Saturday, June 15, 2019

"Citizen" Robin Vos: "They don't want professional politicians"


College town slumlord Robin Vos owns 23 properties worth $3.8 million in Whitewater.


Some Wisconsin lawmakers double as landlords — and have passed laws that undermine renters' rights.  (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/14/2019)

Choice quality quotes from article:
  1. But the landlord-driven bills stand out for the volume, quick passage and the fact some came in direct response to specific problems faced by the lawmaker landlords.
  2. "The idea of having a citizen legislature where people have experience is what everybody says they want, right?" said Vos, who had held elective office since 1994 and owns an array of businesses. "They don't want professional politicians."
  3. Wisconsin landlord-tenant law had changed little for years before the 2010 election. 
  4. The first landlord bill, which limited the powers of municipalities in policing the rental industry, was sponsored by Vos and Lasee in May 2011.

Other recent His Vosness posts:
The unrepentant, evil, power-mad Robin Vos is suffering from auditory loss.  (5/16/2019)
His Vosness, alone, in his inner sanctum UPDATE: This is where our chickenshit Assembly Speaker hides out.  (5/15/2019)
UPDATE: Scott Fitzgerald and Robin Vos: Knowing enough about them depends on where you live.  (4/11/2019)

Meet the guileless Kim Guilfoyle


Photo credit:  Wikipedia

Thanks to Presdient Trump, America's Flag is Respect3ed Again -- Let's Celebrate Them Both?  (The Daily Caller, 6/14/2019)

The antidote:
Trump says America is respected again. He is quite wrong. (Washington Post, 10/2/2018)
Actually, there is. In the past 24 hours, two new polls have been released — one by the Pew Research Center on global attitudes toward the United States and one by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs about U.S. attitudes toward foreign policy (full disclosure: I sit on the Chicago Council’s Foreign Policy Advisory Board, which oversees the direction of the annual survey). The combined poll results suggest that the United States under Trump ain’t getting much respect at home or abroad.

How the world views the U.S. and its president in 9 charts.  (Pew Research, 10/9/2018)
At the same time, many express frustration about America’s role in the world and say they have little confidence in President Donald Trump to do the right thing in world affairs, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of 25 nations.

Trump’s dismal popularity among foreigners may be costing the US billions in exports.  (CNBC, 1/18/2019)
The United States, which had been the top-rated global power in 2016, fell 18 percentage points during President Trump’s first year in office.

Climate change as a matter of fact UPDATE: Unprecedented ice melt in Greenland and the Arctic so far this June



Temperatures leap 40 degrees above normal as the Arctic Ocean and Greenland ice sheet see record June melting.  (Washington Post, 6/14/2019)


Original 12/12/2018 post, "Heating the Arctic", starts here.

Map source:  Arctic report card 2018.  (NOAA)


Reported in Arctic's record warming driving 'broad change' in environment: study.  (PhysOrg News, 12/11/2018)

Previous climate change as a matter of fact posts:
Africa
Cape Town, South Africa.  (1/31/2018)
Kenya.  (7/23/2017)

Asia
Kazakhstan: The melting of Tuyuksu glacier.  (1/21/2019)
Record heat in Japan raises concerns over 2020 Olympics.  (7/23/2018)
Wet bulb temperatures in India.  (7/21/2018)
Lebanon's cedar trees.  (7/19/2018)
Rising seas + draining underground aquifers = Jakarta disaster.  (12/22/2017)

Australia and the Pacific
Dying coral of the Great Barrier Reef.  (4/22/2018)
Easter Island.  (3/18/2018)
Green sea turtles of the Great Barrier Reef.  (1/11/2018)
Kiribati.  (7/6/2016)

Europe
Italy's olive groves.  (3/11/2019)
Rising seas threaten Scottish heritage.  (9/29/2018)
Norway, Finland, and Sweden.  (7/19/2018)
Portugal.  (6/19/2017)
The Netherlands.  (6/19/2017)

North America
Great Marsh, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  (6/4/2019)
Alaska:  Iditarod sled dog race.  (3/3/2019)
Greenland's rapidly melting ice.  (1/22/2019)
Insect apocalypse:  Monarch butterfly.  (12/10/2018)
Hot nights in the U.S.  (9/6/2018)
Hampton Roads, Virginia.  (8/19/2018)
Front-page news at Des Moines Register.  (8/12/2018)
Miami, again.  (6/14/2018)
May 2018 record heat in U.S. (6/9/2018)
Miami.  (5/4/2018)
Melting outdoor ice rinks in Canada.  (3/21/2018)
Gulf of Maine.  (3/8/2018)
Jean Lafitte, Louisiana.  (2/26/2018)
Lodi, Wisconsin.  (2/3/2018)
Maine shrimp season.  (12/27/2017)
California fires.  (12/8/2017)
Wisconsin.  (11/16/2017)
Hampton Roads, Virginia.  (11/4/2017)
Georgia peach orchards.  (9/18/2017)
Northeast U.S. pine forests.  (8/29/2017)
Tangier Island, Virginia.  (8/25/2017)
South of the Arctic Circle in Alaska. (8/25/2017)
New Orleans.  (8/12/2017)
Mexico City.  (2/19/2017)
Kansas.  (1/29/2017)
Moose of Maine.  (1/21/2017)
Florida Keys.  (1/14/2017)
California wine country.  (1/11/2017)
Kaktovik, Alaska.  (12/20/2016)
Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park.  (7/7/2016)

Polar regions
Heating the Arctic.  (12/12/2018)
Disappearing old ice in Arctic.  (6/4/2018)
North Pole.  (2/28/2018)
Beavers migrate to Arctic.  (12/24 /2017)
Shrinking sea ice in the Arctic Ocean.  (12/14/2017)
Emaciated polar bear.  (12/9/2017)

South America
Galapagos Islands.  (12/19/2018)
Peru.  (11/26/2017)
Brazil.  (6/8/2017)
Bolivia.  (7/11/2016)
Peru,  (5/21/2016)

U.S. Military
Military prepares for reality of climate change, rising seas.  (8/11/2018)
U.S. military bases around the world.  (1/8/2018)
U.S. Department of Defense.  (12/16/2017)
U.S. military bases.  (9/22/2017)

Worldwide
Business leaders acknowledge bottom line risks and costs of climate change.  (6/5/2019)
Ocean heat hits record high.  (3/30/2019)
Not just a wake-up call anymore.  (8/10/2018)

Population loss in rural Arkansas: Desha County


Population loss as in major -- 50% or more.  

Source:  Wikipedia (Desha County, Arkansas City)


Arkansas City is the county seat of Desha County.

Population loss by degrees:  80-89%70-79%, 60-69%, 50-59%.




Percentage of population 25 and older with a bachelor's degree:
  • 12.6% - Desha County
  • 22.0% - Arkansas
  • 30.9% - U.S.
Percentage of population 65 and older:
  • 18.4% - Desha County
  • 16.6% - Arkansas
  • 15.6% - U.S.

Desha County has voted for a Republican candidate for president just once -- in 1972, Richard Nixon.


Other Arkansas population loss posts:
Lee County/Marianna.  (6/12/2019)
Phillips County/Helena-West Helena. (6/13/2019)

Other population loss series:

Friday, June 14, 2019

Middleton's mountain goat housing development



Located just north of the Middleton Hills neighborhood


Toko Offset 4750 printing machine


As seen yesterday on the ground level floor of the City-County Building, Madison WI.  (No longer in use.)

Photo by Retiring Guy




Related reading:
Meet the Press: The Past, Present, and Future of Commercial Printing.  (Conquest Graphics, 6/7/2019)
Offset printing was developed from the late 1800s into the early 1900s and continues to be one of the predominant printing methods used today. In this process an inked image is transferred from a plate onto a rubber blanket and then transferred again onto paper. This process draws from the lithographic process, relying on the repulsion of oil and water.

Then and Now: 900 block of Ann Street, Madison WI


Then.  Mid-1960s.  (Didn't find a Madison telephone directory yellow pages ad prior to 1964.  Badger Road apartments in background.)
From Retiring Guy's postcard collection

From the 1964 Madison telephone directory

From the 1972 Madison telephone directory.  (Add a bunch more credit cards, color television, Coliseum location)

From the 1973 Madison telephone directory.  (Bigger ad, same Sleepy Bear mascot.  Map added. New amenities:  patio, baby cribs, conference room, 24 hour switch board, commercial rates.)

From the 1984 Madison telephone directory.  (Back to a smaller-size ad.  Stressing 'affordable rates'.  Senior citizen discounts, outdoor plug ins.)

Now.  On Applegate Road (frontrage road south of Beltline, i.e., 12, 14, 18, & 151) looking at the approximate location of where the Travel Lodge used to sit.
Photos and video by Retiring Guy

Mad City Mitsubishi now occupies the Travel Lodge site.




The Travel Lodge came to an ignominious end.

Robbery suspect.  (Wisconsin State Journal, 5/22/1991; all articles accessed via Newsbanks)
Police were seeking a man who robbed the Travel Lodge Motel, 910 Ann St., of an undetermined amount of money early Tuesday, Madison police reported.

Youth, 18, is arrested on second crack charge.  (Capital Times, 6/12/1991)
Myles bailed out of jail on that charge, but was arrested again after a maid allegedly discovered cocaine June 7 while cleaning a room Myles was using at the Travel Lodge at 910 Ann St.

Jailed man may be murder suspect.  (Wisconsin State Journal, 4/12/1992)
When police were called to the Travel Lodge, 910 Ann St., at noon Friday to check on a drunk man, Officer Jerry Goehring recognized the drunk man as fitting the description of Carroll.

Aerial view then (1981)

Aerial view now

Other Madison Then and Now posts:
2019
Madison General Hospital.  (6/11/2019)
State and Francis streets.  (6/10/2019)
UW-Madison Agriculture Hall.  (6/3/2019)
The Edgewater Hotel   You don't mess with a classic art moderne building.  (6/2/2019)
North and south of the Beltline and east of West Towne Mall.  (4/30/2019)
North and south of the Beltline in the West Towne Mall area.  (4/2/2019)
Beltline, Whitney Way, Odana Road, and University Research Park.  (3/5/2019)
652 State Street.  (3/5/2019)

2015
City-County Building.  (9/1/2015)
Veterans Administration Hospital. (8/27/2015)
The Red Gym:  When will the unobstructed view return?  ()7/22/2015)
UW-Madison College of Agriculture.  (7/22/2015)
Wisconsin State Historical Society.  (7/21/2015)
UW-Madison Memorial Union.  (7/21/2015)

2013
240 West Gilman.  (9/6/2013)
North Carroll Street between West Johnson and West Gorham.  (9/5/2013)
East Mifflin & North Pinckney.  (8/30/2013)

GET ME REWRITE: Her resume very thin of late, Jessica Biel uses the vaccine fight to get herself back into the spotlight


See all her illustrious credits at iMDb

Reported in Jessica Biel Weighs In on Vaccine Fight, Drawing Fierce Pushback.  (The New York Times, 6/13/2019)

Scott Walker's legacy: Heartless bastard



'I believe in forgiveness': Gov. Tony Evers re-launches pardon board. (Wisconsin State Journal, 6/13/2019)
The state Constitution grants the governor the power to pardon individuals convicted of a crime, which Wisconsin governors from both parties have traditionally used. Walker, however, declined to do so. 
The board will make recommendations to Evers on whom he should grant a pardon. 
Under Evers’ executive order announced Thursday, those convicted of a felony may apply for a pardon if they finished their sentence at least five years ago and haven’t committed new crimes. Those required to register on the sex offender registry are ineligible for a pardon.

More on Scott Walker's legacy:
December 2018
The first 3 chapters:  environment, transportation, corrections. (12/12/2018)
Chapter 4:  Wisconsin families can't afford basic necessities edition.  (12/12/2018)
Chapter 5:  Scott Walker's shameful legacy: The black-white high-school graduation gap edition.  (12/12/2018)
Chapter 6. Scott Walker's shameful legacy (the higher education edition).  (12/13/2018)

January 2019
Taking credit where no credit is due.  (1/7/2019)
Not telling the whole story.  (1/7/2019)
Gliding over the disparities.  (1/7/2019)
Voter suppression.  (1/7/2019)
Teacher bashing compounded by cuts to education.  (1/8/2019)
Just fine and dandy with treading water over high school graduation rates.  (1/8/2019)
And then, to make matters worse, he apparently hacks his son's Twitter account.  (1/9/2019)
Dear Scott Walker, You forgot to mention this part of "OUR LEGACY".  Best, Retiring Guy.  (1/12/2019)
Scott Walker's toxic legacy: "Power to the people" hypocrisy" (Taking away local control).  (1/12/2019)
Pay to play the groundwater contamination way.  (1/12/2019)
Addicted to political slogans.  (1/12/2019)
The Lincoln Hills/Copper Lake youth prison scandal.  (1/16/2019)
Blaming his predecessor.  (1/19/2019)
Fast-tracking bills, stifling public participation.  (1/23/2019)

February 2019
UW Regents as campaign donors' club.  (2/8/2019)
Act 10, not working. (2/15/2019)
Scott Walker environmental legacy UPDATE: Little to no review, lax enforcement, more contaminated groundwater.  (4/22/2019)

April 2019
Frac sand nightmare.  (4/25/2019)
Chapter 6 UPDATE.  State Higher Education Executives Officers Association confirms Scott Walker's shameful higher education legacy. (4/26/2019)The destructive legacy of Governor Scott "We're # 1" Walker: the 30 billion pound milkman.  (4/27/2019)

May 2019
The piggy bank otherwise known as WEDC.  (5/14/2019)
Giving children with complex mental health needs the shaft edition).  (5/17/2019)

June 2019
Scott Walker's legacy UPDATE: Achieves jobs creation pledge in 8 years instead of 4.  (6/8/2019)

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Population loss in rural Arkansas: Phillips County


Population loss as in major -- 50% or more.  

Source:  Wikipedia (Phillips County, Helena-West Helena)


Helena-West Helena is the county seat of Phillips County.

Population loss by degrees:  80-89%70-79%, 60-69%, 50-59%.



Percentage of population 25 and older with a bachelor's degree:
  • 11.3% - Phillips County
  • 22.0% - Arkansas
  • 30.9% - U.S.
Percentage of population 65 and older:
  • 18.3% - Phillips County
  • 16.6% - Arkansas
  • 15.6% - U.S.

Phillips County has voted for a Republican candidate for president just once -- in 1972, Richard Nixon.

Pro football notes: Only in Green Bay Wisconsin would a 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1800-square-foot home previously owned by a former coach be headline news



Blasko, who was assistant offensive line coach, offered the house at 7742 Ava Hope Trail, Ledgeview, for $319,900 in February. It sold for $285,000.

Dennis Falber (1950-2019) Warren Area High School class of 1968



1968 Dragon yearbook

1967 Warren City Directory
  • Falber B W emp Sylvania r RD 1 Clarendon
1983 Warren City Directory  
  • Falber Bernard & Pamela D; emp G T E Sylvania h125 Mohawk Avenue
  • Falber Dennis & Shawna; sls rep Warren Hearing Aid Center h6 Pennsylvania Avenue West Apt 6

The popularity of Dennis is graphed here.  Let's take a look at Bernard.


Bernard enjoyed a respectable run during the 1st half of the 20th century, spending 47 years (1900-1945, 1947) in the top 100, peaking at #45 in 1919 and 1921.  A long, slow decline accelerated in the 1990, and he fell off the chart after 2008.

Other class of '68 members:
2019
Karen Sidon White.  (4/18/2019)

2018
Kenneth Dunham.  (5/1/2018)
Matt Voigt.  (2/27/2018)
Dean Backstrom.  (2/26/2018)
Michael Curren.  (2/23/2018)
Dennis Brown.  (1/12/2018)

2017 
Judy Berdine.  (12/4/2017)
Rose Armogast Filiatrault.  (11/2/2017)
Cathryne Stewart Solock.  (5/11/2017)
Douglas Peterson.  (3/7/2017)

2015
Mary Lou Slack Schumann Hotaling.  (9/17/2015)
William Leonard.  (2/7/2015)

2014
Douglas Coates.  (12/29/2014)
Jennifer Robinault Morell.  (9/6/2014)
Jacquelyn Johnston Malone.  (7/31/2014)
Janet Vavala Smith.  (3/25/2014)

Greetings from Newburg, Wisconsin, which sports a deeper shade of red in the state's most conservative county



The majority of its residents, 1157 out of 1254, live in Washington County.  And there's no difference in the way they vote.



Bice: Supervisor Deanna Alexander to earn $6,000 per month as interim chief for tiny village.  (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/12/2019)
Alexander's predecessor as Newburg's administrator resigned abruptly last month in an ethics dispute. The village's deputy clerk and treasurer also handed in her resignation.

Related reading:
Newburg administrator, treasurer resign abruptly.  (West Bend Daily News, 5/17/2019)
The resignations follow months of upheaval in Newburg. Rena Chesak, Newburg’s recently installed village president, was censured by a local ethics commission last month after she’d been accused of violating village policy while serving as a village trustee last year.

GET ME REWRITE: Amoral, corrupt lowlife donald trump will steal the damn election if he has to



President Donald Trump: If foreign governments have dirt on 2020 election rivals, 'I think I'd take it'.  (USA Today, 6/12/2019)

Related reading:
After Trump: The Next U.S. President’s ‘To Do’ List for Repairing the Damage.  (World Politics Review, 4/10/2019)
  • First, repair the alliances and partnerships that Trump has undermined in Europe, Asia and North America 
  • Second, rebalance America’s partnerships in the Middle East. 
  • Third, reenter the multilateral fold.
  • Fourth, formulate a coherent strategy toward China.

And that's just on the international front.

According to Merriam-Webster, the first known use of 'lowlife' occurred in 1902.

Other coinages from the same year include:

  1. destructivity
  2. end run
  3. fritz
  4. grift
  5. head-scratcher
  6. no-trump
  7. playpen
  8. septic tank
  9. three-ring circus
  10. zowie

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Population loss in rural Arkansas: Lee County


Population loss as in major -- 50% or more.  

Source:  Wikipedia (Lee County, Marianna)

Marianna is the county seat of Lee County.

Population loss by degrees:  80-89%70-79%, 60-69%, 50-59%.



Percentage of population 25 and older with a bachelor's degree:
  •   8.4% - Lee County
  • 22.0% - Arkansas
  • 30.9% - U.S.
Percentage of population 65 and older:
  • 19.2% - Lee County
  • 16.6% - Arkansas
  • 15.6% - U.S.

Lee County has voted for a Republican candidate for president just once -- in 1972, Richard Nixon.


Related reading:
Widespread Racial Violence Persists in Eastern Arkansas Farming Area.  (The New York Times, 10/10/1971)
MARIANNA, Ark.—A notion is going around, mostly in the North, that the race issue is fading away in the South. The people of eastern Arkansas know better. 
During the last year, a 50‐mile stretch of Arkansas's richest cotton and soybean country across the Mississippi River from Memphis has seen one black man shot to death by white policeman, 10 blacks and whites injured by gunfire in three towns, numerous others beaten with clubs, tire tools and fists, and several buildings damaged by arson.

Other population loss series:

Michael Phillips (1948-2019) Warren Area High School class of 1966



1966 Dragon yearbook


1967 Warren City Directory
  • Phillips Leon C (Anna M) foreman Hunkin-Conkey Construction h425 Buchanan
  • Phillips Michael student r425 Buchanan
1983 Warren City Directory

The popularity of Michael as a baby name is graphed here.  Let's take a look at Leon.

SourceSocial Security Administration Popular Baby Names

Leon was a consistent performer during the first half of the 20th century, spending 43 years (1900-1942) in the top 100, peaking at #73 in 1926.  After a long, slow decline, he turned things around in 2006 and has since moved up 286 places on the chart.

Other members of the class of '66:
2018
Sue Ellen Strandbert Nazario.  (11/25/2018)
Frank Chiaravalloti.  (9/21/2018)
Howard Johnson.  (8/3/2018)
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)

Record heat not a San Francisco treat



San Francisco soars to 100 degrees as record heat wave roasts California and the West Coast.  (Washington Post, 6/11/2019)
The epicenter of broiling conditions is California, where records have fallen from south to north. San Francisco Airport soared to a record high of 100 degrees Monday, which is its earliest instance hitting the mark and its hottest June temperature, by two degrees. 
About 45 million people are under a heat advisory or excessive heat warning for a third straight day Tuesday because of an unusually strong area of high pressure lodged over the region.

Related posts:
June 2019
Atlanta, Geogia.  (6/5/2019)
Record heat in Pakistan and India.  (6/4/2019)

April 2019
Australia suffers through record hot March.  (4/2/2019)

March 2019
Seattle's record-breaking winter heat.  (3/19/2019)
UPDATE: Central Florida's record-setting February heat.  (3/2/2019)

January 2019
Australia, scorched.  (1/16/2019)
2018: Hottest year ever for Australian state of New South Wales.  (1/11/2019)
Sea surface temperatures around New Zealand hottest ever in 2018, further threatening marine life.  (1/11/2019)
GET ME REWRITE: Prague experiences hottest year on record for third time this decade.  (1/6/2019)

August 2018
Climate change as a matter of fact: Red-hot summer of record heat in Europe.  (8/18/2018)
UPDATE: July 2018 is hottest month ever in California.  (8/18/2018)

"Climate change?" asks Mary Colbert. "No, it's just the earth's birth pangs," she says, answering her own question.


Photo credit:  Mary Colbert


In response to Evan Goyke, Mark Born lets his dog whistle do the talking


Sources:  Statistical Atlas (18th Assembly District, 39th Assembly District)
U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts (Wisconsin)

Milwaukee leaders push back following heated exchange over child welfare services.  (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/11/2019)
At issue was the Republican plan to cut a total of $14 million in shared revenue to Milwaukee County in 2020 and 2021 to offset increased state costs associated with the county's child welfare services. 
Those services are administered by the state through the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families Division of Milwaukee Child Protective Services, whereas county governments in the rest of the state administer those services at the cost to their taxpayers.

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Say goodbye to the Essen Haus


Photos by Retiring Guy

Developer proposes major mixed-use project for Essen Haus site in downtown Madison.  (Capital Times, 3/25/2019)
After several unsuccessful attempts to redevelop the aging Essen Haus German restaurant, along with the surrounding properties on East Wilson Street, a new developer is proposing a mixed-use development with about 250 apartments on the downtown Madison site.

Developer downsizes initial plans for Essen Haus block after neighborhood, city feedback.  (Capital Tiems, 4/24/2019)
Vernacular architecture?  The plans were altered to save four houses on South Blair Street. Lance McGrath, owner of the McGrath Property Group, confirmed in an email that demolishing those houses is no longer on the table.