Week-ends (01/22/22)

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A look back at the people and events that made news the past week. Week-ends is a regular weekly feature of  This Just In…

HEROES OF THE WEEK

Brig. Gen. Charles McGee

Jordan Stolz

High school football coach Brian Delallo

Betty White

Huang Yung Fu

VILLAINS OF THE WEEK

Jen Psaki

NPR

Robert Reich

The CDC

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“If Kevin Nicholson is listening — you need to not run for governor. I think if he runs, it hurts our chances to defeat Gov. Evers. But I can’t control that. If he runs, he runs.”
WI Assembly Speaker Robin Vos

“Thanks, @repvos, for the political advice. Our elections are a mess, law & order is eroding, schools are failing. How about you focus on doing your job?”
Nicholson responded in a tweet

“Jill Biden tells (the Associated Press) healing a nation became one of her chief roles as first lady over the past year. Her travels to 35 states have included visits with wildfire victims, those affected by deadly tornadoes and victims of a deadly Christmas parade crash (in Waukesha, WI).”
The Associated Press

“Deadly Christmas parade crash”…?? Um, excuse me. That was not a ‘crash’, it was intentional murder.”
Amy Curtis, an RN

“What is the trajectory of the country? Is it moving in the right direction now? I don’t know how we can say it’s not.”
Joe Biden

“Am I satisfied with the way in which we have dealt with COVID and all the things that … go along with it? Yeah, I am satisfied. I think we’ve done remarkably well.”
Joe Biden

“I don’t believe the polls.”
Joe Biden

“I think what you’re going to see is that Russia will be held accountable if it invades. And it depends on what it does. It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do.”
Joe Biden

“Biden basically gave Putin a green light to invade Ukraine by yammering about the supposed insignificance of a ‘minor incursion.’ He projected weakness, not strength.”
Senator Ben Sasse

“[Biden is] angry because he hasn’t accomplished anything. It’s going to be a bloodbath at the midterms, and Biden’s going to have to explain to the American people why he hasn’t done anything. He’s put himself in a box and has to fight his way out. … It’s hard to be the guy who brought positive change to Americans when you can’t get anything done, so what else does he have besides being angry about it?”
Republican strategist Jim Keady

“Even the people who were rooting for Joe Biden can’t ignore the evidence piling up and spilling out all over. He’s just not up to the job of being president. He makes promises that he doesn’t know how to keep, wildly overestimates his own persuasiveness, denies problems are problems until it’s too late, and offers excuses and points fingers when he fails. We’re [less than] a week away from Biden’s first year in the Oval Office, and it’s already abundantly clear: The man is in over his head.”
Jim Geraghty

“Biden promised to unite our country. Instead he betrayed us, pouring fuel on the fire of divisiveness, tearing our country apart. Biden compares those who disagree with him to racists, traitors & enemies, & has his AG target Americans as domestic terrorists. Unfit to lead.”
Tulsi Gabbard

“I think the problem for the Democrats right now is not that they have bad leaders. They have bad followers.”
Democrat “strategist” Paul Begala

“Dem polling [right now] must be delivered with springs popping out, smoke billowing, and sparks flying for them to finally admit what we all knew months & months ago. [It’s] probably too late for them to avoid the epic electoral beatdown to come.”
Scott Jennings

“I’m hiring 3 people for a new CNN team dedicated to covering misinformation.”
CNN Business Managing Editor Alex Koppelman

“CNN to create a team dedicated to covering CNN.”
Candace Owens

“It has always been bizarre that the head of an obscure agency has soaked up so much media attention. Over the past two years, [Anthony] Fauci has done so many interviews with so many outlets — from Sunday shows to obscure podcasts — that one wonders how he had time for his day job. Nearly everyone in Washington enjoys being in front of a microphone, but even the most shameless media hogs might blush at Fauci’s interview schedule. It would be one thing if Fauci were merely delivering updates on the state of Covid. But he has gone way beyond that and delved into pure self-promotion. How did the appearance of Fauci on the cover of InStyle, sitting by the pool in sunglasses, declaring, ‘With all due modesty, I think I’m pretty effective,’ advance public health?”
National Review

“The way MSNBC liberals have pivoted so seamlessly from accusing Trump of having personally murdered every COVID victim to insisting that President Biden is powerless to do anything about COVID is, on some warped level, almost impressive in its audacity.”
Glenn Greenwald

“The Associated Press has recently told its editors and reporters to avoid emphasizing case counts in stories about the disease. That means, for example, no more stories focused solely on a particular country or state setting a one-day record for number of cases, because that claim has become unreliable.”
AP

“This is incredible. How many articles did they write about red states using these exact story angles? They are changing the covid narrative right in front of your eyes. All because Joe Biden is now responsible for the covid numbers instead of Trump. Shameful and dishonest.”
Clay Travis

“The medical mandate for the nurses and the doctors — what they’re trying to do is absolutely insane. … In other states they have fired nurses for not having vaxxed, even though most of them have natural immunity. So they fire them, but now they’re short-handed. So what are they doing? They are bringing back on the job vaccinated nurses who are currently COVID-positive. So if you’re unvaccinated, naturally immune, and uninfected, they fire you. But if you’re COVID-positive and vaxxed … they are going back on the job. And it just shows you, that … mandate is absolutely insane.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

“If President Joe Biden’s disorderly and lethal Afghanistan withdrawal was the moment that fractured voters’ regard for him, then his vicious Atlanta speech last week may be the moment that defines his presidency.

“Speaking at Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University, Biden called those who disagree with his political views on legislation ‘domestic enemies.’ He compared them to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and former Alabama Democratic Party Committeeman and ardent, violent segregationist Bull Connor. In American politics, that is about as divisive as one can get — at least he didn’t mention Hitler.

“Biden bears no resemblance today to the man who ran for president, pledging over and over again to unify the country and restore a sense of calm and normalcy to politics.”
National political journalist Salena Zito

“The president of the United States called half the country a bunch of racist bigots. … He doesn’t believe that. This was a senile comment of a man who read whatever was loaded into his teleprompter. … If Joe Biden really believes that Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are bigots, why hasn’t he called for them to be kicked out of his party? If they’re as racist as Bull Connor and Jefferson Davis, why does Joe Biden want them in his party?”
Senator Ben Sasse

OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK

Your tax dollars at work: NPR’s Fake News from the Supreme Court

MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORY OF THE WEEK

March For Life

More People Call Media Dishonest, Both Globally and Nationally – View of U.S. TV Reporters Hits New Low

Overwhelming support for Photo ID

MOST OVER-HYPED STORY OF THE WEEK

Biden praised over disastrous press conference

MOST UNUSUAL STORY OF THE WEEK

South Milwaukee home has four toilets in one bathroom

Teacher alleges she was fired for not ‘meowing’ back at student who identifies as a cat

Why are men drinking breast milk?

Masks on kids; war against unvaxxed; Biden’s 1st year botches; March For Life; no jab for me; Christ & COVID

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Here are this week’s highly interesting reads:

Today’s highly interesting read (01/21/22): The Cult of Masked Schoolchildren


3RD UPDATE: Today’s highly interesting read (12/17/21): Declaring war on the unvaxxed


Today’s highly interesting read (01/20/22): A Scandal For Every Month: The Biggest Botches Of Joe Biden’s First 12 Months In Office


Today’s highly interesting read (01/19/22): One Last March for Life?


Today’s highly interesting read (01/18/22): How the Left Uses Fear to Control Your Life


Today’s highly interesting read (01/17/22): I’m Never Getting A Covid Vaccine, And I’m Not Alone


2ND UPDATE: Today’s highly interesting read (12/17/21): Declaring war on the unvaxxed


Today’s highly interesting read (01/16/22): Christ in the Midst of COVID

The Barking Lot – America’s Finest Dog Blog (01/22/22)

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The Barking Lot is a regular weekly feature of This Just In…Originally written by both my lovely wife, Jennifer and me, this blog brings you the latest news about our furry friends including articles, columns, photos and videos. Enjoy!

THE WEEKEND DOG-WALKING FORECAST: We grade the weather outlook for taking your pet outdoors.

TODAY:  On and off snow showers early. Peeks of sunshine later. High of 26. “D”

SUNDAY:  Mostly sunny skies. High of 18. “D”

Time now for DOGS IN THE NEWS, canines that made headlines the past week.

Dog reading newspaper Pictures, Dog reading newspaper Stock Photos & Images | Depositphotos®


Canadian restaurant ordered to close after accepting dog photos instead of vaccination proof.

Dog thief or animal lover? Guns drawn in dispute over dog left outside.

Meet the avalanche dogs who save skiers’ lives.

Missing Girl Survives Freezing Blizzard by Hugging Stray Dog for 18 Hours.

Rescuers save dog by attaching sausage to drone: ‘Millie was hungry.’

Who’s a clever dog? Scientists study secrets of canine cognition.

Yes, your dog can understand what you’re saying—to a point.

Flying with a dog for the first time? We asked a vet for advice.

Detroit Dog Rescue’s new shelter to play ‘Golden Girls’ theme when animals leave in honor of Betty White.

That’s it for this week. Thanks for stopping by.

We’d really appreciate it if you forward this on to other dog lovers you know. Let them have some fun!

See ya, BARK, next Saturday!

Goodnight everyone, and have a weekend where the fundamental things apply!

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Every Friday night we smooth our way into the weekend with music, the universal language. These selections demonstrate that despite what is being passed off as art today, there is plenty of really good music available. Come along and enjoy.

Ask me what the greatest movie ever is and I’d flip a coin. Heads, “Gone With The Wind.” Tails, “Casablanca.”

Turner Classic Movies’ Big Screen Classics series kicks off 2022 with 80th anniversary screenings of one of Hollywood’s best. The Oscar-winning Humphrey Bogart-Ingrid Bergman action romance is showing at 4:30 Jan. 23 and 7 p.m. Jan. 26 at Marcus Theatres’ Hillside, Majestic, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge and South Shore cinemas. Tickets are $13. 

Not considered a musical, Casablanca has some great music, even briefly or background. This week various versions of material that you can hear in that classic film.

We begin with a tune directly from the movie.

“Knock on Wood” was the only original song in the soundtrack.

From the website of Turner Classic Movies:

Wilson played Sam, the loyal singer and piano player at a club owned by American ex-pat Rick (Humphrey Bogart). While Sam was a secondary character, the friendship between the two men was very genuine and quite progressive for the time, with Sam very much an equal and a valued compatriot in Rick’s eyes. Wilson was actually not the studio’s first choice for the part and for a time, the studio had thought about making Sam a woman. African-American actor Clarence Muse, whose career dated back to the silent era and had appeared regularly in both big studio and independent features, seemed a lock, but the company eventually decided to borrow Wilson from Paramount for $700 a week, making him the most costly supporting player on the project. One hitch was that Wilson did not know how to play piano, so he mimed the action while studio musician Elliot Carpenter matched him.

Nonetheless, Wilson was very appealing in the role and though only onscreen for a few minutes, Sam became one of the film’s most valuable components (not long after the initial release, Wilson received as many as 5,000 fan letters a week).

Although “Casablanca” was a triumph for everyone involved, it ultimately did not have a major impact on Wilson’s career, thanks to the limited scope of parts being offered to African-American performers in mainstream features.

BTW, Wilson’s piano sold at auction for $3.9 million in New York in 2014. Auctioneers had declined to estimate the Casablanca piano’s likely price, saying only that they expected it to fetch “the low to mid-seven figures.” Bidding opened at $1.8 million and escalated rapidly before closing three minutes later at $3.9 million including taxes. Most likely made in 1927, the piano also has only 58 keys, 30 fewer than a classic piano.

The piano was offered for sale with a signed photograph of Wilson and a copy of “Casablanca,” and even came with a wad of petrified chewing gum found stuck beneath the keyboard. A faint outline of a fingerprint could be seen on the gum, but its owner was unknown.

Now listen to the background…

Eight years later, Doris Day and Kirk Douglas…

That song was originally recorded in 1934.

Our next selection dates back even further, 1924. Dooley Wilson sang it in “Casablanca.”

Still popular, almost 100 years later.


“I would have sang anything with Tony,” Underwood said about her duet performance.

“Whatever he wanted, I was there. He requested ‘It Had To Be You’ to sing with me.

“Being able to be standing there with Tony on a stage and seeing the band members and the lights and it’s dark, it was a very organic way of doing things. And I’ve never been lucky enough to get to do something like that before. He wants to do duets with people as themselves and have them bring their thing and him bring his thing, and I respect that so much … There’s just so much more emotion that can come out when you’re in the moment like that.”

Just before Sam launches into the most famous song of the picture he noodles this number on the piano about a resort community in California.


That’s it for this week.

Goodnight.

Sleep well.

Have a great weekend.

In 1973 Harry Nilsson (“Everybody’s Talkin’”) released “A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night,” an album comprising standards from the Great American Songbook. Nilsson appeared on this studio concert produced by the BBC.

Harry Nilsson died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack in 1994. He was 52.

To close we’re going uptempo with maestro Barry White.

Casablanca (1942)
Dooley Wilson in Casablanca (1942)
Humphrey Bogart and Dooley Wilson in Casablanca (1942)
Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet, and Dooley Wilson in Casablanca (1942)
Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)
Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains in Casablanca (1942)

Friday Night Forgotten Oldie: “But he could play a guitar just like a-ringin’ a bell”

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Edgar Winter recruits Joe Bonamassa, Joe Walsh, Billy Gibbons, Ringo Starr, Steve Lukather, Derek Trucks, Keb' Mo' and more for Johnny Winter tribute album | Guitar World

Johnny Winter was a leading American blues performer. As a child he played the clarinet, but switched to guitar. Good move.

When Winter broke into the national spotlight in 1968 he was a commanding figure onstage. He was tall with pale blond hair and light eyes, features from albinism.

In 1969 Winter played the famous Woodstock festival and released his debut album on Columbia records.

His younger brother was also an albino.

“People have always stared at me,” said Edgar Winter in a 1974 interview. “They still do, but now they have a better reason.”

Edgar Winter is legally blind, more than 85% due to his albinism. As a youngster he couldn’t play sports or sight-read music.

“I didn’t have many friends. You know the way kids naturally are if you’re fat, crippled or in any way defective. They tend to leave you out. So music became my identity and replaced the normal activities that otherwise would have filled my life.”

Winter’s blindness allowed him to develop an ear where he could listen just one time to almost any tune and then play it. He’s a talented keyboardist, saxophone player, drummer, and singer.

“Being albino always gave me a very real sense of individuality” he said in 1974. “Today, in music, a lot of people will do anything to themselves just to set them apart. I guess I’ve had a natural edge on them.”

Edgar Winter has released the first song, a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” from his tribute album to late brother Johnny.

Along with Winter, the song features The Eagles’ Joe Walsh.

Winter said, “To this day, when I think of rock ‘n’ roll, I think of Chuck Berry and ‘Johnny B. Goode’. It’s not only Johnny’s story but also every kid’s story who ever picked up a guitar, coming from humble beginnings with the idea of making it big someday. So, of course, it has to be on this album. Joe and I go way back to the ’70s, playing shows together when he was in the James Gang. I got him to sing the second verse and do the harmonies on the ‘Go, Johnny, Go’ choruses, and just like that, my dream came true.”

Reminiscing about the first time he paired up with his brother at a local concert, Winter said, “We had our very first band called Johnny and the Jammers, and the best song we knew was ‘Johnny B. Goode.’ So, we entered, we went on, we played it, we won and went on to make our first record – a song Johnny wrote called ‘School Day Blues.’ And as they say, the rest is history.”

BONUS

Today’s highly interesting read (01/21/22): The Cult of Masked Schoolchildren

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6,093 Sad Child Mask Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty-Free Images - iStock

Today’s read is from Vinay Prasad is a hematologist-oncologist, associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, and author of Malignant: How Bad Policy and Bad Evidence Harm People with Cancer. Here’s an excerpt:

History will not look kindly on our evidence-free decision to make kids suffer most.

Masking is now little more than an appealing delusion. It arms us with a visible symbol that communicates our commitment to minimizing the pandemic’s damage. It makes some of us feel empowered by giving us something “we can do” in the face of a largely invisible threat. To a certain extent, this is understandable. But most of the masks worn by most kids for most of the pandemic have likely done nothing to change the velocity or trajectory of the virus. The loss to children remains difficult to capture in hard data, but will likely become clear in the years to come.

Less forgivable is the decision we’ve made as a society to shift the anxieties of adults onto the youngest members of society, who count on us to defend their interests before our own.

Read the entire column here.

Franklin Mayor Olson is correct. Pickleball at Ballpark Commons is a big deal.

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Several times during Tuesday’s Franklin Common Council meeting Mayor Steve Olson mentioned to those in attendance ‘This is a big deal.’ And you couldn’t blame him.

Olson was referring to one significant announcement after another made Tuesday.

Saputo Cheese coming to Franklin.

New housing units on the SW side.

Upcoming $4 million payment to the city resulting from the big success at Velo Village Luxury Apartments.

A 40-plus room boutique hotel at Ballpark Commons.

Also at Ballpark Commons, a brewpub, live entertainment, and pickleball, yes, pickleball which has become quite popular in Franklin.

A Pickleball court is a quarter of a regulation tennis court with two teams of two players. Franklin Recreation repainted a tennis court to establish Pickleball play at Franklin's Lion's Legend Park II on Drexel Road.A Pickleball court is a quarter of a regulation tennis court with two teams of two players. Franklin Recreation repainted a tennis court to establish Pickleball play at Franklin’s Lion’s Legend Park II on Drexel Road Photo: C.T. KRUGER/NOW MEDIA GROUP, June 2018

The goal is to have a total of eight courts, indoor as well as outdoor at Ballpark Commons with groundbreaking possibly happening this summer.

And the pickleball craze is not exclusive to Franklin. It’s the fastest growing sport in America.

3RD UPDATE: Today’s highly interesting read (12/17/21): Declaring war on the unvaxxed

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Previously on This Just In…

The update:

The results of a new Heartland Institute and Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey were released last week, finding that “a majority of Democrats embrace restrictive policies, including punitive measures against those who haven’t gotten the COVID-19 vaccine.”

Here are some of the findings:

Nearly six out of 10 Democrats surveyed — 59% — believe the U.S. government should force Americans who refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine to stay in their homes “at all times except for emergencies.”

On the other hand, 79 percent of Republicans and 71 percent of unaffiliated voters opposed a house arrest scheme like this.

The study also found that more than half — 55% — of Democratic voters would support “a proposal for federal or state governments to fine Americans who choose not to get a COVID-19 vaccine …  compared to just 19% of Republicans and 25% of unaffiliated voters.”

In addition, nearly half of Democrats surveyed — 48% — supported fines and incarceration in prison for those who merely “publicly question the efficacy of the existing COVID-19 vaccines on social media, television, radio, or in online or digital publications.”

In addition, of the Democrats surveyed:

• 45% would support internment camps for the unvaccinated.

• 47% would agree to surveillance and tracking of those who refuse vaccination.

• 29% “would support temporarily removing parents’ custody of their children if parents refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccine.”

And from Dan Gelernter, columnist for American Greatness:

Your Democratic neighbors won’t be ordered to vote for laws that ostracize you from society, steal your property, or send you away to a concentration camp. They will do it burning with pride.

Read Gelernter’s entire column here.