RACINE — One month to the day since
Donte D. Shannon was shot by Racine police after allegedly brandishing a
gun, the Wisconsin Department of Justice investigation into the
incident is nearing completion.
In
a statement Friday afternoon, Johnny Koremenos, the director of
communications for the DOJ, wrote: “DOJ anticipates having all
investigative reports and evidence to the DA next week for review.”
Racine
County District Attorney Tricia Hanson will be the one to decide if
charges against the two officers involved in the shooting are merited,
according to the DOJ.
Hanson,
speaking Jan. 29 to a crowd of demonstrators outside the Racine County
Courthouse, 730 Wisconsin Ave., said that when the report is finished,
she will need time to review it and then will sit down with the family.
It will be months more before the public gets to hear about the investigation's findings. The longer they can drag it out, the less likely there will be any violence.
Here we go again. A horrific mass shooting occurs. Everyone is in
shock and grief. Democrats blame guns and Republicans. Pundits urge the
public, “If you see something, say something.” And everyone asks, “Why?"
As information about the perpetrator emerges, a relative confides to a
newspaper that the “troubled youth” who committed the mass murder was
on psychiatric medications – you know, those powerful, little
understood, mind-altering drugs with fearsome side effects including
“suicidal ideation” and even “homicidal ideation.”
Yet the predictable response from the press is always the same – not
only a total lack of curiosity, but disdain for any who ask the
question, as though connecting psychiatric meds to mass shootings is
pursuing a “conspiracy theory.”
This is strikingly similar to reports right after the 2013 school
massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, when Mark and Louise Tambascio, family
friends of shooter Adam Lanza and his mother, were interviewed on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” during which Louise Tambascio told correspondent Scott Pelley:
“I know he was on medication and everything, but she homeschooled him
at home cause he couldn’t deal with the school classes sometimes, so she
just homeschooled Adam at home. And that was her life.”
And here, Tambascio tells ABC News, “I knew he was on medication, but that’s all I know.”
But there was little journalistic curiosity or follow-up, and one wonders whether that will be the case this time around.
But, you may well be asking, why is the issue of psychiatric medications even important?
Fact: A disturbing number of perpetrators of school shootings and
similar mass murders in our modern era were either on – or just recently
coming off of – psychiatric medications. A few of the most high-profile
examples, out of many others, include:
Columbine mass-killer Eric Harris was taking Luvox – like Prozac,
Paxil, Zoloft, Effexor and many others, a modern and widely prescribed
type of antidepressant drug called selective serotonin reuptake
inhibitors, or SSRIs. Harris and fellow student Dylan Klebold went on a
hellish school shooting rampage in 1999 during which they killed 12
students and a teacher and wounded 24 others before turning their guns
on themselves. Luvox manufacturer Solvay Pharmaceuticals concedes that
during short-term controlled clinical trials, 4 percent of children and
youth taking Luvox – that’s one in 25 – developed mania, a dangerous and violence-prone mental derangement characterized by extreme excitement and delusion.
Patrick Purdy went on a schoolyard shooting rampage in Stockton,
California, in 1989, which became the catalyst for the original
legislative frenzy to ban “semiautomatic assault weapons” in California
and the nation. The 25-year-old Purdy, who murdered five children and
wounded 30, had been on Amitriptyline, an antidepressant, as well as the
antipsychotic drug Thorazine.
Kip Kinkel, 15, murdered his parents in 1998 and the next day went
to his school, Thurston High in Springfield, Oregon, and opened fire on
his classmates, killing two and wounding 22 others. He had been
prescribed both Prozac and Ritalin.
In 1988, 31-year-old Laurie Dann went on a shooting rampage in a
second-grade classroom in Winnetka, Illinois, killing one child and
wounding six. She had been taking the antidepressant Anafranil as well
as Lithium, long used to treat mania.
In Paducah, Kentucky, in late 1997, 14-year-old Michael Carneal, son
of a prominent attorney, traveled to Heath High School and started
shooting students in a prayer meeting taking place in the school’s
lobby, killing three and leaving another paralyzed. Carneal reportedly
was on Ritalin.
In 2005, 16-year-old Jeff Weise, living on Minnesota’s Red Lake
Indian Reservation, shot and killed nine people and wounded five others
before killing himself. Weise had been taking Prozac.
In another famous case, 47-year-old Joseph T. Wesbecker, just a
month after he began taking Prozac in 1989, shot 20 workers at Standard
Gravure Corp. in Louisville, Kentucky, killing nine. Prozac-maker Eli
Lilly later settled a lawsuit brought by survivors.
Kurt Danysh, 18, shot his own father to death in 1996, a little more
than two weeks after starting on Prozac. Danysh’s description of own
his mental-emotional state at the time of the murder is chilling: “I
didn’t realize I did it until after it was done,” Danysh said. “This
might sound weird, but it felt like I had no control of what I was
doing, like I was left there just holding a gun.”
John Hinckley, age 25, took four Valium two hours before shooting
and almost killing President Ronald Reagan in 1981. In the assassination
attempt, Hinckley also wounded press secretary James Brady, Secret
Service agent Timothy McCarthy and policeman Thomas Delahanty.
Andrea Yates, in one of the most heartrending crimes in modern
history, drowned all five of her children – aged 7 years down to 6
months – in a bathtub. Insisting inner voices commanded her to kill her
children, she had become increasingly psychotic over the course of
several years. At her 2006 murder re-trial (after a 2002 guilty verdict
was overturned on appeal), Yates’ longtime friend Debbie Holmes
testified: “She asked me if I thought Satan could read her mind and if I
believed in demon possession.” And Dr. George Ringholz, after
evaluating Yates for two days, recounted an experience she had after the
birth of her first child: “What she described was feeling a presence …
Satan … telling her to take a knife and stab her son Noah,” Ringholz
said, adding that Yates’ delusion at the time of the bathtub murders was
not only that she had to kill her children to save them, but that Satan
had entered her and that she had to be executed in order to
kill Satan.Yates had been taking the antidepressant Effexor. In November
2005, more than four years after Yates drowned her children, Effexor
manufacturer Wyeth Pharmaceuticals quietly added “homicidal ideation” to
the drug’s list of “rare adverse events.” The Medical Accountability
Network, a private nonprofit focused on medical ethics issues, publicly
criticized Wyeth, saying Effexor’s “homicidal ideation” risk wasn’t well
publicized and that Wyeth failed to send letters to doctors or issue
warning labels announcing the change.And what exactly does “rare” mean
in the phrase “rare adverse events”? The FDA defines it as occurring in
less than one in 1,000 people. But since that same year 19.2 million
prescriptions for Effexor were filled in the U.S., statistically that
means thousands of Americans might experience “homicidal ideation” –
murderous thoughts – as a result of taking just this one brand of
antidepressant drug. Effexor is Wyeth’s best-selling drug, by the way,
which in one recent year brought in over $3 billion in sales, accounting
for almost a fifth of the company’s annual revenues.
One more case is instructive, that of 12-year-old Christopher
Pittman, who struggled in court to explain why he murdered his
grandparents, who had provided the only love and stability he’d ever
known in his turbulent life. “When I was lying in my bed that night,” he
testified, “I couldn’t sleep because my voice in my head kept echoing
through my mind telling me to kill them.” Christopher had been angry
with his grandfather, who had disciplined him earlier that day for
hurting another student during a fight on the school bus. So later that
night, he shot both of his grandparents in the head with a .410 shotgun
as they slept and then burned down their South Carolina home, where he
had lived with them. “I got up, got the gun, and I went upstairs and I
pulled the trigger,” he recalled. “Through the whole thing, it was like
watching your favorite TV show. You know what is going to happen, but you can’t do anything to stop it.”
Pittman’s lawyers would later argue that the boy had been a victim of
“involuntary intoxication,” since his doctors had him taking the
antidepressants Paxil and Zoloft just prior to the murders
Paxil’s
known “adverse drug reactions” – according to the drug’s FDA-approved
label – include “mania,” “insomnia,” “anxiety,” “agitation,”
“confusion,” “amnesia,” “depression,” “paranoid reaction,” “psychosis,”
“hostility,” “delirium,” “hallucinations,” “abnormal thinking,”
“depersonalization” and “lack of emotion,” among others. The preceding
examples are only a few of the best-known offenders who had been taking
prescribed psychiatric drugs before committing their violent crimes –
there are many others.
Whether we like to admit it or not, it is undeniable that when
certain people living on the edge of sanity take psychiatric
medications, those drugs can – and occasionally do – push them over the
edge into violent madness. Remember, every single SSRI antidepressant
sold in the United States of America today, no matter what brand or
manufacturer, bears a “black box” FDA warning label
– the government’s most serious drug warning – of “increased risks of
suicidal thinking and behavior, known as suicidality, in young adults
ages 18 to 24.” Common sense tells us that where there are suicidal
thoughts – especially in a very, very angry person – homicidal thoughts
may not be far behind. Indeed, the mass shooters we are describing often
take their own lives when the police show up, having planned their
suicide ahead of time.
Never lost a lawsuit
Pharmaceutical manufacturers are understandably nervous about
publicity connecting their highly lucrative drugs to murderous violence,
which may be why we rarely if ever hear any confirmation to those
first-day reports from grief-stricken relatives who confide to
journalists that the perpetrator was taking psychiatric drugs. After
all, who are by far the biggest sponsors of TV news? Pharmaceutical
companies, and they don’t want any free publicity of this sort.
The truth is, to avoid costly settlements and public relations catastrophes – such as when GlaxoSmithKline was ordered to pay millions of dollars to the family of 60-year-old Donald Schell
who murdered his wife, daughter and granddaughter in a fit of rage
shortly after starting on Paxil – drug companies’ legal teams have
quietly and skillfully settled hundreds of cases out-of-court, shelling
out hundreds of millions of dollars to plaintiffs. Pharmaceutical giant
Eli Lilly fought scores of legal claims against Prozac in this way,
settling for cash before the complaint could go to court while
stipulating that the settlement remain secret – and then claiming it had
never lost a Prozac lawsuit.
Which brings us back to the key question: When are we going to get
official confirmation as to whether Nikolas Cruz, like so many other
mass shooters, had been taking psychiatric drugs?
Tourists visiting South Korea for the Winter Olympics are
getting excited about more than the athletes’ performances thanks to a
nearby park full of giant penises.
Mostly
of the wooden variety - dozens of penis-shaped sculptures stand erect
in Haesindang Park in Sinnam. The unusual obscure attraction has seen a
huge spike in visitors fascinated by the variety of phallic shapes,
including penis-shaped benches, penis totem poles and even a penis
shaped cannon – that tourists have been warned not to mount.
The attraction is dedicated to a virgin who, according to local
legend, died in a storm as her boyfriend collected seaweed from a rock
in a nearby cove.
According to one version of the tale, the
village was unable to catch fish after her death until one day a
fisherman urinated into the sea, apparently appeasing her spirit. In
order to keep her spirit satisfied fishermen erected a shrine of a
phallus on the cliffs of the village.
The extraordinary park contains dozens of wooden and stone carved penises, and it is considered a monument of fertility.
South Korea has one of the lowest fertility
rates in the world. This, coupled with an aging population, has led to
the country being described as a demographic time bomb
.
The birth rate in 2016 stood at 1.17, according to the latest government data, and it is expected to have declined even further in 2017.
Rick Romell, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Published 12:25 p.m. CT Feb. 16, 2018 | Updated 12:44 p.m. CT Feb. 16, 2018
A pair of hotel operators are planning to build a Staybridge Suites property in Mount Pleasant.
Cousins
Jagdish and Mihir Patel are seeking village approval for the
four-story, 88-room extended-stay hotel near Washington Ave. and Oakes
Road.
The site is about five miles from the
manufacturing campus planned by Foxconn Technology Group, and Mihir
Patel said the plans for the Staybridge were spurred in part by the
prospect of the huge Foxconn project.
oxconn’s plans for a factory employing as many as 13,000 people have generated interest in the area among hotel developers, as well as other real estate investors.
Patel
said he expects to draw Foxconn-related business at the Staybridge. But
he indicated that the main reason for choosing the site was the lack of
similar hotel options in the Racine area.
“The market needs something extended stay with a kitchen and rooms,” Patel said.
Staybridge Suites says its rooms include fully equipped kitchens, as well as workspace and flexible storage areas.
Located
across Washington Ave. from J.I. Case High School, the Mount Pleasant
hotel would have an indoor pool, outdoor patio seating with grills and a
fireplace, and a multi-sport court.
If the project receives village approval, Patel said he expects to open before summer of 2019.
Patel said he, his cousin and their partners operate 12 other hotels, with the properties in the Green Bay area and in Indiana.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Russian Internet agency and more than a dozen
Russians interfered in the U.S. election campaign from 2014 through 2016
in a multi-pronged effort with the aim of supporting then-businessman
Donald Trump and disparaging his rival Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Special
Counsel said in an indictment on Friday
.
The 37-page indictment filed by Special Counsel Robert
Mueller described a conspiracy to disrupt the U.S. election by people
who adopted false online personas to push divisive messages; traveled to
the United States to collect intelligence; and staged political rallies
while posing as Americans.
Russia’s
Internet Research Agency “had a strategic goal to sow discord in the
U.S. political system, including the 2016 U.S. presidential election,”
the indictment said.
The indictment broadly echoes the
conclusions of a January 2017 U.S. intelligence community assessment,
which found that Russia had meddled in the election, and that its goals
eventually included aiding Trump, the Republican candidate who went on
to win a surprise victory over Democratic Party candidate Clinton in
November 2016.
“This
indictment serves as a reminder that people are not always who they
appear to be on the Internet,” Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney
general, told reporters. “The indictment alleges that the Russian
conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine
public confidence in democracy. We must not allow them to succeed.”
A Russian lawmaker called the U.S. charges “another anti-Russian push,” RIA reported.
President Trump has been briefed on the indictment announced on Friday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.
9.31
Declaration of policy. In recognition of the fact that a
representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate, it
is declared to be the public policy of this state that all persons are
entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of
government and the official acts of those officers and employees who
represent them. Further, providing persons with such information is
declared to be an essential function of a representative government and
an integral part of the routine duties of officers and employees whose
responsibility it is to provide such information.
The
minutes of public meetings become the official record of village
business when they are approved by the governing body. They serve as a
permanent record of motions, discussions and votes on business that not
only affect us, but as residents, we fund with our tax dollars.
While
Wisconsin law gives leeway on the timing for approval and publication -
minutes should be presented and approved in “a reasonable amount of
time.” Caledonia, Sturtevant, Union Grove, Pleasant Prairie, Oak Creek,
all review and approve the minutes from the previous meeting almost
without exception. The City of Racine Common Council doesn’t consider
any council vote actionable until the minutes of those actions are
reviewed and accepted at the next meeting.
On
Monday, February 12th, the Village Board approved - all at once - the
minutes of seven Village Board meetings that dated back to December of
last year. Before Monday, the last time the Village Board reviewed and
approved meeting minutes was in November 2017, and that was for eleven
meetings all in one vote. Eleven meetings.
During
that time, the board voted on contractor agreements, invoices,
relocation orders and the acquisition of property for the Foxconn
development - representing tens of millions of dollars. They hired of a
Village Human Resource Manager, and voted for a wage increase for the
Clerk. They amended the intergovernmental water agreement with Racine
and the Wisconsin DOT. They voted to purchase vacant land for an EMS
station and adopted the 2018 Village Budget - ALL with no published
public record of their actions.
Does that seem reasonable to you?
How
did it get this way in Mt. Pleasant? Go to the municipal code of
ordinances for any city, town or village and they will have a section
which covers meetings. This section includes the order of business -
often called the agenda - and it outlines the order in which the meeting
is conducted. In general, the order is something like this:
I am so sorry about the last couple of weeks not posting the questions. I want to thank Daddy Orbs for posting questions for everyone. Here are your questions for this week.
1) For a fast food burger would you prefer going to McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's or Culver's?
2) For a fast food chicken sandwich would you prefer going to McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's or Culver's?
3) For a fast food fish sandwich would you prefer going to McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's or Culver's?
4) For a fast food pizza would you prefer going to Little Ceasar's, Papa John's or Papa Murphy's?
Distiller Brian Sammons opposes the "alcohol czar" bill currently before lawmakers.(Photo: Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
"All we've been asking for is a seat at the dang table," said Glass, who is also president of the Brewers Guild.
At
least one major Wisconsin business — MillerCoors — has opposed the
creation of an Office of Alcohol Beverages Enforcement led by a
political appointee, saying that the state's current enforcement system
is working well.
Senate Bill 801 has
brought out some of the heaviest hitters in state politics. Less than a
month ago, Fitzgerald's brother, former Assembly Speaker Jeff
Fitzgerald, signed up to lobby for the state's wholesale wine and liquor
sellers.
For the first time Thursday, Scott
Fitzgerald acknowledged talking to his brother about the bill. The
Senate leader said his brother hadn't exercised improper influence over
the process but also declined to say how many times they had talked
about the bill.
"The
angle is we currently have laws on the books and they're just not being
enforced," Fitzgerald said, insisting that was his reason for pushing
the bill.
The proposal would also give a special
liquor exemption to the Kohler American Resort. Kohler's American Club
is distilling a chocolate brandy but having difficulties selling it
because of state law.
Fitzgerald said he was
seeking to help that business grow but didn't specifically say why
Kohler should receive an exemption that many other alcohol makers would
like to receive.
"It's a carve-out," the senator acknowledged.
Kohler Corp. executive chairman Herb Kohler has been a frequent donor to Republicans, including Fitzgerald.
Wisconsin
has a complicated system governing the making, distribution and sale of
alcoholic beverages that is known as the three-tier system. It
dates back to the 1930s and was intended to prevent monopolies on the
sale of beer, wine and spirits by separating businesses involved in
alcohol production, wholesale and retail.
The system can both limit the businesses of brewers,
distributors and retailers and provide them with lucrative
opportunities, so proposed changes to the law often provoke intense
legislative battles.
Vos said he doubted the bill as written would pass the Assembly this legislative session.
"I think it's very difficult to move that bill at least in our own caucus," Vos told reporters.
He
said he agreed there is a need to have better enforcement of alcohol
laws and wanted to grant Kohler approval for its project. But he said he
believed a more comprehensive measure was needed that would ensure
particular types of businesses were not put at a disadvantage.
"My goal is to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to thrive in Wisconsin while still following the law," Vos said.
Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this article.
I do most of my food shopping at the Walmart Neighborhood Mart. I prefer the Malicki Bros' Piggly Wiggly. They have a beautiful store, but I can't afford them.
Recently, I was at Walmart and I was buying bacon. I can't believe the price of this stuff. I looked and looked and finally pulled out a pack of Walmart bacon. It was a buck or two cheaper than my regular stuff. It looked fine. I decided to try it out. Somewhere in the back of my head a voice said, "You'll be sorry."
The voice, of course, was correct. I've never had bacon before where you can cook it for 20 minutes and it still remains soft. I don't like my bacon burnt, but I do like it crisp. This Walmart bacon must have come from a pig that was exposed to some sort of radiation. You can cook it for half an hour and it's still good as a flat tire plug.
Three times I tried to eat this stuff. I finally threw it away and bought my regular bacon. What a money saver, huh?
"Walker also announced the new website Wisconnvalley.wi.gov, as a place with the latest information about the project along with details about job fairs and an overview of the project."
Where or what the hell is "Wisconn Valley"? Is that called "marketing"? Or just lying?
A Canadian goose got its final revenge on Feb. 1 when, after being
shot out of the sky by a hunter in Easton, Md., it struck Robert
Meilhammer, 51, of Crapo, Md., seriously injuring the waterfowler. NPR
reported that Meilhammer was hunting with a group when one of the large
geese flying overhead was killed and fell about 90 feet—hitting
Meilhammer’s head and knocking him out; it also dislodged two of
Meilhammer’s teeth. Adult Canadian geese weigh about 12-14 pounds and
can have a wingspan of up to six feet. At press time, Meilhammer was in
stable condition after being airlifted to a hospital.
So Many Questions
Aaron Meininger, 29, of Hernando Beach, Fla., was arrested on Feb. 2
after Hernando County deputies caught him stealing items from the
Demarco Family Funeral Home in Spring Hill. When officers arrived,
Meininger was carrying a tub of formaldehyde out of the building (they
also found makeup, nail polish, electric clippers, soap and other items
used in funeral preparation in Meininger’s car). Curiously, the Tampa Bay Times reported, Meininger told deputies that he was “bored and messed up.”
Precocious!
When a Texas stripper arrived at her 11:30 a.m. gig on Feb. 1, she
just knew something was amiss. Her destination turned out to be Noel
Grisham Middle School in Round Rock, Texas. Rather than going inside,
the performer called the school and reported what most assuredly had to
be a prank. Jenny LaCoste-Caputo, a district spokesperson, told the Austin American-Statesman
that a student at the school had used his cellphone to order the
stripper and had paid for it with his parents’ credit card. He now faces
disciplinary action.
The Taco-preneurial Spirit
Houston Realtor Nicole Lopez is sporting a new nickname these days:
The Taco Lady. Since late 2017, Lopez has incorporated a novel incentive
for buyers of homes she’s listed: $250 in free tacos with the purchase
of a home. “Let’s be honest, everyone in Texas loves tacos,” Lopez told
KHOU-TV. Lopez cited as proof of her success a $170,000 home that’s
under contract, “and they are super excited for their taco party at the
end of this month!”
Got Milk?
Prason Sukkorn, owner of Coffee on the Day in Chonburi, Thailand, had
his marketing idea laid bare after he posted “obscene materials”
online: photos and videos of his barista, Arisa Suwannawong, 22, wearing
nothing but an apron while drawing shots and serving customers.
Suwannawong, who goes by the nickname “Jaenae with the big boobs,”
glances down at her breasts in the video while gushing, “The coffee is
so good; they use plenty of milk!” Police commander Thanachai Usakit
told Metro News that Sukkorn, “didn’t realize it would break
the law, because the model in the photos wasn’t fully naked.” Sukkorn
faces three-to-five years in jail and a fine of 100,000 Thai baht (about
$3,200 U.S.).
For Your Convenience
Undoubtedly, many records will be set during the 2018 Winter Olympics
in PyeongChang, South Korea, but before the games had even begun, one
Winter Games record was already in the books. Organizers distributed
110,000 condoms to the participating athletes—about 37 condoms per
competitor. “We hope to aid the athletes visiting from various countries
to complete their events successfully and safely,” said a spokesperson
for Convenience, the South Korea condom manufacturer that supplied most
of the prophylactics. The Korea Biomedical Review reported on
Feb. 1 that finely conditioned athletes have been notoriously “sexually
unrestrained” before—both during and after Olympics contests. Free
Olympic Games condom distribution began in 1988 when a mere 8,500 were
handed out during the Seoul games.
Hello, boys and girls, moms and dads, grandpa and grandma, aunts and uncles, cousins, in-laws and outlaws! How are you? Personally, I'm looking forward to temperatures in the 40's today.Of course, we go back in the icebox in a couple of days, but that's February in Wisconsin. March and April are even worse at teasing us. And then, BAM, spring is here. Or what passes for spring around here. The a/c will be on in no time.
Does anyone know how the ice rink is doing in downtown Racine? I have memories of being chased by boys on the ice. I screamed and hollered and skated like hell. The moment they stopped paying attention to me, I started teasing them. Oh, I protested that I didn't want them chasing me, but the truth was the complete opposite. Girls would get depressed if they weren't chased. I suspect that some of the "chasers" held back their speed when dealing with certain "chasees." You really didn't want to catch any of the girls you chased. You just wanted to chase them.
Junior would fit right in. He'd ignore all of the unspoken rules and chase the hell out of some poor girl, usually the weakest of the pack. Then he would declare her love for him. She was usually heaving from having skated so hard. Ah, love.
I suspect that the dearth of city operated rinks is due to insurance. Someone falls on their butt and sues the city for their bruised tushy. God, lawyers have destroyed so much of the enjoyment in life. The threat of a lawsuit hangs over just about everything we do. We are the sheep. They are the cullers of the sheep. We exist only to make the shysters richer. (Can you tell that I hate lawyers?) I suggest that we replace the lawyers with computers and put the former attorneys to work in the city's Department of Public Works. Let them be useful for once.
Foxconn fever continues to plague the area. We've lost some people to the flu. Just wait till construction starts on the Foxconn facility. We'll lose all sorts of people to Foxconn. I'm so sick of this subject, and they've barely begun.
Hey, where is Mr. Mayor Cory Mason? Lying John would make headlines almost daily. With Mayor Mason, it's like having a ghost in office. Perhaps he simply is afraid of stirring up the pot because he saw what a mess lying John made when he did it. C'mon, Cory. Make a commitment! Stand for something. Come out in favor of rubber sidewalks. That way, when the drunks fall down, they'll just bounce back up again. It's either that or putting up some damn roundabout somewhere where it isn't needed.
Well, kids, get out and enjoy the weather today. If they can close the schools when the weather is too crappy, they should be able to close them when the weather is too nice. Let the kids work off some of that cabin fever. Ah, forget it. Unified would require studies and public input (to be ignored). By the time they decide anything, it will be summer.
Simmer. Yes, it's coming. You just have to believe.
Enjoy yourselves. I know it's a workday, but maybe you can open a window. I love you all. Be kind to each other. __________________________ 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.
I’m Art Kumbalek and man oh manischewitz what a world,
ain’a? So I’m going to publish a heavy-duty treatise about the meaning
of mankind’s existence that I wrote for a publication I found out about
in the classified section of Bendover magazine. The ad said
that many people are scholars and don’t even know it, so people should
send them a highfalutin thesis on whatever they focking felt like and if
their judges deemed it highbrow enough, for $75 they would publish it
in a professorial journal somewheres. Lo and behold, they accepted my
work and they’re going to charge me $100 ’cause it’s that good, but I now offer it to you’s for free.
Victims of Circumstance
by Art Kumbalek
As Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon who-the-fock (c.
1633-1685) was famous for telling you: “Choose an author as you choose a
friend.” And let me tell you, if our young people in these troubled
times that clean the clock of goodness from our American streets would
only choose authors as friends instead of the pimply scumbag gang-ridden
snotnose jerk-off adolescents they seem to choose to fall in with, then
we as a responsible public who courageously choose obligation over
internment wouldn’t have to be constructing all these goddamn jails for
juveniles on every other block, what the fock.
But before you choose to read further, a simple choice that might not
only affect your entire future but also go down on your permanent
record to boot, I’d feel like a totally irresponsible dickwad if I did
not choose to relate the following concerning the matter of choice.
So this guy goes to the doctor’s office; he’s not feeling well.
“I’m not feeling well,” he says. The doctor does a quick checkup. Seems
the guy’s got a carrot in his left ear, a banana in his right ear, a
couple of green peppers up his nose and a kumquat up his
you-don’t-want-to-know-what but between you and me it’s up his dupa, I
kid you not. Guy says, “So Doc, what the heck’s the matter with me?”
Doctor says, “Well sir, just off the top of my head I’d say you’re not
eating properly.” (… two, three.) Guy says, “Well then the hell with being a vegetarian.”
My friends, so is the conceit concerning the very nature of “choice”
proven to be the folly that it is through the story we have just read.
The man believes he is wise vis-a-vis his personal wellness by choosing
to be a vegetarian as so many seem to choose in these health know-it-all
times. However, as the story illustrates, the man is not well. No man
with a kumquat up his butt can be well, I don’t care who you are.
But what if he’d chosen a different diet? What then? Would the man in
our story feel better if stuck in his orifices were meat by-products
instead? The answer is no. The man in our story can never be better no
matter what he chooses because the man in our story is a focking idiot,
and not because he stuck a banana in his ear or a kumquat up his heinie.
No sir, the man in our story is a focking idiot because his
conclusion—“the hell with being a vegetarian”—says to me he is thinking a
different choice might’ve kept him out of the doctor’s office that
fateful day. It is to laugh.
And so should we take away from our little story the following: Any
knucklehead who chooses to believe they got a choice about anything has
only proven that the first choice they made was to be a moron.
And so should we disregard the moral prig pigs who spout the latest
conservative political fashion, to wit: “Hey, any focking thing bad
happens to you it’s your own damn fault, so suck-up and shut the fock up
about it and leave the rest of us alone. For christ sakes, somewheres
you made a wrong choice all by yourself so learn to live with it,
asshole.”
Yeah, right. These pisspots say that we control our destinies, and I
say you got to be jerking my beefaroni ’cause the enlightened modern
free-thinker would argue that there is no free-thinking, no
free-will, no choice; that there exists in the world only unseen and
unknown authority, not to mention dogma with a serious case of rabies.
The free-thinker would argue that since you don’t choose to be born and
you can’t choose not to croak; any piddly so-called “choice” in-between is just a focking joke and if it isn’t, it damn well ought to be.
I’m sure the arguments regarding free-will and choice and
responsibility and blah-blah will go on and on, but for my money all
questions concerning the significant meaning of mankind’s existence on
this planet and in this universe were answered forever but good the day
the late philosopher Jerome Howard remarked to his brother Moe following
the repeated application of the business end of a ball-peen hammer to
his curly pate, “Hey, Moe! I’m just a victim of circumstance!”
So put that in your halfpipe and smoke it, America. But if you still
insist on choice, please choose to brush your teeth and stay in school
’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau).(Photo: Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
MADISON - Wisconsin would create an
"alcohol czar" with police powers and a mandate to toughen enforcement
of the state's liquor laws, under a fast-moving proposal from a top GOP
senator.
Senate Majority Leader
Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said a committee could hold a hearing as
soon as Thursday on his proposal, which would also give a special
liquor exemption to the Kohler American Resort.
Less than a month ago, Fitzgerald's brother, former Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, signed up to lobby for the state's wholesale wine and liquor sellers on topics including this type of legislation.
Scott
Fitzgerald, who said he'd been working on the bill for months, said
turnover of key personnel in state government has led to lax enforcement
and some undisclosed businesses taking improper advantage of that legal
vacuum.
"Enforcement has completely fallen apart," the Senate leader told reporters Tuesday.
Jeff
Fitzgerald and an aide to Scott Fitzgerald didn't immediately respond
to questions about whether the two brothers have talked about the
alcohol legislation known as Senate Bill 801.
Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
Published 9:27 a.m. CT Feb. 13, 2018 | Updated 9:46 a.m. CT Feb. 13, 2018
WASHINGTON — Russia and other
adversaries will continue to engage in cyber warfare to "degrade our
democratic values and weaken our alliances," the nation's top
intelligence official said Tuesday.
"Frankly,
the United States is under attack," Director of National Intelligence
Dan Coats told the Senate Intelligence Committee, adding that every
facet of society is being targeted with cyber intrusions.
"There should be no doubt that (Putin) views the past effort as successful," Coats said.
The
national intelligence director's comments come against the backdrop of
continuing congressional and criminal investigations into Russia's
interference in the 2016 election and whether the Kremlin coordinated
their activities with President Trump's campaign.
Although
Trump has repeatedly wavered on Russia's involvement, Coats and the
nation's five other top intelligence officials Tuesday each affirmed a
2016 assessment of the entire intelligence community that Russia
interfered in the election and has not relented in a strategy to
undermine future elections.
"This is not going to change or stop," National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers said.
These have to be the end times with that fuckhead as POTUS. North Korea will call his wife a whore or something and we'll launch nukes at them. They'll respond. Maybe Russia and China will get into the game. It won't matter. Kiss "modern man" goodbye. The end of another civilization.
RACINE
— The operator of De’Pizza Chef restaurant was sentenced to one year in
jail and five years probation Monday after he was found guilty of
selling drugs to a confidential informant out of his restaurant.
And Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling is not happy with what he describes as a light sentence imposed by the court.
“My
deputies put their lives on the line during these very dangerous
undercover operations and the outcome in what was a home run case is
simply disappointing and unacceptable,” Schmaling said.
In
2017, Edward Bilotto, 43, of the 3300 block of 19th Avenue in Kenosha,
was charged with eight felony counts after he was reportedly selling
drugs out of the Downtown Racine restaurant. As of Monday evening, the
restaurant was closed.
On Dec.
5, Bilotto pleaded no contest to four felony counts of manufacture and
delivery of schedule I, II narcotics, manufacture and delivery of
non-narcotics, manufacture and delivery of schedule IV drugs and
maintaining a drug trafficking place. The other charges were dismissed
but read in, online records show.
On
Monday, Circuit Court Judge Mark Nielsen handed down a sentence of
seven years for the first count, with four years incarceration and three
years extended supervision; three years for the second and third
counts, with one year incarceration and two years extended supervision
for each; and one year in the Racine County Jail with Huber for the
fourth count.
The second count will run consecutive to count one, and count three will run concurrent to count two, online records show.
But
the judge’s sentence was imposed and stayed, which means Bilotto will
not face jail time for counts one through three unless he violates his
probation, which will last for five years. Bilotto will face jail time
for the fourth count, minus any time served.
“Bilotto,
if convicted on all charges, should be serving more than 90 years in
state prison where he belongs,” Schmaling said. “Instead, he will serve
one year in our county jail.”
Conditions of Bilotto’s parole will
include absolute sobriety, random drug test and alcohol breath tests.
Bilotto must also maintain full-time employment, online court records
show.
“Talk about the wrong
message being sent to our community and our children while we are
battling a national epidemic,” Schmaling said. “The fact Bilotto wasn’t
given a strict and harsh sentence is more than disappointing to everyone
in our county. We will never know how many opioid addictions he has fed
or started.”
Controlled drug buys
According to the criminal complaint:
Between
April 26 and May 24 last year, a confidential informant made five
separate controlled buys from Bilotto and then returned the purchased
items to the Racine Metro Drug Unit. Many of the purchases were made in a
shed behind De Pizza Chef, 235 Main St.
“Sheriff’s Metro Detectives had five controlled undercover buys and countless hours of investigation work,” Schmaling said.
During
the purchases, Bilotto sold the confidential informant various pills,
including Percocet, acetaminophen and oxycodone hydrochloride pills,
Adderall, Vicodin and Xanax pills.
“I am beyond disappointed in our judicial system in this case,” Schmaling said.
Village of Mount Pleasant Trustee candidates, from left, Ram Bhatia, John Martini and Janet Sabol.
Submitted photos
MOUNT PLEASANT — The Racine Political
Education Coalition is hosting a free public candidate forum today,
Tuesday, Feb. 13, for the open trustee seat on the Mount Pleasant
Village Board.
The
event is scheduled to take place at Village Hall, 8811 Campus Drive, at
7 p.m. and the candidates will answer questions from the audience.
But there is one thing that Ashley forgot to do. She
failed to scrub her Facebook page of all her inflammatory criticism of
Milwaukee's finest.
"Every day that I am alive my hatred grows for the Milwaukee police department!" Ashley wrote on Jan. 5, 2014.
"I have NEVER had a good experience no matter the circumstances! I have
an idea, how about all you dumb (expletive) jump off the highest
building in downtown Milwaukee! No one will miss you I promise!"
The post ended with four incendiary hashtags, including one that says "f--- the police."
In another 2014 post, Ashley wrote: "I can not believe that the police still turn on their sirens to run lights!! Oh how my hatred for them grows!"
All
it took was 5 shots, from a military assault rifle, to kill Sugar, an
American Bulldog, as she retreated from Police, suffered horribly, and
was allowed to suffer death pangs due to wounds inflicted upon her by
City of Racine Police Department Officers, over a period of time.
Thanx
that no other innocent bystanders or witnesses were injured. Especially
the children - who may be mentally injured/scarred for life.
Paxil’s
known “adverse drug reactions” – according to the drug’s FDA-approved
label – include “mania,” “insomnia,” “anxiety,” “agitation,”
“confusion,” “amnesia,” “depression,” “paranoid reaction,” “psychosis,”
“hostility,” “delirium,” “hallucinations,” “abnormal thinking,”
“depersonalization” and “lack of emotion,” among others. The preceding
examples are only a few of the best-known offenders who had been taking
prescribed psychiatric drugs before committing their violent crimes –
there are 
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