Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Dear Madame Zoltar
The Packers' performance also put me into a bad mood. There's all this supposed talent on the team, yet they can't put together two consecutive wins. Aaron Rodgers should reimbirse the team for the time he didn't play. I would feel terribly guilty collecting all those millions while I sat at homr "healing." Trade Rodgers. He breaks too easily.
Here are the Irregular Football League's standings:
Omg, I've dropped two places while Mr. OrbsCorbs has gained two. At least I still have a playoff spot.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Hurray! SeƱor Zanza will be cooking the turkey. We have a very traditional meal. Afterward, Junior is cleaning up. Hurray! There's always a ton of leftovers, so let us know what your needs are. The food will be delicious.
Let's not lose sight of the real meaning of Thanksgiving. It's a day to give thanks. Give thanks no matter how embittered you are. Give thanks you live in the USA and not Africa. Give thanks for your clothing. For the roof over your head and the walls that keep out the weather. Give thanks that you can give thanks. In some countries, you'd be shut down.
The fires in California have taken hundreds of homes and people Be grateful that you don't live there.
The list is almost endless. We are blessed in this country, so very blessed.
I wish all of you the very best meal. Happy Thanksgiving!
madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com
I love you all. Enjoy what you can of the weather. School buses are out, so watch out for them and their passengers. The days will shorten until the winter solstice, then start to lengthen. Merry Christmas!
_________________________
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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.
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
The Baste Land
From The Shepherd Express:
So no essay ’cause I got to get to the store and pick up fixings for my Thanksgiving feast, for which I enjoy boiling up a nice ring baloney because I cannot eat turkey out of respect for our Founding Fathers who dang near made it our national bird for christ sakes—I’m guessing because of the turkey’s much ballyhooed beauty and intelligence, what the fock.
And I guess had they made that decision, we would now be basting and carving the traditional Thanksgiving eagle come the fourth Thursday each November. Well, maybe not necessarily the eagle, but whatever bird it would be (tufted titmouse?), it sure as hell wouldn’t be the turkey ’cause you just don’t cram a thermometer up the butt of the national bird, I don’t care who you are.
But if it were to be the eagle for Thanksgiving, you know what? I got a sneaking hunch that it doesn’t taste just like a chicken, no sir. In fact, I got a funny feeling that the eagle tastes just like a woman’s saddle shoe, size seven, shoelace included. And so I guess I could be thankful that the Founding Fathers failed to make the gobbler our nation’s fowl symbol for all that’s noble and strong about our country. Besides, the turkey carries enough symbolic weight as it is, witnessed by the fact that we elect so damn many of them to Congress every couple years.
Also no essay since it’s been my experience that regular readers aren’t up to navigating my little section of this here back page this time of year anyways on account of either being struck down by the dropsies from the too-much holiday feasting or they’re busy navigating their way out of county jail due to the aggravated battery charge acquired right before the pumpkin pie was served at the extended-family Thanksgiving get-together. Yeah, I know, sometimes the in-laws really do deserve what’s coming to them, civil ordinance be damned, what the fock.
But before I go, it’s a yearly tradition of mine to provide to those of you’s who indeed may read this page before trotting off to your holiday obligation, a little something you can take along and share at your gathering, so you don’t just show up empty-handed as the free-loading fockstick your relatives, friends and acquaintances have come to expect, if not dread. So if you’re too damn lazy or depressed to bring a dish to pass, a humorous story would be a nice alternative, ain’a?
So a bunch of preachers are having a little ecumenical confab in the rectory of a Catholic priest. Just as they’re silently girding up to air out some of their differences, the good father offers each of them a whiskey to ease tensions, to clear the air of religious napalm, so to speak.
“Don’t mind if I do, thanks,” says the Methodist vicar, who belts down a good three fingers of Wild Turkey. “And you?” asks the priest of the fire-and-brimstone fundamentalist Baptist Bible-thumper. “What?!?!!” shouts the born-againer, shocked to his core. “Drink alcohol?! I’d rather debauch in a whorehouse!”
At this, the Methodist spits his whiskey back into the glass and hollers, “Whoa, Nellie! You mean we get a choice?” Ba-ding!
OK, “’nuff said,” ain’a, except to say that wherever you find yourself this Thanksgiving time of year, god speed and remember to fight the good fight, ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.
From: https://shepherdexpress.com/advice/art-kumbalek/the-baste-land/
I’m Art Kumbalek and man oh manischewitz what a world, ain’a? So listen, here we are, another Thanksgiving for crying out loud. Didn’t we just have one last year, what the fock? What more can I say, so stop me, or don’t, if you’ve heard this before that you shouldn’t expect much of an essay this week from me for your Thanksgiving-holiday needs, no sir. I don’t have time to self-importantly gasbag some kind of treacly tripe about what we all have to be thankful for. My personal Thankful List runs from A to A, with A being that I’m thankful I’m not serving hard time with no chance for parole.
Although I could be convinced to be thankful that our focking Packers still have a chance to win six, seven games total this season—eight is a little optimistic for my blood—but I do think they’re a lock for third place in their division, I kid you not.So no essay ’cause I got to get to the store and pick up fixings for my Thanksgiving feast, for which I enjoy boiling up a nice ring baloney because I cannot eat turkey out of respect for our Founding Fathers who dang near made it our national bird for christ sakes—I’m guessing because of the turkey’s much ballyhooed beauty and intelligence, what the fock.
And I guess had they made that decision, we would now be basting and carving the traditional Thanksgiving eagle come the fourth Thursday each November. Well, maybe not necessarily the eagle, but whatever bird it would be (tufted titmouse?), it sure as hell wouldn’t be the turkey ’cause you just don’t cram a thermometer up the butt of the national bird, I don’t care who you are.
But if it were to be the eagle for Thanksgiving, you know what? I got a sneaking hunch that it doesn’t taste just like a chicken, no sir. In fact, I got a funny feeling that the eagle tastes just like a woman’s saddle shoe, size seven, shoelace included. And so I guess I could be thankful that the Founding Fathers failed to make the gobbler our nation’s fowl symbol for all that’s noble and strong about our country. Besides, the turkey carries enough symbolic weight as it is, witnessed by the fact that we elect so damn many of them to Congress every couple years.
Also no essay since it’s been my experience that regular readers aren’t up to navigating my little section of this here back page this time of year anyways on account of either being struck down by the dropsies from the too-much holiday feasting or they’re busy navigating their way out of county jail due to the aggravated battery charge acquired right before the pumpkin pie was served at the extended-family Thanksgiving get-together. Yeah, I know, sometimes the in-laws really do deserve what’s coming to them, civil ordinance be damned, what the fock.
But before I go, it’s a yearly tradition of mine to provide to those of you’s who indeed may read this page before trotting off to your holiday obligation, a little something you can take along and share at your gathering, so you don’t just show up empty-handed as the free-loading fockstick your relatives, friends and acquaintances have come to expect, if not dread. So if you’re too damn lazy or depressed to bring a dish to pass, a humorous story would be a nice alternative, ain’a?
So a bunch of preachers are having a little ecumenical confab in the rectory of a Catholic priest. Just as they’re silently girding up to air out some of their differences, the good father offers each of them a whiskey to ease tensions, to clear the air of religious napalm, so to speak.
“Don’t mind if I do, thanks,” says the Methodist vicar, who belts down a good three fingers of Wild Turkey. “And you?” asks the priest of the fire-and-brimstone fundamentalist Baptist Bible-thumper. “What?!?!!” shouts the born-againer, shocked to his core. “Drink alcohol?! I’d rather debauch in a whorehouse!”
At this, the Methodist spits his whiskey back into the glass and hollers, “Whoa, Nellie! You mean we get a choice?” Ba-ding!
OK, “’nuff said,” ain’a, except to say that wherever you find yourself this Thanksgiving time of year, god speed and remember to fight the good fight, ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.
From: https://shepherdexpress.com/advice/art-kumbalek/the-baste-land/
Wishful Thinking & Foxconn
Dear County Board of Supervisors,
A Better Mount Pleasant Sends:
Let the parsing begin. Wishful thinking presented as fact by Wisconsin commerce types. Even Tommy Thompson says he'd have negotiated a better deal. Mt. Pleasant just signed on to the whole deal with no questions asked.
And the Answer is .....
YES!
Even the Milwaukee Business Journal agrees!
On a per-job basis it appears Wisconsin paid more in incentives for its economic development prize Foxconn Technology Group than New York’s and Virginia’s incentives for Amazon.com Inc., but those involved in Wisconsin’s Foxconn deal say the state will get more bang for taxpayers’ bucks.
Wisconsin’s state financial incentives to Foxconn will reach $3 billion if the company spends $10 billion on its Racine County plant and equipment and hires 13,000 employees at an average wage of $53,000-plus.
Initial reports on the Amazon HQ2 incentive packages showed $1.5 billion in incentives from New York and $573 million for northern Virginia. The company plans to hire 25,000 employees at each location with average annual salary of $150,000.
However, the total bundle for New York is $2.8 billion including both state funds and tax breaks from the city, according to the Washington Post. And the Virginia package reaches $1.85 billion when including promises of state investments in higher education and improving the transportation system, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC), points out that $1.35 billion of Wisconsin’s incentive package specifically ties to jobs Foxconn creates, while the rest is for construction. He compares it with job-creation incentives of about $1.7 billion each in New York and Virginia. Using those figures, Wisconsin is paying $103,00 per job while New York and Virginia each are paying about $68,000, Sheehy said.
“Wisconsin paid significantly more per job as an incentive,” he acknowledges.
On a per-job basis it appears Wisconsin paid more in incentives for its economic development prize Foxconn Technology Group than New York’s and Virginia’s incentives for Amazon.com Inc., but those involved in Wisconsin’s Foxconn deal say the state will get more bang for taxpayers’ bucks.
Sheehy also responded to the fact that while Foxconn agreed to pay an average annual salary of $53,875, Amazon says it will pay an average of $150,000 at its HQ2 sites. Sheehy believes the average Amazon employee will not receive that kind of salary and the figure is skewed by higher-paying positions in the $300,000 to $400,000 range.
On a per-job basis it appears Wisconsin paid more in incentives for its economic development prize Foxconn Technology Group than New York’s and Virginia’s incentives for Amazon.com Inc., but those involved in Wisconsin’s Foxconn deal say the state will get more bang for taxpayers’ bucks.Wisconsin’s state financial incentives to Foxconn will reach $3 billion if the company spends $10 billion on its Racine County plant and equipment and hires 13,000 employees at an average wage of $53,000-plus.Initial reports on the Amazon HQ2 incentive packages showed $1.5 billion in incentives from New York and $573 million for northern Virginia. The company plans to hire 25,000 employees at each location with average annual salary of $150,000.However, the total bundle for New York is $2.8 billion including both state funds and tax breaks from the city, according to the Washington Post. And the Virginia package reaches $1.85 billion when including promises of state investments in higher education and improving the transportation system, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC), points out that $1.35 billion of Wisconsin’s incentive package specifically ties to jobs Foxconn creates, while the rest is for construction. He compares it with job-creation incentives of about $1.7 billion each in New York and Virginia. Using those figures, Wisconsin is paying $103,00 per job while New York and Virginia each are paying about $68,000, Sheehy said.“Wisconsin paid significantly more per job as an incentive,” he acknowledges.
It would appear that Village President David DeGroot and his goose- stepping and unquestioning minions on the Board have been outfoxxed by the Walker/Trump inspired political theater aka Fox-Scam - if it even happens.
And there is no guarantee it will.....
Good luck to a reckless and unquestioning Village Board - except Gary Feest - while Village President David DeGroot takes Village Taxpayers on a ride to the "wild side"
One malfeasant crime after another - right? Village President David DeGroot?
Please join Cindy and I is JUST SAYING NO to allowing Wisconsin’s very own Gang of Four, Governor Scott Walker, Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave, City of Racine Mayor 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.
Impoverishing the masses is merely conservation by other means.
Sincerely,
Tim & Cindy
Monday, November 19, 2018
A Better Mount Pleasant Sends:
Let the parsing begin. Wishful thinking presented as fact by Wisconsin commerce types. Even Tommy Thompson says he'd have negotiated a better deal. Mt. Pleasant just signed on to the whole deal with no questions asked.
Sunday, November 18, 2018
Flatiron Village Mall
Dear City of Racine Alderpersons,
I am concerned that a Business, located at 1661 Douglas Ave., known as Flatiron Village Mall, has a license from City of Racine to operate a Gambling Hall - a BINGO operation, yet has not paid the property taxes due since 2011, and is currently, according to Racine County records, $217,604.36 in arrears. In addition, the building, affiliated with the non-profit Northside Redevelopment Project Inc, is being allowed to blight the neighborhood, as proper maintenance has not been attended to.
Note that former County Supervisor Ken Lumpkin is the Chairman - from the referenced 2017 Form 990.
Why is a BINGO Hall allowed to evade paying their property taxes from 2011 to the present, thus forcing the cost on others, allow the property to deteriorate, and yet still retain a privileged business operating license?
Sincerely,
Tim & Cindy
Technocracy
Dear Board of County Supervisors,
Engaging in frank and honest discussions is always of utmost importance. Therefore, in case that the Foxconn Development does not produce the desired/claimed financial effects for SE WI - perhaps a Technocracy, guided by Artificial Intelligence, might produce the desired outcome.
Something which you may find interesting:
M. King Hubbert - of Shell Oil and Peak Oil fame was a Technocrat. I made a pilgrimage to visit the Georgia Guidestones - to see for myself. I also traveled through the Appalachians and visited the beginning of the Appalachian Trail.
Technocracy INC.
We are a non-profit membership organization founded in 1933.
Our Mission is to serve local and global communities by providing an informational network in support of a functional and thriving planet. We will inform, educate, and empower the public toward new approaches to sustainable systems by modeling cooperative systems and incorporating scientific research and cumulative ideas.
The City of Racine doesn't need 5 in the Mayor's office - nor a County Executive and his costly staff - it just needs one AI computer which will be the most cost effective solution for all and free up monies for debt service and actual performed services which will benefit the entire Community.
The State of WI STILL continues to FAIL - as evidenced by the recent posts of Menzie Chinn who is Professor of Public Affairs and Economics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
See:
Please join Cindy and I is JUST SAYING NO to allowing Wisconsin’s very own Gang of Four, Governor Scott Walker, Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave, City of Racine Mayor 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,
Saturday, November 17, 2018
Mac:
Myron M. Kinley (1898-1978);
The 'Father' of Oil Well Firefighting & Blowout Control
Much of the film used in this video is very old and was originally shot on 8 MM format and converted to digital for production purposes; the quality is not very good, unfortunately.
Please note in this video that shot canisters (drums of explosives) used to extinguish well fires in the early years were actually placed at the base of a fire, in what is called the "mixing chamber" by carrying the can, or drum, in to the well by hand or by pushing the can into the fire via a trolley system. Both methods are shown in this film. The viewer must take a moment, close one's eyes, take a deep breath and imagine the balls these guys had to do what they did with unstable explosives.
By the early 1930's Kinley developed the use of Athey tracks to build a long boom that would be facilitate more precise shot placement.
There is actual footage in this video of a fire in Gladewater, Texas in 1931 where Kinley broke his ankle. Myron broke the same ankle and leg two more times in his career and was essentially left with a bad limp. It was this bad leg that prevented him from running from a Venezuelan blowout in 1942-1943 that caught fire while he was working on it. He was badly burned by that fire and spent six months in a hospital. On the Gladewater job his brother Floyd, along with others, can be seen carrying Myron away. Five years later Floyd was killed on a blowout in Goliad County.
Young Red Adair can be seen briefly in the clip, around 1948-49, not long after he was hired by Kinley.
Myron Kinley spent nearly 40 years teaching the entire world how to fight oil well fires and control blowing wells; many of the well control techniques Kinley developed 90 years ago are still being used today. Adair, Boots Hansen, Coots Matthews and Richard Hatteberg were all taught the business of oil well firefighting by Myron "Mac" Kinley.
Kinley's role in the protection of the worldwide oil and natural gas industry is unparalleled in history. Simply put, the oil and gas industry could have not succeeded without him. Adair often gets all the credit, but Kinley was the man that led the way.
https://www.oilystuffblog.com/single-post/2018/01/24/Mac
Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel
This is what it looks like....
The situation at Canada’s Alberta Tar Sands Operations has gone from bad to worse as the super-low oil price is now costing the industry billions of dollars each month. Unbelievably, the price for the Western Canadian Select heavy oil fell to a gut-wrenching $14.65 yesterday down from a high of $58 in May. Tar sands oil is now selling at an amazing $40 discount to U.S. West Texas Oil which is trading at $56.
Many “energy experts” have said that a Manhattan tar sands project could prevent oil decline in the future. But that’s not likely. Here are a few reasons why:
- Reaching 5 Mb/d will get increasingly (energy) expensive, because there’s only enough natural gas to mine 29% of tar sands (and limited water as well). Using the energy of the tar sand bitumen itself would greatly reduce the amount that could be produced and dramatically increase the cost and energy to mine it.
- Since there isn’t enough natural gas, many hope that nuclear reactors will replace natural gas. That would take a lot of time. Kjell Aleklett estimates it would take at least 7 years before a candu nuclear reactor could be built, and the Canadian Parliament estimates it would take 20 nuclear reactors to replace natural gas as a fuel source.
- Mined oil sands have been estimated to have an energy returned on invested of EROI of 5.5–6 for mined tar sands (perhaps 10% of the 170 billion barrels), with in situ processing much lower at 3.5–4 (Brandt 2013). Right now, 90% of the reserves being developed are via higher-EROI mining, yet 80% of remaining oil sands reserves are in situ, so the remaining reserves will be much less profitable.
- Counting on tar sands to replace declining conventional oil, with an EROI as high as 30 will be hard to accomplish, especially if it turns out to be the case that an EROI of 7 to 14 is required to maintain civilization as we know it (Lambert et al. 2014; Murphy 2011; Mearns 2008; Weissbach et al. 2013)
https://srsroccoreport.com/tar-sands-operations-go-from-bad-to-worse-now-losing-billions-a-month/
Let’s Have a War!
It is time to end the Looting of SE WI by Government Officials!
https://timstoyymore.wordpress.com/2018/11/17/lets-have-a-war/
https://timstoyymore.wordpress.com/2018/11/17/lets-have-a-war/
Darkside of Foxconn Project
Dear County Board,
I'm taking the other side of the Foxconn gamble in SE WI - which is to say that it is destined for failure, was ill conceived from the beginning, and will only lead to the eventual and ultimate collapse of SE WI as part of Industrial Civilization. Understand that Collapse was always the end result - your actions only hastened it.
Politicians have to lie, because it is their only means of support.
They justify endless wars, instill fear, demand endless tribute, and bully the productive. Their ranks multiply until they become a unstoppable swarm whose demands exceed the capacity of the productive, rapes the land, and creates societal collapse. Soon to be coming to SE WI and beyond.
Please see my post:
Sincerely,
Tim & Cindy
Amnesty International announced
Amnesty International announced it would strip Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi of its top award, saying it was “profoundly dismayed” at her failure to acknowledge the full scale of atrocities against the Rohingya people
.
Before you are tempted to view this as some kind of principled, honorable move on Amnesty’s part, stop yourself and check out its dubious government and corporate funding sources, its selective support for the concept of free speech and the fact that it spends quite a bit of time soft-pedaling Western imperialism and its atrocities while magnifying the wrongdoings of the West’s adversaries.
Amnesty’s attempt to win plaudits for its decision to revoke Suu Kyi’s award has come after mounting calls for the controversial figure’s 1991 Nobel Peace Prize to be stripped from her. Nearly half a million people have signed a Change.org petition calling for the Nobel Committee to take back the award.
Amnesty’s attempt to win plaudits for its decision to revoke Suu Kyi’s award has come after mounting calls for the controversial figure’s 1991 Nobel Peace Prize to be stripped from her. Nearly half a million people have signed a Change.org petition calling for the Nobel Committee to take back the award.
The first unworthy awardee that springs to mind is, of course, former US President Barack Obama, who, rather inexplicably, was presented with his Nobel Peace Prize a mere nine months into his first term as president on the basis that it seemed like he might do something worthy of the honor at some point in the future. Sadly for the Nobel Committee, which clearly had high hopes for the man, Obama went on to bomb seven different countries over the course of his two terms.
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/444191-obama-nobel-strip-bomb/
Friday, November 16, 2018
Hortonville business gives employees handguns for Christmas
From JSOnline:
 |
Employees at BenShot, a business that produces glassware embedded with bullets, show off their guns at their workshop in Hortonville. Each employee was given a handgun as a Christmas gift from the business.(Photo: Courtesy of BenShot)
|
HORTONVILLE - A local business that produces glassware embedded with bullets recently decided to give every employee a handgun as a Christmas present.
Ben Wolfgram, who co-owns Hortonville-based BenShot, said the decision to give employees handguns as a gift was made as part of an effort to promote personal safety and team building.
The business has 16 full-time employees, including several military veterans. But the business also had employees who had never fired a gun before, Wolfgram said.
Not to be outdone, a Verona company is giving away Cannons for Christmas. And a Thiensville employer has launched a Nuke the Yuletide campaign.
Happy Belate Birthday to Charlie!
Sorry I missed your birthday by a day. Charlie was officially 13 as of yesterday, even though he insists that he's only 5. I love you.
Four for Fridays!
Good morning everyone I hope you are doing alright with the nasty white stuff that has come are way. I will let you know the roads are slippery and if you have to go out please be very careful out there and give yourself extra time. Here are your questions.
1) Do you have plans for Thanksgiving?
2) If you have plans does it include traveling?
3) Are you going to spend Thanksgiving with family or friends?
4) What do you enjoy the most about Thanksgiving?
Please have a fun but safe weekend!
1) Do you have plans for Thanksgiving?
2) If you have plans does it include traveling?
3) Are you going to spend Thanksgiving with family or friends?
4) What do you enjoy the most about Thanksgiving?
Please have a fun but safe weekend!
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Dear Madame Zoltar
How about those fires in California. It's literally hell on earth. They're blaming the drought on climate change. It's made the landscape a tinder box, ready to burn on a moment's notice.
Hey der, how about dem Packers? They finally won one. They claim to be all tired and injured, but I think that's smoke for their upcoming game with the Seatle Seahawks. (Psst, what is a seahawk?) Seatle is struggling, too, so the game may be interesting. I'm picking the Packers in this one.
Here's the standings from the Irregular Football League:
My Screaming Psychics have clinched a playoff spot. I'm right behind The Mighty Bears. Mr. OrbsCorbs' Orbliterators are in the toilet. Ha-ha!
Have you been following the strange case of Sandy Weidner? Judge Eugene Gasurgrghbrregiwk has sealed her open redords case. He's sealed everything about it, even the court dates and times at first. Numerous organizations have filed suit. Meanwhile, the judge has found her guillty of contempt of court and fined her $130,000. But he suspended imposition of the ruling until the appeal is heard first. Huh?
How about that "blue wave" in the last election? Tonu Evers won the governor's spot and already the opposition is talking about how they're not going to co-operate with him. Our fine government at work. The guy hasn't even been sworn in yet and already he faces stiff opposition. Whatever we do, we cannot work together. We must stay bitter and angry at each other. Always.
Donald Trump is blaming the raging fires in California on poor forestry practices. Again, huh? The damn drought has made everything drier than dry. There's always some idiot tossing a cigarette butt out of his window. I can't imagine the loss. Complete cities flattened by the fires. So many people who have lost everything. You can feel it in the force. A satellite has snapped a picture of the smoke. The best we can do is pray for those people.
Looks like the "holiday season" is already here. Christmas trees are going up. Lights are being strung. Thankfully, I haven't heard any Christmas music yet. The later, the better. And, of course, we have Black Friday coming up. Black Friday is an ode to consumerism. The ultimate shopping day. Be sure to wear your shoulder pads and helmet for this one. Or maybe a Kevlar vest would be better. Heck, wear both.
Thank you my friends for reading my blog this week. I love you all. madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com
Enjoy the sunshine. Bundle up for the cold. The word is wind.
_________________________
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.
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Hey Hey, My My
From The Shepherd Express:
But as the people’s spokesperson, I feel obligated to fill this page with something or another, so I’m on my way over by the Uptowner tavern/charm school to see if any of the fellas would like to fill in for me. Tag along if you’d like, but I got to warn you that labor negotiations can be mighty tedious and technical with this crowd.
Ernie: Took a ride on that new Hop streetcar the other day. Thought it was pretty nice, but I wish they would’ve spent a little more dough and added a club car where a guy like me could go back, have a smoke and a nice cocktail while taking a gander at the sights passing by, over and over and over again.
Herbie: And it’s still got that new streetcar smell, although I’ll bet you a buck two-eighty it’s only a matter of time ’til it fades to the more familiar Milwaukee County Transit System bus fragrance I call “Ode a la Unregulated Nursing Home.”
Julius: I hear they’d like to expand the area the streetcar can go, ain’a?
Ray: But they don’ need to go into the focking suburbs, I don’t think. They already got their transportation for a select clientele. It’s called The Cop—a transit system for black guys out on the street at night that travels directly to the station.
Little Jimmy Iodine: So I was reading about all this research on brain concussions, and it made me wonder if they still had Jeffrey Dahmer’s brain in a jar somewheres ’cause they wanted to use it for science, remember?
Emil: Science?
Herbie: What do you mean, “science?” What the hell you think they’re going to use it for, a Caesar salad?
Ray: What’re they going to learn from Dahmer’s brain; how to bullshit cops?
Ernie: Good one, Ray.
Little Jimmy Iodine: Hey, Artie! Over here. Put a load on your keister.
Art: Hey gents, what do you hear, what do you know. Any you guys want to write my essay for me this week? I can’t pay you’s anything, but it’d be good exposure.
Emil: What the hell are these scientists going to find out all the time keeping these guys’ brains around for, ain’a? It’s not like these focking things can talk. The scientific rule is you got to have a body, otherwise the brain won’t work.
Herbie: And having a body is no guarantee that the brain will work, as you focking prove every goddamn time you open your mouth.
Emil: Fock you.
Little Jimmy: Scientists have to study exposed brains ’cause if the brain’s still in a guy’s head who’s alive, all you could come up with is that some guy could be acting like a focking nut but you wouldn’t technically know why his brain was telling him to act like a focking nut. See? Like it was only recently they discovered that ladies’ brains work differently than men’s do.
Ernie: Who the hell didn’t know that? Must’ve been the bachelor scientists come up with that brainstorm.
Julius: Fock exposure. Write your own damn essay Artie, you cheap knob.
Herbie: You’re telling me it’s some kind of brain chemical why the wife can’t focking parallel park the focking car to save her life, and not ’cause she wants to drive me focking nuts?
Emil: I’d say it’s focking dangerous to the public welfare to have these brains in jars laying around. What the hell, these scientists never heard of Franken-focking-stein? Yeah, a lot of people think it’s only a movie but I tell you, with the goddamn technology these days, who’s to say there’s not some nut scientist out there who’s only one brain short of creating his own personal guy? They are besmirching with disaster to us all, I swear.
Ernie: Emil, if anybody’s one brain short—it’s you, you focking nitwit. They don’t have to dick around with making up a being out of used parts like they had to in the olden days. Now they can do it with those genes in some kind of fancy pressurized tube, I shit you not.
Little Jimmy: They say they haven’t perfected the cloning yet, but I bet you a buck-two eighty they can do it. There’s a lot of stuff they never tell us. Like that time aliens from space landed in New Mexico.
Herbie: That’s a load of crap. How come these so-called aliens always crash-land in a desert or some focking hillbilly bayou? How come they never go down Fifth focking Avenue in the middle of rush hour?
Julius: A lot of Mexicans say that whole Southwest was stolen by the United States gringo, that it used to be Mexico and they want it back.
Art: Que de la fock. About the essay, guys?
Ray: Yeah, that’s just what focking Mexico needs, more cactus land with no water on it.
(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: https://shepherdexpress.com/advice/art-kumbalek/hey-hey-my-my/
Ernie: Took a ride on that new Hop streetcar the other day. Thought it was pretty nice, but I wish they would’ve spent a little more dough and added a club car where a guy like me could go back, have a smoke and a nice cocktail while taking a gander at the sights passing by, over and over and over again.
Herbie: And it’s still got that new streetcar smell, although I’ll bet you a buck two-eighty it’s only a matter of time ’til it fades to the more familiar Milwaukee County Transit System bus fragrance I call “Ode a la Unregulated Nursing Home.”
Julius: I hear they’d like to expand the area the streetcar can go, ain’a?
Ray: But they don’ need to go into the focking suburbs, I don’t think. They already got their transportation for a select clientele. It’s called The Cop—a transit system for black guys out on the street at night that travels directly to the station.
Little Jimmy Iodine: So I was reading about all this research on brain concussions, and it made me wonder if they still had Jeffrey Dahmer’s brain in a jar somewheres ’cause they wanted to use it for science, remember?
Emil: Science?
Herbie: What do you mean, “science?” What the hell you think they’re going to use it for, a Caesar salad?
Ray: What’re they going to learn from Dahmer’s brain; how to bullshit cops?
Ernie: Good one, Ray.
Little Jimmy Iodine: Hey, Artie! Over here. Put a load on your keister.
Art: Hey gents, what do you hear, what do you know. Any you guys want to write my essay for me this week? I can’t pay you’s anything, but it’d be good exposure.
Emil: What the hell are these scientists going to find out all the time keeping these guys’ brains around for, ain’a? It’s not like these focking things can talk. The scientific rule is you got to have a body, otherwise the brain won’t work.
Herbie: And having a body is no guarantee that the brain will work, as you focking prove every goddamn time you open your mouth.
Emil: Fock you.
Little Jimmy: Scientists have to study exposed brains ’cause if the brain’s still in a guy’s head who’s alive, all you could come up with is that some guy could be acting like a focking nut but you wouldn’t technically know why his brain was telling him to act like a focking nut. See? Like it was only recently they discovered that ladies’ brains work differently than men’s do.
Ernie: Who the hell didn’t know that? Must’ve been the bachelor scientists come up with that brainstorm.
Julius: Fock exposure. Write your own damn essay Artie, you cheap knob.
Herbie: You’re telling me it’s some kind of brain chemical why the wife can’t focking parallel park the focking car to save her life, and not ’cause she wants to drive me focking nuts?
Emil: I’d say it’s focking dangerous to the public welfare to have these brains in jars laying around. What the hell, these scientists never heard of Franken-focking-stein? Yeah, a lot of people think it’s only a movie but I tell you, with the goddamn technology these days, who’s to say there’s not some nut scientist out there who’s only one brain short of creating his own personal guy? They are besmirching with disaster to us all, I swear.
Ernie: Emil, if anybody’s one brain short—it’s you, you focking nitwit. They don’t have to dick around with making up a being out of used parts like they had to in the olden days. Now they can do it with those genes in some kind of fancy pressurized tube, I shit you not.
Little Jimmy: They say they haven’t perfected the cloning yet, but I bet you a buck-two eighty they can do it. There’s a lot of stuff they never tell us. Like that time aliens from space landed in New Mexico.
Herbie: That’s a load of crap. How come these so-called aliens always crash-land in a desert or some focking hillbilly bayou? How come they never go down Fifth focking Avenue in the middle of rush hour?
Julius: A lot of Mexicans say that whole Southwest was stolen by the United States gringo, that it used to be Mexico and they want it back.
Art: Que de la fock. About the essay, guys?
Ray: Yeah, that’s just what focking Mexico needs, more cactus land with no water on it.
(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: https://shepherdexpress.com/advice/art-kumbalek/hey-hey-my-my/
Here Is How Walmart Plans To Seize Further Control Of Your Community
At the most recent International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) conference in Atlanta, Walmart announced new plans to repurpose twelve of its locations into Town Centers --
an outdoor gathering area with seating, community activities,
entertainment, dining facilities, jogging paths, fountains, green
spaces, playgrounds, and even space for live music.
The idea behind Walmart's seismic shift is that it wants to recreate
the downtown of small communities that it was instrumental in
destroying.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-11-12/here-how-walmart-plans-seize-further-control-your-community
 |
| Walmart Town CenterImage courtesy of Walmart & MMA |
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-11-12/here-how-walmart-plans-seize-further-control-your-community
Monday, November 12, 2018
Collector's Item
The above is parked in our garage. That's right, a Yugo with collector plates. Today at Home Depot I parked next to quite the opposite: a Dodge Hellcat. Are they all 1,000 plus horsepower? How much horsepower did the Yugo have? They have no horses in Yugoslavia so they measure power in oxpower. The Yugo had 1/2 oxpower.
"Two huffing-related deaths in Racine County since 2014"
https://journaltimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/two-huffing-related-deaths-in-racine-county-since/article_1303db11-8b88-56e3-9b67-0e5c39ceefbf.html#tracking-source=home-top-story
Yesterday's Journal Times contained this line: "RACINE COUNTY — The Sheriff’s Office is beginning to see a disturbing trend, an increase in methamphetamines."
https://journaltimes.com/news/local/more-meth-starting-to-infiltrate-racine-county/article_0804d22a-9240-5342-8061-5f82c48f4815.html
Two deaths in four years is hardly an epidemic. Is the sheriff setting himself up for a pot-legal culture? Gotta make money one way or another.
Yesterday's Journal Times contained this line: "RACINE COUNTY — The Sheriff’s Office is beginning to see a disturbing trend, an increase in methamphetamines."
https://journaltimes.com/news/local/more-meth-starting-to-infiltrate-racine-county/article_0804d22a-9240-5342-8061-5f82c48f4815.html
Two deaths in four years is hardly an epidemic. Is the sheriff setting himself up for a pot-legal culture? Gotta make money one way or another.
A Better Mount Pleasant sends
Under Village President Dave DeGroot budget expenses have exploded over the last two years:
Fire Department increased 11.1%
Police Department increased 14.7%
Contracts & Professional Services increased 18.6%
Salaries & Wages increased 13.1
Assessors Department increased 45.7%
https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/bootdegroot?source=feed_text&__tn__=*NK-RFire Department increased 11.1%
Police Department increased 14.7%
Contracts & Professional Services increased 18.6%
Salaries & Wages increased 13.1
Assessors Department increased 45.7%
Since becoming Village President there have been no performance reviews for salary increases, no annual reports of police crime and call statistics, no annual report of fire service calls or community response times.
No facts, data or community comparisons are required or used to determine village spending.
These increases don't even reflect expenses and wages hidden in TIF districts which residents pay interest on.
We can't afford this kind of reckless behavior. #BootDeGroot
No facts, data or community comparisons are required or used to determine village spending.
These increases don't even reflect expenses and wages hidden in TIF districts which residents pay interest on.
We can't afford this kind of reckless behavior. #BootDeGroot
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Saturday, November 10, 2018
Friday, November 9, 2018
"Wisconsin’s Deal With Foxconn Was as Bad as They Come"
When the public relations talking points fade, the facts begin to emerge.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-11-06/wisconsin-s-deal-with-foxconn-is-the-worst-of-corporate-welfare?srnd=politics-vp
Wisconsin’s Deal With Foxconn Was as Bad as They Come
The state offered billions to win a big factory. It will create some jobs, but at a staggering cost for taxpayers.
"If that all sounds like a bad deal, it’s because it is. Tim Bartik, an
economist who studies industrial policy, calculates that Wisconsin is
paying about 10 times the typical amount per job created. And that’s a
best-case scenario. The Taiwanese company isn’t contractually obligated
to deliver those 13,000 jobs -- it could decide to ship them to China
instead, or even to close the Wisconsin factory in 10 years. In fact,
Foxconn has already changed the type of factory it intends to build,
switching to a cheaper, less advanced manufacturing process."https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-11-06/wisconsin-s-deal-with-foxconn-is-the-worst-of-corporate-welfare?srnd=politics-vp
Four for Fridays!
Good morning everyone I hope you enjoyed your week. If you don't have to go out please stay inside the roads are not good. I just came home from taking Drew to work. If you have to go out take your time and please be safe. Here are your questions.
1) In the winter do you stay home more then in the summer?
2) In the winter do you find yourself hibernating more?
3) What do you do if you stay inside more in the winter?
4) What season do you like the most?
Try to enjoy your weekend!
1) In the winter do you stay home more then in the summer?
2) In the winter do you find yourself hibernating more?
3) What do you do if you stay inside more in the winter?
4) What season do you like the most?
Try to enjoy your weekend!
Thursday, November 8, 2018
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Dear Madame Zoltar
Madame Zoltar didn't get a flu shot and now she's suffering the consequences. She's hoping to tear herself away from the toilet bowl long enough next week to write a blog. Get better Madame Zoltar!
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
Monday, November 5, 2018
Media organizations file motion in Weidner sealed records case
From The Journal Times.com:
Last week, media organizations filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit, requesting that legal documents related to the case be unsealed.
The case was sealed in February by Racine County Circuit Court Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz, but began receiving media attention in September after Weidner spoke with the Associated Press and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the issue.
“The big thing for everyone to understand: This is not a feud between myself and the city attorney,” Weidner told The Journal Times.
She said the issue arose as a result of “different understandings” of what is considered confidential by Letteney as compared to prior city attorneys. Letteney was appointed in summer 2015 after having served as a deputy city attorney for almost 10 years.
“The reasoning behind the Seal Orders and Open Records Decision remains unknown to the public. Indeed, all pleadings are under seal, and even the docket is unavailable for viewing by order of Judge Gasiorkiewicz,” the motion reads.
Read more: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/media-organizations-file-motion-in-weidner-sealed-records-case/article_a8ac7da5-a83c-5210-bd73-1d6476db155c.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1
 |
| Sandy Weidner |
RACINE — Five media organizations are trying to intervene in the ongoing public records lawsuit between 6th District Alderman Sandy Weidner, the City of Racine and City Attorney Scott Letteney.
Last week, media organizations filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit, requesting that legal documents related to the case be unsealed.
The case was sealed in February by Racine County Circuit Court Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz, but began receiving media attention in September after Weidner spoke with the Associated Press and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the issue.
“The big thing for everyone to understand: This is not a feud between myself and the city attorney,” Weidner told The Journal Times.
She said the issue arose as a result of “different understandings” of what is considered confidential by Letteney as compared to prior city attorneys. Letteney was appointed in summer 2015 after having served as a deputy city attorney for almost 10 years.
The motion
“This is one of the more extraordinary cases of excessive secrecy,” Bill Lueders, the president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, told The Journal Times. “We hope the appellate court will act quickly to reverse this case … (and) the poor decisions on part of a Racine judge.”
The five organizations filing the lawsuit are the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, the USA Today Network-Wisconsin, and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (which is distributed through USA Today Network-Wisconsin).
“The reasoning behind the Seal Orders and Open Records Decision remains unknown to the public. Indeed, all pleadings are under seal, and even the docket is unavailable for viewing by order of Judge Gasiorkiewicz,” the motion reads.
Read more: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/media-organizations-file-motion-in-weidner-sealed-records-case/article_a8ac7da5-a83c-5210-bd73-1d6476db155c.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Daylight Saving Time Ended
Make sure you set your clocks back one hour or you'll be early for everything.
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