Franklin mayoral contest: Paid for by…???

Here in Franklin, city of about 36,000, we’ve got a mayoral race to be decided in April (if there is an election).  Current mayor Steve Olson who brings to the table a wealth (try a couple of decades) of experience, institutional knowledge, commitment, devotion and dedication is facing a challenger, Basil Ryan, who served as Franklin alderman between 2001 and 2003 until he was unceremoniously dumped by a huge margin in a recall election that disgraced Ryan, for sure.

Today our mailman dropped off a glossy, color lit piece promoting Ryan authored by a Franklin private citizen. Suffice to say the piece murdered Olson and glorified Ryan.

The piece typed that it was “Authorized by (the author).” And that’s well and good.

So now, who paid for it? You’ve seen a gazillion of these. The wording of “Paid for By” is always on there. Why? Because it’s the law. Any candidate running for as much as dog catcher realizes that. But it’s absent on this flyer.

My guess is the author got his blessing from Ryan to write and disseminate the lit piece. I also suspect Ryan may have financed the piece. That should have been noted on the mailer. It wasn’t.

Ryan ran for alderman, won, then ran for re-election and won in 2001, then lost the recall in 2003. He ran for mayor in 2008, 2014 and 2017, and lost every time.

Don’t you think he should know by now, almost 20 years later, how to send out a lawful flyer? Seems a simple requirement to abide by, especially if you want to instill faith that you can run the city.

Did Basil Ryan break state law?

ALSO: Franklin mayoral contest: Did you hear the one about Basil Ryan, three times?

Franklin voters, please share with your friends and neighbors

Your public broadcasting tax dollars at work: Trump Has Declared ‘War’ On The Presidency, Author Says

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The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,500 locally owned and operated public television and radio stations nationwide. It is also the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television and related online services.

The stimulus package recently approved by Congress and signed into law by President Trump includes $75 million for the CPB. Here’s how one internet analyst described the massive CPB appropriation. Consider a “food stamp person year.” The average food stamp beneficiary in 2018 received $127 per month. That amounts to $1,560 a year. But the Democrats (you know, the party of the poor, the downtrodden, etc) insisted the CPB more than belly up to the trough.

Don’t get me wrong. When I receive our stimulus $$$ I will gladly celebrate. But make no mistake. Washington has just unleashed unending biased, one-sided liberal news coverage.

I worked in public broadcasting, primarily radio for 11 years, and also appeared on a weekly public TV roundtable discussion program for 22 years. I know full well that public radio and TV can be really, really good, or downright awful. I’ve been wanting to do this for sometime (like years) and now I’m doing it, an occasional calling out of your tax money being wasted on the public airwaves.

On the March 26th broadcast of the NPR interview program “Fresh Air” unabashed liberal host Terry Gross spoke with Benjamin Wittes, co-author of a new book.

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That’s Wittes on the left. Believe me the woman on the right nowhere near resembles Gross.

During the interview Wittes said:

But look – all presidents lie at least sometimes. This president is different. He lies, you know, multiple times a day in a fashion that is unprecedented in the history of the country, and it is one of the features of his presidency that is most, most striking.

This went on for nearly 28 minutes. The program did not follow Wittes’ interview with any opposing view.

Today’s highly interesting read (03/31/20): Thanks to the coronavirus, my daughter now has America’s worst teacher

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Today’s read is from Raakhee Mirchandani who describes herself as “a writer, editor and hairspray enthusiast… also a proud Jersey girl, celebrity ghost writer, speech writer and mom to a fierce toddler who beat cancer before she could walk.”

She’s a big-time feminist, but like the blog title says, I found this interesting.

Here’s an excerpt:

In addition to experiencing the anxiety and uncertainty of the global pandemic, parents and caregivers have been tasked with the impossible role of educator, forced to squeeze more out of already overwhelming days. While learning to do their own jobs remotely, or still going to work at grocery stores, banks, hospitals and restaurants, they are also learning middle-school math and high-school English, navigating Google Classroom the first time and sorting through assigned work from teachers.

For Supriya Kelkar, a Michigan author and mother of three — a second grader, a kindergartner and a Montessori preschooler — navigating telelearning has been a challenge.

“My kids are fighting and losing their minds right now. I write this detailed schedule out every morning, they follow it for two hours, and then it’s a free-for-all where they are fighting with each other and I’m hiding in the pantry shoving cookies in my face,” laughed Kelkar, whose new book, “American as Paneer Pie,” comes out May 12. “I have gone through five boxes of Thin Mints myself, and I’m out of Thin Mints now and I’m very upset about it. That’s been my quarantine.”

There’s more. Please read the entire column here.

A piece of Franklin history comes alive again in America

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That’s an ad from 1953 for the 41 Twin Outdoor movie theater in Franklin.

Some brief history.

Maybe you’re old enough to remember…

Lo and behold, they’re back.

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Kids sit in chairs in front of their car with temperatures in the low 30s as they watch the movie “Onward” at the Basin Drive-In in Mount Pleasant, Utah. The Basin Drive-In opened early this year despite cold temperatures because of the closure of indoor movie theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo from March 27, 2020, by George Frey, Getty Images

Read all about it.

Franklin mayoral contest: Did you hear the one about Basil Ryan, three times?

In small time local politics, little things can mean a lot.

Here in Franklin, a city of merely 36,000 people, we have a contested mayoral election in April (if there is one).

The incumbent is Mayor Steve Olson who gets our family votes. His opponent is the flawed Basil Ryan who served as an alderman in Franklin from 2001-2003 until he was disgracefully, ceremoniously dumped in a recall election 58-42%.

Olson has worked hard to advance the city, but has run into staunch opposition by some who do so, I swear, simply because they don’t like the man. So they back the ousted Ryan.

Recently a very biased Franklin forum opened on Facebook to conveniently correspond with the April election. The head moderator is a young, very politically naïve young man who just happened to have run against Olson when he was an alderman… and lost.

Another moderator is a former Franklin alderwomen, Susanne Mayer who was completely inept during her short tenure and left because she simply wasn’t up to the task.

Contributing frequently on the site is Franklin Alderwoman Kristen Wilhelm who thrives on a huge ego. Like others on the Facebook site if you suck up to her you’re in good graces. If not, you get chastised up and down. Wilhelm has never liked Olson and has attempted to thwart him at almost every opportunity.

Just last week on this biased anti-Steve Olson site a woman posted the following about Olson’s opponent:

“Do you know that Basil Ryan is out shopping for the seniors in Franklin and delivering it to them so that they don’t have to go out to shop?!!! He’s collecting supplies like toilet paper and disinfectants and picking up prescriptions and food for senior citizens. He truly cares about the people of Franklin. He’s been to my house a few times to pick up TP that I bought at the store I work at for the seniors and then delivers it to them.”

In and of itself, not a bad comment. The implication was explicitly clear. Ryan was a saint to the elderly. Practically walks on water.

Problem: The same comment verbatim had been posted at least twice before on the same Facebook site. The head moderator who gushes for Ryan, the other moderator Mayer who loves Ryan, and Alderwoman Wilhelm who also adores Ryan and comments all the time, never caught it (or just ignored it). It took one of the site’s readers to point it out to the blind sheep.

Not a big deal? I think it says something about the candidate’s followers that they would resort to this trickery just to get their tainted guy elected. Who knows how long the chicanery would have been allowed to remain on the site until it was eventually discovered.

The latest pro-life news (03/30/20)

THIS WEEKLY BLOG PROMOTES A CULTURE OF LIFE

Don’t miss our closing heartwarming story every week!


From Pro-Life Wisconsin

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From WI Right To Life

ALSO:

NYC Mayor: Churches Holding Services May Be “Permanently” Closed, Abortion Clinics Can Stay Open

‘Beautiful, but heartbreaking:’ Baby girl meets namesake great-grandmother through car window

AND FINALLY, LOVIN’ LIFE…

WATCH: Dad creates ‘It’s a Small World’ Disney ride for 18-month-old daughter at home

Thanks for reading!

Image may contain: 1 person, possible text that says 'Me... Fulton ...Still Me'

Today’s highly interesting read (03/30/20): Trump Is Right: We Need to Get Our $20 Trillion Economy Back Up and Running

“No society can safeguard public health for long at the cost of its overall economic health.”
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board

Today’s read comes from Ed Feulner, the former president and founder of the Heritage Foundation and Stephen Moore, a senior fellow at Heritage. He is the co-author of Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive the American Economy.

Here is a brief excerpt:

The victims (of the pandemic) are not wealthy hedge fund managers losing a fraction of their portfolio; we’re talking about real Americans losing their life savings and their 401(k) plans they’ll depend on in retirement. We’re talking about the small business owners having to tell their employees not to come back to the office and the single mother who’s held down a job and worked hard her whole life having to hitch a ride to the unemployment office.

We have a $20 trillion highly tuned economic engine — the envy of the world. That engine can’t be shut down for months and then with the switch of an ignition switch powered back up.

Read their entire column here.

My Most Popular Blogs (03/30/20)

Here are my most popular blogs from last week, Sunday – Saturday:

1) Today’s highly interesting read (03/24/20): FORGET SOCIAL DISTANCING, WHAT’S HAPPENING IS CRIMINAL

2) Today’s highly interesting read (03/25/20): Wisconsin can cancel the apocalypse

3) Franklin mayoral candidate takes unnecessary potshot

4) Is Campaigning Possible During a No-Contact Pandemic?

5) Can The Packing House Restaurant (and others) do it again?

6) Trump commendably works to be Reaganesque

7) UPDATE: WI Congressman Duffy incites the hateful Left

8) Don’t tell the non-essentials they’re non-essential

9) Photos of the Week (03/22/20)

10) Happy Birthday Kyla!

Guest blog: VOTE!

Guest Blog
By Bob and Jean Dohnal, Publishers
Wisconsin Conservative Digest

Dems are Crooked:  What do we expect?  The Left will slice your throat for votes, in Milwaukee and Mad city.

Yet we are always unarmed against them.  They fight with guns, bombs and we have sling shots.  Ron Johnson tells me to “Be Civil.”  We use sticks against machine guns, then whine and cry when we get whipped.

They do not follow laws.  They know that even if they tell people to disobey the law their left wing judges will back them up.

We have given Mad country and Milwaukee County to the left for years while at the same time:

“The left has stolen the Dem party from the blue collar families in Wisconsin” yet we do not challenge them.

The south side is more than 60% Blue collar.

Journal Sentinel online has shown us that Wis. is 54% Blue collar and the biggest bunch is on southside.

They’re Reagan people, Trump people.  They love Tommy.

We can win there, and if we do, they cannot win.

Why should we cede them one million people?

The Mad city GOP Swamps say that’s why we run lots of ads to make up for lack of grassroots. But anyone ever running for office on south side will tell you that the area is handshaking personal touch territory.  Grassroots.

We leave the colleges alone when we could challenge them there.  Most kids go to college to get a job. The GOP is far better getting jobs while the left just wants more welfare.

In Milwaukee County the GOP on south side is nonexistent.

We spent 58 million dollars, yet lost to the worst candidate in history (Evers) because we left our base unguarded, here and in SW Wisconsin. The GOP has not effectively waged war on south side for decades.  We leave it to the Left to do doors, canvassing social media, phones etc. So we lost.

In the last 4 years we have fought lonely battle with little help from GOP, none for the Trump campaign.  We have run tons of events that have been successful and saturated the area with parts of Waukesha with emails, Facebook, tweets, phones etc. We have been successful yet we have used mostly our own money matched by some great people in donations and we thank them.

Now everyone we need you to follow Tommy and now Scott and work to GOTV by phones, doors, Facebook, Emails, mail cards etc. or they will steal this election and next fall. The future of the world is at stake and we need experienced good LEADERS to pick up the axes and use them.

It is fine to sue the bastards but much better to whip them at the polls by working and getting all Conservatives, Vets, Tea Party, Sportsmen, shooters, gunners, Business owners, and Trump team to the polls.

Bob and Jean Dohnal, Publishers
Wisconsin Conservative Digest

MORE

It is essential that you vote in this April 7th spring election, regardless of the health emergency!!   The political opposition is filing lawsuits, issuing orders, and doing everything they can to suppress your vote and enhance their own supporters’ turnout.  Our people need to overcome these obstacles and GET OUT AND VOTE RIGHT NOW!

  1. Early in-person voting is alive and well in Wauwatosa.  You can go to City Hall during the day and some evenings, get a ballot, and vote right there.  The location is set up with extra precautions to accommodate the health emergency.
  2. You can request a mail-in ballot.  Note that you need to attach a copy of your ID, just like voting in person.  I assume you are already registered to vote but if not, you can still register by March 30 (that date has been extended).  If you vote by mail, DO IT EARLY!
  3. The regular in-person go-to-the-polls election is still scheduled for Tuesday, April 7th.  There will be extra precautions to accommodate the health emergency.  Be sure to watch the news and web sites for any changes in polling places, etc.  

County Clerks in Wisconsin (including Milwaukee County) have been making new announcements and issuing orders that change the voting rules and create a potential for confusion and vote fraud.  Also, some entities in Wisconsin are suing to close down or delay the regular in-person voting on April 7th.  The Republican Party of Wisconsin is challenging those orders and lawsuits in court.  It’s a fast-moving situation, so stay alert and follow the news.  The local daytime radio hosts on radio station WISN (AM 1130) are providing in-depth coverage of local election issues.

The April ballot is long and complicated.  If you’re not sure whom to vote for, give me a call and we can talk about it.  For sure, Justice Daniel Kelly is the conservative and well-balanced choice for Wisconsin Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court race is what is causing much of the opposition’s heartburn.  They seem determined to make it as difficult as possible to have a fair and honest election.  Let’s stand up and show them how it should be done!

Karen Albers, Chair
Wauwatosa Republicans
414-774-9352

P.S.  If you’re scheduled to be an Election Inspector on April 7th, as I am, we are on the front line of this battle.  There shouldn’t be even a question of not showing up for work.  Health care workers are doing it every day.  A sign in front of St. Joseph Hospital’s parking structure this week reads, “Heroes work here.”

Culinary no-no #646

THERE ARE THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF FOOD BLOGS, BUT ONLY ONE CULINARY NO-NO!

Once again this week we are suspending our usual format to provide important related information about the coronavirus.

By the Numbers: COVID-19’s Devastating Effect on the Restaurant Industry

Closures, Takeout, and Relief Efforts: How Food Businesses Nationwide Are Handling Coronavirus

Food probably safe from coronavirus if proper steps followed