Once again, Democrats get Republicans to take the “get Trump” bait

The Inspector General’s Report Reveals the biggest crime of the Obama administration, but by focusing on children separated from parents who have committed a crime, it can be wiped off the front burner. Democrats have done it again, and I can’t believe the Republicans are falling for it.  It's the "look over there" technique that politicians have perfected.

https://thefederalist.com/2018/06/15/11-quick-things-know-inspector-generals-report/

Maggie Thurber of Toledo observes: "I find it interesting and disturbing that the issue of separating children from family units when the family unit enters the country illegally arose at the same time as the IG report on bias in the FBI came out. Especially because it's a practice that the government has been following for years. Did anyone else notice the report is no longer top news.

Four years ago Mother Jones wrote about the deplorable conditions and 70,000 minor children, yet didn’t mention Obama once. Today the children in custody of HHS is a story all and only about Trump, not the failures of Clinton, Bush and Obama years. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/06/child-migrants-surge-unaccompanied-central-america/

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Mike Huckabee gives out the Sick Hypocrisy Award: Planned Parenthood jumps on the illegal immigration virtue signaling wagon by tweeting its principled stance that precious children deserve not to separated from their parents. Unless you’re separating them with surgical tools and a vacuum hose, I suppose?

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FBI bias training? "Career attorney Christopher Wray is only the latest man to reach the top of the FBI without ever serving as an agent. And now he says agents need to be instructed to remain impartial as they conduct investigations. Pentagon officials who never served in uniform typically don’t announce plans to teach their troops about patriotism, but perhaps the FBI is a very different institution. " Wall St. Journal Best of the Web, June 19

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/06/inspector-general-report-reveals-fbi-bias-in-clinton-email-investigation/

Fact checking the media’s version of the child immigration policy

As reported in the Daily Signal.

“In 1997, the Clinton administration entered into something called the Flores Settlement Agreement, which ended a class action lawsuit first brought in the 1980s. The settlement established a policy that the federal government would release unaccompanied minors from custody to their parents, relatives, or other caretakers after no more than 20 days, or, alternatively, determine the “least restrictive” setting for the child.

In a separate development, in 2008 the Democrat-controlled Congress approved bipartisan legislation to combat human trafficking and President George W. Bush, a Republican, signed it into law.
Section 235 (g) in that law, the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, states that unaccompanied minors entering the United States must be transferred to the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement rather than to the Department of Homeland Security.

Section 235 (g) in that law, the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, states that unaccompanied minors entering the United States must be transferred to the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement rather than to the Department of Homeland Security.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit expanded the Flores settlement in 2016 to include children brought to the country illegally by their parents.

For consistency between the provision of the anti-trafficking law and the 9th Circuit’s interpretation of the Flores agreement, children who came into the country illegally with parents had to be taken into HHS custody, said Art Arthur, former general counsel for Immigration and Naturalization Services (now known as Immigration and Customs Enforcement) as well as a former federal immigration judge.

“As soon as their parents are detained, the children are classified as unaccompanied,” Arthur, now a resident fellow for law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, told The Daily Signal.” “

First week of the season at Lakeside

The Preacher of the week at Lakeside this week is Rev. Dr. John A. Nunes, President of Concordia College, New York. He said yesterday at church his talks would be on the infantilization of adults and the adultification of children--I think it's based on a book, but I've forgotten the author, as there have been more than one with that theme. I plan to attend (9:15), at least today, but it's awfully hot.
At 10:30 is children's author Jill Hardie and at 1:30 is Richard Cowdrey who illustrates children's books. At 3:30 the curator from Mazza Museum (Findlay, OH, children's books) will give a presentation and there's a display of children's book illustrations at Hoover, which I haven't seen yet. I see no space in here for a nap, one of my favorite things to do.

There was a great program yesterday to celebrate Hoover Auditorium’s 90 years.  The construction began during the fall of 1928 and it opened for business in 1929.  What an amazing building with unusual wiring, bathrooms, sound control, seating, doors and stage curtains all having their own stories including roof collapses and fires. Very interesting display of some of the famous speakers and performers from Eleanor Roosevelt to Marian Anderson to Norman Vincent Peale. The Women's Club will have a presentation by David Blank on Peale tomorrow. In order to go to that, I’ll have to skip one of the program’s on children’s books.

https://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/story/news/2018/06/18/hoover-auditorium-brought-historic-speakers-lakeside/709522002/

http://rcowdrey.com/

Why is Peter Strzok still employed with FBI?

In remarks on Sunday Maria Bartiromo show, Alan Dershowitz said,

“FBI agents are allowed to be biased,” Dershowitz said. “They're allowed to support political candidates. That's part of the law. Where I draw the line is when an FBI agent says ‘we'll stop him.’
“That's not an expression of bias. That's not saying who we're going to vote for. That sends a message to the American people that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is going to interfere in an election, in an effort to try to stop the election of one candidate rather than the other. . .you're entitled to support a candidate if you're an FBI agent. But you're not allowed to try to use your office to stop somebody from being elected president of the United States.”

Arthur Brooks tells a Father’s Day story

Arthur Brooks’ father was a college professor of mathematics who drove a bus in the summer.
“He was a natural born mathematician, though. Here’s a classic dinner conversation:
Dad: “Hey kids, tell me as fast as you can what you get when you sum all the numbers from one to a hundred.”

My brother and I: “We’d need some paper.”

Dad: “Wrong. 1 + 100 = 101. 2 + 99 = 101. 3 + 98 = 101. . . . That’s 50 pairs all summing to 101. 50 x 101 = 5,050!”

Us: “Huh. Please pass the mashed potatoes.”

He died fairly young, at 66, from lymphoma. His doctor said that the median survival age for his diagnosis was at least 10 years, but he died in two. About this he was circumspect. He held a Ph.D. in biostatistics and noted, drily, "Someone has to be on the left tail."

Near the very end of his life, with just a few weeks to live, he was reflecting as a statistician on the life he had been given. “Sometimes I imagine a bargain from God,” he said. “He offers me a choice between dying at 66 with a sure bet that my boys grow up, have happy marriages and good careers, and where I get to meet my grandchildren briefly; or playing the odds on a much longer life but leaving the success of my kids up to chance.”

“I’d take the sure bet every time.”

Pregnancy Decision Health Centers

http://pdhc.org/

Pregnancy Decision Health Center is where I’ve been a volunteer for the last 5 or 6 years (don’t remember when I started but there was a big ice storm and I had to cancel my first day).  It provides women with pregnancy tests and ultrasounds (all free, no government money). It also provides counseling, material aid, educational materials, parenting classes, maternity clothes, layettes of beautiful new clothes and hand made things by church ladies.  It educates the community and has teams that go into the high schools to talk about being sexually responsible.  PDHC also has a fatherhood project to promote two parent families and the benefits of monogamy. There is also an emergency hot line.  All this was started about 40 years ago by one woman who began with a hotline in her home after the Roe v. Wade court case.

There are four locations in central Ohio, all with a nurse-director, para-professionals, interns, volunteer counselors most with degrees, and greeters, which was my position. We do the clerical stuff, entering records on the computer (when I began the files were paper and in a file cabinet) and greet the people with a clip board and instructions, like you would see at a doctor’s office. I also search the internet for any recalls on baby equipment that is donated like strollers, bouncers, bathtubs, write thank you notes for donations, insert educational material into packages which are given to each woman. I unpack and sort baby clothing donations, some of which has to be washed, and some of which comes from Catholic ladies who buy or make them, and pack.  I think that organization is about 100 years old.

Our clinic on West Broad Street has a pleasant lobby with comfortable chairs,  two counseling rooms nicely furnished, an education room with tables, chairs, video, etc.  A “store” with maternity clothes, free children’s clothes for older children in the family, diapers, books, etc., and an ultrasound room, plus 2 restrooms. A certain amount in the store is free, others can be earned by attending classes. Some of the locations, like on the OSU campus, offer STD testing, but we don’t. All the ultra-sounds are read by doctors who volunteer their time.

I’m a greeter, but have been on the prayer team for 18 years. Each week or so we get an e-mail list (without names because God knows) of about 10 requests for prayer as these women make the decision to either parent or abort.  I think I’ve only seen adoption a few times in all those years, although that may be because the decision has been made.  Not every woman is seeking an abortion; some need the documentation to qualify for government benefits. But our staff provides follow up anyway, and at the end of their pregnancy they can still have a layette.  Also if there is a miscarriage, grief counseling.  Some don’t have a doctor and need a referral.

Private contributions are 65% of PDHC’s support, grants 18%, churches direct contributions 12% and investments 4%. There is no government funding.  The current budgeted income is about $1.4 million. In 1981 309 clients were served; in 2017 the number served was 4411. 71% of those who seek help have incomes of less than $15,000.

One surprise for me was the list of local resources we compile and hand out—local, state, federal, non-profit, church, etc. It’s extensive and very specialized, like beds, or scholarships, or free clinics, or low cost housing, or food pantries. The bed ministry is from churches—ours has one.  It’s surprising (to me) how many families don’t have beds, or the women have fled abuse with no furniture, or the house was treated for bed bugs, and all the mattresses were thrown out. For a child to have his own bed is something really special. 

Bias against Trump within FBI

  
There is much more of this hostility evidence in the IG report, but apparently hostility is not against the law, even with vast amounts of evidence beginning at the top.  Mueller chose only those who hated Trump to be part of his investigation.

Father’s Day June 16

I saw this today. "The greatest gift my father has ever given me was his time."

That's not the kind of dad I had. He worked 12 hours a day. I treasure the few memories I have like that because they were so few. Like riding in his truck listening to him sing. Or the Sunday afternoons he drove my girl friends and me to the skating rink. Or his carrying my 11 year old sister in his arms to take her to the hospital when the doctor said she had polio. Or when all six of us would drive to Rockford to see a movie--I even remember the names of the movies! King Solomon’s Mines.  African Queen. What do I remember? How he treated my mother. Like she was the most important person in the world. How he treated his own mother, stopping by to visit her almost every day. That's how to make a little girl feel special and safe.

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?