The White House Ballroom

" . . . But the biggest White House remodel to date started in the 1940s. That's when President Harry S. Truman fully gutted and rebuilt the interior in response to concerns about severe structural damage. When the Trumans moved into the Executive Mansion in 1945, engineers warned them that the building was on the verge of collapse. His family relocated to temporary quarters nearby during construction, which took around three years.

 
Other presidents have directed smaller projects, like President Barack Obama. He adapted an existing tennis court so it could be used for basketball. In his second term, President Trump has already undertaken several projects — including an entirely remodeled Rose Garden. That feature was first added by First Lady Edith Wilson in 1913 and updated to its most iconic form during the Kennedy administration." (WPTZ)

And here's what Teddy Roosevelt did to it.  https://www.whitehousehistory.org/theodore-roosevelts-white-house?  

And because of the hissy fits, the WH put out a complete list.  https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/10/white-house-ballroom-proud-presidential-legacy/?   

Let's face it, folks, If President Trump had regrouted the bathroom tile, the Demikratz would have been screeching because this is about hate, not remodeling, not even money, They stomp on the unborn, mutilate children, import sex slaves, allow thousands to be poisoned by drugs, ignore terrorists crossing our borders, and elected an auto-pen to lead us. Do you really think they are bothered by some bricks and mortar?

The White House plan for inflation, health and energy

“My plan is to lower everyday costs for hardworking families and lower the deficit by asking large corporations and the wealthiest Americans to not engage in price gouging and to pay their fair share in taxes.” — President Biden (White House web site)

The Harris Biden plan to reduce government induced inflation is to blame business. They flooded the nation with money long after the Covid crisis receded (in part created by their lockdown and masking policies) with too much money chasing too few goods. Many businesses just closed and some owners who fought back went to jail (especially in Minnesota under Walz who even had a tip line so neighbors could snitch on neighbors). Are they at fault for the policies that ruined them? The "wealthiest Americans" many of whom are backing Harris, can't bail them out with higher taxes. They just move their assets off shore. There's not enough money in their investments, which we need to grow, to reverse the bad monetary policy of the Harris Biden years.

The same WH message says they will take on Big Pharma, the same folks who prevented us from getting treatment for Covid because they could make greater profits with "preventive" measures that didn't work and actually wounded many Americans. Some Americans are still being terrorized by tax supported messages of fear and have submitted to 6 or 7 boosters while still wearing masks in their cars.

The same WH message says Democrats will lower our utility bills, but how will they do that when they intend to destroy fossil fuels in the pie in the sky plan to stop climate change, something that has been going on since the beginning of the record? What do you think is powering those electric vehicles? Coal!

Harris owns this. As vice president she casts the tie breaking vote in the Senate. She voted for those additional IRS agents to stop cheating on tips. Now she's running for cover by laughing and copying Trump's proposal to end taxes on tips.

 
We need a moderate Republican like Donald Trump in the White House to stop the radical leftist Democrat administration from destroying our economy and our Bill of Rights.

Now we know who is running the White House. The Easter Bunny

 The only people who will understand this are those who saw news coverage of the big jolly rabbit guarding Biden as he tried to talk to someone in the crowd about Afghanistan. The silencer stepped right between them waving his arms (front legs) and redirecting Biden to a "safe space."

Egg rolls cancelled because of Covid

I don't care much for "egg rolls" which are traditional at Easter, but cancelling them at the White House or locally in our town was a political statement, not a health statement. They are done outside, and the WH lawn is huge. The numbers could have been limited, there was plenty of space for distancing, and even children, who don't need masks, could have worn them. It was just another Biden /Democrat bureaucracy announcement that we are under his control and power, and we better not forget it.

 
We took our children ONCE as pre-schoolers to the local event in the early 70s, and swore never again. It was a mob of screaming, fighting, yelling suburban kids who one would have thought hadn't eaten in weeks. It terrified our little ones and we never went to another one.

 

We had our own Easter egg hunt at our house in 1973 with the Clarks. Phil and Rich used their cowboy hats as Easter baskets.

Why retirees have problems cleaning out the files

Have you ever tried to clean out your storage or files and found out it takes days to go through one drawer or file cabinet or closet? For me, the big mistake is sitting down to read something I wrote 25-30 years ago. I don't know what happens in the offices of retired pastors who preach every Sunday and lead Bible studies or school teachers who saved reams of projects and lesson plans, but it's a nightmare for librarians like me who have attend hundreds of meetings and who had publishing requirements for promotion and tenure and saved all their notes.

For instance, my notes (never published because they were for me) for "The Ohio White House Conferences on Library and Information Services--Literacy," September 27 (1990?) held at the Worthington Holiday Inn. I'm not sure why I attended--it seemed to be for public librarians, and not academic. We live in different worlds and focus on totally different problems and clientele. Ohio doesn't have a "White House" so the title means each state or region was having meetings to funnel information back to the President--George H.W. Bush--information on which any administration rarely acts, but the money would have come from the federal government. My writing style always includes off topic ideas that occur to me, so before I wrote out my notes, I commented on the poor representation of the media at this conference and I blamed my profession, not the media.

"Librarians have been notorious for not being able to market their product. Distilleries put their information on billboards in the inner city and at interstate exchanges. Librarians put notices on bookmarks which can only be picked up in libraries. Cigarette companies give away cigarettes to induce a life time addiction. Librarians give away time and effort registering voters and showing movies in hopes that the user might check out a book. Librarians sponsor National Library Week when for the cost they could probably create one of those phony commercial talk shows for cable television that are on every channel from midnight on. Targeting neighborhoods with direct mail campaigns has sold millions of dollars worth of goods, but when was the last time you received a doorhanger from the library except at levy time? Have you ever received a phone call from a telemarketer interrupting your dinner to ask if your library card in current?

There are millions of literate people who never set foot in a library. They either don't need them, don't like them, or have had bad experiences in them. They join book clubs, subscribe to magazines and newspapers; they visit book stores and book sales, but not libraries. There are also millions of literate people who are non-readers. . .

The largest, single common denominator identifying all librarians is that we are members of that particular cultural group--the readers. We are so chauvinistic we cannot imagine anyone could be happy who doesn't share this common trait. Librarians have created every imaginable network, coalition, association, and service organization to lure people into their libraries, but they haven't been able to keep libraries in the schools, not even with all the dues we pay. We can't even get a librarian appointed as the "Librarian of Congress." [note: that did finally happen under Obama--a 3-fer, Carla Hayden, black, female, librarian]."

And I went on to mention the dropping numbers (30 years ago) for literacy among children, even in families where moms read to them. Then I wrote about the activities at my public library that week for children: 4 programs involving movies, and 3 for Halloween crafts.

I went on and on for pages--have no idea what happened at the conference. This was 8 typed pages, and no information on what resulted from the meeting. There is a printed report listed on Amazon as out of stock, Jan. 1, 1990, and a copy in the OSU library.

Maybe some attitudes have changed in libraries the last 30 years. I'm no longer an insider. If there were two institutions that should have been considered essential during this shut down it was churches and libraries. Both are filled with evangelists for their passion, and both were silenced, submissive and shuttered.

Trump trumps the media again

They are going bonkers with hate filled monologues, articles and jokes about the President offering football players fast food since the Democrats have shut down the government and there was no food service in the White House.  Can’t believe how humorless and pointless “journalists” have become. I think their ratings are lower than Congress.  What 20-something kid doesn’t love fast food?  Some lefties are calling the feast “racist!”  New Yorker calls it “banal.” Americans spend over $200 Billion a year on fast food and they are dissing the deplorables again. Wow.  Elitism rides again rough shod over Americans.   They even criticized the President for saying the first and second lady could make salads apparently putting down all women with the comment.  Can’t believe them—it isn’t fake news, it’s inability to understand a joke, a wise crack or a nuance.

 

Apparently it’s OK for Planned Parenthood to put their billboards and clinics in black neighborhoods, but fast food companies shouldn’t do that—according to some lefty web sites I’ve seen—and I won’t link because they don’t deserve to be paid by their advertisers.   They are all capitalists, but the media are just more self-righteous.

FLOTUS as a fashion trend setter

It's really too bad that the Trump haters have refused to feature the lovely Melania Trump on magazine covers--I'd love to have dresses available that come to mid calf or lower. I might even buy something new. There's not much between jeans with holes and dresses 1" below the panty line.

Trump haters even criticize the White House Christmas decor

  

Melania Trump was raked over the coals by social media nobodies and the somebodies in the anti-Trump know nothing media.

This Amelia, Ohio, florist was part of the team that put this stunning display together.

“This was one of my Masterpieces! 10 feet high this big one behind me. We pinned each and every one of these single little cluster of berries on one by one. It took hours! All of the styrofoam cones underneath had to be totally covered. We even had to go back and paint the silver pins each one with a red paint pen to cover the mechanics. I thought we would never get finished. We had 45 of these trees to cover and complete in 3 days. It's a miracle they turned out so perfect.” (Facebook)

https://www.aim.org/aim-column/media-sees-red-on-melanias-white-house-decorations/

https://amp.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/28/melania-trump-defends-red-christmas-trees-i-think-/

https://people.com/politics/melania-trump-red-white-house-christmas-trees-online-criticism/amp/

And the Washington Post, always with the evil eye on the White House, said a red tree is a diseased tree.

Another incident with the Secret Service—8 days ago—not reported to Clancy, Obama, or Congress

I don’t know why Eric Holder criticizes the Ferguson police when the Secret Service can’t even keep the President out of harm’s way and act like the Keystone Cops (silent film comedies).

“Learning that top-ranking Secret Service officials — including the second-in-charge of President Obama's own personal detail — went out drinking, then plowed their government car into a barrier at the White House, would ordinarily ignite shock among administration officials and lawmakers.

Instead, that news Wednesday led only to disappointed head-shaking in Washington, where scandals involving the agency now seem to appear regularly.” CNN report

Interfered with a crime scene, and a supervisor wouldn’t allow them to be tested for blood alcohol for sobriety.  Then the story wasn’t released for over a week.

“[Joseph P.] Clancy has told lawmakers he learned of the allegations Monday, according to people familiar with the discussions. That is five days after the incident, which involved two of his most senior agents, including a top member of President Obama’s protective detail.

Lawmakers did not learn of the episode, however, until it was reported by The Post on Wednesday.” Bomb investigation

Always. It’s always about him.

Obama is twice as large as JFK in this official photograph.

• Gutsy call: President Obama disgracefully honors himself in speech, campaigns on Memorial Day
• All the president’s ego: conservatives mock Obama’s insertion of his name into other presidential bios
• Narcissist in chief: Obama honors Neil Armstrong with picture of himself
• President Obama marks end of combat operations in Iraq with another portrait of himself
• All about him: Obama’s birthday tweet to Biden is a pic of himself
• Narcissist in chief: President Obama honors Rosa Parks anniversary with picture of himself
• Disgrace: President Obama commemorates Pearl Harbor attack with photo of himself
• Narcissist in chief: Obama maintains laser-like focus on himself at Inouye memorial
• Obama’s narcissism during Inouye service even noted by Slate; White House posts Inouye photo starring Obama

Link to the links

New words in our political vocabulary

New words coined in October 2013--both developed from the pettiness and meanness of Barack Obama. 1) Barry-cades, those obstacles placed to keep elderly veterans in wheelchairs away from privately funded memorials in the mall, the same mall that is open to SEIU immigration demonstration, 2) Spite House, a house the people own and the president and his family temporarily live there, now a symbol of Chicago thuggery instead of freedom.

Our petty, petulant President is pouting

What a terrible example to set “for the children,” the ones he usually uses as back drops (even dead children) to pass his expensive legislation.

Charles Krauthammer says: "The President’s travel expenses alone for the golfing outing with Tiger Woods would pay for a year of White House visits. So I suggest that perhaps he curtailed the travel, or perhaps auction off the set of clubs and he might be able to allow those Iowa tots to come through the White House," Krauthammer added. "I'm not cynical enough – I’m trying."

All Obama all the time

Even for the children’s egg roll at the White House—it’s not about the kids, or Easter—it’s about Obama.  This man’s narcissism knows no bounds.  Basketball players joined in with a clinic for the kids, and the balls all had Obama campaign images on them.

Look here if you dare.  It’s sickening.

Lavish state dinner for Mexican hypocrite

I don't know the cost of Wagyu steak, but a hamburger is $40.00 for half a pound. It's over the top that President Obama so lavishly entertains a "neighbor" who is so critical of us, when Calderone's own immigration policy is much more harsh, "anti-brown" and racist than ours.

State Dinner Menu for Mexican President Calderon: Oregon Wagyu Beef in Oaxacan Black Mole. Briefing Memo - Lynn Sweet

For example:

An immigrant who becomes a naturalized Mexican citizen can be stripped of his Mexican citizenship if he lives again in the country of his origin for more than five years, under Article 37. Mexican-born citizens risk no such loss.

Foreign-born, naturalized Mexican citizens may not become federal lawmakers (Article 55), cabinet secretaries (Article 91) or supreme court justices (Article 95).

The president of Mexico, like the president of the United States, constitutionally must be a citizen by birth, but Article 82 of the Mexican constitution mandates that the president’s parents also be Mexican-born citizens, thus according secondary status to Mexican-born citizens born of immigrants.

The Mexican constitution forbids immigrants and naturalized citizens to become members of the clergy. Article 130 says, “To practice the ministry of any denomination in the United Mexican States it is necessary to be a Mexican by birth.”

The Mexican constitution singles out “undesirable aliens.” Article 11 guarantees federal protection against “undesirable aliens resident in the country.”

The Mexican constitution provides the right of private individuals to make citizen’s arrests. Article 16 states, “in cases of flagrante delicto, any person may arrest the offender and his accomplices, turning them over without delay to the nearest authorities.” Therefore, the Mexican constitution appears to grant Mexican citizens the right to arrest illegal aliens and hand them over to police for prosecution.

The Mexican constitution states that foreigners may be expelled for any reason and without due process. According to Article 33, “the Federal Executive shall have the exclusive power to compel any foreigner whose remaining he may deem inexpedient to abandon the national territory immediately and without the necessity of previous legal action.”

http://www.c4ads.org/files/waller_csp_apr2006_mexico.pdf

A year after the promised transparency

White House dot gov yesterday, when everyone was focused on the crotch bomber or leaving the office for a 4 day week-end, another 25,000 new WH visitor list were posted for Sept 16-30. It was announced on Sept. 4, and this list appeared on December 30. It's pretty tedious to look through (like the e-mails of climategate), and by the time you're finished reading all the times the words "historic commitment," "unprecedented transparency," "milestones in transparency," and "transparency initiatives" the phrases begin to sound a bit hollow, PR-ish, and oh so campaign trail. Well, they promised December, they didn't say when, or how much. Who knew everyone who walked through as a tourist would be included with SEIU reps, CEOs of banks and equity firms and hundreds of lobbyists (apparently they are OK as long as they are "transparent"). Looks like more of the same MO--overwhelm us with information and then strike when the public is flat out gob smacked. While we look at all the energy CEOs' visits, they'll sneak cap and trade or amnesty for illegals in.

Robert Wenzel says these folks were there:

Further research shows that Goldman Sach's CEO Lloyd Blankfein pretty much spent the entire day at the White House on October 29. He met with the president twice that day (one meeting had 119 attendees the other 16). On that day he also met one-on-one with Larry Summers. He also met one-on-one with Summers on February 4.

On October 29, Jamie Dimon met with the president twice, it appears in the same meetings as Blankfein. He also met on that day with Larry Summers but with another person present. He also met one-on-one with Rahm Emanuel that day, something Blankfein did not get to do.

Steven Rattner, who for a time ran the government's auto task force and is co-founder of the investment firm, Quadrangle Group, met with Larry Summers over 25 times.

Microsoft's Steve Ballmer met with Summers once. George Soros met with Summers in February.

While SEIU President Andy Stern doesn't show up on the visitors list this time, after topping it last time, his top assistant Anna Burger met with the President 10 times.

Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, met with the President 4 times.

In addition to his many meetings with Larry Summers, Steve Rattner met with the President twice.

David Rubenstein co-founder of the private equity firm, Carlyle Group, was in the 119 attendee meeting with Lloyd Blankfein and Jamie Dimon, when they met with the president.

Daniel Weiss, Senior Fellow and the Director of Climate Strategy, for the George Soros front group, Center for American Progress, visited with the President (in large groups) 4 times.

Ornament for the White House tree

We've been hearing some stories about some of the odd and hyper-political ornaments on the White House Tree--like Obama's face on Mt. Rushmore, Mao Tse Tung and drag performer Hedda Lettuce. The left wing bloggers/journalists are criticizing the right for being upset (although they don't refer to themselves as left wing). Actually, Mao wouldn't be the first marxist at the White House. Last year the only ornament out of 370 submitted that was rejected was political. The artists was anti-everything, including life, and that's not particularly appropriate for a Bush Christmas tree. That the Obamas kept the highly political ornaments that pleased and agreed with them, reflects their tastes.

Too bad bloggers at both ends don't focus on some of the really great ornaments, like my friend Jeanie's, a local artist, retired teacher and member of my church. She created an ornament to reflect the history of the Ohio Theater in downtown Columbus.

"The tree on which Auseon's bulb hangs is one of several trees First Lady Michelle Obama asked artists nationwide to help decorate. Obama said she wanted as much input from the country as possible when it came to celebrating the holidays in the White House.

That meant recycling about 800 ornaments left over from previous administrations and sending them out to community groups nationwide for artists to decorate. . .

She artfully covered the orb in glittery red and green ribbon and rhinestones, mixing in pictures and facts about the theater's history in three days.

"It's very ornate," she said of the piece which incorporates decoupage vintage photo of the theater on the bulb's face and nearly a foot of hanging ribbon.

Looks aside, the bulb's design is meant to tell a story, Auseon said.

"I just hope that ... they might go up to look more closely at it and, as they look more closely, that the story might reveal itself and that they'll think, 'Hey that's really neat,' " she said." SNP News

From an archival viewpoint, I would have preferred that White House ornaments not be recycled, and I don't know how far back they went (at least the 8 years of the Bush administration) and I don't know if they are federal property or belong to whoever lives there. But it would seem a "blank" canvas ornament/bulb could have been sent to the artists rather than reusing the old ones.

Common sense skeptics want to know

Gradually, the scandal in the U.K. over the hidden and doctored climate data is slowly swimming across the ocean to lap up on our beached media whales. Wall Street Journal, the most liberal of our news sources, had an article on p. A-16 today. Not ready for prime space yet--it's only been 2 weeks.

"The East Anglia institute that Dr. Jones headed has become a key player in building evidence for the U.N.'s argument that humans are behind global warming.In statements released by the institute in recent days, Dr. Jones has defended the integrity of the institute's scientific work, while saying that he and his colleagues "accept that some of the published emails do not read well."

On Tuesday, Penn State University confirmed that Michael Mann -- a climate scientist on its faculty who figures prominently in the emails -- was under "inquiry" by the university. In one email, Dr. Jones suggested to Dr. Mann that they should try to keep out of scientific journals the research of scientists who challenge the idea of manmade global warming.

The U.K. probe, to be completed next spring, will also review the climatic research unit's policies and practices on disseminating data and research findings and subjecting them to peer review, and look at how the unit handled requests under Britain's Freedom of Information Act."

Our media have been totally consumed with the couple who strolled into a White House party without an invitation, and the Tiger Woods' semi-private party. Apparently, scientists, reality show wannabees and celebrities can all be bought for the price of a dream--be it money, power, fame or sex. They've all turned out to have clay feet firmly resting on the pedestal we've built for them. The White House party crashers, Michaele and Tariq Salahi, not a climate/economy scam scheme, are worthy of a congressional hearing. I'm in complete disagreement with Glenn Beck on this one. He thinks the President was in danger. They were security screened for weapons just like all the other guests, so I doubt that; and someone on Obama's staff got them in. They might be stupid, but they love the guy.

Let's think about it. Tiger couldn't have pulled off a couple of long term affairs without his staff and friends helping him and bringing the women to him; the Salahis couldn't have made it into the party without their connections with NBC (which owns Bravo) which has been drooling over Barack Obama for 3 years; and the climate data people couldn't have pulled off what they've been doing for 10 years without a lot of backing--probably from people in the "green" industry, and a second guess would be those who want all western governments and cultures to fail, or maybe they were colluding with both. That one definitely has the money/power smell to it. Tiger's mess just smells like soiled sheets.

The U.K. probe won't be completed until next Spring; by then Obama should be ready for another economic coup if we don't stop him. He told us during his campaign that our energy costs would skyrocket. He didn't tell us that the fuse was a complete phony and might blow up in his face. 1) Manipulating peer review journal publication of anything that dissents with the AGW religion; 2) denial of requests under the freedom of information act; 3) "losing" the data on which the whole AGW scare is built.

Facebook--again

Don't blame the Secret Service. They are non-political. Political appointees are not.

"People familiar with the inquiry into how the Salahis were able to attend Tuesday's gala, even though they weren't on the official guest list, said the Salahis exchanged e-mails with Michele S. Jones, special assistant to the secretary of defense and the Pentagon-based liaison to the White House. It was unclear how well the Salahis know Jones, but Jones includes the Salahis' lawyer, Paul W. Gardner, as one of her 50 friends on Facebook.

Several people familiar with the Jones-Salahi correspondence, including some who requested anonymity because it's part of an ongoing investigation, said the e-mails support the Salahis' case that they were cleared to attend Tuesday night's gala." WaPo

I've talked to Columbus school teachers who've told me they are not allowed to have Facebook accounts. Sounds like a good idea for anyone in public education, academe, or government. Why do you want to tell nosy people who your friends and associates are? Especially reporters from the Washington Post who are good at gossip but not tracking down global warming myths and document screw ups? I looked up Michele S. Jones. She's another "first," and a two-fer, and maybe she just wasn't carefully vetted or wasn't given enough instruction and training on security and the importance of protecting the president from friends of friends. Or then again, perhaps she had nothing at all to do with this and the e-mails to her went nowhere.

Incidentally, far removed from this story but about social networks, have you heard of the book Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler (Little, Brown, 352 pp., $25.99). It's reviewed at City Journal--go take a look. It's not about electronic social networks but the old fashioned type--like the brother-in-law of your best friend.

"Controlling for environmental factors and the tendency of birds of a feather to flock together—happy people prefer hanging out with other happy people—Christakis and Fowler found that we really do emulate those we care about, whether we mean to or not. Being connected to a happy person, for instance, makes you 15 percent more likely to be happy yourself. “And the spread of happiness doesn’t stop there,” they note. It radiates out for three degrees of separation, so that, say, your sister’s best friend’s husband’s mood exerts a greater influence on your personal happiness than an extra $10,000 in income would. If he gains 50 pounds, it will be that much harder for you to stay slim, as the frame of reference for what’s “normal” changes through your network. Or, on the positive side, if he quits smoking, your chances of kicking the habit improve, too, even if you’ve never met him."

Sounds like a title for next year's book club, and that maybe I've put on 10 lbs because my friend's husband can't lose weight.

Security at the White House

It's so odd, isn't it, that the media goes crazy over Michele and Tareq Salahi who went to Obama's first state dinner without an invitation? All this hubbub from the folks who totally ignored the Climategate story (except for Fox) which is HUGE and should bring down the cap and trade scam to tax us into oblivion (but probably won't with the media's complicity), and couldn't figure out if Maj. Nadil Hasan was crazy or a terrorist. ABC was just outraged. Did it even mention the release of 10 years of e-mail and data that showed manipulation in the climate change research? At least Mrs. Salahi had on an attractive dress that covered her lovely figure as would be fitting considering the culture of the honored guests. After all, they did pass the security check--they weren't armed, or a threat, they just weren't invited. Besides, with a name like Tareq Salahi perhaps Security didn't want to be insensitive and ask questions. Look how far that attitude got Maj. Hasan in the military.