The Inspector General Report

Manafort is in prison and Ms. Clinton, Comey, McCabe, Clapper, Strzok and Page all of whom tried to bring down the 2016 election are running free. Feeling safe yet?

The Korean dead will be returned

I teared up when I read that the remains of soldiers would be returned from North Korea. Their parents are gone now, but there are siblings and children and grandchildren. I remember when my uncle came home in 1947 after being killed in China in 1944 during WWII. He was an aerial engineer for the 24th Mapping Squadron of the 8th Photo Group, Reconnaissance (10th Air Force) which served in the China, Burma, India theater. Clare and a pilot in his unit were killed in an explosion when their plane hit a gasoline supply, through the stupidity of his commanding officer who insisted the men go up in a blinding storm. No one else in that unit lost his life and we only found out how Clare died when a great nephew, Steve, attended one of their reunions in the 1990s. Clare came home on the Honda Knot through San Francisco with 233,181 American dead mostly from action in the Pacific. Another large number came to New York from Europe. Hundreds of thousands of grateful Americans lined up to greet them. I hope we can welcome home those who died in Korea, the war that never ended. Thank you, President Trump.

https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2018/06/12/trump-kim-agree-to-repatriating-us-military-remains-from-korean-war/

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2010/05/remembering-uncle-clare-on-memorial-day.html

What’s so great about kale?

https://www.eatthis.com/10-superfoods-healthier-than-kale/

https://skipthepie.org/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/kale-raw/compared-to/chard-swiss-raw/

Spinach--Nutrition Score: 86.43
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, a 180 gram serving of boiled spinach provides 6.43 mg of iron, the muscle mineral—that’s more than a 6 oz hamburger patty!

Chard--Nutrition Score: 89.27
Recent research has shown that these powerhouse leaves contain at least 13 different polyphenol antioxidants, including anthocyanins–anti-inflammatory compounds that could offer protection from type 2 diabetes.

Beet greens--Nutrition Score: 87.08
A scant cup of the bitter green serves up nearly 5 grams of fiber—that’s more than you’ll find in a bowl of Quaker oats! Researchers at the University of Leeds found that risk of cardiovascular disease was significantly lower for every 7 grams of fiber consumed.

Watercress--Nutrition Score: 100
The top dog, the unrivaled champion, the chairman of the cutting board, watercress may also be the closest thing yet to a true anti-aging food. Gram for gram this mild-tasting and flowery-looking green contains four times more beta carotene than an apple, and a whopping 238 percent of your daily recommended dose of vitamin K per 100 grams—two compounds that keep skin dewy and youthful.  Richest dietary source of PEITC (phenylethyl isothiocyanate), which research suggests can fight cancer.

Should the minority tyrannize the majority?

I'm old enough to remember when divorce brought shame to the whole family. Even the extended family. Even marrying a divorced person was not acceptable. I was very young--but I remember. There are still people who don't believe in divorce, who would shun a relative, or stay in a miserable relationship just to avoid it. Could be religion, could just be obstinance. There may even be more of them than there are LGBTQ.

So what if an anti-divorce party grabbed political power and could have a career ruined or a business closed or involve one in a law suit because of divorce, or belief in divorce for others even though not even married? That's what we as a nation are being forced to confront with the power of LGBTQ. We have to accept men on the women's track team even though they are clearly men; a CEO can't eat a Chick-fil-a without apologizing because he is attacked on social media; we have to accept men in the ladies' restroom endangering women; we have to accept 5 year olds wanting to be called by a different pronoun encouraged by their wacko parents; we have to accept same sex marriage, not just as a legal entity, but socially and privately; we have to accept fostering and adopting as what's best for the adult couple, not the young child. If we don't accept this tyranny from a tiny minority we are the bigots.

Are church weddings going out of style?

When my parents and grandparents got married (1934 and 1901), home weddings with a few friends and family were common in our (Anabaptist) tradition. No white wedding dress, just something nice that could be reused. Even in the 1940s one of my aunts, Dorothy, was married at our house (first wedding I attended). By the 50s and 60s, most people I knew were married in churches, although a niece had her wedding in 1984 in the same yard where my parents said their vows. Now it's public spaces like parks, fancy city buildings, elegant old mansions, old barns, or destinations like resorts, and I've even heard that funeral homes have been used.

Honor your parents

For June morning devotions I've been reading the book of Sirach in the Bible. This is one that Martin Luther removed, so I'm not very familiar with it. Most Christians around the world do have this one, however. Anyway, for Father's Day there's a wonderful expansion on the commandment to honor your parents.

Sirach 3:12-13.
My son, take care of your father when he is old;
grieve him not as long as he lives.
Even if his mind fail, be considerate with him;
revile him not in the fullness of your strength.

Isn't that beautiful? I know so many people who have lovingly honored parents in this way. It's definitely not easy.

While looking for my password, I found this

Remember, though box
In the plural makes boxes
The plural of ox
Should be oxen, not oxes.
And remember, though fleece
In the plural is fleeces
That the plural of goose
Aren't gooses nor geeces.
And remember, though house
In the plural is houses
The plural of mouse
Should be mice, not mouses.
All of which goes to prove
That grammar a farce is
For where is the plural
Of rum and molasses.
Ohio Farmer, 8(3):23 Jan. 15, 1859

Washington Post blames Trump for embedded leaker

What an outrageous lede: "President Trump's administration excels at muddying the water, and the arrest of a former Senate aide, following an inquiry in which federal agents seized records from a New York Times reporter, might be its best work yet." (Washington Post, June 8)

So it's Trump's fault that a trusted Senate staffer John Wolfe was having an affair with an New York Times reporter half his age, Ali Watkins, and leaking secrets which then ended up in the Times? Really. This is beyond disgusting. No bias in the press here, move along.

I hope the historic Singapore meeting and Canada's high tariffs don't bump this story off the front pages. It's just a tiny piece in the puzzle that is the hysterical, illegal resistance that flows from the lovers' dens of DC to the script writers of Bill Maher and Samantha Bee to the power throne of George Soros to the befuddled mind of Maxine Waters.

I thought my mother had stopped by

but it was just me.

Is Trump a racist?

For the umpteenth time today I read that Trump is a racist. It's said constantly by Democrats, progressives and socialists. Let's find something he's said that is as racist as what Biden said about Obama back in 2007 ( "first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy"). Maybe you just call that patronizing, but really, the FIRST ARTICULATE African-American--where does that leave the rest of successful, educated black men? Has Trump said negative sexual things about Obama the way Jesse Jackson did? He said he'd like to cut his nuts off, accused him of talking down to blacks, and used the N-word about Obama.

And what about Mexicans? Folks, Trump wasn't in office when the wall was approved and money set aside. He wasn't in office when Clinton removed a record number of illegal immigrants, presumably not because he didn't like Mexicans, but because it was a criminal act and hurt American workers.
Although Muslims like Christians can be any race, he's still called a racist for pointing out the obvious. Trump wasn't in office during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars--that was 6 years of Bush and 8 of Obama. It wasn't Trump who designated Muslim countries in a bill signed by Obama in 2015--the Visa Waiver program for 38 countries. And it was Obama supporters who decided Trump needed to be stopped at any cost and stopped him with a court order.

I'm sure Trump had many shady real estate deals and not-so-nice encounters as a TV star and producer, but don't you think it's odd that in his success as a businessman and entertainer he had excellent relationships with blacks? Agreed he's a completely unconventional President undoing Obama's "legacies" while draining the swamp, he's a wealthy man who supports the little guy and average American, rare for a politician who seem to chase after the rich and powerful. Trump won't need or want a Netflix deal in exchange for an ambassador position. He's also been spied on and lied about in the media and he fights back. Due to the victim mentality Democrats have built their political house on, the worst charges they can think of are "racism" and I've even heard "homophobe" although I've never seen anything to corroborate that one either. With his marriage track record he probably doesn't care who is sleeping with whom. But both Clinton and Obama up to the 2012 election declared marriage was not for gays.

Trump said to black voters, "What have you got to lose?" Democrats have a lot to lose--and that's why they keep repeating these phony charges.

Maher is beneath contempt

Bill Maher says he hopes there is another recession just so Trump won't get elected. Obama didn't fix the recession--it was over (June 2009) before his schemes were out the door, yet the economy limped along for 7 years. Many people never did recover their life savings, pension, home or marriage.  Does Bill Maher hate American that much? This is worse than anything Roseanne or Samantha Bee said. Completely disgusting to want to hurt 330,000,000 people just because he hates Trump, but unfortunately, that's how compassionate liberals are. Recessions come along about every 10 years. Bush inherited one from Clinton years. (https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publications/review/03/09/Kliesen.pdf)

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/bill-maher-is-hoping-for-an-economic-collapse-so-he-can-get-rid-of-trump-sorry-if-that-hurts-people

Washington Post does it again

Wa Po bashes Trump in every paragraph about the "world order," then near the end of the harangue:

"Americans have long had a love-hate relationship with Europe and foreigners in general, along with a strong current of belief that others have taken advantage of U.S. beneficence, sentiments that Trump has been more than willing to exploit. To the extent that his supporters see a lean toward isolationism as advancing their own lives and pocketbooks, Trump has reason to think he is doing something right."

Oh look. The strained relations between U.S. and Europe didn't begin with Trump! Who knew? Who could have known if they only see/hear/read the Post, NYT and MSM?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-trump-some-fear-the-end-of-the-world-order/2018/06/08/d6026dde-6b44-11e8-bf8c-f9ed2e672adf_story.html?

Obama lied to us about Iran

"The Obama administration: 

(1) told Congress it would not allow Iran access to U.S. financial institutions; 

(2) issued a special license allowing Iran to do exactly that; 

(3) unsuccessfully pressured U.S. banks to help Iran; 

(4) lied to Congress and the American people about what it had done;

 (5) admitted in internal emails that these efforts "exceeded" U.S. obligations under the nuclear deal;

 (6) sent officials, including bank regulators, around the world to urge foreign financial institutions to do business with Iran; and 

(7) promised that they would get nothing more than a slap on the wrist for violating U.S. sanctions.

How bad is this? Remove the words "Obama" and "Iran" and replace them with "Trump" and "Russia" and imagine the outrage that would ensue over the same revelations. Democrats would be holding news conferences, and the story would be front-page news."

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/06/08/marc-thiessen-obama-took-lying-to-new-heights-with-iran-deal.html

Real estate in Franklin County, Ohio

"Where are homes selling way above the auditor's value? Five homes sold during the month in the downtown 43215 ZIP code, at an average of $194,900 over auditor's value.
New Albany (43054) came in second with 38 homes selling at an average $178,801 over auditor's value. In the Short North (43201), 25 homes sold for an average of $151,496 over the auditor's value. And 22 homes in Upper Arlington (43220), sold for an average of $104,045 over the stated value. (Business First, June 8)

Many college grads are underemployed

Many college grads are underemployed in first job, and still underemployed five years later. Look at the chart--the highest underemployment (doesn't require a college degree) is in many of the fields women flock to, and then they wonder why there's a wage gap
  
Remember, there are reasons to choose a lower level job.  I was a secretary in the Russian Area Center in Urbana, Illinois because I couldn’t get a teaching job in Urbana (at that time you could be denied a job if you had a young child).  Some women choose a lower level job not requiring a college degree so they can have more flexibility.

Leaker worked with NYT reporter

Oh dear.  The media were in cahoots with a Senate staffer and were benefitting from the leaks!
John Wolfe was in “a relationship” with a New York Times reporter for three years, to whom he was giving sensitive government information. Pillow Talk.   He’d been in his position for 3 decades—since 1987!  That’s the two Bushes, Clinton, Obama and Trump!  He just retired in December.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/us/politics/times-reporter-phone-records-seized.html
http://www.newsweek.com/who-james-wolfe-former-senate-intel-panel-security-director-indicted-lying-fbi-965642

“Wolfe was the security director at the SSCI for three decades from 1987 to 2017 and reportedly managed all classified information, from the Executive Office to the panel. He left the organization in December and formally retired in May, reported the New York Times. Wolfe is scheduled to make his initial appearance on Friday morning at the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.”
Trump is right again.

We could all do more

Yesterday in Bible study, Pastor Jeff mentioned that if all Christians contributed a tithe, there would be no need for government programs. The average, he said, is 2%.
 
Our niece Joan, who is one of the most compassionate, level headed women I know (teaches first grade) mentioned on Facebook yesterday:

"So a 10 year old girl rang the door bell selling hand drawn pictures for $.50. Taking a minute to inquire why they were trying to sell the pictures, we learned that grandma and grandpa didn’t have any food and there are four children staying there. Packed a sack from my pantry and freezer took down to their house and then made a Walmart run. Sometimes we need to take a minute and listen, and find out the needs of others."

Indeed. Yet I also think it's a great idea that the grandchildren wanted to chip in and help and chose the only way they knew.

The prison population

About twenty percent of those in federal prison are not U.S. citizens, 13% are Mexican. 7% of our population is non-citizen according to Census. They are not in federal prison for crossing the border to work as roofers and broccoli pickers. These are criminals.
https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_citizenship.jsp
 
Last Updated: Saturday, 26 May 2018

Percent of body fat

And I quote: "There’s a reason why females have a harder time losing those extra pounds. Nature gave a woman more enzymes to store fat and less to burn it in case she needs to support a developing baby. As a result, women have about 5 percent more body fat than men. A healthy body fat percentage for an 18-year-old girl is between 17 and 30 percent, while a 19-year-old should fall between 19 and 31 percent. Adult females 20 to 39 years should strive for a body fat percentage between 21 and 32 percent. Forty to 59-year-old women should fall within the 23 to 33 percent range, while those 60 years and older should be between 24 and 35 percent." That's sounds better than what I heard at the gym today. My percentage body fat is 32.2 according to that little machine that said I was over the recommended for my age. If I lost what the machine recommended, I'd be receiving"get well" cards in the mail.

 http://livehealthy.chron.com/healthy-body-fat-levels-based-age-3473.html

More lies and scandals from Obama

The report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations revealed that under President Barack Obama, the Treasury Department issued a license in February 2016, never previously disclosed, that would have allowed Iran to convert $5.7 billion it held at a bank in Oman from Omani rials into euros by exchanging them first into U.S. dollars. If the Omani bank had allowed the exchange without such a license, it would have violated sanctions that bar Iran from transactions that touch the U.S. financial system.
Secret Obama-Era License Let Iran Tap Dollars | Newsmax.com

And here is ABC’s spin. . .

“A former Obama administration official dismissed the charge, telling ABC News, "There was no secret effort to give Iran access to the U.S. financial system. This was a routine license to allow the transfer of funds. That's totally in line with our well-known obligations under the deal." Jarrett Blanc, the former State Department coordinator for Iran deal under Obama, called the report "wildly overblown" and the license "absolutely common in sanctions regimes."

The gist is that after the Iran nuclear deal was signed and implemented, Iran was given access to its frozen assets in banks around the world, including $5.7 billion at a bank in Oman, the small country on the southeast tip of the Arabian peninsula. “

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-admin-granted-iran-secret-license-access-us/story?id=55689587

CNN makes it very clear this is the GOP study, but sounds a little less sure about the legality of it. We were not lied to, we were “misled.”

“The majority report by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation says that the US Treasury, at the instruction of the US State Department, granted a license to convert the $5.7 billion briefly into American dollars so it could be converted into euros. The exchange was legal, the report notes.

Officials at Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control asked two US banks to work as intermediaries and execute the transaction, but they declined, citing concern over potential regulatory backlash and a ding to their reputations.”

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/06/politics/iran-united-states-bank-exchange-republicans-report/index.html

The Hill has another slant. . .

“The report cites multiple instances where top officials such as Treasury Secretary Jack Lew pledged before Congress and the public that Iran would not have access to the U.S. financial system, both before and after authorizing the license.

“The Obama administration misled the American people and Congress because they were desperate to get a deal with Iran," Portman said in a statement.

Under President Obama, the U.S. and several other nations signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran in the summer of 2015, a pact that aimed to curb development of Iran's nuclear program. In exchange, the U.S. agreed to lift some of its economic sanctions issued against Iran. “