Wow. Just. Wow. This is a well financed, highly organized, deliberate effort to undermine our elections being orchestrated by the very highest operatives within the Democratic Party and the Liberal Establishment.
Month: October 2016
Wisconsin Finishes Biennial Budget Cycle with Surplus
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A new report shows the state finished the last fiscal year in the black.
Gov. Scott Walker’s Department of Administration released a report Monday showing the state finished the year that ended June 30 with $313.8 million left over.
The report says the state collected $15.1 billion in general-purpose revenue taxes, which include individual and corporate income taxes, sales tax and excise taxes. That’s up 3.8 percent from the previous year.
Expenditures total $15.3 billion, $103 million less than the $15.4 billion allocated for spending in the state budget.
State aid to municipalities and school districts accounted for 51 percent of spending. Aid to individuals and organizations represented 25.8 percent.
Choosing POTUS
My column for the West Bend Daily News is online. Here it is:
For the first time in my life, I am sitting here in the middle of October of a presidential election year and I do not know for whom I will vote for President of the United States. Yet, choices must be made and the consequences will be felt.
I am a firm believer that one of the responsibilities of citizenship is to inform oneself and vote even when the choices on the ballot are poor. Our electoral system does not allow for do-overs or “none of the above.” Someone will actually win the election and assume power. The voters will decide who that will be and it is my responsibility to express my choice through the ballot box.
Often, perhaps far too often, this choice comes down to choosing the better of two evils. That is the determination many are trying to make this year between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. But as I consider these two choices, I cannot discern a lesser of the two. They are just two evils.
Clinton is one of the most corrupt people in American politics. Her decades in public life have shown her to be a liar whose overriding motivations are rooted in her own advancement. Repeated disclosures have catalogued how she has violated federal law, used the Clinton Foundation as a vehicle to trade money for favors when she was secretary of state, exposed our national secrets to hostile foreign governments, and attacked the women whom her husband allegedly sexually assaulted. She is a vile person who will abuse the office of president for her personal gain and to advance policies detrimental to the United States.
Donald Trump, who was a liberal New York Democrat until he decided he wanted to run for president, has also spent decades in public life swaddling himself with dishonor. He is also a proven liar who has no scruples about trampling the people and institutions around him for his personal advancement. His willful and unapologetic ignorance of the basic tenets of the Constitution, the separation of powers, international affairs, and the basic duties and limits of the executive leave little doubt that President Trump would cast off any remaining moorings of the American presidency.
Many of my fellow conservatives have weighed and measured the two candidates differently and concluded that Trump is a tolerable choice. Some of them argue that the eventual appointments to the Supreme Court and Trump’s mouthing of support for some conservative principles tip the scale. While I understand and respect those arguments and the people making them, it is not a path I can walk with them this time. In Wisconsin, at least, it is a discussion that is more philosophical than tangible. Wisconsin will vote for Clinton irrespective of how the conservative minority splits their votes.
The history of governments amongst people is replete with examples of bad, corrupt, evil leaders in both representative and other forms of government. We will survive and build for ourselves a better future after this setback. It is critical that we build a bulwark against the excesses of a tyrannical presidency by electing strong Conservatives to the House and Senate like Sen. Ron Johnson, Speaker Paul Ryan and representatives Glenn Grothman, Sean Duffy, Mike Gallagher and Jim Sensenbrenner. While that is true in any election, it is paramount in this one.
By the time Election Day is upon us, I will exercise my franchise for the least offensive choice for president and it will likely be for one of the third party candidates. Then I will pray for our nation to fight off the worst excesses of our next president as we look to build a brighter future.
VDS On Trump
Victor Davis Hanson, a man whom I respect and whose histories outshine even his political writings, makes the conservative argument for Trump. Read the whole thing.
Nor is the election a choice even between four more years of liberalism and a return of conservatism; it’s an effort to halt the fundamental transformation of the country. A likely two-term Clinton presidency would complete a 16-year institutionalization of serial progressive abuse of the Constitution, outdoing even the twelve years of the imperial Roosevelt administration. The WikiLeaks revelations suggest an emboldened Hillary Clinton, who feels that a 2016 victory will reify her utopian dreams of a new intercontinental America of open borders and open markets, from Chile to Alaska, in the manner of the European Union expanse from the Aegean to the Baltic.
[…]
The ancient idea of tragic irony can sometimes be described as an outcome unfortunately contrary to what should have been expected. Many of us did not vote in the primaries for Trump, because we did not believe that he was sufficiently conservative or, given his polarizing demeanor, that he could win the presidency even if he were. The irony is now upon us that Trump may have been the most conservative Republican candidate who still could beat Hillary Clinton — and that if he were to win, he might usher in the most conservative Congress, presidency, and Supreme Court in nearly a century.
Capturing Cow Farts
I’m just going to leave this here.
In Argentina, home to over 50 million cows, researchers from the Argentina National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) are attempting to use “methane backpacks,” plastic contraptions attached to cows, to capture methane from a cow’s digestive tract. The technology is in its early stages, but so far the backpacks have been able to extract 300 liters of methane a day, enough to power a car or refrigerator, according to INTA.
Despite the humor in the whole image, it is actually a pretty neat idea to try to find a way to capture methane from livestock to use as energy. It is certainly a renewable source and a good use of a natural byproduct of a growing industry.
Obamacare Continues to Collapse
It’s happening a bit faster than expected, but it was expected nonetheless.
A growing number of people in Obamacare are finding out their health insurance plans will disappear from the program next year, forcing them to find new coverage even as options shrink and prices rise.
At least 1.4 million people in 32 states will lose the Obamacare plan they have now, according to state officials contacted by Bloomberg. That’s largely caused by Aetna Inc., UnitedHealth Group Inc. and some state or regional insurers quitting the law’s marketsfor individual coverage.
[…]
t may also mean that instead of growing in 2017, Obamacare could shrink. As of March 31, the law covered 11.1 million people; an Oct. 13 S&P Global Ratings report predicted that enrollment next year will range from an 8 percent decline to a 4 percent gain.
Remember how Obamacare was created, disrupting millions of people and their healthcare, in order to make sure that some 46 million uninsured people got insurance? It didn’t even come close to meeting its goal, but the damage more than exceeded expectations.
Battle To Retake Mosul Begins Again
A military operation to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul from so-called Islamic State (IS) has begun, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says.
An offensive to retake the city, Iraq’s second largest, has been planned for months.
Mosul has been under IS control since June 2014.
Drunk Man in Custody After Shooting at Police
Wow. Via the Washington County Insider.
On Sunday, October 16, 2016 at 3:23 A.M. a citizen called West Bend Police Department to report the sound of at least six gun shots in the 200 block of Edgewood Lane.
Officers responded to the area and searched for evidence of shots fired and for possible suspect(s). At approximately 4:20 a.m. two officers observed a man standing in the yard at 228 Edgewood Lane. The man pointed a handgun in the direction of the officers and pulled the trigger.
The gun apparently misfired and the officers were able to retreat to a position of cover. The officers were able to identify the 24 year old male subject from previous encounters with the officers. At 4:22 A.M. and 4:29 A.M. officers heard shots fired from the area of 228 Edgewood Lane. At 4:47 A.M. officers heard two additional shots fired from the yard or house at 228 Edgewood Lane.
West Bend Police Officers and Washington County Sheriff Deputies secured the area and attempted to make contact with the residents at 228 Edgewood Lane. Officers were able to make contact with one subject.
[…]
At 8:05 A.M. the 24 year old suspect exited the home. West Bend Police Officers and Washington County Sheriff Deputies took the suspect into custody. He is being held at the Washington County Jail on two counts of Attempt Homicide, and Intoxicated Use of Firearms.
Wind, Earth, but No Fire
This site that shows you the wind everywhere on earth RIGHT NOW is far too engrossing.
Next President to Inherit Obama’s Failed Russia Policy
Like I said earlier, there are some real issues out there that are being intentionally ignored during this election. Remember that it was Clinton who was Obama’s Secretary of State during the “reset” with Russia. Well, it worked. We’ve reset it to about 1961.
The next U.S. president will inherit an increasingly fraught relationship with Russia in which Washington’s attempts to deter Putin have mostly failed. Moscow’s decision this month to pull out of a landmark agreement on disposing tons of weapons-grade plutonium, coupled with reports last week that Russia deployed new nuclear-capable missiles to Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea, underscore how Putin is flexing Russia’s power in new and often unpredictable ways.
U.S. and European officials are increasingly alarmed over Putin’s willingness to risk military confrontation and threaten to use his country’s nuclear arsenal over issues the West sees as unrelated and separate. That makes it devilishly difficult for the United States and its European allies to find an effective response to Putin’s audacious tactics that in recent years range from Russia’s annexation of Crimea, to its air war in support of the Syrian regime, to Moscow’s suspected hacking of America’s presidential election.
“It very much feels like we are entering a very troubled and dangerous phase in this bilateral relationship,“ said Julianne Smith, a former senior Pentagon official who oversaw NATO policy and a former senior advisor to Vice President Joe Biden. “The next president will face some big strategic choices,” said Smith, who now advises Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Europe and Russia.
President Barack Obama’s successor will have to choose from a range of unpleasant and risky options when it comes to handling a resurgent Russia, current and former officials said. A more conciliatory stance, aimed at cutting a grand bargain with Russia focused on Ukraine, would defuse tensions in the short term but at the cost of ultimately emboldening Putin. A more hawkish line — like the one championed by Clinton, who is leading nationwide polls — would risk escalation, with the chance of a military showdown in Syria or the Baltics.
Trump Cancels Visit to Madison
Frankly, given that Wisconsin isn’t in play, it is political malpractice for him to come to Wisconsin, but, then again, his campaign has been rife with senseless acts.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Donald Trump has canceled one of his two planned Wisconsin campaign stops Monday.
Trump’s Wisconsin spokesman Matt Schuck says a scheduling conflict led to Trump canceling his event in West Allis outside of Milwaukee. Another event in Green Bay on Monday is still on.
It’s the second time a Trump event in Wisconsin has been canceled in recent days. Trump was originally scheduled to attend a rally last weekend in southeast Wisconsin, but House Speaker Paul Ryan disinvited him.
Ryan, Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Ron Johnson are all skipping Trump’s campaign visit on Monday. Ryan and Walker are both going to be out of state and Johnson’s spokesman said he had prior engagements.
Around the Bend by Judy Steffes
Pat’s Jiffy Stop to close
One of the last corner groceries in West Bend is closing as Pat’s Jiffy Stop, 111 E. Decorah Road, shuts its doors.
“I gave December 1 as notice but I think Nov. 18 is going to be my last day,” said Pat LaBuda, president of Pat’s Jiffy Stop Inc.
The store on Decorah Road and Indiana Avenue has been part of the fabric of the community in West Bend since 1982. “I remember WBKV Radio used to be across the street on the top of the hill,” said LaBuda. “On Indiana was Serigraph and then Serigraph used to be next door too but that changed over the years with Flock Graphics and then Best Embroidery.”
When Jiffy Stop started there were four gas pumps. In 2011 property owner Jacobus Energy Inc. shut down the pumps rather than pay an expensive upgrade required by new federal regulations.
LaBuda took a kick in the shorts financially. “I lost revenue right off the bat,’ she said. But LaBuda regrouped and added more food selections; she was also granted a liquor license.
Over the past few years LaBuda found herself the key outlet to the community with neighbors coming in for food and drink from Arbor Trace and the West Bend High Schools. When Walgreens closed on Decorah and Main she became even more of a go-to as the nearest store with grocery items was Pick n’ Save south or Piggly Wiggly.
“A lot of my customers walk,” said LaBuda. “They don’t drive…. So now they’ll have to walk to Pick n’ Save.”
Looking to retire at age 66, LaBuda made plans last year to lease the store however Jacobus stepped in and nixed the deal.
“Well then I decided not to retire,” she said defiantly. “What was nice was my employees kept their jobs and the neighborhood kept the store and I didn’t have to put a going-out-of-business sale.”
Now, a year later, LaBuda said it’s too much and she’s realized the only way to retire is to close the store.
“This is very difficult,” she said. “But I have health issues and I want to enjoy the last years of my life and the only way to do that is retire and close the store.
“I know the neighborhood is upset; as they find out they’re really upset and I don’t blame them.”
Reaction to the story’s debut on WashingtonCountyInsider.com was fast and sympathetic. Patti Hamlin-Repinski wrote, “Sorry to see you go. When I was a kid I would walk there every day to buy a Pepsi and Snickers bar.
Jessica Schweiger wrote, “Have a great retirement, thank you for being there for all of my late night Gobstopper and soda needs as a teen!”
LaBuda said the Jiffy Stop space is going to be leased to the karate business next door.
“I am upset,” said LaBuda feeling low. “My friend says when I die they’re going to spread my ashes over Jiffy Land.”
New Kwik Trip to open Oct. 27
Kwik Trip will officially open for business Oct. 27 and a grand opening will be held Oct. 31. The new 7,000-square-foot Kwik Trip gas station/convenience store is located in the 1700 block of S. Silverbrook Drive in West Bend. The service station will feature 26 gas pumps on five islands and a car wash. There will be 62 employees at the store, which will be open 24/7.
Construction underway for expanded BP gas station
The old Mad Max/BP gas station, 1200 block of S. Main St. in West Bend, was razed this week. Plans call for reconfiguring the lot, replacing the existing canopy and pumps, building a new convenience store and drive-thru and adding a total of 29 parking stalls. The former Clothes Clinic will also be razed.
Trick or treat in Washington County this Halloween
Trick-or-Treat is: Saturday October 29: Downtown Hartford Trick-or-Treat – 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m., Richfield – 3 p.m. – 6 p.m., Newburg – 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. and no bonfire, West Bend – 4 p.m. – 6 p.m., Erin – 5 p.m. – 7 p.m., Farmington – 4 p.m. – 7 p.m., Fillmore – 4 p.m. -7 p.m., Trenton – 4 p.m. – 6 p.m., Hartford – 5 p.m. – 7 p.m., Kewaskum – 5 p.m. – 7 p.m., Slinger – 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 30 – Village of Jackson – 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., Village of Thiensville – 3 p.m. – 6 p.m., Village of Saukville – 4 p.m. – 7 p.m., Village of Merton – 5 p.m. – 8 p.m., Town of Addison – 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 31 – Germantown – 5:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Updates & tidbits
– The landscape is going to look a little different at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Walnut Street as the steeple has been removed from Kettle Moraine Bible Church. According to the book ‘City of West Bend’ by Janean Mollet-Van Beckum, the church was the German Methodist Episcopal Church and parsonage in 1916. Services were held in German.
-A groundbreaking will be held Wednesday, Oct. 19 as construction of a new Just Like Home Adult Day Center will be built in the Jackson Business Park.
-The 2016 Women of Christ Conference is Nov. 5 at the Washington County Fair Park. This year’s theme is: Mercy, God’s love in action.
– The U.S. Post Office in Jackson closed Friday after the Jackson Fire Department was called to the building on Cedar Park Court on Thursday afternoon for an odd chemical smell that was causing headaches for staff. The Post Office was closed Friday although mail was delivered. The Jackson Fire Chief said a lab in Madison is trying to determine the odor. No injuries were reported following the incident.
-The Allenton and St. Lawrence Fire Department Fire Prevention Open House and Pancake Breakfast is Sunday, Oct. 16 from 8 a.m. – noon.
– Construction is underway for a new dialysis clinic in Slinger. Village building inspector Greg Darga said the 6,413-square-foot facility is run by Fresenius Medical Care. The clinic is located north of Burger King at 631 Lous Way, just to the west of Dove Plaza and next to O’Reilly Auto Parts. The clinic will open in early 2017.
– Leaf collection begins in West Bend on Monday, Oct. 17. Neighbors are reminded to place leaves in the street gutter area. Bags of leaves will not be collected and crews will not remove leaves from the area.
-There will be homemade pies galore at the Harvest Moon Celebration on Saturday, Oct. 29 in Barton. Enter your pie today and come for the music, food, dancing and fun! Pie drop off is 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Judging at 6:30 p.m.
– Some of the best pumpkins in the Washington County area are on sale now at Meadowbrook Pumpkin Farm, 2970 Mile View Road, West Bend. The Haunted Cornfield is also in full swing.
-The 4th annual Downtown Dash 5k run/walk through historic Downtown West Bend is Sunday, Oct. 16. Professionally chip-timed run and a Bloody Mary bar at the finish for participants 21 years old and over. Register a team of 4 online before Oct. 10 and 1 person’s entry is free.
-A ceremony to recognize all Veterans will be held Monday, Oct. 31 at 6 p.m. at Green Tree Elementary School in West Bend. Anyone who needs a ride can call Mayor Sadownikow’s office at 262-335-5123. Refreshments will follow. The event is put on by Common Sense Citizens of Washington County.
-Brodey Laverenz and his sister Kiera won a fire truck ride to school as part of a drawing held during the Boltonville Fire Department Open House. The kids were taken to school by firemen Dennis Fechter and Bill Kohlwey.
-The Diva – West Bend Specialty Shops is hosting Harvest Around the Bend on Saturday, Oct. 15 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. in the downtown shopping district. There will be seasonal specials and a free pumpkin decorating for kids from noon – 3 p.m. at All in Books,
Korean War vet Claude “Stick” Duernberger of West Bend
On Saturday, there will be a dozen veterans from Washington County taking part in the Stars & Stripes Honor Flight to Washington D.C.
One of the Korean War veterans is Claude “Stick” Duernberger of West Bend.
“I was 18 years old, West Bend High School class of 1951,” said Duernberger. “I enlisted in April 1952 and I remember the day well because we went to Chicago from Milwaukee and right away they gave you a blood test.”
Duernberger, 81, hasn’t changed much since his days of youth. Wiry and fit, he makes fun of the cowlick that frustrated his mother in all his photos.
During service Duernberger had nine weeks in basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois. “We spent a lot of time on the grinder,” he said. “That was the asphalt; we marched and marched and marched.”
A former meat cutter at the A&P in West Bend, Duernberger worked in the commissary at Great Lakes while awaiting orders.
“I got up at 3 a.m. for mess cooking and then cleaned up and got ready for dinner,” he said. “You had to go through inspection, have a white t-shirt and hold your hands out to make sure you were clean.”
Duernberger was miserable. “Remember that saying, ‘Join the Navy and see the world?’ I thought I would come out of boot camp and I’d be out there seeing some of the country.
“For three weeks my orders never came up and I was just beside myself – the hours at the mess hall were tearing me down and I was on the phone with my mother and said ‘I’m going over the hill.’”
With a real calm voice Duernberger’s mother settled him down and a week later orders came in and he was off to Guam. Duernberger spent 18 months in Guam and then was assigned to a ship in Hawaii, the U.S.S. Arequipa. “It was a refrigerator ship and we loaded food. We were out to sea for 27 days and come back to Pearl Harbor and load the ship for three days and then head back and unload the food for the islands.”
Duernberger had vivid memories of the diesel fuel exhaust from the ship. “I got seasick,” he said. “The only experience I had on water was a row boat on Wallace Lake. My folks had a tavern and dance hall on Wallace Lake called ‘Stick and Aggie’s Lakeside Inn.'” Following his first 12 month tour of duty, Duernberger was again reassigned to an ammunition ship originally located in Port Chicago in San Francisco and he took off to go overseas.
“We visited Hong Kong, Japan, and the Philippines,” he said. “When my tour of duty was up and I was discharged I made reservations on TWA airlines to bring me home.”
Looking back at his tour Duernberger said, “I went from a boy to a man in four years.” His fondest memory was of a flower in Hawaii. “If you came in from Wake Island and you came into the berthing area you could smell that ginger flower in the air and everybody would be up on deck just waiting and they smelled that perfume,” he said.
Over the years the aroma was commercialized. “A gal I worked with at the phone company ended up taking a trip to Hawaii and I asked her to look up a white ginger perfume and bring me back a bottle and by golly she did,” he said.
Returning to the states, Duernberger put his skills in radio school to good use and got a job with Wisconsin Bell, the telephone company on Sixth Avenue and Chestnut.
After retirement Duernberger started his own business with Venture Communications Inc. and he ran that for 15 years. Duernberger has not been to Washington D.C. He said he’s excited to see the Korean War Memorial and the White House. His son Michael will be his guardian.
WWII Army clerk Donald Vosen
World War II Army clerk Donald Vosen of Germantown will be taking part in Saturday’s Stars & Stripes Honor Flight. Vosen, 88, was 17 years old when he enlisted in the Army. “It was June 1945 and I was still in high school in Sauk City,” he said. “I enrolled in the Army Specialized Training Reserve Program and I went to school for about 10 months at the University of Illinois.”
That next summer, April 1946, Vosen was headed to basic training at Camp Joseph T. Robinson in Little Rock Arkansas. “Shortly thereafter they shipped us to the Philippines,” he said. While in service Vosen served as a clerk. “I was in charge of all the records of returning soldiers,” he said. “I had to box them up and put them on a ship and take them to Manila Bay.”
Station in Paranaque, about 10 miles outside Manila Bay, PFC Vosen said he remembers one day in particular when they got to the dock late because of an accident on the road. “The ship was already taking off and we had to get the records on it,” he said. Tracking down the local Coast Guard, Vosen relayed his plight and the Coast Guard ordered the ship to stop. “My crew of five men loaded these big wooden boxes onto a little PT boat and we went out to the ship,” he said.
The cumbersome boxes were about 5-feet long. Cables were lowered and the boxes lifted onto the ship. “Two of them got away from us and landed in the ocean,” Vosen said. “They were floating and the waves were high. We finally fished them out and I had to go on the ship and find the Lieutenant in charge so he could sign off on them.”
The Lieutenant questioned Vosen. “He said, were those the same records floating around the ocean? I said, ‘Yes sir.’” Vosen said the Lieutenant signed off on it anyway.
In April 1947, a year after entering service Vosen was discharged. He returned to the states and worked at a manufacturing plant in Illinois, a tannery in Milwaukee and later spent 34 years working for the Wisconsin Telephone Company.
This will be Vosen’s first visit to Washington D.C. “I’m looking forward to the whole day,” he said. “I especially want to see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial because those guys didn’t get any credit when they came home.” Vosen’s son Philip will be his guardian on Saturday’s flight.
Kewaskum vet Allen Schoofs fought on the front line
Korean War Veteran Allen Schoofs, 85, of Kewaskum will be one of more than a dozen veterans from Washington County on Saturday’s Stars & Stripes Honor Flight.
“I was 21 years old when I was drafted,” said Schoofs, his deep, gravelly voice sounding loud yet somber while he talked at the kitchen table at his home on Prospect Street.
“I was living on the farm on Highway 28,” he said. “I got drafted in 1951; you had no choice.”
Schoofs went to Fort Riley Kansas for Army infantry basic training; it lasted 16 weeks. “I learned all the different weapons,” said Schoofs. “Then they sent us to Korea – actually we went to Japan first and then to Korea. It took 17 days by ship and we hit two storms on the way over.”
Once in Korea, Schoofs was put on the front lines. The year was 1952. “There were three of us guys who took basic training together who were in the same unit in Korea,” Schoofs said.
“We were in King Company; 22nd Division, 23rd Regimen.”
Schoofs recalled he didn’t get into any hand-to-hand contact with the enemy but they were pinned down twice. Schoofs said he was trained in the 60mm mortar. “That was a gun with a 2-inch barrel and you had to drop the round down the barrel,” he said.
The next 10-and-a-half months Schoofs spent in Korea. “We had a couple close calls,” he said. “We were supposed to take this one hill and when we came walking down around this hill on the road the enemy spotted us and they started dropping shells. There was a ravine ahead of us and there were some trees ahead of us and we ducked in there and waited for two hours until our own tanks came along.”
“They supposedly blew the enemy out of the bunker and then they called us back,” he said.
Discharged in March 1953, Schoofs returned to the farm in Kewaskum. “I was 23 years old and I worked the farm for my mother,” he said.
Married in 1955, Schoofs purchased the farm in 1961. “I had 80 acres but it wasn’t big enough; it was hard to make an income so I got a job on the assembly line at the Gehl Company.” Working at the Gehls from 1965 – 1982, Schoofs family grew to seven kids; he held down a number of other jobs at the same time including school bus driver and milk man.
Schoofs was laid off from Gehl in 1982. He was unemployed for 15 months before getting a job in the industrial park in Germantown. “It was a tool and die shop and I ran press for 18 years,” he said.
This Saturday Schoofs is looking forward to returning to Washington D.C. He wants to see the Korean War Memorial in particular. “I lost a couple buddies over there and I’d like to find their names,” he said.
Schoofs guardian is his daughter Debbie Keller.
Others on the Honor Flight include: Roger Demeritt, Germantown, WWII Navy aviation radio technician, John Kuster, West Bend, Korean War Army infantry (stationed in Frankfurt), Steve Matanaer, West Bend, Korean War Army cook, Benjamin Thorn, Hartford, Korean War Navy storekeeper, John Waskiewicz, West Bend, Korean War Navy, Rita Gantenbein, West Bend, Korean War Army nurse, Herman Tetzlaff, West Bend, Korean War Army ambulance driver, John Zink, West Bend, Korean War Army engineer.
History photo is of Korean War vet Allen Schoofs from Kewaskum.
Return of the Living Death Tax
Despite what the media has decided are the important stories for this election, there are some real issues out there that have a real impact on real families.
Likewise, interpretations of regulations by the IRS can change, leading to additional tax liability for family farms. Most recently, the IRS has proposed changes to the estate tax regulations regarding the valuation of business assets. The American Farm Bureau Federation has cautioned that this change may result in family farms seeing an increase in estate tax liability, and has urged members to contact their congressional leaders to support proposed legislation prohibiting the change.
Despite favorable provisions, the death of the family’s patriarch or matriarch may still result in a family farm being divided up and sold off to pay the taxes. Farmers are usually considered cash poor, because their money is tied up in assets, especially land. When the value of a deceased’s estate goes over the exempted amount, the hefty tax has to be paid whether the estate actually has the cash to do so. Many times, that means farmland, equipment, or buildings have to be sold to pay Uncle Sam. For children that wanted to keep farming, this scenario could dash their dreams.
[…]
In an election that has been filled with the scandalous and salacious, there is hardly room for estate tax discussion on the campaign trail. For family farmers though, the very real possibility that it could result in their farm being divided up and sold upon their death makes this issue extremely important and relevant. There are many issues that voters should take into consideration when making their choice on Election Day, but the future of the estate tax should definitely be one of them.
Meanwhile, In Nigeria…
Ouch.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has responded to criticism from his wife by saying she belongs in his kitchen.
On a visit to Germany, he said: “I don’t know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room.”
Mr Buhari was standing next to Chancellor Angela Merkel, who seemed to glare at him.
Aisha Buhari had said she might not back her husband at the next election unless he got a grip on his government.
Feingold Suggests Executive Orders to Undermine 2nd Amendment
First, one must note that Feingold is raising money in California. He does seem quite a bit more comfortable out there. Second, I don’t think it is any surprise that Feingold opposes the rights guaranteed in the 2nd Amendment or that he would support the Executive Branch usurping the Legislative branch for the cause of tamping down our civil rights. It is pretty much par for the course for Feingold.
The video from James O’Keefe shows theconservative activist and his Project Veritas team impersonating a liberal donor giving money to Feingold at a Palo Alto fundraiser and asking whether Clinton could issue an executive order to tighten restrictions on firearm sales. In the video, Feingold says Democrats should work to win control of the U.S. Senate and pass legislation to regulate gun sales but also points to a position on Clinton’s website — that like President Barack Obama she could do an end run around Congress and issue an executive order to expand background checks on gun show sales.
Feingold, a former Democratic U.S. senator, is running against Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.
“Well, there might be an executive order,” Feingold tells a disguised O’Keefe and other wealthy liberal donors. “…But what we all need is to win the Senate, have (Clinton) there, and then put pressure on the (GOP-controlled) House. And we might even win the House.”
Women Claim Trump Groped Them
Apparently the media is OK with reporting decades-old accusations of sexual assault now. I’m not going to spend a lot of time in this for a few reasons. First, the accusations are unsubstantiated and years old. Second, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if the allegations are true. Third, if you support Trump after a lifetime of him being a sleaze, why would this suddenly change your vote? Fourth, this is a contrived and scheduled outrage by Clinton and her supporters in the media. Fifth, Trump was done the day he got the nomination. Why fret about it now?
MPS Not Failing Anymore?
Ola Lisowski drops some knowledge.
While we wait for the Department of Public Instruction’s (DPI) official report cards to come out in November, the letter provides a little teaser. While MPS is not mentioned by name, Evers writes that “based on the preliminary data…there are no districts eligible for the OSPP in 2016-17.”
[…]
The 42 percent of MPS students not graduating high school in four years will be glad to know their district is succeeding. The 83.5 percent of students not proficient in math will be ecstatic, along with the 74 percent of students not proficient in English.
Everything is just rosy in the halls of MPS schools, says our state DPI. There’s no need for OSPP, as it can only target school districts with two consecutive “failing” scores, and as we know – MPS isn’t failing.
This is a dangerous line of thinking. It’s shortsighted and ignores stubborn things called facts. It is a moral outrage that we would let the kids of Milwaukee graduate with a substandard education.
The latest facts come from the UW Remedial Course Report, which provides a look into remedial education at the UW System. For the first time ever, the UW System publicly released a list of all Wisconsin schools that sent more than six kids into the system who needed remedial education. The facts? Well, they’re ugly.
One hundred seventy-five schools sent more than six kids who needed math remedial education to the UW system. Of those, 160 schools graduated senior classes where more than 10 percent of students required extra help in math. In 76 schools, more than 25 percent of students needed that help. And in 12 schools, 50 percent or more of the graduating class needed remedial education.
A school district should not be considered to be meeting expectations when so many graduates need extra help in college. Remedial education isn’t something to brush off – students pay full tuition for exactly zero credits. Perhaps worse yet, they arrive at UW woefully behind their peers after being told for years that MPS is doing just fine.
It is dangerous thinking. There’s no way that MPS went from dozens of failing schools to zero in one year. There is especially no way that they can claim to NOT be failing when 42% of the kids aren’t even graduating. This looks every bit like the DPI thwarting the legislature’s efforts to fix MPS through procedural gamesmanship. And the kids are worse off for it.
Johnson and Feingold Tied in Latest Marquette Poll
Good news as Trump continues to crater everywhere.
Feingold, the Middleton liberal who lost the Senate seat he held for three terms to Johnson in 2010, has a narrow lead of 46 percent to Johnson’s 44 percent among likely voters. That’s well within the Marquette poll’s margin of error of 3.9 percent among the 878 voters who said they were likely to vote next month.
Phil Anderson, the Libertarian candidate, received 4 percent support from likely voters, while 5 percent of respondents did not express a preference.
Johnson has made up a lot of ground since the middle of last month when the Marquette poll found Feingold up by 5 percentage points – 44 percent to 39 percent. It would seem Anderson’s loss is Johnson’s gain. The Libertarian candidate polled at 7 percent last month, with 10 percent of voters were undecided.
In a straight, head-to-head match-up between Johnson and Feingold, 48 percent of likely voters support the challenger; 46 percent favor Johnson. Feingold held a 6 percentage point advantage in the previous poll, 47 percent to 41 percent.
This is the first time I recall Johnson’s numbers moving independently of the presidential candidate. Johnson’s poll numbers are improving while Trump’s are going the other way. That means that a lot of folks are coming back to Johnson.
Why? As a general rule, people need a reason to change. Feingold’s entire campaign has just been a negative rant aping the same old liberal mantras of the last 40 years. It is as if he hasn’t updated his campaign material since he ran in 2000. Meanwhile, he’s being such a raging hypocrite on his signature issue, campaign finance reform, that even his supporters guffaw when he lectures us on the evils of undisclosed corporate donations. Feingold just hasn’t made a compelling case for change.
It’s still a long time until the election and the turnout for the top of the ticket will drive a lot of the down ballot races, but Johnson has to feel positive about this poll.
Wisconsin Senator Commits Suicide
That’s incredibly sad for his family.
FOND DU LAC COUNTY — The Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday morning, October 12th Sen. Rick Gudex of Fond du Lac has died. His death was a result of a gunshot wound to the chest, believed to have been self-inflicted, officials said.
Gudex’s body was discovered around 1:30 a.m. in the Town of Eden in Fond du Lac County.
The 48-year-old Gudex was not seeking re-election to the Senate seat he’s held since 2013.
Minnesota Governor Slams Obamacare
If only someone could have predicted this… if only someone would have warned him…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota’s Democratic governor said Wednesday that the Affordable Care Act is “no longer affordable,” a stinging critique from a state leader who strongly embraced the law and proudly proclaimed health reform was working in Minnesota just a few years ago.
Gov. Mark Dayton made the comments while addressing questions about Minnesota’s fragile health insurance market, where individual plans are facing double-digit increases after all insurers threatened to exit the market entirely in 2017. He’s the only Democratic governor to publicly suggest the law isn’t working as intended.
Dayton’s comments follow former President Bill Clinton’s saying last week that the law was “the craziest thing in the world” before he backtracked.
“The reality is the Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable for increasing numbers of people,” Dayton said, calling on Congress to fix the law to address rising costs and market stability.