UPDATE: Scott Walker freaks out, knowing he has no place to hide


More budget cuts for UW in store?


Reported in UW researchers pioneer a camera that can see around corners.  (Capital Times, 8/6/2016)

Original 8/4/2016 post, "Scott Walker on college affordability:  Nothing but a big pile of poop", starts here.


Blathered at Tuition freeze key to college affordability. (Press release, 8/4/2016)

Wisconsin Made Second Largest Cut this Year in Support for Higher Education.  (Wisconsin Budget Project, 5/27/2016)

(red arrow added)

Time to wake up!

Clinton takes it to Trump every time in Michigan


Related reading:
Donald Trump win in Michigan, nation is doable, says state director.  (Detroit Free Press, 6/15/2016)
What else is going to tell them?  The truth?  That was the message from Scott Hagerstrom, the state Director for New York businessman Donald Trump's presidential campaign, speaking to a group of a couple hundred conservative Michiganders in Oakland County Monday night. 

Related posts:
UPDATE: Now pinch-hitting for Rasmussen, the Los Angeles Times.  (8/6/2016)
Trump pisses away his advantage in Georgia, of all places!  (8/5/2016)
Dem. challenger Katie McGinty tightens race against GOP incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey in PA.  (8/5/2016)
New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte can't run away from Donald Trump fast enough.  (8/5/2016)
Hillary gets a big convention bump in New Hampshire.  (8/5/2016)
Latest national Presidential polls has GOP worried.  (8/5/2016)
Clinton starting to put room between herself and Trump in national polls.  (8/4/2016)

UPDATE: Now pinch-hitting for Rasmussen, the Los Angeles Times


Outlier City.  The Times is doing its best to add to Trump's poll average.


Source:  Real Clear Politics


Related posts:
Trump pisses away his advantage in Georgia, of all places!  (8/5/2016)
Dem. challenger Katie McGinty tightens race against GOP incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey in PA.  (8/5/2016)
New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte can't run away from Donald Trump fast enough.  (8/5/2016)
Hillary gets a big convention bump in New Hampshire.  (8/5/2016)
Latest national Presidential polls has GOP worried.  (8/5/2016)
Clinton starting to put room between herself and Trump in national polls.  (8/4/2016)


Original 7/8/2016 post, "Rasmussen does its best to cheer Trump on to the White House", starts here.

The numbers:
  • 43 - Number of national Presidential polls since April 25 (tracked by Real Clear Politics)
  • 37 - Number of polls won by Hillary Clinton
  •   6 - Number of polls won by Donald Trump
  •   4 - Number of Rasmussen polls won by Donald Trump


Letters and numbers:

Daily double: Donald Trump is (a) helpful (b) offensive (c) silly (d) ignorant (e) a loudmouthed dick



Just for the record
Most young singers who want a future in opera begin lessons at age 13 or 14. This is the age when the vocal chords are developed enough to begin vocal training. 
But, for most singers, real opera training starts when they are in their 20s and beyond. (Yusypovych)

The following caveat is found on the application to the San Francisco Opera Center Merola Opera Program:   
Applicant should be between the ages of 20-34 as of June 6, 2016 (exceptions made on a case-by-case basis). 

Related posts:
Trump continues to be a loudmouthed dick.  (8/6/2016)
UPDATE: Liz Mair, briefly employed strategist for Scott Walker's presidential campaign, calls Trump 'loudmouthed dick'.  (8/5/2016)

Trump continues to be a loudmouthed dick


As Liz Mair notes, what he does is offend people and then whines when there's pushback, the "airing of grievances", as she describes it.


Reported at Trump pledges to preserve Iowa caucuses, professes love for babies.  (Des Moines Register, 8/5/2016)

Friday, August 5, 2016

Dear Todd Akin, Please crawl back into your cave. Love, 21st century America



Quote from Todd Akin Calls Trump a ‘Breath of Fresh Air’.  (Morning Consult, 8/5/2016)
You got hammered because Missouri voter understand that you're a moron. “It’s because you’ve got an incredibly one-sided Democratic national media, and Republicans are scared to death of them. Look at my race. I got hammered, really, because I’m pro-life. That’s the bottom line of it.”

Dear Jenna and Karen, Urgent, worst-case-scenario campaign fundraising appeals are the norm


Here are 2 examples from my email trash.

The message line reads, "We're frantic".
(highlight added)
The message line reads, "DISASTROUS news".

(highlight added)

Related reading
:
Did Paul Ryan just predict that Clinton will win in a landslide?  (Washington Post, 8/5/2016)
From the making-a-mountain-out-of-a-molehill department.  House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) sent an urgent fundraising appeal Thursday evening that warned: “If we fail to protect our majority in Congress, we could be handing President Hillary Clinton a blank check.”

Former Eastgate Cinema property: Yours for $11,700,000



Photos by Retiring Guy


Prime location
Photo credit:  NAI MLG Commercial


Scott Walker: Spaghetti? Donald Trump? No contest!



Reported at Donald Trump returns to Wisconsin with few GOP friends.  (Wisconsin State Journal, 8/5/2016)

Walker bypasses Green Bay.


More about the Town of Grand View.

New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte can't run away from Donald Trump fast enough


As he continues to heckle her across an increasing distance.



Actually, Donald, Kelly polled 6 percentage points better than you, 40% to 34%, in the 7/29-8/1 WBUR/MassINC poll.

Related posts:
Hillary gets a big convention bump in New Hampshire.  (8/5/2016)
Latest national Presidential polls has GOP worried.  (8/5/2016)
Clinton starting to put room between herself and Trump in national polls.  (8/4/2016)

Latest national Presidential polls has GOP worried



In the meantime, Trump continues his divisive ways.

In Maine, Trump takes aim at Somali refugees. (Boston Globe, 8/4/2016)
“We’ve just seen many, many crimes getting worse all the time, and as Maine knows — a major destination for Somali refugees — right, am I right? Well, they’re all talking about it. Maine. Somali refugees. We admit hundreds of thousands — you admit, into Maine, and to other places in the United States — hundreds of thousands of refugees,” Trump said.  
 Somali immigration has been a political flash point in largely white Maine, particularly in Lewiston, where officials estimated last year that between 4,000 and 5,000 Somalis live in a community of about 36,000.

Related reading:
Maine's Somali's Could Be Its Saviors.  (Bloomberg, 11/5/2015)
But if the once-declining mill town’s upward trajectory is any indication, perhaps the biggest thing they have to fear is fear itself. For the state with the country’s oldest, whitest and slowest-growing population, attracting new residents of various stripes isn't just a godsend but an economic imperative.

Related post:
Clinton starting to put room between herself and Trump in national polls.  (8/4/2016)

Thursday, August 4, 2016

The best and the brightest: Wisconsin's top 2 cream puff fans


If you don't mind my asking, why is Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm holding 2?  And what's with the badly pinned rose (?) on Scottie's shirt?

Photo credit:  @GovWalker

The last time I was that squinty-eyed, I exuded a certain pungent smell.  I probably would have devoured a couple of cream puffs myself.

1945.  Possible candidate for "Make America Great Again".

Get me rewrite, Alfredo Ortiz: "It's truly about brainwashing our workforce"


Glenn Grothman is a fan.


Employers: Taxes, overtime rule hurt business.  (Oshkosh Northwestern, 8/1/2016)

I sent Nathaniel Shuda an email congratulating him on his excellent puff piece.

Related reading:
Notorious Astroturf Pioneer Rick Berman Is Behind Business Group's Anti-Labor-Board Campaign.  (Mother Jones, 3/23/2015)
Job Creators Network.  (SourceWatch)

Dear Jim Jordan, Huelskamp lost 47 of 62 counties in US House 1


He lost counties all over his district.  His time was obviously up.



Quoted in Freedom Caucus knives out for Ryan after Huelskamp loss.  (Politico, 8/3/2016)

If there's anyone to blame, Jim -- and 'credit' is the better word here -- it's GOP voters in Kansas.  They're finally rebelling in sufficient number against their crazy governor's "heralded great experiment in conservative economic theory".  

Related reading:
Kansas Republicans Reject Gov. Sam Brownback’s Conservatives in Primary.  (The New York Times, 8/3/2016)
With some races still undetermined on Wednesday, but also leaning toward moderates, the primary was a tangible sign of the grumblings that have been going on under the surface in heavily Republican Kansas, as deep cuts to taxes, a centerpiece of the Brownback agenda, have left the state short on revenue and led to cuts to government services.

Other Jim "Push and Kick" Jordan posts:
Freedom Caucus chair Jim Jordan ready to go crazy on the House dance floor.  (4/28/2016)
It's probably good news that the Freedom Caucus wants to go big, go bold; look where it got Scott Walker.  (1/19/2016)
The Freedom Caucus 'crazies': Have Jim Jordan and Justin Amash been talking much lately?  (10/16/2015)
Meet 'the crazies' in the U.S. House of Representatives.  (10/8/2015)
No friend to the environment.  (3/20/2015)

Clinton starting to put room between herself and Trump in national polls


The most recent poll was conducted by FOX News, no doubt a bitter pill for them to swallow.


Meglomanic Trump, of course, sees nothing wrong with his campaign style and progress.


In New York, Trump has been consistently polling in the 30% range


The most recent poll was conducted during the week before the Republican National Convention.


Trump confident New York is winnable.  (Albany Times-Union, 7/13/2016)
"I can win New York," he said in an interview with the Albany Times Union in April, just days before his resounding victory in the state's primary. "I think I'll end up winning New York, based on jobs, on the economy, and I think we'll win it soundly." If you think it sounds like a stretch, you're not alone.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

75% of Trunp supporters say, Make America Whiter Again!


Sources:  Wikipedia, QuickFacts

The Case for More Government and Less Taxes.  (The New York Times, 8/3/2016)
More than half of voters — including 61 percent of Mr. Trump’s supporters — feel they are not keeping up with the rising cost of living. Three-quarters of Mr. Trump’s supporters feel that life for people like them is worse than it was 50 years ago.

"Dream a little dream
In my little corner of the world."

Ridin' in my car through a massive, open-air, lifestyle shopping center in Columbus Ohio. No busses allowed?


Probably much more than you care to view.  But the video has a "smooth jazz" soundtrack.  



The Town Center Regains Significance.  (The New York Times, 8/2/2016)
 Clearly, most people drive to get here.  Let me know when you see a bus.  What the three came up with joined a Midwestern retailer’s view with a New Yorker’s experience of urban street life and a European’s devotion to food and sidewalk culture. Since construction began on Easton in 1993, the project has produced 3.7 million square feet of retail space in 280 stores and 4.2 million square feet of Class A office space in 21 buildings. There are also hundreds of hotel rooms and apartments.

"Well, I went to the place where everybody hangs out
To see what everyone was talking about."

Want to learn English? Study New Yorker cartoons!


Reported in Elio Guaitolini, Restaurateur to New York’s Elite, Dies at 83.  (The New York Times, 8/1/2016)
Then came Elio’s, on Second Avenue near 84th Street, created in partnership with Anne Isaak, a former sous-chef at Chez Panisse. The concept was simple: classic Italian dishes served in warm, clubby surroundings, with a come-as-you-are atmosphere that Manhattan’s power players found congenial.

In the spirit of oneness, Marsha Blackburn looks forward to Apocalypse Now



Quoted in Marsha Blackburn Calls Trump A ‘Problem Solver,’ Confident He Will Unite The Party.  (The Daily Caller, 7/20/2016)

A critique frequently lobbed at Hollywood tentpole films is that their last acts are usually punishingly long. Leave it to Donald Trump to make an entire speech an endless, tedious final battle, complete with every possible apocalyptic reference short of the Illuminati. In his acceptance speech at the closing night of the Republican National Convention, Trump dispensed almost completely with anything that wasn’t bombastic.


Other Marsha posts:
The pot calls the kettle black: Marsha Blackburn's incessant, Planned Parenthood, body parts drumbeat.  (11/30/2015)
Planned Parenthood videos altered? Makes no never mind to Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).  (11/28/2016)
Meet the Members of the Republican Study Committee.  (8/4/2015)
No friend to the environment.  (4/30/2015)

Fasten your seal belts, Trump likely to add Scott Walker to his bash list by Friday


If not before.


Reported at Scott Walker latest high-profile state Republican to skip Trump rally.  (Madison.com, 8/3/2016)

As for Ron Johnson, Trump probably doesn't even know who he is.

Meahwhile, back at TrumpWorld.....


Joan Kondak Vernon (1932-2016) Warren High School Class of 1950



1950 Dragon yearbook

Also in the picture:
Ann Lesser served as director of the Warren Public Library from 1969 to 1997.  She was originally hired as a children's librarian in 1956.

1967 Warren City Directory
  • [county section] Kondak Mary Clarendon
  • [county section] Kondak Michl Clarendon
1983 Warren City Directory  [no listings]


'Joan' has already been graphed, so let's take a look at 'Renee'.


Renee's best years occurred during the 1960s.  She peaked at #62 in 1967.  Right now, though, she looks like she's about to leave us.

Other class of 1950 members
Barbara Reist Cook.  (7/7/2016)
Mary Sikstrom Bauer.  (6/20/2016)
Robert Jones.  (6/4/2016)
Lewis McCullough.  (7/6/2015)
Joan Marlene Campbell Berdine.  (2/18/2015) 
Glen Valentine.  (8/18/2014)


Dear Michael Savage, Your ticket to Iceland is ready


Economy class is the best we can do.  (And certainly more than you deserve.)


Photo credit:  Wikipedia