Remember when Bill Clinton . . .

Leading while tweeting

Atlantic, Aug. 2, 2017, summarizes all the things Trump has been able to accomplish while everyone, left and right, obsesses over his tweets.

"remaking the justice system, rewriting environmental rules, overhauling public-lands administration, and greenlighting major infrastructure projects. It is appointing figures who will guarantee the triumph of its ideological vision for decades to come.”

Now, the author isn't happy about this, but just as the right misjudged how smart Obama was, they are now misjudging how much Trump is accomplishing because he knows how to delegate (and hire and fire).

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/what-trump-is-actually-accomplishing/535458/

Are there alternatives to Cable? Yes.

I’m following a discussion by people who have given up cable, particularly because of the biased MSM but also the expense. Is it any wonder the polls got the election all wrong, because no one is listening to that garbage any more? Here’s a selection of comments.

‘We moved and cut our satellite/cable TV. No more $167 per month for Direct TV. We opted to just use the Roku we already have, using internet we need to have anyway, and add Sling TV for local channels and sports.”

“I listen to talk radio during the day til 4 or 5 pm then I go to ROKU for Glenn Beck for evening entertainment it's NetFlix or occasionally a network show.”

“I actually stopped watching almost everything on Fox too. Just watch the six o'clock news, but I'm not addicted to that anymore either. I'm much more productive and much less stressed out I must say.”

“We started with Sling but moved to Playstation Vue because of Fox News. We also get Redzone for football through Vue for my husband. More streams than Sling too though we don't use that many. Playstations Vue has more local channels too. Don't miss DirectTV though I think my husband misses NFL Sunday Ticket.”

“We don't watch any broadcast or cable news anymore. I use feedly to manage a large set of news sources organized by category and that's my daily source of information. There's far more diversity in my daily news diet than what can be found flipping through channel after channel of airheads and screamers.”

“You like to listen to the news - not necessarily watch? I'd get XM radio. We got an XM Roadie radio and we take it with us when we go on vacation but when at home have it hooked up to Bose. You can listen to Fox News plus all sorts of other goodies. We love Old Time Radio classics. Nothing like listening to The Whistler when out in the remote regions of Maine.... The Whistler knows!”

“YouTube has good news feeds from around the world that I find more varied and sane than the American media right now. BBC has their own set of biases, but is still worthwhile. Billwhittle.com has excellent conservative commentary. I stream all of these on our TV through the Xbox. Any big stories or disasters tend to show up. I also go online, browse headlines to see if there is anything that needs further investigation. Haven't bothered with broadcast news in years and don't miss them except for breaking local stories. We did get a little antenna to pick up channels for when my Mom comes over, and used that for local weather and a local shooting incident.”

“I haven't had cable since I graduated college in '03.  All news comes from the internet. Honestly, I cannot stand tv news at this point. Too much cross talk, less depth, and I can read much faster.”

“Sling offers The Blaze and BBC World News. Sky News UK streams live on YouTube. NewsOn has news shows from hundreds of local stations around the country.”

“During Gulf War I, we were glued to cnn & of course local news stations (I live across the street from the gate at NAS Jacksonville & my husband was stationed at VP-30 at the time). CNN and any national news outlet repeatedly broadcast things I knew to be untrue. I swore off television news forever. When I read the same things in the newspaper, I stopped reading that, too. I have weakened a few times over the years - Election2000 (thank goodness we had FNC by then) when we were in Hawai'i, Katrina coverage, the Summer of the Hurricanes - but basically I simply don't bother with television at all. For several years, talk radio was my line to 'news.' Then that guy from Chicago became prominent, and I had to listen to soundbites from him or #derhillderbeest or any one of the scum in the Swamp, so I went to sports talk radio. Been an avid fan for ten years now. Used to be some espn, but now it's almost all local sports talk or MLB or Dave Ramsey. Now that we're in our house again, we have antenna tv, MLB.tv, PGATOURLIVE, and Sling. Along with Amazon Prime, I have everything I need without the negative ugly crap I used to let ruin my days. It's not for everyone, but I am a much happier woman than I was. I do now occasionally listen to Rush again, especially if Steyn is subbing.”

Summers on absurdity in academe

Following the end of Clinton’s term, Larry Summers served as the 27th President of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006. In a 2005 speech he suggested that the under-representation of women in science and engineering could be due to a “different availability of aptitude at the high end,” and less to patterns of discrimination and socialization. That ended his Harvard time although there were other conflicts. In 2016 he was interviewed by Bill Kristol.

"There is a great deal of absurd political correctness. Now, I’m somebody who believes very strongly in diversity, who resists racism in all of its many incarnations, who thinks that there is a great deal that’s unjust in American society that needs to be combated, but it seems to be that there is a kind of creeping totalitarianism in terms of what kind of ideas are acceptable and are debatable on college campuses." Larry Summers 2016

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/1/21/summers-race-interview/

http://conversationswithbillkristol.org/transcript/larry-summers-ii-transcript/

“Summers rejoined public service during the Obama administration, serving as the Director of the White House United States National Economic Council for President Barack Obama from January 2009 until November 2010, where he emerged as a key economic decision-maker in the Obama administration’s response to the Great Recession. After his departure from the NEC in December 2010, Summers has worked in the private sector and as a columnist in major newspapers. “

http://www.thoughtleaders.world/en/leader/lawrence-summers/

There’s really nothing startling about his comments on political correctness—conservatives have been seeing this totalitarianism for years, but wealthy, privileged liberals don’t seem to get it until it is turned on them, sort of like the show trials of the Soviet Union in the 1930s when the loyal party members were purged.

Liberals and conservatives should be able to agree to get this changed.

“Every year, police and prosecutors across the United States take hundreds of millions of dollars in cash, cars, homes and other property—regardless of the owners’ guilt or innocence. Under civil forfeiture laws, the government can seize this property on the mere suspicion that it is connected to criminal activity. No charges or convictions are required. And once property is seized, owners must navigate a confusing, complex and often expensive legal process to try to win it back. Worst of all, most civil forfeiture laws give law enforcement agencies a powerful incentive to take property: a cut, or even all, of forfeiture proceeds. “

https://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/policing-for-profit-2nd-edition.pdf

Holding government accountable

Taxpayers Protection Alliance, non-profit non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis and dissemination of information on the government’s effects on the economy.

Let Freedom Ring, USA, a non-profit, nonpartisan public policy membership organization, with a three-pronged mission statement. Our mission is to promote: constitutional government, economic freedom, and traditional values.

Americans for Limited Government  is dedicated to restoring the constitutional, limited powers of government at the federal, state, and local level.  ALG does this by fighting to reduce the size and scope of government, protecting individuals rights, promoting federalism, and rolling back the tyranny of the administrative state.  This will put America first, foster free enterprise, and restore the rule of law.

American Commitment is dedicated to restoring and protecting the American Commitment to free markets, economic growth, Constitutionally-limited government, property rights, and individual freedom.

Club for Growth is a national network of over 100,000 pro-growth, limited government Americans who share in the belief that prosperity and opportunity come from economic freedom. 

Heritage Action for America is a 501(c)(4) organization,  sister organization of The Heritage Foundation, widely respected government relations team and dedicated grassroots activists that advance conservative policy.

American Conservative Union was founded in 1964,  and is the nation’s original conservative organization. For more than fifty years, ACU has served as an umbrella organization harnessing the collective strength of conservative organizations fighting for Americans who are concerned with liberty, personal responsibility, traditional values, and strong national defense. Every year since 1973, ACU proudly hosts CPAC.

Diversity pains

He recalled a panel discussion during orientation at which a student said, “We should burn down Pomona” because “elite colleges represented white supremacist patriarchy.” Mr. Gu found the idea absurd.

“You are going to a $60,000-a-year school and you’re either there because your parents are wealthy or the school has given you a full ride and you are saying it’s a dangerous environment for you,” he said. “There is a strange sense of entitlement.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/education/edlife/protests-claremont-college-student-demands.html?

Talk and read to your children

I wonder sometimes how my mother got so smart--many happy memories of her reading to my brother and me while the three of us cuddled in a large overstuffed chair. Actually it was one of those huge 1940s era upholstered chairs with wide arms, so I was sitting on the arm.  As a child, I often wished Mom would stop talking--she believed in reasoning with children rather than spanking.  Occasionally I thought a spanking would be better than a long explanation of my mischief and misbehavior.

Building a young child's vocabulary is essential for future success. To keep me quiet, Mom would make up stories while braiding my hair and she would talk so softly I'd have to listen. And music. Our home was filled with it--usually our piano lessons, but sometimes just for fun. Only one of us was good enough to earn a living at it.  And we four children with the oldest playing the piano presented programs with our off key quartet to local groups and clubs. It was my little brother who stole the show since he was so cute. Even though our church uses huge screens with words of hymns, I always pull out the hymnal if available and practice sight reading the music. Screens in churches have killed what little knowledge many had of music.

And most critical--I had a hard working father who was home every night. He didn't play with us, or tuck us in at night. He didn't hug or kid around. Most of my friends (especially boy friends) were afraid of him. But we saw how he treated our mother and his mother. Like they were the most important persons in his life--and they were.

How did our parents get so wise without academic research?

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/parent-involvement-in-early-literacy-erika-burton?

https://lifehacker.com/eight-ways-to-help-improve-your-childs-vocabulary-1645796717

http://www.parents.com/parenting/better-parenting/style/the-role-of-fathers-with-daughters-and-sons/

Another Civil War?

Some ugly white privilege

Stuart Rothenberg is an American editor, publisher, and political analyst. He is best known for his biweekly political newsletter The Rothenberg Political Report. And from his photo, he appears to have "white elitist privilege," "white snobbery," is a "major white liar," filled with "white ignorance." Can only assume he is also a rich white liberal.

Because Trump was welcomed and cheered by the people of West Virginia, Rothenberg publicly demeaned them as ignorant, stupid and unemployed, promptly becoming a "white fool" and "white tool." Absolutely NO ONE from DC should be ridiculing some one else's unemployment record, graduation rate or ability to speak English.

I guess Democrats learned nothing from Hillary's wise crack about deplorables.

http://www.dailywire.com/news/19342/political-journalist-stu-rothenberg-blasts-west-john-nolte

Sprucing up at the Bruces

A new look for the porch. We bought our summer home in Lakeside, Ohio,  in 1988 (actual house with plaster walls, basement and fireplace built in 1944) and had planned to remove the mid-80s, not architecturally appropriate porch. However, over the years we learned how great it was, solar gain in the winter so we could use it off season, and tight enough for AC in the summer. The problem was, it faded and discolored over 30 years and was sort of white, grey and yellow. So Wednesday it was painted to match the trim. The guys did a great job, and had painted the house in the spring. In the fall, the deck will be repainted, because it will require sanding and prep that Lakeside doesn't allow during the season.

On August 4, 2017

What could possibly go wrong? Mueller is best friends with Comey; has hired all Hillary supporting lawyers for the investigation; impaneled a Grand Jury from Trump hating D.C. They, not the Russians, are interferring with the election of Donald Trump.

Democrats wounded to the core with their poor decisions think Clinton couldn’t lose a national election which includes non-urban voters without help from Russia. Let’s review her campaign promises. She lauded open borders, refugee resettlement without vetting, and born-alive abortions. She proposed a 65% tax rate on estates that would impact small businesses and farms. She would have retained Obama’s heavy handed LGBTQ agenda, thus destroying Title VII and Title IX both of which benefit women. Trump campaigned on more security at the border, stronger economy with better jobs, patriotism (some nay sayers call that nationalism), he bragged on Americans--she called them deplorables--inviting more Americans to come back with a promise of fewer regulations, and a strong conservative for the Supreme Court.  No contest.   Spasiba. Спасибо.

This should be the investigation--The DNC and Awan. I had some time in the car yesterday when I went shopping in Sandusky and listened to Glenn Beck outline the last few years of the nefarious activities of Debbie Wasserman Schultz's (head of DNC in 2016) IT staffer.

Pakistani staff Imran Awan

• who hired his family and friends to work with Democrats 
• whose friends and wife fled the country as he was being investigated 
• who invested in various DC area businesses through Congressional Federal credit Union,
• who had numerous legal problems that should have had his security clearance pulled,
• who accepted funding from middle eastern "investors" in his failed businesses,
• who had access to the computers of numerous Democrats, who were paying him and his friends excessively high salaries,
• who then destroyed evidence before being arrested trying to flee. 

 Also Awan was fired by DWS at the last minute before going down--she stuck with him through 6 months of investigation, during which he still had access. She's either the world's most trusting employer, or she's sleeping with her staff.  But the media is fixated on a non-existent Russia story. This is not about bank fraud, although there is that, but about a REAL threat to our security. He worked for Democrats for 13 years, and knew their secrets.  I watched ABC morning news today--not a peep about the real story, but plenty on Trump.

On this day in 1964, the bodies of 3 civil rights workers, Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman, killed by the KKK in Mississippi were found. The KKK was the terrorist arm of the Democrat Party formed during the Reconstruction in the aftermath of the Civil War and revitalized during the Depression. But the Democrats continued to elect KKK members or former members like Robert Byrd, Hugo Black, etc. even well past the 1960s. None of the killers served more than 6 years.

The Republicans had been working for years on Civil Rights legislation, making slow progress. The deaths of these martyrs in June 1964 pushed President Johnson's legislation for the 1964 Civil Rights Act over the line, even without the support of many Democrats.

How to clean your mattress

 The original link is broken, but I found this gross, disgusting detail at LiveScience about what's going on in our mattresses. "According to materials published by Ohio State University, a typical used mattress may have 100,000 to 10 million mites inside. Ten percent of the weight of a two-year-old pillow can be composed of dead mites and their droppings. Mites prefer warm, moist surroundings such as the inside of a mattress when someone is on it. One of their favorite foods is dead skin, and people shed about one fifth of an ounce of the stuff every week, some of which surely ends up flaking into your mattress. (Also gross: About 80 percent of the material seen floating in a sunbeam is, in fact, flakes of dead skin.)"

May be easier to buy a new one, or hire someone to do it. Consumer Reports suggests: https://www.consumerreports.org/mattresses/how-to-clean-a-mattress/

U.S. Press Freedom Tracker

“Journalists in the United States face hostility from local and federal governments, along with a number of legal threats to themselves and their sources. This nonpartisan website aims to be the first to provide reliable, easy-to-access information on the number of press freedom violations in the United States—from journalists facing charges to reporters stopped at the U.S. border or asked to hand over their electronics.” https://pressfreedomtracker.us/about/

What would “a new nonpartisan website dedicated to documenting press freedom abuses across the United States” look like?  Same old left of center, biased news. Filled with opinion, and little research.  I checked on several on this list by adding two words to the name of the organization in a Google search: “Donald Trump.” Try it.

Partners

American Society of News Editors

Columbia Journalism Review

Committee to Protect Journalists

Freedom of the Press Foundation

Free Press

Global Editors Network

Index on Censorship

Investigative Reporters and Editors

Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University

Media Law Resource Center

MediaShift

National Association of Hispanic Journalists

National Press Club

National Press Photographers Association

News Media Alliance

NewsGuild-CWA

Newseum

Online News Association

PEN America

Poynter

Regional Reporters Association

Radio Television Digital News Association and Foundation

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Reporters Without Borders

Society of Environmental Journalists

Society of Professional Journalists

The Media Consortium

Columbia Journalism Review, a self styled media watch dog, nailed it in explaining why Trump tweets and runs circles around the media.

"Producing morning television or radio, after all, is so much easier when you dispense with the cumbersome business of “production values,” or the costs of journalism, just as long as you have compelling conte...nt. To set the morning agenda you don’t need studios, technicians, producers, fixers, interns, lights, cameras, hair and make-up. You don’t even need advertisers. All you need is a captivating guest who will, at around 6:30 am Eastern Standard Time, reliably say something that will set the agenda for the rest of the day. That way you can “own” the morning, enjoy the highest ratings, and make sure everybody is talking about your show–until tomorrow, when the cycle repeats itself."

https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/donald_trump_media_organization.php

A proud mother on her daughter's graduation

I met this young woman on Facebook, don’t remember exactly how, but I’ve enjoyed her posts over the years.  I’ve also seen photos of her beautiful daughter, so I was thrilled to see this testimony. There's no better sermon than a life of repentance and change. Ayesha Kreutz,  President of the Frederick Douglass Foundation of New York, writes:

"My oldest has graduated High school and changed her course, deciding to go to college and decided to double major. I suggested it since she got a really good scholarship. I have to say I am super proud of the girl.  See, she grew up with me. When I got pregnant with her it was the first time in my life I was sober, no drugs or alcohol, I quit everything. 

I was a single mother, though I absolutely loved her father, and we tried to make it work, I realized as I got sober he was an addict, more so than I was, his drug use far surpassed mine and after years of trying and going through DT's along with other issues we split for good.

Single, out of wedlock parenthood was terrible. We were homeless and I have been on the food stamp system as well. Through the journey of becoming who I am today, I worked hard to give my daughter a better shot than I had started her out on, by being a single mother. I even found a way to home-school while being a single mom and working full-time.

Eventually, by being obedient and faithful to the Word of Truth and building that relationship with Christ, things did turn around. 

I am married and a stay-at-home homeschooling mom and my oldest is a wonderful young lady. My husband Rocks!

She learned from my mistakes and purposed to listen to my wisdom to do better. She loves the Lord, picks good friends, is compassionate, loves her fellow-man, shares Jesus and through out high-school she danced 15 - 20 hours a week, played sports, even got all-star setter for volleyball and now has gotten a scholarship and going to college.

Many kids raised in adversity find ways to be bitter and angry and make excuses for their failure, but she has found ways to push through the excuses and find ways to make excuses to succeed.

So yep I am a proud mommy. I know college years can be even tougher and we really get a chance to see what they are made of.  So please give her a congratulation and if you are a 100% Bible-believing Christian pray for her and share words of wisdom with her."

How women see faces

Is this scientific study unfair to transwomen? Healthy heterosexual men and women were used in the study. "We investigated how 400 different human faces were evaluated for arousal and valence by a group of healthy male and female heterosexual students. As a whole, women judged all human faces as more positive and more arousing than men. In addition, they showed a preference for the faces of children and the elderly in the arousal evaluation. Regardless of face aesthetics, age, and facial expression, women rated human faces higher than men. A review of studies of sex differences in face processing, social interactions, empathy for pain, emotional memory, perception of infant faces (baby schema), faces-in-things (pareidolia), biological motion and actions, and erotic and emotional images is also provided." Journal of Neuroscience Research, 7 NOV 2016, pp. 222-234

At the Farmer's Market--giant zucchini at the organic tent

Benefits of summer squash such as zucchini--World's healthiest Foods newsletter

"Although summer squash has long been recognized as an important food source of carotenoids, only recently have research studies documented just how fantastic summer squash can be when it comes to these key antioxidants. For some groups of study participants, summer squash turns out to be the primary food source of alpha-carotene and beta-carotene in the entire diet! For lutein, zeaxanthin, and beta-cryptoxanthin (three other health-supportive carotenoids) summer squash also comes out among the top three food sources in several studies.   

When we think about food and antioxidants, what first comes to mind might be fresh fruit and vitamin C, or bright orange carrots and beta-carotene. Yet several recent studies have underscored the unique contribution made by summer squash to our antioxidant requirements. While not as rich in some of the more widely-publicized antioxidants like beta-carotene, summer squash is a very strong source of other key antioxidant nutrients, including the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin. Since the skin of this food is particularly antioxidant-rich, it's worth leaving the skin intact and purchasing organic summer squash to help avoid potential unwanted contaminants."

Today I had beet tops and corn on the cob (2 minutes in the microwave) for lunch. Our Farmer's Market at Lakeside is great, and two of these items were organic, and the zucchini will last a long time unless I figure something out.

Male and female he made them

In yesterday’s seminar on bioethics at Lakeside we heard about CRISPR and growing human ears on the flesh of lab animals, and the trans-human era so we can become the lie the serpent told Adam and Eve.  But the speaker (reformed tradition) also referred to “the church.” Just what is that, I wondered? How did we get here with dozens of Bible studies, feel good self esteem sermons, pot luck dinners and loud rock music, the only “church” people under 50—or maybe under 90—know. Before creating life in the laboratory, let’s look at it the old fashioned way—God’s way.  Male and female.

The so-called Christian church has no one to blame but itself for society’s capitulation to the LBGTQ anti-God, anti-history, anti-tradition agenda.  How did we get from sperm and egg to a personal choice based on feelings or mental illness?

Beginning in 1930, one by one the major Protestant denominations began to accept barrier, chemical and surgical solutions for limiting children, who are blessings from God.  The scariest “climate change” horror stories the Left can throw at us can’t compare to what Christians have accepted as “faith” or “mission” where family planning or women’s health are concerned. Eventually most Christian denominations also accepted abortion. Read your church head quarter’s documents—ELCA (Lutheran) accepts abortion for any reason, even sex selection. Some Protestant denominations use the loophole of disability, incest or rape, as though those little ones are expendable and deserve death because of their parents’ mistakes. Unborn children can distinguish between English and Japanese, but their own parents can’t figure out whether they are human?

Other churches just ignore the problem and stick to safe,  feel good, come to Jesus sermons and adding another "how to" Bible study.  In fact, I’ve been a member of 3 different denominations (Brethren, UCC and Lutheran) and I’ve never known Christianity in any form other than anti-life, anti-family, and anti-reproductive sex.  Not only have I never heard a sermon on the sin of abortion, I’ve never heard a sermon on the joys of marriage (except at the church wedding). Only the Roman Catholic church and perhaps Orthodox, but I haven’t researched that, elevates the role of male and female, marriage and family; and even some liberal European priests and bishops are getting squishy and caving to society’s desire to destroy God’s plan for creation. Most practicing Catholics I know, and their political leaders like Pelosi, Biden and Kerry, support abortion and contraception and ignore their church’s teaching.

https://www.ncbcenter.org/files/8214/6902/2602/MSOB124_The_Mystery_of_Male-Female_Complementarity.pdf

http://steadfastlutherans.org/2015/09/god-made-them-male-and-female/

http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/more-than-50-united-methodist-clergy-show-support-of-marriage-of-gay-couple

https://issues.cune.edu/the-lgbt-disputes-teaching-and-practice-in-the-church-2/the-reformation-and-the-reform-of-marriage-historical-views-and-background-for-todays-disputes/

http://www.ppl.org/index.php/educational-resources/pcusa-members/87-a-short-history-of-the-presbyterian-church-on-abortion-part-I

http://www.ucc.org/clergy_network_facilitated_safe_abortions_years_before_roe_v_wade_05222017

Number one for me

Gorsuch. Trump's #1 accomplishment. "Gorsuch, in fact, may settle to the right of Scalia. In each of the 15 cases he’s weighed in on so far, Gorsuch has sided with the court’s single most conservative member, Justice Clarence Thomas. More than that, he’s joined every concurring opinion that Thomas has issued so far. That is, he didn’t just agree with Thomas on the outcomes of the case but also with the reasoning by which those outcomes were reached." Fivethirtyeight. com

Gender confusion

It is estimated that 0.3% of all American adults are transgender, but there is no agreement or definition on what that is or how you get there because it is based on a feeling about ones identity, not on biology or fact. "A transgender identity is not dependent upon medical procedures. While some transgender individuals may choose to alter their bodies through surgery or hormonal therapy, many transgender people choose not to do so." (Pew Survey, 2013)  I know anorexics who sincerely believe they are obese, dog owners who sincerely believe their pet is a member of their family, amputees who can still feel their missing limb, healthy people who believe they are sick and helpless, and rich people who live in fear of poverty. The feelings are real, but do we change laws, regulations and common sense to accommodate their feelings?