Denis “the fixer” McDonough is President Obama’s current Chief of Staff.   [Keeping tabs on him is also a little fun hobby of mine.]   The Fixer Goes To Germany.

Hey, why not…. what else does he have to do ?

WH Chief of Staff Denis McDonough held "intensive talks" today in Berlin to ease strained relations over spying/surveillance matters.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) July 22, 2014

WASHINGTON — In a sign of just how much German-American relations have frayed, President Obama sent his chief of staff to Berlin to try to smooth over the rupture caused by recent revelations of American spying on its ally, the White House said Tuesday.

Denis R. McDonough, the president’s chief of staff, met with his German counterpart in Berlin on Tuesday for what the White House called “intensive talks on the state of bilateral relations and future cooperation.” The American and German officials agreed to set up a dialogue “to address concerns of both sides,” the two sides said in identical statements issued by the White House and the Chancellery in Berlin.

The surprise trip by such a close confidant of Mr. Obama’s underscored the seriousness of the friction over recent disclosures about American espionage in Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel was already livid last year when she learned that her cellphone was being tapped by the National Security Agency, and the damage only deepened this month with the arrest of a German intelligence agent accused of spying for the United States.

Germany responded to the latest case by expelling the C.I.A. station chief in Berlin, who has now left the country. Mr. Obama and Ms. Merkel discussed the episode in a recent telephone call and American officials said Mr. McDonough’s trip originated from that conversation. The latest falling out came even as Mr. Obama is pressing Ms. Merkel to orchestrate a tougher European response to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine. (more…)

WASHINGTON –  A federal appeals court dealt a major blow to ObamaCare on Tuesday, ruling against the legality of some subsidies issued to people through the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
The ruling is likely to be appealed. And a separate federal appeals court — the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals — hours later issued its own ruling on a similar case that upheld the subsidies in their entirety.
But the decision Tuesday morning by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia nevertheless strikes at the foundation of the law by challenging subsidies that millions of people obtained through the federally run exchange known as HealthCare.gov.
The panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled 2-1 that the IRS went too far in extending subsidies to those who buy insurance through that website.
(more…)

DETROIT (WWJ) – After a class action lawsuit filed against the city of Detroit, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund says that recent water shutoffs to Detroit residents were racially motivated.

Veronica Joice with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund says, “That (the shutoffs are) being done in a discriminatory fashion; and they should at least take a look at whether there’s a better way to do this that doesn’t affect the most vulnerable citizens — the majority of whom are African American here in Detroit.”
Attorney Alice Jennings, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Detroit residents, said it’s a known fact that there are corporations that owe hundreds of thousands of dollars to the city of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.
“These companies are basically Caucasian companies,” Jennings said. “The folks who are being cut off are almost one hundred percent African American.”
(more…)

A Texas Media outlet has just caught on to something we discovered and have shared with you.  Previously we identified the BIG THREE large non-profit corporations getting massive grants from DHS and HHS.   These were the “faith based groups” President Obama met in Dallas 7/9/14.
They are, listed smallest to largest:

• #3  Bronze –   U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and/or, U.S. Catholic Charities $70,000,000+
• #2  Silver – Southwest Key Programs Inc  $122,000,000+
• #1  Gold –  Baptist Child and Family Services Emergency Management Division (BCFS-EMD) $270,000,000+

Today we focus on one.  “Southwest Key Programs Inc” – KEYE TV in Austin Texas has just discovered the ruse and the tentacles of how these “private corporations”, ie. “non profit groups”, think ACORN, actually tie to their community and hide under the cover of funding from DHS/HHS Grants.  We found this specific Private Company nets 98.76% of earnings from government grants [2012 IRS form 990 pg 14].
When KEYE TV reporters go asking questions they discover the secrecy of HHS.  To quote Bruce Willis:  ..”welcome to the party pal“..

KEYE TV – TEXAS – More than $100 million of federal grant money this year has gone to an Austin based company that runs unaccompanied minor shelters across the country.
Its website says Southwest Key Programs is the largest provider of services to unaccompanied children in the United States. Their headquarters is in Austin, Texas.
A brief online description details the children they help, how they’re accepted and a short write up of the types of services provided.
A map provided by Southwest Key officials outlines their different locations and programs across the county. But if you have questions about the money it receives from the federal government for unaccompanied children officials with the non-profit aren’t talking.
While their corporate address is listed as right here in Austin when you try to ask about their child immigrant shelters you get directed to a federal agency — the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
But they’re not talking either. (more…)

Yes, this is related to the post directly underneath.

House Oversight Committee Investigation Unit – During a transcribed interview with congressional investigators on Thursday, July 17, IRS Deputy Associate Chief Counsel Thomas Kane, who supervises the IRS’s targeting scandal document production to Congress, testified that new developments now make him uncertain whether e-mail back-up tapes containing lost e-mails from key IRS targeting official Lois Lerner exist or not.

The new testimony is at odds with the June 13, 2014, memo sent to Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) by the IRS which reported that the IRS, “Confirmed that back-up tapes from 2011 no longer exist because they have been recycled.”  Kane had reviewed the June 13 memo but noted his current uncertainty with investigators.

Kane and a Committee investigator had the following exchange during Thursday’s transcribed interview: (more…)

Redistribution of intellectual effort.   No, this is not a joke – unfortunately.  If you earn an “A” and you are white or Asian, you need to have your grade lowered so a minority grade can be raised if lower.

WISCONSIN – A new policy at the University of Wisconsin – Madison states that good grades should be distributed equally among students of different races.


The policy, named the “Framework for Diversity and Inclusive Excellence,” calls for “proportional participation of historically underrepresented racial-ethnic groups at all levels of an institution, including high status special programs, high-demand majors, and in the distribution of grades.”
UW – Madison professor W. Lee Hansen wrote about his concerns with the policy in a piece published Wednesday. (more…)

We would be remiss if we did not report on the reactions of the “most transparent administration evah” to crisis after crisis…. illustrated by the brilliant Dianny of “All The Right Snark.”  Right on, Dianny, right on……

Obama’s obsession with playing golf while the world burns is pretty much a metaphor for how he governs.  He doesn’t govern.  He putts.  Nothing will get in this man’s way when he’s golf-course-bound.  Not one thing.  He doesn’t act like he’s entitled.  He’s enTitleist.
Kidnapped Nigerian Christian girls? Hamas firing rockets into Jerusalem? ISIS murdering Christians? Russians shooting down a civilian airliner?
Will anything get this idiot to put his golf clubs away and even pretend to be President?

(more…)

Despite the threats of violence and bombs thousands of Pro-Israel supporters joined Pam Geller to show unwavering support for Israel:

Wolverine Pam Geller has lots more pictures HERE:

Meanwhile in Boston (more…)

(National Journal) […]  When asked by CNN’s Candy Crowley for if U.S.-Russia relations were now “at Cold War levels,” Feinstein did not hesitate. “Yes,” the California Democrat replied.

“The issue is, where is Putin? I would say, Putin, you have to man up,” Feinstein said. “You should say if this was a mistake, which I hope it was, own up. even if it was, it was a horrendous mistake. … and it points out the futility of what is going on in Ukraine.” (more…)

“our people”?   Hmmm, where have we heard that before?  Oh yes, that’s right:

….in the mind of a hyphenated progressive, there’s always an adjective that precedes the word “American”.  I digress….

(Via Breitbart) On Saturday, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) said President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was a “down payment” to the Hispanic community before more grants of amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Speaking at the National Council of La Raza conference in Los Angeles, Gutierrez said that Obama assured him during a White House meeting with Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus last week that he would be as “generous and broad” as he can to “stop the deportation of our people each and every day.”
“You gave us a down payment when you freed 600,000 DREAMers from deportation,” Gutierrez said. “Now it is time for the president in the United States… [to] free the Mom and Dads of the DREAMers. And to go further. Be broad and expansive and generous.”  (read more)