Retiring Guy's Digest: 2017-06-18

Saturday, June 24, 2017

OK, folks, here's what we call an honest poll, true through and through

The initial email blast. It's "official", of course. (Highlights added.)

I clicked on "no". Then I returned to the email and clicked on 'yes'. Led me to the same screen. Oh, my surprise.

Submitted as Herkimer Jerkimer.

"Gimme Your Money Please" appears on Bachman Turner Overdrive's self-titled debut album. It debuted on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart for the week ending August 18, 1973, and spent 70 weeks on the chart, speaking at #68.

The sounds of flatulence

Quoted in Trump admin. still struggling to staff up. (Axios, 6/18/2017)

Wherein we also learn.....

Related reading:
Donald Trump is the worst boss in Washington. (The New York Times, 6/9/2017)

Netflix has a new idea

Reported in Netflix Lets Viewers Pick the Plots. (The New York Times, 6/20/2017)

Related reading:
A tribute to … Choose Your Own Adventure books. (SFGate, 4/27/2009)

Open House at Middleton Center

Office building front and center, apartment in background at right.

All photos by Retiring Guy

Hallway of 4th-floor T. Wall offices

Reception area of T. Wall offices

The view from the 4th floor looking east, Middleton Public Library at center

Underground, space-saving parking for residents

Ramp from street level to underground parking.

2nd-floor hallway in apartment building.

Living area of 2-bedroom, 2-bath apartment

Master bedroom of above unit

Second bedroom of above unit.

Looking into utility room of above unit.

Inside the utility room.

Bedroom of studio apartment, open to living area

View from kitchen to living area and rooftop patio beyond. (As you can see, there's still work to do.)

Panoramic view of 2nd-floor community room. (The community of Middleton Center.)

Related series of posts:
Middleton Center updates from 4/30/2016 to 6/23/2017.

Someday Middleton's Belle Fontaine Boulevard will extent from Parmenter Street to CTH Q

At least that's the plan.

Source: City of Middleton

Just south of MOC (Middleton Operations Center) on Parmenter, the extended Belle Fontaine will connect with Schneider Road, where the truck (at center left) is traveling west.

All photos by Retiring Guy

Where Belle Fontaine currently dead-ends in the Misty Valley/Middleton Ridge development.

Turning around to look in the opposite direction, i.e. east.

At the intersection of Belle Fontaine and Misty Valley Drive. Note the design, traffic which will accommodate a 4-lane, divided street.

Where Belle Fontaine Blvd. currently ends at High Road.

The intersection of Belle Fontaine and High Road, looking in the direction of the northeast extension of the former.

Democratic districts in U.S. House targeted by GOP: Nevada 4th

Nevada gained a 4th U.S. House seat after the 2010 census, and elections in this district have been a seesaw affair so far. In 2012, Democrat Steven Horsford beat Republican Danny Tarkanian -- who must have a 'loser' tag by now -- by 8 percentage points. Horsford lost his re-election bid to Republican Cresent Hardy by 2.7 points. Hardy then lost his re-election bid to Democrat Ruben Kihuen by 4 percentage points. With this kind of pattern, the NRCC might have stumbled onto a seat where they have a chance.

Clinton won 49.5% of the presidential vote compared to 44.6% for Trump.

Source: Ballotpedia

NRCC Announces Initial Offensive Targets For The 2018 Cycle. (NRCC, 2/8/2017)

Since February 8th, the gap between Trump's approval and disapproval ratings has increased 9.5 percentage points. To the bad.

Source: govtrack

Sources: Census Reporter (NV 4CD; U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts (NV, US)

Related posts:
Minnesota 1st. (6/13/2017)
Ohio 13th. (6/13/2017)
Pennsylvania 17th. (6/13/2017)
Minnesota 8th. (6/14/2017)
Minnesota 7th. (6/14/2017)
Arizona 1st. (6/15/2017)
Arizona 9th. (6/15/2017)
California 7th. (6/16/2017)
California 24th. (6/16/2017)
California 36th. (6/16/2017)
California 52nd. (6/16/2017)
Colorado 7th. (6/17/2017)
Connecticut 2nd. (6/17/2017)
Connecticut 5th. (6/17/2017)
Florida 7th. (6/18/2017)
Florida 13th. (6/18/2017)
Iowa 2nd. (6/19/2017)
Illinois 17th. (6/19/2017)
Maryland 6th. (6/20/2017)
Michigan 5th. (6/21/2017)
Michigan 9th. (6/21/2017)
New Hampshire 1st. (6/22/2017)
New Hampshire 2nd. (6/22/2017
New Jersey 5th. (6/22/2017)
New Mexico 1st. (6/23/2017)
New Mexico 3rd. (6/23/2017)
Nevada 3rd. (6/24/2017)

Take Back the House 2018 posts:
Pennsylvania 8th. (6/2/2017)
New Jersey 11th. (6/2/2017)
Minnesota 2nd. (6/2/2017)
Nebraska 2nd. (6/3/2017)

Democratic districts in U.S. House targeted by GOP: Nevada 3rd

Since his election to the House in 2010, Republican Joe Heck won his subsequent 2 contests by increasingly larger margins. In 2016, he ran for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Harry Reid and lost to Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto by 2.4 percentage points. In the Nevada 3rd that year, Democrat Jacky Rosen defeated Republican by Danny Tarkanian, son of former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, by 1.2 points.

Clinton won 46.5% of the presidential vote compared to 47.5% for Trump.

Source: Ballotpedia

Source: govtrack

Sources: Census Reporter (NV 3CD; U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts (NV, US)

Related posts:
Minnesota 1st. (6/13/2017)
Ohio 13th. (6/13/2017)
Pennsylvania 17th. (6/13/2017)
Minnesota 8th. (6/14/2017)
Minnesota 7th. (6/14/2017)
Arizona 1st. (6/15/2017)
Arizona 9th. (6/15/2017)
California 7th. (6/16/2017)
California 24th. (6/16/2017)
California 36th. (6/16/2017)
California 52nd. (6/16/2017)
Colorado 7th. (6/17/2017)
Connecticut 2nd. (6/17/2017)
Connecticut 5th. (6/17/2017)
Florida 7th. (6/18/2017)
Florida 13th. (6/18/2017)
Iowa 2nd. (6/19/2017)
Illinois 17th. (6/19/2017)
Maryland 6th. (6/20/2017)
Michigan 5th. (6/21/2017)
Michigan 9th. (6/21/2017)
New Hampshire 1st. (6/22/2017)
New Hampshire 2nd. (6/22/2017
New Jersey 5th. (6/22/2017)
New Mexico 1st. (6/23/2017)
New Mexico 3rd. (6/23/2017)

Take Back the House 2018 posts:
Pennsylvania 8th. (6/2/2017)
New Jersey 11th. (6/2/2017)
Minnesota 2nd. (6/2/2017)
Nebraska 2nd. (6/3/2017)

Friday, June 23, 2017

Coming soon to this location: "Out of the Shell" public art

Source: City of Middleton

Related links/articles:
Out of the Shell Artsts' Statement. (Precious Design Studios)
Focus on Dane County: Middleton public art struggles for funding. (Wisconsin State Journal, 7/24/2015)
Middleton Public Arts Committee mnutes, (12/15/2016)

In GOP parlance, 'bold' is usually preceded by 'big'

Quoted in Janesville School Board member Cathy Myers announces candidacy for Paul Ryan's seat. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/22/2017)

“Paul Ryan represents me in Washington and I represent his family in Janesville,” Myers said in a statement. “Voters will have a clear choice between a community leader and a career politician who seems to have forgotten his small-town roots.”

The audiobook I'm currently listening to.
Book review: In ‘Janesville,’ When the G.M. Plant Closed, Havoc Followed. (The New York Times, 4/18/2017)

LINKcat holds: 288 for the print edition, 29 for the audiobook.

Trump exaggerates, misleads, distorts the facts, and otherwise lies his way through Iowa rally

FactChecking Trump’s Iowa Rally. (FactCheck.org, 6/22/2017)

The 2020 presidential campaign is more than 1,200 days away, but President Donald Trump held yet another Make America Great Again rally — this time in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. And, as he did in past campaign speeches, Trump spoke for a long time and reeled off numerous false and misleading claims:

Greetings from San Bernadino, California, and the Inland Empire

From Citrus Production in California (UC Davis)

Starting in the 1870, the citrus industry expanded quickly. While it was based on some 90,000 trees in 1875, this number had increased to approximately 2 million trees in 1885 and to 4.5 million trees in 1901. The completion of the transcontinental railways greatly promoted this boom. Commercial fruit production was concentrated in the three Southern Californian counties of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Diego.
Close to 90% of California’s citrus acreage is located in the five leading counties, namely Fresno, Kern, Tulare, Ventura and Riverside . Today, close to 70% of the state’s acreage is located in Fresno, Kern and Tulare Counties. Orange County, which had 60,000 acres of oranges in 1950, reported only. (The population of Orange County, which has a short strip of border with San Bernadino County to the northeast, increased from 216,224 in 1950 to an estimated 3,172,532 in 2016.)

Source: Wikipedia

Source: U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts

Related link:
Discover the Inland Empire.

Other greetings:
Sacramento Municipal Auditorium. (6/18/2017)
Weinstock Lubin Department Store, Sacramento. (6/17/2017)
Sacramento. (6/17/2017)
Pasadena. (6/14/2017)
Lake Merritt, Oakland. (6/13/2017)
Oakland, California. (6/12/2017)
Greyhound Bus Terminal, Los Angeles (6/11/2017)
Coffee Dan's, Hollywood. (6/11/2017)
Brittingham's Radio Center Restaurant, Hollywood. (6/10/2016)
Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel. (6/9/2017)
Pershing Square, Los Angeles. (6/8/2017)
Fox Carthay Circle Theater, Los Angeles. (6/7/2017)
Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood.  (6/4/2017)
Hotel Teris, Los Angeles.  (6/1/2016)
Broadway in Los Angeles.  (5/31/2017)
Los Angeles Civic Center. (5/30/2017)
Southern California palm-lined street.  (5/29/2017)
Downtown Los Angeles. (5/24/2017)
Giant Springs, Great Falls, Montana. (5/23/2017)
Hollywood Boulevard. (5/22/2017)
Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles. (5/21/2017)
Brown Derby, Hollywood. (5/20/2017)
Southern California. (5/20/2017)
Mojave Desert (Joshua trees).  (5/20/2017)
Rose Hill Motel in Mena, Arkansas.  (5/20/2017)
Will Rogers Ranch. (5/20/2017)
Grauman's Chinese Theater.  (5/18/2017)
Hollywood Boulevard. (5/18/2017)
Barstow, California. (5/17/2017)
California. (5/14/2017)
Parklabrea Towers, L.A. (5/14/2017)
La Jolla Children's Pool. (5/13/2017)
Los Angeles. (5/11/2017)
Laguna Beach, California. (5/10/2017)
California. (5/9/2017)
Los Angeles. (5/9/2017)
California. (5/8/2017)
Pomona College, Claremont, California. (5/7/2017)
La Jolla, California. (5/6/2017)
Hope, Arkansas. (5/4/2017)
Bakersfield, California. (5/3/2017)
Little Rock, Arkansas. (5/1/2017)

California. (4/28/2017)
Little Rock, Arkansas. (4/19/2017)
Superstition Mountain, Arizona. (4/15/2017)
Tucson, Arizona. (4/12/2017)
Phoenix, Arizona. (4/8/2017)
Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah. (4/8/2017)
Dothan, Alabama. (4/5/2017)
Mobile, Alabama. (4/5/2017)

Anniston, Alabama. (3/29/2017)

Democratic districts in U.S. House targeted by GOP: New Mexico 3rd

Ben Ray Lujan was first elected to the New Mexico 2nd in 2008. In 5 elections, he has defeated his opponents by an average margin of 22.6 percentage points. Winning this seat in 2018 is another unattainable dream scenario for the GOP.

Clinton won 51.8% of the presidential vote compared to 38.7% for Trump.

Source: Ballotpedia

NRCC Announces Initial Offensive Targets For The 2018 Cycle. (NRCC, 2/8/2017)

Since February 8th, the gap between Trump's approval and disapproval ratings has increased 10.1 percentage points. To the bad.

Source: govtrack

Sources: Census Reporter (NM 3CD; U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts (NM, US)

Related posts:
Minnesota 1st. (6/13/2017)
Ohio 13th. (6/13/2017)
Pennsylvania 17th. (6/13/2017)
Minnesota 8th. (6/14/2017)
Minnesota 7th. (6/14/2017)
Arizona 1st. (6/15/2017)
Arizona 9th. (6/15/2017)
California 7th. (6/16/2017)
California 24th. (6/16/2017)
California 36th. (6/16/2017)
California 52nd. (6/16/2017)
Colorado 7th. (6/17/2017)
Connecticut 2nd. (6/17/2017)
Connecticut 5th. (6/17/2017)
Florida 7th. (6/18/2017)
Florida 13th. (6/18/2017)
Iowa 2nd. (6/19/2017)
Illinois 17th. (6/19/2017)
Maryland 6th. (6/20/2017)
Michigan 5th. (6/21/2017)
Michigan 9th. (6/21/2017)
New Hampshire 1st. (6/22/2017)
New Hampshire 2nd. (6/22/2017
New Jersey 5th. (6/22/2017)
New Mexico 1st. (6/23/2017)

Take Back the House 2018 posts:
Pennsylvania 8th. (6/2/2017)
New Jersey 11th. (6/2/2017)
Minnesota 2nd. (6/2/2017)
Nebraska 2nd. (6/3/2017)

Democratic districts in U.S. House targeted by GOP: New Mexico 1st

The New Mexico 1st has not been represented by a Republican since the 2007-09 term. Since her election to the House in 2012, Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham has defeated her opponents by an average of 21.8 percentage points. Dream on, GOP.

Clinton won 51.6% of the presidential vote compared to 35.1% for Trump.