Photo: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Month: October 2016
My Most Popular Blogs (10/24/16)
Here are my most popular blogs from last week, Sunday – Saturday:
1) The Best Cartoons of the Week (10/22/16)
2) Franklin school district and others are breaking state law
4) A renaissance? In Franklin?
5) Franklin alderwoman wants a do-over on the Ballpark Commons
6) Congratulations, Senator Lazich!
8) How a referendum becomes a referendum
9) The latest pro-life news (10/17/16)
10) The city of Franklin needs to stop doing this
It’s getting $eriou$
This is it.
We’re in the campaign’s final stretch. We have exactly 15 days left until Election Day.
As the Washington Post recently noted,
“Senate Republicans are at risk of getting outspent 8 to 1 in the final stretch as they try to hold on to control of the chamber.”
We cannot afford to let our good conservative candidates be outspent.
It doesn’t get any more serious than this — if our Republican campaigns can’t step up during the next 3 weeks, we will be in serious trouble Election Day.
Hillary Clinton’s camp recently announced they’ll spend $6 million dollars in battleground Senate races in Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Iowa.
Will you help push back against the Clinton Machine?
Contribute $35 immediately >>>
Contribute $50 immediately >>>
Contribute $100 immediately >>>
Contribute $200 immediately >>>
All donations will be TRIPLE-MATCHED until midnight tonight.
This is a vital time for Republicans to stand and fight for our conservative Senate majority. I hope our team can count on you.
Thank you,
Karl Rove
Culinary no-no #494
In 1991 Morley Safer of “60 Minutes” on CBS became an American hero.
His 12-minute segment, “The French Paradox” reported what we’ve known forever. The French diet devours rich and fatty foods on a regular basis (see above). However the French as a people collectively avoid high levels of heart disease.
Here’s an excerpt.
Reaction to Safer’s piece was instant and huge. Sales of red wine skyrocketed. Twenty-five years later Safer’s story is credited with the widely -held notion that red wine isn’t just good, it’s good for you.
The website masslive.com this past week reported that according to the Wine Institute more Americans are drinking more wine than ever before, with wine columnist Ken Ross offering 5 reasons why the grape is popular.
With so many consumers in an absolute love affair with wine it’s no wonder these mega stores have popped up all around the country.
The Total Wine and More website proudly proclaims:
We’re passionate about wine, and know many of our customers feel the same way. So we are committed to offering the nation’s best wine selection, with an emphasis on fine wines. Our typical store carries more than 8,000 different wines from every wine-producing region in the world, including more than 2,000 wines not available in any other store. The typical Total Wine & More also carries more than 2,500 beers, from America‘s most popular brands to hard-to-find microbrews and imports, and more than 3,000 different spirits in every style and price range.
We’re also committed to having the lowest prices on wine, spirits and beer every day. Our tremendous buying power and special relationships with producers, importers and wholesalers bring us considerable savings, which we pass on to our customers.
When Total Wine & More opened in Long Beach, CA in June of 2015 local Councilwoman Stacy Mungo was happy and supportive.
“Please tell at least five friends, because the more people that shop here, the more roads I can repair and the more sidewalks I can fix, so spend your money in Long Beach, thank you for opening up this business and go beach!” said Mungo during the ribbon-cutting.
My wife, Jennifer, isn’t exactly an oenophile, but she’s close. Jennifer mentioned on her blog last week she’d loved Total Wine & More to expand into Franklin.
I must interject that Franklin has a well-deserved reputation of being hostile and difficult when it comes to potential incoming new businesses. As a result we can’t get a buzzard to land here.
The thought of Total Wine and More coming to Franklin (the superstore is looking to set up shop in sites in SE WI) led my good friend, Franklin Mayor Steve Olson to post the following question on social media:
“Been to Three Cellar’s lately?”
When someone requested clarification the mayor replied:
“We HAVE a locally owned business identical to the ‘we want’ one above.”
Disappointing response.
Given that logic Franklin shouldn’t have allowed Oscar’s to open on S. 27th Street because we already had the Milwaukee Burger Company.
Didn’t think the mayor had to be reminded about competition, or being open to a new business model. Not a good message to send to folks thinking about coming here.
Forget Franklin. There have been many news reports that Total Wine and More was looking at Brookfield, a municipality bursting at the seams with all kinds of businesses.
And Brookfield certainly was interested.
However it’s turned into a total mess.
In order for Total Wine & More to operate as successfully as it has elsewhere in America it needed a certain license from Brookfield. A high ranking official says he was led to belive the license was forthcoming.
The city says it only has one of those licenses left. There’s a limit on the licenses and Brookfield doesn’t want to relinquish it to a wine superstore in case a restaurant wants to open and would need the required liquor license.
The Town of Brookfield has offered to turn over one of their licenses to the superstore. That could be a solution but for the fact the city of Brookfield is hemming and hawing.
Last week the city Brookfield approved a lesser license and Total Wine & More is ticked.
The city voted 8-5 against the store’s request for a Class B liquor license, instead granting Total Wine a Class A license. By doing so, Total Wine will not be able to conduct its weekly wine tastings and classes, which make up roughly 20 percent of the store’s revenue and is part of the overall customer experience, said David Trone, Total Wine & More’s co-founder and president.
“We really love Brookfield, and think we will do great there,” Trone said. “But we were led to believe when we first met with the city, that we would be given a Class B license. I’m in 21 states and will have 150 stores open by the end of the year. They said build the store first, and we’ll give you the license – I’ve never done it that way. And somehow, 30 days before we open, we don’t get the license.”
In an interview with WTMJ’s Jeff Wagner Trone called Brookfield’s attitude and approach “arrogant.”
Taking a page out of my mayor’s playbook the mayor of Brookfield is blaming the state.
Wisconsin’s business climate is improving but there’s a lot of progress to be made. The Brookfield episode with Total Wine & More isn’t helping.
CULINARY NO-NO BONUS
Too much pumpkin spice?
Photos of the Week (10/23/16)
1) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump share a laugh during the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner on Oct. 20 in New York. Photo: Evan Vucci / AP
2) Love Manie Simeus, 12, reads the Bible by candlelight in her school’s classroom where she and other residents have taken refuge after Hurricane Matthew destroyed their homes, Les Cayes, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016. While her school is used as a shelter, Love has been trying to keep her mind sharp by reading the Bible to illiterate storm refugees and looking through school library books that made it through the storm. Photo: Dieu Nalio Chery / AP
3) People wait for relief aid to be unloaded from a Dutch navy ship, after Hurricane Matthew hit Jeremie, Haiti. Photo: Reuters
4) A prison cell overcrowds with inmates taking turns to sleep on any available spaces at Quezon City Jail, one of the country’s most congested jails in Quezon City, Philippines. Following the intensified drive of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war against criminality, arrested drug suspects are jockeying for space inside jampacked prison cells. Quezon City Jail is designed to hold only 800 inmates but it is now packed with nearly 4,000. Duterte on his speach before his state visit to Beijing expressed gratitude to China for helping the Philippines on building rehabilitation facilities for drug addicts. Photo: FRANCIS R. MALASIG / EPA
5) The Pope’s lavish villa has opened to the public after the frugal Pope Francis decided not to use it, judging it too luxurious and grandiose. Stairs lead to the pope’s private apartment at Castel Gandolfo near Rome on Oct. 21. In 2014, the gardens at the palazzo were opened to the public, but now visitors can tour the never-before-seen private apartment of the palazzo itself. Photo: ALESSANDRO DI MEO / EPA
6) The simple pontifical bedroom, seen here, was used as a delivery room during World War II. The Alban region saw bloody fighting and residents fled toward the pontifical villas seeking sanctuary. Pius XII opened the doors to more than 12,000 people until Rome was liberated on June 4, 1944. As the Vatican tells it, some of the displaced were pregnant. And an estimated 40 women gave birth on the pope’s bed itself; bearing offspring now affectionately called “the pope’s children.” Pius resumed spending summers there after the war and died in the same bedroom in 1958. Pope Paul VI also died in the room in 1978. Photo: TONY GENTILE / Reuters
7) The gallery of Alexander VII is one of the 20 marble-floored rooms in the private apartments.Photo: ALESSANDRO DI MEO / EPA
8) Thousands of pedestrians gather downtown for a lighting and chromalithe exhibition on a catholic church, as part of the UN Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador. Photo: Reuters
9) A rat’s head rests as it is constricted in an opening in the bottom of a garbage can in Brooklyn. Photo: Reuters
10) Azalea, a 19-year-old female chimpanzee whose Korean name is “Dallae,” smokes a cigarette at the Central Zoo in Pyongyang, North Korea. Photo: AP
11) A vet holds a pygmy anteater, also known as a silky anteater, at the Huachipa Zoo, on the outskirts of Lima, Peru on Oct. 19. The zoo presented on Wednesday three anteater species: giant bears, tamanduas, and pygmies, during an event to promote their pair of silky anteaters, who just turned 11 years old. The zoo is preparing a breeding program of this rare species, that does not exceed 13 cm. Photo: Martin Mejia / AP
12) Wisconsin tight end Troy Fumagalli reaches across the end zone for a touchdown Saturday against Iowa. Photo: Byron Houlgrave/The Register
13) Members of the Wisconsin football team carry the Heartland Trophy after a 17-9 win over Iowa on Saturday. It was the Badgers’ fourth consecutive victory at Kinnick Stadium.(Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/The Register)
14) Packers fan Nick Sarno (left) and Bears fan James Gargiulo (right), both from Boston, cheer during the Packers-Bears game Thursday. Photo: Mike De Sisti, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
15) Green Bay Packers wide receiver Randall Cobb reacts after scoring a touchdown while being covered by Chicago Bears cornerback Cre’von LeBlanc. The Packers beat the Bears
16) Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan poses with his creation “Is There Life Before Death” (2010), prior to the opening of the exhibition “Not Afraid of Love” at the Hotel de la Monnaie in Paris. Photo: PHILIPPE WOJAZER / Reuters
17) The sculpture “Yellow,” made of 11,014 Lego pieces, is displayed at the opening of US artist Nathan Sawaya’s exhibition “The Art of the Brick,” featuring works made entirely from Lego bricks, in Milan, Italy. Photo: AP
18) Students from St Andrew’s University indulge in a tradition of covering themselves with foam to honour the ‘academic family.’ Photo: Getty Images
19) Fans dressed as Dark Vader, left, and Chewbacca are pictured in a bathroom as they attend 53rd Antalya Film Festival in Mediterranean Turkish resort of Antalya, Turkey. Photo: AP
“Make no mistake, a Hillary Clinton administration would indulge the worst instincts of the authoritarian left”
EDITORIAL: Donald Trump for president
Check out the letters selected for today’s Journal Sentinel
Can we say…media bias?
Recommended Reading (10/22/16)
Here are interesting articles from the past week that are worth a read (even if, on occasion, I do not agree with the author).
Clinton security detail also considered Hillary a nasty woman
It’s hard for me to imagine disliking someone to the point of being happy she sustained a serious injury. But then, I never had to work for Hillary Clinton.
The Undeniable, Glaring Bias of the Mainstream Media
If the current batch of WikiLeaks emails had come from the Trump campaign rather than the Clinton campaign, with his people insulting Catholics and with his right-hand man expressing disappointment that it was a Muslim, not a white American, who was one of the San Bernardino murderers, the media would virtually crucify Trump, with shrill calls across the nation demanding that he step down and that he fire his campaign manager immediately.
Black History Museum Discriminates Against Clarence Thomas
The irony of a museum devoted to chronicling the abuses against blacks — from slavery to segregation — excluding one of their own is a deplorable attempt to rewrite history. It makes you wonder what else the curators are black-washing from our history.
There’s Never Been A Better Time to Be Alive
Johan Norberg wrote his excellent new book Progress for three reasons. First, because something important happened. Second, because no one believes it. And third, because it’s dangerous that they don’t believe it.
Norberg’s book comprehensively documents the myriad ways the state of humanity has vastly improved over the past couple of centuries.
With Halloween so close to the November election, we may as well bring up the obvious link between ghouls and political hacks: Dead people are voting.
Reports are popping up around the country about deceased people who continue to vote, as recently reported by a Denver television station.
Franklin Alderwoman Wilhelm E-Update for Franklin Residents: Fall 2016
| UPDATE: Please note the east/west correction to “General” ward boundary wording under the city map. This correction only relates to the east/west street direction for D3-Ward 9 as listed in the below bullet.
FALL GENERAL ELECTION SEATS: President, U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative, even-numbered Wisconsin State Senate seats, all Wisconsin Assembly seats, and all District Attorneys. Please view the sample ballot below. WHEN: Tuesday, November 8, 2016 EARLY VOTING VOTER I.D. REQUIRED
ACCEPTABLE I.D. FORMS – MUST BE EXPIRED
WARD REPORTING BEGAN IN FRANKLIN DURING SPRING OF 2016.
MAYOR’S 2017 RECOMMENDED ANNUAL BUDGET Click here to review the Mayor’s 2017 Recommended Budget as well as the budget presentation of 9/20/2016. The Mayor’s 2017 Recommended Budget document is also available for viewing at the Franklin Public Library and the Office of the City Clerk. Trick or Treat Observance Brush & Bagged Leaf Pickup PUBLIC HEARINGS EVERGREEN ESTATES PHASE I – DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL CHANGES
Contact Me: Phone 414-427-7603 or 414-208-4595
Email: wilhelm4district3@gmail.com Find me on Facebook Kristen Wilhelm for Franklin’s 3rd District
|
Week-ends (10/22/16)
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
VILLAINS OF THE WEEK
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“With all of the heated back and forth between my opponent and me at the debate last night, we have proven that we can actually be civil to each other. In fact just before taking the dais, Hillary accidentally bumped into me and she very civilly said, ‘Pardon me.’ And I very politely replied, ‘Let me talk to you about that after I get into office.'”
Donald Trump at the annual Al Smith Dinner. The candidates shared the stage at a formal dinner in New York City named for the state’s former governor, Alfred E. Smith, less than 24 hours after finishing their third and final presidential debate in Las Vegas. The annual event raises money for needy children.
“Donald looks at the Statue of Liberty and sees a four, maybe a five if she loses the torch and tablet and changes her hair.”
Hillary Clinton at the Al Smith dinner
“Donald has said he is in favor of defunding Planned Parenthood, he even supported shutting the government down to defund Planned Parenthood. I will defend Planned Parenthood. I will defend Roe v. Wade, and I will defend women’s rights to make their own healthcare decisions.”
Hillary Clinton at the final debate
“Because based on what she’s saying and based on where she’s going and where she’s been, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb on the ninth month on the final day. And that’s not acceptable.”
Donald Trump at the final debate
“One of my first acts will be to get all of the drug lords, all of the bad ones, we have some bad bad people in this country that have to go out. We’re going to get them out. We’re going to secure the border and once the border is secure at a later date we will make its determination as to the rest. But we have some bad hombres here that we’re going to get them out.”
Donald Trump at the final debate
“I feel strongly that the Supreme Court needs to stand on the side of the American people. Not on the side of the powerful corporations and the wealthy. For me, that means that we need a supreme court that will stand up on behalf of women’s rights, on behalf of the rights of the LGBT community, that will stand up and say no to Citizens United, a decision that has undermined the election system in our country because of the way it permits dark, unaccountable money to come into our electoral system.”
Hillary Clinton at the final debate
“I believe, if my opponent should win this race—which I truly don’t think will happen—we will have a Second Amendment which will be a very, very small replica of what it is right now.”
Donald Trump at the final debate
“There was even a time when he didn’t get an Emmy for his TV program three years in a row and he started tweeting that the Emmys were rigged against him.”
Hillary Clinton at the final debate
“Should have gotten it.”
Donald Trump on the Emmys at the final debate
“Such a nasty woman.”
Donald Trump at the final debate
“Third presidential debates usually don’t matter. And there’s a reason. The candidate who’s behind tries to avoid mistakes made in the earlier debates and sound more clear-minded and knowledgeable. The candidate who’s ahead simply plays it safe.
“The result is a debate unlikely to change the fundamentals of a campaign. And that was the case Wednesday night. It was Donald Trump’s best debate and Hillary Clinton’s worst. But it’s doubtful Trump’s performance did more than keep him from falling further behind.”
Conservative columnist Fred Barnes
“In an instant, he (Trump) lost the debate and blew his chance of using it to turn around his sinking campaign. That instant came when Trump refused to say he would respect the outcome of next month’s vote. A major party nominee suggesting he won’t concede defeat in a presidential election he has clearly lost was, until Trump came along, unthinkable. Had Al Gore taken that position in 2000, the United States might not be a functioning democracy today. If Trump’s position becomes the new normal–if future candidates refuse to respect the voters’ will–America may not remain one. Democracies require public legitimacy for their survival. When powerful actors withhold that legitimacy, the system crumbles.”
Peter Beinart over-reacting in the Atlantic
“That question Chris Wallace asked, ‘Mr. Trump, will you pledge to accept the result?’ ‘No, no. Why should I?’ If he would have accepted, if he would have announced last night that he was gonna accept the results, the story today would be: ‘Trump conceded defeat last night.’
“But here’s the real point. Trump did what he had to do. Trump’s whole reason for running is wrapped up in his answer to that question last night. This is what I mean when I ask, do they not understand why the guy’s running? Do they not understand why the guy’s got support? Do they not understand why millions and millions of Americans have invested in Trump to the point that they don’t care about traditional political faux pas and they still hang with the guy?”
Rush Limbaugh
“It’s incredible that our institutions of gov, WH, Congress, DOJ, and big media are corrupt & all we do is bitch. Pitchforks and torches time.”
Tweet by Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke
“When I talk about the election being ‘rigged,’ it was just reported there are almost two million dead people who are registered to vote. And Paul Ryan gets up and issues a memo that he disagrees the election is rigged. Why doesn’t he walk over to Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago, some of these cities? Look nothing is perfect, but this process is unbelievable. And it is certainly rigged with the press. So why would he issue a memo that– Is he naïve? Because that is naiveté. Or maybe something worse than that. I don’t know what it is. But you go to Philadelphia where Romney got zero votes, where McCain got zero votes. So they’re very disappointing.”
Donald Trump
“Wisconsinites know Paul Ryan, Paul’s been an elected official here a long time, he’s well-liked and highly regarded in Wisconsin. He (Trump) ought to be going and campaigning against Hillary Clinton, focusing on the issues that differentiate him from her, not this internecine battle between him and Ryan.”
Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.)
“It launched. It failed miserably. It died. Here’s the deal: Just because Trump’s dunzo doesn’t mean your job is over! Oh heck no — Democrats have a chance to win the whole enchilada! In the next 48 hours, you gotta ask yourself: Do you want just one taco? Or do you want the whole enchilada?”
In a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraising email sent Monday, Democratic strategist James Carville declared the Trump campaign was over
“We sparred and we laughed together but so does everybody on the court. We get angry with each other. There are moments when you want to take one of them and shake them. I’ve told people there are things he said on the bench when if I had a baseball bat, I might have used it. But when you work so intimately with people, you get to know the really personal good side of them.”
Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor referring to the late Justice Antonin Scalia during an address at the University of Minnesota
OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK
Disgraced liberal operative Scott Foval’s left-wing friends disappear in Wisconsin
MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORY OF THE WEEK
Performance of choice students
MOST OVER-HYPED STORY OF THE WEEK
Donald Trump refusing to admit he’ll accept the election results
STRANGEST, MOST UNUSUAL STORY OF THE WEEK
This Just In... From Franklin, WI 
