A plea to Democrats from Alan Dershowitz

Alan Dershowitz implores his fellow Democrats: "Do not glorify the violent people who are now tearing down the statues. Many of these people, not all of them, many of these people are trying to tear down America. Antifa is a radical, anti-America, anti-free market, communist, socialist, hard-left sensorial organization... They use violence. Just because they are opposed to fascism and to some of these monuments, should not make them heroes of the liberals. ... Doing what Stalin did, just erasing history and rewriting it to serve current purposes does pose a danger. And it poses a danger of education malpractice. I'm a liberal, and I think it’s the obligation of liberals to speak out against the hard-left radicals, just like it’s the obligation of conservatives to speak out against the extremism of the hard right.'' (via Patriot Post) I'm afraid if Dershowitz doesn't stop making so much sense, he'll lose all cachet with the liberals.

From liberal rag to fish wrapper

Since Amazon's Bezo bought Washington Post almost 4 years ago, it's been a less than worthless fish wrapper. Anti-Christian, anti-U.S., anti-Trump. Someone please buy it and "make the Post great again." Is it worth giving up on Amazon to protest? http://www.dailywire.com/news/20102/wapo-editorial-satan-good-christians-are-john-nolte

Antifa and BLM

"When Minnesota Black Lives Matter marchers chanted of police, “Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon,” was that a call for violence that was not long after realized by a spate of racist murders of policemen in Dallas? Are such advocates of torching police officers morally equipped to adjudicate which Confederate statue must come down?" Victor Davis Hanson

"Two parties, two culpabilities; but except for the initial statement of President Donald Trump, condemning both sides, only one party has been held accountable, and that happens to be the one that was in the park legally.

What is taking place in the media accounts and political commentaries on this event is an effort by the left to turn the mayhem in Charlottesville into a template for their war against a mythical enemy — "white supremacy" — which is really a war on white people generally." David Horowitz, Aug. 21

The Boston rally in a nutshell: “Excuse me,” one man innocently asked a Globe reporter, “where are the white supremacists?” (Jeff Jacoby tweet)

When a peaceful group called for prayer, it was called “White Supremacist. Nancy Pelosi has called Joey Gibson's group white supremacist): “I’m not white. We have about eight speakers and only one speaker is white. You know, we have a couple of black speakers, a Hispanic, we have a transsexual speaker; we have a woman speaker. It’s very diverse. It’s really just about what’s on the inside – what you believe, what’s in your heart, your soul – it has nothing to do with skin color.”

In Charlottesville, one side wore white hoods the other black hoodies.  Both violent, both racist, but only one side is part of a global movement with financial support from George Soros.

The refugee crisis in South Sudan

You haven't heard about it?  Not surprised. This summer at Lakeside we had a speaker from South Sudan who now lives in Columbus, Bol Aweng  one of the "Lost boys of Sudan" who were in the news some years ago. He has a non-profit and is also a very talented artist.  I subscribe to a Catholic news service which is covering the tragedy in South Sudan and noticed its story.  So I Googled it. "South Sudan refugee crisis." The top seven entries (mostly paid ads) were all charities, Save the Children, Doctors without Borders, CARE USA, Rescue. org, Mercy Corps, UNHCR, and Oxfam. No news from the major MSM in the U.S., but some from BBC and Aljazeera.  Contrast that story which involves millions of people and ethnic (black on black tribal and political violence) conflicts with the Google search "Trump Charlottesville" and you'll find the top entries CNN, NYT, WAPO, Politico, Fox News, NY Post, Fast Company and NPR.  And they all focus on the same story--Trump condemned violence on both sides in Charlottesville, one group had a permit to demonstrate, and the other didn't.  It's too bad those news outlets have no one in Africa. With whom would they side?

https://www.crs.org/media-center/news-release/uganda-now-hosts-more-1-million-south-sudanese-refugees-hunger-crisis

http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/stories/2017/8/59944a0b4/khaled-hosseini-marks-millionth-south-sudanese-refugee-uganda.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/06/uganda-south-sudanese-refugees-crisis-170621092317423.html

Trump and the Republicans

"Something has gone very wrong since Trump ascended. And it’s not him. He’s virtually the only one trying to do the right things. At this point, it’s clear we have a combination of sick factions in the GOP, and none of them give a damn about the party’s voters, none of them give a damn about the principles they claim to have stood for in the past years, and none of them have a clue about what they are doing.

What has this party done since Trump saved their bacon, keeping them in the majority, saving them from becoming a worthless second fiddle to a corrupt Hillary? Nothing. Just nothing. And now worse than nothing. I am not the first to say this, but let’s be clear, the GOP has become a party of spineless wimps and frauds. They have betrayed half of America, betrayed the base that once supported them so well, and also betrayed their country."

American Spectator, Aug. 21, 2017

The Resistance--now it's statues, tomorrow maybe you

The Durham, NC statue "was pulled down and then stomped on by a crew of radical leftists, identified by the local paper as members of the Workers World Party, Industrial Workers of the World, Democratic Socialists of America, and the ubiquitous antifa gang. In other words, these people are about as far left as you can go without falling off the edge of the earth." https://www.billoreilly.com/b/First-They-Came-For-the-Statues/425206911343892859.html

I wonder where the Democrat Congressional leaders, media poo-bahs, librarians, teachers and electricians are who will condemn American Communism by name and rank? And it must be names--can't just condemn bigotry and hate, as we have learned this week. Communism or some form of it killed about 100 million of its own citizens in the 20th century.

 When, like the Taliban destroying ancient Buddhist temples in 2001 in the name of Allah and Islamic political correctness, any founder who owned slaves will need to have his/her reputation destroyed; but it never ends, because self-righteous, virtue signaling feels so good to people who don't know history or who abort black babies in the name of "health care for women." It's critical to destroy history, as communists well know.

 Eventually, when demonizing white microaggression and bullying the millions whose ancestors came well after 1865 from hundreds of countries, including Africa, have run their course, the Leftists will need to take out those blacks with European ancestry. No one will be safe. Remember when Joe Biden called Obama the storybook candidate because he was a clean, light skinned African American?

The Soviet show trials, or purge, would be a good place to start for those in the vanguard of the resistance. For old timey liberals, and newby socialists, and 40-something followers. "The NKVD was handed a list of those who were now labelled ‘enemies of the state’ – effectively the Bolshevik Party’s Old Guard – for example, Kamenev, Zinoviev and Bukharin. Anyone associated with these men was also under suspicion. They were put on trial at heavily manipulated show trials where the verdict was never in doubt. The show trials had to prove their guilt preferably with a very public admission of betraying the revolution and therefore the people." http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/modern-world-history-1918-to-1980/russia-1900-to-1939/the-show-trials-in-the-ussr/

Friday Family Photo Lakeside 2017

Bob and his sister Deb heading to Hoover for an evening of music.

 

 

Checking out the new pool and wellness center at Lakeside. Deb and Sue went to water aerobics.

Whataboutism

Robert C. Byrd waited years to say that his KKK membership was a mistake. Democrats loved him; named highways, mountains and parks after him. (Where are the demands to take his name down?) He was a good friend of the Clintons.  President Obama waited six years to even hint that the Ft. Hood massacre was terrorism, and even then he never clearly stated it. Loretta Lynch has never fessed up to the tarmac tango with Bill--we're still waiting. Donald Trump waits 24 hours to name KKK after his original condemnation as just one of the hate groups (Antifa was there too but they are ignored by media), and Democrats, media and never Trumpers go berserk

http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/08/09/new-york-times-emailed-obama-white-house-about-lynch-clinton-tarmac-meeting-jordan-sekulow.html

http://thefederalist.com/2017/08/09/yes-media-covered-lynch-clinton-tarmac-meeting-pillow/

https://spectator.org/hypocrisy-at-charlottesville/

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/aug/14/eric-holder-hit-with-fort-hood-workplace-violence-/

Trash talking in Lakeside

A strike for equality. Bob watched the "sanitation engineers" in the giant blue garbage truck doing the north south route deftly tossing sacks and cans Tuesday. "Hey," he said, "There's a woman on that truck, and she's really good--moving fast." Knowing that she was probably earning a higher hourly wage than a librarian or an RN, I thought, "YES! You go girl." Then later when I was walking to the Farmer's Market, I saw the truck doing the east west streets, and the same worker jumped down to grab the garbage. It was just a guy with a "man bun" and a slender build. So disappointed.

Our great grandnieces

Twin grand daughters of our niece, holding hands as they go to class. I think this is pre-school in the private school where their grandma teaches.

Are the media happy now? Of course not.

We knew this would happen. First President Trump condemned all racism, bigotry and hatred. Remember, Antifa was attacking the protesters. Now he’s spoken out more clearly, naming names. But the media are on the attack. After my morning walk, I entered the living room to hear ABC this morning and they are covering Charlottesville and the president’s horrible wait of 48 hours. They are saying he’s retweeted comments from racists and then denied they denied it after planting the seed. Then they spend 2 minutes on North Korea and it’s back to Trump and Charlottesville. They say there were two sides in Charlottesville, but they only give one. I don’t think they spent that much time on Ferguson, Baltimore and NYC combined.

President Trump has been condemning David Duke and the KKK for two decades. How often is enough for the media? It will never be enough because it's not an actual criticism, it's part of the attack plan, like a yapping, nipping dog with sharp teeth circling and running.

White supremacists have built their membership the same way the anarchists/leftists/Islamists have--social media and constant publicity of the broadcast and cable news. (The media also gave Trump billions in free publicity during the primaries.) They are fringe of the fringe. But the leftists, from moderate Democrat, to Bernie Babies, to wild eyed Antifa, control the culture, and that's BIG. Remember, even in late 2012 Obama and Clinton were claiming to believe in traditional marriage and separate locker rooms for men and women. Today that is called white nationalism.

Update: I know there are people who sincerely believe President Trump is the worst thing that has ever happened, but after I listened on Tuesday (WJR Detroit) to a woman organizer of the protests against the President, I saw clearly you are being seduced, used and manipulated to help destroy not just Trump---he's a small fish in their big pond--not just the November election--but the nation. I'm not sure she/they have any plans beyond the ash heap; their task is to just bring it all down.

This wasn't terrorism, but she's still dead

He drove his car into the crowd, killing one woman and injuring 20 others. "But despite his mounting aggression and mental health issues that began in childhood, friends and the authorities said, he never sought or received treatment, instead burrowing deeper into his paranoia, and smoking marijuana and drinking." No, not Charlottesville, but New York City. Richard Rojas. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/nyregion/times-square-crash-driver-richard-rojas.html

The president is a uniter

Riots are developing in several cities, people clad in black, carrying weapons. Not because of the death of a protester in Charlotte, although that sad incident will obviously attract the naïve. We saw the protests building during the Obama years, in fact, I never saw it worse in my lifetime than the Obama reign, although the focus was fuzzy. When Bush was gone and the war protests ended (although the war didn't), then it was a generalized hate for capitalism, and demands to... absolve students from pricey college debt. Somehow, bigger government and more taxes were to solve what government had created. Then the deaths of some black men killed while committing crimes gave rise to unhappiness that a black president hadn't changed their lives, so we had more slogans and riots. Now they've got a clear target, the President. He's a uniting force for left and right all on the socialist/statist scale.

Doubt--cancelled CBS series

We were in Columbus briefly for an artist event, so while unwinding at home I clicked on the TV by habit, and began to watch a CBS show called “Doubt.” Yes, a lawyer show. How original. About 15 minutes into it I realized that although the screen promo said, “New” this had a story line that goes back a bit. So I got on the computer and read that it was cancelled after two winter shows in 2017, but there were a number in the can, and what we were watching on August 12 were the last two episodes. Cliff hanger of course, and now we’ll never know . Did the pediatrician really kill his girl friend 24 years ago and his blood didn’t show it because he’d had a bone marrow transplant for leukemia years after the murder?

I recognized Katherine Heigl the lead who was obviously pregnant and all angles tried to hide it, Elliot Gould (former husband of Barbra Streisand who used to be a good actor but now seems way over the hill and not given anything important to say) and Judith Light (One life to live, Who’s the boss, and who looked 10 years older than her real age of 68). But the big “breakthrough” of this thankfully short series was a transwoman (Laverne Cox) in a a leading role in a love affair with a cis male (a person assigned male biology at birth). I think it means two gay guys who just don’t want to admit who they really are. We were treated to lots of smooching by these two, as well as two women expecting a baby and one has been busted for drugs and will miss her wife's ultrasound just to desensitize and assure us that all this is normal.

I don’t think it was pulled because of any concern about the transwoman (didn’t fool me--he still has a man’s voice and way too much make-up), or the white and Asian women expecting a baby--that ship has sailed, or because the hot shot lawyer falls in love with her client who may or may not be guilty of murder. It apparently just didn’t have the numbers after the first 2 episodes. Although the summer showings were stronger than the winter, that was probably because there wasn’t much else to do on a Saturday night in August in Columbus, Ohio.

The new swimming pool is changing lives

I’ve always known Lakeside was a special place for people with limited mobility, especially for the elderly. An equipped van brings residents here from North Shore Retirement immediately outside the gates (although many walk in), there are many ramps, special wellness seminars, and most importantly, events to keep the mind and body active.  I think I’ve seen more walkers, wheelchairs and special scooters here in Lakekside than anyplace in my life. I’ve been watching Marky for decades maneuver the streets.

Marky has cerebral palsy (CP), a physical disability that affects movement, muscle tone and posture. Despite the CP, he is very independent and while at Lakeside he lives in a wing of his parents’ cottage and at home in independent living. His special scooter makes him mobile and he’s made many friends over the years. When a pool and wellness center was announced, like all of us, his family watched with curiosity,

“I didn’t have a clear picture of how it would be,” his mom Becky Donithan said “I was unsure if we would have enough room or if it would be too crowded. But when I first saw it, it was incredible. I knew it would be great for our family.
With the ADA-approved lift-chair and the entry ramp for his scooter, Marky is granted access to an activity like he never was before. At his IDLA home, Marky exercises on a treadmill for about 10 minutes each day, but swimming works a whole extra set of muscles.

“He can’t walk on land, but he can walk in water,” she said. “It was such a special moment for Marky and our family when he swam in Lakeside for the first time. It’s given him the opportunity to get in the pool and have the freedom to feel and look like everyone else.”

Marky’s whole family was in tow for his first day at the pool. Parents, grandparents, siblings and cousins gathered to swim as a family. He had only ever been swimming a few times before in his life, but he has become significantly better at it with each visit to the pool this summer.

“He would live here all year if he could,” Donithan said. “This place is a little piece of heaven for him because he can be himself and it is just so safe and accessible, especially now with the pool.”

From the Lakeside Blog

Hoover entertainment, August 9

We had a fabulous program last night at Lakeside Hoover Auditorium. Dave Bennett seemed to be a quiet, refined jazz clarinetist/quartet who played the pop classics from the 30s and 40s, then he worked up into the 50s, with a sweet "Earth Angel," picked up the electric guitar, did a little Elvis and Johnny Cash, then took off his sport coat went to the piano and did three or four Jerry Lee Lewis numbers. I thought he’d destroy the Steinway! At one point he picked up some extra sticks and played a mean drum solo. Unbelievable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3dBLOOXUec

  Rockin the 50s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVZ73BMa9oo

He recently appeared in Dixon, IL.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyZMspoKmAY

Let's educate the right, says the left

"We need to educate people on the right" said some Hollywood actor (never heard of him). Like having all broadcast media and cable news outlets, plus the major newspapers, the entire entertainment industry, political control of the largest cities, most of the colleges and universities and public libraries is just not enough for progressives/leftists.

Let's blame Trump

Colin Kaepernick, Free Agent

Michael Smith opines on Facebook on poor pitiful Pearl, aka Colin Kaepernick:

Let us not forget the personal anguish experienced by professional activist Colin Kaepernick and the rampant institutional racial discrimination in America that caused it. The list includes:

1. He has a white birth mother and a black biological father, making him bi-racial, not black.

2. He was adopted by a white, middle class couple.

3. His white adoptive parents made it possible for him to go to college, where he starred in football4. He was drafted by the racist NFL.

5. He signed a $126 million contract that stipulates his pay goes down if his level of play goes down.

6. His level of play declined and he was benched, consequently, his salary went down.

7. He publicly protested the institutional racism demonstrated by items #1-6 by kneeling on the sidelines during the national anthem at NFL games.

8. He and his radical girlfriend made inflammatory statements about his "plight" and how his problems are white America's fault.

9. He becomes a free agent and continues his radicalism.

10. He goes to Ghana to "find his roots" even though his roots are in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and Turlock, California.

11. No NFL team wants to touch an average backup with an attitude issue who had one good year as a starter.

Such is the sad saga of racial discrimination of a bi-racial, millionaire athlete who, because of America, had the chance 99.9% of the rest of America never will and apparently blew it.

The struggle is real, ya'll.”

These are not my stats ( HT James Wass), but I did go on-line and check for accuracy. Right on the money.

"Colin Kaepernick was 36th pick in his draft, high up in the second round. White privileged Johnny Manziel was 22nd in the first round a couple years later.

Let's compare their careers to a 6th round shlub from 2000. Tom Brady put in the work and turned out the numbers. Nothing is rewarded like results."

http://thefederalist.com/2017/06/07/colin-kaepernick-looking-work/

http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/news/jay-cutler-dolphins-colin-kaepernick-49ers-wont-play-nfl-2017-retired-quarterbacks/jy1hmicwi14f1jhsyz4wwlr2m

Gender statistics and Google

An NSF 2014 report claims the number of Science & Engineering bachelor's degrees awarded annually rose steadily from 398,602 in 2000 to 589,330 in 2012. Women received a slim majority of these degrees in EVERY year. Women’s share of undergraduate degrees is 57%. By age 30, women in the U.S. population begin to outnumber men (many more boys are born than girls), but at age 20-24, the age at which most graduate from college, the males are ahead of females by about 443,000 (2010 census). So there is a big gender imbalance--at the expense of men. Where are the safe spaces for men? Where is the hand wringing?

However, this NSF report includes “psychology and social sciences” in the S & E figure, but not health sciences, which in my opinion makes it almost worthless. Men do outnumber women in computer science and engineering, despite 40 years of special pushing and workshops for women. By lumping so many sciences together, from psychology to agriculture, it is possible to claim that women aren’t getting a fair deal in hiring/promotion for computer jobs. Especially at Google which doesn’t want crack downs on misuse of the H1B visas so more Americans can be hired. It wouldn't surprise me if foreign born Asian and Indians outnumber American men at Google. But I seriously doubt those stats are available.

Sergey Brin, one of the founders of Google was born in the Soviet Union.  Do you suppose this type of totalitarianism is in the blood?

https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdf

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/truth-women-stem-careers/

https://www.nsf.gov/nsb/sei/edTool/data/college-14.html

http://www.npr.org/2017/08/08/542180434/google-fires-engineer-who-criticized-diversity-efforts

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/08/google-fires-employee-who-wrote-10-page-anti-diversity-manifesto