April 8, 2020

Wisconsin early results yet?

I can't seem to find even any exit polling info. Anybody got more news on WI primaries turnout yesterday?

April 3, 2020

Question for iris officionados regarding soaking white iris rhizomes

A neighbor thinned out her white iris border and gave me nearly a hundred rhizomes with foliage for replanting. I had planned to put them in the ground tomorrow but it's been raining cats & dogs here past couple days, and forecasted to rain through next Thursday. I soaked them since Wednesday thinking to keep the foliage green till Saturday. Now that it may rain nonstop this weekend, my question is how long can i soak the iris without killing them? Or should i put them in buckets with dirt till i can plant them. I don't want the foliage to dry up?

Thanks in advance for your help.

March 26, 2020

Staggering jobless claim numbers: 3.2M - what a difference a month makes

February:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/05/us-weekly-jobless-claims.html
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell last week.
The data suggested the labor market was on solid footing despite the coronavirus outbreak.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped to 216,000 for the week ended Feb. 29, the Labor Department said.

March:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-the-horrific-jobless-claims-report-is-actually-worse-143929909.html
New unemployment claims surged to a record high last week, topping 3 million. But that staggering leap in joblessness likely understates the full damage the coronavirus outbreak has inflicted on the U.S. labor market, according to multiple economists.

For the week ended March 21, new unemployment claims totaled 3.283 million, seasonally adjusted, or more than twice the 1.7 million consensus economists polled by Bloomberg had expected. The figure was more than four times greater than the previous record high of 695,000 from 1982.
And the level was astronomical compared to the prior week’s 282,000 claims, and the 190,023 initial claims filed during the comparable week in 2019. As the Department of Labor put it, “Nearly every state providing comments cited the COVID-19 virus impacts.”
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It will get worse before it gets better.

March 19, 2020

Seeking advice on planting crape myrtle & retama trees saplings

Hi folks,
I have 6 Arapaho Red Flowering Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemi) Tree saplings, 5 retama saplings (Texas native xeriscaping shrub/tree) & 3 redbud saplings i need to put into the ground this weekend. I've planted trees before, but usually the larger size. This is the first time i'm planting trees from saplings. I've read up on the spacing (at least 12-15 ft apart, 5 ft. from the fence), but need to know whether i should brace the saplings with a stake. I've read some don't recommend tying them to a stake but i'm afraid they may be buffeted by strong winds and break.

Also, i've read saplings don't grow as fast - about 6 - 12 inches rather than up to 2 ft/year. If you've planted saplings i'd be happy to read your advice. I'm in zone 8B.

Thanks in advance,
OneTexan

March 11, 2020

Re: the RW talk of Joe slurring his words, here's Trevor Noah's take of the man with the best words

heroilynn, ice offices, susbesdig, delegitimatize, infantroopen, transpants, resaption, herridje, benefishers, protecterd,...

Right back atcha pal!

March 11, 2020

MSNBC just now: Gabby Gifford will be endorsing Biden for his gun position!

Heidi Przybyla is discussing it right now.

Apparently the confrontation with that one construction worker is benefiting Joe!

February 28, 2020

DOJ Opens Office Of Citizenship Stripping, Because PRIORITIES!

https://abovethelaw.com/2020/02/doj-opens-office-of-citizenship-stripping-because-priorities/?utm_campaign=Above%20the%20Law%20Daily&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=84032183&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--J03RAl6Yl44vqO5mvxlf1C-IBmul3jKQdio4Ds6Y8EMB1vBIVX0K9ozByuVDu6cXPcqIyiTtVtr49qkOzCHeGWUYBb9P5ndCmKyZqTv3DWD2Hdtw&_hsmi=84032183

Yesterday, the Justice Department announced the formation of a new section to enforce the president’s MAGA agenda. The Department’s Civil Division will now house a dedicated Denaturalization Section, working to strip American citizenship from “terrorists, war criminals, sex offenders, and other fraudsters.” The government needs full-time staff for all the people we’re going to be chucking out of the country.

“While the Office of Immigration Litigation already has achieved great success in the denaturalization cases it has brought, winning 95 percent of the time,” reads the DOJ press release, “the growing number of referrals anticipated from law enforcement agencies motivated the creation of a standalone section dedicated to this important work.”

“When a terrorist or sex offender becomes a U.S. citizen under false pretenses, it is an affront to our system—and it is especially offensive to those who fall victim to these criminals,” Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt announced. Which certainly makes it sound like they’re going after scary bad guys, to keep Americans safe.

Except most of the time, they aren’t.

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And the MAGA racist policies continue...

October 9, 2019

Any news of US forces on the Kurds yet? I can't find anything online.

Was hoping to hear American troops are defying Dumpster's order and assisting Kurds, or Congress has some way to assist them

October 5, 2019

USAToday: Senator says he was blocked by Trump from telling Ukraine foreign aid was coming

Source: USAToday

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson says he was blocked by President Donald Trump from telling Ukraine's president that U.S. aid was on its way amid accusations Trump was withholding it until the eastern European nation investigated his political rival.
Trump rejected Johnson's request in August after also refusing in May to back new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Oshkosh Republican told reporters Friday.
“I was surprised by the president’s reaction and realized we had a sales job to do,” Johnson said during a constituent stop in Sheboygan. “I tried to convince him (in August) to give me the authority to tell President Zelensky that we were going to provide that. Now, I didn’t succeed."

With his comments Friday, Johnson made clear that he was aware of allegations Trump was withholding aid to Ukraine for political reasons weeks before the public knew.
Trump, who faces a fast-moving impeachment inquiry over the matter, has denied the claim and Johnson has defended the president — but Johnson's story helps House Democrats confirm a key aspect of the probe.

Johnson was part of a delegation that attended Zelensky’s inauguration in May. He and others briefed Trump on the inauguration and urged Trump to back Zelensky but the president resisted the idea, Johnson said Friday. Johnson told the Wall Street Journal on Friday that Sondland told him that Ukraine would appoint a prosecutor who would, as Johnson put it, work to "get to the bottom of what happened in 2016 — if President Trump has that confidence, then he’ll release the military spending."

“At that suggestion, I winced,” Johnson told the Wall Street Journal. “My reaction was: Oh, God. I don’t want to see those two things combined.” He said he asked Trump about it and the president denied it.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/04/ron-johnson-says-trump-blocked-him-assuring-ukraine-aid/3868691002/

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More details on the article. Note Johnson is Republican. More pieces of the puzzle coming together!

October 4, 2019

LA TIMES: Democrats in districts Trump won in 2016 face little impeachment backlash so far

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/democrats-in-districts-trump-won-in-2016-face-little-impeachment-backlash-so-far/ar-AAIgXka?li=BBnb7Kz

Link is through MSN but article is by Jennifer Haberkorn from Los Angeles Times.

Democratic lawmakers are at home in their districts for a two-week recess from Washington, providing them their first opportunities to hear directly from voters since the House began a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump last week.

But at three town hall meetings in Pennsylvania and New York districts that voted for Trump in 2016, backlash to the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry was rare and only from loyal Trump supporters — not the key independent and moderate voters that Democrats will need for victory in 2020 in Congress and the White House.
...
Several Democratic voters in these swing districts said they didn’t begin to support impeachment until the president’s interactions with the Ukrainian president became public.
...
Polls show that public support for impeachment has risen in recent days. According to a USA Today/Ipsos poll released Thursday, 45% of Americans support the House’s effort and 38% oppose it. That’s up from 32% support and 61% opposition in a June USA Today poll. Other polls have found similar shifts in sentiment.