A 7 month old girl was murdered by a relative with a saw. No protests—she wasn’t a policewoman.

“A 7-month-old girl was found dead in the Little Village neighborhood Monday morning, her throat cut by a power saw, authorities said.

Police found the child, identified as Rose Herrera, after being called to a building in the 2800 block of South Avers Avenue on the West Side about 9:40 a.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Authorities said a relative, a 52-year-old woman, used a circular saw to cut the baby's throat, apparently because she wouldn't stop crying. The woman initially tried to shove something in the baby's mouth -- possibly cloth -- to get the girl to quiet down, a source said.

The woman then tried to kill herself and was found by another relative, according to authorities. The woman was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was stable and in police custody.

Detectives were conducting a "domestic-related murder investigation," police said.”

http://touch.redeyechicago.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-83010570/

There were 11 people shot, 3 of whom were killed in the Chicago area yesterday—including a 2 year old boy and a 5 year old boy.  I think the student protesters in Madison concerned that an unarmed criminal was killed after bizarre behavior should start out for Chicago, and interview some police. How would they like the job of taking pre-schoolers to the hospital or finding a baby with her throat cut. 

http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-83011459/

Why do unarmed men battle police who are armed?

Maybe because they are already criminals and don’t want to go back to jail, or they are accustomed to taking risks and have escaped in the past?

In Madison: White Officer Matt Kenny shot unarmed (racially ambiguous) Tony R0binson, 19, who was on probation for armed robbery and whose school/police records show ADD, anxiety and depression. The writer for Reuters opined, “Robinson tended to an impulsive risk-taker and faced a choice between a middle-class lifestyle and the gang world.”  Police had been called to investigate reports of an assault and a man dodging cars in traffic.  The suspect was followed into a dwelling where the officer was struck in the head and he then shot the man (called a teen by Reuters).

In Denver: A 37 year old black man, Naeschylus Vinzant, was shot by police in Aurora, Colorado, who were seeking a male who was wanted for kidnapping and robbery and was known to be armed and dangerous.  He was shot while they attempted to take him into custody.  He was on parole and had removed his ankle monitor. Meanwhile, there were many other black men shot by black men/non-police, whose stories didn’t get into the Columbus Dispatch because the shooter was not white.

In Ferguson:  Eric Holder’s Department of Justice has taken over local police control in a town that is predominately black.  Traffic stops and the court system are for mostly blacks and therefore they are racist and profiling.  In my opinion, Holder is pouting because he couldn’t pin anything on the police after Michael Brown’s death and has decided to crush them or break the city budget.

http://www.wnd.com/2015/03/obama-pressing-for-federal-control-of-local-police/#!

Abortion doesn’t take just ONE life

 

Abortion interrupts the entire lineage of that unborn child. While it’s true that abortion has killed approximately 57 million unborn children in the United States since 1973, this number excludes the millions upon millions of future generations that have been snuffed from existence.

http://onlineforlife.org/blog/abortion-is-not-just-an-economic-issue/

What a shocker—Obamacare co-ops are failing and we’re on the hook

“The insolvent Iowa-based health insurance cooperative, CoOportunity Health, had to be taken over in December by Iowa insurance regulators. Iowa and Nebraska's Guarantee Associations - and state and federal taxpayers - are now on the hook for millions in claims the insurer could not pay.

CoOportunity Health wasn't a traditional health insurer. Rather, it was a taxpayer-funded, non-profit health insurance cooperative (co-op) established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The co-op program is plagued by numerous flaws. When co-ops were established, they had no customers and no historical actuarial data to assist in setting plan premiums. Startup funds and cash reserves were mostly borrowed from taxpayers. According to industry data only one of the 23 co-ops was profitable last year (a 24^th co-op located in Vermont failed before it even got off the ground). While some of the remaining co-ops are losing money because of small size, others appear to have the strategy of losing money to gain market-share at taxpayers' expense.”

Read more here.

More on e-mailgate—Clinton’s buddy system

“Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who heads the Judiciary Committee, had previously questioned Clinton’s use of a program that allowed some political allies to work for the government while pursuing private-sector careers.

Grassley had sought e-mails and other documents from the State Department.

But he didn’t know until last week that Clinton was exclusively using a private e-mail account that could contain relevant information about her use of the so-called “special government employee” program. Huma Abedin, a Clinton confidante and adviser who was granted the special designation, also used the private e-mail system.”

Washington Post

I know that Bill Clinton and his cronies were looking forward to getting back into power, but somehow, I can’t help but think he’s chuckling a little at this pay back.

Thank you, President Obama, for the hasty, ill-advised withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan that brought the world to this point

“Sunni violent extremists are gaining momentum and the number of Sunni violent extremist groups, members, and safe havens is greater than at any other point in history. These groups challenge local and regional governance and threaten US allies, partners, and interests. The threat to key US allies and partners will probably increase, but the extent of the increase will depend on the level of success that Sunni violent extremists achieve in seizing and holding territory, whether or not attacks on local regimes and calls for retaliation against the West are accepted by their key audiences, and the durability of the US-led coalition in Iraq and Syria.

Sunni violent extremists have taken advantage of fragile or unstable Muslim-majority countries to make territorial advances, seen in Syria and Iraq, and will probably continue to do so. They also contribute to regime instability and internal conflict by engaging in high levels of violence. Most will be unable to seize and hold territory on a large scale, however, as long as local, regional, and international support and resources are available and dedicated to halting their progress. The increase in the number of Sunni violent extremist groups also will probably be balanced by a lack of cohesion and authoritative leadership. Although the January 2015 attacks against Charlie Hebdo in Paris is a reminder of the threat to the West, most groups place a higher priority on local concerns than on attacking the so-called far enemy—the United States and the West—as advocated by core al- Qa‘ida.

Differences in ideology and tactics will foster competition among some of these groups, particularly if a unifying figure or group does not emerge. In some cases, groups—even if hostile to each other— will ally against common enemies. For example, some Sunni violent extremists will probably gain support from like-minded insurgent or anti-regime groups or within disaffected or disenfranchised communities because they share the goal of radical regime change.

Although most homegrown violent extremists (HVEs) will probably continue to aspire to travel overseas, particularly to Syria and Iraq, they will probably remain the most likely Sunni violent extremist threat to the US homeland because of their immediate and direct access. Some might have been inspired by calls by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in late September for individual jihadists in the West to retaliate for US-led airstrikes on ISIL. Attacks by lone actors are among the most difficult to warn about because they offer few or no signatures.

If ISIL were to substantially increase the priority it places on attacking the West rather than fighting to maintain and expand territorial control, then the group’s access to radicalized Westerners who have fought in Syria and Iraq would provide a pool of operatives who potentially have access to the United States and other Western countries. Since the conflict began in 2011, more than 20,000 foreign fighters—at least 3,400 of whom are Westerners—have gone to Syria from more than 90 countries.”  “Terrorism,”  Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community, Senate Armed Services Committee, James R. Clapper, Director of National Intelligence
February 26, 2015

http://www.dni.gov/files/documents/Unclassified_2015_ATA_SFR_-_SASC_FINAL.pdf

Planet Fitness expels female member for complaining about a man in her dressing room

Planet Fitness Welcomes Men in Women’s Locker Room, Kicks Out Objector

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”
~Isaiah 5:20

On Saturday, Feb. 28 Yvette Cormier entered her Midland, Michigan Planet Fitness gym to work out. To her surprise, she found a man just inside the locker room entrance. She reported the incident to the front desk and was told that the man “identifies” as a woman and that Planet Fitness gyms—including their locker rooms—are “no judgment zones.” It should be noted that girls as young as 13 can join Planet Fitness and enjoy their “no judgment zones.”

I’ve seen his photo.  There’s just no way this is a woman. I don’t know why men think a padded bra, tights and a wig makes them  women.

Planet Fitness

“In the service of maintaining a “non-intimidating, welcoming environment,” corporate bigwigs allow a man in a women’s locker room and expel a woman from the gym because she doesn’t want to get naked in front of a strange man. Yes, the man in question was an actual man—you know, the kind born with anatomically correct penises. Even “transactivists” know humans can’t change their sex.

How, pray tell, do club managers verify the “sincerity” of a male member’s or guest’s claim that he wishes to be a woman? And why does sincerity of desire about one’s sex trump the objective state of one’s sex?”

Obama needs a fact checker

"Right now, in 2015, 50 years after Selma, there are laws across this country designed to make it harder for people to vote," President Obama complained at the Selma anniversary.

Blacks are now voting at a higher rate than whites.  Is there suppression of white votes because they need to show ID to vote (and to go into a government building, and to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy, and to cash a check, and to lease a car, etc.) 

“We broke the old aristocracies, declaring ourselves entitled not by bloodline, but endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights.”  That’s correct (and this time he didn’t leave out the Creator, which he has done in the past); and now we have a president defying the founders’ plan of 3 branches and attempting to replace our presidency with a monarchy.

And then he says at Benedict College, “As long as you can go in some neighborhoods and it is easier for you to buy a firearm than it is for you to buy a book -- there are neighborhoods where it is easier for you to buy a handgun and clips than it is for you to buy a fresh vegetable -- as long as that's the case, we're going to continue to see unnecessary violence,"  (he’s speaking out against the 2nd amendment here, not making a case for capitalism).  I assume he’s talking about illegal guns and not illegal vegetables and books.  But after 50 years and trillions of dollars of the war on poverty and all the wealth transfers of 128 federal programs—many in the field of food and education--you still can’t buy vegetables or books in black and low income neighborhoods?  Whose fault is that? How could the government be  trusted with fooling around with the 2nd amendment if they can’t even get fresh vegetables to the city?

His article "Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God" in WSJ most asked for

Dennis Prager has turned the article by Eric Metaxas into a video for his Prager University and has had over 405,000 views.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/eric-metaxas-science-increasingly-makes-the-case-for-god-1419544568

Why can’t we get rid of Daylight Savings Time?

It saves nothing—not daylight and not energy.  Farmers hate it.

5 myths about daylight savings time

http://standardtime.com/proposal.html

http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1284701

Do narrow minded Americans need to travel more to see how others live?

We have travelled outside the U.S.—Ireland, Russia, Italy, Finland, Estonia, Germany, Austria, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Israel (and briefly Canada, but that was just airports). What we saw there in terms of little population groups disliking each other and ethnic battles that dated back for centuries should make Americans feel proud (until the last 6 years) of the way we’ve patched up centuries of ethnic battles.

I think the Lapps (Sami) in Finland have 11 different languages, wander over 4 countries, have special protections like our American Indians, and are generally not well liked by Finns who are a different ethnicity. And among the Sami the reindeer people don’t like the fish people who don’t like the forest people. The Somalis in Finland have a high crime problem among the youth who need to know both Finnish and Swedish in order to get a job and are experiencing discrimination—but were never slaves and have socialized healthcare and free college.

When we shopped in Estonia, the retail clerks were speaking Russian to each other.  Big problems there between native Estonians, and Russians who have lived there for generations—or since WWII. We were pleasantly surprised in Israel, which is another melting pot with Jews, Muslims, Christians and others like Bahai.

In Italy, which hasn’t really been a nation all that long, the light skinned, fair northerners who believe their culture is the only one that matters, look down on the dark skinned, poverty prone southerners.

In Ireland the hatred for the Brits and what they did to them during the famine is still palpable. There seems to be a monument to every battle back to the Scandinavian invaders , most of which we’ve never heard of. Also in Ireland it was the economic boom years when we were there and almost the entire service trade were foreign—Poles, Czech, and other east Europeans whose economy hadn’t yet recovered from Communism—the nannies were head covered Muslims. The Irish wouldn’t take any of those jobs in the tourist industry—except in the rural areas where they were entertainers and historical site managers. Even the restaurant managers were foreign (serving Irish food for the tourists). These people stayed to themselves, had their own churches, clubs, even trades. Meanwhile the Irish were searching for deeper roots with special schools and summer internships in Gaelic language.

The Volga Germans, invited to Russia because of their superior farming skills during Catherine the Great’s reign, are some of the most discriminated against people in Russia, and now its eastern former provinces. They speak a form of old low German, and aren’t welcome in Germany either after 3 centuries since many speak Russian. They do make it in the U.S., however.

The push for diversity and multiculturalism in the U.S. has done the opposite of what those words would seem to mean. And leading the pack in finding irritants among groups is the Obama administration, with appointments like Holder, cheered on by the likes of Sharpton,  filled with poverty and race pimps who fear a loss of their jobs or non-profits if people really were working together for a greater country and the greater good.

Update: Somalis demonstrate at the welfare office in Sweden. 14% of the population in Sweden are immigrants. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn8sdVIECo0

Rich Weinstein, the man who exposed Jonathon Gruber—and the president

-

He’s not a media person; all that happened to him was losing his insurance so he decided to investigate.  Makes me wonder where our adoring Obama-media were—millions experienced the same fate. What else don’t we know.

The fact that Obama carefully says, he was not on our staff, is meaningless—he was a hired gun just like thousands, maybe millions, who take government money to provide advice and research for policies decisions or sell the product. He knows the mess behind the exchanges. The big story is not that the American voter is stupid, but that Democrats are stupid for electing crooks.

Rich Weinstein is the single person considered most responsible for exposing one of the biggest blows to the Affordable Care Act’s image: a series of videos in which a key Obamacare architect discusses the “stupidity of the American people” and how that helped get the bill passed.

Now, Weinstein is speaking on camera for the first time in an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal.

Spinach or Kale

Kale is trendy; it’s the darling of the nutrition bloggers, and today I had both spinach and kale.  Which is better for us?

“Should Popeye have been eating kale over spinach or was he making the right choice? Because he was consuming spinach for iron, he was correct. One cup of spinach meets 36 percent of the recommended daily iron value, whereas kale supplies 6 percent. As for other nutrition facts: one cup spinach has 41 calories, 4.3 grams of fiber, 5.3 grams of protein, 244.8 grams of calcium, and 838.8 milligrams of potassium. The same quantity of kale has 36 calories, 2.6 grams of fiber, 2.5 grams of protein, 93.6 grams of calcium, and 296.4 milligrams of potassium. Besides being an excellent source of potassium and calcium, spinach is a nutritional powerhouse delivering vitamins K, A, C, E, and B2. Kale is also a nutrition winner, packing vitamins K, A, C. As a child, I hated spinach (even though I adored Popeye), but now I love it. I want to love kale too, but my taste buds won't oblige.

Bottom line: Nutritionally, spinach slightly edges kale, but you can't go wrong choosing either. Both are great sautéed, steamed, or added to soups and salads.”

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/2012/11/08/mango-or-papaya-spinach-or-kale-food-face-offs

Hillary owns the server—no chance to find the truth

“I want the public to see my email. I asked State to release them. They said they will review them for release as soon as possible.”–Hillary Clinton

Sharyl Attkisson reports

“In a statement, a [Benghazi] committee spokesman added, “The former Secretary’s tweet does not answer questions about why this was not done when she left office, the integrity of the emails while she controlled them, the scheme to conceal them, or the failure to provide them in logical course. The Chairman has said the former secretary is welcome to and should release all of her emails, but legitimate investigations do not consider partial records. And that is the point of the subpoena issued yesterday by the Benghazi Committee.”

Clinton ally David Brock, head of the liberal blog Media Matters and Chairman of the Board at the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), is among the political operatives rushing to Clinton’s defense. In a appearance on MSNBC this week, Brock deployed his common tactic of demanding a retraction from the news outlet publishing the revealing information about Clinton–in this case, the New York Times.”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/03/07/emails-show-clinton-aides-running-interference-during-benghazi-attack/

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/hillary-clinton-media-105901_Page6.html

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/state-dept-changes-story-on-emails-115841.html?ml=m_po

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/mark-davis/2015/03/06/hillary-clintons-use-of-private-server-for-official-emails-put-her-at-risk

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/05/politics/hillary-clinton-email-home-server/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/state-department-reviewing-whether-clinton-e-mail-violated-security-rules/2015/03/05/16d1547e-c378-11e4-9271-610273846239_story.html

Seeing a travel agent today!

Those who support Obamacare are also on record as supporting killing the unborn for gender, disability, poverty or just parental whim

The usual villains--, MomsRising, The Center for Reproductive Rights, League of Women Voters, NARAL, National Employment Law Project, People for the American Way Foundation, Planned Parenthood Foundation, and UltraViolet.

They and dozens of other leftist groups have all filed an Amicus brief opposing the challenge to Obamacare, which is in violation of the law as written and passed.

Lakeside preliminary schedule for summer 2015 is shaping up

Spring Cleanup Day Saturday, April 25

Mother's Day Brunch Buffet  Sunday, May 10

Memorial Day Weekend Activities  Friday, May 22-Monday, May 25  Jack Hanna 'Into the  Wild – Live'  Sunday, May 24

2015 Bonus Weekend Activities Friday, May 29-Sunday, May 31 Guest Preacher: The Rev. Vernon Shepherd Sunday, May 31

West Ohio Annual Conference Sunday, June 6-Thursday, June 11

East Ohio Youth Annual Conference  Friday, June 12-Sunday June 14

East Ohio Annual Conference Sunday, June 14-Thursday, June 18

Chautauqua Season Opening Day & Classic Car Show Saturday, June 20 Miniature Golf Dedication Saturday, June 20  Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr. Saturday, June 20

OSU Alumni Band Saturday, June 27

Garden Tour Monday, June 29

Mike Farris "Sings the Soul of America" Friday, July 3

Fourth of July & Children's Bike Parade Saturday, July 4 Fourth of July Float Parade,  Fourth of July  Fireworks  Saturday, July 4

Preacher of the Week: The Rev. Dr. Jerry Root Sunday, July 5

Chautauqua Lecture Series: C.S. Lewis Monday, July 6-Thursday, July 9

Taylor Dayne Saturday, July 11

"State of Lakeside" Address Thursday, July 16

Three Dog Night Saturday, July 18

Lakeside Wooden Boat Show & Plein Air Art Festival Sunday, July 19

Lakeside Women's Club Tour of Homes Thursday, July 23

Steven Curtis Chapman Saturday, July 25

Light Up Lakeside Celebration Saturday, July 25-Friday, July 31

5k Raccoon Run Sunday, July 26

Lakeside Symphony Orchestra Opening Night Wednesday, July 29

Tim Hawkins Saturday, Aug. 8

Northwestern Ohio Gladiolus Show Saturday, Aug. 15

Little River Band Saturday, Aug. 15

Chautauqua Lecture Series: Civil War Week Monday, Aug. 17-Friday, Aug. 21

Antique Show Saturday, Aug. 22  "Summer Serenade" with Jim Brickman & Pavlo Saturday,   Aug. 22

Mike Albert & the Big "E" Band Saturday, Aug. 29  Labor Day Weekend Activities Friday, Sept. 4-Monday, Sept.7

Not sure why they left out the art show—my husband is always in that, but this isn’t the entire schedule.

Céline Dion - The Power Of Love

Sometimes we old ladies think nothing beautiful came out of modern popular music, and although this is no longer new, especially not for the 18 to 21 year olds, I think it is powerful, lovely, and one of the best of the 1990s.  The power of love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8HOfcYWZoo

http://www.celinedion.com/ca/home

I think she, Lady Gaga and Adele (especially Rolling in the Deep) are better than anything made by women in earlier eras of popular music.

So much better than Doggie in the Window, or It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to.  Agreed?

Lyrics aren’t so great, but you can’t beat Gaga for performance and glamor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4Gwc6XBgQ4

Social networking—the impact

This could be a little dated considering the speed of change on the internet.  It was published in January 2014, but updated in September 2014. About 50% of people over 65 use a social networking site—and at the time of the survey, the preference was Facebook. Pew Internet Project

“Do social networking sites isolate people and truncate their relationships? Or are there benefits associated with being connected to others in this way? In November 2010, we examined SNS in a survey that explored people’s overall social networks and how use of these technologies is related to trust, tolerance, social support, community, and political engagement, and found:

• Social networking sites are increasingly used to keep up with close social ties
• The average user of a social networking site has more close ties and is half as likely to be socially isolated as the average American
• Facebook users are more trusting than others
• Facebook users have more close relationships
• Internet users get more support from their social ties and Facebook users get the most support
• Facebook users are much more politically engaged than most people
• Facebook revives “dormant” relationships
• MySpace users are more likely to be open to opposing points of view

How cell phones have changed surveys

“Historically, phone-based surveys dominated as the method of choice among those looking for a representative sample of U.S. residents. However, the prevalence of cell-only households has changed that approach dramatically. In 2013, the CDC estimated that 39.4% of American households were cell only, a lifestyle particularly prevalent among the young and those in lower socioeconomic status groups.

Given the prevalence of cell-only homes, online panels specifically built to represent the U.S. population are now the standard approach. The Pew Research Center estimated that 86% of adults used in the Internet in 2013. Online panels do have biases, but these can be mitigated with an appropriate sampling and weighting strategy.” FAQ People for bikes survey

“Because of these limitations [bias, lack of access and no standard list], researchers use two main strategies for surveying the general population using the internet. One strategy is to randomly sample and contact people using another mode (mail, telephone or face-to-face) and ask them to complete a survey on the web. Some of the surveys may allow respondents to complete the survey by a variety of modes and therefore potentially avoid the undercoverage problem created by the fact that not everyone has access to the web. This method is used for one-time surveys and for creating survey panels where all or a portion of the panelists take surveys via the web (such as the GfK KnowledgePanel and more recently the Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel). Contacting respondents using probability-based sampling via another mode allows surveyors to estimate a margin of error for the survey (see Why probability sampling for more information).” Internet surveys, Pew Research