As inother periods in our history, ours is a battleground between two basic views of statecraft: 1) the liberal view of social change for the good of the people and 2) the conservative belief that any social engineering is doomed to failure at best and is tyrannical at worst.

Our present-day heated, even venomous arguments, are nothing new. Abraham Lincoln, not a rabid Socialist, had to contend with the reactionary Democratic Party of his time. It was called the know nothing party. It was true to its name.

Teddy Roosevelt (TR) fought the big money interests of his time. He also planted the seeds of the progressive movement. His fifth cousin Franklin Delano (FDR) gave us the New Deal, a social experiment of profound dimensions. And Lyndon Johnson completed the work of Lincoln, TR, and FDR with his much underappreciated War on Poverty.

This seemingly inexorable process of progressivism was punctuated with conservative backlash. The most profound was initiated by Ronald Reagan whose worldview could be summed up by his own pithy phrase from his 1981 Inaugural address:

Government is the problem, not the solution.

This conservative trend continued during George Bushs two terms and assumed its most extreme form in the Libertarian ideology of Ron Paul. A stance that is perpetuated by his son, Senator Rand Paul.

This was followed by two terms of the progressive, Barack Obama. In addition to digging us out of the economic mess left by the preceding president, he also was able to get the Affordable Care Act signed into law. Although it fell short of the universal coverage that many progressives hoped for, it did significantly increase coverage, particularly in the left-leaning states that expanded Medicaid.

And, then came Republican Donald Trump who has spent his first term trying to undo everything that Obama had put into place. True to his promise, he slashed taxes primarily benefiting corporations and the rich. He also implemented severely restrictive immigration policies.

Other articles by this author:The Unfortunate Consequences of Disbelieving in Free WillWhat is the Science Behind the Spread of Fake News?

However, His biggest coup when it comes to conservative social policy may come on November 10, 2020. This is when the newly lopsided Supreme Court votes on whether The ACA is constitutional or not.

So, whos right?

An important book by Timothy Wilson, Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change, reviews the track record of social change through policy.

Wilson is a social psychologist at the University of Virginia who has made groundbreaking discoveries in the study of intuition and introspection. Who better to judge whether intuition and ideology are sufficient? Although written in 2011, it is still quite relevant today. In fact, it is an eye-opener.

Equally important to read is a review of Wilsons book in Science Magazine that was written by Geoffrey L. Cohen of Stanford Universitys Departments of Education and Psychology. It appeared shortly after the book was published.

Here is what he said,

When the father of the field, German refugee Kurt Lewin, conducted his seminal studies, the problems of World War II preoccupied him:

At the heart of Lewins approach rested a novel idea: social problems are amenable to experimentation. The best way to understand something is to try to change it, he was fond of saying. Beyond descriptive and correlational studies, Lewin championed experimental manipulation: Introduce an exogenous shock to the system and see how it responds.

Cohen goes on to say,

Lewin also advocated a diagnosis stage in what he dubbed action research. First, assess the relationships among variables in a system. In doing so, one could identify the pressure points where a small nudge might have large consequences.

For example, to encourage families to eat cheap-cut meats like sweetbreads during the war (because the finer cuts had limited supply),Lewin showed the importance of the gatekeeper, the person who controls the behavioral channelin this case, the housewife.

He also demonstrated the impotence of persuasion and the power of the small group. Bring housewives together into a new groupsupportive of change, freeing them from the grip of their old familial norms, and they would try the novel foods far more frequently than if they were lectured to.

Time and again, Lewin showed that what often seem problems of bad attitudes, lack of information or economic incentives were instead problems of group influence, identity, and social perception.

But most revolutionary was Lewins method. There was a combination of optimism and folly in the idea that researchers could, through the experimental method, change reality, and improve social conditions for the better.

In Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change, Timothy Wilson reviews much of this history and revisits the field of social psychology 70 years after Lewins pioneering work.

To summarize his findings from this extensive review, it becomes clear that policies based on ideology and intuition are almost always doomed to failure. On the other hand, policies based on controlled studiesemploying the best techniques science provideshave an infinitely better chance to succeed.

Such studies start with a limited population sample. Once proven effective, they are scaled up to larger and larger populations. Fortunately, our thousands of municipalities, tens of thousands of school districts, and 50 culturally-diverse states offer an enormous laboratory for such social experiments.

Interventions that defuse blacks and whites fear of interracial rejection increase their likelihood of becoming friends. And reminiscent of Lewin, there are studies that cleverly manipulate social norms to reduce teen alcohol use and encourage energy conservation.

Now lets consider the ideologically-based policies, such as, for instance,the ownership society ofGeorgeBush. The ideawas basically quintessential conservative:

Give people property and theyll become conservative. This is because they now have something to lose. Hopefully, they start voting Republicana not-so-fringe benefit of the policys advocates.

The catastrophic failure of this policy is still reverberating through our economy today and will, I believe, continue to do so for many years to come.

Cohen, the Stanford scientist, concludes:

Wilson wants society to adopt more of an experimental approach to solving social problemsputting interventions to the test with randomized controlled trials. This is a good idea, at least when the ambition is to disseminate the interventions widely. However, one problem that Redirect does not explicitly address concerns limitations in the experimental method itself.

There is nothing better than an experimentfor testing causality, whether an intervention A affects a social problem B. However, a positive experimental result risks deluding us into believing that A is both necessary and sufficientto solve B.

But as Lewin taught us, the effect of A will depend on the context into which it is introducedthe preexisting system of variables. Encourage students to see their academic fates as within their own control and they will thrive., provided on inhabiting a classroom that provides them with opportunities for growth, such as committed teachers and quality instruction.

Many of the interventions Wilson reviews act like catalysts. They will not teach a student who cannot spell to spell, butthey will encourage the student to seize opportunities to learn how. Because the effects of interventions are context-dependent,there will be no silver bullets.

Wilson compellingly argues that effective interventions validated by social-science research are rarely implemented. This is a problem. Why are such interventions ignored in favor of ideology and intuition? What can we do to prevent this? What interventions should we be implementing today?

Richard Thaler is an economist at the University of Chicago and Cass Sunstein is a professor of law at Harvard Law School. These professors, both with an unimpeachable conservative (in the academic sense of the word) track record, did something unique in our ideology-soaked political environment: They looked at the science.

Specifically, they examined the field of behavioral economics as developed by Daniel Kahneman and his colleagues. And in doing so, they arrived at a surprising conclusion:

When based on science, both a conservative and a liberal approach to social policy can be married.

In their book, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, Thaler and Sunstein state:

The libertarian aspect of our strategies lies in the straightforward insistence that, in general, people should be free to do what they like and to opt-out of undesirable arrangements if they want to do so. On the other hand, it is legitimate for choice architects to try to influence peoples behavior in order to make their lives longer, healthier, and better.'

They dubbed this theoryLibertarian Paternalism, somewhat of a dissonant contradiction to my ears. Their argument is that you dont have to compel people to do whats good for them, rather you can nudge them toward it. For example:

You get the picture.

How such an approach would fare with anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers who detest wearing their facial covering or getting their children vaccinated against deadly diseases, is left unanswered.

I suspect that part of the answer will not be wholly acceptable to libertarian paternalists a la Thaler and Sunstein; lets call it soft coercion.

Take, as an example, smoking cessation. The science is unequivocal: smoking cigarettes is deadly!

But libertarian ideology says that as a free society we should be free to smoke and if it kills us, well, that was our choice. This argument totally ignores the societal harm done by smoking, such as:

So how did we, as a society that lives in reality rather than in an ideological ivory tower, deal with it? We followed the science and banished smokers from all spaces where people congregate. Further, we limited them smoking to circumscribed spaces (smoking rooms, outside of their office building) that were not always very inviting.

We raised the prices of cigarettes to make them less affordable. We forced cigarette manufacturers to label their products with prominently warning labels. We even made them pay the cost of anti-smoking public service announcements.

This approach did not outright ban smoking, acknowledging our societys libertarian streak, rather it nudged smokers into quitting this harmful habit.

So when it comes to dealing with the ideological anti-vaxxers school districts may face funding penalties for not mandating childrens immunization. To deal with the anti-maskers, companies could become legally liable if they do not mandate wearing a mask at work.

Does this tactic sound too coercive? I suggest it is a middle ground between mandates and laissez-faire, between liberal and conservative approaches. And, it was demonstrated to be successful in dealing with the man-made cigarette pandemic that afflicted the world.

I believe that, just as with the smoking problem, at the end of the day we will be forced to acknowledge science and abandon intuition and ideology.

It gives me hope that examined dispassionately through the lens of scientific evidence such seemingly irreconcilable ideologies as Libertarianism and Liberalism can rise above the ideological cacophony and give us enlightened policymaking.

Is it too much to ask?

In the current environment, probably.

Published 12/28/11. Updated and republished 6/16/17. Updated and republished again 11/2/20 because of the remarkable relevance of the arguments to todays political environment. We hope it adds to the much-needed conversation about U.S. policy approaches.

Go here to read the rest:

Conservative vs. Liberal Views of Social Change: Who's Right? - The Doctor Weighs In

As dawn broke on the final day of voting in election 2020, Libertarian Party (L.P.) presidential nominee Jo Jorgensen was polling nationally at around 1.8 percent, and above the margin between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden in five states: Ohio, Texas, Georgia, Iowa, and (in scant polling) Alaska.

That's a far cry from 2016 Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson's last pre-election polling average of 4.8 percent, or even the former New Mexico governor's disappointing-to-many final tally of 3.28 percent.

"Beating Gary's last numbers would be success," Jorgensen told Reason's Eric Boehm one month ago, while also complaining about not being included in nearly as many polls this cycle. "I'm hoping to beat his second run. But, you know, put it this way: I will consider it not a success if I don't at least his beat his numbers from his first run."

Johnson's 2012 exertions won him 0.99 percent of the national vote, or just a hair under the L.P.'s then-record haul of 1.06 percent in 1980, in a ticket headed by Ed Clark and financed by deep-pocketed vice presidential nominee David Koch (yes, that one). So what Jorgensen is saying that anything below 1 percent would be a disappointment.

Certainly, many Libertarians would consider even a 1.1 percent showingjust one-third of 2016!to be a bummer, while many two-party voters (including not a small number of self-described small-l libertarians) would use it as an opportunity for ridicule, or at least critique of how the party always seems to squander its opportunities. Democrats and Republicans aren't even talking about reducing government and expanding freedom anymore, in a country where those issues have resonated historically, and all you got was this lousy one percent?

But as the clock ticks toward the first poll-closings at 7 p.m. eastern, I would suggest at least entertaining another interpretation. Maybe 1.1 percent in this third-party-unfriendly environment would be an accomplishment, cementing the L.P.'s transformation over the past decade from a mostly non-podium performer that couldn't win over even half of a percent of the electorate from 19842008, to the third party in the United States. (Yes, yes, insert "tallest dwarf" joke here.)

Consider: As of late October (per the indispensable Richard Winger), in the 32 states that register voters by party, there were 47.1 million Democrats, 35 million Republicans, and 33.7 independents. Libertarians, while a distant third at 652,000, towered above Greens (240,000), the Constitution Party (130,000), the New Yorkbased Working Families (50,000), and the desiccated husk of Ross Perot's Reform Party (9,000).

Jorgensen, with a fraction of the name recognition of 2008 Libertarian nominee Bob Barr (then an ex-GOP congressman who made his name in the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton), is polling ahead of all third-party and independent presidential candidates in every state except New York (where, after just two polls, she trailed independent Brock Pierce and Green Party nominee Howie Hawkins). This on the heels of Gary Johnson beating all third-party comers in all 50 states.

Barr, on the other hand, finished with just 0.4 percent of the vote, behind the 0.56 percent of four-time independent candidate Ralph Nader, who Barr beat in just six states.

When Jorgensen, the party's vice presidential nominee in 1996 (Harry Browne won just 0.5 percent of the vote that year, behind both Nader and Perot), finishes in third place tonight, that will mark the third consecutive presidential bronze medal for the L.P.something no political party has pulled off since the Socialists between 19161932.

Put another way, of all voters who selected neither a Democrat nor a Republican for president, 57 percent of them chose a Libertarian in both 2012 and 2016, the party's highest-ever such share, topping Ron Paul's 48 percent in 1988. Polling suggests that Jorgensen is likely to repeat that performance, even with such luminaries as Kanye West on some ballots. The dominant alternative to the political status quo is called "Libertarian."

And contrary to a common critique, it's not just about presidential elections. The party has more than 200 elected officials, mostly in state and local positions, though since April their ranks have included for the first time a sitting (if lame-duck) member of Congress, Rep. Justin Amash (LMich.). Elected Libertarians do useful stuff, like pass occupational licensing reform, remove ancient prohibitions from the books, and reform public-sector pensions.

That sound you hear is aggressive eye rolling from Democratic and Republican voters, who are busy battling the most important election in the history of mankind, and have no patience left for political LARPers. And fair enoughmarginal blocs will always be treated marginally, at least until we're needed to help push through the types of libertarian reforms that major-party politicians talk about but rarely accomplish: ending the drug war, bringing the troops home, reducing the size of government, protecting free speech, even helping improve infrastructure.

But the more that libertarians retain their own discrete political identity, rather than latching on like barnacles to the rusty tankers of the two major parties, the more likely that their affections will be solicited, rather than taken for granted. President Donald Trump is out there stressing anti-war themes to 2016 Johnson voters, and that's not a bad outcome at all (if inferior to actually ending our Forever Wars).

The past week has featured many semi-prominent libertarian media personalities ripping each other's faces off (rhetorically) in advance of the election. It will ever be thushave you met libertarians? There is a powerful lure to be part of something that could be, if you squint at it just right, characterized as winning. It would be pretty to think that this Republican or that Democrat is gonna really do the libertarian things just as soon as he/she wins the next election.

In the face of those temptations, and the motivating negative polarization of seeing awful politicians and ideologies in or near power, it's a wonder there's much of any third-party juice left four years after a bitterly divided election. If in this context, a relative no-name candidate produces the party's second-best-ever result, while beating all other third partiers in all 50 states, I'd call that an accomplishment.

Who knows if and when our 19th century political groupings will transmogrify into something new, or even perhaps stumble off into the sunset. When that day nears, people will be looking anew toward the next available alternative. Right now, for better and for worse, wartsso many warts!and all, that alternative is called "Libertarian." And will be on Wednesday, too.

Read more here:

Maybe Jo Jorgensen Finishing With 1% Would Actually Be Pretty Good? - Reason

Ronald Ron Stephen Annuschat, 58, of Okarche, passed away Friday, Oct. 30, 2020, at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City.

Ron was the eighth child of Arthur Frank and Ruth Janet (Brueggen) Annuschat and was born on Oct. 5, 1962, in Okarche.

He grew up on the family farm east of Okarche where he resided until his death.

Ron was a 1980 graduate of Okarche High School and excelled at woodworking and was part of the 1979 state championship basketball team with his brother Nick.

He went on to attend El Reno Junior College.

Ron worked beside his brothers and many nephews and late father on the family farm. He especially enjoyed raising Suffolk sheep for which he and his brother Nick won many awards.

Lambing season was a very busy but exciting time as it brought new life to the farm.

His true passion was the countless hours spent working and planting on his John Deere tractor and beaming brightly when an abundant crop was produced.

We should have all known Ron was going to be a great fanner at a young age. He would play in the dirt in the backyard with his siblings and each would have their own farm.

Rons farm was always the nicest with special curves and roads, but he would always stop and help his younger siblings to help perfect theirs, but never as great as his.

In his down time you could find Ron at his old alma mater Okarche High School watching basketball. His brothers and he spent countless hours watching the New York Yankees baseball games or his beloved OU Sooners.

It wasnt uncommon for his late brother Stanley to call the house many times from the dairybarn to check the score while Ron was cooking.

You could often find Ron in the barn holding and talking to his baby goats and lambs. His brother Nick often laughed and called him Dr. Dolittle.

He took great pride in all the litters of Great Pyrenees pups that were born on the farm.

With the help of his brothers one night when a storm was coming in, he just knew they had to move the pups to a safer spot. He stated afterward that she was not a very smart mother, but used some more choice words to express his disappointment in her.

It was not uncommon for the schools to bring the young children out to the farm for a tour and Ron was always the tour guide.

The children would send colored pictures thanking Ron and the brothers for letting them visit.

He proudly displayed all the artwork all over the house and knew who each child was as well as their parents. Ron loved people, especially his many high school friends, but didnt mind making a truckload of new friends along the way.

He was a member of the Okarche Knights of Columbus, Holy Trinity Catholic Church and the United Suffolk Sheep Association.

Ron is survived by his brothers Nick Annuschat of the home and Larry Annuschat of Okarche; and sisters Vicki Marks (Terry) of Omega, Sandy Raupe (Richard) of Okarche, Denise Meyer (Mike) of Salina, Kan., and Jackie Walta (Chris) of Kingfisher.

He is also survived by his loving nephews, nieces, great-nephews and great-nieces who were such a big part of his life.

He was preceded in death by his parents Arthur and Ruth Annuschat and his brothers Paul, Stanley and David.

Ron will surely be missed by his family and friends, but will be remembered for his loud laughter, love for his family, friends and for all of Gods wonders.

A private graveside service for immediate family was Saturday, Nov. 7, at Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery in Okarche. It was officiated by Father Cory Stanley and Pastor James Inman.

Services are under the direction of Sanders Funeral Service, Kingfisher.

Memorials may be made to Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Center of Family Love and First Baptist Church all of Okarche.

Read more:

Ronald 'Ron' Annuschat - Kingfisher Times

Battleground states are still being counted and the US election remains too close to call.

US President Donald Trump has already flagged involving the Supreme Court in the decision, while Democratic opponent Joe Biden says he is on track for victory.

The pair are fighting for the last electoral college votes up for grabs with each eyeing the necessary 270 to win the election.

The 538 electors of the electoral college are the Americans who will elect the president. So what do we know about them?

In 48 of the 50 states, as well as Washington DC, whoever wins that state's popular vote choses the state's electors typically party insiders who will vote for their candidate.

So this year, the Republicans will choose the electors to represent Texas, while the Democrats will select the electors for California.

But in Nebraska and Maine, both candidates can be awarded electoral college votes owing to special laws there.

Each states' electors will cast their votes on December 14. The votes will then be counted by Congress on January 6.

This is a process overseen by Vice-President Mike Pence in his role as Senate president.

The President-elect will then begin their term on January 20.

With several key states going down to the wire, the Trump campaign is signalling it will dispute results that don't go their way.

Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia are all in doubt.

The so-called "blue wall" of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania are the ones being watched very closely.

Mr Trump has already said he believed he won the election and said he would involve the Supreme Court to contest a negative result.

There could be a situation where both Mr Trump and Mr Biden claim victory in several of these states.

In this case, both parties could try to send their electors to the electoral college.

In this scenario, it is theoretically possible for a state's governor and legislature each representing a different political party to submit two different election results.

This has happened once in US history.

There were duelling electors in three states following the 1876 election.

Follow the twists and turns as Donald Trump and Joe Biden face off in the race for the White House.

That dispute was resolved after Republican Rutherford B. Hayes became president in exchange for withdrawing US troops left over from the Civil War from Southern states.

The risk of this happening again is heightened in the battleground states of Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which have Democratic governors and Republican-controlled legislatures.

In the lead up to the election, experts said the President could press Republican-controlled legislatures to appoint electors favourable to him, claiming the initial vote count reflected the true outcome.

Governors in those same states could end up backing a separate slate of electors pledged to Mr Biden if the final count showed the Democratic candidate had won.

If this happens, both sets of electors would meet and vote on December 14 and the competing results would be sent to Congress.

But, states have until December 8, known as the "safe harbor" deadline under federal law, to resolve any disputes over their vote totals and certify the winner of the election.

If a state fails to finalise its vote count by then, Congress is no longer required to accept its results under the electoral college system.

Both houses of Congress the House of Representatives and the Senate could both choose to accept the same group of electors.

That would settle the matter.

The chambers could also split, which is more likely if the Republicans retain control of the Senate and Democrats hold onto their House majority.

If politicians cannot agree on a set of electors, the country will find itself in uncharted territory.

Interpreting the Electoral Count Act would be needed to decide who wins.

Described by some academics as "unintelligible," it seems to favour the slate of electors certified by the state's governor, according to Ned Foley, a professor at Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

However, Mr Foley told Reuters that some scholars and an analysis by the Congressional Research Service have rejected that conclusion.

Academics have sketched out several scenarios.

Keep up with the latest US politics news and get more insights by signing up to ABC News on Messenger.

Under one, Mr Pence as president of the Senate could throw out both sets of a state's electors.

Another contemplates that the House of Representatives would end up choosing between Mr Biden and Mr Trump.

There is even a scenario in which the Speaker of the House, currently Democrat Nancy Pelosi, could become acting president.

It could require the Supreme Court to interpret the act, but that is not a guarantee.

Jessica Levinson, director of Loyola Law School's Public Service Institute, told Reuters if this scenario plays out the court could decided to not be the institution which decides the election.

"I could see a court saying this would really be better left up to Congress," she said.

Another scenario which could cause chaos is if their are "faithless" or rogue electors.

These are electors who go against the candidate who won their state.

It is uncommon, but it has happened recently.

Out of 23,507 elector votes cast in 58 presidential elections, just 90 have gone rogue, according to political activist group FairVote.

Send us your questions, thoughts, and stories about the 2020 US election. Your question will help guide our coverage.

In 2016, 10 electors from six states went rogue, eight defecting from former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and two from Republican Donald Trump.

These faithless electors cast their vote for Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, activist Faith Spotted Eagle and three Republicans John Kasich, Colin Powell and Ron Paul.

Only once, in 1796, has an elector cast their vote for the opponent of their pledged candidate.

Most states have laws against electors being "faithless", however, these are typically fines or voiding an elector's vote.

There are 16 states with a combined 191 electoral college votes who do not have laws binding electors.

This includes the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

The greatest risk arises where one rogue vote could determine the presidency.

If no candidate has the requisite 270 electoral votes, the winner would be decided by the newly elected House of Representatives when the US Congress meets to count the electoral votes on January 6.

Securing the Senate majority will be vital for the winner of the presidency.

Currently, Republicans appear poised to retain control at a 53-47 seat Senate majority.

ABC/Wires

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Who are US electoral college voters and what could happen if state results are disputed? - ABC News

As I am sitting here writing this, the presidential election is neck-and-neck. So much turmoil, unrest and uncertainty. By the time you read this, things will have hopefully settled down. The challenges we have faced in this last year from the COVID-19 pandemic, myriad social issues and the volatile political battlefield we are thrust upon made for arguably the most difficult time in recent history.

You never hear me talk politics. I of course have my opinions and take a personal stance for what I believe in when necessary. But I do not betray the trust of our loyal supporters who depend upon me to help them keep their music memories alive. No one reads this column, attends our shows, feasts at our festivals or breaks bread at our restaurants to hear me soapbox my political and/or social beliefs. They just want to know when Paul Anka is coming back or what my favorite Led Zeppelin song is. Maybe a question or two about my meatballs, but that's it!

And I completely respect that! I see it as my place to help our people get through that scary stuff by virtue of our shows. Our music is to provide some sort of balance versus all those news reports that illustrate numerous causes of concern about our civilization as we know it.

So when will the shows return? Your guess is as good as mine. I am hoping to get a Christmas gift in the form of an all-access pass to opening our music venues. Just stay tuned!

So how can we stay positive right now without our live music in light of the violence and destruction that has surrounded us for months? I have been trying to stay engaged with our beloved customers and friends on social media with live Walk 'N Talks during my morning walk in the forest preserves and backstage stories in this column. For the past 24 Thursday nights I have hosted an online live interview show with legendary drummers Vinny Appice of Black Sabbath and Carmine Appice from Vanilla Fudge. We have welcomed some of the industry's most iconic musicians as guests for an hour of colorful candor about the business of rock 'n' roll. Add to it many livestream concerts and regular Facebook posts and I have been out there!

I, like many of you, am a history buff. I recently watched a television program about the 1893 Columbian Exposition, the World's Fair held in Chicago. They built more than 50 buildings, all similar to what we now know as the Museum of Science and Industry, one of only two buildings to survive the fair. The Columbian Exposition stretched over 600 acres and welcomed more than 150,000 guests a day for six months! The largest building could hold 300,000 guests! To put it into perspective, Soldier Field seats 61,000.

But to me, the largesse of the fair is not the most amazing thing about it. It is the fact it was held just about 20 years after the Chicago Fire of 1871!

Think about it. Thousands of buildings in the downtown area leveled by fire. Electricity on a mass scale had yet to be perfected, as it was to be unveiled at the fair itself. So the city needed to not only rebuild in a way fitting for an event of that magnitude, but also had to convince the World's Fair Committee to award the event to the newly built city over New York, Washington, D.C., and other prominent cities. All that ONLY 20 years after practically complete desolation of the area! Incredible! Go Chicago!

And that helped me tremendously. If we as a city can come back from that, just like then, we can come back stronger than ever now. If we survived a Civil War, states seceding and Lincoln's assassination, we can survive what is going on today.

We have been miserable for eight months but World War II lasted more than four years! Movie posters and other paper products of that era are so scarce because so much was being recycled for the war effort. Even the copper penny of 1943 was made of steel so that real copper could be used for bullets!

Look at all the civil unrest going on now, in particular, what has happened in downtown Chicago. Then Google some videos of the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The similarities of the social issues then and the unrest today, some 50 years later, is eerie, to say the least.

Add to it the tragedies of 911. We thought the world as we knew it would never be the same. And it wasn't.

Yet still, humanity managed to rise out of the ashes, and move forward. Many would say that after each of those devastating moments in our history, we came out of it stronger.

That is the lesson I learned from slamming on the brakes and remembering history. We WILL emerge victorious from all of this! I will not lose faith in this great country. If it is politics that divides us, it is the music that will unite us!

And that is where I come in!

So I wish you the strength to take a deep breath and come out of this stronger. Just think of how good the live music will sound, no matter how off-key that '80s "hair band" may sound. And think of those meatballs, that hot box of popcorn, our prime rib. It won't have ever have tasted so good!

I also wish you and your family the safety and good health possible for you to make it through all of this. When the sun finally comes out, we will join together, arm-in-arm, singing and dancing together, just like we once did. This will all be a nightmare in our past, overtaken by the sunshine of our future. Keep the faith, and when in doubt, play vinyl records!

Ron Onesti is president and CEO of the Onesti Entertainment Corp. and The Historic Arcada Theatre in St. Charles. Celebrity questions and comments? Email ron@oshows.com.

Originally posted here:

Ron Onesti: The 1893 World's Fair is getting me through this - Chicago Daily Herald

Twenty-seven candidates who have publicly expressed at least some support for the QAnon conspiracy theory25 Republicans, one member of the Independent Party of Delaware, and one independentsecured a spot on the ballot in yesterdays general election.

They almost entirely failed, a poor showing for the burgeoning movement. But they can tout at least one success.

Shiva Ayyadurai, Massachusetts: After losing the Republican Senate primary, the self-described inventor of email and QAnon supporter ran as a write-in candidate but received less than 1% in the general election.

Derrick Grayson, Georgia: Grayson is one of many candidates in Georgias Senate special election primary. He shared Q slogans in tweets touting a discussion with Ron Paul about the Federal Reserve and won roughly 1.1% of the vote, failing to advance to the runoff.

Jo Rae Perkins, Oregon: Perkins won slightly less than 50% in the GOP Oregon Senate primary, and has been a prolific promoter and supporter of Q. Shes claimed that Q is a military intelligence operation, compared belief in Q to belief in Jesus Christ, and over the summer, was one of a number of high-profile Republicans to take the oath to become a QAnon digital soldier. Running in a heavily Democratic state, she lost the general election 59%-38% to Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).

Lauren Witzke, Delaware: After winning her insurgent candidacy in the Republican Senate primary, Witzke lost to stalwart Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) 59%-38%. Witzke had publicly endorsed Q a number of times, though she later retracted that support, claiming that Q was a psyop designed to make people trusting of a non-existent plan and that it was more hype than substance.

Josh Barnett, Arizona 7th Congressional District: Barnett, who shared numerous QAnon hashtags before denouncing the movement as nonsense, won the Republican nomination after running unopposed but lost to incumbent Rep. Josh Gallego (D-Ariz.).

Joyce Bentley, Nevada 1st Congressional District: Bentley won her primary election in June and had shared the hugely popular QAnon video The Plan to Save the World in October 2018. She lost to incumbent Democrat Dina Titus.

Lauren Boebert, Colorado 3rd Congressional District: One of the most prolific Q-supporters running for Congress, Boebert has appeared on multiple hugely popular QAnon YouTube channels, only to claim since then that she doesnt follow Q. On Wednesday, Boebert beat Democrat Diane Mitsch Bush to clinch the seat for Colorados 3rd Congressional District. She previously released a statement to supporters calling herself Congresswoman-elect, claiming, The QAnon attacks were ridiculous. I have consistently said I am not a follower of and I do not believe in conspiracy theories.

Rayla Campbell, write-in candidate for Massachusetts 7th Congressional District: Campbell, who has been seen in social media posts in a Q t-shirt, lost to incumbent Rep. Ayanna Presley (D-Mass.).

Mike Cargile, California 35th Congressional District: One of two candidates who ran in the blanket primary for his district, Cargile has tweeted numerous Q slogans and called Q a perfect sentiment. He lost to Democrat Norma Torres.

Erin Cruz, California 36th Congressional District: Cruz finished in the top two of her districts primary and has expressed support for Q on numerous occasions, calling it valid information thats in line with whats coming out of the government. She lost to Democrat Raul Ruiz.

Johsie Cruz Ezammudeen, Georgia 4th Congressional District: Ezmamudeen ran unopposed in the Republican primary and has shared Q videos and sentiments. She lost to Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.).

Ron Curtis, Hawaii 1st Congressional District: Curtis won the primary in his district after tweeting and sharing a number of Q-related posts, including material from Vincent Fusca, a man many Q believers incorrectly think is actually John F. Kennedy Jr. The race hadnt been called at press time.

Marjorie Taylor Green, Georgia 14th Congressional District: Greene might be the best known Q-aligned congressional candidate, drawing national media attention for her inflammatory videos and stalwart support of Q. After her Democratic opponent unexpectedly dropped out, Greene won her election to become the first QAnon-embracing member of the U.S. Congress.

Alison Hayden, California 15th Congressional District: Hayden finished in the top-two of her California blanket primary and has shared a number of QAnon tweets and videos. Hayden lost to popular incumbent Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.).

Bob Lancia, Rhode Island 2nd Congressional District: Lancia is a former Rhode Island state legislator who easily won his primary election and has retweeted Q material, though he denied being an actual follower of the movement, claiming that his staff retweeted the posts because they supported President Trump. He lost to 11-term Rep. Jim Langevin (D-Fla.)

Tracy Lovvorn, Massachusetts 2nd Congressional District: Lovvorn won her primary after running unopposed and has shared Q slogans on multiple social media platforms. She lost her election in this heavily Democratic district near Boston to 13-term Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.).

KW Miller, Florida 18th Congressional District: Miller got a measure of national attention for his candidacy with his bizarre theories about Beyonc not actually being Black, as well as his vocal support of QAnon. Despite his media profile, Miller received around just 2% of the vote in his bid to unseat Republican Brian Mast.

Buzz Patterson, California 7th Congressional District: Patterson, who finished second in the blanket primary in his district, was asked on Twitter if he supported QAnon and replied, Yep! He later told Axios that he doesnt remember sending the tweet and doesnt actually support Q. At press time, Patterson trailed Democrat Ami Bera by about 2-to-1.

Nikka Piterman, California 13th Congressional District: Having finished second in his top-two primary in this heavily Democratic part of the San Francisco area, Piterman lost his general election by about 82 points. In 2019, he retweeted posts with the QAnon hashtag several times.

Billy Prempeh, New Jersey 9th Congressional District: Despite tweeting a photo of his presence at a QAnon rally and posing with a Q flag, Prempeh called his allegiance to Q fake news. Prempeh lost his general election bid.

Catherine Purcell, Delaware At-Large Congressional District: Purcell is running as a third-party candidate and has endorsed QAnon and the idea that global elites are harvesting children for the chemical compound adrenochrome. She received 1.5% of the vote.

Christine Quinn, Florida 14th Congressional District: Quinn, who has shared Q material on Twitter on several occasions, won her competitive primary election but lost her general by 60-40.

Theresa Raborn, Illinois 2nd Congressional District: After running unopposed in the Republican primary, Raborn lost general election. She has publicly supported Q several times, including sharing the video of Michael Flynn taking the QAnon oath, which she said she shared only because it was patriotic.

Lavern Spicer, Florida 24th Congressional District: Spicer ran unopposed in her primary, and has shared links to the popular QAnon promoting video series Fall of the Cabal several times. She lost her general election bid to Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.).

Angela Stanton-King, Georgia 5th Congressional District: Another QAnon candidate who received national attention, Stanton-King ran unopposed in her primary and has shared a number of QAnon tweets and videosonly to claim that she did so only to question the movement. She lost her general election bid to Democrat Nikema Williams.

Johnny Teague, Texas 9th Congressional District: Teague has shared QAnon content on several occasions and lost his bid to unseat longtime Rep. Al Green (D-Texas).

Antoine Tucker, New Yorks 14th Congressional District: Tucker lost his write-in bid against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and had expressed support for Q and its ideas on many occasions.

Rob Weber, Ohio 9th Congressional District: Another high-profile QAnon candidate, Weber won a contested primary and has publicly endorsed Q a number of times. His general election bid ended with a loss to Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio).

Philanise White, Illinois 1st Congressional District: White ran unopposed for the Republican nomination in this heavily Democratic Chicago district and lost to longtime Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.). She had tweeted support for QAnon several times.

Daniel Wood, Arizonas 3rd Congressional District: Wood ran unopposed for the Republican nomination in this heavily Democratic part of the state. Wood has tweeted Q posts and slogans many times and lost his bid in the general election by a 2-to-1 margin to Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.0.

Read more:

QAnon Congress: Here's What Happened in Races of Q Supporters - The Daily Dot

Bruno (2009)

The Austrian, gay fashion journalist also got his own movie back in 2009, and quite frankly, I think its the most underappreciated. Much like Borat, Bruno was also a sort of mockumentary with interview segments, but I personally think the narrative was the strongest of the 3 movies. Brunos dream is to become the biggest Austrian superstar since Hitler and the movie may be even more offensive than Borat, but in the best sort of way. Highlights include Bruno driving what looks like a baby right into traffic and making out with his boyfriend in the middle of a cage fight in front of a booing audience. Its cringe-worthy gold!

I personally find Bruno much funnier than Borat, but I know Im in the minority. Plus, if were going by box office receipts, then Borat was far and away a bigger success, making $262.6 million domestically compared to Brunos $138.8 million, and Ali G Indahouses paltry in comparison $25.9 million. No question, Borat wins this round.

See the original post here:

Borat Vs. Ali G Vs. Bruno: Who's The Best Sacha Baron Cohen Character? - CinemaBlend

Staff Report| Washington County News

TALLAHASSEE - Governor Ron Desantis has declared November as Hospice and Palliative Care Month in Florida. In 2019, 139,865 patients received hospice care throughout Florida and a continual increase is expected in the years ahead. Florida Hospice & Palliative Care Association is pleased to join hospice providers and supporters across the state in recognizing November as Hospice and Palliative Care Month in Florida. High quality care, education, and accessibility are hallmarks of hospice care in Florida as every eligible resident has a hospice services available to them. Hospice and Palliative Care Month in Florida highlights the quality and variety of services offered in every county across the state.

"The beliefs that, 'Every day is a gift' and 'The days you have should be lived to the fullest' are foundational to the valuable services available through your local hospice," said Paul A. Ledford, President & CEO of Florida Hospice & Palliative Care Associat ion. "When curative therapies are no longer helpful, it is appropriate for the plan of care to change focus to be about comfort and quality of life. This November, we want to raise awareness that hospices around Florida are here to help. It is very rewarding to see patients and families find the comfort and care they need, at the right place, and the right time."

Read Governor Desantis' proclamation athttps://www.floridaho spices.or g/wp content/uploads/2020/11/Hospice-and-Palliative-Care-Month.pdf

Visitwww.Lett1ospiceHelp.orgto find basic facts and resources on what to expect from hospice providers as a patient and caregiver. The 'Find a Provider' feature allows users to locate end-of life care programs in Florida.

See the rest here:

Governor Ron Desantis and FHPCA Recognize November as Florida Hospice and Palliative Care Month - Holmes County Times Advertiser

The process of choosing electors can be an insiders game, said Kimberly Wehle, a professor at the University of Baltimore and the author of What You Need to Know About Voting and Why. They are often state legislators, party leaders or donors, she said.

The important number is 270. A total of 538 electoral votes are in play across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The total number of electoral votes assigned to each state varies depending on population, but each state has at least three, and the District of Columbia has had three electors since 1961.

Most are, and it helps to think of voting on a state-by-state basis, Professor Amar said.

Its just like in tennis, he said. Its how many sets you win and not how many games or points you win. You have to win the set, and in our system, you have to win the state.

Two exceptions are Maine and Nebraska, which rely on congressional districts to divvy up electoral votes. The winner of the states popular vote gets two electoral votes, and one vote is awarded to the winner of the popular vote in each congressional district.

There are arguments that the states with smaller populations are overrepresented in the Electoral College, because every state gets at least 3 electors regardless of population. In a stark example, sparsely populated Wyoming has three votes and a population of about 580,000, giving its individual voters far more clout in the election than their millions of counterparts in densely populated states like Florida, California and New York. And the American citizens who live in territories like Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are not represented by any electors.

When you talk about the Electoral College shaping the election, it shapes the election all the time because it puts the focus on certain states and not others, said Alexander Keyssar, a professor of history and social policy at Harvard University.

For years there have been debates about abolishing the Electoral College entirely, with the 2016 election bringing the debate back to the surface. It was even a talking point among 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.

View post:

How Does the Electoral College Work and Why Does It Matter? - The New York Times

GolfHOLE-IN-ONERobert MacLeod

BAR HARBOR, Maine Robert MacLeod of Bar Harbor recorded a hole-in-one on the 201-yard ninth hole at Kebo Valley Golf Club on Friday. He used a 3-wood for the ace and it was witnessed by Susanne MacLeod and Jon Linder.

BAR HARBOR, Maine Clyde Lewis of Ellsworth shot a hole-in-one on the 156-yard 15th hole at Kebo Valley Golf Club on Friday. He used a hybrid club for the ace and it was witnessed by Mark Leonardi, Brent Barker and Mark Wanner.

ROCKLAND, Maine Phil Bertocci of Rockland shot his first career hole-in-one playing Wednesday at Rockland Golf Club. Bertocci used an 8-iron to ace the 136-yard fifth hole. The shot was witnessed by Charlie Johanson.

Greely 322, Scarborough 336, Falmouth 337, Gorham 338, Mt. Ararat 352, Edward Little 356, Messalonskee 362, Hampden Acad. 374

Andrew Klein 77 Greely, (tie) Peter Malia 79 Scarborough, Bennett Berg 79, (tie) DJ Kenney 80 Greely, Jack Stowell 80 Falmouth, (tie) Colin Merritt 81 Edward Little, Nick McGonagle 81 Deering, Parker Bate 81 Mt. Ararat, Connor Albert 82 Greely, Nick Montgomery 83 Greely, Quinn Dillon 83 Gorham, Kyle Douin 83 Cony, (tie) Buteau, Asa, Scarborough 84, Castles, Lucas, Gorham 84, Veilleux, Jack Scarborough 84, Hilchey, Parker Camden Hills 84, (tie) Lumbert, Bryce Gorham 85, Tracy, Dominic Falmouth 85, Tobias, Quincy Cony 85, Stowell, Henry Falmouth 85, (tie) Farr, Sam Gorham 86, Grant, Mitch Messalonskee 86, Stromick, Austin Brunswick 86, Enck, Aidan Gorham 86, Bay, Cooper Portland 86,

(tie) Flaherty, Lucas South Portland 87, Seekins, Sam Messalonskee 87, Vickery, John Hampden 87, Thibault, Parker Lewiston 87, Mathieu, Drew Windham 87, Hwang, Jonny Falmouth 87, (tie) Smiley, Owen Bangor 88, Schoenberg, Eli Mt. Ararat 88, (tie) Allen, Liam Cheverus 89, Griffiths, Alden Scarborough 89, Turcotte, Connor Edward Little 89, Dufour, Bryce Lewiston 89, Brook, Andrew Bangor 90, (tie) Betz, Sam Mt. Ararat 91, Parker, Jake Brewer 91, Delmonaco, Ethan Brewer 91, (tie) Mitchell, Ham Falmouth 92, Henke, Ty Mt. Ararat 92, Cloutier, Anthony Cheverus 92, (tie) Adams, Wyatt South Portland 93, Gray, Harrison Edward Little 93, Webber, John Scarborough 93, Marquis, Spencer Brunswick 93, Cassidy, Will Edward Little 93, (tie) Smith, James Messalonskee 94, Thayer, Jagger Hampden 94,

(tie) Lilly, Jude Messalonskee 95, Lyons, Andrew Hampden 95, (tie) Stolt, Bobby Cony 96, Perron, Jack Bangor 96, Robbins, Clay Edward Little 96, (tie) Clark, Sam Cheverus 97, Doolittle, Connor Westbrook 97, Spooner, Luke Mt. Ararat 97, (tie) Abbott, Josh Brewer 98, Vine, Elias Hampden 98, Llerena, TJ Hampden 99, Lapointe, Landon Brewer 101, Giancotti, Nick Cheverus 108, Ardito, Joe Messalonskee 111

1. Remy Levin 88 Bonny Eagle, 2. Ruth Weeks 89 Greely, 3. Taylor Gardner 101 Hampden, 4. Nicole Walker 103 Gorham

Green Mountain Results 1. Robert Hall, Phil Norton, Lornie Smith 105, 2. Lee Brewer, Eben Salvatore, Jud Starr 91, 3. Randy Stanley, Ty Smith, Mike Modeen; Individual: A. Robert Hall, B. Eben Salvatore, C. Lornie Smith

Friday Senior League Modified Stableford: 1. Robbie Robinson, Norm Simmons, Mike Boothby +10; 2. Ron Harriman, Ralph Holyoke, Doug Higgins +6; 3. Rick Robertson, Jim Blakeman, Shawn Sutherland, Ed St. Heart +4; 4. John Richard, Jim Hancock, Don Goodness, John Roach +3; 5. Steve Smith, Duane Hanson, Peter Beatham +1; 6. Tim Gallant, Chris Dunifer, Dana Wardwell, Dan Watters, Even; Pins: No. 7 Jim Hancock 6-7; No 9. Chris Dunifer 15-0; No. 16 Jim Hancock 4-7; No. 18 Shawn Sutherland 17-4

BCS Tournament 1. Bill Hutchins, Deron Smith, Regan Smith, Liam Hutchins 56; Most Accurate: Bob Lyford; Pin: No. 16 Terry McDonald 9-0; Rawcliffe Open 1. Al Porter, BJ Porter, Jody Lyford, Bob Lyford 58, 2. Byron Dunbar, Jamie Leavitt, Marty Kelly, Randy McLaughlin 59, 3. Nate Ellis Jr., Nate Ellis Sr., Derek Newland, Cameron Newland 61 (mc), 4. Kevin Grant, Mike Stoup, John Kotredes, Richard Cox 61, 5. Carl Gaudet, Darryl Luce, Mike Walker, Katie Walker 62; Pins, No. 3, Gold/Red: Bruce Ireland 13-1; White: Doug Chambers; No. 16, Gold/Red: Jen Williams; White: Bob Lyford: Most Accurate, Red/Gold: BJ Porter; White: Darryl Ross

Senior Scramble Results Dick Gassett, Russ Black, John Higgins, Jim Awalt -7; (tie) Tom Winston, Mel McLay, Doug Stark, Dennis Kiah -5; Rocky Alley, Bill Nickels, Jerry Noble, Lou Martin -5; David Gubler, Royce Morrison, Mark Molnar, John Shoppe -5; Bob Leighton, Bob McKenney, Ralph Alley, Jim Oreskovich -4; Alan Gray, Mark Johnson, Chuck Hode, Dick Keene -4; Randy Irish, Bill Ferris, Bob Wilks, Mike Dore -3; John Somes, Jim Bonzey, Ron Allen, Bob Carter -2; Bob Tweedie, Kerry Woodbury, Bob Gray, Bob Fraser -2; Pins: No. 2 Dick Gassett 7-0, No. 6 Jim Awalt 6-6

Golf Wars Scramble League Gross: 1. Fearsome 33, 2. The Hackers 33; Net: The Happy Hookers 28.5, 2. Two Oldies +2 30.1; Pins: 6. Jim McFarland 33-0, 9. Mark Wanner 22-1

Kebo Boys Game, 3 BB Stableford 1. Hank Tibbetts, Tim Vanderploeg, Phil Norton, Rick Wolff 121; 2. Wyman Tapley, Ty Smith, Carl Lusby, Ed Darling 115, Randy Stanley, Mark Leonardi, Jud Starr, Steve Dodge 115

Overall Gross: Ray Brochu 75, Bruce Bubier 77, Colin Roy 79; Net: Phil McCabe 61, Vic Gaudreau 66 (mc), Dave Ames 67; Flight 1, Gross: Eric Lacroix 80 (mc), Preston Ward 80 (mc), Dave St. Andre 80; Net: Steve Assante 70 (mc), Scott Karczewski 70, Mark Kamen 71; Flight 2, Gross: Greg Page 80, Bill Fairchild 84, Bill Hunter 86; Net: Mert Dearnley 70, Ron Aho 72 (mc), Tony Trask 72 (mc); Flight 3, Gross: Mike McGuire 82 (mc), Mike Knox 82, Rick Cronin 83; Net: Dick McCann 70, Paul Connolly 71 (mc), Charlie Miller 71; Flight 4, Gross: Cy Thompson 81, Bob Ouellette 85, Bob Spencer 87; Net: Ben Walker 71, Jim Murphy 72, Phil Poulin 73; Super Senior, Gross: Dana McCurdy 90; Net: Leo Lever 73; Best Ball, Gross: Rick Cronin, Mike Knox, Preston Ward, Eric Lacroix 70 (mc); Ray Brochu, Tom Kus, Ed McKay, Paul Drouin 70; Best Ball, Net: Reggie Gammon, Ken Luce, Dick McCann, Cy Thompson 59; Steve Assante, Jim Ouellette, Dan Peaslee, Mike Cote 60 (mc); Pins: No. 2 Charlie Pray 2-8, Cy Thompson 9-11, No. 7 Ray Brochu 12-3, Leo Bellemare 14-9, No. 15 Leo Bellemare 11, Bob Ouellette 9-6, No. 17 Alan Turner 3-4, Jim Murphy 3-7, Skins, Gross: No. 4 John Deetjen (3), No. 6 Dave St. Andre (3), No. 7 Ray Brochu (2), No. 11 Charlie Pray (3), No. 13 Eric Johnson (3), No. 17 Jim Murphy (2); Net: none

Tuesdays results Gross: Hosel Rockets 31, 2. Potential 35; Net: 1. Dukes of Hazards 26.7, 2. Party of Fore 28.6; Pins: No. 6 Gary Seavey 52-0, No. 9 Glenn MegQuier 19-7

6th Annual Golf for Alzheimers Sponsored by Birch Bay Village 1. Chris Shelton, Rob McKenney, David Mitchell, Joe Domagala 61; 2. Nicholas Schoeder, Jake Willis, Darryl White, Scott Lawliss 63; Pins: No. 4 David Mitchell 8-11, No. 15 Nicholas Schoeder 7-9; Longest Drive: Bryant Ciomei

Better ball tourney Flight 1, Gross: Kristin Kannegieser, Leslie Guenther 70; Kathi OGrady, Mary Brandes 74; Ruth Colucci, Catherine Boyle 77; Debby Gardner, Laura Lipman 79; Net: Katy Heskett, Abigail Wermers 66; Kris Hughes, Meredith Koerner 66; Maria Cianchette, Carolyn Cianchette 66; Kimberly Lazenby, Barbara Ropke 67; Kathy Lyons, Colleen Arnold 67

Flight 2, Gross: Allison Landes, Debbie Porter 79; Linda Cameron, Marlene Viger 87; Melissa Dalfonso, Patricia Bouton 88; Caren Lederer, Lisa Fontaine 88; Kathy Heaton, Lorri Higgins 88; Maureen Lano, Barbara Deschenes 88 Net: Deborah Barry, Joy Eon 65; Ann Anthony, Meg Lyon 65; Jane Flower, Marcia Blake 68; Karen-Lee Moody, Susan McLain 69; Flight 3, Gross: Barbara Pearson, Maureen Collins 93; Terry Sullivan, Joanne Allaire 96; Marianne McNally, Penny Guerin 97; Linda Laughlin, Bea McGarvey 97; Susan Wootton, Heidi Lyman 97; Net: Ann Houser, Jean Farrell 69; Susan Graffam, Diane Snow 72; Barb Hintze, Betty Holmes 72; Bonnie Cote, Jean Smith 72

Skins, Gross: Leslie Guenther No. 8, Patricia Bouton No. 4, Debby Gardner No. 12, Linda Varrell No. 13, Bernice Vadnais No. 10, Lisa Wintle No. 14, Susie Gravel No. 17, Marla Leblanc No. 2; Net: Meg Lyon No. 7, No. 9, Joy Eon No. 1, Caren Lederer No. 16

Better ball tourney Gross, Flight 1: Janet Nelson, Cheryl Cole 77, Diane Bova, Irene Schultz 79, Liz Coffin, Karen Bamford 80; Flight 2: Polly Hoffman, Anne Barnes 85; Diana Wescott, Nan Bragg 89; Judy Edgecomb, Kathy Sproul 89; Net, Flight 1: Anne Raynor, Jenifer Stewart 63, Sharon Houle, Maggie Black 66, Sue Coffin & Sherrie Thomas 66; Flight 2: Lila Geis, Cindy Shaw 63, Barbara Redmond, Laurie Clark 64, Donna Hanson, Karen Stuart 65; Gross Skins: No. 2 Karen Bamford 3, No. 4 Diane Bova 4, No. 5 Cindy Choate 3, No. 12 Janet Nelson 3, No. 15 Diane Bova 3, No. 16 Rachel Newman 4; Net Skins: No. 7 Linda Morin-Pasco 2, No. 8 Linda Morin-Pasco 1, No. 9 Diana Wescott 2

Regular Tees Flight 1, Gross: Mike Doran 69, Nate McCue 70, Brian Angis 70; Net: Shawn Casey 64, Matt Bowe 65, Tony Leslie 65; Senior, 55-62, Gross: Phil Barter 73, Mike OBrien 73, Len Cole 75; Net: Mark Genest 66, Butch Kennedy 67, Ray Ross 68; 63+, Gross: John Downing 73, Gary Manoogian 74, Bob Barber 76; Net: Ed Hickey 63, Steve Hodge 65, Ken Sawtelle 65

Senior Tees 57-68, Gross: Mark Curtis 72, Craig Lapierre 72, Bob Rudy 75, Zibby Puleio 75; Net: Bill Holmes 68, Doug Prevost 68, Jim Stevens 69. 69+, Gross: Joe Collins 73, Rick Plummer 74, Ron Brown 75. Net: Lloyd Doughty 65, Norm Charleston 72, John Collins 72

Team, One Gross/One Net: Ryan Masse, Jim Stevens, Nate McCue, Matt Bowe 121, Mike OBrien, Brian Angis, Carl Poirier, Martin Doherty 124, Tony Leslie, Butch Kennedy, Tim Mariano, Mark Hammond 125, Chris King, Shawn Casey, John Conley, Phil Ingraham 126, Seth Woodcock, Joe Alvarez, Jarod Richard, Neil Angis 127, James Anderson, Mer Doucette, Mark Manzi, Jason Willis 127.

Black Tees Skins, Gross: all tied; Net: No. 5 Ed Hickey 2, No. 7 Joe Larivierre 2, No. 11 Dave Ertz 2, No. 13 Mark Genest 1, No. 16 Harry Loring 2. Senior Tees Skins, Gross: No. 1 Martin Doherty 3, No. 3 Dave Collinsworth 2, No. 5 Bob Hintze 3, No. 16 Rick Plummer 2, No. 18 Joe Collins 3; Net: No. 7 Mike Dumais 2, No. 10 Jim Stevens 2; Pins Black Tees: No. 3 Jeff Cole 2-5, No. 6 Tony Leslie 8-4, No. 13 Patrick Perreault 7-9, No. 16 Joe Alvarez 20-0; Senior Tees No. 3 Don Johnson 9-5, No. 6 Paul Pelletier 1-5, No. 13 Glenn Furth 6-6, No. 16 Robert Hintze 28-8

Tuesday Morning Senior League (par 35) Gross: 1. Bill Fernandez 37, 2. Rick Gilman 37, 3. Mike Lafontaine 39, 4. Fran Riva 42, 5. Ed Lucas 42; Net: 1. Jim Bosse 29, 2. Alan Gray 29, 3. Shawn Small 30, 4. George Thibodeau 31, 5. Bob Lebretton 31, 6. George Strout 32, 7. Bob Ruhlin 32; Pins: No. 4, Rick Gilman 2-6, No. 8, Jim Bosse 5-4; Long drive, Red tees: Kathy Lafontaine; Gold tees: Phil Keith; White tees: Andy Taylor

Mens Senior League 1. Bruce Wiersma, Don Payne, Cliff Wilbur 30; 2. Ralph Allen, Ron Goldstone, Dick Burger 33; 3. Jim Oreskovich, Butch Robichaud, Merle Trimm 34; 4. Joe Guaraldo, Robbie Robinson, Bob Pentland, Roger Theriault 35

Senior Scramble 1. Kate Doherty-Perez, Steve Cates, Brian ODonnell, Ken Smith -4; 2. Jane Hooper, John Caruso, Fred Morgan, Gordon Faulkingham, Melrose Beal -3; 3. Lynn King, Pierre Dumont, Bob Tracy, Bill Swayne -2 (won putt-off); 4. Sue Derickson, Paul Look, Gary Derickson, Scott Whitney -2; 5. Charles Lightner, Ralph Backman, Sonny Beal, Gary Willey -2; Pin: No. 2 Scott Whitney 11-5, No. 5 Bob Tracy 2-11

Thursday Morning Stableford League 1. John Arsenault, Aaron Newcomb +7, 2. John May, Marty Drew E, 3. Thea Davis, John Arsenault -2, 4. Ed Hallett, Heokbum Kwon -4; pins: No. 3 Ed Hallett 9-10, No. 8 Thea Davis 27-4, No. 9 Aaron Newcomb 19-10, No. 12 Terry McDonald 4-11, No. 16 Aaron Newcomb 5-8; Skins: No. 3 Eddie Hallett, No. 5 Heokbum Kwon,

No. 13 John Arsenault, No. 14 John May, No. 16 Aaron Newcomb

Ladies Association A Flight, Gross: Sally Stockman 87, Kathy Harper 97; Net: Jan Staples 75, Molly Mugler 76; Putts: Sally Stockman 30; B Flight, Gross: (tie) Diane Bryant 111, Joanna Schleif 111; Net: Joni Hall 80, (tie) Martha Bouchard 84, Joyce Cooley 84; Putts: Diane Bryant 30; Pins: No. 5 Kathy Harper, No. 10 Sue Wootton

Senior Scramble Rocky Alley, Eric White, Bob Wilks, Warren Young -6; David Gubler, Mike Dore, Bob Fraser -5; Randy Irish, Jim Bonzey, Chuck Hodge, John Higgins -3; Dennis Kiah, Kerry Woodbury, Russ Black, Jerry Noble -2; Bob Leighton, Dick Gassett, Joe Guaraldo, Doug Stark -2; Pins: No. 2 Randy Irish 12-4, No. 6 Dick Gassett 4-2

Link:

Here are all your local golf results - Bangor Daily News

As many of you have already heard, YouTube (owned by Google, withdeep roots in the deep state), inexplicably removed our Ron Paul Liberty Report from 23 September, titled Covid Whistleblowers Expose Narrative As Total Fraud,' and officially delivered a warning to the Ron Paul Liberty Report You Tube channel. They claimed in the notice that the program, which you can watch for yourselfhere, violated their community guidelines regarding spam, deceptive practices, and scams.

We are in danger of having our entire channel removed if we continuein these prohibited activities, they warned. Please watch the program for yourself and attempt to identify where any of these three violations took place.

Dr. Paul sent an appeal asking for specific clarification as to what in the program violated their community standards. This seems important, because if they could point to something that was said or something in the title or thumbnail photo that violated their guidelines, it wouldnt be that difficult to avoid such phrases or words or even photos in the future. Yes, it might be annoying and unfair, but knowing specifically what was the violation or violations would logically benefit both parties, as YouTube was clear in their warning that they did not want to lose us.

Imagine if a police officer pulled you over and began writing a ticket and when you requested the reason for the ticket they refused to tell you. Or perhaps they arrested you with no clearly articulated reason. Neither did the judge nor jury utter a peep when they ruled on the case and passed sentence.

This is how YouTube responded to a request for the habeas corpus of our crime:

As Ron Paul Institute Senior Fellow (and attorney) Adam Dick wrote me after I showed him the result of the appeal, What understanding? Violation determined and appeal denied; that is all the info to understand. The process seems designed to prevent understanding anything other than that power is being exercised.

Yes. Power is being exercised and we do not have to tell you why.

Digging a bit deeper into the actual reason they decided to pull the episode of the Liberty Report (which as most of you know is hours in the making and represents years in preparation), turns up this bizarre email YouTube sent to the Ron Paul Liberty Reports gmail address:

So finally we are getting more of an explanation of where we might have gone wrong. YouTube simply does not allow any criticism of the World Health Organization a United Nations bureaucratic body that hasabsolutely no idea what to doabout the Covid health problem. One week you must wear masks, the next week you dont need them, etc. But dont dare criticize them or you will have your metaphorical larynx ripped from your body.

As we have pointed out on the Liberty Report several times probably contributing to our being targeted the World Health Organization is not even led by a doctor, but by aviolent Ethiopian communistpolitician.

If you dare criticize a violent Ethiopian communist, you will be banned from YouTube. It seems that simple.

So, as another violent communist oncewrote, what is to be done?

We are still looking at our options. For now we have opened abackup account on BitChuteso that if a future YouTube broadcast is pulled we can offer it up to you without so much delay.

Ultimately we believe the noose will tighten on any dissident voices such as Dr. Pauls. It seems bizarre in what so many love to claim is the freest country on earth, one that must spend billions freeing others overseas, that anyone challenging the prevailing mainstream media/US government narrative on Covid or foreign policy or anything else must be silenced. Once there was the gulag for dissidents, these days its big tech companies that do hundreds of billions of dollars in business with US intelligence and the US government who do the bidding of their paymasters. But hey, theyre private companies so dont you dare complain as you are herded into your ideological boxcar!

We are looking at other options to deliver the Ron Paul Liberty Report to our viewers who on YouTube are a hair away from passing the quarter million subscriber mark but many of these options are not cheap. As you all know, we operate on a shoestring and we stretch every penny from the generous contributions of our supporters.

But we are going to need your help if we are going to keep the peace and prosperity message of the Ron Paul Liberty Report alive. We are directly challenging multi-billion dollar media empires and their narratives they are not at all happy about it.

This is your program, and if you want it to continue one of the last voices challenging the dominant and crushing narrative coming from the mainstream media on the Left AND Right we will need your support.

Please consider atax-deductible contributionto the Ron Paul Institute, which is the producer of the Ron Paul Liberty Report. Every donation is gratefully appreciated, but were going to need some big bucks to fight this freight train we see bearing down on us. Once they have obliterated us, they will be coming for you. Please help. By the way, we LOVE Bitcoin and you can make a Bitcoin donation at the above link.

Dr. Paul famously says, no army can stop an idea whose time has come. Even in these seemingly dark days, the time has come for our peace and prosperity message. Please do what you can to help us. We need you and we appreciate you.

This article was published by RonPaul Institute.

Read this article:

YouTube Has Censored The Ron Paul Liberty Report: You Won't Believe Why! - OpEd - Eurasia Review

Three political people in various states of disarray or death frame our political options.

Faced witha choice between rudeness, lies, and tariffs on the right and arson, child endangerment, and national bankruptcy on the left, youd think America would find some other option, such as Libertarian Party presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen. Realistically, though, the handful of Americans who care enough about politics to trudge to the polls (or mailbox) on Election Day will be focused on angry partisan micro-issues rather than big-picture philosophical differences.

The closest most voters will get to looking at a big picture will be mulling the basic psychological traits of the candidatesparticularly Trumps egomania and Bidens dementiaand how much horror or affinity those traits inspire (not that people gauging politics by personality traits is anything unusualtake this recent piece by someone still steamed that former vice presidential candidate Joe Liebermans son gave him a harsh grade in school). Add to the mix the late Ruth Bader Ginsburgs purported deathbed wish that Trump not appoint her replacementand give all this an ominous backdrop of COVIDand its an election about declining health all around. The two main presidential candidates may not be death-bed decrepit, but theyre still sort of decrepit.

First: Trump, love him or hate him, is going to keep working his angry grandpa shtick to Election Day and beyond. There will be no grand philosophical agenda even in a second term, just more swatting at things that annoy him.For its failure to prevent a recent crime and rioting upsurge, New York City, like Portland and Seattle, has been designated by Trumps Department of Justice an anarchist jurisdiction. This is more a way of saying those places are behaving badly than of saying they have coherent rebellious philosophies.

Would that they did! Instead, New York City will participate in electoral democracy in just over a month like the rest of the nation. Far from promoting anarchism, the city will go on behaving like a totalitarian socialist enclave, disrupted by even-more-socialist rioters.

All the while, leftists in and outside New York will pretend to be freedom lovers guarding humanity against a tyrannical Trump. The strange warnings from the left about the possibility of a Red Miragethat is, the appearance of a Trump victory on election night, which should not be taken too seriously, were toldare surely a better indicator that the left is contemplating non-democratic or at least vote-tweaking resolutions to Americas political struggles than that the right is. Be watchful.

The half of the political spectrum that appears willing to, say, route money from left-leaning corporations friendly with Bill Gates and Jack Dorsey to Black Lives Matter-affiliated bail-funding groups and then to less-formal projects like renting a U-Haul full of riot weapons is probably not the half of the political spectrum that wants the election and its aftermath to go smoothly, even when they give themselves anodyne names such as the Transition Project.

In a world now full of people who want gun manufacturers and the like to get sued for what their customers do, maybe the bail-funders should be held accountable for the subsequent actions of those they assist, too. This increased blurring of the public/private lines is why populism (of some sort) is making more and more sense: the commanding heights of government, capitalism, and philanthropy alike are held by anti-civilization subversives.

With that in mind, I cant rule out Trumps combative egomania continuing to yield some good results, working like an anarchist wrecking ball swung directly at those commanding heights, even if the wrecking ball doesnt do nuance (or have the grace to admit it already holds the highest office in the land). Trump having his anarchist strategic uses doesnt excuse his numerous un-libertarian actions, or the often obnoxious psychological traits of those who feel the strongest and most immediate affinity for him.

Regardless, I dont think many people are falling for the lefts 11th-hour attempt to spin Trumps hopes for reelectionand his reasonable fear of mail-in and proxy vote fraudas a dictatorial urge to cling to power, overturn elections, and fight for control of the military. Despite the fevered imaginings of the Transition Project, most people see in Trump a man probably happy to retire into a gig as talk show host or golf tournament host if it comes to that.

Second: Bidens now selling himself to us, when hes awake, as in essence the devil we know. How big or surprising could the risks be after all these decades, goes the argument? Well, Biden may not be surprising, but anyone claiming to have libertarian leanings should recall that Biden has been awful for decades, not merely predictable.

As people watch forthcoming Supreme Court confirmation hearings, they should recall Biden is himself a veteran of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Libertarians who saw the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings three decades ago remember Biden asking Thomas how America could be expected to tolerate a Justice who had spoken fondly of libertarian arguments in favor of property rights. Bidens the enemy and long has been; dont kid yourself to burnish your respectable-establishment cred.

That establishment still expects Americans to be impressed when, say, an array of Republicans associated with the FBI, CIA, and the anti-Trump group called the Lincoln Project endorse Bidenor when 30 former Romney staffers (which is a hell of a lot of fair-weather Republicans on team Romney, I must say) do so, but inspiring this sort of army-of-dwarves onslaught is surely the biggest point in Trump's favor.

Third: Ron Paul, you know in your heart, is the politician who makes the most sense, with his lifetime of warnings that government has grown too big and too powerful and needs to be put back in its constitutional straitjacket. Thus, many goodhearted people, whether libertarian or not, were alarmed by Pauls micro-stroke last week, even though hes not running for anything anymore. Hes still the politician making the most sense, even when hes impaired. Hes also the least alarming, since hes the only one who doesnt want to control you.

Paul had a bit of a rough week even before the stroke, with YouTube censoring his video expressing skepticism about the dominant COVID narrative and the SEC temporarily shutting down a bitcoin operation run by Pauls former political director. But then, while people look upon Pauls stroke with alarm, what was that bizarre Pelosi moment last week when she abruptly stopped in mid-interview with George Stephanopoulos to say good morning and announce the day of the week for no reason? At least Paul has the excuse of a strokeand hes not running the House of Representatives.

Its fitting Pelosi now thinks Trump doesnt deserve a chance to debate Biden. She probably wants to protect her fellow dementia sufferer Biden from abuse by Trump, in much the same way Fox News wants to protect George Soros from anything that might come off as an anti-Semitic attack, so much so theyre willing to cut off Newt Gingrich in the middle of criticizing Soros financial influence. All around us, the foolish rush to protect the faltering.

But the immediate choice before Americans, who, unlike me, plan to vote, should really be which candidate most resembles Ron Paul. The Libertarian seems the obvious choice. I will say this for Trump, though: He, far more than Biden, is the heir to the mantle of mildly anti-war politics.

Notice how the establishment, even the parts claiming to be anti-war, trot out purported insults to the troops when they really want to make some public figure look like a heretic. ButTrump reportedly saying World War I soldiers were dupes and we were unwise to join the Allies may be the most delightfully anti-war thing any president has ever saidand perfectly in keeping with the sentiments of a whole school of tragic English poets I couldve sworn we were also supposed to respect only yesterday or so.

Former Trump associate Michael Cohen and others saying Trump would happily start a war to boost his popularity is more a laughable confession of their own likes and dislikes than a convincing analysis of Trump. Say what you will about the grouchy old egomaniac, he doesnt seem to think war is cool. You cant convince me hes itching for conquest one day and then expect me to be horrified the next by him scoffing at militarism or saying DC fights needless wars to keep arms dealers healthy. Thats hardcore peacenik talk from the Prezand thank goodness.

Thirtysomething Ivy Leaguer CNN national security reporter Ryan Browne was aghast at that Trump comment, tweeting, In an unprecedented public attack by a sitting US president on the leadership of the US military, President Trump has accused US military leaders of seeking to start wars to boost the profits of defense contractors. Gasp! Maybe Brownes so young that Eisenhowers warning about the military-industrial complex has faded into the forgotten recesses of history for him, jumbled up with World War I trench battles and the sack of Rome.

Id prefer to outlast Rome, and Im not convinced the Bidens and CNNs of our world know best how to achieve that. Im not so sure the current establishment will even outlast Ron Paul.

Todd Seavey is the author ofLibertarianism for Beginnersand is on Twitter at@ToddSeavey.

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Egomania, Dementia, and Stroke - Splice Today

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell recently announced that the Fed is abandoning inflation targeting where the Fed aims to maintain a price inflation rate of up to two percent. Instead, the Fed will allow inflation to remain above two percent to balance out periods of lower inflation. Powells announcement is not a radical shift in policy. It is an acknowledgment that the Fed is unlikely to reverse course and stop increasing the money supply anytime soon.

Following the 2008 market meltdown, the Fed embarked on an unprecedented money-creation binge. The result was historically low interest rates and an explosion of debt. Today total household debt and business debt are each over 16 trillion dollars. Of course, the biggest debtor is the federal government.

The explosion of debt puts pressure on the Fed to keep increasing the money supply in order to maintain low interest rates. An increase in rates to anything close to what they would be in a free market could make it impossible for consumers, businesses, and (especially) the federal government to manage their debt. This would create a major economic crisis.

The Fed has also dramatically expanded its balance sheet since 2008 via multiple rounds of quantitative easing. According to Bloomberg, the Fed is now the worlds largest investor and holds about one-third of all bonds backed by US home mortgages.

Congress has expanded the Feds portfolio by giving the central bank authority to make trillions of dollars of payments to business as well as to state and local governments in order to help the economy recover from the unnecessary and destructive lockdowns.

Contrary to what most mainstream economists claim, a general increase in prices is an effect not a cause of inflation. Inflation occurs whenever the central bank creates money. Increasing the money supply lowers interest rates, which are the price of money, distorting the market and creating a bubble (or bubbles) that provides the illusion of prosperity. The illusion lasts until the inevitable crash. Since the distortions come from money creation, the system cannot be fixed by just requiring the Fed to adopt a rules-based monetary policy.

Once the lockdowns end, the Feds actions may lead to a short-term boom. However, the long-term effect will be even more debt, continued erosion of the average Americans standard of living, and the collapse of the fiat money system and the welfare-warfare state. The crisis will likely be brought on by a rejection of the dollars reserve currency status. This will be supported both by concerns about the stability of the US economy and resentment over Americas hyper-interventionist foreign policy.

The question is not if the current system will end. The question is how it will end.

If the end comes via a meltdown, the result will likely be chaos, violence, and increased support for authoritarian movements as desperate people trade their few remaining liberties in hopes of gaining security.

However, if pro-liberty Americans are able to force Congress to begin cutting spending starting with the money wasted on militarism and to move toward restoring a sound and sane monetary policy that includes ending the Federal Reserve, we can minimize an economic crisis and begin restoring limited constitutional government, a free-market economy, and respect for liberty.

This article was published by RonPaul Institute.

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Ron Paul: The Fed's Brilliant Plan? More Inflation And Higher Prices - OpEd - Eurasia Review

By Kayla Anderson

Sparks Tribune

City of Sparks Mayor Ron Smith passed away on Friday, August 21, following his two-year battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 71.

As a Sparks resident for more than 35 years, Smith had a visible passion for his community, eventually running for (and winning) a Sparks City Council seat in the 2006 election representing constituents in Ward 3. Smith served three more consecutive four-year terms as city councilman as well as became Mayor Pro Tempore during the years 2012-2018.

During his tenure with the City of Sparks, Smith was involved in dozens of projects and sat on a number of local and regional boards, but is most known for: his role with the Regional Transportation Commission in strongly advocating for improving transportation and infrastructure needs to accommodate the Citys growth; serving as chairman of the Truckee River Flood Mitigation Authority; and he was instrumental in directing the Nevada Veterans Memorial Plaza Project at the Sparks Marina.

As a veteran himself, Ron was extremely passionate about this project, says Sparks City Councilman Kristopher Dahir, adding that it was extremely important to Smith to ensure that the 900-plus Nevada veterans who died fighting for the country were properly honored and that future generations knew of the sacrifices which allowed us our freedoms.

His friendship meant a lot to me. In the beginning of my career with City Council he was my mentor. He was in it for so long, he gave back so much to the community. He was a man of integrity and honest about what he believed. He always said, the best thing about me is youll always know what I think and the worst thing about me is youll always know what I think, Dahir fondly recalls.

I really loved working with him on projects like the Sparks Marina Veterans Memorial and traveling with him to Washington D.C. (as part of the Nevada League of Cities to represent Sparks on a federal and legislative level). Those trips were really fun, Dahir adds.

He admits that they didnt always agree with Smith on everything, but he appreciated his honesty and firm beliefs. Dahir was fortunate to have been able to have dinner with Smith and his wife Karen at Red Hawk Golf and Resort just a few weeks ago, laughing and listening to music as they talked about the city that Smith loved.

He worked hard on the Veterans Memorial, and citywide making sure our river is clean and ready for our citizens to enjoy. He was also very involved with the RTC and worked hard on a few dreams that I hope I can help come to fruition, Dahir says.

His biggest hope was that we have a safe city. Ron was a big supporter of the police, fire department, and security of our community. In the last two years he had chemotherapy every week and would have to recover, and then hed get right back out there to work on projects that improved the city. He fought until the end with his family around him- they were the most important thing to him. He said his family was his biggest treasure, including his nine grandchildren, he says.

Along with being involved with progressing the future of Sparks, Smith is also remembered as having a sense of humor.

He definitely enjoyed his Chik-fil-A coffees, Dahir smiles.

Sparks City Councilmember Donald Abbott says that he met Smith a bit later in his career when he was a city councilman even though for many of his friends Smith was their first boss at Scolaris.

Its been nice seeing all the lives he impacted, from being the manager of Scolaris to his work with the Sparks City Council. One of my fondest memories of him is- and he did this all the time- is that when someone would ask him to do something crazy, hed nod his head up and down and say Absolutely no. That always got a good laugh out of me. I also heard a story that when he was the manager of Scolaris he pranked his receptionist by having her call a tow truck to get out of the parking lot that was her own car, laughs Abbott.

He was silly, but he also knew when to be serious. He just had fun. He was a normal human being who was the same person in the office as he was off-hours, Abbott adds.

Abbott also credits Smith to being his mentor as well in the beginning of his own political career.

He was the first person I ever went door knocking with, it was nice to campaign with him and have someone believe in me who wasnt my mother, he chuckles. Ron loved his community, loved his family, loved the Giants, and he was always helping others. He definitely will be missed, Abbott says.

Personally, when I think about my interactions with Ron Smith over the last four years, the first two words that come to mind are that hes passionate and transparent. He always had a respectful demeanor towards me and answered my calls (even during that year when I continuously grilled him about the state of D Andrea). He never failed to tell me exactly how he felt and went out of his way to greet me at city council meetings and give me the information I needed. He lifted those around him up and gave them the strength to reach their potential, and for that he will never forgotten.

Details of Ron Smiths memorial service have yet to be announced. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Nevada Veterans Memorial Plaza Project through:www.nvmp.info; P.O. Box 50967 Sparks, Nevada 89435.

Comments from nevada publicofficials on Ron Smiths passing:

Ron was a good friend and mentor, and a man who deeply loved his City and community. His mark will be left on this community for decades to come, says current Sparks Mayor Pro Tempore Ed Lawson.

I was deeply honored to be appointed by Mayor Smith to fill his Ward 3 council seat when he was elected Mayor in 2018, says Sparks City Councilman Paul Anderson. I will truly miss my friend and mentor who did such great things regionally and for our Sparks community, he adds.

Ron provided knowledge and experience which helped me grow as a councilmember for this great city that he so loved. He was a great inspiration to me. Thank you, Mayor, may you rest in peace, says Councilwoman Charlene Bybee.

We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our Mayor, says Sparks City Manager Neil Krutz. His battle with cancer was incredibly courageous. All of us at the City will greatly miss him, and our most sincere condolences go out to his family.

On behalf of the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County, I am deeply saddened by the passing of Sparks Mayor Ron Smith. Mayor Smith was a long-standing member on the RTC Board of Commissioners, serving in various roles, including Board Chair, since 2009. As a Veteran and longtime Sparks resident, he truly believed in making our community a better and safer place for future generations. A champion for transportation and infrastructure, Mayor Smith was a proponent to build major regional projects, including the Pyramid/McCarran Intersection Improvements, the SouthEast Connector, and the 4thStreet/Prater Way BRT, among others. Mayor Smith also led the community effort to build a Veterans memorial, which is now under construction at the Sparks Marina, in tribute to all Nevada Veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. We will remember him for his kindness and how deeply he cared for all of us. To honor his memory and his contributions, it is up to the rest of us to carry on his legacy of caring and visionary leadership, stewardship, and public service. Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County Executive Director Bill Thomas.

Mayor Smith was a tireless advocate of families and children and a strong supporter of our schools. He loved his community deeply and was a true champion for the people of Sparks. Even during his final illness, he continued to work hard for the people he represented. We will miss his leadership and commitment.- Washoe County School District

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Sparks Mayor Ron Smith dies after battle with pancreatic cancer - Sparks Tribune

Rumor had it that the boss found a new gig, playing any of her variety of wind instruments every other Saturday on the stoop of Sacred Heart Church in St. Paul, which basically has three addresses, Ron Ryan Jr. Boulevard, Sinnen Street and, most conventionally, 840 E. Sixth St., as in the heart of the East Side.

In the summer of 2020, when it feels like the soul has left the body of the nation and charred is the new urban motif, it seemed important to check on the boss, to not lose sight of the goodness still around us in small but important ways, and the good people who devote their lives to the service of others.

The boss waved as I walked across the parking lot. She was dressed for the chill of a brilliant morning that was sending out an unmistakable warning about autumn. Not far away was Sister Jean Ersfeld, working the keyboard on her 465 Sound ToneBank Casio electric piano. Lets call it serenading. The nature of Sacred Heart has changed with the times and is now most significantly home to a large Hispanic community. It was a food pickup last Saturday morning, and a line of cars drove past the open end of a big rental truck and people were taking dairy and produce and dry goods. Food. Not quite water turned to wine, but close enough if the kids are hungry.

Who qualifies? I asked the boss.

No questions asked, the boss said.

I looked up at the words engraved in granite on the front of the church.

Does Iglesia Del Sagrado Corazon mean Sacred Heart?

I hope so, the boss said.

Her name is Lynore Girmscheid. She and Sister Jean are members of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, my favorite order of nuns, not counting the Daughters of Charity, because they featured that heavily starched cornette that suggested they were wearing a fixed wing for takeoff. The SSND rose in the rankings after a couple of SSND stalwarts wrote to me wondering if the Crabby Coffee Shop was real. Sister Jean is the musical director at Sacred Heart. When Jerry Lowe, a deacon at Sacred Heart and a connected fellow with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, organized the food made available with the help of Target and Costco and others, Sister Jean thought she and Lynore might spice it up with a little salsa and a hymn or two if they were lively enough.

Times are tough around here, Lowe, who is 84, told me. We do what we can do. Every other week, we do the same service at Incarnation Church in Minneapolis.

The musicians, of course, dont charge a cent. They take the edge off what might be a burdensome errand for those in need and introduce a note of festivity. The pickup runs from 8 to 10 a.m., and people can check their bulletins for the schedule.

I can call Lynore boss with accuracy. For years, she was the liturgical director at Lumen Christi in Highland Park and for reasons that still baffle me, I ended up on her decorating crew as hard labor. I hauled wreathes up from the storage tunnels under the church, moved ladders around and fed spools of lights to a guy actually on the ladder. She was a good boss and often sprung us laborers early so we wouldnt miss the kickoff.

The boss has always been the inclusive type and wanted me to meet Prisciliano Maya, who is the Spanish Mass minister. Thats what she does. She works the room and gets to know people. If I hadnt brushed off college-level Spanish so many years ago, I could have had a chat with Prisciliano.

That vast asphalt parking lot now humming with graciousness? On Aug. 26, 1994, St. Paul police officer Ron Ryan Jr. responded to a man sleeping in a car in the same Sacred Heart parking lot. As Ryan approached the car, Guy Harvey Baker shot Ryan dead and then stole the officers gun. A few hours later, the same guy killed officer Timothy Jones and his police canine, Laser. A dark, dark day. It was everybody on deck at the Pioneer Press. I hadnt been back since.

You know about the parking lot, boss?

I know, she said. I know.

And then she returned to her music. Its what she has to give.

Joe Soucheray can be reached at jsoucheray@pioneerpress.com. Soucherays Garage Logic podcast can be heard at garagelogic.com.

Originally posted here:

Soucheray: On the stoop of Sacred Heart Church, they do what they can do - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press

The 2020 national conventions marked one of the strangest two-week stretches in American politics. Typical sights and sounds, like bustling arenas and balloon drops, were replaced with Zoom calls, prerecorded messages, empty halls and the unprecedented and, some have suggested, illegal backdrop of the White House.

Which party handled all the curve balls thrown their way? More than 160 of Floridas brightest political minds weighed in, and more than half said the Democrats had the better four-night affair.

The Democrats came across as more hopeful, energized and more personal, said one Republican operative. The GOP was all about placing blame on others, never empathizing with the current state of affairs. It was very negative.

The Tampa Bay Times regularly surveys the Florida Insiders campaign staff, party insiders, consultants, lobbyists, former politicians and other close followers of Sunshine State politics. They are allowed to answer anonymously so they can speak candidly.

About 55 percent of respondents said Democrats had a more effective convention than Republicans. The Democratic National Convention featured celebrity presenters, a video roll call vote featuring an eclectic mix of speakers from all 50 states and prime time speeches from the Barack and Michelle Obama. Former Vice President Joe Biden interviewed Americans on the problems facing the country.

It was better produced television, better ratings and a more focused message, one Democratic consultant said.

Biden capped the four nights with a short (by convention standards) acceptance speech that hit on a bunch of themes Insiders said will help him in November: unity and competent leadership. Two-thirds of Insiders said his speech was better than President Donald Trumps 80-minute teleprompter address from the White House lawn.

What made it better? It was short, one Democrat said. Many others said that just by appearing resolute and composed, Biden overcome the bumbling, aging caricature created by the Trump campaign.

Expectations were low and Biden proved himself a competent orator, one independent Insider said.

The Republican convention was a largely a Trump production. He appeared every night. Speaking slots were filled with family, loyalists and, in a flouting of customs and perhaps federal law, members of the presidents Cabinet.

Americans see/hear/read about Trump every single day and perceptions of him are well baked in, one Republican said. It is doubtful those perceptions will be changed by a parade of Trump family members regurgitating the same talking points theyve heard ad nauseam.

Others arent so sure. One Republican suggested that while the anti-Trump crowd may have preferred the Democratic convention, the Republican counter punch may have solidified wavering GOP voters.

Democrats do themselves serious harm if they fail to recognize how effective that Trump convention was, another Republican said. Rather than laughing at the likes of Kimberly Guilfoyle, they should double their efforts to unseat the dangerous con man in the White House. Ignore the polls. Trump absolutely can win this thing.

Six in 10 Insiders said Trumps focus on crime, unrest and socialism under Democrats wasnt a winning message for this election cycle. Most thought Bidens calls for bringing the country together would do better with voters in November.

But some Insiders said Trumps message will resonate with the most important voters in swing states that will decide the election.

The ongoing images and news stories of violence and riots currently happening gave the Republicans an edge in selling their message, one independent said.

Or, as one Democrat put it, Fear is a stronger motivator.

After watching the two parties navigate conventions in a pandemic, nearly 80 percent of Insiders said theyre expecting a return to a more traditional format in 2024, albeit with some new twists learned from this go around.

Having been a delegate twice to the (Democratic National Convention), I do prefer in person events, but not sure thats possible going forward, one said.

A past Republican National Convention delegate agreed. While the words may be the same, the atmosphere is what really makes the difference. I felt like I was watching a weeks worth of commercials for each party. The live atmosphere makes a difference. I found myself bored and tempted to turn the channel because the format lacked the same atmosphere.

Conventions need to be reimagined, one Republican said. They are expensive, cumbersome and serve no real purpose in the modern era except to enrich the media buyers, consultants, and staff that work on them. The money would be much better spent on issue advocacy and messaging to the electorate.

This months Florida Insider Poll included 80 Republicans, 66 Democrats and 17 respondents who were registered no-party affiliation or to another party. They are:

Tom Alte, Jason Altmire, Fernand Amandi, Peter Antonacci , Scott Arceneaux, Donna Arduin, Dave Aronberg, Jon M. Ausman, Roger Austin, Ryan Banfill, Christina Barker, Scott Barnhart, Rodney Barreto, Patrick Baskette, Ashley Bauman, Slater Bayliss, Geoffrey Becker, Sam Bell, Wayne Bertsch, Taylor Biehl, Ron Bilbao, Paul Bradshaw, Alex Burgos, Dominic M. Calabro, Kristy Campbell, Tim Canova, Al Cardenas, Gabriela Castillo, Kevin Cate, Mitch Ceasar, Brad Coker, Mike Colodny, Hunter Conrad, Gus Corbella , Ana Cruz, Husein Cumber, Carlos Curbelo, David Custin, Richard DeNapoli, Pablo Diaz, Victor DiMaio, Tony DiMatteo, Michael Dobson, Paula Dockery, Doc Dockery, Bob Doyle, Pete Dunbar, Barry Edwards, Mike Fasano, Peter Feaman, Mark Ferrulo, Damien Filer, Kirk Fordham, Pamela Burch Fort, Brian Franklin, Towson Fraser, Keith Frederick, Ellen Freidin, Jack Furnari, Eduardo Gamarra, Wayne Garcia, Stephen Gaskill, Steve Geller, Richard Gentry, Julia Gill Woodward, Susan Glickman, Alma Gonzalez, Ron Greenstein , Thomas Grigsby, Thomas Grigsby, Ralph Haben, Mike Hamby, Marion Hammer, Chris Hand, Mike Hanna, Abel Harding, James Harris, Rich Heffley, Bill Helmich, Cynthia Henderson , Jim Horne, Yolanda Jackson, Aubrey Jewett, Eric Johnson, David Johnson, Christina Johnson, Stafford Jones, Ken Jones, Doug Kaplan, Fred Karlinsky, Joshua Karp, John Konkus, Chri Korge , Jeff Kottkamp, Kartik Krishnaiyer, Bill Lee, Matt Lettelleir, Jack Levine, Alan Levine, Bethany Leytham, Shannon Love, Javier Manjarres, William March, Beth Matuga, Kim McDougal, Nancy McGowan, Clarence McKee, Kathy Mears, Jamie Miller, Jon Mills, Paul Mitchell, Travis Moore, Lucy Morgan, John Morgan, Ana Navarro, Meredith ORourke, Alex Patton, Darryl Paulson, Anthony Pedicini, Jorge Pedraza, Juan Penalosa, Evelyn Prez-Verda, Joseph Perry, Ron Pierce, Juan-Carlos Planas, Van Poole, Evan Power, Marc Reichelderfer, George Riley, Jim Rimes, Franco Ripple, Patrick Roberts, Monica Rodriguez, Jason Rosenberg, Sarah Rumpf, Ron Sachs, April Salter, April Schif, Stephen Shiver , Kyle Simon, Alex Sink, Patrick Slevin, Susan Smith, Adam Smith, John Stemberger, Phillip Thompson, Cory Tilley, Greg C. Truax, Frank Tsamoutales, Steve Uhlfelder, Christian Ulvert, Jason Unger, Matthew Van Name, Ashley Walker, Nancy Watkins, Screven Watson, Kevin Watson, Jonathan Webber, Andrew Weinstein, Rick Wilson, Leslie Wimes, Jon Woodard, Zachariah Zachariah, Mark Zubaly

Continued here:

Biden had better convention speech and a winning message, Florida Insiders say. - Tampa Bay Times

Even after last evenings first night qualifying session, the best run in Funny Car in the three races since the resumption of racing following the pandemic shutdown does not belong to points leader Tommy Johnson Jr. or race winners Matt Hagan or Ron Capps. It belongs instead to Paul Lee and crew chiefs Jim Oberhofer and Donnie Bender, even if in an unofficial capacity.

In round one of eliminations at the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals at Indy in early July, Lees Global Electronic Technology Toyota covered the 1,000-foot course in 3.888 seconds. The only problem was that he clipped the finish line timers, disqualifying the run, but it was still enough to get the attention of the Funny car pits. Only Capps, who ran 3.895 to lead Friday qualifying, and Johnson, who ran 3.896 to beat Capps at the first Indy race, have been close.

The car has been running great, but its really been mishandling, he said, in a bit of an understatement, as he also took out a timing block at the last race. We took the car back over to Don Schumacher Racing because its a clone of their cars. Rahn Tobler went over the whole steering setup and found where it had been binding and preventing me from turning the wheel when the car was under downforce.

Lee, like almost everyone, has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Because he has heart disease and also contracted pneumonia two decades ago, hes been very cautious with his health as those factors could put him at extra risk if he were to catch the coronavirus. In addition to the mandatory temperature checks that all people entering the racetrack must undergo, Lee also checks his crew again in the pit area. He also provided free COVID-19 tests for the employees of his businesses.

On the positive side, Lees FTI transmission and McLeod Clutches businesses during the pandemic has skyrocketed.

People arent going to the movies or going on vacations or even going out to dinner in some states; theyre staying at home working on their hobbies, and for a lot of them that means cars. Weve sold twice as many transmission kits as we did last year, and we still have four months to go.

Additionally, with the 11-race shortened schedule, Lee will get to race the entire season for the first time; he entered the year expecting only to run 15 of the planned 24 races. He sits 10th in points and would love to remain in the top 10. Throughout his entire career, hes only finished in the top 10 once, in 2004, when he was racing in Alcohol Funny Car and scored all three of his career national event victories.

Can a first nitro win be far behind?

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Paul Lee has one of the quickest Funny Cars on the tour; is a win coming soon? - NHRA.com

Mindy Leary, Gilpin County. On August 25, 2020, the Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners met online at 9 a.m. for their regular biweekly meeting. Commissioners Gail Watson and Ron Engels were present as were County Attorney Brad Benning and County Manager Abel Montoya. Linda Isenhart was absent due to a family emergency. Highlights included a Covid-19 update, the Protect Our Neighbor application, a setback variance and a discussion of mill levies to be on the next ballot.

Emergency Manager Nate Whittington said they have moved all their PPE supplies into a warehouse and electronically inventoried everything. Gilpin County OEM and the Sheriffs Office was awarded $36,000 for a hazard mitigation plan.

This was a cooperative effort between Central City, Black Hawk and Timberline. It was a whole community approach, said Whittington. All were in favor to accept this award.

Public Health Coordinator Bonnie Albrecht presented the Protect Our Neighbors application which means the county can increase their capacity to 500 people as long as social distancing can be enforced.

Three metrics are necessary, adequate hospital beds, sufficient PPE and sufficient testing. Gilpin meets all these requirements. Case investigations, contact tracing and containment plans are in place. All were in favor of submitting the Protect Our Neighbors application.

Senior Planner Stephen Strohminger and Francoise of DTJ Designs presented an update on the Comprehensive Plan for Gilpin County. The final draft will be delivered on October 27.

The board recessed as Board of Commissioners and reconvened as the Board of Adjustments for a public hearing about a setback variance request for 147 Athena Road presented by Planner Tami Archer. Staff recommended the variance because of a utility relocation hardship. Neighbors had no objection and board approved variance request for BOA-20-01.

The board then reconvened as Board of Commissioners.

Montoya led the Parks and Recreation Operating and Capital Expenditures discussion which took a closer look at the Community Center budget in relation to mill levies. It would be a 3-mill ongoing expense. Montoya said, The question is what do sustainable mill levies look like for Gilpin County.

Sheriff Kevin Armstrong discussed the Sheriffs Office Operating and Capital Expenditures and how imperative it is to meet state mandates to retain post-certification for officers. Body cameras and the release of body cam footage would require $610,000 over a ten-year period. Fully funding the Sheriffs Office is one of the countys statutory requirements.

The Sheriffs Office requested 4.07 mills but Watson believed it could be pared down to under 4 mills. Engels said, A mill levy request was in the works pre-Covid. We need to be thinking about all of the need in the county for the long term. Ongoing operating expenses are 2.27 mills with the remaining 1.8 being repairs, improvements and non-funded mandates.

County Attorney Brad Benning talked about potential ballot questions. The commissioners would like to have the mill levy question for the Sheriffs Office be something slightly under 4 mills.

September 3 is the deadline for official decisions regarding ballot questions with a final discussion on September 1. The school system and the library may also be asking for a mill levy on the next ballot.

Based on my assessed valuation, it increases my taxes by $19/month for the Sheriffs Office, the Community Center and the Library. So, Im in. said Watson.

Property taxes have been historically declining accorded to Gallagher laws and This ballot issue is meant to address that, said Benning.

Presently the state legislature may change this law and that may or may not mean an improvement. This mill levy gives the county the ability to manage its own destiny, said Benning.

Resolution 20-17 to refer ballot issues to the registered electors of the Gilpin County Library District was passed unanimously.

Clerk and Recorder Sahari McCormick presented four IGAs (Intergovernmental Agreements) about elections in the cities of Black Hawk, Central City, the Gilpin School District and the Library. Engels said they are pretty much boiler plate agreements and the four resolutions passed.

Jennifer Cook presented on Covid guidelines and contact tracing for the community garden. She shared pictures for the Western Fair grant, a sustainable agriculture grant in the amount of five to six thousand dollars. The motion to accept the grant application passed unanimously.

Abel Montoya and Jaime Tirado said there would be no increase in fees over the next five years with the Opengov contract renewal for permitting software. As a reminder, Gilpins county and office reports are updated at least monthly online via the county website.

Timberline Chief Paul Ondr will be nominated for the George Masati Fire Chief of the Year Award. It will honor an individuals positive contributions to leadership, innovation, professional development, integrity, service to the public and contributions to the Colorado Fire Service as a whole. Watson said, He certainly fits that bill.

The public had questions and comments at the end of the meeting ranging from tax questions to mill levy concerns. Forty-six people were still present at the end of the near five hour meeting.

The meeting adjourned but the board reconvened for a work session about the Capital Improvement Plan. Montoya talked about surveys given during recent meetings that resulted in this final draft. Capital improvement plans typically span 20 years and are effective in understanding how short-term plans should or should not supplant long-term goals.

The next regular meeting for the Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners will be held on Tuesday, September 8, 2020, at 9 a.m. virtually and can be accessed by following the instructions on the current agenda on the Gilpin County Commissioners website at http://www.gilpincounty.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=9285259&pageId=11072364

(Originally published in the August 27, 2020, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)

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Gilpin to have multiple mill levies on ballot - The Mountain -Ear

Results from golf league play around Polk County through Aug. 31 with format, date, event and winners by flight or class in alphabetical order.

Big Cypress 18-Hole Ladies, Two Best Balls, Aug. 25: Heidi Aittama/Diana Berube/Darlene Wohlers-Piper/Gail Hanus 144. Closest to pin: No. 5 - Joanne Burkemper.

Cleveland Heights Men's Wednesday, Aug. 26: Green Tee - Paul Boeh plus 1, Meese Ratley even, Lincoln Jacobs and Rick Morrison minus 1; Yellow - Matthew David plus 2, Ron Berry and Ted Thrasher tied at minus 1, Bill Griffith and Mike Rickels both at minus 3. Closest to pin: Green - Woody Blades.

Cleveland Heights Tuesday Men's, Draw and Quota Points, Aug. 25: Kevin Mimbs/Gibson James/Bob Reichert/Bennie Boutwell minus 4, Paul Pelchat/Dick Gebo/Ron Berry/Mike Rickels minus 5, Dennis Compton/Pete Selmon/Joe Albright/Walt Wilson minus 6. Closest to pin: A2 -Paul Pelchat and Kevin Mimbs; A9 - Joe Albright; C8 - Gibson James. Best Over Quota: A - Ken Warren and Dick Gebo plus 1; B - Dennis Compton plus 1; C - Mike Mimnaugh plus 3.

Hamptons Men's, Net Stroke Play, Aug. 25: A Flight - Mark Torr 52, Bill Colclaser 53, Terry Foster 54; B - Earl Kotsonis 58, Joe Schultz 61 on a match of cards over Wayne Smithson. Closest to pin: No. 3 - Bill Spivey; No. 8 - Mark Torr.

Lake Ashton Blue Man Group, Four-Player Best One Net, Aug. 26: Front 9 - Dane Somers/Darrell Saxton/Clyde Kitts/Vince Adamo 24; Mike Ferraro/Jim Fish/Bill Bothwell/Ghost 25; Steve Burrell/Larry Griffin/Jim Jameson/Jerry Getters and Chuck Hunziker/Tom Scali/Don Fuller/Fred Halde tied at 26; Back 9 - Mike Ferraro/Jim Fish/Bill Bothwell/Ghost and George Wilkinson/Steve Haynes/Bob Yeager/Norm Wirtala tied at 29; Steve Burrell/Larry Griffin/Jim Jameson/Jerry Getters 31.

Lake Ashton Ladies 18-Holers, Team Net Stableford Points, Aug. 25: Trish Kellar/Dotty Custenborder/Lynne Abbott/Kay Hwang 149, Jan Baun/Paula Elmers/Joanne McKinley/Nancy Zografos 147, Deb Nettleton/Pam Pagel/Patty Wallner/Sue Buss 141.

Lake Ashton Men's, Florida "Step-A-Side" Scramble, Aug. 26: Harry Krumrie/Ed Hansen/Don Connors/Jim Ford 54.5, Denis Lussier/Jim Capra/Mike Lavigna/Denis Mulhearn 56.3, Gary Pagel/Bob Zelazny/Randall Carpenter/Armand Favreau 57.2.

Lake Bess Friday 4 p.m. Men's Scramble, Random Team Draw, Aug. 28: Doug Wilson/Dan Petrie/Ollen Melvin minus 3. Closest to pin: No. 3 - Bill Bennet; No. 7 - Ollen Melvin.

Lake Bess Tuesday 7 a.m. Mens Scramble, Random Team Draw, Aug. 25: Hoppy Cassady/Dan Petry/Joe Gulini/Neal Mcbride minus 3. Closest to pin: No. 7 - Neal Mcbride.

Lakeland Elks Lodge 1291 Monday League, Lake Bernadette, Aug. 31: Mike Marden plus 3, Bob Lutz plus 2, Dave Norwine plus 1 on a match of cards over Ed Carley. Closest to pin: No. 6 and 11 - Bob Lutz (50/50).

Ridge Men's, Wedgewood, Aug. 27: Paul Forkner plus 4, Tom O'Connor plus 3, Bobby Lasseter, Carroll Lasseter and Elio Hernandez all at minus 1. Closest to pin: No. 4 and 8 - Gary Terrell; No. 11 - Tom O'Connor; No. 15 - Dennis Johnston.

Schalamar Creek Couples', Four-Person Scramble (9 Holes), Aug. 26: First Flight - Gordon Claffey/JoAnne Claffey/Jim Brandeberry/Linda Bushong 34, David Kelter/Kathy Kelter/Al Atwood/Sherry Hand 36.

Schalamar Creek Ladies', Mystery Hole Toss Out (9 Holes), Aug. 25: First Flight - Carol Sutton 35, Barb McLaughlin 37.

Schalamar Creek Men's, Count Best Score From A/D, Count Best Score From B/C, Add Both Scores, Aug. 24: First Flight - Clayt Liljequist/Larry Smith/Don Eby/Dan Heffelfinger 122, George Reimel/Buzz Carnes/Joe McElhenny/Paul Loftis 129.

BARTOW INDIVIDUAL POINTS, Wednesdays, nine holes, make up your own foursome, $17 ($12 green fee and cart), pays all plus scores, night specials in the lounge. Call 863-533-9183.

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS MENS, tee times available 7:30-8:30 a.m. Wednesday through Monday and Friday, groups or individuals welcome, quota points with skins optional, eight to 10 groups now play. Call Paul Boeh at 863-738-4129.

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS TUESDAY WOMENS, every Tuesday, tee times start at 8:30 a.m. Call Shirley Kalck at 863-853-9566.

HUNTINGTON HILLS TWO-ASIDE, Saturdays, 18-Hole Points Quota. Check in by 8:15 a.m. Contact Terri White at 863-5594082 oreagle-2par@aol.com.

HUNTINGTON HILLS WHY WORRY WEDNESDAYS, Nine-Hole Quota Points, 5:15 p.m. shotgun start. Contact Terri White at 863-559-4082 oreagle-2par@aol.com.

LAKELAND MENS SENIOR GOLF, 7:30 a.m. shotgun starts, play against golfers within your handicap. Call Dave Brown at 419-656-5747.

LPGA AMATEUR GOLF ASSOCIATION is looking for women and men to play in weekly Wednesday league and every other Saturday at various courses in the Winter Haven/Lakeland/Orlando and other areas. For more information, email Kathy Mannahan atpjacobs21@tampabay.rr.com.

POLO PARK MENS TUESDAY SCRAMBLE, 7:30 a.m. sign in. Random team draw. 18-Hole. For more information, call Polo Park Pro Shop at 863-424-3341.

POLO PARK MENS SATURDAY SCRAMBLE, 7:30 a.m. sign in. Random team draw. 18-Hole. For more information, call Polo Park Pro Shop at 863-424-3341.

RIDGE MENS THURSDAY QUOTA POINTS TOURNAMENTS, 7:30 a.m. tee time starts. Call Carroll Lasseter at 863-299-5350.

WEDGEWOOD THREE-MAN SCRAMBLE, nine holes; Tuesdays at 5 p.m.; call Marcus at 863-858-4451 by 2:30 p.m. to play.

WEDGEWOOD TWO-ASIDE GAME, 9 a.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays; 18-hole points game with skins and blind draw; call Marcus at 863-858-4451.

WEDGEWOOD MIXED CO-ED SCRAMBLE, 2 p.m. Thursdays. Call Marcus at 863-858-4451 by 1 p.m. to play.

E-mail results of local golf tournaments, aces and upcoming tournaments tomquinn@theledger.com; or mail to Golf News, Ledger Sports Department, P.O. Box 408, Lakeland, Fla., 33802. Include complete scores and league names. Deadline is Monday at 5 p.m.

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Local golf league results and upcoming tournaments around Polk County - The Ledger

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Detroit Potentially, this is the final month of Ron Gardenhires tenure as Tigers manager. His three-year contract is up at the end of this season. Not only has the pandemic cheated him out of 102 games, its also made this one of the most challenging seasons of his 40 years in professional baseball.

So, Saturday seemed as good a time as any to ask him about his future. Has he had any discussions with general manager Al Avila about his future?

No, he said. I dont typically do that during the year. Its not something Im worried about at all, to tell you the truth. I have a contract for three years. Ive not ever come close to talking about that. I dont really want to, not until the season is over.

Ron Gardenhire(Photo: Robin Buckson, Detroit News)

Avila has also not broached the subject. He and Gardenhire have had an easy, comfortable working relationship over these three years and one thing they both agree on is, no contract talk until the season ends.

Gardenhire took the job knowing the Tigers were going into a full rebuild and it was going to be his job to nurture young players and placate veterans on short contracts through the process. It seems almost cruel to ask him to bow out now, just as things are turning around and those prospects he helped bring into the system are getting to the big leagues.

On the other hand, Gardenhire is 62 and the rigors of this season have worn on him, visibly. Whether they have tempered his desire to manage beyond this contract, hes not saying right now.

Im just trying to get through this thing, he said. Its not something I am too awfully worried about either way. Ive been doing this a long, long time. Ill make the decision as we go along, toward the end of this thing.

Gardenhires son Toby was supposed to be managing the Twins Triple-A affiliate in Rochester this season. Instead, he is running the teams taxi squad in St. Paul.

Hes doing good, Ron Gardenhire said. He says he does a lot of driving back and forth to Target Field, like a taxi service. But the camp is going as good as it can go. He enjoys it. He still gets to do baseball, which is important. There are a lot of people who arent.

Toby is having the same issues the Tigers staff is having with their taxi squad thin rosters and the Groundhogs Day tedium of simulated games and live batting practice.

You just have to try and make it a little different each day, Gardenhire said. Its a challenge at times to stay focused. But hes just glad to have a job and be working every day.

The Tigers promoted right-handed pitcher Beau Burrows from Toledo to be the 29th man for the doubleheader Saturday. You never know whats going to happen, Gardenhire said. We are facing a team with a lot of good hitters. If our starters get knocked out early, then you really have to ad-lib with your pitching. We needed to make sure we were protected in that area.

Gardenhire was asked what the biggest challenge was facing the Twins lineup: One through nine, he said.

The Tigers-Twins game that was postponed Friday night will be made up as part of a straight seven-inning doubleheader on Friday, Sept. 4 at Target Field, starting at 2:10 p.m. (ET). Minnesota will be the home team for the first game and the Tigers will be the home team for the second game.

First pitch:Sunday, 1:10 p.m.

TV/radio: FSD, 97.1

RHP Kenta Maeda (4-0, 2.21), Twins: How dominant has he been thus far? Here are opponent batting averages against his top three pitches: slider, .175; change-up, .085; four-seam fastball, .115. His hard-hit rate is among the lowest in baseball 23.6 percent.

RHP Casey Mize (0-1, 7.04), Tigers: In both his starts, Mize has had trouble finding a feel for his cutter. Its a pitch needs to complement and keep hitters honest with his splitter. The Cubs were extremely patient against him, forcing him to throw 76 pitches in just 3.1 innings.

Twitter@cmccosky

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Gardenhire: This is not right time to discuss future with Tigers - The Detroit News