Saturday, September 28, 2019

UW-Madison: A look behind the headline


Wisconsin State Journal, 9/25/2019


Reported in More retirees and fewer young people set stage for workforce dilemma, Wisconsin Policy Forum report says.  (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/20/2019)
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Meet Trump administration swamp thing David Bernhardt, Interior Secretary



Reported in The Interior Secretary Wants to Enlarge a Dam. An Old Lobbying Client Would Benefit.  (The New York Times, 9/28/2019)

Other Bernhardt post:
Welcome to Donald Trump's literally toxic presidency.  (3/27/2019)

Related posts:
2019
What is the opposite of 'drain the swamp'?  (1/25/2019)
The latest Trump swamp thing.  (1/18/2019)

2018
The Trump Swamp is full of lobbyist-related critters.  (7/18/2018)
What is the opposite of drain the swamp?  (5/14/2018)
Swamp thing Scott Pruitt and his lobbyist buddy ride the Marrakesh Express.  (5/2/2018)
UPDATE. Dear Coral and Lisa, Analysts? How about 'anti-environment Republican' and 'energy industry shill'?  (4/29/2018)
No drainage here UPDATE: Scott Pruitt fills the swamp a 24/7 gushing hose.  (4/3/2018)

2017
Like a swamp after an extended downpour, Donald Trump's Washington D.C. is flooding.  (11/15/2017)
Siding with Wall Street, GOP continues to fill the swamp.  (10/25/2017)
Trump administration plans to flood the for-profit colleges swamp.  (10/1/2017)
UPDATE. More than 4 months into his presidency, Trump blathers about draining the swamp.  (6/8/2017)
Swamp critter of the Trump administration: Geoffrey Burr, Dept. of Transportation chief of staff.  (6/7/2017)
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Red (really red) but not totally into that Trump's America thing: Midland County, Texas (Permian Basin)


Source:  Wikipedia (Midland County, Midland)


Midland is the county seat of Midland County.

Source:  U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts

The members of the Midland County Board of Commissioners are 100% white.


% of population 25 and older with bachelor's degree:
  • 26.8% - Midland County
  • 28.7% - Texas
  • 30.9% - U.S.
% of population 65 and older:
  • 10.3% - Midland County
  • 12.6% - Texas
  • 15.6% - U.S.
% of population living in poverty:
  • 10.7% - Midland County
  • 14.7% - Texas
  • 15.6% - U.S.

Source:  Wikipedia
3rd party votes: 19.5% in 1992, 6.5% in 1996, 4.5% in 2016
(George Wallace received 24.5% of the vote in 1968.)

Midland County voter turnout in the 2018 midterm election was 48%, compared to 53% in the entire state of Texas and 49.3% nationwide.  (2014 midterm election turnout in Midland County was 33%.)

Other "Red but not totally into this Trump's America thing" posts:
Colorado.  Jefferson County.  (3/9/2019)
Florida.  Duval County.  (3/14/2019)
Georgia.  Cherokee County.  (3/10/2019)
Georgia.  Fayette County.  (3/10/2019)
Georgia.  Forsyth County.  (3/10/2019)
Kansas.  Johnson County.  (3/9/2019)
Minnesota.  Carver County.  (3/9/2019)
North Carolina.  Union County.  (9/9/2019)
Ohio.  Delaware County  (3/8/2019)
Texas.  Collin County.  (9/21/2019)
Texas.  Denton County.  (9/22/2019)
Texas.  Ector County.  (9/27/2019)
Texas.  Montgomery County.  (9/25/2019)
Texas.  Williamson County.  (9/25/2019)
Wisconsin.  Ozaukee County.  (3/8/2019)

Related series:
Blue zone sees Trump as con man
Greetings from Trump's America
Not Trump's America

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Uh-oh, this can't be good news



ABC News, 9/27/2019

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Population loss in Texas: Comanche County/Comanche


It all started here.

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

Source:  Wikipedia (Comanche County, Coleman)


Comanche is the county seat of Comanche County.

Population loss by degrees:  80-90%, 70-79%, 60-69%, 50-59%.


Source:  U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts

Percentage of population 25 and older with a bachelor's degree:
  • 18.6% - Comanche County
  • 28.7% - Texas
  • 30.9% - U.S.
Percentage of population 65 and older:
  • 24.3% - Comanche County
  • 12.8% - Texas
  • 15.6% - U.S.
% of population living in poverty:
  • 15.0% - Comanche County
  • 14.7% - Texas
  • 12.3% - U.S.

The last time Comanche County voted for a Democratic candidate for president was 1996.  Trump received 82.7% of the vote in 2016, the highest for any GOP presidential candidate.
Other Texas population loss posts:
Wheeler County/Wheeler.  (9/12/2019)
Donley County/Clarendon.  (9/13/2019)
Collingsworth County/Wellington.  (9/13/2019)
Childress County/Childress.  (9/14/2019)
Hall County/Memphis.  (9/14/2019)
Briscoe County/Silverton.  (9/15/2019)
Floyd County/Floydada.  (9/15/2019)
Motley County/Matador.  (9/16/2019)
Cottle County/Paducah.  (9/16/2019)
Foard County/Crowell.  (9/17/2019)
Hardeman County/Quanah.  (9/17/2019)
Wilbarger County/Vernon.  (9/18/2019)
Cochran County/Morton.  (9/18/2019)
Dickens County/Dickens.  (9/19/2019)
King County/Guthrie.  (9/19/2019)
Knox County/Benjamin.  (9/20/2019)
Baylor County/Seymour.  (9/20/2019)
Red River County/Clarksville.  (9/21/2019)
Throckmorton County/Throckmorton.  (9/21/2019)
Haskell County/Haskell.  (9/22/2019)
Stonewall County/Aspermont.  (9/22/2019)
Kent County/Jayton.  (9/23/2019)
Lynn County/Tahoka.  (9/23/2019)
Borden County/Gail.  (9/24/2019)
Fisher County/Roby.  (9/24/2019)
Shackelford County/Albany.  (9/25/2019)
Delta County/Cooper.  (9/26/2019)
Eastland County/Eastland.  (9/26/2019)
Coke County/Robert Lee.  (9/27/2019)
Runnels County/Ballinger.  (9/27/2019)
Coleman County/Coleman.  (9/28/2019)

Population loss series:
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Population loss in Texas: Coleman County/Coleman


It all started here.

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

Source:  Wikipedia (Coleman County, Coleman)


Coleman is the county seat of Coleman County.

Population loss by degrees:  80-90%, 70-79%, 60-69%, 50-59%.


Source:  U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts

Percentage of population 25 and older with a bachelor's degree:
  • 14.4% - Coleman County
  • 28.7% - Texas
  • 30.9% - U.S.
Percentage of population 65 and older:
  • 25.0% - Coleman County
  • 12.8% - Texas
  • 15.6% - U.S.
% of population living in poverty:
  • 25.2% - Coleman County
  • 14.7% - Texas
  • 12.3% - U.S.

The last time Coleman County voted for a Democratic candidate for president was 1992.  Trump received 87.2% of the vote in 2016, the highest for any GOP presidential candidate.
Other Texas population loss posts:
Wheeler County/Wheeler.  (9/12/2019)
Donley County/Clarendon.  (9/13/2019)
Collingsworth County/Wellington.  (9/13/2019)
Childress County/Childress.  (9/14/2019)
Hall County/Memphis.  (9/14/2019)
Briscoe County/Silverton.  (9/15/2019)
Floyd County/Floydada.  (9/15/2019)
Motley County/Matador.  (9/16/2019)
Cottle County/Paducah.  (9/16/2019)
Foard County/Crowell.  (9/17/2019)
Hardeman County/Quanah.  (9/17/2019)
Wilbarger County/Vernon.  (9/18/2019)
Cochran County/Morton.  (9/18/2019)
Dickens County/Dickens.  (9/19/2019)
King County/Guthrie.  (9/19/2019)
Knox County/Benjamin.  (9/20/2019)
Baylor County/Seymour.  (9/20/2019)
Red River County/Clarksville.  (9/21/2019)
Throckmorton County/Throckmorton.  (9/21/2019)
Haskell County/Haskell.  (9/22/2019)
Stonewall County/Aspermont.  (9/22/2019)
Kent County/Jayton.  (9/23/2019)
Lynn County/Tahoka.  (9/23/2019)
Borden County/Gail.  (9/24/2019)
Fisher County/Roby.  (9/24/2019)
Shackelford County/Albany.  (9/25/2019)
Delta County/Cooper.  (9/26/2019)
Eastland County/Eastland.  (9/26/2019)
Coke County/Robert Lee.  (9/27/2019)
Runnels County/Ballinger.  (9/28/2019)

Population loss series:
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Friday, September 27, 2019

Red (really red) but not totally into that Trump's America thing: Ector County, Texas (Permian Basin)


Source:  Wikipedia (Ector County, Odessa)


Odessa is the county seat of Ector County.

Source:  U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts

% of population 25 and older with bachelor's degree:
  • 15.0% - Ector County
  • 28.7% - Texas
  • 30.9% - U.S.
% of population 65 and older:
  •   9.7% - Ector County
  • 12.6% - Texas
  • 15.6% - U.S.
% of population living in poverty:
  • 13.5% - Ector County
  • 14.7% - Texas
  • 15.6% - U.S.

Source:  Wikipedia
3rd party votes: 18.8% in 1992, 8.9% in 1996, 3.5% in 2016
(George Wallace received 35.3% of the vote in 1968.)

Ector County voter turnout in the 2018 midterm election was 40%, compared to 53% in the entire state of Texas and 49.3% nationwide.   It's called the Beto effect.  (2014 midterm election turnout in Ector County was 21%.)

Other "Red but not totally into this Trump's America thing" posts:
Colorado.  Jefferson County.  (3/9/2019)
Florida.  Duval County.  (3/14/2019)
Georgia.  Cherokee County.  (3/10/2019)
Georgia.  Fayette County.  (3/10/2019)
Georgia.  Forsyth County.  (3/10/2019)
Kansas.  Johnson County.  (3/9/2019)
Minnesota.  Carver County.  (3/9/2019)
North Carolina.  Union County.  (9/9/2019)
Ohio.  Delaware County  (3/8/2019)
Texas.  Collin County.  (9/21/2019)
Texas.  Denton County.  (9/22/2019)
Texas.  Montgomery County.  (9/25/2019)
Texas.  Williamson County.  (9/25/2019)
Wisconsin.  Ozaukee County.  (3/8/2019)

Related series:
Blue zone sees Trump as con man
Greetings from Trump's America
Not Trump's America

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Retiring Guy doesn't recall Speaker Robin Vos objecting to members of the Wisconsin State Assembly being sworn in on Rosh Chodesh Sh'vat (Monday, January 7, 2019)


Source:  Hebcal..com


Source:  Ballotpedia

Not a peep from Ken, either.


Robin Vos requests Tony Evers reschedule special election, citing Jewish holiday.  (Wisconsin State Journal, 9/27/2019)
Rabbi Jonathan Biatch, with Madison's Temple Beth El, said Hanukkah does not come with the same restrictions as the Jewish community's more sacred festival days. 
Biatch said members of the Jewish community cannot drive or use electricity during five sacred holidays during the year and on Shabbat, which is held every Saturday. Such prohibitions don't exist for Hanukkah, he added. 
"That's wonderful that he recognized it, but the fact is we don't have religious restrictions on those days. Voting is not a problem on those days," Biatch said.

Nor does he recall any objections to these conflicts.

Sources:  Wisconsin State Legislature, 2019 Jewish holidays, 2020 Jewish holidays
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Oh, please! The only thing Scott Walker works to advance is himself.


@ScottWalker

And maybe his son's potential run for Congress a little bit.  Though we haven't heard much from him about this lately.  (The blowback must have been vicious.)

According to Merriam-Webster, the first-known use of 'blowback' occurred in 1954.

Other coinages from the same year include:
  1. boonies
  2. bragging rights
  3. far-out
  4. full-on
  5. plugola
  6. time warp
  7. wheeler-dealer
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Recommended reading for Sandra Adell



Sandra Adell: Racism in 'The Book of Mormon' isn't funny.   (Guest column in the Wisconsin State Journal, 9/27/2019.
I’m sure that most of the people in the audience that night would not describe themselves as racists. They were there to enjoy an entertaining evening at an award-winning Broadway musical. But I wonder if any of them thought afterward that, even for satire, this show goes way over the line.

Yes, Sandra, I agree. This show goes way over the line, as the playwrights Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Robert Lopez intended.  I laughed my ass off when I saw it during its 2015 Overture run.

The musical is what has frequently been called an "equal opportunity offender".

The Baltimore Sun, 10/31/2015
Cast members in the national touring production of the ever-so-subversive Broadway musical "The Book of Mormon" have been known to ask each other after a performance: "Did we lose anyone today?" 
They don't mean onstage. 
When the show returns to Baltimore on Tuesday for a two-week run at the Hippodrome Theatre, where it broke a house box office record in 2014, some attendees may be first-timers. And that means an unsuspecting soul or two might bolt prematurely, shocked by what goes on in this send-up of Mormonism and a whole lot more. 
"You have to learn to leave your political correctness at the door," says actor James Vincent Meredith. "This isn't for everybody."

Deseret News, 6/30/2015
The popularity of this satire has done nothing to diminish the popularity of its intended target, and anecdotal stories abound of how this musical unwittingly serves as an effective ambassador for the Mormon cause. 
Yet given that premise, most of the controversy that still surrounds this musical focuses on whether or not Mormons should find this show offensive. Well, yes, they should. 
But not because they're Mormons. They should be offended because they're human beings. 
To be fair, I haven't seen the show.

San Diego Reader, 5/30/2014
The Book of Mormon is an equal opportunity offender. If something somewhere in the show doesn’t tick you off, you’re either comatose or your head’s too full of texting/tweeting.

About Sandra Adell:
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Dear Robin Vos, You get what you pay for. Best, Retiring Guy


Screenshot from one His Vosness's email blasts

Scottholes
Twitter

Lack of CAFO oversight/contaminated groundwater
Green Bay Press Gazette

Troubled, scandal-plagued juvenile corrections system
Lots more here

Act 10/cuts to education/teaching bashing/teacher shortage
Photo by Retiring Guy
(Capital Times)

And this is just a start.

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)
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)
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)
Heartless bastard.  (6/14/2019)
Scott Walker's legacy UPDATE: The Lincoln Hills/Copper Lake youth prison scandal.  (6/21/2019)

September 2019
Act 10 puts rural school districts in an even deeper hole.  (9/3/2019)

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Population loss in Texas: Runnels County/Ballinger


It all started here.

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

Source:  Wikipedia (Runnels County, Ballinger)


Ballinger is the county seat of Runnels County.

Population loss by degrees:  80-90%, 70-79%, 60-69%, 50-59%.


Source:  U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts

Percentage of population 25 and older with a bachelor's degree:
  • 19.1% - Runnels County
  • 28.7% - Texas
  • 30.9% - U.S.
Percentage of population 65 and older:
  • 20.8% - Runnels County
  • 12.8% - Texas
  • 15.6% - U.S.
% of population living in poverty:
  • 17.3% - Runnels County
  • 14.7% - Texas
  • 12.3% - U.S.

The last time Runnels County voted for a Democratic candidate for president was 1964.  Trump received 85.9% of the vote in 2016, the highest for any GOP presidential candidate.
Other Texas population loss posts:
Wheeler County/Wheeler.  (9/12/2019)
Donley County/Clarendon.  (9/13/2019)
Collingsworth County/Wellington.  (9/13/2019)
Childress County/Childress.  (9/14/2019)
Hall County/Memphis.  (9/14/2019)
Briscoe County/Silverton.  (9/15/2019)
Floyd County/Floydada.  (9/15/2019)
Motley County/Matador.  (9/16/2019)
Cottle County/Paducah.  (9/16/2019)
Foard County/Crowell.  (9/17/2019)
Hardeman County/Quanah.  (9/17/2019)
Wilbarger County/Vernon.  (9/18/2019)
Cochran County/Morton.  (9/18/2019)
Dickens County/Dickens.  (9/19/2019)
King County/Guthrie.  (9/19/2019)
Knox County/Benjamin.  (9/20/2019)
Baylor County/Seymour.  (9/20/2019)
Red River County/Clarksville.  (9/21/2019)
Throckmorton County/Throckmorton.  (9/21/2019)
Haskell County/Haskell.  (9/22/2019)
Stonewall County/Aspermont.  (9/22/2019)
Kent County/Jayton.  (9/23/2019)
Lynn County/Tahoka.  (9/23/2019)
Borden County/Gail.  (9/24/2019)
Fisher County/Roby.  (9/24/2019)
Shackelford County/Albany.  (9/25/2019)
Delta County/Cooper.  (9/26/2019)
Eastland County/Eastland.  (9/26/2019)
Coke County/Robert Lee.  (9/27/2019)

Population loss series:
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