Judge gives Wisconsin voters more time to return absentee ballots

From JSOnline:

Patrick Marley

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - A federal judge on Monday gave Wisconsin voters an extra six days to get their absentee ballots back to election clerks this fall in a broad decision that also will make it easier to hire poll workers.

Anticipating an appeal was likely, U.S. District Judge William Conley immediately stayed his ruling, writing that it wouldn't go into effect for at least a week. If higher courts uphold his decision, the nation will have to wait for a week after Election Day to get full presidential results in a crucial swing state.

Conley's decision came four days after clerks around the state sent more than 1 million absentee ballots to voters. Absentee voting is expected to hit a record this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Conley ruled that absentee ballots would be counted if they are postmarked by Nov. 3 — Election Day — and received by clerks by Nov. 9. Ordinarily, ballots must be in the hands of clerks by the time polls close on Election Day.   

Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/09/21/wisconsin-absentee-ballots-postmarked-november-3-counted-delay-presidential-election-results/5808975002/

Kenosha County DA hires former Madison police chief to review Jacob Blake shooting investigation

From JSOnline:

Sophie Carson

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Attorney General Josh Kaul will hand the investigative file on the Jacob Blake shooting to former Madison Police Chief Noble Wray to review it as a use-of-force expert, Kaul announced Monday evening.

While Kaul picked Wray to serve as a consultant on the case, he was hired by Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley. Wray will provide insight on the case before the file goes to Graveley, who will make a decision on whether to charge the officers involved in the shooting.

"I am confident that Chief Wray will provide a thoughtful and fair analysis of the facts of this case," Kaul said Monday at a news conference.

The announcement came nearly a month after Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey shot Blake in the back during an arrest, paralyzing him, on Aug. 23.

Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2020/09/21/jacob-blake-press-conference-update-madison-police-chief-hired-review-shooting-investigation/5857556002/

Bice: Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission paid PR firm $61,500 to deal with media, help leader's 'brand' during tumultuous year

From JSOnline:

Daniel Bice

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Griselda Aldrete says her office became overwhelmed shortly after she was appointed executive director of the Fire and Police Commission.  

So just months after she took the position, Aldrete retained an outside public relations firm with a no-bid contract to lend her a helping hand.

Regalis Management, a one-man shop headed by Chez Ordoñez, was paid $7,500 a month to deal with the media, oversee social media and burnish the agency's image.

The total cost to taxpayers, according to the city comptroller: $61,500.

"Well, it didn't work," said Ald. Robert Bauman, when told details of the PR contract last week. 

Bauman was referring to the fact that Aldrete is soon headed out the door, the city is now looking for a permanent police chief and the former head of the Fire and Police Commission has been embroiled in an ethics controversy for much of the past year.

Under Aldrete's leadership, the agency has struggled to complete routine tasks and to deal with transparency issues. 

Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/investigations/daniel-bice/2020/09/21/milwaukee-fire-and-police-commission-spent-61-500-pr-firm-griselda-aldrete-taxpayer-money/5851923002/

Open Blog - Tuesday

Where did the summer go?

NASA Considers Venus Mission After Scientists Find Potential Life Sign

Ellen's First Monologue of Season 18

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NY AG SAYS SHE'LL RELEASE BODY CAM VIDEO EARLY ... Despite What Local Authorities Want

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AP Top Stories September 21

Jimmy Kimmel's 2020 Emmys Mono-logue

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Kenosha shootings launch conspiracy theories, harassment and threats -- continuing a frightening pattern after high-profile events

From JSOnline:

Gina Barton

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Gaige Grosskreutz wasn’t even out of the hospital when his phone started blowing up. Shot point blank in the arm with an AR-15, he was the only person to survive a triple shooting at a protest condemning the shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha police.

Weeks later, the messages haven't stopped. And while some are encouraging, most are ugly, even threatening. In some corners of the internet, Grosskreutz, 26, has become the target of angry white supremacists who think he and others who support Black Lives Matter should be stopped by any means necessary — including homicide.

His family and friends — people who had never protested in Kenosha — got frightening messages, too. The online harassment made its way into their neighborhoods, with strangers showing up at their homes to find out "what really happened" the night Grosskreutz was shot. 

“And that’s the thing that affects me, seeing the people that I care about be upset for me, scared for me," Grosskreutz said. "I just don’t understand the need to target people who weren’t even there.”

Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2020/09/18/online-attacks-follow-kenosha-shootings-continuing-grim-trend/5817548002/

whiskey glasses by morgan wallen 2 hour version

Some things will never stop being funny

From Vox Popoli:

From: http://voxday.blogspot.com/2020/09/some-things-will-never-stop-being-funny.html

Open Blog - Monday

  All day.

2-year-old boy in critical condition after suffering gunshot wound near Washington Park

From JSOnline:

Elliot Hughes

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A 2-year-old boy is in critical condition after suffering a single gunshot wound Saturday on Milwaukee's northwest side.

Officers were called to the 2100 block of North 38th Street in the Washington Park neighborhood at 5 p.m., police said. A male and female have been arrested.

No other details were immediately available Saturday night. 

Contact Elliot Hughes at elliot.hughes@jrn.com or 414-704-8958. Follow him on Twitter @elliothughes12.

From: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2020/09/19/2-year-old-critical-condition-gunshot-wound-milwaukee/5843190002/

Gary Moore - Still Got the Blues (Live From London)

Open Blog - Weekend

Hurrah!

Open Blog - Friday

Oh yeah!

After months-long pause, Racine Unified will allow public comment during its next meeting

From The Journal Times.com:

• Caitlin Sievers
 

RACINE — After almost a six-month pause, the Racine Unified Board of Education plans to allow public comment during its next meeting on Sept. 28.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the board left time during its business meetings and work sessions for citizens to raise concerns or make comments, with the stipulations that they had to provide their names and stick to a 2-minute time limit.

It was not uncommon for the public comment period to pass with no speakers. However, during times of controversy within the district sometimes the board room would be packed with commenters and their supporters, including students, teachers and union representatives.

Once the board began to meet virtually, at the start of April and with few members present in the board meeting room, the public comment period was dropped from the School Board agenda.

The district did allow emailed and in-person comments for an April 20 public hearing regarding the district’s request to the state to waive its hours of instruction requirements due to COVID-19.

Read more: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/after-months-long-pause-racine-unified-will-allow-public-comment-during-its-next-meeting/article_9673d567-6e2e-59e3-83ac-cb74d541a9c0.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1

10 Viruses That Actually Benefit Mankind

Open Blog - Thursday

 A great day.

Mark Steyn blasts new Oscars' guidelines saying it's 'the death of art'

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The Five' blast Pelosi for calling Middle East peace deal a 'distraction

Defense team for Kyle Rittenhouse, already crusading on conservative media, finally adds a Wisconsin lawyer

From JSOnline:

Bruce Vielmetti

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

High-profile conservative lawyers from Atlanta and Los Angeles finally have added a Wisconsin criminal defense attorney to Kyle Rittenhouse's legal team after weeks of promoting their case as a cause célèbre.

Mark Richards of Racine confirmed Monday that over the weekend he agreed to represent the 17-year-old Antioch, Ill., resident. The addition of Richards was key because neither L. Lin Wood, a libel and defamation lawyer from Atlanta, nor John Pierce, a Los Angeles-based civil litigator, are licensed to practice in Wisconsin.

Rittenhouse is charged with fatally shooting two people and wounding a third on Aug. 25 during civil unrest in Kenosha that erupted after a Kenosha police officer shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back Aug. 23. He remains at an Illinois juvenile detention center.

Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2020/09/16/kenosha-shooters-lawyers-cultivate-controversy-whether-helpful-not/3461433001/

Why no Patrick Cafferty?

Mason brothers’ risky Racine COVID test lab

Empower Wisconsin | Sept 15, 2020 

MADISON — The City of Racine City Hall Annex has been transformed into a laboratory where city employees work with a highly contagious virus that has killed nearly 200,000 people in the U.S. — more than 1,200 in Wisconsin. 

And Racine city officials don’t seem at all concerned about the potential safety and liability hazards. 

Sources with backgrounds in biotech tell Empower Wisconsin city leaders and Racine citizens should be very wary of the dangers of a COVID-19 experiment they say has no business being conducted on city property.

Coming home

In July, mainstream media outlets began doing feature stories on Christopher Mason’s research. Mason, associate professor and systems biology wunderkind at Weill Cornell Medicine, is looking for a faster way to test for COVID-19. Mason also just happens to be the brother of Racine’s liberal Mayor Cory Mason, a fact that raises some conflict of interest questions. The scientist, the stories note, came home to turn his hometown into a cutting edge laboratory in the fight against a relentless and deadly pandemic. 

Professor Mason is working alongside Alison Kriegel, PhD, associate professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Mason, despite promising otherwise, did not return Empower Wisconsin’s multiple requests for comment, nor did he answer questions directly put to him in an email. 

As Fox6 explained in late July, the researchers established a mobile lab in the Racine City Hall Annex. They have employed city firefighters to collect “a few milliliters of saliva from city employees taking part in the study.” 

“We’re cooking the saliva at 95 degrees for 30 minutes to essentially kill the virus. And then from there, we’re testing it,” Chief Brian Wolf of the Racine Police Department, told the news outlet. 

The idea, officials say, is to limit the chance for spread within the lab.

Read more: https://empowerwisconsin.org/mason-brothers-risky-racine-covid-test-lab/

Historic agreement signed to normalize relations in Israel, UAE and Bahrain | WNT

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Voter to President Trump: Let me finish, sir

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my dears!  How are you?  I'm sorry that I took a couple of weeks off.  I almost took off today, too.  It seems like there's nothing to write about except COVID-19.  I'm sick and tired of wearing a mask.  I feel like some sort of felon.  Stick 'em up.

In the latest twist, an apparent brain was discovered in Myers Park.  ( https://journaltimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/police-investigating-discovery-of-brain-like-object-at-myers-park/article_42c00e92-f3f1-520b-89f4-7b3737df5b8f.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1 )  Oh my!  Who's missing a brain?  I know.  With the political climate in Racine, it's hard to tell.  I vote for the brain belonging to Mr. McMayor Cory 'Butterball' Mason.  Obviously, he is the most braindead of all local politicians.

 
Well, it looks like "outside agitators"are responsible for at least some of the mess that is now Kenosha.  (  https://journaltimes.com/news/local/state-and-regional/update-woman-arrested-near-i-94-prior-to-monday-night-kenosha-protest-caravan-reported-traveling/article_4d04b361-1920-50a2-831f-b22657000174.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1 )  Why was this woman released on bond?  She'll never show up for court.  Catch and release, catch and release.  The police catch them, and the courts release them.  What a waste.  

Speaking of wastes, here's the story of a "Dirty P" gang member: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/alleged-dirty-p-gang-member-charged-in-friday-shooting-incident/article_fb3f1600-56e0-5f0f-b804-1d4e5e22c041.html#tracking-source=home-trending .  I have difficulty working up repect for a gang namerd after dirty urine.  Or does the "P" stand for poop?  Oh my.

That's it, my dears.  This is the shortened version of my blog.   Thank God for the Journal Times, or I'd have nothing to write about.  

I love each and every one of you. Thank you for reading my blog.  Kisses and hugs to you.

madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com

Please be sure to respect one another.  It's our best hope for peace.
________________________ 
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

 

Hell, it's Saturday.

Police investigating discovery of brain-like object at Myers Park

From The Journal Times.com:

• Journal Times staff
• 
  

  

  What appears to be a brain, wrapped along with flowers and money, was reportedly found just before 9 a.m. Tuesday at Samuel Myers Park near Gateway Technical College's Racine campus. Police are investigating.

  James Senda

  
  

• RACINE — Police are investigating the discovery of what looks like a brain, found wrapped in foil Tuesday morning at the beach at Samuel Myers Park. 

  Flowers and money were also reportedly found in the package.

  Sgt. Chad Melby, public information officer for the Racine Police Department, said officers were dispatched to the beach off 11th Street at 8:57 a.m., shortly after the items were discovered by a passerby.

  The discovery was announced on the Racine Uncensored Facebook page and was posted by James Senda, who said in the posting that he made the discovery.

  Melby said that an investigation is underway and noted that as of Tuesday morning the tissue-like item had not been confirmed to be human remains.

  The Journal Times will update this story as more information becomes available.

• From:  https://journaltimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/police-investigating-discovery-of-brain-like-object-at-myers-park/article_42c00e92-f3f1-520b-89f4-7b3737df5b8f.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1

• 
  

• OMG!  They finally found Butterball's brain.

Judge denies city's motion to dismiss Azarian case

From The Journal Times.com:

• Christina Lieffring
• 
  

RACINE — A Racine County judge has denied the city’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought forward by Azarian Wrecking and other plaintiffs against the City of Racine and the Racine Redevelopment Authority.

On Friday, the city filed an appeal of the decision with the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.

The dispute arises from the failed Machinery Row project. In the lawsuit, Racine-based Azarian Wrecking alleges that it was not paid the full value of its property, and that the city and RDA did not provide adequate relocation fees, violated eminent domain laws and held back money from the sale of the property while also misrepresenting what the money was used for.

In the motion to dismiss the case, City Attorney Scott Letteney argued that Azarian Wrecking had based three of its four charges in its complaint on, “fanciful allegations of a ‘straw man’ theory, unsustainable constitutional violations and ill-pleaded claims related to contract law...”

The motion argued that the Azarian complaint was not properly filed, did not include Financial District Properties of Davenport, Iowa (FDP) — the company that initially purchased the Machinery Row properties — as a party and did not substantiate its claims for relief.

In his response, Racine County Circuit Court Judge Jon Fredrickson presented arguments against the city’s assertions in the motion to dismiss. Fredrickson stated that the city retains the right to test and challenge the allegations as the case progresses but that for now, they would be treated as true.

Read more: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/judge-denies-citys-motion-to-dismiss-azarian-case/article_df55116a-c6d7-5b0a-bdd0-637d3a0f9567.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1

Open Blog - Tuesday

 Have a great day.

Belarus capital sees violence escalation amid protest crackdown

Trump holds first indoor rally in months, defying Nevada orders and angering governor

Walmart and Zipline team up to bring their own drone delivery to the U.S.

LA Deputies Shot in Apparent Ambush in Patrol Car

Fareed: We need to prepare for this 'deeply worrying' scenario

Trump’s insults helped him win in 2016. They’re backfiring in 2020.