Saturday, March 10, 2018

"Environmental Problems Increase in SE Wisconsin While the Racine Water Utility Acts Without Proper A... "

Dear County Board,

It appears that out of control and loudmouth Village President David DeGroot is not only having his way, but is being allowed by former environmental champion City of Racine Mayor Cory Mason, Special Needs Governor Scott Walker and State Rep “Boss” Robin Vos to force an environmental and financial disaster down the throats of Residents of SE Wisconsin!


Please join Cindy and I is JUST SAYING NO to allowing Governor Scott Walker, Representatives Robin Vos,  Cory Mason & MTP President David DeGroot to violate the Wisconsin Constitution (and their Oath of Office) by granting special rights to Corporate interests, stealing people’s property, destroying multi-generational Farms alongside an entire long established Community, loosening environmental protections, permitting heavy metals water pollution, instituting slave labor wages, providing taxpayer subsidies to multi-billionaire Corporations, and politician overreach. 

Sincerely,

Tim & Cindy

"Florida's 2016 'Officer of the Year' arrested after feces, guns, drugs allegedly found in his 'disgusting' home"

Brevard County Deputy Nicholas Worthy was fired from his job and arrested Thursday after police searched his home.  (FOX35) 
A former U.S. Army Ranger who won the Florida Sheriffs Association’s 2016 “Law Enforcement Officer of the Year” award has been fired from his job as a deputy after authorities found feces, guns, drugs and assorted garbage strewn about his “absolutely disgusting” home.
Bevard County Deputy Nicholas Worthy and his live-in girlfriend, Rachel Trexler, were arrested Thursday after police searched the Rockledge property where they lived with their 2-year-old child and three dogs.
"The house was in complete disarray. There was dog feces all over the house, there were firearms, ammunition, other types of trash and food," said Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey. "Also found was a small amount of drugs that was inside the home and inside a vehicle."
Worthy – who has since been fired -- and Trexler are both facing charges of child neglect and possession of cocaine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Worthy left Brevard County Jail after posting a $5,000 bond on Thursday, according to FOX35. The status of Trexler, who was also taken to Brevard County Jail, wasn't immediately clear Friday.
The child was taken by the Florida Department of Children and Families and the trio of dogs are now being looked after by Brevard County Animal Services.
Ivey said officials were called to the home Wednesday night after a neighbor reported hearing gunshots. Police failed to make contact with the officer and returned the next morning with a search warrant.
After they forcibly entered the home, police found the conditions inside “absolutely disgusting” and “deplorable,” Ivey said, according to FOX35. He added evidence was found consistent with the gunshots that were reported.
"I can't tell you how absolutely disgusted I am over someone who worked for our agency that would live in those conditions and would certainly subject the child to those conditions," Ivey said. "There are 1,500 members of this agency that get it done right every day, out protecting our community and representing our agency, and to have somebody do this is unacceptable to me, and quite frankly, unacceptable to our profession.”
The arrest and charges are a stunning fall from grace for Worthy, a native of the area who joined the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office in 2012 following a tour in Afghanistan two years earlier. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal of Valor for his actions overseas, the Florida Sheriffs Association said.

The organization gave him their “Law Enforcement Officer of the Year” award in 2016 for his response to two incidents the year before.
In February 2015, they said he and two other deputies broke a bedroom window at a burning home in Cocoa and carried a resident to safety.
“After a full inspection, it was found that the fire was arson set with the intentions of trapping the occupant inside,” the Florida Sheriffs Association said. “Without the heroic actions of Worthy and his colleagues, the victim certainly would not have survived.”
A month later, Worthy responded to the same area and took out an “individual who was shooting into houses, randomly going through a neighborhood and shooting into houses,” Ivey said.
“As he arrived on scene, the individual turned on him, started firing on him,” FOX35 quoted Ivey as saying at the time. “He was forced to use lethal return fire to eliminate the threat.”
“It is clear to tell that whether serving Brevard County or our Nation at large, Nicholas Worthy is one of the few who are willing to run toward danger instead of away,” the Florida Sheriffs Association said when Worthy was given the honor.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/09/floridas-2016-officer-year-arrested-after-feces-guns-and-drugs-found-inside-his-disgusting-home.html

"John Anderson Seminole Wind"

"Disgraced Parkland Officer Lied, Radio Dispatch Recording Reveals"


As gunman Nikolas Cruz went on a rampage at Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, firing on students and teachers until his semiautomatic AR-15 jammed, Broward Deputy Scot Peterson cowered outside behind the safety of cover, "pointing his gun at nothing."

Peterson publicly stated that he thought gunfire was happening outside on campus, not inside the building - perhaps to justify not going in to stop the shooting which claimed 17 lives.
He lied.
Internal radio dispatches released by the Broward County Sheriff's Office Thursday reveal Peterson immediately focused on Building 12 and radioed that gunfire was happening "inside." 
What's more - Peterson warned his fellow officer to stay away - despite wounded students and staff inside who required assistance. Broward Sheriff's Office (BSO) policy requires deputies to engage an active shooter and eliminate the threat.
“Do not approach the 12 or 1300 building, stay at least 500 feet away,” shouted a panicked Peterson as people screamed in the background.

The timeline of events and audio recording of police radio chatter shed new light on the response by the BSO.
The records appear to support Broward Sheriff Scott Israel’s contention that Peterson, a longtime school resource officer, should have entered Building 12 to engage Cruz and try to prevent deaths. They also appear to show that other deputies may have refrained from rushing into the school at the direction of Peterson and a Parkland captain. The response by the agency has been the subject of national scrutiny, and is currently under review by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. -Miami Herald
BSO police union president Jeff Bell welcomed the release of the audio and timeline of events.
“It certainly backs up that he never went into the school,” Bell said of Scot Peterson. “At one point he says to keep back 500 feet. Why would he say that?”
Timeline of events via the Miami Herald
Cruz was dropped off at the school by an Uber at 2:19 p.m. Two minutes later, he entered Building 12. He began firing within 15 seconds. Peterson, at the time, was near the administration building.
At 2:22 p.m. the fire alarm was triggered, blaring throughout the entire campus. The first 911 call also went out, via Coral Springs emergency dispatch center.
“Be advised we have possible, could be firecrackers. I think we have shots fired, possible shots fired —1200 building,” Peterson radioed at 2:23 p.m.
At that moment, according to the video, Peterson arrived at the southeast corner of Building 12, where he appeared to remain “for the duration of the incident.” “We’re talking about the 1200 building, it’s going to be the building off Holmberg Road,” Peterson said frantically seconds later.
“Get the school locked down, gentlemen!” he shouted.
As the shots intensified, other deputies began racing to the scene, radioing in. One believed he heard shots by the football field, something Peterson mentioned in a statement released last month by his attorney, arguing that the school resource deputy thought shots were coming from outside the 1200 building.
“BSO trains its officers that in the event of outdoor gunfire one is to seek cover and assess the situation in order to communicate what one observes with other law enforcement,” Peterson’s attorney said.
But Peterson, according to the timeline and radio dispatches reviewed by the Miami Herald, remained focused on Building 12.
“All right... We also heard it’s by, inside the 1200,” Peterson said at 2:25 p.m.
Joseph DiRuzzo, Peterson’s attorney, did not respond to an email and a call to his office. Peterson resigned eight days after the shooting rather than be suspended without pay pending an internal affairs investigation.
As the shooting progressed, calls began “blowing up” the 911 call centers. Students were spilling out of the campus. Peterson radioed to make sure “no one comes inside the school.”
At 2:27 p.m., six minutes after Cruz went into Building 12, the shooting stopped. Cruz ditched his AR-15 in the third-floor stairwell and left.
Five seconds later, Peterson radioed for officers to “stay at least 500 feet away at this point.” A dispatcher repeated, “Stay away from 12 and 1300 building.”
Coral Springs officer Tim Burton had just arrived at Douglas High. At 2:28 p.m., he radioed out the first description of Cruz: “White male with ROTC Uniform Burgundy Shirt” — exactly what the shooter was wearing when he was arrested later. How Burton obtained the information was unclear from the timeline.
At 2:29 p.m., as officers began encountering wounded students, Burton met with Peterson outside Building 12.
The chaos continued. Deputies tried getting into Building 13 next door, but it was locked. A fleeing student appeared to be stuck in a fence; a deputy asked for bolt cutters. One deputy called for a command post to be set up.
“We need to get units in here so we can try to find this guy,” a deputy radioed.
At 2:31 p.m., BSO Capt. Jan Jordan, whose supervision of the response has also been scrutinized amid questions about whether she slowed police response by ordering a perimeter, speaks for the first time: “Do we have a perimeter set up right now and everyone cleared out of the school?”
“That’s negative,” a dispatcher responds.
It was at 2:32 — 11 minutes after the shooting began — that four Coral Springs officers and two BSO deputies made the first police entrance into the building, helping to “extract a victim.”
Jordan is back on the radio one minute later: “I want to make sure that we have a perimeter set up (unintelligible), all the kids are getting out, but we need to shut down around this school.”
By 2:35 p.m., officers were seen transporting a victim on a golf cart. One minute after that, 10 officers burst into Building 12 through an east-side entrance.
Down the street, Cruz had entered a Walmart and bought a drink at the Subway inside. At 3:40 p.m., a Coconut Creek officer saw Cruz and arrested him without incident. Cruz was indicted Wednesday on 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office released the timeline Thursday following weeks of mounting pressure to make the details of its police response public. The Miami Herald, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and CNN sued the agency last month to force it to release surveillance video outside of the 1200 building, and their lawyers argued in court Thursday that it was in the public interest to release the footage.
Also Thursday, the sheriff’s office released 911 calls received by dispatchers and police documents related to its handling of calls to Cruz’s various addresses detailing his family’s troubled domestic life.
The sheriff’s office tweeted about the case Thursday evening.
“BSO agreed in court today with the media that surveillance video from outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High should be released publicly. Legal exemptions block the release unless a judge approves. The judge took it under advisement and we hope for a ruling shortly.”

Open Blog - Weekend


Cool, but don't forget to do this before you go to sleep:

Friday, March 9, 2018

"WiGWAG: The 2018 Winter Olympics, a Trump supporter dating website, and more"

  • 0

Four for Fridays!

1)  What happened to Four for Fridays?

2)  How about Three for Thursdays?

3)  Six for Saturdays?

4)  Where is Jimmy Hoffa?

"Guy With Beer GETS TASED RUNNING FROM COP"

How long?

Link: https://arrestrecordsofracinewipublicofficials.wordpress.com/2018/03/09/scam-o-rama-lama-ding-dong-racine/

How long before the rivalry between the  privately financed brewery vs. the taxpayer funded Flynn’s brewery causes them to go *BUST*!  Not to mention the lack of regular customers in Downtown Racine? In addition to the ever increasing criminal charges related to drunk driving?

https://youtu.be/U-HKHX7oIpo

Good Faith trumps 4th Amendment Rights in WI – I thought I already presented this…. Poor ol’ George Meyers – insisting on his Constitutional Rights! He is OLD, FRAIL, and CONFUSED. Next time he does that, insisting on Rights, Probable Cause, Victim, Complainant, Due Process,  etc. etc. – he might get shot by the Cop he questioned/asserted because the Cop was annoyed – and justifiably so. Assertion of any so-called "Rights" - especially those found in the Governments Constitution, is dangerous and subject to Judicial interpretation, usually in favor of the Government !

Meanwhile…  The City of Racine is building Foxconn’s water supply and sewer systems, along with contracting  – at taxpayer expense –  WITHOUT APPROVAL! Just like an exploited Third World Nation!

“A question was asked about why a water pipeline is in the process of being built despite the DNR not granting Racine’s application.
“I don’t have an answer to that question,” Pfeiffer said. “They are not allowed to serve water unless they have a diversion application or would be in violation of state statutes. They’re not allowed to serve water even if those facilities are being built.

"More Scam - O Rama - Racine"



Dear City Alderpersons,
Surely this time it will be different, or so you complain.
I disagree.
When will the fruits of your deeds be reaped?
And IF NOT -
Sincerely,

Tim & Cindy

Open Blog - Friday


Shame on the Flintstones.  They pimped Winston cigarettes on their TV program.

Thursday, March 8, 2018

"HIV, syphilis cluster affecting at least 125 people discovered in Milwaukee"

From JSOnline:

"VEGAS SHOOTING COVER-UP?? NY Times - Complicit, Inept or ______ ?"

"Sink the Ships"

"In this lesson of history, philosopher and bestselling author Vox Day chronicles the migration of the Visigoths and the decision that faced the Roman Emperor. When should a nation refuse passage to a people in dire straits?"

"Yerkes Observatory closing after 100 years on lakefront"



  • WILLIAMS BAY — After more than a century of scientific exploration on the shores of Geneva Lake, the renowned Yerkes Observatory is ceasing operations.

    The University of Chicago, which owns Yerkes, announced today that it is closing the facility effective Oct. 1 and shifting all programs and services to Chicago.

    "Unfortunately operating Yerkes no longer makes sense for the university from a programmatic or cost standpoint," David Fithian, the university's executive vice president, said in announcing the closure.

    Opened in 1897, the Williams Bay observatory, with its giant telescopes, became the home of groundbreaking astronomical research. Famed scientists such as Edwin Hubble worked there, and Albert Einstein visited the observatory in 1921.

    Yerkes was home to the University of Chicago's astronomy and astrophysics department until the 1960s.

    In recent years, the Chicago university has invested in telescopes and observatories elsewhere, and Yerkes has played a diminishing role in the school's scientific research mission.

    "It is an important part of the history of the university," Edward Kolb, the school's dean of sciences, said in today's announcement. "And we hope it will become, in some form, a valuable resource to the surrounding community and visitors to the Lake Geneva area."

    The university said it would continue operations at Yerkes through the summer season, and it would honor existing commitments for programs there.

    After the closure Oct. 1, officials said, they have no specific plans for the property. According to today's announcement, the university intends to engage civic leaders in Williams Bay and the surrounding area in a dialogue on future possibilities for the lakefront site.

    "Drawing to a close our operations there," Fithian said, "is the first step in a collaborative process to determine the ultimate disposition of the buildings and property."
     
  • "10 Mind-Bending Paradoxes"

    Open Blog - Thursday


    You first.

    Wednesday, March 7, 2018

    "News of the Weird: Mar. 8, 2018"

    From The Shepherd Express:


    March 6, 2018
    4:42 PM

    Russian Dope
    As the 2018 Winter Olympics got underway—and athletes from Russia were forced to compete under the Olympic flag and be designated as “Olympic Athletes from Russia” (OAR) as punishment for systemic doping at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi—bobsledder Nadezhda Sergeeva proudly wore a t-shirt that read “I Don’t Do Doping.” But, on Friday, Feb. 23, Sergeeva became the second Russian athlete to fail a doping test (curler Alexander Krushelnitsky also failed a drug test). Sergeeva had been a vocal critic of the Olympic policy toward Russian athletes, telling Yahoo Sports: “If we are here, and we are clean, we should be able to walk under our flag.”

    Here Comes the Judge!
    District Judge Joseph Boeckmann, 72, took a personal interest in the young men who came through his courtrooms from 2009 to 2015 in Cross and St. Francis counties (Arkansas) with traffic citations or misdemeanor criminal charges. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that Judge Boeckmann routinely dismissed those charges pending completion of “community service”—which the judge would arrange through private phone calls with the men. The “service” amounted to providing sexual favors or allowing Judge Boeckmann to take pictures of them in “embarrassing positions; positions that he found sexually gratifying,” a court document revealed. Boeckmann, of Wynne, Ark., admitted to the charges in October and was sentenced Feb. 21 to five years in prison. Prosecutors had agreed to a lesser sentence in light of Boeckmann’s age, but U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker ordered the maximum sentence, saying, “(H)e acted corruptly while serving as a judge. That sets his crime apart.”

    Compelling Explanations
    On Friday, Feb. 9, the Texas Third Court of Appeals upheld the four-year prison sentence Ralph Friesenhahn, 65, of San Antonio received after his fourth DWI conviction in 2016, rejecting arguments from his lawyer, Gina Jones, that the state’s legal limit for alcohol concentration discriminates against alcoholics, who have a higher tolerance for liquor. “You’re not being punished for being an alcoholic,” Sammy McCrary, chief of the felony division for the Comal County criminal district attorney’s office, told the Austin American-Statesman. “It’s the driving that’s the problem.”

    Special Delivery
    At the beginning of February, several residents along a block in Marina, Calif., were hit by mail thieves. But the criminals probably didn’t know what hit them when they stole Rosalinda Vizina’s package. SFGate.com reported that Vizina, an entomologist, had ordered 500 live cockroaches for a study she’s working on. “I feel a little bad for the roaches in case they got smushed or tossed or something like that,” Vizina told KSBW. “For the thieves, I hope they went everywhere,” she added.

    Mullet Mania Down Under
    The mining town of Kurri Kurri, Australia, cut loose on Saturday, Feb. 24, with a new festival to draw visitors: Mullet Fest, a celebration of the infamous hairstyle and those who wear it. Local hairdresser Laura Johnson came up with the idea, which included contests (Junior Mullet and Ladies’ Mullet categories, etc.) and bands like The Stunned Mullets. Winner of the junior division prize, Alex Keavy, 12, told The Guardian: “It’s not a hairstyle, it’s a lifestyle.” He pledged to use his $50 prize to buy his girlfriend a pie. More than 180 contestants competed for Best Mullet of Them All. Meryl Swanson, the local Labor MP and a contest judge, said she was “looking for pride, people embracing the mullet, finding self-worth in it.”

    Wichita Windfall
    Christina Ochoa of Wichita, Kan., and her mom, Christy, explained to The Wichita Eagle that more than 50 $5 withdrawals Christina made from a Central National Bank ATM during a five-day period in mid-January were for a “money cake” she was making as a gift for someone. But the bank says the faulty ATM was dispensing $100 bills instead of $5 bills, and that Christina received $14,120 instead of $1,485. In a lawsuit filed on Monday, Jan. 22, the bank sought $11,607.36 (plus interest) it says is owed by Christina. The bank is also trying to seize two cars she bought during the same period—claiming that the $3,000 down payment for one of them was made up entirely of $100 bills.

    © 2018 ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

    Dear Madane Zoltar

    Dear Santa Claus,

    For Christmas, I would like You to punch the person in the face who cut me off in traffic yesterday.  I'm still very pissed off.  And he had a baby in the car without a child seat.

    Humph!

    Love,
    Madame Zoltar

    *********************

    My own yells of pain awoke me this morning.  I've had this moving pain in my left shoulder area for months.  Christ, I wonder what the neighbors think."Listen dear.  That crabby old man is finally getting some."

    I hate getting older, although my primary care physician said I'm tolerating it well.  It becomes the catch-all phrase for any and every thing he can't figure out.  I remember him blowing smoke up my mother's ass.  Now it's my turn.

    There's a new breed of weather robots that "learn" your patterns and then figures out the best way to negate such feelings.  It never ends.

    Bah, humbug!

    Stop waiting around for your Prince Charming to appear.  He's come and gone thousands of times.  They say the "plain Janes" are the best catches,  People who are not gorgeous still have needs.


    Mr. OrbsCorbs is probably catching up on a few facelifts.  Done with a stiletto.

    We'll call this a day so we can get back to helping rebuild the center.

    I love you all.

    "City of Racine - It's UNWINNABLE"

    STONES - Let it Bleed
     
     

    Open Blog - Wednesday


    I will forego posting the bad jokes this inspires.

    Tuesday, March 6, 2018

    "Creature from the Hack Lagoon"

    From The Shepherd Express:

     Home Advice Art for Art's Sake



    I’m Art Kumbalek and man oh man manischewitz what a world, ain’a? For starters, I’m having a hard time believing another month of March is upon us like your live-action news team on a flake of snow. The month that’s supposed to come on like a lion and go out like a lamb, or, show up like a lamb and then tear ass like a lion upon retreat; or is it go in like a lamb and come out like lamb chops? Fock if I can remember.

    Anyways, you may perhaps rejoice to learn that I’m cutting this essay off at the knees this week on account of the Daylight Saving Time crock-of-clock sneaking up this weekend to steal an hour from me. And let me tell you, at my age I don’t have a spare hour to pony up with no guaranteed payback. If I go deader than a doornail before October, I’m screwed out of 60 minutes, Jack, and I’m not going to let that happen.

    Yes sir, a portion of that lost hour was planned for whipping out a full-blown comprehensive essay and any time left over was to be devoted to finishing off the book-novel Finnegans Wake by the Irish guy what’s his-name. I started it some years ago but got sidetracked. I still got about a 600 pages to go, so please, no one tell me how it turns out, OK?

    But before I go, I ought to mention I heard that our President Trumpel-thinskin fired off a couple, three pretty good jokes the other day at the Gridiron Club dinner the other day, what the fock—the Gridiron Club, you may recall, being the longtime D.C. outfit for media types and assorted hangers-on.

    So I put on my thinking cap and thought of two that the orange circus peanut could use the next time he gets an invite to chow down with the enemy, or perhaps to regale his fellow cellmates when he finally winds up where he belongs:

    The police arrived and found a woman dead on her living room floor with a golf club next to her body. They asked the husbandwho had just returned from a really truly wonderful outing at one of my fabulous Trump golf courses“Is this your wife?”

    And the husband says, “Yes, that’s her all right.” The cops asked the husband if he had killed her, and the husband says, “I believe that I did.” Then the cops say, “It looks like you struck her eight times with this 3-iron. Is that correct?” And the husband says, “That’s technically true, but how ’bout you put me down for a five.” Ba-ding!

    Okey-dokey, abuse of women and cheating at golf. Our leader could sure deliver that story, ain’a?
    And this one:

    So I’m lying in bed with Melania and I say, “I am going to make you the happiest woman in the world.” And she says, “Oh, that’s nice. I’ll miss you.” Ba-ding!

    And now, the big finish: When you slide out of bed come Sunday morning and you realize you’ve been heisted of an hour, please remember the words of Sir Groucho Marx: “Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like bananas.” Focking-A, ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.

    "Numerous arrests at DACA rally including Bryce, Myers"

    From The Journal Times.com:

    http://journaltimes.com/news/local/numerous-arrests-at-daca-rally-including-bryce-myers/article_398a0a71-f0a8-5e00-9461-ba25c1a571df.html#tracking-source=home-top-story
    • 78 

    That 78 up there represents the number of comments.  Must be quite a battle.  It was 46 this morning.  I've stayed out of it.  Haven't even peaked.  It's just the same ol' same ol'.

    Open Blog - Tuesday


    Snow?  In March?  In Wisconsin?  No way!

    Monday, March 5, 2018

    The best way to wake up in the morning, or afternoon.


    Here ya go!

    Fuck writing letters to rich and stingy people asking for $1G.

    Go to the Taxpayers and ask for hundreds of thousands - $250,000 to start up your favorite non-profit charity - YOURSELF!

    https://www.wwbic.com/

    You got this idea to make a lot of $$$ on the Internet - now finance it with a $250,000 small business loan - and pay yourself, costs & expenses - then take a loan from your nonprofit charity and don't pay it back.

    THAT IS HOW IT WORKS!

    Get yours!

    "The Widow Johnson Dies – While Curt Flies"

    Link:  https://arrestrecordsofracinewipublicofficials.wordpress.com/2018/03/05/the-widow-johnson-dies-while-curt-flies/

    Money  – has it’s Privileges:


    On the passing of Imogene Johnson

    On the passing of Imogene Johnson:

    When S.C. Johnson scion Curt Johnson was first charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting his young stepdaughter back in 2011, it looked like he might spend 40 years behind bars.

    Three years and a lengthy court case later, the 59-year-old heir to "the family company," as the cleaning product empire is known, is out of jail after just three months.

    As the Racine Journal Times in S.C. Johnson's company town of Racine, Wisc. first reported, Johnson was released on Sunday. He served three months of his four month sentence, which was reduced thanks to time served.

    Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/09/16/billionaire-child-sex-offender-curt-johnson-out-of-jail-after-three-months/#20d1de965ed9


    "'Gene' Johnson, widow of the late Sam Johnson, dies"

    RACINE — Imogene “Gene” Powers Johnson, wife of the late Sam Johnson and one of the Racine community’s major benefactors, has died.

    Johnson, who died Saturday at age 87 at Ascension All Saints Hospital, was memorialized by her family in a written statement they released Sunday titled, “Our Loving Mother.”

    Open Blog - Monday


    Mmm, pink donut.

    Sunday, March 4, 2018

    "Ukraine Freezes After Russia Halts Gas Deliveries"



    Last week, Russia's state-run gas giant and quasi-monopolist when it comes to European natgas supplies, Gazprom, announced it would not restart shipments of natural gas to Ukraine's Naftogaz starting March 1 after the two sides failed to reach an agreement, Gazprom deputy chairman, Alexander Medvedev, told journalists.
    Russian gas deliveries to Ukraine were supposed to restart on Thursday following a foreign court ruling aimed at ending years of disputes between Kiev and Moscow, including two halts to Russian gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine. But Gazprom unexpectedly refused to resume deliveries, returning the prepayment for supplies made by Kiev, claiming amendments to a contract had not been completed.

    The decision came as the sides reportedly failed to extend a supplemental agreement to the current gas contract, RT reported.
    “So far, the supplemental agreement to the operating contract with Naftogaz has not been approved, and that is a compulsory condition for launching the shipments,” Medvedev said. "So, we have to recover the amount paid by the company in full. And it is obvious that the shipments in March won’t start."
    In response, Ukraine's state monopoly said that Gazprom had failed to deliver prepaid gas. Naftogaz is reportedly planning to claim damages for supply failure from the Russian energy major.
    And while the long-running dispute may, but likely won't, be resolved in court, Ukraine has suddenly found itself without heat and on Friday urged schools to close and factories to cut production, while residents shivered as the country strained to save on gas supplies.
    The decision coincided with freezing temperatures all over Ukraine, and the government called on Friday for measures to reduce consumption.
    "Starting today, we recommended ... to stop the work of kindergartens, schools and universities," Ukraine energy minister Igor Nasalyk told lawmakers, while urging Ukrainian companies to adjust their operations to save gas, while power companies were ordered to switch to fuel oil where possible.
    Nasalyk said these savings measures would be in effect until Tuesday, when temperatures are expected to rise.
    *  *  *
    Meanwhile, on Friday, Gazprom director Alexei Miller said that the company would immediately turn to the Stockholm arbitration court to break its contract with the Ukrainian operator Naftogaz, Russian news agencies reported. A ruling by the same court last year was meant to halt disputes over gas prices and shipments, which had often been a proxy for political disputes between Moscow and Kiev. The court set a price and ordered Kiev to resume purchases it had cancelled following the breakout in "proxy" violence between the two nations in 2014.
    Also on Friday, Naftogaz said that Gazprom had not only refused to resume deliveries meant for it, but lowered the pressure in gas pipelines by 20 percent and minimized sales to other customers. In a statement, Naftogaz said that Gazprom was trying to portray Ukraine in a negative light and suggest that it was willing either to let its own population freeze or make it out to be "an unreliable transit company that takes the gas away" from European countries.
    In response, Reuters reported today that Gazprom said there had so far been no impact on supplies through its pipelines to Europe, despite the sharp escalation in tensions with the key transit nation.

    Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak told European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcofic in a phone conversation that gas transit would not be at risk until Gazprom and Naftogaz fully terminated their agreement.
    “Minister Novak assured that the gas transit from Russia to Europe is under no threat. The transit remains as reliable as in the past,” the ministry said.
    * * *
    Kiev and Moscow have a history of clashing over prices and obligations under contracts for the delivery of Russian gas to Ukraine as well as transit to Europe. The standoff in the winter of 2006 triggered supply disruptions, with Russia accusing Ukraine of stealing gas intended for the European market.
    The gas giants are currently involved in a long-standing litigation over the terms of the current delivery contract. Ukraine’s lawyers are struggling for annulment of the so-called take-or-pay provision that obliges Kiev to purchase a minimum annual quantity of gas. Earlier this week, Naftogaz claimed it had won a $2.56 billion victory in another round of its legal battle with Gazprom.

    "The Kinks - A Gallon Of Gas"



    "Eddie Van Halen: Eruption Solo DESTROYS The '83 US Festival!"



    "25 great wayne's world quotes"

    "'Rent-For-Sex': Landlords Exploit Thousands Of Broke Millenials"


    It is now time to sound the alarm bells on the economic prospects for the Millennial Generation in the Western world, but more importantly, in the United Kingdom. This generation of citizens aged 18 to 36, is the first in modern developed economies on course to have a lower standard of living than their parents.
    Housing affordability and a decaying job environment are some of the most pressing issues affecting Millennials. The future is bleak for this avocado and toast generation, as Western world economies have likely plateaued regarding economic growth. Surging debt and rising government bond yields are producing an environment that could lead to more hardships for this lost generation.
    Landlords in the United Kingdom have taken full advantage of broke Millennials by offering “adult arrangements” for a roof over their heads. Yes, you heard this correctly, Millennials are trading sex for a place to sleep — unearthed in a new documentary by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which provides a chilling insight into just how bad the Millennial generation has it.

    BBC reporter Ellie Flynn went undercover to expose the scale of the ‘Rent For Sex’ issue in the United Kingdom, in which landlords on Craigslist are advertising “free” accommodation in exchange for sexual acts.

     Ellie portrayed herself as a broke, 24-year-old nursing student with very little alternatives. She confronted one man in a Newcastle cafe who defended his actions and told cameras: “I’m not doing anything wrong… it’s not just about sex, it’s about companionship.
     
    “BBC Three’s Ellie Undercover: Rent For Sex also met up with a landlord who had built a log cabin in his garden where tenants could sleep if the agreed to have sex in return for a ‘physical arrangement once a week,” the Daily Mail reported.

    “The man offers to show Ellie around after saying: ‘That’s where you sleep, it’s a log cabin, alright,” the Daily Mail reported.

    He later denied knowing the practice of asking for sex in exchange for housing is a serious offense in the United Kingdom, saying: “I don’t know, I can’t truthfully answer that .”
    One landlord put Ellie in touch with a former tenant who told of “how he tried touching her while she was staying rent-free with him,” said the Daily Mail.
    “I would just feel almost paralyzed every time he tried to touch me but he didn’t force himself on me,” said the unnamed woman.

    The woman added: “The idea of consent gets mashed up because a woman thinks this is the exchange I have to give this man in order for me to have a roof over my head.”
    In fact, the number of listings on Craigslist and social media websites offering rent for sex is exploding. Latest figures from the Housing Charity Shelter are absolutely mind-numbing, more than 250,000 women over the last five years have been asked for “adult arrangements” in exchange for housing.
    UK Millennials lack a living wage, therefore, this generation sees nothing wrong in offering their bodies to landlords for a roof over their heads. Apparently, the smartest generation to ever step foot on planet earth is the first generation since the 1950s to fail to do better than their parents, as this chart shows:

    The homeownership rate for UK Millennials is so low that these levels have not been seen since World War I:

    According to the Office for National Statistics, millennials have largely been priced out of the real estate market as prices soar above 2008 levels.

    Over the same period of rising real estate prices, UK Millennials have dealt with stagnating wages:

    Real estate price increases and low personal savings rate for U.K. Millennials have been mostly fueled by low-interest rates, set by the Bank of England (BoE). Some ten years ago, the BoE decided to juice the economy by suppressing UK lending rates to a zero lower bound with cheap money after the 2008 crisis:

    “In our society, it seems acceptable for people to wield their power over the vulnerable in order to get what they want, no questions asked,” explains Ellen Moran of Acorn, a tenants union and anti-poverty group.
    “That power is entrenched and such actions are ignored by law enforcers. Sometimes, though, this happens because people are alienated in their society to such an extent that they crave physical affection without knowing considerate ways to get it. Sometimes it is a mixture of those two things,” she added.
    Unfortunately, the ‘Rent For Sex’ issue in the United Kingdom will only get worse as the economic prospects continue to deteriorate for the Millennial generation. There is no end in sight for this madness, and it will only be a matter of time before this trend washes up on the shores of the United States. It seems as failed Central Bank policy has given landlords one new perk to owning real estate: sex with millennials.

    Link; https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-03/rent-sex-landlords-exploit-thousands-broke-millenials