for his oratorical style. He was the first Wisconsin-born individual to serve as governor.
U.S. financial markets are outperforming the world by the biggest margin in the 21st century, and with good reason: America’s economy improved more in Joe Biden’s first 12 months than any president during the past 50 years notwithstanding the contrary media narrative contributing to dour public opinion.
Exceptional returns from dollar-denominated assets, especially the S&P 500 Index in both absolute terms and relative to its global counterparts, can be attributed to record-low debt ratios enabling companies to reap the biggest profit margins since 1950. Corporate America is booming because the Biden administration’s Covid-19 vaccination programs and $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan reduced the jobless rate to 4.2% in November from 6.2% in February, continuing an unprecedented rate of decline during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Consider that real, or inflation adjusted, gross domestic product surged at an average annual rate of 5.03% in each of the first three quarters of 2021, and is poised to expand 5.6% for the year based on the average estimate of more than 80 economists surveyed Bloomberg. If that forecast proves accurate, it would be more than 2.8 times the average between 2000 and 2019 and double the average since 1976.
All of which makes Biden’s first year in the White House the standout among the seven previous presidents, based on 10 market and economic indicators given equal weight. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, no one comes close to matching Biden’s combination of No. 1 and No. 2 rankings for each of the measures:
Gross domestic product (1)
Profit growth (1)
S&P 500 performance (2)
Consumer credit (1)
Non-farm payrolls (2)
Manufacturing jobs (2)
Business productivity (2)
Dollar appreciation (2)
S&P 500 relative performance (2)
Per capita disposable income, which rose 1.08% this year, is the only comparable weakness for Biden, trailing Donald Trump’s 2.17%, George W. Bush’s 2.01%, Jimmy Carter’s 1.80% and Ronald Reagan’s 1.42%.
GDP growth in every incoming administration during the past four decades never exceeded 2.74% until 2021. Biden is now positioned to surpass Carter (5.01%) as the GDP champion of presidents since 1976. Much of the credit goes to The American Rescue Plan, which poured $66 billion into 36 million households and reduced the child poverty rate by 50%, helping the U.S. recover faster from the pandemic than most other nations.
The level of disposable personal income is a notable and critical national deficiency in an otherwise strong performance. Whitewater knows this well, as this city has been and remains a low-income community. There is no better measure of a society’s general prosperity than individual and household income.
While some of us have done well even through a Great Recession, opioid crisis, pandemic, and pandemic recession, it matters more that many of us are doing well than that a few of us have done well. (I have no personal concerns, so to speak; Whitewater has community concerns. Those community concerns cannot be met through boosterism or delusional positivity.)
Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 14. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:37 PM for 9h 11m 55s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 18.7% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets at 6 PM, and the Whitewater Fire Department holds a board and membership meeting at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1914, the Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and minimum daily wage of $5 in salary plus bonuses.
Four of six Wisconsin men charged in attack on nation’s Capitol have pleaded guilty to lesser charges, while two others’ cases are still moving through the court system.
One year after the attack on the US Capitol, four out of the six Wisconsinites charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection have taken plea deals, while the remaining two suspects’ cases are still underway.
Kevin Loftus of Eau Claire, Abram Markofski of La Crosse, David Charles Mish Jr. of West Allis, and Brandon Nelson of Madison had all faced charges of entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, and violent entry or disorderly conduct, but ended up pleading guilty to the lesser charge of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
Markofski and Nelson were each sentenced to 24 months of probation and $1,500 in fines and restitution. Charles received 30 days incarceration and a $500 restitution charge. Loftus’ sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 31.
The two remaining suspects’—Michael Fitzgerald of Janesville and Joshua Munn of Melrose—cases are still underway.
Fitzgerald faces the more serious charge of obstructing a law enforcement officer during civil disorder, as well as knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. He pleaded not guilty to all charges on May 5, 2021.
In the months since the attack, the overall divide in Congress between how Democrats and Republicans have responded to — and publicly remembered — these events has grown.
Every GOP lawmaker from Wisconsin opposed impeaching President Donald Trump over the events of Jan. 6, and every one opposed the creation of a bipartisan commission to look into the attack. Every Wisconsin Democrat supported both steps.
These Wisconsin men now join a line of domestic adversaries of America’s foundational principles: Tory sympathizers, Know Nothings, Confederates, Copperheads, Klansmen, and members of the Bund.
Tuesday, January 11th at 1 PM, there will be a showing of The French Dispatch @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Comedy/Drama/Romance
1 hour, 47 minutes
Rated R (nudity, language) (2021)
This homage to American journalism tells the tale of a Kansas-based newspaper located in a fictional French town, as it attempts to publish its final edition. It is told in three madcap storylines, enlisting a cast of International film stars, including Adrien Brody, Tilda Swindon, Frances McDormand, Timothee’ Chalamet, Owen Wilson, Henry Winkler, Willem Dafoe, Ed Norton, and Bill Murray. Written and directed by Wes Anderson.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 18. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:36 PM for 9h 10m 45s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 10.6% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1914, the Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and minimum daily wage of $5 in salary plus bonuses.
There are two ways you can learn that sticking your head in a campfire will hurt you. One is that you can be told that doing so will, at a minimum, catch your hair on fire and, more likely, cause extensive burns that will almost certainly demand medical attention. The other way you can learn this is by sticking your head in a campfire.
In both cases, you get to the same point: You have learned that this is a bad idea. You have been immunized against sticking your head into fires in the future, if you will — your body will now be resistant to doing so. But you got to that point through two very, very different paths. Perhaps in one you simply got part of your hair scorched off. Isn’t it still the case that simply having someone explain the dangers to you would have been better than taking that risk at all?
I introduce this analogy to immunize you against the mind-bogglingly weird anti-vaccine argument offered by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) in a recent radio interview, an argument so obviously flawed that I literally and involuntarily slapped my forehead when I heard it.
He began by describing his own coronavirus infection: He had it, he said, but without symptoms. “How do you explain that?” he asked in a mocking tone, as though he had single-handedly rebutted every medical expert with his unique anecdotal experience. As though Anthony S. Fauci scrambled to call together his team to evaluate this new evidence. The answer, of course, is that this can be explained by the fact that a large number of coronavirus infections are asymptomatic — so many, in fact, that I can spell “asymptomatic” without typos on the first try. Johnson isn’t a medical miracle. He’s just one of the lucky ones.
“Why do we assume that the body’s natural immune system isn’t the marvel that it is?” Johnson then continued. “Why do we think that we can create something better than God in terms of combating disease? There are certain things we have to do, but we have just made so many assumptions, and it’s all pointed toward everybody getting a vaccine.”
Let’s translate this into our campfire analogy. Johnson stuck his head into a campfire but, through unusual good luck, emerged with no visible damage at all. And his response is to say that the best way for people to learn about what can happen when you stick your head in a campfire is to stick their heads in campfires — and that to instead warn them about doing so is an affront to God.
….
Vaccination, as has been repeatedly demonstrated, lessens the likelihood of severe illness from a coronavirus infection. Even with the emergence of the omicron variant, it’s the unvaccinated who are more likely to be hospitalized. From June to November, the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 163,000 covid-19 deaths could have been prevented had those who died simply been vaccinated.
That, of course, was the unstated other negative outcome of my campfire analogy. Sometimes you stick your head in a campfire and you don’t gain immunity against doing so in the future, because you are dead. The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 825,000 people, all of whom were not as lucky with their infections as was Johnson.
If Johnson believes what he says, he’s a dunce. Perhaps, instead, he simply hopes those who listen to him are dunces. Either way, one can guess that Johnson is enjoying the frisson that likely comes to him from each absurd statement.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 30. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:35 PM for 9h 09m 40s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 4.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1923, Milton College president A.E. Whitford bans dancing by students in off-campus, semi-public places such as confectionery stores.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — In a case that exposed Silicon Valley’s culture of hubris and hype, Elizabeth Holmes was convicted Monday of duping investors into believing her startup Theranos had developed a revolutionary medical device that could detect a multitude of diseases and conditions from a few drops of blood.
A jury convicted Holmes, who was CEO throughout the company’s turbulent 15-year history, on two counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud after seven days of deliberation. The 37-year-old was acquitted on four other counts of fraud and conspiracy that alleged she deceived patients who paid for Theranos blood tests, too.
The verdict came after the eight men and four women on the jury spent three months sitting through a complex trial that featured reams of evidence and 32 witnesses — including Holmes herself. She now faces up to 20 years in prison for each count, although legal experts say she is unlikely to receive the maximum sentence.
The jury deadlocked on three remaining charges, which a federal judge anticipates dismissing as part of a mistrial ruling that could come as early as next week. The split verdicts are “a mixed bag for the prosecution, but it’s a loss for Elizabeth Holmes because she is going away to prison for at least a few years,” said David Ring, a lawyer who has followed the case closely.
How many of the factors that enabled Theranos to raise hundreds of millions of dollars without a workable technology have changed?
None. Investors are still looking for the next big thing, still looking for places to park their millions, still susceptible to superficially persuasive pitches by self-assured confidence schemers, still fearful of being left by the wayside as others pile in.
That’s human nature. The only difference is that the numbers next to the dollar signs are bigger.
Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 18. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:34 PM for 9h 08m 38s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 0.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
In short, the Republic faces an existential threat from a movement that is openly contemptuous of democracy and has shown that it is willing to use violence to achieve its ends. No self-governing society can survive such a threat by denying that it exists. Rather, survival depends on looking back and forward at the same time.
….
Whatever happens in Washington, in the months and years to come, Americans of all stripes who value their self-government must mobilize at every level — not simply once every four years but today and tomorrow and the next day — to win elections and help protect the basic functions of democracy. If people who believe in conspiracy theories can win, so can those who live in the reality-based world.
Above all, we should stop underestimating the threat facing the country. Countless times over the past six years, up to and including the events of Jan. 6, Mr. Trump and his allies openly projected their intent to do something outrageous or illegal or destructive. Every time, the common response was that they weren’t serious or that they would never succeed. How many times will we have to be proved wrong before we take it seriously? The sooner we do, the sooner we might hope to salvage a democracy that is in grave danger.
Successful candidates for office in Whitewater take an oath to defend the constitution and laws of the United States. Some who have taken this oath and now hold office, and some who seek to hold office and would be required to take the oath, have and do support the forces of insurrection. For this ilk, they lied from the moment they recited the oath, or they will smilingly lie if they should one day take this oath.
No one in Whitewater dares ask them about their dishonesty. These candidates receive or will receive questions about a hundred smaller matters before a single plain question about the constitutional affirmation they are required to make.
At a candidates’ forum, the sponsoring representatives will dare not ask plainly and specifically about this oath to the constitutional order that each and every officeholder must take. If by some accident they were to ask about the oath, they will do so in a way that allows candidates’ evasion, and there will be no follow-up.
Local office that is built upon mendacity in’t public service — it’s mere self-service.
Sunday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 16. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:33 PM for 9h 07m 41s of daytime. The moon is new with none of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1777, American forces under the command of George Washington repulse a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey.
President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to speak on Thursday [they did speak], in preparation for Jan. 10 talks, convened to address Putin’s demand for “security guarantees” that aims to stymie NATO’s ability to carry out its functions in Europe. Moscow’s elite diplomats and talking heads are openly discussing Russia’s goals and strategies. Arguing for America’s total capitulation, with the Kremlin allegedly planning to offer no concessions or guarantees, Russian experts propose a plan to make such an outcome acceptable to the general public in the U.S. by waging an aggressive international info-campaign.
Russia’s state TV propagandists express their delight in seemingly having the likes of Tucker Carlson in their corner, praising his coverage as the prime example of Russia’s successful influence operations abroad. Carlson’s talking points often sound identical to those pushed by the Kremlin’s propagandists—or by Putin himself.
During one of his broadcasts on Fox News in December, Carlson argued that “NATO exists primarily to torment Vladimir Putin.” He worried about the possibility of “a NATO takeover of Ukraine,” and described the 2014 Maidan Revolution as a U.S.-organized “coup in Ukraine.” He also baselessly accused Joe Biden of fomenting “a hot war with Russia.” The very next day, translated quotes from Tucker Carlson’s show were widely broadcast on Russia’s state television. After watching Carlson’s remarks during the live taping of 60 Minutes, Igor Korotchenko, member of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Public Council and editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine said: “Excellent performance, with which we can only express solidarity.”
So many of the fans of Fox News fly the Red, White, and Blue from their homes, but they’d be more honest with themselves and their neighbors if they chose a banner of white, blue, and red:
New Year’s Day in Whitewater will be snowy with a high of 21. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:32 PM for 9h 06m 48s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 2% of its visible disk illuminated.
Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 34. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:31 PM for 9h 05m 58s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 6.6% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1879, Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
By one metric, an explosive two years of recall attempts against school board members in multiple Wisconsin districts have failed: None of the 36 targeted members were unseated by special elections.
But recall organizers suggest that metric does not concern them. They’re thinking bigger.
Already, many school board members have resigned after being threatened with recalls. Others are feeling burned out by the relentless vitriol. And the coalitions that sprung up to organize the recalls are not letting up; they’re adapting.
….
For as many community members as signed on to recalls in Wisconsin, more of them resisted. Some agreed with recall organizers on the issues but felt recalls were unduly expensive and inappropriate. Many others stood by their school board members’ decisions for being in line with public health guidance and the best available research on the emerging virus.
Voters also said they worried about efforts to erase the role of racism from U.S. history, seeing the approach as weakening students’ education and dangerous for the future. They also worried the groundswell to narrow curricula and limit access to books would further marginalize students who already lack representation.
Further, while the leaders of school board recall elections in Wisconsin came from the communities they organized in, out-of-state influences have been abundant.
While organizers insist on the grassroots nature of their efforts, others have questioned the role of outside funders and networks, depicting the local groups as being closer to “Astroturf” — a term referring to groups whose roots are not in fact local but made to appear that way by outside organizers.
Kleefisch’s political action committee made a Whitewater candidate endorsement in April, and later spent much of the fall fighting (but losing) a destructive battle in the Mequon-Thiensville School District. Kleefisch will cause as much trouble as she feels she needs to cause to advance her own gubernatorial candidacy. She has, however, nothing to offer Whitewater except a horror-reel of distractions, exaggerations, and prevarications.
But if these extreme populists are destructive, then what of the conventional reply to them? It has been wasteful and tame. No one improves education for the many with astroturf for the few. No one advances education by pretending what they did is not what they did. No one solves educational problems by implementing a policy of ‘positivity’ on social media.
Those who have received a formal education should show, through their actions each day, a respect for inquiry and evidence. It does not require any formal schooling — whether high school, undergraduate, graduate, or professional — merely to assert that all is well.
As one can guess, this libertarian blogger would not have been a supporter of Roosevelt’s New Deal economics. I am, however, much an admirer of the candor with which the New Dealers described the economic conditions they faced. They were right to describe the Depression fully. In their stark accounts, they showed respect for their fellow Americans. SeeWhat the New Dealers Got Right – What Whitewater’s Local Notables Got Wrong. For this, one sees, and rightly appreciates, Roosevelt’s greatness.
Whitewater will overcome her educational challenges not through good appearances but rather through good deeds.
Good deeds, however, often (and for this community do) require firm positions and hard choices. Whitewater deserves nothing less.
Thursday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 34. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:30 PM for 9h 05m 13s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 14.2% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1916, Russian mystic and advisor to the Tsar Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin is murdered by a loyalist group led by Prince Felix Yusupov. His frozen, partially-trussed body was discovered in a Moscow river three days later.
Rasputin’s life later formed the basis of a historically inaccurate, but catchy, tune by Boney M. (“Ra ra Rasputin Lover of the Russian queen/There was a cat that really was gone/Ra ra Rasputin/Russia’s greatest love machine/It was a shame how he carried on.” Caution: earworm in 3, 2, 1…)
Of four perspectives on the Whitewater School District, one starts sensibly with the condition of the district now. A single report will not capture all, but a carefully-crafted report may capture enough.) The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s district report cards are a sound discussion starter. They assess through multiple academic and socio-economic measures, having been developed over time, without a pecuniary motivation.
Discussion of the state’s district report cards should be a carefully-considered starting point for academic performance. It’s not something to skip over. One would expect a physician to be able to interpret an x-ray, or a lawyer to understand a judicial opinion. There might, of course, be varying professional interpretations of x-rays or judicial decisions, but at the least, a professional should be taking them into account.
The same is true with faculty, principals, administrators, and superintendents: if they’ll not start with consideration of fundamental reports, they’ll end well only by chance. And no one, at least no one sensible, hires a professional to end well merely by chance.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 29. Sunrise is 7:25 AM and sunset 4:29 PM for 9h 04m 32s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 23.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
(Notably, Mequon-Thiensville is a successful, affluent district where the conflict was between kinds of conservatives. The more traditional conservatives found the populist ones objectionable, and the community sided decisively in favor of the traditionalists. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction report cards for Mequon-Thiensville show how different it is from Whitewater in socio-economic status and academic accomplishment. Successful, vibrant communities find conservative populism — Trumpism, truly — a dead end.)
Before whatever battles ahead begin, it’s worth distinguishing between four perspectives on education: the district as it is now, a school board race as it unfolds, the district after a spring election, and education through lifelong learning apart from formal schooling within the district.
If one simply thinks about the district, nothing is more significant than the condition of that institution now. For many students, they are well into their tenure — how has it gone for them?
If one thinks about the district during a campaign, then one will see that no candidate, no board member, no principal, and no superintendent will matter half so much as a single student. Likewise, no claim, no press release, no photograph will matter half so much as a single student. In a properly-ordered community, this should, and so would, be plain. And so, and so, one would think less about candidates, so to speak, and more about the principles and positions of a candidacy. These candidates and board members are not going to spend all day in our schools; our children are going to spend all day in our schools. How are they to be taught, and how are they to be treated?
If one thinks about the district’s condition after a campaign, there will be ongoing work requiring a student-directed faculty, principals, and superintendent. Ongoing work is expensive, and this administration (here sometimes called ‘Central Office’) has, to put it mildly, done itself no favors in laying the groundwork for ongoing community support. On the contrary, efforts at boosterism and promotion of a popular image have made long-term prospects worse.
Note well: administrators come and go; shake a tree and a few more will fall out. Our community’s children and their parents, however, are not similarly replaceable (nor should they be seen that way). They did not arrive yesterday, and they will not be leaving tomorrow. Whitewater is not a job for these students and parents — it’s home.
Finally, the fourth perspective is the most important of all: learning begins before and endures after formal education. Bluntly stated: ‘WUSD supporters’ matter less than supporters of education, supporters of lifelong learning. Those who think more about an institution than what it teaches — substantively and ethically — value education too cheaply.
