"Community Newsletter: Child abuse has long-term effects"

From the JournalTimes.com:

Karen Fetherston SCAN Program Coordinator  Sep 17, 2017

"People recognize that child abuse in its many forms has dangerous implications for a child’s immediate health and well-being. What many don’t know is that the physical and emotional damage left by abuse last long after initial wounds have healed. That’s the finding of a wave of research into Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs and it highlights the reason why prevention and intervention efforts are so important.

"What are ACEs? ACEs are serious childhood traumas that result in toxic stress interfering with a child’s normal brain development. This toxic stress can prevent children from learning, from behaving in healthy ways with others, and can result in long-term health problems. Some ACE’s include physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, and other household dysfunction.

"How do ACEs affect the child’s long-term health? Without getting too technical, child abuse is to mental health as tobacco is to physical health. Much the way smoking directly causes or triggers predispositions for disease, early abuse can trigger a host of cognitive and mental illnesses. Neurochemicals released during ACEs leave the youth more at risk of depression, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, and attention deficit and learning disorders.

"Many times, these issues will continue for years undiagnosed and untreated because of the secrecy, stigma, and shame that surround both child abuse and mental illness.

"Left untreated, these individuals often turn to other methods to numb their pain as they get older. To relieve their anxiety, depression, guilt, shame, and/or inability to focus, they turn to easily available biochemical solutions. Alcohol abuse, illegal drug use, or prescription abuse are more likely the more ACEs a child experiences. Others engage in activities to escape their problems like cutting, gambling, promiscuity, eating disorders or other obsessive-compulsive patterns."

Read more: http://journaltimes.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/community-newsletter-child-abuse-has-long-term-effects/article_4969a326-5a70-5e6a-8be0-cbb1f7430d58.html


My life story...

"Give Nothing To Racism"

Open Blog - Monday

Exactly.

Cory Mason: Liar and Thief

If he has kids, I'm sure he pays someone to tutor them.

"The Ultimate Guide To Pet Adoption: Sneak Preview"

https://www.homeoanimal.com/blogs/blog-pet-health/81086084-the-ultimate-guide-to-pet-adoption-sneak-preview

"The 10 Worst Cities in Wisconsin Explained"

Only number 10? C'mon Racine, we can do better (worse) than that.

"Dead Mall: Regency Mall - Racine, WI"

I acidentally erased our local blog list from the side bar.

I'll try to add more as I remember them. If you want your blog listed, send the info to jtirregulars@jtirregulars.com, or post it below.

Open Blog - Weekend

That's my intention.

Four for Fridays!

Good morning to all of you. I hope you are enjoying this really nice weather we are having. I hope you are able to get out and enjoy it with friends and family. Here are your questions for this week.

1) Would you consider yourself a football widow or widower?

2) Do you have a favorite football team?

3) Do you have a fantasy football team?

4) Have you ever picked football teams with friends or family?

Have a great weekend and I hope you are able to get out and enjoy it!

Open Blog - Friday

I say happy Friday to all plants and animals, too.

"In Racine, Police more likely to request criminal charges for pot possession"

CARA SPOTO cara.spoto@journaltimes.com Jul 23, 2017 23 

"RACINE — It’s a June evening and a Racine police officer spies a suspiciously parked vehicle on Roosevelt Avenue.

"Approaching the car, he sees a 27-year-old man sitting in the driver’s seat smoking what appears to be a joint. A few minutes later, after recovering 1.4 grams of marijuana, he issues the man a municipal citation.

"Six months later, another Racine police officer conducts a traffic stop near Racine and 13th streets. The male officer calls for a female officer to search the 25-year-old driver. Before that female officer arrives, the young woman behind the wheel confesses to having two small 'baggies' of marijuana in her pocket, a total of 1.7 grams of pot.

"This time, instead of issuing the offender a citation, the officer writes up a report requesting that she be charged with the criminal offense of misdemeanor marijuana possession, a state charge.

"Racine ostensibly decriminalized the possession of marijuana for personal use in 1990 when it created a local ordinance making possession of 25 grams or fewer of the substance a forfeiture.

"A Journal Times review of minor marijuana possession cases handled by Racine police in 2016, however, found that officers were more than twice as likely to request criminal charges for offenders found with 25 grams of marijuana or less, than they were to issue citations."

Read more: http://journaltimes.com/news/local/in-racine-police-more-likely-to-request-criminal-charges-for/article_752956d8-553e-54e5-806a-c01fdb06f729.html


Fuck marijuana laws.  Alcohol has killed millions.  Pot = none. 

Alltime10s Thursdays

Open Blog - Thursday

Any day is better with Betty Boop in it.

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, JT Irregulars!  How are you?  Hasn't the weather been just perfect?  Beautiful day after beautiful day.  It kind of makes me feel guilty because of all the devastation caused down south by hurricanes and tropical storms.  I guess that if this is climate change, so far I like it.

In regard to those storms in the south, I pray that things improve soon.  There are tens of thousands of people without power.  And, of course, there's all the flooding.  I watched the video that Mr. OrbsCorbs posted about looting: http://www.jtirregulars.com/2017/09/is-hurricane-looting-inevitable.html  I must say that I hold the looters in the same regard as murderers and child molesters.  Given the slightest opportunity, certain elements of our society immediately revert to criminal behavior.  So much for civilization.

Hey, hey!  Our Green Bay Packers won their first season opening game. Next up is Atlanta, Sept. 17, 8:30 PM.  Cream them, please.

As for the Irregular Football League:

Life is good at the top.

Kenosha has dropped out of the running for the new Foxconn facility.  That gives me even further pause about the project.  It's "too good to be true" and too expensive.  Gateway better set up a campus immediately next door to Foxconn.  There's no bullshitting manufacturers about skills, so you better learn them.  If Foxconn goes through, it will draw from Racine, Kenosha, Milwaukee, and Cook counties.  It will be closer to the interstate rather than further.  You'll need dependable wheels.  Maybe the bus will provide a Ryde.

Sorry to be so cynical, but the people of Racine also have to fight off he idiot officials who want to build an "events center"and hotel on Lake Ave.  And I suspect that it will be built, and become another huge white elephant for Racine.  And once it's discovered that it's a big money pit, no one will accept responsibility for the building.  In a few years, we'll have to knock it down because no one goes there and maintenance has been deferred.  And so it goes.

Kim-yung-hung-dung keeps threatening us.  Again, I urge Mr. Trump to drop another of those "mother of all bombs" on Pyonglongdong.  And if he shoots any missiles at us or our allies, shoot it down and then deliver ten times the missile's destructive power to North Korea.  Either that, or a Royal Rumble cage match between Kim-yung-hung-dung and Trump.  My money is on the biggest clown.

Thank you for reading my blog this week.  If you see Mr. OrbsCorbs anywhere this week, be nice to him.  They're redoing his attic and then roofing it.  The noise has been incredible..  They're expected to go at it again today.

madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com

Enjoy the weather if you can.  Already a lot of trees are turning color.  Catch the show while you can.  It's so foggy now that you can't see anything.  It will clear.  Have a good week.
 _______________________________
Please donate: paypal.me/jgmazelis
If you don't like PayPal, send me a note at madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com and I'll send you my street address so you can send a check or money order.  Thank you.

"Clown Jewels"

From the Shepherd Express:

By Art Kumbalek

16 hours ago

 

I’m Art Kumbalek and man oh manischewitz what a world, ain’a? So listen, as right-wing cracker-jackanape jackboots goose-step inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and thereabouts, I’ve decided it would be more patriotic of me to forgo whipping out a bombastic blowhard essay and instead patronize an Americanly small business whose customer service cannot be cheaply outsourced to some godforsaken outpost outside the Lower 48, what the fock.

So I’m off to the Uptowner tavern/charm school majestically crammed onto the corner of wistfully hysteric Humboldt Boulevard and the fabled Center Street. Tag along if you like, but you cover the first round. Let’s get going.

Little Jimmy Iodine: All I’m saying is that if I owned a major league team, as part of my 9/11 hoopla I would’ve hauled out a handcuffed, naked Dick Cheney and had him waterboarded at home plate following the top half of the seventh inning.

Emil: God bless America. This 9/11, there’s got to be a bright side to it somewheres, ain’a?

Julius: Such as?

Emil: Cripes, like maybe if you were a guy and that was your wedding anniversary, it would be easier to remember it.

Herbie: I can buy that. Association. Whenever the anniversary of a disaster tragedy rolls around, like your Pearl Harbor, your Hiroshima, your Hurricane Katrina, the dark day I got focking married springs to my mind right off the bat.

Ray: The association—that’s how I remember things, too. Like whenever I see the bartender come down to this end of the bar, I remember it’s time to have another focking cocktail.

Ernie: There’s the disasters you can bring on by mistakes you don’t even know you’re making and there’s disasters that happen no matter what you do. Like these asteroids flying around outer space. I read in the papers that it wouldn’t matter what side of the bed you got out of in the morning, a space rock the size of about three football fields across would wipe out everything and everyone in a space the size of New focking Jersey. The Sopranos, Atlantic City, chemical dumps, Bruce Springsteen, on-the-take goombah politicians—bada bing! bada boom!—all gone in a New York second on account of Mother Nature got up on the wrong side of the bed that day.

Emil: Im-focking-possible ’cause Mother Nature’s got nothing to do with outer space stuff.

Julius: The hell. Listen Einstein, we the sapien Homo and the rest of the life on this planet all got its beginnings in outer space, so shut the fock up if you’re going to talk like a sausage out of your anus.

Ray: Speaking of “talking out of your anus...”

Little Jimmy Iodine: Hey, Artie! Over here. Put a load on your keister.

Art: Hey gents. What do you hear, what do you know.

Julius: I hear that the Republicans are champing at the bit for big-ass tax cuts except for the mom-and-pop regular Joes struggling to maintain a pot to pee in—tax cuts only for the fat-cat uber-rich assholes who bankroll the campaigns of congressional Tea Party types to destroy truth, justice and the American way.

Herbie: Remember when they had that idea of an “ownership society,” which means Congress Republicans and their donor pals own all the money and all the power, and the rest of us baboons own a one-way ticket to Palooka-focking-ville

Art: I got to tell you’s guys before I forget about this documentary I saw on TV called “Superheroes,” where everyday guys and gals who act like they’re Batman go out to fight crime.

Little Jimmy Iodine: I’ve been out of touch with that stuff, but I heard Superman and Lois Lane finally got married, didn’t they? I always wondered if they ever got around to having any kids. I mean, how the heck do you breast-feed a baby with the superhuman power of suck?

Emil: I’d like to know how the hell they ever got a marriage license in the first place. The guy was from another focking planet for crying out loud. Wouldn’t you think there’d be some kind of law or an amendment against that kind of thing? For christ sakes, an Earth woman having a connubial relationship of a conjugal nature with a creature from outer focking space—a creature prone to wearing colorful leotards and a cape in public?

Herbie: That’s a difficult question. I think it may be focking fair to consider anyone from outer space to be of another species. While to carry on a relationship of an intimate nature with a member of another species may be perfectly acceptable onstage at select entertainment venues just south of the Texas border, I don’t think an inter-species life-partnering union would play in Peoria, nor with the Christian right nutbags who helped put Trumpel-thinskin in the White House.

Ernie: No shit, ’cause I’ll bet you a buck two-eighty Superman was a Democrat.

Emil: How do you figure that?

Ernie: Because numbnuts, he was always helping and saving people no matter how much money they made.

(Hey, it’s getting late and I know you got to go, but thanks for letting us bend your ear, ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.)

 

From: http://shepherdexpress.com/article-30371-clown-jewels.html

Open Blog - Wednesday

Here comes autumn.

"People Rescue Air Jordans from Foot Locker During Hurricane Irma 😂"

"Kenosha drops out of hunt for Foxconn flat screen factory"

The Taiwanese firm Foxconn plans to built a $10 billion plant in suotheastern Wisconsin in exchange for up to $3 billion state incentives.(Photo: Kin Cheung, Associated Press)

"The City of Kenosha is dropping its bid for an up to $10 billion flat screen factory, leaving Racine County as the most likely site for a Taiwanese company's plant that could   eventually employ thousands. 

"News emerged Friday that the Foxconn Technology Group is in final negotiations with officials in Racine County about locating the liquid crystal display plant there, which might eventually house up to 13,000 workers.

"The latest news about Kenosha could strengthen the hand of Racine County officials in their talks with the company. But the disclosure could also complicate the efforts of both the company and local officials as they seek to sign on holdout  property owners and ensure providing a huge tract of land for the plant. 

"On Monday, Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian wrote Gov. Scott Walker to say that his city could not pursue the project without further changes to state law. In the letter obtained by the Journal Sentinel, Antaramian wrote that the legislation being voted on Tuesday by the state Senate didn't do enough to clear the way for the potential project in Kenosha County.

"'Based upon the current status of the legislative bill which addresses the project, the city of Kenosha regrets that we will not be able to support this development in our community,' Antaramian wrote. 'We wish you, the state and Foxconn all the best in finding reasonable resolutions to all of the issues surrounding this project.'"

Read more: http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2017/09/12/kenosha-drops-out-hunt-foxconn-flat-screen-factory/657225001/

"Is hurricane looting inevitable?"

They're all victims.

Open Blog - Tuesday

And then you're in trouble.

"Brazil probes possible killings of ‘uncontacted’ tribe"

By Associated Press September 11 at 1:42 PM

 "SAO PAULO — Brazilian prosecutors are investigating reports that gold prospectors may have killed members of a so-called uncontacted tribe in the Amazon.

"Brazil’s National Indian Foundation asked prosecutors to look into the matter after prospectors were heard discussing an attack on indigenous people who live in the Javari Valley near the border with Peru. The foundation said in a statement Monday that some prospectors have been detained for questioning, but they have not confirmed any deaths.

"Federal prosecutors confirm that they have opened an investigation, but haven’t given any details.

"Survival International says the area is home to more uncontacted tribes than anywhere else on Earth. Isolated peoples are particularly vulnerable and indigenous groups in Brazil in general have complained that their way of life is increasingly under threat from land conflicts.

"Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed."
From: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/brazil-probes-possible-killings-of-uncontacted-tribe/2017/09/11/8db9a34a-9718-11e7-af6a-6555caaeb8dc_story.html?utm_term=.bb20ce7fd25a


Welcome to 'civilization.'

"100 Women: ‘I dye my hair brown to be taken more seriously at work’"

By Sarah Buckley and Amelia Butterly BBC News 

11 September 2017 

From the section Magazine

 

Eileen Carey

 

 

 

 

"A Silicon Valley CEO reveals her secret to getting ahead in business - dyeing her blonde hair brown, and ditching her heels and contact lenses.

"Eileen Carey is a successful CEO, in her early 30s, with glasses and brown hair.

"But she didn't always look the way she does now.

"'The first time I dyed my hair was actually due to advice I was given by a woman in venture capital,' she says.

"Carey was told that the investors she was pitching to would feel more comfortable dealing with a brunette, rather than a blonde woman.

"'I was told for this raise [of funds], that it would be to my benefit to dye my hair brown because there was a stronger pattern recognition of brunette women CEOs,' she explains.

"Pattern recognition is a theory which suggests people look for familiar experiences - or people - which in turn can make them feel more comfortable with the perceived risks they are taking.
When she had blonde hair, Eileen says she was likened to Elizabeth Holmes, whose company Theranos has been through a lot of controversy.

"'Being a brunette helps me to look a bit older and I needed that, I felt, in order to be taken seriously,' Carey says."

Eileen Carey used to have blonde hair and wear contact lenses

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-41082939

We Will Not Forget

American TelePsychiatry

This is where I went this morning to talk with my new shrink.  It's in Kenosha.  They have a Racine office, but it's "not set up" to deal with Medicare.  Interestingly, the shrink I ended up talking to (via closed circuit TV) was in Racine.  I like him very much.  He had very little to say.  That's one of the main reasons I like him.  I see him again in December.

Open Blog - Monday

I'm seeing spots before my eyes.

Roofers from Hell

Yesterday, roofers worked on my section of the building.  Apparently they weren't just roofing.  It sounded like they were putting a new floor in the attic.  I've never heard so much noise from construction.  The worst hammer blows came from a roofing hammer.  They almost ring when they hit a nail.  I couldn't believe the noise.  So I went to sleep.  This is now my method for avoiding conflict.  I slept through some of the noise.  When I awoke at midnight to take a pee, the above is what I discovered in the hallway leading to the bathroom.  How hard do you have to hit something to put a hole in the ceiling below you?

Before the hole was there, my instincts were to go upstairs and tell these guys to cool it.  I'm sure I'd get into some sort of trouble, so I avoided that scenario.  I've already left a message on the manager's phone.  I don't know if the roofers will be here today, but there's no manager on weekends, so I'm going to show the roofers the hole myself if they show up.  Assholes.


P.S. I found another, larger hole in a closet.

 

The roofers are back.  I spoke to one and he said, "We'll probably have to fix it, but I have to talk to  the contractor first."  I don't know the name of the contractor.  I don't know nothing.  The police can't (or won't) help.   So now these guys are hitting shit in the attic above me to upset me.  When I was talking with the police dispatcher, she said , "Is all that noise coming from them?"

P.S.  Minutes after I left for my doctor's appointment this morning, one of the workers fell through

the ceiling of the common hallway.  Took down a light fixture, but he's okay.  This job is going to cost the contractor more than he makes on it.  09/11/2017

Open Blog - Weekend

Good-bye blues.

Four for Fridays

Hello everyone! Since I've hogging the computer all morning, I might as well takeover Four for Fridays this time.... My day off, it has been raining-shit happens. Anyways....

1) Any prediction for Hurricane Irma? It has been predicted to hit Florida, but will it be total devastation or downgraded to a tropical storm?

2) What do you think of memes? Are they real, fake, funny or what?

3) What should done about North Korea?

4) If you could move to anywhere in the world, where would you move to?

The rain has moved on and I'm going out birding. You now you can go back to your regularly scheduled blogging. Thanks!

drewzepmeister-aka Tender Heart Bear incognito (for the moment) 

"WiGWAG: A hip hippo, Drag Queen Storytime, and more"

From the Wisconsin Gazette:

News with a twist

Lisa Neff and Louis Weisberg, Staff writers

Sep 7, 2017 Updated Sep 7, 2017

 

 

When reading is a drag

Madison’s Pinney Library started a program titled “Drag Queen Storytime” earlier this summer, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. Miss Gretta, played by Craig Schlagel, reads a book and then the kids participate in a sing-along. Library assistant Danny Atwater says children can relate to drag queens because of the dress-up aspect.

Hip hippo

The Cincinnati Zoo’s popular baby hippo is starring in an internet video series called The Fiona Show. You can watch her on the zoo’s Facebook page, where she’s already garnered millions of views since her premature birth in January. The show is just the latest development in what has been a busy year for Fiona, who now weighs in at 450 pounds. Her face has appeared on ice cream and beer. She was named an honorary deputy sheriff. And a children’s book about her is in the works.

Loving public transit

A New York City couple who met on a bus 13 years ago have now gotten married on one. Random passengers and 50 guests joined Kara Mullins and Osvaldo “O.J.” Jimenez for their public-transit nuptials. Jimenez first spotted his future bride 13 years ago on a Manhattan crosstown bus. He said when he suggested getting married on the same bus, she replied, “Heck, yeah, let’s do it.”

Watch your step

A man crossing a New York City street got a sinking feeling when a sinkhole swallowed his leg. Photos and videos on social media showed him looking forlorn and confused as he sat in the middle of a crosswalk with his right leg almost entirely invisible under the asphalt.

Stressful job

A former gravedigger has filed a lawsuit against his former employer, saying that he was fired for blowing the whistle on co-workers who were breaking open caskets and concrete grave boxes while they were drunk and stoned on the job, reported the Wisconsin State Journal. The suit names StoneMor Partners, a Pennsylvania-based cemetery and funeral home company that owns Roselawn Memorial Park in Monona and Glenview Memorial Gardens in Ixonia in Jefferson County.

Did he look like Gen. Lee?

Authorities in the Ohio county of Crawford reported the beheading of a statue outside a courthouse in Bucyrus. Police say the vandalism occurred the same week protesters damaged or removed Confederate statues in other cities in the United States. But the Bucyrus statue was of Col. William Crawford, who fought in the American Revolution and the French and Indian War and died decades before the Civil War.

Just say ‘no’

Police in the northwest German city of Osnabrück found thousands of Ecstasy tablets in an Austrian-registered car. The tablets were orange and in the shape of Donald Trump’s head. The stash had a street value of about $46,000. But seriously, what a bitter pill to swallow.

Kid candidate

A 16-year-old in Wichita, Kansas, is campaigning as a Democrat in the 2018 gubernatorial race. Jack Bergerson will be too young to vote in the election, but Kansas law does not impose an age restriction on gubernatorial candidates. In fact, according to a spokesman for the Kansas secretary of state, there is no law governing qualifications for governor. Several other Dems are running in the primary, but they don’t have Jack’s lieutenant governor — 17-year-old Alexander Cline, a high school classmate.

Magic number: 3

We’ve always known it takes three licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. Now we know the perfect Oreo cookie dunk lasts three seconds. Researchers studied the cookie question and found Oreos absorb 80 percent of their potential liquid weight after just two seconds in milk. No more milk can be absorbed at four seconds.

West Wing work

While Donald Trump was on his summer holiday, the West Wing underwent redecorating. The billionaire still doesn’t have his penthouse, but he has a $3.4 million redo. Beige and navy carpeting with floral medallions was installed, as were new drapes. Gray wallpaper was hung in the Oval Office and two large eagle statues were placed in the Roosevelt Room, along with a dozen side chairs with eagle details. “You’re going to start seeing a lot more eagles about the West Wing,” John Botello, interior designer and preservation specialist for the Executive Office of the President, told the AP.

Dying wish?

A New Jersey man and lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan held season tickets to Eagles football games for more than 30 years. When Jeffrey Riegel died Aug. 25, his obituary said he hoped “to have eight Philadelphia Eagles as pallbearers, so the Eagles can let him down one last time.” A dying wish or a parting shot? Either way, eight friends in Eagles jerseys served as his pallbearers.

From: http://www.wisconsingazette.com/blogs/wigwag-a-hip-hippo-drag-queen-storytime-and-more/article_39f5f828-93d3-11e7-aa86-9fe70803f280.html

Open Blog - Friday

Have a good one.

"Colbert: Ivanka calling Trump 'daddy' is 'not weird at all'"

By Rebecca Savransky - 09/07/17 07:36 AM EDT

Share to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to Google+

 

"Stephen Colbert mocked President Trump after the president said during an event Wednesday that his daughter, Ivanka Trump, referred to him as 'daddy.'

"'By far, the most awkward moment — and for Trump, that's a pretty high bar — was when he brought up Ivanka,' Colbert said during 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.'

"Colbert then cited a clip of Trump speaking about his daughter during an earlier event on tax reform.

"'She said,"Dad, can I go with you," Trump said while introducing his daughter, who is also a White House adviser, at the speech. 'Actually she said ‘Daddy, can I go with you?' I like that."

'I said, "Yes, you can," 'he added.

"'Not weird at all,' Colbert said, following the clip. 'All of Trump's advisers call him daddy. Sean Spicer was actually the one who started it.'

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/news/349578-colbert-on-trump-saying-ivanka-called-him-daddy-not-weird-at-all

Alltime10s Thursdays

Open Blog - Thursday

Oh yeah.

"Time to Decriminalize Pot in Wisconsin"

Shepherd-Express, 08-31-2017 » Page 11

Time to Decriminalize Pot in Wisconsin

Rate it

- Add comment

By GRETCHEN SCHULDT

It’s time to drive a blunt through the heart of the law that makes possessing marijuana a felony in Wisconsin. It’s a mean-spirited law that is unfairly enforced, does nothing to protect public safety and destroys life chances for anyone charged with it. It creates felons out of people who would be perfectly law-abiding citizens in several other states. And, it’s a waste of taxpayer money.

In Milwaukee County, the overwhelming majority of defendants in felony marijuana cases are African American males who are arrested in the city north of I-94. A lot of these arrests come after traffic stops for things like illegally tinted windows or not wearing a seat belt. An officer approaches the car, smells marijuana, searches and bingo!

District Attorney John Chisholm is not a fan of the second offense felony marijuana law. His office generally charges it when there are extenuating circumstances, such as a previous felony or some indicator of violence or potential violence, such as the presence of a gun at the time of arrest, he said in an interview.

But Chisholm’s office can only review the cases the police send it and those cases begin with cops making stops on the street. And for whatever reason, despite the prevalence of white people in Milwaukee County (comprising 65% of the population), it is mostly black people (27% of the population) who end up facing second offense felony marijuana charges.

The Wisconsin Justice Initiative is mapping arrest locations and providing offense details included in criminal complaints filed in second offense felony marijuana cases. Of the first 30 cases reviewed, all filed in 2016, 87% involved black defendants, 97% involved male defendants and 77% stemmed from the area of Milwaukee north of I-94. That’s a small sample size, but the numbers are very telling.

So, what are we to conclude? That black women don’t smoke marijuana? That cars south of I-94 don’t have illegally tinted windows? That the marijuana white people have in their cars doesn’t smell enough to alert police to its presence? Or, is it that black men are disproportionately targeted for stops and thus far more likely to wind up in the system for violating this antiquated law?

The law leads to absurd scenarios. Let’s say a person with a misdemeanor record for marijuana walks down the street brandishing a loaded 9-milimeter handgun. In his front pocket is a single blunt (a “blunt” is a hollowed-out cigar or cigarette filled with marijuana). The felony here is the pot, not the gun. The state has some weird priorities.

Wisconsin is falling behind other states with its criminal treatment of marijuana.

California, Massachusetts, Maine, Nevada, Alaska, Oregon, Washington and Colorado are all at least partway toward implementing legal recreational marijuana use. Medical marijuana is legal in more than half the states. And, of course, there is money involved. Marijuana-legal states are making it; Wisconsin is wasting it. Colorado—the first state to legalize recreational weed—has pulled in about $506 million so far since retail selling began in 2014, according to CNN. Marijuana tax revenue hit $256 million in Washington in 2016 and $60 million in Oregon. Instead, in Wisconsin, tax dollars are thrown at enforcing the felony marijuana possession law: for the cost of police, jails, judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers for the indigent and probation and parole officers.

A bill introduced in the state legislature would allow first and second offenses for possession of small amounts of marijuana to be treated as municipal violations, punishable by forfeitures of up to $100. Currently, that bill sits in committee, waiting for Wisconsin to catch up to the 21st century.

Gretchen Schuldt is the executive director of Wisconsin Justice Initiative, which strives to improve the quality of justice in Wisconsin by educating the public about legal issues and encourages civic engagement in and debate about the state’s judicial system and its operation.

 
From:  http://npaper-wehaa.com/shepherdexpress#2017/08/31/?article=2974278

"Introduction to the UBUNTU Movement by Michael Tellinger"

https://www.ubuntuplanet.org/

"Erasing History"

by Cal Thomas Mon, 8/21/2017 | Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Historical hysteria
By Cal Thomas
Tribune Content Agency

“The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.” — Friedrich Hegel

We will learn even less from history if we wipe it clean, as some are trying to do by removing statues of Confederate leaders whose beliefs about slavery and race most, including me, find offensive. Conversation beats censorship.

Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been in relative obscurity since the loss of his MSNBC program, vaulted back into this three-ring political circus recently when he suggested to Charlie Rose that federal subsidies for the Thomas Jefferson Memorial should end, because Jefferson owned slaves.

People like Sharpton fan the flames they claim need extinguishing. Some even start the fires, like those characters from a bad B-movie who confronted each other in Charlottesville, Virginia, causing death and destruction, not only to individuals and property, but to the links that have traditionally held us together as a nation, in spite of our differences.

As usual, the media have contributed to the cultural fracturing by elevating tiny groups of bigots and leftists to center stage. Drivers slow down and pay attention to car wrecks and cultural collisions.

Part of this chaos comes from government’s inability, or unwillingness, to solve, or even address, major challenges. We aren’t winning wars in Afghanistan, or against ISIS, which has taken credit for the vehicle attack in Barcelona that killed 14 people and wounded scores more.

We aren’t winning battles over health care, or taxes, or much else in Washington, where gridlocked rush-hour traffic could serve as a metaphor for a gridlocked Congress. President Trump promised during the campaign he would win so much the rest of us would grow tired of winning. We have yet to reach anything approaching exhaustion.

There is an effort by some on the left, not just to rewrite history, which would be bad enough, but to expunge it, as happens in totalitarian states. George Orwell foresaw the danger in such an approach when he created the “memory hole” in his classic novel, “1984.”

For those who never read the book, the memory hole was for destroying all historical documents that could remind, or inform, citizens of the way things were in a time before they were born. History would then be rewritten to match the evolving propaganda of the state. An agency with the euphemistic name “The Ministry of Truth” handled such things.

A similar effort to delete history was the Nazi’s public book burning in Berlin in 1933.

The focus on statues by people whose education level likely wouldn’t pass the “Jeopardy” test is a distraction designed to keep our minds on things other than solving real problems and to pit us against each other for the cultural, political and fundraising benefit and goals of various groups on the left and right.

I like what former NBA star and current sports commentator Charles Barkley said about the removal of Confederate statues: “I’m not going to waste my time worrying about these Confederate statues — that’s wasted energy. You know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna keep doing great things. I’m gonna keep trying to make a difference — number one, in the black community because I’m black — but I’m also going to try to do good things in the world.”

Barkley has the right attitude and if more of us followed his example we might actually achieve something of value for ourselves and the nation. Future generations would then find a history worth studying and emulating.

(Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com.)

(c) 2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

From: http://calthomas.com/columns/erasing-history

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my favorite friends!  How are you?  Our beautiful weather continues.  Meanwhile, Texas is all but underwater.  Oh my.  I've read that the E. Coli. in the flood waters is 125 times what is considered safe.  Many people will get sick just from wading through the water.  And then there are the hazardous chemicals that have been released/overrun.  They're already talking about $180 billion to help the state.  And more hurricanes are forming.  While I brag about our weather, the South is being destroyed by storms.  Help out if you can.

Donald Trump appears to be overwhelmed by the responsibilities of his job.  He keeps shouting out zingers and one liners, but these do nothing to help any situation.  North Korea detonated a hydrogen bomb.  I don't know where they're getting the technology from, but China seems like a likely perpetrator.  The man-child running the country is a psycho.  How do you deal with a heavily armed insane person?  Take him down.  We should just blow the hell out of Pongyong and free the people to rejoin with South Korea.  Perhaps that will stop some of the mass starvation that plagues the North.  Don't discuss it, just do it!  Screw what other countries say..  Do they ever listen to us.  We have a lot of weight to throw around on the world stage and I think it's time we started using some of that to our advantage.  The man-child must go.

Hey-hey, the Packers are playing this coming Sunday.  They're hosting Seattle at 3:30 PM.  Kill 'em, please, Packers.  Do what Trump should do to North Korea.  Drop the mother of all bombs on Seattle.  Don't just win, but destroy the other team.  It's the new American way.  If you don't like it, talk to Donald Trump about it.  Meanwhile, go, Pack, go!

Racine has six people officially running for mayor.  My candidate is Sandy Wiedner.  No matter weho wins, it cannot be Cory Mason.  Elect Mason and it will mean just more of Dickert-style politics.  Mason has absolutely no qualms about stomping all over your rights in order to gain his objectives.  Mason for mayor would be the death knell for Racine.  He loves to spend our money, any way he can.  And you know what qualifies him to be mayor?  No, neither do I.

Let me give a huge shout out to all of the road construction going on in Racine.  Sometimes now you have to drive 10 or more miles out of your way to get to where you want to be.  Every major thoroughfare has construction on it, and half the side streets are ripped up, too.  I simply hate driving anywhere in Racine now  But I have to drive it in order to pass the emissions test.  My car was having electrical problems.  When they work on the electrical, they disconnect the battery.  That, in turn, wiped out the history of my engine.  I have to drive it a full cycle before I can have it tested again.  Meanwhile, I have temporary plates on my car ($8) to give me another month to meet the standards.  Junior wants to get in there and fiddle around, but I told him, "No way!"  I'll just drive it for a couple of weeks and take it back in.  If I don't pass again, I'm placing the dreaded Zoltar Curse on them.

That's it, boys and girls.  I hope you all get out and enjoy some of this weather.  Know why?  Because I love you.

madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com

Be kind to one another unless some knob-shine insists upon ruining your day.  Then just kick him in the nuts and be on your way.  We don't have time for hatred anymore.  In fact, I worry about how much time we all have left.  I love you all
 _______________________________
Please donate: paypal.me/jgmazelis
If you don't like PayPal, send me a note at madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com and I'll send you my street address so you can send a check or money order.  Thank you.

Open Blog - Wednesday

Same to you, Betty Boop.

"Police: Nurse's arrest will 'never happen again'"

WANE NewsChannel 15

Published on Sep 1, 2017

"Nurse Alex Wubbels followed hospital policy and advice from her bosses when she told Salt Lake City police Detective Jeff Payne that he could not get the blood sample without a warrant or consent from the patient, said her lawyer, Karra Porter."

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEOWnRroQlQ

"Utah hospital to police: Stay away from our nurses"

By Fred Barbash and Derek Hawkins September 5 at 2:48 AM

"The University of Utah Hospital, where a nurse was manhandled and arrested by police as she protected the legal rights of a patient, has imposed new restrictions on law enforcement, including barring officers from patient-care areas and from direct contact with nurses.

"Gordon Crabtree, interim chief executive of the hospital, said at a Monday news conference that he was 'deeply troubled' by the arrest and manhandling of burn unit nurse Alex Wubbels on July 26. In accord with hospital policy and the law, she had refused to allow a Salt Lake City police officer to take a blood sample from an unconscious patient. Wubbels obtained a copy of the body cam video of the confrontation and, after consulting her lawyer, the hospital and police officials, released it last week.

"'This will not happen again,' Crabtree said, praising Wubbels for 'putting her own safety at risk” to “protect the rights of patients.'"

Read more:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/09/04/utah-hospital-bars-cops-from-contact-with-nurses-after-appalling-arrest/?utm_term=.2cd37a7cbab8


Dumb, dumb, dumb.

The Screamers are Back

I opened my windows to get some fresh air.  About an hour late, I heard screaming.  It's the first day of school and I live right next to one.  The noise that the children make wafts into my apartment.  There seems to be an extraordinary number of screamers at this school.  When they are allowed out for recess, I get the sound blast.

"Florida Declares State of Emergency as Hurricane Irma Strengthens to Category 5"

By Daniel Politi

"Update, Sept. 5, 2017, at 8:32 a.m.: Irma has been declared a Category 5.

"Original post: Looks like the United States will be hit by another, potentially devastating hurricane. Hurricane Irma strengthened to a Category 4 storm on Monday and Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency as the storm could make landfall there as early as this weekend. As of Monday afternoon, Irma was moving toward the Caribbean with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph and several islands in the region, including Puerto Rico, were bracing for the worst.

"Although there is still some optimism that maybe Irma could go out to the ocean before striking the continental United States, that now seems increasingly unlikely. 'There is a small window. If it turns sooner rather than later, we could maybe see the system slide by the East Coast into the ocean, but that window is shutting quickly,' CNN meteorologist Tom Sater said. 'It definitely looks like we will be impacted by a major hurricane that is a Category 3, 4 or 5.' The storm is also likely to strengthen over the next few days and could become the biggest hurricane to hit South Florida since Hurricane Andrew struck as a Category 5 storm in 1992.

"The National Hurricane Center was cautious but cautioned that at the very least the continental United States would feel some effects from Irma. 'There is an increasing chance of seeing some impacts from Irma in the Florida Peninsula and the Florida Keys later this week and this weekend. In addition, rough surf and dangerous marine conditions will begin to affect the southeastern U.S. coast by later this week,' the center said."

Read more: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/09/04/florida_declares_state_of_emergency_as_hurricane_irma_strengthens_to_category.html


How strange for us to have better weather than Texas and Florida. 

"REPORT: Media photographer wounded in Clark County officer-involved shooting"

Breaking News Staff

1:21 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2017 Local

"A Clark County sheriff’s deputy was involved in an officer-involved shooting Monday night, and the New Carlisle News is reporting its staff photographer was shot when a deputy mistook his camera for a weapon.

"Clark County deputies were dispatched to the 400 block of North Main Street in New Carlisle around 9:50 p.m. The officer-involved shooting happened shortly after.

"The New Carlisle News is reporting that Andy Grimm, a photographer for the News, was working on taking lightning pictures when a deputy performed a traffic stop nearby. Grimm was holding his camera and tripod and the deputy is believed to have mistaken them for a weapon, the News is reporting.

"Grimm was shot in the side and is undergoing surgery at Miami Valley Hospital, according to the News.

"The New Carlisle News had posted a paragraph of information to its Facebook page earlier in the evening where they stated Grimm had been pulled over on a traffic stop when the shooting occurred, but said later he was not involved in the stop.

"Officials on scene did not comment. Ohio BCI is now in charge of the investigation and any statement will be coming from state Attorney General Mike DeWine's office, Clark County sheriff’s officials said.

"We are working to learn more and to confirm the New Carlisle News account of the shooting."

Another unwarranted shooting by a sheriff's deputy.  'To Serve and Protect' whom?

Open Blog - Tuesday

Hi, Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Open Blog - Labor Day

Have a good one.  If you drink, don't drive.