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15th Senate District, Agriculture, Daily Bread, Dairy, Economy, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 10.3.26: Ruining Dairy After Ruining So Much Else

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 66. Sunrise is 6:54 and sunset is 6:32 for 11 hours 38 minutes of daylight. The moon is in its last quarter with 50.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater Pride holds its 6th annual Pride Fest today from 10 AM to 3 PM at Cravath Lakefront.

On this day in 1990, the German Democratic Republic is abolished and becomes part of the Federal Republic of Germany. The event is afterwards celebrated as German Unity Day.

Wisconsin has a proud tradition of agriculture, and dairy is the very center of that tradition. Some number of dairy producers have supported Donald Trump in each of his campaigns. That support is now unrequited:

IN HIS OTHERWISE INEXPLICABLE trade war with Canada, U.S. dairy was supposed to be the one industry President Donald Trump was actually helping.

He frequently namechecks the sector in his social media posts and interviews about Canada, citing it as evidence that our polite northern neighbors are really a bunch of dirty cheats. Sometimes, Trump complains that Canadian dairy tariffs on the United States are 250 percent; sometimes, according to Trump, they’re 400 percent.

And look, it’s true that dairy trade has been a source of friction between the two countries over the years. Trump’s response to that friction, however, has been to tariff, bully, and ban his way to prosperity. To which American dairy farmers are now saying: Please, stop helping.

[…]

“The notion that for dairy, Canada is a problem to the U.S. is a joke, in my opinion,” said Pete Hardin, the editor of Wisconsin-based dairy publication the Milkweed, which he’s been publishing for forty-seven years. “Canada’s dairy industry is perhaps 10 percent or less of our total milk production.”

[…]

“Canada has taken advantage of us for so many years. The worst of any country,” Trump ranted this week, while wandering off-script at a Hispanic Heritage Month event. “They act like they’re totally innocent. They’re not. They were very bad. But now they’re being taught a little lesson.”

This “little lesson” has been felt on both sides of the border, given our integrated economies. Trump’s saber-rattling and tariffs have been met with counter-tariffs by Canada, including a 25 percent tariff on U.S.-sourced cheese that began last month.

This has already delivered a huge blow to the U.S. dairy sector, particularly in Wisconsin, which produces most of the cheese exported to Canada. Hardin said he’s spoken in the past three weeks with two Wisconsin cheese-plant owners, each of whom said they had large orders set to go to Canada that have been canceled.

See Catherine Rampell, Who Cut The Cheese? Trump Did (“The dairy industry was supposed to be the one sector that benefited from Trump’s trade war”), The Bulwark, October 1, 2026.

I’d recommend Rampell’s post in full — it’s both economically insightful and cleverly crafted.

Now, for Whitewater: it’s possible to be a candidate for Wisconsin Senate District 15, even a WISGOP candidate for that district, and even a WISGOP candidate for that district whose few supporters place the candidate’s signs along Main Street.

It is not possible, however, for that same WISGOP candidate to claim credibly that he’ll “ensure agriculture remains the backbone of our rural economy.” That candidate’s party, and the octogenarian billionaire who leads it, are bringing only loss to Wisconsin’s and America’s economies.

No thank you.

October 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA:

Saturn takes center stage, a meteor shower lights up the sky, and the Moon visits the Seven Sisters. On October 4, Saturn reaches opposition, giving skywatchers one of the year’s best opportunities to see the ringed planet. In addition, learn about a 10-sided atmospheric wave encircling Saturn’s south pole that was recently revealed by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The Orionid meteor shower peaks October 21-22. Debris from Halley’s Comet produces the meteors, but this year, a bright Moon will obscure some of the fainter streaks. The best viewing chances will likely be the hours before dawn, after the Moon sets. Then, on October 27-28, look east in the evening for the Moon passing close to the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters. The star cluster is visible to the unaided eye and even more spectacular through binoculars.

Congress, Daily Bread, Mendacity, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 10.2.26: The All-Too-Predictable Congressman Derrick Van Orden

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 64. Sunrise is 6:53 and sunset is 6:34 for 11 hours 41 minutes of daylight. The moon is a waning gibbous with 62.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1919, seven days after suffering a “physical collapse” following a speech in Pueblo, Colorado, President Wilson has a catastrophic stroke at the White House, leaving him physically and mentally incapacitated for the remainder of his presidency.

Less than a week ago, on Sunday, this libertarian blogger paid Congressman Derrick Van Orden the one compliment of which he is truly deserving: “Extreme populism isn’t Van Orden’s brand (whatever that overused term might mean), it’s his very nature. The one position that Van Orden gets right is to be true to that nature…”

And so Van Orden has been true to that nature, most recently by using deepfake videos to distort the words of his opponent, Rebecca Cooke:

Attorneys for congressional candidate Rebecca Cooke have sent a cease-and-desist letter to U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R- Prairie du Chien, over Van Orden’s use of deepfake videos. 

Cooke, a Democrat, is challenging Van Orden this November in a closely-watched race for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional district.

Van Orden has repeatedly used artificial intelligence to post videos to his X account, showing Cooke saying things she never said.

See Sarah Lehr, Cooke campaign sends cease-and-desist to Congressman Van Orden over AI deepfakes, Wisconsin Public Radio, October 1, 2026.

It’s not necessary to reach the question of whether Van Orden’s distorted videos are defamatory to settle on the conclusion that these videos, like the rest of his campaign, rest on lies and frauds. In this, Van Orden is, again, true to the man he so obediently follows.

I’ll leave aside the question of why Van Orden or his campaign seems to have a familiarity with deepfakes…

Record diesel prices could raise the cost of almost everything you buy:

Record-high diesel prices could push up the cost of food, deliveries and other goods while adding to inflationary pressures.

City, Culture, Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 10.1.26: Iced Coffee at an Interview Is About More than Iced Coffee at an Interview

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will again be rainy with a high of 67. There’s life and beauty in the rain. Sunrise is 6:52 and sunset is 6:36 for 11 hours 44 minutes of daylight. The moon is a waning gibbous with 72.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1903, the Boston Americans play the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game of the modern World Series. (Boston upsets Pittsburgh five games to three, winning with pitching depth behind Cy Young and Bill Dinneen.)

A recruiter, posting on TikTok, has sparked a national debate in this time of many debates: Should a job candidate bring an iced coffee to an interview? Well. As a question of practicality, the simplest solution for a job-seeker would be to adapt his or her conduct to the interviewer’s expectations. (That is, adapting ordinary, trivial conduct, not principles or truthfulness.)

If the question about iced coffee were, however, merely about adapting ordinary, trivial conduct to a single interview, then discussion of it would not have become so widespread so quickly. It is at bottom a question about cultural expectations between generations, isn’t it?

For myself, if interviewing someone for a position, I would not mind at all if someone brought iced coffee to an interview. In this, my views would be like those of Gov. Pritzker of Illinois:

Yes, indeed. In these or any other times — but certainly in these turbulent times — it’s hard to imagine drawing the line at iced coffee. (Coffee, by the way, is a catalyst for American productivity. That delicious beverage has helped many people and institutions begin the day energetically. Hot or iced, it’s very much part of our society.)

There are cultural conflicts between generations even now over interview drinks, ink, piercings, or a dozen other matters like that. There is not one of those differences that should matter as against a candidate’s abilities and possibilities. On the contrary, trying to inhibit diverse, innocuous cultural differences between one generation and a succeeding one is at best conceited, and at worst oppressive.

Consider markets, broadly and properly working: free and mutually advantageous encounters or transactions between people. Each person comes forward as an individual, and part of that individuality should be freedom of style and presentation (because style and presentation are far more than superficial).

(A quick reminder, however: When someone intentionally tries to adopt a style, especially an older and established person, he should be expected to achieve the look at which he’s aiming. Trump, for example, despite being an octogenarian billionaire, has never managed to dress himself properly for the very style at which he’s aiming. Yet more important: Enough About Trump’s Looks. His Presidency Is Ugly.)

Iced coffee at an interview is about more than iced coffee at an interview — it’s about cultural orthodoxy imposed from one generation onto another.

Much — too much — of the local debate about policy changes in Whitewater seems similarly rooted in a desire to freeze the city in amber, to the benefit of an aging, controlling faction. Part of this desire is a transparent effort to maintain a landlords’ economic oligopoly that treats student renters as a disposable commodity while being indifferent to graduating students’ (or others’) hopes to remain residents or settle here.

Another part of it is simply an aged generation that believes ‘this is the way we talk around here,’ ‘this is our tradition,’ and ‘this is how you do it,’ etc. Whitewater always deserved more than subservience to yesterday’s men, a silly faction of pedigree pushers and bloodline boosters. Old Whitewater — what’s left of it — has had no higher principle than insisting that the best course of action is to do whatever Old Whitewater thinks best. We are not the only town with a version of this problem.

(Note well: This libertarian blogger doesn’t find these types insulting. I find them ludicrous.)

Imposing a standard for culture and style from one generation to another stifles innovation, creativity, and personal liberty. Almost as bad, this imposition reveals an older generation as too weak or too selfish to adapt within a dynamic society. So inflexible, so rigid, that they cannot engage with others while recognizing the fundamental individuality and equality of others.

If someone wants to bring iced coffee, fine. If someone else in the room doesn’t want iced coffee, fine. None of that should stand in the way of a productive and mutually beneficial conversation.

For those so inclined, here’s a recipe for eiskaffee to try. Enjoy.

Swiss glaciers lose more than 5% of ice:

Swiss glaciers are shrinking rapidly after suffering one of their worst years of ice loss during a record-breaking European heatwave. The glaciers lost more than 5% of their ice in 2026, a report showed.

Daily Bread, Economics, Economy, Tariffs, Trade, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 9.30.26: The Self-Destructive Economic War with Canada

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 67. Sunrise is 6:51 and sunset is 6:37 for 11 hours 46 minutes of daylight. The moon is a waning gibbous with 81.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1939, NBC broadcasts the first televised football game:

The 1939 Waynesburg vs. Fordham football game was a college football game between the Fordham Rams and the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets played on September 30, 1939. The game was played at Triborough Stadium on New York City’s Randall’s Island. Fordham won the game 34–7….NBC broadcast the game on station W2XBS with one camera and Bill Stern was the sole announcer. Estimates are that the broadcast reached approximately 1,000 television sets.

Wisconsin’s economy depends heavily on trade with Canada. See Wis. Econ. Dev. Corp., Wisconsin Export Data (over $7 billion in exports in 2025, Wisconsin’s leading export destination), John Miller on How the US-Canada Trade War Affects Wisconsin, PBS Wisconsin., Here & Now, August 28, 2026, and Bus. Roundtable, Wisconsin Depends on Trade with Canada and Mexico 1 (2025).

Canada buys over one-quarter of Wisconsin’s exports and supplies vital imports. Selling to Canada, and importing what we need from Canada, supports Wisconsin jobs and promotes prosperity.

And yet, and yet, a destructive trade war with Canada now escalates into an outright ban on many Canadian imports. Where tariffs self-destructively increase costs, a ban denies goods outright, leaving importers to pay more elsewhere or, worse, go without what they need. See Jenni Reid, America’s Canadian import restrictions come into force. Here are the products barred from entry, CNBC, September 29, 2026.

There are many severe grievances against this federal administration: nativism, bigotry, corruption, violence at home, war abroad, the pardoning of unrepentant criminals, attacks on voting rights, use of federal power to suppress lawful dissent, the destruction of public property, and placing liars and layabouts in the highest positions of authority. No list could be complete — there is not enough ink in all the world to keep one’s pen filled.

After all these many offenses against our own people, a tariff man yet brings another to our small Midwestern state: a conflict with a peaceful nation on which our own prosperity depends. This libertarian blogger often wonders: Is there nothing this senescent autocrat would not ruin?

In the video below, Catherine Rampell and Sam Stein of The Bulwark explain that Trump’s War With Canada Has Officially Lost the Plot:

Catherine Rampell and Sam Stein bring the receipts on Trump’s increasingly baffling fight with Canada, his latest promise of $5,000 checks and the ugly polling behind it, and his move to weaken fuel-efficiency standards while gas prices are sky-high.

Astonishing, truly — there are people who have lived their whole lives without a public mistake like Sen. Eric Schmitt’s — Senator’s Accusation Against Jack Smith Falls Apart:

Senator Eric Schmitt, a Republican eager to prove that Jack Smith, the special counsel who investigated Donald Trump, was dishonest, appeared to instead demonstrate his own confusion over basic facts.

Authoritarian Populism, Daily Bread, Gerrymandering, Legislature, Never Trump, Speaker Vos, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 9.29.26: Robin Vos Leaves Office Weak and Confused

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 75. Sunrise is 6:50 and sunset is 6:39 for 11 hours 49 minutes of daylight. The moon is a waning gibbous with 89.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1918, Germany’s Supreme Army Command tells Kaiser Wilhelm II to open negotiations for an armistice to end the war.

For nearly fourteen years, on the foundation of an extreme gerrymander, Robin Vos has been speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly. He’s retiring this year. In remarks to the New York Times, Vos shows — even now — how little he understands about our politics, and reveals how diffident he is when discussing what little he does understand:

Robin Vos, the Republican speaker of the State Assembly whose power was once immense and who now plans to retire at year’s end, said 2026 always loomed as a challenging midterm election. President Trump is “a drag,” Mr. Vos said, adding that “some of the ways that he operates, not the policies per se, turn people off.”

See David Chen, With a Gerrymander Vanquished, Wisconsin Democrats Aim for Control (‘The swing state of Wisconsin had one of the most undemocratic State Assembly maps in the country. Now Democrats have a chance to take control of the legislature’), New York Times, September 7, 2026.

It’s not certain that Democrats will take the Legislature; it’s indubitable that Vos can’t bring himself to describe our politics clearly.

Of Trump, for those who see him clearly in support or opposition, “the ways he operates” are enmeshed in the “policies per se.” (‘Per se’: Vos threw in a bit of Latin where English, a beautiful and expressive language, would have done just fine.) Vos wants to make a distinction — using my way of describing Trump — between that man’s many vulgarities and his many vices.

Vos’s distinction doesn’t impress: an ignorant nativist with a fondness for cheap trinkets is still essentially an ignorant nativist. Trump’s tariffs and his wars would be wrong even if, against all likelihood, Trump somehow learned to knot a tie, otherwise dress himself properly, or listen to others without interrupting. Politesse is not Trump’s true failing. Authoritarian populism is Trump’s indelible and ineradicable sin.

This is why Representative Derrick Van Orden’s complete embrace of Trump has the advantage over Speaker Vos’s unavailing distinctions: Van Orden acknowledges openly and candidly that he, Van Orden, espouses what everyone can see he espouses.

Vos has made himself tall only on gerrymandered stilts. And yet, and yet, there’s probably someone in Whitewater who looks up to Vos. We are a town of sixteen thousand — there must, sadly, be among us one or two jackasses. Those one or two might even have spoken to Vos now and again: “Oh, look, happy day, it’s a call from Robin!” Admiration for Vos is evidence that one doesn’t understand the proper objects of admiration.

(I cannot, truly, imagine why any normal person would look forward to a call from Robin Vos. A call from Robin Wright, most assuredly; a call from Vos, not at all.)

Vos leaves office weak and confused, unable or unwilling to admit his destructive embrace of extreme populism in our politics.

Now bears want food from farmers’ markets:

A hungry bear caused a stir at an Aspen, Colorado, farmers’ market on September 26, after wandering through the stalls to snack on baked goods. Captured on video by bystander Staci Egloff, the animal bypassed the crowd to feast on breads and pastries before climbing a nearby tree, where it eventually fell asleep.

Daily Bread, Education, School District

Daily Bread for 9.28.26: The Whitewater Schools’ Referendum Presentations

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 72. Sunrise is 6:49 and sunset is 6:41 for 11 hours 52 minutes of daylight. The moon is a waning gibbous with 95.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater School Board meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1781, American and French forces backed by a French fleet begin the siege of Yorktown.

The Whitewater School District has an operational referendum on the November ballot. They’ve a list of answers to presumed questions, but this description from the district website summarizes the referendum request:

On Tuesday, November 3, 2026, voters in our community will decide whether to approve a proposed four-year, non-recurring operational referendum to support our educational programs, services, staff, and other day-to-day operating expenses.

If approved, the referendum would allow WUSD to exceed its state-imposed revenue limit by $5.5 million annually for four years, beginning in the 2027-28 school year and ending after the 2030-31 school year.

The funding would replace the district’s current four-year, non-recurring operational referendum, which voters approved in 2022 and that’s scheduled to expire at the end of the 2026-27 school year. The proposed referendum would be $1.1 million over the current amount.

(Emphasis in original.)

The district will hold a series of information sessions on the referendum at the Whitewater Public Library:

We invite our community to take part in an informational meeting, where you can learn more about the district’s needs and proposed solution. You can also ask questions and provide feedback.

All sessions will be held at the Whitewater Public Library (431 W Center St, Whitewater). See below for dates, times, and locations:

Thursday, October 1 at 6:30 p.m. | Meeting Room 2
Thursday, October 8 at 1:00 p.m. | Meeting Room 2
Friday, October 9 at 9:30 a.m. | Meeting Room 2
Friday, October 9 at 1:00 p.m. | Meeting Room 2
Monday, October 12 at 9:30 a.m. | Meeting Room 1
Tuesday, October 13 at 6:30 p.m. | Meeting Room 2

These sessions extend over nearly two weeks’ time. The reasonable course is to watch them unfold without comment beforehand. It is enough for now — more than enough, truly — to watch the interaction between residents and district representatives.

Nor’easter uncovers century-old shipwreck in Massachusetts:

Nor’easter uncovers century-old shipwreck in Massachusetts.

Congress, Daily Bread, Never Trump, Trump, Trumpism, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 9.27.26: The One Position GOP Congressman Derrick Van Orden Gets Right

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 69. Sunrise is 6:47 and sunset is 6:43 for 11 hours 56 minutes of daylight. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1940, representatives of Germany, Japan, and Italy sign the Tripartite Pact in Berlin.

Over in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, Rep. Derrick Van Orden finds himself in a competitive race against challenger Rebecca Cooke. Cooke is, by any measure, the better candidate. Van Orden has backed Trumpism dutifully, indeed servilely, during his time in Congress. Extreme populism isn’t Van Orden’s brand (whatever that overused term might mean), it’s his very nature.

The one position that Van Orden gets right is to be true to that nature:

RAJU: Only 33% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling his job. Is he a drag in your district? VAN ORDEN: I am fully supportive of President Trump. And if that's not popular, that's just the way it is

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) September 27, 2026 at 7:52 AM

Van Orden at last finds one truth to which he can cling: that he was, is, and always will be an adherent of this objectionable man and that man’s objectionable ideology.

In this, and this alone, a Never Trump libertarian can come close to respecting Van Orden. No point in pretending that a leopard changes its spots; no point in even pretending to pretend.

Mortgage Rates Hit 7%. What’s Next for the Housing Market?:

WSJ’s Nicholas Miller explains in three charts whether 7 percent mortgage rates will become the new normal in the housing market.

Artificial Intelligence, Business, Daily Bread, Economy, Technology

Daily Bread for 9.26.26: No One Should Be Too Big to Fail

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 69. Sunrise is 6:46 and sunset is 6:44 for 11 hours 58 minutes of daylight. The moon will be full today with all of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1960, in Chicago, the first televised debate takes place between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy.

This libertarian blogger will not suggest all the possible dangers of using large language models for artificial intelligence, as I do not know all those possible dangers. Nor will I suggest all the possible benefits, as I do not know all those possible benefits.

Instead, there is a sound proposition on which this advocate of markets will confidently stand: no business and no industry should be too big to fail. Bethany McLean, writing in the New York Times, sensibly advances this position:

It was about a year ago that Sarah Friar, the chief financial officer of OpenAI, said one way the company might sustain its current financial high-wire act was with a “backstop” or “guarantee” — as in, a government guarantee — “that allows the financing to happen.” Almost at the same time, Sam Altman, the company’s chief executive, said, “Given the magnitude of what I expect A.I.’s economic impact to look like,” the government should serve the role of “insurer of last resort.” They qualified those comments, but still, the gist seemed to be that the industry The Wall Street Journal calls “the biggest economic bet in U.S. history” is so important to the nation that if it needs more funding, taxpayers should be on the hook.

Another way to put it is that the government should regard artificial intelligence the same way it regarded the banks in the 2008 financial crisis: too big to fail.

[…]

The A.I. boom is far larger than the boom in subprime mortgages that set off the 2008 crisis. A.I.-related spending accounts for about half the growth in the U.S. gross domestic product, by some estimates. The vast majority of the $33 trillion in market value the S&P 500 has gained since late 2022 has come from spending linked to A.I. companies.

[…]

This technology may be critical to the future of the United States, but preserving it doesn’t mean we have to bail out the private entities that are leading the field at this particular moment, nor does it mean we have to protect the fortunes of their investors and executives. The solution to the whole ever-expanding A.I. terror starts with remembering the lessons of the 2008 crisis: No company should be too big to fail.

See Bethany McLean, What Happens if the A.I. Bubble Bursts, New York Times, September 26, 2026.

There’s discussion that the A.I. boom may unfold as did the railroad boom of the nineteenth century: an important industry in which some investors went bust, to their detriment and temporarily for the economy. See John Cassidy, Lessons from the Original Tech Bubble, New Yorker, June 15, 2026 and Adrian Wooldridge, AI’s Future May Be Written in Railroads’ Past, Bloomberg, December 5, 2025.

It would be better if no one went bust, but worse if large investors were bailed out for their improvident choices. Giving large investors the confidence that they’ll be supported at public expense regardless of their poor choices only encourages them to make poor choices with fewer personal consequences. Presumed protection creates the moral hazard of encouraging investors into riskier ventures with less risk to themselves.

I’m not sure what will happen with major investments in artificial intelligence; I’m quite certain what shouldn’t happen.

See also Is the AI boom anything like the 19th-century railway boom?:

What are the potential benefits of ‘bubbles’ to society? Every now and then a new technology comes along that changes everything – electricity, computers, potentially AI. In mid-19th-century America, that technology was the steam locomotive. While it drove the nation’s industrialization during the Gilded Age, it also caused one of the biggest financial crises in American history. FT Alphaville editor Robin Wigglesworth tells his co-host, FT columnist Gillian Tett, the story of the great railway bubble that ended in the Panic of 1873 and the lessons for the investors gambling on today’s AI boom.

Note: In the video above, Financial Times editor Robin Wigglesworth questions whether society needs large data centers to create ‘fake videos of cats.’ He’s right — we do not need large data centers to create fake videos of cats. We could, however, stand to have a more modest infrastructure that provided a steady stream of genuine videos of cats.

Like this:

Daily Bread, Gubernatorial Race 2026, Newspapers, Press, Tom Tiffany, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 9.25.26: Tom Tiffany’s Misguided Press Ban

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 70. Sunrise is 6:45 and sunset is 6:46 for 12 hours 1 minute of daylight. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1956, TAT-1, the first submarine transatlantic telephone cable system, is inaugurated. (“The developments that made TAT-1 possible were coaxial cable, polyethylene insulation (replacing gutta-percha), very reliable vacuum tubes for the submerged repeaters, and a general improvement in carrier equipment. Transistors were not used, being a recent invention of unknown longevity.”)

Earlier this week, WISGOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany barred two Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters from a campaign event:

The campaign’s decision to prevent reporters Mary Spicuzza and David Clarey from covering the event comes just days after Tiffany said at a news conference that he would allow reporters, even those from “slanted” outlets such as the Journal-Sentinel, access to his campaign. Tiffany was asked about press access in the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke White House press badges for reporters from CNN, MS Now and Politico. 

“As you can see, I did not deter anyone here from joining us today and I don’t plan on doing that — even you [Journal-Sentinel reporter] Laura [Schulte], I’m going to continue to allow you here,” Tiffany said at the Wisconsin Counties Association conference on Tuesday. “I believe in open, free press, that they be able to ask us questions. The principle that I live with, is I just expect all of you to be fair, and as long as you’re fair in your writing, I always welcome the press here. It’s when the press is slanted, that’s what’s frustrating.” 

At the event, Tiffany told reporters that he’ll “have to talk to his communications team” about Spicuzza’s access. 

[…]

In a post on social media after the event, Tiffany’s campaign said it had notified Spicuzza that she wouldn’t be allowed into the event because of her alleged political views, but that other staff members from the outlet would be allowed. 

“Liberal activist [Spicuzza] was notified yesterday that she would not be permitted to attend,” the Tiffany campaign wrote on X. “[The Journal-Sentinel] has a photographer at the event, and we welcome all balanced journalists across Wisconsin, including [Journal-Sentinel reporter Jessie Opoien]. That’s why WISN, CBS 58, and other outlets are in attendance.”

See Henry Redman, Tiffany campaign blocks Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporters from event, Wisconsin Examiner, September 24, 2026.

I’ll offer a few remarks.

1. When Gov. Evers barred the MacIver Institute from attending an event in 2019, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Evers’s decision, and the U.S. Supreme Court let that decision stand (as it declined to take an appeal of the Seventh Circuit decision). I’ll not speculate on how courts might rule now, should a legal challenge against Tiffany’s actions be filed.

2. However this race between Crowley and Tiffany turns out, it will not turn on Tiffany’s actions here. That’s the key practical point. Anyone who was going to support Tiffany was going to do so regardless of his actions against Spicuzza and Clarey; anyone who was going to oppose Tiffany was going to do so anyway. The campaign’s actions against these reporters offer no practical gain for Tiffany.

3. A campaign that’s not focused on practicality is either desperate or dimwitted. Either the Tiffany campaign doesn’t know what to think or doesn’t know how to think.

4. Perhaps it’s a combination of both:

When pressed on why his campaign staff had blocked Spicuzza, he said he’ll “have to go back and talk to my communications team.”

Tiffany also accused his Democratic challenger, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, of “being managed” by his campaign’s communication staff.

“I think you should follow up with Mr. Crowley and ask him if he’s going to be as open and transparent as I am,” said Tiffany.

See Rich Kremer, Tom Tiffany’s campaign blocks reporter from Milwaukee event, Wisconsin Public Radio, September 24, 2026.

Honest to goodness. Every accusation is a confession.

5. I’ve never met Mary Spicuzza, but I’ve followed her reporting for many years. She’s sharp and thorough, and, from this newspaper-reading blogger’s view, easily within the standards of traditional American journalism. One benefits far more from a sharp reporter than a dull candidate.

The answer to smart, thorough reporting is a reply, not a ban. How unfortunate that Tiffany doesn’t have the presence of mind to see as much.

Here’s someone from the Midwest who’s not afraid of press coverage:

Leo spoke to reporters Friday on his way to France for a four-day visit. Asked by a CNN reporter about the Trump administration’s attempt to bar CNN and other reporters from the White House grounds, Leo said the media was welcome on his plane.

City, Daily Bread, Economy, Planning

Daily Bread for 9.24.26: The Draft Whitewater Forward Comprehensive Plan

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 69. Sunrise is 6:44 and sunset is 6:48 for 12 hours 4 minutes of daylight. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 94.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Common Council and Plan and Architectural Review Commission meet jointly at 6 PM.

On this day in 1906, President Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower in Wyoming as the nation’s first National Monument.

By James St. John – https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeology/55038836017/, CC BY 4.0, Link.

Following a planning group’s work and a presentation at an open house last night, the Whitewater Common Council and Plan and Architectural Review Commission now jointly consider a draft update to the Whitewater Forward Comprehensive Plan.

Many meetings, with many discussions, over many hours brought us here. For it all, no planners numbering close to sixteen can ensure on their own a vision for this city of sixteen thousand residents. (If that were true, then Old Whitewater’s men would still control over development and this city’s principal public institutions. They no longer do; occasional encomiums will not revivify.)

In the months ahead, if this draft is to have lasting meaning, it will need to be seen, discussed, and critiqued among residents to shape its recommendations and projections along lines of residents’ actions and aspirations.

In any event, tonight could be no more than a beginning only, and this beginning depends on the lengthy draft being presented in full, in as many places as possible. (No one sees an invisible painting; no one hears an inaudible song.)

For today, here are the introductory memorandum and full draft, without further comment:

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NASA visualizes pulsar’s bizarre dance with a giant star:

The BP Crucis system features a pulsar plunging through a dense stream of plasma flowing from a blue hypergiant star 40 times the mass of our Sun, causing its X-ray brightness to flare during each four-day passage. As the pulsar moves through the plasma, its accretion disk breaks apart, reforms, and eventually spins in the opposite direction. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Laboratory.

Daily Bread, Economics, Economy, Energy, Federal Government, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 9.23.26: A Possible Ban on Diesel Exports Reveals the Failure of Federal Policy

by  • 

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 67. Sunrise is 6:43 and sunset is 6:50 for 12 hours 7 minutes of daylight. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 89.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Comprehensive Plan Work Group meets at 4 PM and there is a Whitewater Forward Comprehensive Plan Final Open House from 6 PM to 7:30 PM.

On this day in 1846, astronomers Urbain Le Verrier, John Couch Adams, and Johann Gottfried Galle collaborate on the discovery of Neptune.

This libertarian blogger has heard, as have so many others across the planet, that Donald J. Trump is a dealmaker. (So much so that someone ghostwrote a book for him on dealmaking.) It seems improbable, however, that a true master dealmaker who claimed he would restrict imports and boost exports might now be looking to ban the export of diesel. Our energy policy is such a fiasco that, in desperation over high diesel costs, the federal government ponders whether to ban diesel exports:

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he backed the idea of a diesel export ban as a way to lower prices that have hit record highs due to a global supply shortage. But analysts and market watchers warn that such a measure would do little to ease high energy prices, and could worsen supply and economic disruptions around the globe.

Trump’s comments come as average US diesel prices have jumped to a record $6.510 a gallon, according to AAA. Diesel is critical to the global economy because it powers transportation, farm equipment and the machinery used to make and move goods.

A ban, however, will make matters worse:

A ban on diesel exports would push up prices of diesel globally, while pushing down prices in the United States and hurting US refining margins, analysts warned.

“Initially, a diesel ban would send global prices skyrocketing… A ban could raise world prices by as much as 100%, given the fuel’s low price elasticity of demand,” said energy economist Philip Verleger.

Any ban would likely push refineries to cut the amount of crude they process. If US refineries cut runs, it would also lower the amount of gasoline and other products produced and push up prices for those fuels, analysts and traders said.

“Banning exports of diesel would drive refiners to cut runs because the physical market they can access would be cut, and no market participant in any market sells product at a loss. While an export ban might have a very short-term impact that lowers price, it would not be long-lived…,” said Kenneth Medlock III, a fellow in Energy and Resource Economics at the Baker Institute for Public Policy.

See Arathy Somasekhar and Liz Hampton, Ban on US diesel exports would hurt, not help fuel markets, analysts say, Reuters, September 22, 2026. See also FREE WHITEWATER, Wisconsin’s Economy Depends on Diesel (and Now Diesel Costs Much More), September 18, 2026.

It was a mistake to mistake a man who said he was a real estate dealmaker for someone who had read and understood even simple market principles. (The local version of this in Whitewater is believing that a few landlords or a lobbyist somehow knew more than others. Paraphrasing a line from a film: The greatest trick that Whitewater’s special-interest men ever pulled was convincing anyone, even themselves, that they had credible economic insights to offer.)

And so, and so, here we are.

Rural voters frustrated by economy under Trump, AP-KFF poll finds:

About half of rural American voters believe the economy is worse off now than when President Donald Trump returned to office, according to a new survey of the key demographic that has largely backed Republicans in recent elections.