How the DOJ slush fund worked

Eight years of criminal behavior at the highest levels. Much worse than anything Nixon ever thought of. How did the Department of Justice slush fund work? Judicial Watch explains:

"An Obama-era scheme that forced companies sued by the government to fund leftist groups overtly excluded conservative organizations, according to internal Department of Justice (DOJ) records obtained by Judicial Watch. As part of settlements, the DOJ would often give the corporations—mainly big banks—double credit if they gave money to LEFTWING INTEREST GROUPS handpicked by the administration instead of paying the government. The new records demonstrate a collaborative effort among high-level officials in the Office of the Assistant Attorney General (OAAG) and the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) to ensure conservative groups did not receive any settlement cash.

The operation is known as a DOJ “slush fund” that filled the coffers of Obama-allied nonprofits such as the NATIONAL COUNCIL OF LA RAZA, URBAN LEAGUE, and NATIONAL COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT COALITION [also heavily involved in the 2008 housing collapse] Earlier this year Judicial sued the DOJ for records relating to the problematic Obama administration policy of settling government lawsuits against corporate defendants by requiring that the corporations make “donations” to leftwing interest groups.

Back in 2010 Judicial Watch sued the DOJ over a similar program in which the agency’s Civil Rights Division directed large sums of cash settlements in discrimination lawsuits to organization that were not officially connected to the lawsuits. Recipients were also leftist groups that aligned with Obama’s ultra-liberal agenda." For more:  http://jw.structure.email/press-release/10-27-17-cc-media
 

A bargain at $37,000

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/438-S-Eureka-Ave-Columbus-OH-43204/33846688_zpid/

Sometimes I click on an ad. A house in Hilltop (west side of Columbus) for $37,000. Looked nice--video went back to 2006. So I checked the "neighborhood" for owner/residents. (I think it is currently a rental for $700). Seems this house has anywhere from 23-38 residents. Is that possible in a 3 bedroom, one bath, 1100 sq.ft. house? Is this why we need voter ID checks?

The anti-Catholic films of Harvey Weinstein

What would you say if someone had financed and encouraged nine films bashing Jews or Muslims or women? What if the films were about Catholics? Would that be OK? How much of your knowledge of the Catholic church has come from films?  Harvey Weinstein's anti-Catholic films:

*Priest (1995), a film that centers around homosexuality, celibacy and the priesthood. 

*The Butcher Boy (1998) is about a young boy who is molested by a priest in a reform school and is fascinated by delusional fantasies about a foul-mouthed Virgin Mary played by everyone’s favorite bigot, Sinéad O'Connor. Birds of a feather flock together. 

*Dogma (1999), a confusing pastiche of Catholic beliefs, pagan myths and atheist Black Legend slapped together about the end of the world in which a descendant of Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph who works in an abortion clinic. 

*40 Days and 40 Nights (2002) ridicules Catholics who remain celibate for Lent treating sacrifice and abstention as if it was feat of strength rather than a spiritual offering to God. 

*The Magdalene Sisters (2002) depicted lies about Irish nuns falsely portraying them as abusive toward young wayward women they had “enslaved” in their laundries. In reality, the Irish secular government, dumped these women with the nuns as their families had already disowned them. The nuns gave them food, board and spiritual guidance and showed them love saving these young women from having to prostitute themselves. 

*Bad Santa (2003) depicted a mall Santa who was a vulgar, drunken, suicidal, chain-smoking, sex-addicted thief. Some have drawn parallels between this mockery of this children’s icon and Weinstein himself. 

*Sin City (2005) which depicted a Catholic bishop who aides and abets a serial murderer and engages in cannibalism. 

*Black Christmas (2006) is a tiresome slasher film replete with gratuitous sex and foul language. Both Harvey and his brother Bob were remarkably hands-on with this film. 

*Philomena (2013) was another set of lies reminiscent of the Black Legend that insisted that “evil” nuns had kidnapped a woman’s child. Actually, Philomena Lee abandoned her out-of-wedlock son when she was a teenager. It was the actions of the nuns, who often run orphanages around the world and throughout the past two millennia, who gave the child to an American couple who adopted him. Weinstein lobbied the Academy in the hope of getting an Oscar for Philomena. Thankfully, he failed. . .  

Both anti-Catholicism and anti-Semitism should be condemned, without exception. Bigots, however, often condemn one while eagerly engaging in the other."

 When Weinstein received a Humanitarian award in 2015, he condemned anti-Semitism.

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/astagnaro/a-litany-of-harvey-weinsteins-catholic-bashing-films

http://www.vulture.com/2014/01/miramax-oscar-campaigns-harvey-weinstein-timeline.html

The hacked e-mails of Clinton

I missed this in the Hillary hacked leaks. Rereading BBC list. Podesta also called Sanders "a doofus." Is it racist or bigoted to refer to people as "food groups?"

"Mrs Clinton's campaign considered Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates or his wife Melinda as her running mate, according to the hacked emails. 

Mr Podesta drafted a list of nearly 40 names for her potential vice-presidential pick, organising it by what he called "rough food groups", which appeared to refer to demographic coalitions. 

The list included Hispanic, white and black men, three former high-ranking military officers, business leaders and female senators.  

Among those included were Apple's Tim Cook, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, General Motors' Marry Barra and Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz. 

Senator Bernie Sanders was listed in a group by himself. "  

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37639370

Ben Carson quote

 
"The 2010 budget request for the International Military Education and Training programme proposed to increase funding for African countries from just under US$14 million to more than US$16 million, with additional increases for North African countries. Major recipients slated for increases include Algeria, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Morocco, NIGER, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda. . .during her visit to Nigeria in August 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised that the administration would consider any request by the Nigerian government for military support to enhance its capacity to repress armed militants in the Niger Delta region. The failure of the Nigerian government to implement major elements of its amnesty programme in this vital oil-producing area has recently led to a resumption of violent incidents and attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta." https://www.pambazuka.org/governance/obama-and-us-military-engagement-africa

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/05/21/map-the-u-s-currently-has-troops-in-these-african-countries/

The DOJ and the gag order

I know Democrats and the MSM are trying their best to ignore the ballooning  bribery and pay to play scandal of the Clintons, the CFIUS (inter-agency committee authorized to review transactions that could result in control of a U.S. business by a foreign person) with the FBI involvement. Democrats are calling it a plot by Brietbart and Fox. Bank receipts, pay offs, etc. Bob Mueller, who was with the FBI at the time of the transfer to Russia and the original investigation is implicated.  Plus the dossier scandal and the British spy.  Oh my.  So much to learn. Democrats were so eager to track every crumb of evidence when they thought it was about Trump colluding with Russia!

The Justice Department says it has lifted a gag order preventing an FBI informant from telling Congress details about the Obama-era deal in which a Russian-backed company bought a uranium firm with mines in the U.S. Although some Democrats will be willing to throw Hillary under the bus to save St. Obama, others will stand with her.  They still have the Clinton crime machine even if the foundation is gone to go after them.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/25/justice-department-provides-fbi-uranium-one-informant-to-congress.html

Russia, Clinton and Fusion GPS

Which is worse? Russia buying social media ads (half of which were after the campaign) or Hillary selling our Uranium to the Russians who give it to Iran and North Korea? Which is worse? Trump’s bull in a china shop behavior and language or Clinton and DNC paying a spy to bring down his campaign?

What’s coming out now is almost incomprehensible—DNC and Clinton campaign behind the phony dossier that FBI showed Trump before election (which he denied) and now the FBI and Mueller are implicated, as well as Hillary and Obama. They all knew about Uranium One deal, the money she and Bill got, and just gave her a pass. Forget Flake and Corker.  They are just nothings. This crime goes to the highest levels, much worse than anything Nixon ever thought of.   But the woman we could have elected as president?  The DoJ and FBI and our former president all colluding to smear and implicate Trump in a crazy Russian scandal to destabilize not just his candidacy, but then his presidency?  She’s lower than I thought. And One World Obama’s going down fast. Who will investigate Bob Mueller who is investigating the president? He knew also!

 But I’m worried about the unnamed Republican who was involved with Steele (the British spy) before the Clintons took over the dirty deal.  Who knows maybe it was Flake or Corker, but supposedly it was one of the primary candidates. Hoping it wasn’t Cruz, my favorite after Walker, Jindal and Carson.  As they say, get out the popcorn for this thriller, but we’ll need a score card. The Washington Post has the story—and Bezos must have had to swallow gasoline to even allow it in print.

"The Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund research that resulted in a now-famous dossier containing allegations about President Trump’s connections to Russia and possible coordination between his campaign and the Kremlin, people familiar with the matter said." Washington Post, Oct. 24, 2017.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/clinton-campaign-dnc-paid-for-research-that-led-to-russia-dossier/2017/10/24/226fabf0-b8e4-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html?utm_term=.1f3857c9c53b

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/356999-clinton-campaign-dems-helped-fund-research-for-trump-dossier-report

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/10/24/sean-hannity-real-russia-probe-exposes-clintons-obama-not-president-trump.html

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/24/politics/fusion-gps-clinton-campaign/index.html

I guess Weinstein is out of the news for the duration while we watch Hillary Clinton's lie on her book tour.

Feeding America's hungry children

 This charity, Feeding America, suggests donating to them because hungry children can't learn, but 13 million U.S. children get free or reduced cost breakfasts at school, free or reduced cost lunches, and free after school snacks, and special plans for summer time and camps through USDA programs. If you read through Feeding America's programs, none seem to be about breakfast at school.

FA is now 35 years old, a charity (2nd Harvest) begun by one person to distribute food surpluses. However, the government's definition of hunger has expanded and is now "food insecurity," not hunger, and all the programs, both government and charities, have expanded. Low income households are not dumb about their resources. As food programs expand, those households factor that into their budgets, leaving more cash for non-food items such as rent, utilities, clothing, alcohol, cigarettes, gasoline, cell phone contracts, etc. Studies show that even with the lowest unemployment rate since the early 1970s, food pantries are still an important resource for many households, some increasing their visits from occasional to regular.

Although the recession ended in June 2009, participation in SNAP, the government's largest low income food program, has never returned to pre-2008 levels, in part because people were recruited to participate with expanded ARRA money. Yes, it sounds heartless to question why so many people remain on government and charity food programs when we have 123 transfer of wealth programs to assist, however, some questions need to be asked about why parents are not using their resources to feed their children.  A low income family with children can receive about $400/month in just SNAP benefits, plus access to USDA programs at school and church food pantries. And yes, a family can eat very well using just SNAP--there's a cook book on line.

 

Monday Memories--the Tulamo anniversary tour

Dinner at Houlihan's Oct. 22

The Tulamos have been with us eight days out of their 6 week tour of the United States to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.  We met about 38 years ago when Riitta was a student at the veterinary college at Ohio State University.  We helped them find an apartment, loaned them a bicycle, brought them to church with us, and enjoyed many happy holidays and family occasions with them.

We picked them up on Monday evening at the airport and came home for dinner. On Tuesday we went to the Columbus Museum of Art (see earlier blog).  On Wednesday Steve and Valerie Regoli picked them up at our home in the morning and brought them home late at night. On Thursday and Friday we went to Lakeside to see the cottage where we spend our summers.  In looking at our cottage guest book we saw it was Oct. 19, 1991, they had been there on a previous trip back to the states (but it was very cold that year).  That night we ate at Cleat's. The weather couldn't have been better and after a visit to the lighthouse on Friday we had a picnic on the Lakefront. Friday night we went out to eat with our daughter and son-in-law at the Rusty Bucket in Upper Arlington to celebrate his birthday.  On Saturday we drove to Circleville to the pumpkin show--something like 400,000 people show up to look at one block of pumpkins and 10 blocks of carnival rides and food. On Sunday after church we had a brunch for 18 at our home and invited the few people still around who knew them almost 40 years ago, and on Monday they visited the studio in German Village of a cartoonist Bob knows.  That evening we went out as their guests to Houlihan's for dinner--a final anniversary dinner, which they've done in each location they've visited--Napa Valley in California, Colorado, Minneapolis, Wisconsin. Now they are off to Boston for some final sight seeing.

Group selfie at dinner, Oct. 15

Group selfie at the lake, Oct. 18

At Lake Erie Oct. 18

 Our shoes at Marblehead

Boats docked at Cleat's, Oct. 18

Brunch for Tulamos Oct. 21

 

14 styles mistakes that will age us

Now we know why we age—we’re making fashion mistakes!  Leggings, tights, long hair, bulky tent look, clothes not fitting our body style, too much black, too many accessories, and wearing athletic clothes in public! 

http://www.fashionbeans.com/content/style-mistakes-that-will-age-you?

I hope there’s a better way to say this—very odd and awkward sentence construction. “Oversized clothing won’t only make you look larger but it’ll take your natural shape away from you too so it’ll give the illusion of exaggerating your size – and that’s probably not what you want. So, avoid anything that resembles a tent.”

Notice the pronouns

Although I don't think the media ever mentioned it, social media was all over Obama for 8 years for his use of the first person pronoun.  I, me, my, were the main topics of many of his speeches. Trump's speeches are very different.  He talks about doing things together, or our partners, or "we".  I think his ego is just a large as the former president's, but having been a business man he knows the value of commended those under him to keep the team working hard.

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE...
October 21, 2017
   
Statement by President Donald J. Trump on the Defeat of ISIS in Raqqah
   
I am pleased to announce that the Syrian Democratic Forces, our partners in the fight against ISIS in Syria, have successfully recaptured Raqqah – the terrorist group’s self-proclaimed capital city. Together, our forces have liberated the entire city from ISIS control.
  
The defeat of ISIS in Raqqah represents a critical breakthrough in our worldwide campaign to defeat ISIS and its wicked ideology. With the liberation of ISIS’s capital and the vast majority of its territory, the end of the ISIS caliphate is in sight.
  
We will soon transition into a new phase in which we will support local security forces, de-escalate violence across Syria, and advance the conditions for lasting peace, so that the terrorists cannot return to threaten our collective security again. Together, with our allies and partners, we will support diplomatic negotiations that end the violence, allow refugees to return safely home, and yield a political transition that honors the will of the Syrian people.
  
One of my core campaign promises to the American people was to defeat ISIS and to counter the spread of hateful ideology. That is why, in the first days of my Administration, I issued orders to give our commanders and troops on the ground the full authorities to achieve this mission. As a result, ISIS strongholds in Mosul and Raqqah have fallen. We have made, alongside our coalition partners, more progress against these evil terrorists in the past several months than in the past several years.
I commend all of our coalition partners for the sacrifices they have made in this noble effort. Therefore, as we recognize this military accomplishment, we also pause to honor our service men and women and all they have given to protect us and all civilized people from these modern day barbarians.
  
Today, we reaffirm that ISIS leaders, and anyone who supports them, must and will face justice.

The Tulamos are here

We visited the Columbus Museum of Art today.  We ate in the lovely new restaurant then toured the building, with Martti taking photos. We met about 39 years ago when Riitta was a PhD student in the veterinary college at Ohio State, and they have been touring the U.S. since September 19 for their 40th anniversary celebration.  Both are retired now and about 70 years old.  And they were such youngsters when we met and now have 2 grandbabies. And the brakes started going bad in the van this week, so we also made a mad dash to have them fixed ($760.79) so we took the smaller SUV to drive downtown, which gave us a lot of laughs trying to get in and out of the back seat, which I think was intended for children.

"Best places" to live

It was an article on Facebook. So I took a look.  Olathe, KS, Kirkland, WA, Atascocita, TX, Carmel, IN and many others. Diversity is not highly valued or one of the criteria in these "best of" lists no matter who makes them (and there are many). Kirkland has 1.2% black citizens, Olathe 3.7%. Atascocita, TX, which I've never heard of, has 19.2% black citizens. In fact, cities in the south were all pretty good in that category. So I dug a little deeper. 

 Maryland is the wealthiest state in the country. The town with both a good livability rating and a good racial mix is Columbia (wonder how long it will be allowed to keep that name?). It is about 50 years old and was designed by a Christian businessman to be "perfect," with a mix of housing, business, organizations, religions and races, with easy access to DC. In the livability rating, it doesn't rate as high as McLean, VA, also a DC suburb which has only 1.45% black, but an Asian population double the Maryland percentage. It's just a few miles from Columbia. Both McLean and Columbia rate F in affordability, but A or A+ in other categories like crime, schools, etc. McLean has a marriage rate much higher than Maryland or Columbia.

Women in technology fields

I'm not the least bit concerned about the underrepresentation of women in the tech industry. Those companies hire those who can make them a profit, including a disproportionate number of foreign workers. They all lean heavily to the Left, so take it up with the protestors. Women also don't choose the same career track in college, and when they do get into tech/computer work, many don't like the culture, nerdy, male and strange. No one worried that in my career field (library science) women outnumber the men at all levels. Women outnumber men in almost all the professional colleges--law, medicine, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, and Dartmouth has reported finally women outnumber men in engineering. In many cities, women in similar age groups and education level earn more than similarly qualified men. Where are the protests? A capitalist will look at the bottom line, and if that bottom is on a woman, she gets the job.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/10/10/women-are-more-concerned-than-men-about-gender-discrimination-in-tech-industry/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2016/04/04/u-s-cities-where-women-earn-more-than-men/#5645bc4c4544

Hefner and Weinstein

From my vantage point, I can see no difference between Hefner and Weinstein. One was eulogized for dying rich with a bevy of bimbos, the other condemned without a trial after years of his accomplices praising him and accepting his wealth. Two guys who got rich using and objectifying women. So I decided to Google it, and found something interesting. Hypocrisy (shocking, I know).

"Hefner and Weinstein were known to use their power to manipulate their victims, but the manipulation lives on as we eulogize these men. We need look no further than the editorials produced around both Hefner's death and the revelations of Weinstein's assaults to see how their influence holds sway over our judgement of them, too. Obituaries unsure whether to memorialize or condemn the creator of Playboy abounded in late September. Now, exposés of Harvey Weinstein similarly vacillate between the bullet points of his lengthy resume and the fact that all the while he has been serially harassing women in Hollywood."  https://verilymag.com/2017/10/news-media-confusing-coverage-of-harvey-weinstein-and-hugh-hefner-10162017

The Iran Deal

HUGH HEWITT: "President Trump is right. The Iran deal is the worst deal ever in American history. We got nothing."

Trump has also been right about the judges who have been appointed who I hope can restore the bench's place, and about returning power stolen by the executive branch to the legislative branch, and reducing regulations which have been strangling the economy.

So-so. The tax reform looks weak to me, but we'll see about that as it gets sliced and diced. 

He's been wrong to go after the NFL. Should have just thanked all those players for kneeling in prayer and adoration when the national anthem was played. Could have brought it to a halt.

The Federal Courts web archive

"The federal courts were created under the U.S. Constitution. Article III, Section 1,  provides for the U.S. Supreme Court and such lower courts that Congress may establish. These lower courts include the U.S. courts of appeals, the U.S. district courts and the U.S. Court of International Trade. In addition, other federal courts have been established under Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, including the U.S. bankruptcy courts, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. Tax Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces."
http://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2017/10/new-online-federal-courts-web-archive/

One could be lost for days and days browsing this resource. I couldn't find immediately the infamous 9th Circuit, but when I clicked on 10th, and browsed that, I found a partial archive of the 9th, ending in August 2016.

Click on the link and see the places you'll go!

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on y our way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.
Dr. Seuss

Hierarchy of Angels

Love finding a topic I'd never thought of but which is in the Bible.

Columbus Marathon today

The marathon benefits Children’s Hospital. Everyone is psyched.  Well, not me.  I’m just watching the weather.  Nearly 70 degrees at 5:30 a.m., but windy, and will cool down this afternoon.  I just want to be able to get out and walk.

 It’s good for the brain.

This link only provides the summary, but has an excellent graphic to remind you what lifestyle changes can help your brain. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acschemneuro.6b00009  You want to stay of the right (green) side, and avoid the lavender/purple.

“Diet, stress, and physical exercise directly act on neural stem cells and/or their progeny, but, in addition, they may also indirectly affect neurogenesis by acting on microglia. Microglia, the guardians of the brain, rapidly sense changes in the brain milieu, and it has been recently shown that their function is affected by lifestyle factors. However, few studies have analyzed the modulatory effect of microglia on adult neurogenesis in these conditions. Here, we review the current knowledge about the dialogue maintained between microglia and the hippocampal neurogenic cascade. Understanding how the communication between microglia and hippocampal neurogenesis is affected by lifestyle choices is crucial to maintain the brain cognitive reserve and prevent the maladaptive responses that emerge during disease or injury through adulthood and aging.”

Exercise

“Cardiovascular exercise such as running, interval training, cross fit and or yoga are the single most effective ways of boosting neurogenesis; they come with a vast array of health benefits for mind and body, and are also important stress relievers. The endorphins produced acting as a potent antidote to cortisol, the stress hormone. Exercise has been found to increase levels of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and glial cell line-derived trophic factor (GDNF), two key growth factors supporting neurogenesis.  It also increases hormones such as testosterone which also seem to have a extremely beneficial effect on neurogenesis, and act as a buffer against the effects of psychological stress. This is increasingly more important as we age.”  http://highexistence.com/boost-brain-harnessing-neurogenesis/  Of course, I don't run, but a brisk walk is good, too.