Saturday, June 3, 2023

Day 945 of GOP election denier hysteria (Trump Big Lie Clown Show Circus, Arizona edition)

 
Meet the stars of the
ATTACK Of the Clown Show zombies
 
Starring Pinal County (AZ) Board Chair
Jeff Serdy
HeadlineVotebeat Arizona, 5/25/2023
Still, three supervisors – all Republicans representing the GOP-leaning fast-growing suburban county just southeast of Phoenix – told Votebeat Wednesday they want to see if it would be feasible to hand-count ballots instead of using machines. That’s despite the fact that hand-counting ballots has repeatedly been proven to be far less accurate and efficient than counting ballots by machine, according to numerous studies and election experts across the country. [emphasis added] 
The supervisors, like many across the state and county, have been hammered by months of requests from residents who want the county to hand-count ballots because of false claims about vote switching that have swirled since the 2020 election. 
Supervisors Chairman Jeff Serdy told Votebeat on Wednesday that the county is planning to do a trial hand-count using a sampling of ballots cast by voters in 2022 “to see how it would go.”

How not to use ChatGPT

 
HeadlineNew York Times, 5/27/2023
When Avianca asked a Manhattan federal judge to toss out the case, Mr. Mata’s lawyers vehemently objected, submitting a 10-page brief that cited more than half a dozen relevant court decisions. There was Martinez v. Delta Air Lines, Zicherman v. Korean Air Lines and, of course, Varghese v. China Southern Airlines, with its learned discussion of federal law and “the tolling effect of the automatic stay on a statute of limitations.” There was just one hitch: No one — not the airline’s lawyers, not even the judge himself — could find the decisions or the quotations cited and summarized in the brief. That was because ChatGPT had invented everything. 
The lawyer who created the brief, Steven A. Schwartz of the firm Levidow, Levidow & Oberman, threw himself on the mercy of the court on Thursday, saying in an affidavit that he had used the artificial intelligence program to do his legal research — “a source that has revealed itself to be unreliable.”

Related posts:
Fact-checking Bard.  (5/22/2023)
A conversation with HAL (aka Bard).  (5/21/2023)

GET ME REWRITE!! Wisconsin State Embarrassment Glenn Grothman blows on the GOP's favorite racist dog whistle

 
Headline:  Mediaite, 5/30/2023
For whatever reason, the people [who] put together this bill, knew we needed work requirements for SNAP [but] they said we shouldn’t have them for Medicaid, which kind of, I predicted. But they left low-income housing untouched. I think as far as discouraging work and discouraging marriage, I think low-income housing is even a more dangerous program than the food stamps. 
So, I’m including low-income housing in the mix of having work requirements. The amendment is drafted to include Section 8 housing, which is an error on my part because there are other low-income housings as well. But that’s what we have before us.

The list of inanities goes on and on and on.....
His brain as immovable as a boulder, Glenn Grothman confesses hes stuck in the past when it comes to same-sex marriage.  (12/22/2022)
After January 6, 2021, GOP shows off its 'soft on crime' side (Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin edition).  (10/12/2022)

Ripon newspapers calls out Wisconsin Embarrassment Glenn Grothman.  (8/24/2021)

2019
Might hurt in the short term? Wisconsin has led the U.S. in farm bankruptcies three years running.  (9/3)
Ripon Commonwealth Press editorial writer tells us what we already know about Glenn Grothman.  (8/29)
Government welfare for me but not for thee (the updated edition).  (8/19)
"We're all minorities in America".  (7/22)
How hard up do you have to be to ask Glenn Grothman to be your commencement speaker? (5/22)
Glenn Grothman falls on his knees after Trump State of the Union bloviating.  (2/7)
Trump fanboy Glenn Grothman pimps for Mexico border wall.  (1/25)
Meet the 7 House critters who voted against back pay for federal workers.  (1/13)
Glenn Grothman starts the 116th Congress where he left off in the 115th: Enhancing his clown bona fides.  (1/5)
Back in the news with more inanities.  (1/4)

July-Dec 2018
Glenn Grothman, dedicated follower of political fashion, fills us in.  (11/10)
"Good guy' Greg Gianforte sends Glenn Grothman a check.  (11/2)
When you know you're at the bottom of the GOP food chain: Eric Trump headlines Glenn Grothman rally.  (10/31)
Stamp to a letter, birds of a feather clown show: Gushing over Greg Gianforte, both Donald Trump and Glenn Grothman say "that's my kind of guy".  (10/19)
As the election approaches, Glenn Grothman's babbling intensifies.  (10/6)
Dear voters of Wisconsin's 6th congressional district, this gibberish should convince you this clown should be kicked out of office.  (9/27)
Get me rewrite. More than just tweets: Everything about Trump encourages Democrats and independents to sweep gomers like Glenn Grothman out of office.  (8/9)
Dear Glenn Grothman, Repeat after me: YALTA.  (7/23)
Dear Glenn Grothman, Does this mean you don't support Donald Trump's military parade?  (7/19)

Jan-Jun 2018
Could we please, please, get rid of this clown?  (6/21)
Glenn Grothman in so many words:  The ruination of America is people with darker skin tones.  (1/27)
Glenn Grothman shares etiquette advice on KFIZ.  (1/19)
Memo to Glenn Grothman: Next time you see Donald Trump, give him a great big kiss, mwah!  (1/18)
UPDATE: The demented clown, otherwise known as Glenn Grothman, returns to the topic of Al Sharpton at MLK event.  (1/18)
Newspaper editorial calls out Glenn Grothman for his (a) mispresentation or (b) lie.  (1/11) 
Glenn Grothman cries on the shoulder of his favorite KFIZ deejay. (1/9)

Jul-Dec 2017
Our resident clown Glenn Grothman tells just half of the story.  (12/24)
Like Vermin Supreme, Glenn Grothman believes that there should be free ponies for all Americans.  (12/15)
A letter sent without fear of retribution.  (12/3)
The insightful Glenn Grothman was talking to a gal.  (11/22)
Dear Dan Kohl, If you substitute 'clownish' for 'partisan', the arrow moves hard right.  (11/9)
The malevolent conservatism and clownish inhumanity of Glenn Grothman.  (10/25)
Glenn Grothman sets a ridiculously low bar regarding hurricane aid to Puerto Rico.  (10/24)
Glenn Grothman demands that a border wall be built.  (8/31)
Here's something on which Glenn Grothman and I agree.  (8/10)
Glenn Grothman wants us all to die.  Or not to fly.  (7/20)
Short-term memory loss and The Glenn Grothman 24/7 Clown Show.  (7/15) 
Steady drip-drip-drip inside Glenn Grothman's head vs. steady drip-drip-drip of evidence Russian collusion.  (7/13)

Apr-Jun 2017
Glenn Grothman gives a big thumbs up to Pennsylvania's congressional districts.  (6/22)
Glenn Grothman on the Paris Accord:  The blithering goes on.  (6/7)
Dear Glenn Grothman, Not that anyone is listening to you.  (6/5)
Oh, yeah, I just bet he does.   (6/1)
It's bromance time for Glenn Grothman, sez Greg Gianforte seems like a good guy.  (5/26/2017)
At Glenn Grothman's groan-inducing town hall.  (5/2)
51 U.S. House members implore Trump to legalize LGBT discrimination.  (4/27)
At KFIZ, everybody loves a clown.  (4/17)
Wishful thinking: Glenn Grothman does a little Mick Jagger at the podium during Sheboygan listening session.  (4/11/.

Jan-Mar 2017
What DO they think of Glenn Grothman on Capitol Hill?  (1/31/2017)
Not a Muslim ban, Glenn Grothman? The numbers indicate otherwise.  (1/31/2017)
Glenn also loves to run into the reassuring arms of Vicki McKenna; she normalizes his nuttiness.  (3/28)

2016
The conservative values of Glenn Grothman, straight shooter and exemplary public servant.  (10/30)
GOP donor and Neenah realtor pens letter to editor, praises Glenn Grothman.  (10/28)
Well, Glenn Grothman, looks as though Donald Trump and Paul Ryan won't accompany Mr. Gumpy on his outing.  (10/20)
Meet the 3 Stooges who introduced Donald Trump at yesterday's rally in Green Bay.  (10/18)
Likely to be other reasons why Trump and Glenn Grothman's relationship might be "less than perfect".  (10/13)
Glenn Grothman raises GOP specter of black bogeyman Al Sharpton.  (7/14)
Recommended reading from Glenn Grothman.  (3/3)
Once again, Grothman does the blah blah blah.  (1/13)

2015
Tea Party alert: Glenn Grothman supports increase in federal gas tax.  (12/29)
Glenn Grothman's moving service.  (11/16/2015)
Glenn Grothman: Still trying to get to 'yes' with Paul Ryan.  (10/18/2015) 
Dear Glenn Grothman, Breaking up is hard to do.  (10/17/2015) 
He's a guy, and has access to 'all machines that one would need'.  (9/29/2015) 
Meet the Members of the Republican Study Committee: Glenn Grothman (R-WI, 6th District).  (8/18/2015)
What about seeing the light, Representative Grothman?  (8/11/2015)
Glenn Grothman's gibberish in full flower.  (7/1/2015)
Rep. Glenn Grothman puts corporate personhood first.  (6/23/2015)
Glenn Grothman Finds His Voice in Washington, D.C. (6/19/2015)
Glenn Grothman goes seriously bland on us.  (5/12/2015)
Glenn Grothman's lips are zipped.  (4/9/2015)
Glenn Grothman Speaks the Language of the Godfather of states' rights.  (1/13/2015)

2014
Glenn Grothman, Quiet Man.  (10/12/2014)
Tom Petri returns the favor to Glenn Grothman.  (9/5/2014)
Wisconsin's 6th Congressional District primary: Less than 12% of voters paid attention.  (8/24/2014)
Hey guys and gals, Scott Walker is not 100% convinced that Glenn Grothman can win the 6th CD. (8/23/2014)
Career politician Glenn Grothman moves one step closer to Wisconsin's 6th Congressional District general election.  (8/22/2014)
To the tune of $692,000.   (8/14/2014)
Glenn Grothman:  A man without a mandate.  (8/14/2014)


Foxconn/Lordstown Endurance partnership: And the hits just keep on coming

 
From Motor Trend, no less.

Screenshot from 2020 video by Retiring Guy
Headline:  Motor Trend. 6/2/2023
What's the least efficient electric vehicle in America right now? This is a rhetorical question, clearly. The EPA's just rated the Lordstown Endurance, and it's bad news for a company that really didn't need any bad news. After all, the investment from Foxconn that essentially saved the operation is now unraveling, threatening the tenuous dribble of Endurance production. And now, the few trucks that the company has been able to make are saddled with some truly dismal range and efficiency figures. 
This is a problem for the fleet-oriented buyers that Lordstown is courting, who are driven by the cold calculus of purchase and running costs, and who have options from now from serious and established players.

Other Foxconn and Foxconn/Lordstown posts:
2023

2022

2021
GET ME REWRITE: Yes, Foxconn's $100 milion pledge to UW-Madison was nothing more than a cynical election ploy by Scott Walker.  (8/11)
The mysteries of Foxconn (season 2).  (5/12)
The collapse of Donald Trump's '8th Wonder of the World'.  (4/20)

2020
Apparently, that's not what Scott Walker heard.  (12/19)
Just wondering what else in this Foxconn op-ed is off the mark.  (11/17)
GET ME REWRITE: Two gullible guys from Racine County still believe anything Foxconn tells them.  (10/23)

Keeping tabs on Foxconn Place in
Eau Claire
Green Bay
Madison
Milwau

Friday, June 2, 2023

GET ME REWRITE!! It's all over town, Lordstown's Endurance lacks endurance


The auto industry press is all over this debacle. 

Screenshot from 2020 video by Retiring Guy

Other Foxconn and Foxconn/Lordstown posts:
2023

2022

2021
GET ME REWRITE: Yes, Foxconn's $100 milion pledge to UW-Madison was nothing more than a cynical election ploy by Scott Walker.  (8/11)
The mysteries of Foxconn (season 2).  (5/12)
The collapse of Donald Trump's '8th Wonder of the World'.  (4/20)

2020
Apparently, that's not what Scott Walker heard.  (12/19)
Just wondering what else in this Foxconn op-ed is off the mark.  (11/17)
GET ME REWRITE: Two gullible guys from Racine County still believe anything Foxconn tells them.  (10/23)

Keeping tabs on Foxconn Place in
Eau Claire
Green Bay
Madison
Milwau

Headline News: The rich are still getting richer

 
HeadlineWisconsin State Journal, 5/31/2023
After ballooning for years, CEO pay growth is finally slowing. 
The typical compensation package for chief executives who run S&P 500 companies rose just 0.9% last year, to a median of $14.8 million, [emphasis added] according to data analyzed for The Associated Press by Equilar. That means half the CEOs in the survey made more and half made less. It was the smallest increase since 2015. 
Still, that's unlikely to quell mounting criticism that CEO pay has become excessively high and the imbalance between company bosses and rank-and-file workers too wide.

Related posts:

GET ME REWRITE: USA is world champ when it comes to Covid deaths


Graphs (box added):  New York Times
Headline:  Governing, 6/2/2023
America lost more lives to COVID-19 than any other country in the world, despite spending the biggest share of its GDP on health.

As of 6/2/2023, Madison Public Library has a copy of the report on order.


For a personal take on living ithrough Covid, read Retiring Guy's 'Covid Chronicles'.

Wisconsin Official Highway Map Now and Then (Green Bay)

 
1947 map:  University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (The above is a 
scan from Retiring Guy's personal copy)

Hagerty, 1/16/2019
In 1904, mapmaker Rand McNally had printed its first automobile road map, “New Automobile Road Map of New York City & Vicinity.” Three years later, the company undertook publication of the Photo-Auto Guides from Gardner Chapin. The guide combined maps and photos with arrows to indicate turns. There was also Thomas Bros. Maps, established in 1915 in Oakland, California, by cartographer George Coupland Thomas and his two brothers. Thomas developed a unique page-by-page grid system of mapping that eliminated the need for a folding map. McNally loved it. By 1924, Rand McNally’s Auto Chum appears, the first edition of what becomes Rand McNally Road Atlas.


Related post:
Madison.  (6/1/2023)
Milwaukee.  (6/1/2023)

Day 944 of GOP election denier hysteria (Trump Big Lie Clown Show Circus, Wisconsin edition)

 
Meet the stars of the
ATTACK Of the Clown Show zombies
 
Starring Wisconsin queen of election deniers
Janel Brandtjen
HeadlineWisPolitics. 5/31/2023
“I hope Wolfe will not survive the Senate confirmation process. Senators should recall the 2021 Legislative Audit Bureau’s damning report of incompetence.” Administrator Wolfe also manufactured the guidance of illegal drop boxes and allowed a vote to keep special voting deputies from nursing homes and senior housing.
Lots more here about this whackjob that even GOP legislative leaders have abandoned.

Thursday, June 1, 2023

GET ME REWRITE!! Ron DeSantis visits lily-white Marion County during presidential campaign kickoff in Iowa


Trump received 66% of the vote in 2020, the most ever for any Republican presidential candidate.  


New York Times, 5/31/2023
“I don’t like to see them battle and do smear campaigns,” said Jay Schelhaas, 55, a professor of nursing who came to see Mr. DeSantis on Wednesday in Pella, Iowa. An evangelical voter, he said he was undecided on whom to support in 2024 after backing Mr. Trump in his two past presidential runs.

Welcome to 'right-leaning' diversity at the Washington Post op-ed page


6 white guys and 2 tokens (as in sense 5

Headline:  Washington Post, 6/1/2023

Brainstorm of Chris Suelllentrop, Politics Opinion Editor
I confess I didn’t invite George F. Will, because I figured he writes exclusively in taut 750-word increments. But I gathered the rest of the right-leaning — though not, in the minds of a vocal subset of our readers, right-thinking — columnists at Post Opinions for a conversation over email about the state of the 2024 Republican presidential primary.

GET ME REWRITE!! Milwaukee Journal Sentinel subscribers treated to fill-in-the-blank headline

 

Related posts: 
2023
More guns, more carnage (Kansas City edition).  (1/3)

2022
GUN CRAZY collage: More guns, more gun violence.  (series)
GUN CRAZY collage: More gun sales = more gun deaths.  (8/13)
Gun crazy in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin: Library board votes to allow guns inside the building.  (7/17)
Look in the mirror, Janel; you're the problem.  (4/5)

2021
Sunday doubleheader: (Gun Nonsense League)  (6/6)
USA!!! USA!!! USA!!! We're boogying our way to doomsday.  (5/30)

Wisconsin Official Highway Map Now and Then (Madison)

 
1947 map:  University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (The above is a 
scan from Retiring Guy's personal copy)

But with smartphones loaded with GPS and vehicles armed with display screens and a voice that guides every turn, merge and crossing, the need for a folded, paper map would seem to be in its final days. Only that’s not the case. 
The state Department of Transportation has released, for the first time since 2019, its newest state highway map. And while there is a digital version, the state has also printed 310,000 copies and expects to print another 340,000 to meet demand before the next map comes out in 2025.

Related post:

Your Wisconsin GOP: Bashing public education, promoting discrimination, part 3

 
Headlines:  Wisconsin Public Radio, 11/29/2022; 
Wisconsin Watch, 5/31/2023 

From Wisconsin Watch:
In theory, the families of children with special needs have many choices. But not in practice. 
Such students could apply to attend a private school with the help of a taxpayer-subsidized voucher, a program that enrolls 52,000 Wisconsin students. But such private schools also are allowed to expel students with disabilities if officials determine they cannot meet that child’s needs. 
Charter schools elsewhere have been accused of denying entrance to students with disabilities — due to the cost of accommodations or for fear of lowering test score averages.

Related posts:
May 2023
Family leave freakout.  (5/23/2023)

April 2023

March 2023

February 2023
Wisconsin GOP leadership fights crime and inflation by ignoring Black priorities and promoting voter suppression.  (2/15)
Wacky white Wisconsin GOP boys club once against demonstrates its inability to govern.  (2/12)

2022
Wisconsin GOP shows off the diversity of its legislative leadership.  (12/21)
With another heated Wisconsin election around the corner, Republicans delude themselves into thinking they can defuse abortion as an issue.  (12/7)
It took all of 15 seconds for these 6 white guys -- the Wisconsin GOP legislative leadership -- to slam the door on reproductive rights.  (10/4)
Reproductive rights? Fuggedaboudit! What else would you expect from these Wisconsin GOP Gomers? (8/27)
Distrust of elections? What about contempt for Wisconsin's all-white, all-male GOP leadership?. (3/28)
Apparently, the all-white, all-male Wisconsin GOP leadership must think they're something special.  (3/8)