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“IS IT TRUE” will be posted on this coming Wednesday

Todays READERS POLL question is: Do You feel its time for City Councilwoman Anna Hargis CPA to speak out on the city budget shortfalls?

Please take time and read our newest feature articles entitled “HOT JOBS” and “LOCAL SPORTS” posted in our sections.

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DNC Hack Exposes Federal Appointments For Major Democratic  Donors

by Guy Benson for TOWNHaLL

PHILADELPHIA — By now, you’ve probably heard that the Russian-linked DNC hack has exposed how party officials intentionally tilted the playing field against Bernie Sanders throughout the “Democratic” primary process. You’ve heard about how they peddled anti-Bernie stories to the press while voting was still going on. You’ve heard about how they mulled exploiting his religion, or lack thereof, to undermine his image among certain demographics. And you’ve heard about how they’ve discussed minorities as commodities and “customers” to be electorally-acquired through ‘propaganda.’ (Perhaps all of this could have been kept under wraps if the party had taken cyber security warnings more seriously, as opposed to privately mocking them in highly ironic emails). But here’s another element of the email leaks that has received less attention thus far, via the transparency group Open Secrets:

Email exchanges involving top officials at the Democratic National Committee released along with private documents by WikiLeaks show that DNC officials hoped to reward top donors and insiders with appointments to federal boards and commissions in coordination with the White House. The revelations give an inside look into how the Democratic Party attempted to leverage its access and influence with the White House to bring in cash. In an April 20, 2016 email, DNC National Finance Director Jordan Kaplan canvassed what appears to be the committee’s finance department – its fundraising office – for names of people (mainly donors) to reward with federal appointments on boards and commissions…The White House strongly denied any link between financial support for the party and appointments.

That denial is not credible. At all. Obamaworld has been selling access to the White House and to Obama himself for years — both in connection with presidential library fundraising efforts, as well as through Obama for America “Organizing for Action,” or whatever they ended up renaming it. It has not been subtle. And while it’s in no way unprecedented for an administration to reward deep-pocketed donors with plum positions like ambassadorships (remember this?), Ed Morrissey notes one significant break from protocol revealed in these messages: “In truth these boards and commissions are routinely used to reward supporters. Usually, however, that isn’t handled by fundraising staff so as to avoid making it into an explicit quid pro quo.” The other issue at play here is hypocrisy. Attendees of this convention have spent the week applauding one anti-Citizens

United, Koch brothers-bashing, money-in-politics-lamenting speech after another. We must reduce the corrosive influence of money on our politics, these liberals bray, even as their party rents out the White House and hands out prestigious presidential appointments to their own ultra-rich financiers. As has always been the case, forever proven by Barack Obama, the Left is really against other people’s money in politics. When piles of sweet, sweet cash help their own heroes and causes, it’s fine. Because that’s different. And that’s how a mega-wealthy Clinton Foundation donor magically found himself on a sensitive national security panel despite his lack of qualifications; he was forced to resign when this came to light. Speaking of the Clinton Foundation and credible accusations of sleazy pay-for-play impropriety, it looks like it’s time for yet another federal investigation:

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen referred congressional charges of corrupt Clinton Foundation “pay-to-play” activities to his tax agency’s exempt operations office for investigation, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned. The request to investigate the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation on charges of “public corruption” was made in a July 15 letter by 64 House Republicans to the IRS, FBI and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). They charged the foundation is “lawless” … The lawmakers charged the Clinton Foundation is a “lawless ‘pay-to-play’ enterprise that has been operating under a cloak of philanthropy for years and should be investigated.” Koskinen’s July 22 reply came only a week after the House Republicans contacted the tax agency. It arrived to their offices Monday, the first opening day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. The Exempt Organization Program is the division of the IRS that regulates the operations of public foundations and charities. House Republicans singled out Laureate Education and Uranium One as two companies that seemed to have paid lavish sums to the Clintons and later received official government benefits.

Ah yes, the IRS’ Exempt Organization program. I’m sure they’ll get right on this, in a characteristically evenhanded and above-board manner. Incidentally, we’ve written about both Laureate Education and Uranium One in this space previously. As we mentioned yesterday, James Comey recently declined to comment on whether the Clinton Foundation’s practices were the subject of an FBI investigation, as Fox News’ Catherine Herridge has reported. I’ll leave you with this investigative piece from NBC’s Ronan Farrow on lavish spending, high rollers, and access-peddling at both parties’ national conventions:

             Old National Bank Releases Q2 Report

A stronger net income and the closing of a major partnership are among the highlights of Old National Bank’s 2nd Quarter report.

It shows earnings of $39.1 million this quarter, compared to $27 million last quarter.

Old National also saw the closing of its partnership with Anchor BanCorp of Wisconsin and the sale of the ONB Insurance Group.

The company reported organic loan growth of more than 11% and its tangible book value went up more than 5%.

Bank officials say their focus is on growing organic revenue, improving operating leverage and better use of capital.

       NATIONAL NIGHT OUT IN EVANSVILLE FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY

National Night Out, an evening dedicated to getting the public interacting with law enforcement, is just around the corner.

The event is tomorrow evening from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Wesselman Park.

This morning members of law enforcement and city leaders came out for a kick-off breakfast to get the community excited about the event.

Organizers said it is a positive thing to be doing here in Evansville, especially with all that is happening around the nation lately.

“This is a way for them to talk to their crime prevention officers… anyone in the police department… to talk about things that they’re concerned about and also to get to know they’re real people just like everyone else is,” Linda Jones, a coordinator with the Evansville Police Department, said.

However, the event is more than just a way to start community discussions. Organizers said it is a family-friendly evening full of games, food and entertainment.

Jones said shuttle buses will take the public from the YMCA to Wesselman Park for the event. Attendees are asked to park at the old Roberts Stadium.

In addition to the shuttle service, METS will provide its own free shuttle from the downtown bus terminal to Wesselman Park tomorrow evening.

By Tom Purcell

It was the championship game and, after a long tournament series, both the fans and players were showing signs of strain.

A batter was at the plate with a runner at third. When the batter hit the ball, the runner —- unaware that the ball had been caught —- darted for home. A female fan jumped out of the stands and began pushing the runner back to third base. The runner got back just before the center fielder’s throw arrived.
“Safe!” shouted the umpire.

“Fans are not allowed on the field!” shouted the opposing team’s manager, running onto the field. “The runner is out!”

“The runner is safe!” shouted the female fan.

A heated discussion ensued. The manager berated the umpire for not knowing the rules. The female fan shouted at the manager and the umpire. The umpire was humiliated in front of several fans.
If you are a die-hard Major League Baseball observer, you’d probably get a laugh out of this. You’d think it was funny that an overzealous fan lost control and jumped onto the field.
But this didn’t happen in the Major League. It happened at a softball tournament for 8-year-old girls.
“It was the most ridiculous thing I ever saw,” said one player’s father. “They’re just little kids for goodness sakes!”

But this fact was overlooked by some parents, who must believe that winning should come at all costs. Later in the same game, the male coach got into another shout-out with the umpire.
Here’s what happened: One girl, who couldn’t hit the side of a barn with a telephone pole, finally got a hit. The ball may have contacted the bat at the edge of her pinky finger. Under Major League rules, if the ball touched her finger, the hit would be a foul.

But if you’re like most decent people, you wouldn’t care whether the ball hit the girl’s pinky or not. You’d be glad that she was able to finally get a hit.

But not in this game.
Foul!” shouted the male manager, running onto the field again. “The ball is foul!”
When I played Little League many years ago, there were occasional idiot parents and coaches who did such things.

One coach kicked a fence in because the umpire made a bad call. And one kid’s grandparents constantly tormented the umpire from the stands. But, for the most part, most parents were like my own.
My father believed that the purpose of sports —- especially sports for children —- was for kids to have fun and to learn basic lessons about life.

Winning in life is important, he believed. But there are more important things, such as fairness, honesty and integrity.

My father taught me to always try my best, regardless of the outcome. He taught me to have fun, and I had a lot of fun playing baseball.

But, alas, that was more than 30 years ago, when more folks still believed in the virtues —- and believed their kid wasn’t a gift to the world from the heavens.

Today, stop by any Little League competition and you’ll see kid-worshipping parents in the stands, griping about teen umpires who don’t know the rules. You’ll see parents complaining to coaches that their kid should be batting fourth, not eighth. And you’ll fear that the next bad call will cause a brawl to break out.

Because, I suppose, the philosophy has changed since my father coached my Little League team, and it goes something like this: Fairness, honesty and integrity are nice but —- especially where 8-year-old girls are concerned —-winning isn’t everything.

It’s the only thing.