Friday, June 10, 2022

Once again, David Brooks shows off his irrelevancy, this time with a myopic generational meme

 

It's not 1973 anymore, David.

Headline:  New York Times, 6/8/2022
Sorry, boomers, but this is not the Watergate scandal in which we need an investigation to find out who said what to whom in the Oval Office.

Carl Paladino: Hitler is "the kind of leader we need today"


HeadlineNew York Times, 6/9/2022
“He would get up there screaming these epithets and these people were just, they were hypnotized by him,” he said in the interview, resurfaced by the left-leaning watchdog group Media Matters. “I guess, I guess that’s the kind of leader we need today. We need somebody inspirational. We need somebody that is a doer.”

Yup, a 'doer'. 


GET ME REWRITE: Matt Gaetz shills for the NRA

 

Rating:  NRA-PVF
Headline:  Florida Politics, 6/9/2022
“If you back red flag laws as some reflexive response to some emotion that you have, you betray your voters,” Gaetz said in remarks addressed to Republicans in the U.S. Senate during a U.S. House committee hearing last week. “You are a traitor to the Constitution, the Second Amendment, the Fifth Amendment; you do nothing to make mass shootings less likely and you put a target on the back of your constituents.” 
The hearing was held in response to the mass shooting at a school in Uvalde, Texas that left 19 fourth graders and two adults dead. Gaetz’s remarks were aimed at his own GOP Senators, Republicans Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, who support a bill encouraging states to adopt their own red flag laws

Eleanor Wester Larsen (1936-2022) Warren High School class of 1954

 

1954 Dragon yearbook

Source:
Peterson Blick Funeral Home

1967 Warren City Directory 
  • Larsen Charles L (Eleanor M) mechanic Midtown Motors
  • Wester Enar A (Bertha E) lab technician Wester Laboratory h213 Madison Avenue
     1983 Warren City Directory
    • Larsen Charles L & Eleanor M) maintenance man New Process h33 Follett Run Road
    • Larsen Eleanor M employee Whirley Industries h33 Follett Run Road
    • Wester Bertha E) retired h213 Madison Avenue


    The popularity of Eleanor as a baby name updated


    What comes around goes around.  In the 20th century, Eleanor peaked at #25 in 1920.  After bottoming out at #693 in 1986, she has managed to recapture her former glory 100 years later and is now at her peak position of popularity.


    Other members of the class of 1954 (37):

    2022

    2021

    Elizabeth Ann Pasquino Deck.  (2/22)
    Beatrice Brown Bines.  (1/26)

    2019
    Margaret Eaton Watts.  (10/30)
    Mary Alice Morse Akif.  (10/1)
    Sally Nelson Metzger.  (8/1)
    Phoebe Marie Jewell Ahlgren.  (4/29)
    David Neal Redmond.  (3/4)

    2018
    Roberta Cable Anderson.  (11/3)
    Patrick Michael Sheehan.  (9/19)
    Charles Salerno.  (3/19)
    Joan White Wood.  (2/12)
    Janet Lauffenberger Day.  (2/11)

    2017
    Georgeanne Pappas Kornreich.  (11/27)
    Anita Miller Smith.  (10/25)
    Michelene Figliuzzi Colgrove.  (6/1)
    James Hornstrom.  (3/9)
    Richard Latimer.  (1/31)
    Guard Pierce.  (1/24)

    2016
    Thomas Gray.  (10/16)
    Franklin Ristau.  (4/21)
    Robert Johnson.  (8/10)
    Phillip Stewart.  (2/20)

    Thursday, June 9, 2022

    Putting San Mateo County California's average of new Covid cases in perspective


    San Mateo County ranks 39th among 58 California's counties in percentage increase of new cases during the past 14 days.
     
    Covid stats:  New York Times (and below with arrows added)
    Headline:  San Jose Mercury News, 6/9/2022

    Vaccines work!
    Related posts:
    Adams County WI.  (5/12/2022)
    Alameda County CA.   (6/3/2022)
    Aroostook County, ME.  (5/20/2022)
    Barron County WI.  (5/16/2022)
    Berkshire County MA.  (5/13/2022)
    Dane County.  (5/18/2022 update)
    Hampshire County MA.  (5/13/2022)
    Kenosha County WI.  (5/17/2022)
    La Crosse County WI.  (5/16/2022)
    Milwaukee County.  (5/7/2022)
    Monroe County WI.  (5/16/2022)
    New York City.  (5/19/2022 update)
    Orleans Parish LA.  (5/13/2022)
    Racine County WI.  (5/17/2022)
    Rusk County WI.  (5/16/2022)
    St. Louis County MN.  (5/24/2022)
    Sawyer County WI.  (5/17/20 22)
    Shawano County WI.  (5/12/2022)
    Vernon County WI.  (5/16/2022)
    Warren County PA.  (5/17/2022)
    Wisconsin.  (5/7/2022)

    Meet Louie Gohmert, Clown King of the Gomers on Capitol Hill

     

    Headline:  Yahoo News, 6/8/2022
    Gohmert complained in a House floor speech that Democrats “sure don’t want to hear any more about prayers” as a solution to the issue. 
    “They’re disgusted hearing about prayers,” he said. 
    “Look, maybe if we heard more prayers from leaders of this country instead of taking God’s name in vain, we wouldn’t have the mass killings like we didn’t have before prayer was eliminated from school,” he added.

     

    Original 12/30/2020 post starts here



    All in for religious bigottry


    A one-man/one-woman kinda guy


    No friend to the environment



    Wisconsin State Journal app notifications: If it bleeds, it leads

     


    Favorite sheet pan recipe from the New York Times

     






    Around Town Madison: He went to Jared, too late

     

    Photo by Retiring Guy

    Meanwhile, Jared is losing its cachet as a baby name.

    GET ME REWRITE: Looney Tunes Moms for Liberty receive pushback from Kurt Vonnegut Museum


    HeadlineFlorida Today, 6/8/2022
    Moms for Liberty in Brevard has challenged 41 books in school libraries, including Slaughterhouse-Five and The Kite Runner. The chapter believes some of the books violate state pornography laws and others might be available to students too young to understand them. Adam Tritt, a Bayside High AP English teacher, set up an online fundraiser to get frequently challenged books in students’ hands. 
    Julia Whitehead, founder and CEO of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library in Indianapolis, said the museum will send up to 1,000 books, and more if they receive donations. Interested students or their parents can contact info@vonnegutlibrary.org for a copy, according to the letter. Though the letter states Bayside High students can receive the books, Whitehead confirmed to FLORIDA TODAY any Brevard student or parent is eligible.

    Meanwhile, the group's collective frothing at the mouth has boosted sales of Slaughterhouse-Five, which was originally published in March 1969.

    Source:  Amazon (red box added)


    6/4/2022 update, "Homophobic Brevard County Florida Moms for Liberty on antigay crusade', starts here.

    Headline:  Vice, 6/2/2022

    STEPFORD WIVES SHOW TRUE COLORS
    A conservative group behind the recent push to ban books on LGBTQ+ topics from public libraries has recently entered the next phase of their mission: pushing public school libraries across the country to accept book donations from conservative publishing companies that promote white supremacist, homophobic, and transphobic ideologies. 
    Moms for Liberty, a group known for intimidating school officials and engaging in aggressive behavior at school board meetings, recently began its “Moms for Libraries campaign, which promises to stock school libraries with conservative and anti-LGBT books. The campaign has received support from anti-LGBTQ+ publishers like BRAVE Books, which has been widely criticized for its anti-transgender picture book Elephants Are Not Birds. Ben Carson’s American Cornerstone Institute has also pledged to donate 500 copies of his Christian children’s book Why America Matters to the group.

    5/18/2022 update starts here

    Top headlineTreasure Coast Palm, 5/17/2022
    Bottom headlineWPBF, 5/17/2022

    5/13/2022 update, " Racist, homophobic, anti-intellectual Moms for Liberty discover Kurt Vonnegut", starts here.

    Headline:  ClickOrlando, 5/11/2022
    The Brevard chapter of Moms for Liberty has submitted a fourth list of library books deemed inappropriate for minors, this time calling out instances of “racially divisive” rhetoric, LGBTQ themes, references to abortion and criticism of Christianity in addition to the explicit sex scenes that dominated the first lists. 
    The latest list includes a book that sometimes appears in late high school reading lists — Slaughterhouse-Five, a satirical blend of anti-war literature and science fiction by Kurt Vonnegut. The book is the first classic novel Moms for Liberty in Brevard has disputed, according to News 6 partner Florida Today.

    Moms for Liberty:  Stepford Wives of the GOP
     



    5/8/2022 update, " Racist, homophobic Moms for Liberty member finds much to dislike in Florida math textbooks", starts here.

    HeadlineDaily Kos, 5/7/2022
    Apparently the review panel also included parents with no credentials in education. Like Chris Allen, a member of the so-called “Moms for Liberty” “conservative” group. 
    “I wish they could’ve seen the information I saw,” Chris Allen told the Herald on Friday, speaking to the possible disparities between her responses and those of other reviewers.

    5/1/2022 update, "Racist, homophobic Moms for Liberty launch 'Gender Queer" to #2 on Amazon graphic novels best sellers list", starts here.

    Headline:  New York Times, 5/1/2022
    “It’s not a First Amendment issue, this is not going against L.G.B.T.Q. groups, we’re citing it for sexually explicit content,” said Jennifer Pippin [pictured above], a nurse in Sebastian, Fla., and the chairman of Moms for Liberty in Indian River County, where “Gender Queer” was banned from school libraries last fall after Pippin filed a complaint. 
       

    4/24/2022 update, "A sea of white faces otherwise known as racist Moms for Liberty", starts here.

    Notice how they insert two women of color into the frame?  (Red arrow)



    4/17/2022 update, "Racist Moms for Liberty will fight to the death to keep this book off library shelves", starts her.

    Top headlineNational Memo, 11/15/2021
    Bottom headline:  Wisconsin State Journal, 4/17/2022

    National Memo excerpt:
    Moms for Liberty, a conservative "parental rights" organization strategically harassing school board members, teachers, and administrators across the country, is deeply tied to anti-civil rights advocacy. Beyond opposing education about the history of racism in America, the organization also recommends reading an American history book by a far-right conspiracy theorist that is sympathetic to slave owners, and the co-founder of the organization actively opposed desegregation efforts while formerly serving on her school board.

    4/14/2022 update, "Brevard Chapter Moms for Liberty Ashley Hall gives a master class in GOP hypocrisy", starts here.

    The disclaimer listed on their Facebook page does not specifically point out the LGBTQ community, but states they reserve the right to refuse service that “would require the entity to engage in conduct that conflicts with its owners’ sincerely held religious beliefs.” All of the negative reviews are only related to refusal of service from same sex couples. Whether or not the venue allows ceremonies of couples with children out of wedlock, previous divorces outside of adultery, criminal history, or any other actions viewed as sins in the Christian religion is unclear.  [emphasis added]
     

    4/4/2022 update, "Retiring Guy expects racist Moms for Liberty to demand Colin Kaepernick book be banned before it hits the library shelves", starts here.




    4/2/2022 update, "Welcome to another episode of Moms for Liberty Looney Tunes," starts here

    Headline from Fox Business, 3/30/2022
    "That's striking language from a company that makes things for children," the Moms for Liberty co-founder told Fox News Digital regarding Disney's promised appeal to the legislature and courts. "They're going to come in as a corporation and interfere?"
    It's not just Disney.



    But then Disney probably makes the best fundraiser target for her troglodytic purposes.


    3/17/2022 update starts here

    Indian River Moms for Liberty take one on the chin.

    Superintendent David Moore referred to the process and decision to keep most of the books in school libraries as “legally sound” after parents criticized the language used in the books, which they attempted to read aloud during the public-comment portion of the meeting. 
    The board on Feb. 28 voted to keep 151 of the challenged books based on recommendations from Moore and a committee of all district media specialists who deemed the five banned books inappropriate for students in any grade.

    2/26/2022 update starts here

    TCPalm, 2/26/2022
    "Libraries are open thought. Libraries are a place for diverse thoughts and ideas," Myhre said. 
    But Jennifer Pippin, who leads the Indian River County chapter of Moms for Liberty, said the group wants them removed. State law prohibits pornography and sexually explicit material in K-12 schools, she said.   
    "Our whole agenda is to remove this sexually explicit material from the libraries," she said. The books contain references to incest, rape, oral and anal sex and bestiality, she said. 
    "It's just really, really disgusting," Pippin said. 

     

    Which sums up what Moms for Liberty chapters are doing all over the country. 

     



    Wednesday, June 8, 2022

    What's the matter with Tennessee? Well, one-man clown show Stewart Parks, for one

     

    Headline:  LGBTQ Nation, 6/6/2022

    Moral of the story: Work with a frenzied, frothing, armed crowd

     

    Top headlineBuzzFeed News
    Bottom headline: Wisconsin State Journal

    Better yet, have the support of the world's biggest megalomaniac.

    New York Times, 1/9/2021

    In the news: "persuadable" voters put Doug Mastriano's candidacy in peril

     

    Headline: U.S. News and World Report, 6/7/2022
    Polling by Priorities USA, a Democratic SuperPAC, found that Democrats would lose narrowly to Republicans among targeted voters when people were simply asked if they wanted a Democrat or a Republican in office. On that generic ballot question, Republicans got 44% of the surveyed – which include battleground state persuadable voters and those who are at least somewhat unmotivated to vote this fall – while Democrats got 41% support. That small difference could be pivotal in Senate and gubernatorial races in those states. 
    But when Trump and his Make America Great Again agenda are brought into the picture, it brightens for Democrats, the polling found. When those polled were asked to choose between a Democrat who supports President Joe Biden and a Republican who supports the MAGA movement, 37% chose the Democrat and 30% picked the Republican. 
    The divide was even bigger when it got more personal: Asked if they'd prefer a Democrat who supports Biden or a Republican who supports Trump, those polled preferred the Democrat to the Republican, 41% to 31%.

    Not lookin' good for Dougie


    GET ME REWRITE: Wisconsin GOP Attorney General candidate and Sidney Powell wannabe puts on her best clown face at debate

     

    Headline:  Wisconsin State Journal, 6/7/2022
    Mueller, a conservative lawyer who has not garnered much publicity in the race, used her opening statement Tuesday night to make false claims that hospitals routinely killed COVID-19 patients for profit and that COVID-19 vaccines have killed tens of thousands of people. 
    “Not since Nazi Germany have we seen the level of human experimentation that has been going on in this country,” Mueller said of her plans to investigate the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. 
    Research into COVID-19 vaccines has shown that they are safe and effective at preventing hospitalization and death. COVID-19 has killed more than 1 million Americans over the past two years.
     

    Original 3/31/2022 post, "Wisconsin GOP Attorney General primary now officially a clown show', starts here.

    Wisconsin has its very own Sidney Powell.


    Excerpt from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 3/31/2022 (top headline):

    Karen Mueller is joining the race's Republican primary after unsuccessfully suing in November 2020 to overturn the presidential election result and writing a memo in January supporting state Rep. Tim Ramthun's call to decertify the election, an analysis that has been widely circulated among decertification supporters. Other attorneys and legal experts have concluded the idea is impossible and illegal. 
    Mueller said in an interview she is launching a campaign in order to investigate six Wisconsin hospitals for their doctors' decisions to not administer ivermectin to COVID-19 patients. She would not disclose the names of the hospitals or reveal details of her allegations.
    Other sources:
    NPR, 3/30/2022.  (Ivermectin)
    Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 3/24/2022.  (Gableman)

    GET ME REWRITE: Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney blatantly plays the race card at Wisconsin GOP Attorney General candidates debate

     

    Headline:  Wisconsin State Journal, 6/8/2022

    Eric Toney welcomes you to the Milwaukee Plantation.
    Toney, the Fond du Lac County district attorney, also blamed prosecutors in Milwaukee for ongoing jumps in violent crime, and lobbied for a longtime campaign proposal of his to give the Department of Justice original jurisdiction over violent crime in the state’s largest city. 
    Milwaukee County saw 205 homicides last year and 197 homicides in 2020 compared to 106 in 2019, according to Wisconsin Department of Justice data. 
    “Violent crime in Milwaukee bleeds across Wisconsin, and we need to be in control of Milwaukee to protect the rest of our state,” Toney remarked.  [emphasis added]

    GET ME REWRITE: Trio of lapdogs on Wisconsin Supreme Court consistently follow orders from Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce


    In a 4-3 decision — with conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn siding with the court’s three liberal justices, Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Dallet and Jill Karofsky — the court ruled against Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s largest business organization. WMC filed the lawsuit in October 2020 after Gov. Tony Evers and the state Department of Health Services announced plans that summer to release information pertaining to positive COVID-19 cases at businesses in order to comply with public records requests from media outlets. 
    “The issue is whether the public records law’s general prohibition on pre-release judicial review of decisions to provide access to public records bars WMC’s claims,” Dallet wrote for the majority. “We conclude that it does, and therefore affirm the court of appeals’ decision.”


    7/11/2020 update, "Majority of Wisconsin Supreme Court justices do what they're paid to do (the sleazy saga continues)", starts here



    7/5/2020 update starts here


    Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds lame-duck laws stripping power from governor, AG.  (Capital Times, 7/9/2020)

    December 2018 extraordinary session when lawmakers and outgoing Republican Gov. Scott Walker acted to increase the Legislature’s oversight of the administration by giving lawmakers the power to sign off on some court settlements, intervene in legal challenges to state laws, suspend administrative rules multiple times and more. 
    The state's top Democrats slammed the ruling and Republicans for championing the laws in the first place.

    Original 5/14/2020 post starts here.

    Meet the lapdogs of the Wisconsin GOP and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce


    The ruling immediately lifts all restrictions on businesses and gatherings imposed by the administration's order but keeps in place the closure of schools until fall. It comes after Evers had already begun lifting some restrictions because the spread of the virus has slowed for now.

    Related reading:
    WMC Gets Blowback On Supreme Court Hijacking.  (Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, 6/28/2008)
    WMC, Greater Wisconsin Top Outside Spenders in High Court Race.  (Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, 3/30/2018)
    Last-Minute Laws Took Democrats’ Power. Court Says That’s Fine.  (The New York Times, 6/21/2019)
    Wisconsin Supreme Court sides with Enbridge, WMC.  (Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, 6/28/2019)
    Top Wisconsin Court Sides With Republicans on ID Rules for Absentee Voters.  (Courthouse News Service, 3/30/2020)
    Pandemic power grab.  (Isthmus, 5/6/2020)