Retiring Guy's Digest: 2018-07-29

Saturday, August 4, 2018

UPDATE. GOP central-casting prettyboy Kevin Nicholson parrots Heritage Foundation talking points on Social Security means testing

And guess what?! Kevin's sugar daddy Richard Uihlein is a big contributor to the Heritage Foundation.

Reported in Wisconsin U.S. Senate race: Kevin Nicholson floats mean-testing and raising age for Social Security. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/3/2018)

Let’s see. What, at a minimum, might get in the way of this incentivizing?

1. College loan debt 2. Lack of a living wage 3. Inadequate health insurance.

7/21/2018 update, "Dear GOP central-casting prettyboy (and crybaby) Kevin Nicholson, Have you considered that your parents believe Tammy Baldwin is the better candidate?", starts here.

Family feud!

Reported in Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Wisconsin decries his parents' donation to Democratic opponent. (Chicago Tribune, 7/16/2018)

6/3/2018 update, "GOP central-casting, opportunistic prettyboy Kevin Nicholson will say anything to get elected", starts here.

Reported in US Senate candidates tell group they want personhood law, no-exceptions abortion ban. (Madison.com, 5/20/2018)

5/8/2018 update, "GOP central-casting, petulant prettyboy Kevin Nicholson refuses to admit he screwed up", starts here.

Quoted in Without apology, Kevin Nicholson fights for GOP nomination in Wisconsin U.S. Senate race. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5/7/2018)

Likewise, I'm sure, voters can't stand a big phony. Even members of his own party have taken him to task.

5/4/2018 update, "GOP central-casting, petulant prettyboy Kevin Nicholson finds himself in hot water with fellow Republicans", starts here.

Quoted in Kevin Nicholson's comments on military service upend Wisconsin U.S. Senate race. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5/3/2018)

Everybody's doin' the twist! Meanwhile, nine Republican veterans, including state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau, issued a public letter calling for a Nicholson apology. The nine vets support Nicholson's GOP opponent, Leah Vukmir.

Original 5/3/2018 post, "GOP central-casting prettyboy Kevin Nicholson becomes unhinged in response to perfectly reasaonble question", starts here.

Quoted in Kevin Nicholson questions 'cognitive thought process' of military veterans in Democratic Party. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5/2/2018)

Other prettyboy posts:
UPDATE. Kevin Nicholson's opportunism, self-interest, and expediency in full flower at Koch Brothers sponsored GOP debate. (4/27/2018)
UPDATE. Kevin Nicholson, in dark suit and white shirt and maroon tie, and Leah Vukimir, in red suit and white shell, clash but don't clash at debate. (4/27/2018)
Dear Kevin Nicholson, Running for U.S. Senate as a Trump fanboy is not a savvy strategy in the collar counties. (4/11/2018)

Get me rewrite: White House staff says let the ACLU clean up Trump's shit

Headline from 8/3/2018 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Excerpt: Justice Department lawyers wrote on Thursday that the government would turn over whatever identifying information it could on the parents who were deported, including last known phone numbers and addresses. But they wrote that the ACLU "should use their considerable resources and their network of law firms, (nongovernmental organizations), volunteers, and others" to establish contact with the deported parents.

ACLU lawyers argued that the Trump administration is trying to shirk its responsibility by passing its work off to private groups despite its own considerable resources.

Justice prevails. The shirker loses another round.

CNN, 8/3/2018

In 2014, deep-red Richfield voters chose Walker by an 80-20 margin and this is the thanks they get

Source: Washington County Clerk

'My paradise has turned into my early grave': Trucks in bucolic Richfield stir discord. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/3/2018)

Dear Jim, The GOP war on local control affects EVERYONE. Village Administrator Jim Healy said the court ruling has broken new, disturbing ground for local governments faced with projects like what he calls "the ironically named" Scenic Pit. The law "was never meant to allow a new business to run in perpetuity," he said. "It's mostly to help state highway projects, for a set duration, not for someone who would open for 2.5 million yards of fill for over a decade."

Point/counterpoint: Tax incentives for Kimberly Clark

Reported in Tax incentives for Kimberly-Clark could hit roadblock in Senate heading into election. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 7/26/2018)

GOP voters in Waukesha, Washington, and Ozaukee counties -- Wisconsin's reddest -- were never that infatuated with Trump in the first place

Headline from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Column graphs from 2016 "Case of the Quadrennial Democrats" series

Trump received 17,279 fewer votes than McCain and 1,556 fewer votes than Romney in Waukesha County.

Trump received 3,036 fewer votes than McCain and just 1,489 more votes than Romney in Washington County.

Trump received 5,619 fewer votes than McCain and 2,193 fewer votes than Romney in Ozaukee County.

In what in the northern and western areas of the state when GOP voters really got snookered.

Trump received 988 more votes than McCain and 1,190 more votes than Romney in Taylor County, an increase of 22% in the 2016 election.

Trump received 1,663 more votes than McCain and 1,758 more votes than Romney in Trempealeau County, an increase of 24% in the 2016 election.

Friday, August 3, 2018

Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race: Republican Lou Barletta trails Democratic incumbent Bob Casey by double digits

Source: Real Clear Politics

Trump defends Putin meeting hours after U.S. officials sound alarms on midterm interference. (USA Today, 8/2/2018)

Trump was speaking in Pennsylvania for Rep. Lou Barletta, the Republican nominee challenging Sen. Bob Casey's bid for a third term. The campaign rally was the second of three Trump scheduled this week as both parties begin to ramp up for the midterms.

Barletta, an early supporter of Trump's 2016 campaign, is running an uphill race, polls show. On the other hand, Pennsylvania is one of 10 states Trump won two years ago that Senate Democrats must now defend in November.

On the other hand, Trump's approval rating has taken a dive in Pennsylvania.

Source: FiveThirtyEight

("How Trump's Popularity is Holding Up, By State")

Other Barletta posts:
Climate change, Lou Barletta, and short-term (special-interest) thinking. (2/12/2016)
No friend to the environment. (4/13/2015)
Impeachment: Another Republican "strategy" singes its creators. (7/30/2014)
Lou Barletta, meet Don Young. (4/1/2013)

Howard Johnson (1947-2018) Warren Area High School class of 1966

Warren Times Observer

1966 Dragon yearbook

1967 Warren City Directory

Johnson Clarence S (Marie A) tinner h9 1/2 Steber rd (North Warren)
Johnson Howard clk Dairy Queen r9 1/2 Steber rd
Johnson Lola A bkpr Thomas Coupling Div r 9 1/2 Steber rd
Kelsey Arth G (Lola M) driver Park Dept h607 4th av

1983 Warren City Directory

Johnson Marie A Mrs h9 1/2 Steber Rd

The popularity of Howard as a baby name is graphed here. Let's take a look at sister Lola.

Source: Social Security Administration Popular Baby Names

After chugging along at a pretty good, though decelerating, clip during the 1st half of the 20th century, Lola ran out of gas in 1981. Back on the road in 2002, she quickly accelerated into the top 300 but has pretty much been on cruise control since she hit #211 in 2010. Her previous best occurred in 1904, the only time she found her way into the top 100.

Other members of the class of '66:
2018
Albert Conklin. (4/11/2018)
Betsy Colt Brinkley. (3/9/2018)

2017
Deborah Snyder Sproveri. (8/8/2017)

2015
Sally Johnson Horrocks. (4/3/2015)

2014
Charlene Postlethwait Knowlton. (10/8/2014)
Dennis Peterson. (8/31/2014)

Greetings from Trump's America,: Wapello County, Iowa, where immigration helps to reverse an economic decline

Can Iowa's rising Latino population save some of its dying small towns? (Des Moines Register, 925/2017)

“The ironic thing is a lot of the communities I deal with outside of Des Moines or Cedar Rapids-Iowa City are struggling to stay alive with a declining and aging population,” he said. “I work with the economic development groups and they all say, ‘We need workers. Where are the workers?’”

Ottumwa [Wapello county seat] became the subject of a French documentary, “Latino: The Changing Face of America.” Documentarian Roxanne Frias of Paris said audiences worldwide have been surprised at the diversity in Iowa [reality check below], and about Frias’ take on how well it worked, after community leaders committed to incorporating schools, law enforcement and residents in the process.

Iowa ranks 6th among all states with the largest percentage of non-Hispanic whites.

Population peaked in 1950