For the last few weeks, I have been observing what I like to call the team of Trollie Trolls, quite professional, who happen to like to forage through my archives.
I found them to be fascinating as their patterns were quickly identified.
Sometimes, I would even leave delightful morsels of information for them to digest, just so I could see what kind of crap they would excrete.
Alas, the Errant Queen Sharyl (EQS) has given the Celestial Goddess of the Woodshed the Great Saddy Face, for she attempts to defrock My Memo Man, Rod Rosenstein, and strip him of his right to bearing his armorialties.
Notice, I said, "attempts", because no one touches My Memo Man.
EQS, definitely not to be confused with 'esquire', has contemporaneously filed a suit of law against My Memo Man as he takes on his new roll in corporate litigation.
Yes, Boys & Girls, we are dealing with "Legal Geniuses" (trademark pending) for the following reasons:
The proper party would have been The United States;
She got her information from Twitter that does not even have blue check;
Thank you. I worked with Rod Rosenstein, on his dirty tricks squad, for several years. The computer experts there hacked Hillary, and MANY others, I've seen all of it, copies exist. RR likes to play all sides of the street, has dirt on everybody. He is truly a hideous person.
She was attempting to civilly sue the U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, for criminal actions, based upon her reporting on active investigations, as a CBS reporter, where CBS obviously did not want to represent her, and lost her appeal;
She was never called to testify in congressional hearings;
She was mean to my Sweetie, as seen in her propaganda video, below.
I just find it odd that she claims to be a seasoned reporter, yet has not once, reached out to me, or even cite my name, as the original source, to what she has stated as claims in her lawsuits.
She promulgates lies for money because it is quite obvious she is not doing this to further her career, because, if she was, she would not be engaging in such unethical activities as enjoining with the other co-conspirators.
If the lady wishes to repurpose herself as a regal, fake ass whistleblower, well, by golly, then the Celestial Goddess of the Woodshed shall grant her wish and make her superstar.
From the looks of her claims, there seems to be viable possibility that she was under federal investigation for her questionable activities and associations.
FUN FACT! THE DAILY SIGNAL IS NOT REGISTERED IN ANY STATE AS A BUSINESS
That is correct, The Daily Signal is what I like to call a Corporate Shape Shifter, where the Heritage Foundation is using it as a front to fund political campaigns with foreign money, more than likely, from stealin' the children, land and vote.
I see the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a tool to use corporate parental rights for the trafficking of tiny humans,.
I also see Emperor Pence, which is why I have donned upon Sharyl, the appellation of EQS.
I will take the greatest pleasure running up your new employer's legal bills and shuttering that crap tank, and I will preserve your name in the annals of history, giving you all the credit.
WASHINGTON - What Illinois Review strives to do on a state issues level, Heritage Foundation is now launching at a national level - a new source of balanced news reporting. The Daily Signal has taken on CBS' ex-reporter Sharyl Attkisson as senior independent contributor. In an exclusive interview, Attkisson says the news media are heading down a dangerous path with attempts to “censor or block stories” that don’t align with their preferred agenda.
With major topics such as Benghazi, Common Core, Cronyism and ObamaCare, they'll be updating daily and adding to the national news front. From Bloomberg BusinessWeek:
Now Heritage has a new plan to exert its influence and, its leaders hope, win converts to the cause. On June 3 it will begin publishing the Daily Signal, a new digital news site whose primary focus will be straight reporting. “We came to the realization that the mainstream media had really abdicated the responsibility to do the news and do it well,” says Geoffrey Lysaught, vice president of strategic communications at the Heritage Foundation, who will also serve as publisher. The site aims to rectify the conservative perception that mainstream news slants to the left. “We plan to do political and policy news,” says Lysaught, “not with a conservative bent, but just true, straight-down-the-middle journalism.”
How does this help Heritage? The Daily Signal will also publish an opinion section aimed at a younger audience that isn’t thumbing through the editorial pages of theWall Street Journal. Heritage is betting that these readers, attracted to the Daily Signal’s news, will find themselves persuaded by the conservative commentary and analysis that will draw on the think tank’s scholars and researchers.
Gather round, my Dearies for the Celestial Goddess of the Woodshed shall tell the tale of Janice Winfrey, Hans von Spakowsky, & stealin' the children, land & votes.
This is not about dead people voting, this is a legal psyoptic to cover up using Detroit Land Bank Authority properties in some jacked up voter packing scam through absentee ballots.
Have you ever wondered to the identities of foster care upon termination of parental right?
What about all those absentee voters, who are under the legal custodialship and guardianship, whose voting rights are transferred by state grant to a private, foreign corporation?
I bet Hans has lovely tales of to tell about his heritage, according to Wikipedia:
Hans Anatol von Spakovsky (born March 11, 1959) is an American attorney and a former member of the Federal Election Commission (FEC). He is the manager of the Heritage Foundation's Election Law Reform Initiative and a senior legal fellow in Heritage's Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.[1] He is an advocate for more restrictive voting laws.[2][3] He has been described as playing an influential role in making alarmism about voter fraud mainstream in the Republican Party, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud.[4][5] He was nominated to the FEC by President George W. Bush on December 15, 2005, and was appointed by recess appointment on January 4, 2006.[6] However, von Spakovsky's nomination was opposed by Senate Democrats, who argued that his oversight of voter laws was unacceptably partisan and that he had consistently acted to disenfranchise poor and minority voters.[7][8] Opposition to the nomination was bolstered by objections from career Justice Department staff, who accused von Spakovsky of politicizing his nominally non-partisan office to an unprecedented degree.[9] While von Spakovsky and the Bush Administration denied the accusations of partisanship, the nomination was withdrawn on May 15, 2008.[10] Von Spakovsky subsequently joined the staff of the Heritage Foundation, a politically conservative think tank. On June 29, 2017, President Donald J. Trump named him to be a member of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.[11]
Von Spakovsky was born in Huntsville, Alabama, where his parents had eventually settled after immigrating to the United States in 1951. His German mother met his Russian father Anatoly von Spakovsky, who had settled in Yugoslavia after WWI and then fled to Germany after WWII, in a German refugee camp for displaced persons.[5] Von Spakovsky received a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981 and a J.D. from the Vanderbilt University Law School in 1984. Von Spakovsky is a member of the Georgia and Tennessee bars. Before entering politics, he worked as a government affairs consultant, in a corporate legal department, and in private practice. Von Spakovsky served as Republican Party chairman in Fulton County, Georgia, and as a Republican appointee to the Fulton County Registration and Election Board, where he championed strict voter-identification laws.[12][13] Von Spakovsky became a member of Voting Integrity Project, which investigated alleged voter fraud across the United States,[14] as well as a member of the politically conservative Federalist Society. He worked as a lawyer for George W. Bush's team during the 2000 Florida Presidential election recount.[12] After Bush's election victory, von Spakovsky was appointed to the Civil Rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice.[14]
I like Hans better than John Christian Adams, even though they are both co-conspirators.
Michigan has some serious errors going on in the administration of their meshed databases with local and county governments because the data are corrupt, where they run double books.
There may not be as many registered voters in this area, where I am including Hamtramck and Highland Park, which also makes Han's case suck because he probably failed to identify those geopolitical areas, intentionally, of course.
There may be even less of population due to the issues with the double books.
It always starts in child welfare because no one cares, not even Hans or Janice.
For all the reasons, cited, above, I am calling this another one of those Crafty Creations by the "Legal Geniuses" (trademark pending) because it is a distractionary, dilatory action, to divert everyone's attention from the gerrymander for the simple fact that the reporting on the case, since I have yet to see the original complaint, fails to mention the Detroit Land Bank Authority.
So, why is it #perkinscoiesucks is pulling out all the big guns to distract from gerrymandering as Russian interference in the 2016 election?
I believe SIGTARP is really going to have to spend quality time with Hans, but I am pretty sure this is was, notice I reference to the outcome of the case, to be their Hail Mary Pass, GO BLUE!, to save the day from the unsealing of the Detroit Grand Juries.
And that ends another tale of stealin' the children, land and votes.
An advocacy group is suing Detroit election officials, claiming they violated the National Voter Registration Act by failing to properly maintain city voting rolls, including listing long-dead residents and keeping multiple registrations for the same people.
The "failure" to comply with federal voter registration laws "undermined the confidence of Detroit’s properly registered voters in the integrity of the voter registration rolls and, accordingly, has undermined the integrity of elections held both within the city of Detroit and across the state of Michigan," the complaint contends.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation filed the suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court, targeting Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey and elections director George Azzouz.
The nonpartisan, Indiana-based nonprofit filed the lawsuit after spending more than two years seeking to resolve Detroit's voting record issues. The foundation said it attempted “to cure problems” with the voter roll maintenance practices when it first requested records on Oct. 3, 2017.
Ultimately, it purchased the state’s entire voter roll on April 1 and analyzed Detroit's voter registration list. Multiple efforts have since been made to have Detroit's discrepancies corrected, but the alleged errors were "brushed aside," said Logan Churchwell, communications and research director for the group.
"Someone dropped the ball, and they keep dropping it," Churchwell said. "All you need is a little bit of chaos to spread distrust."
Duggan administration spokesman John Roach in an email Wednesday referred questions to Winfrey. The city's Law Department, he added, has not seen the lawsuit, nor has it been asked by the clerk to represent her office on the complaint.
Reached Wednesday, Winfrey did not immediately comment on the filing. Azzouz did not return a message left by The News.
The city had 511,786 registered voters as of the 2016 general election, according to Detroit election data, while the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey that year estimated Detroit only had 479,267 voting-age residents, the lawsuit said.
This year, analyzing the city’s official voter registration list from the state roll, Public Interest members “identified records listing years of birth indicating registrants of 105 years of age and older, with some records listing dates of birth in the nineteenth century. According to the foundation’s research, the oldest, active registrant in the city of Detroit was purportedly born in 1823, 14 years before Michigan was admitted to the Union as the 26th state,” according to the suit.
Through more research and further checking of Social Security and other records, the foundation also found “a significant number of deceased registrants whose registrations should have been canceled, but remain registered to vote in Detroit,” the suit reads.
For example, in a sample of 2,503 voter registrants flagged as likely dead, “(65) percent, or 1,629 registrants, have been deceased for more than 10 years. Of those, 898 registrants have been deceased for more than 15 years, 324 registrants have been deceased for more than 20 years, and 13 have been deceased for more than 25 years,” according to the court document.
When poring over city voters rolls to find identical or closely matching names, addresses and birth dates, “the foundation’s comparison yielded a list of 2,384 entries that are likely duplicates or triplicates," the filing said. “... The defendants have many tools available to conduct list maintenance and, yet, they are failing to reasonably maintain the city of Detroit’s voter rolls."
The Public Interest Legal Foundation launched in 2014 and acts as a law firm that focuses on election administration issues. It's headed by J. Christian Adams, who formerly worked for the U.S. Justice Department's legal section and served on President Donald Trump's advisory commission on election integrity.
Churchwell said there's a private right of action built into the Voting Rights Act that permits the foundation, or others to bring such court action.
The group has filed lawsuits in Florida, Texas and Mississippi over similar alleged voting roll errors as it found in Detroit. Most have been settled or remain on appeal, he said.
"This type of lawsuit is very rare," he said. "There's just not a whole lot of case law on it."
Churchwell told The News on Wednesday that the group identified and reported similar voting roll errors to clerk's offices in Flint and Grand Rapids.
Flint City Clerk Inez Brown said the group requested information this year, but her office hasn't had the resources to complete it, nor the time, due to its focus on elections.
The city just completed an election in November and has another that's upcoming Jan. 7 as well as the March presidential primary.
The foundation, she said, is seeking a vast amount of information and for large urban cities, such as Flint and Detroit, "it's not as easy as people may think."
"We all do the best we can do to ensure everything is kept properly, in an orderly way and in accordance with state law," she said. "We're not going to do anything that's going to put the voters' rights in jeopardy."
The foundation, in its Tuesday filing, said it alerted Detroit elections staff of the concerns, corresponded with the office via email and drove out to meet with officials there.
The foundation sent a letter to Winfrey in the spring, notifying her the city allegedly was in violation of Voting Rights Act, warning of a potential lawsuit to ensure compliance.
The issues with the city's rolls, Churchwell said, have "lived on for years," and there "doesn't seem to be any effort to address them."
The suit is asking Detroit to implement effective registration list maintenance programs and ensure that ineligible voters are not on the city rolls.
But the foundation has faced some criticism over a flawed analysis several years ago involving non-citizens listed on voting rolls in Virginia that landed them in litigation.
Churchwell said public records provided by the state elections office in Virginia for the analysis was "mislabled" and "communicated wrong." A lawsuit filed by certain individuals purported to be non-citizens was settled, and the foundation apologized, he said.
Bill Ballenger, a long-time political pundit, said "people want clean voter rolls.”
“They don’t want dead wood, they don’t want people with suspicious addresses and suspicious backgrounds on the voter rolls,” he said. “The Republicans are generally more focused on enforcing that kind of regimen than Democrats are, but both sides really don’t want fraudulent people on the voter rolls who might be able to vote.”
The Detroit Clerk’s Office has faced voting-related controversies in recent years.
After the 2016 presidential election, a Wayne County canvass revealed "significant discrepancies" in the number of voters and ballots in 392 Detroit precincts.
The Michigan Bureau of Election "found no evidence of pervasive voter fraud," according to a 24-page audit, but noted that more than half of 136 Detroit precincts had nearly 600 questionable votes, which was reduced to 216 after extensive review.
Poll worker errors in the 2017 general election prevented 20% of reviewed precincts from being recounted.
Winfrey has said the city bought new voting machines and beefed up poll worker training to address the issues.
Refugee parishioners can work and take out mortgages to buy homes.
The Archdioceses have lots of real estate.
Gerrymandering is one way to redraw voting districts.
The USCCB has all the trafficking tiny human contracts, like Foster Care and Adoption, including lots and lots of Social Impact Bond revenue maximization programs.
States have questionable practices when it comes to its population counts.
The slave trade never ended.
Slavery was never abolished in the US. because we built this christian nation using human capital of refugees, which is why all the witnesses represent christian, foreign, corporate interests.
Happy Partus Sequitur Ventrem Month.
No Truth in Testimony affidavits because the U,S, Conference of Catholic Bishops would never traffic tiny humans...
Witnesses
Mr. Biar Atem
Nevada Delegate and Board of Directors Member, Refugee Congress
The Most Reverend Mario Eduardo Dorsonville-Rodrguez
Auxiliary Bishop of Washington and, Chair of the Committee on Migration, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Ms. Barbara Strack
Former Chief of the Refugee Affairs Division, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and, Current Advisory Member, Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program
As I have always said, it is #Time2AuditGod and you must always have a plan when it comes to dismantling the peculiar institution.
This is the beginning of the end of trafficking tiny humans in the name of god.
It seems DOJ is arising from its descent in to the nether regions of the dark and nefarious world of trafficking tiny humans, the residuals of the peculiar institution.
Behold, the work of chattel law, the stealin' of the children's trusts.
So, if you ever wanted to know about the human trafficking system of our U.S. corporations that have left for overseas tax havens, all you have to do is click the links I have embedded to see christian human plantations where the goods are acquired and sold through hub like the Philippines as disposable labor.
I prefer the term disposable because child have a very low cost overhead and are easily replaced when it comes to doing it missionary style in acquiring more tiny humans.
A federal court in Miami, Florida, permanently barred Michael L. Meyer from organizing, selling, and making statements about the tax benefits of an allegedly abusive charitable giving tax scheme, the Justice Department announced today. The court’s injunction specifically prohibited Meyer from selling the Ultimate Tax Plan, sometimes referred to as a Charitable LLC or Charitable Limited Partnership. In addition, the court barred Meyer from preparing federal tax returns, performing appraisals for federal tax purposes, representing anyone other than himself before the IRS, furnishing tax advice about charitable contributions, and making statements about transactions having a significant purpose of tax avoidance.
According to the government’s amended complaint, Meyer organized, promoted, and operated an elaborate — and bogus — charitable giving tax scheme throughout the United States. Meyer allegedly told scheme participants they could claim significant tax benefits while retaining complete control over assets purportedly donated to charity.
According to the allegations in the government’s amended complaint, Meyer organized and sold a plan in which participants purportedly transferred property to a limited liability company (LLC) or partnership and purportedly donated their interest in the LLC or partnership to a charity. The United States further alleged that Meyer appraised the “donations,” prepared tax forms for participants to claim unwarranted deductions, and controlled the charities he used to perpetuate the scheme, including Indiana Endowment Fund Inc., Grace Heritage Corporation, and National Endowment Association Inc.
The government argued in its court filings that Meyer falsely advised participants that they could claim an immediate up-front tax deduction, grow assets tax-free, access assets through tax-free loans, and preserve wealth for themselves and their heirs. Because taxpayers retained control over their “donations,” however, all of the alleged tax benefits were unlawful, according to the United States’ court filings. In its amended complaint, the government alleged that Meyer’s scheme deprived the government of at least $35 million in tax revenue.
In addition to barring Meyer from activities described above, the Court also prohibited Meyer from advising, performing work for, receiving compensation from, or referring individuals to six other charities not referenced in the amended complaint: (1) Compassion Beyond Borders Inc.; (2) National Outreach Foundation Inc.; (3) Legacee Charities Inc.; (4) Triton Charitable Foundation; (5) Global Outreach Fund Inc., or (6) Family Office Foundation Inc. (http://archive.fo/zjA4Q) The Court further ordered Meyer to dissolve National Endowment Association Inc.; Grace Heritage Corporation; Indiana Endowment Fund Inc.; as well as two other entities, Indiana Endowment Foundation Inc.; and Indiana Outreach Fund Inc. Meyer consented to entry of the injunction.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman, head of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, thanked Trial Attorneys Casey S. Smith, James F. Bresnahan II, and Harris J. Phillips of the Tax Division. He also thanked the many IRS attorneys and agents who participated in the investigation.
In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers and tax scheme promoters. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found here. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.
It is said that Dershowitz got the sweetheart plea deal for the criminal case of Jeffrey Epstein because he was going to subpoena Child Protective Service files on the Foster Care girls to demonstrate they were, for lack of a better descriptive, "abused and neglected" with mental health issues to challenge the credibility of their accusations.
Then, it seems Dershowitz groomed Cernovich to FOIA the sealed information in the civil case, claiming credit for the arrest, where I am just going to speculate that there were some CPS information that could be used as exculpatory evidence for him, considering one of the defendants had accused of being one of The Nasty Ones on Epstein's Island.
I would be remiss to not include Barb's question to Acosta:
Will someone please ask #Acosta about immunizing co-conspirators?
Mike Dice, Alan Dershowitz (that face you make right after they show you the video) & Mike Cernovich
Lawyer says it’s his moral obligation to help suspected criminals; but his ties to accused sex trafficker go deeper
JTA — Alan Dershowitz represented convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein when he was sentenced more than a decade ago to what was generally considered an extremely light term.
Epstein had abused dozens of underage girls, but was given only 13 months in a private wing of a county jail. He was allowed to leave for work six days a week as long as he returned to the facility at night. He and his associates were given immunity from federal prosecution.
That agreement has come under scrutiny following Epstein’s arrest this week and indictment for sex trafficking.
In February, a judge ruled the 2008 deal illegal because the Jewish billionaire’s victims were not notified before it was approved. The case was reopened after a Miami Herald reporter identified some 80 alleged victims who said they were recruited into a sex ring run by Epstein and made to recruit others.
But Dershowitz said he would do it all over again. In fact, he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he would try to get Epstein even less prison time if he had the chance.
“I have no misgivings and I will continue to represent controversial people,” the emeritus professor at Harvard Law School said. “That’s what I do. If I’m in a case, my job is to get the best possible result.”
Was that settlement fair to Epstein’s victims?
Dershowitz says that’s not his responsibility.
“That’s the job of prosecutors and the job of the judge,” he said. “My job is to get the best possible result for my client.”
Dershowitz, who has made a career of unabashedly defending unpopular stances, was happy to point out that he has represented a range of unseemly clients: far-right Jewish Defense League activists (accused of murder), O.J. Simpson (accused of murder), British socialite Claus von Bulow (accused of attempted murder) and, most recently, Harvey Weinstein.
Dershowitz sees it as an obligation, in a society governed by the rule of law, to defend even the most distasteful criminals. It’s not just for the money, he says, pointing out his pro bono work pro for the Aleph Institute, a Jewish group that helps prisoners.
“It’s as moral as a doctor administering to somebody in the emergency ward,” he said. “It’s in the highest tradition of Jewish law and American constitutional law. If you don’t want to live in a system like that, move to Iran.
“The most moral thing you can do is represent the most unpopular defendant.”
Dershowitz’s relationship with Epstein, however, extended beyond legal representation. He used to send Epstein drafts of his books before publication, and would participate in seminars convened by Epstein with other Harvard personalities, like the one-time president Larry Summers. He also attended social gatherings at Epstein’s Upper East Side townhouse.
Dershowitz says that aside from his role as a member of Epstein’s legal team, he has not been in contact with Epstein since the plea deal was finalized.
“My relationship with him was academic and he was a very smart guy,” he said in reference to the book drafts. “He read them and he critiqued them, and he made marginal notes and he was very good at it.”
According to one Epstein accuser, the friendship went deeper.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who alleges that Epstein kept her as a “sex slave,” also says she was forced to have sex with Dershowitz at the New York townhouse. Another alleged Epstein victim, Sarah Ransome, also says she was coerced into having sex with Dershowitz.
Dershowitz vehemently denies the allegations and says he was shocked to learn of Epstein’s crimes. He says he has emails proving that Giuffre is lying and that he has never met her or Ransome. Giuffre is suing Dershowitz for defamation.
“I never met any of these people,” he said. “Of course I’m categorically denying it. It’s just a falsehood.”
Dershowitz is one of a string of prominent Jewish men who have become entangled with Epstein over the years, when Epstein was better known as an investor than a sex offender. Epstein once financed a magazine, for example, with New York media mogul Mort Zuckerman.
The most involved by far is Leslie Wexner, the founder of Victoria’s Secret and The Limited, as well as a major philanthropist to Jewish causes. Wexner was the sole known client of Epstein’s secretive money management business, and Epstein was often described as his protege.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital will dedicate the hospital’s Research Institute as the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. This renaming recognizes Ms. Wexner, whose ongoing, passionate advocacy has ushered in a period of unprecedented transformation at the hospital. During her more than 25 years on the board of directors, Nationwide Children’s has become one of the leading pediatric health care systems in the United States, and the Abigail Wexner Research Institute has become one of the most preeminent centers of its kind. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2016/311/036/2016-311036372-0e91679f-9.pdf
Although Wexner has said that the two have not been in touch for over a decade, they once were quite close. Epstein was a trustee of Wexner’s foundation, replacing Wexner’s sick mother on the board, and Wexner told Vanity Fair in 2003 that Epstein is “very smart with a combination of excellent judgment and unusually high standards. Also, he is always a most loyal friend.”
The most intimate and perhaps inexplicable connection between the two men, however, is a piece of shared property. Wexner bought Epstein’s New York City townhouse in 1989 for $13 million, but Epstein was using it as a residence by the mid-1990s. The townhouse would formally change hands between the men, apparently for free. After Epstein was released from prison, according to The New York Times, he graced the house with a photorealistic mural of himself in a jail.
When federal agents busted into that house this week, they found a trove of hundreds of sexually suggestive photos of underage girls — along with CDs bearing labels like “misc nudes 1.”
The house is the same one where Dershowitz is accused of having sex with Giuffre and Ransome. But there’s another link between Dershowitz and the house. Its designer, the architect Horace Trumbauer, also designed Clarendon Court in Rhode Island — the home of Claus von Bulow.
I attempted to find the 990s of the Abigail Wexner Research Institute and its instrument of authority, but was unsuccessful, but I did find the Wexners in Detroit. Perhaps, this is why Acosta immunized the co-conspirators, but hey, what do I know?
Reuben Maxbauer and Ethan Davidson (facing camera) listen intently during a seminar session.
Israel facing the “Who is a Jew” issue, one of several religious dilemmas to confront the state. Clergy “challenged” by intermarriage, assimilation and Hebrew school inattention. American Jewry confronting a nightmare of anti-Semitism and hate. A Supreme Court justice hearing rocked with intense scrutiny. An administration facing scandal dealing with a foreign nation and a country glued to news reports of it and the Congressional testimony around it, day after day. After day.
This was more than three decades ago. It seems like everything — from the flavors of Faygo to the challenges of our demographics to the soup stains on the Maxwell House Haggadah — has stayed the same, with the history and the headlines repeating themselves.
Thirty-one years ago, the initial Detroit cohort of the Wexner Heritage Fellowship, a North American leadership development program designed to provide a toolkit of Jewish knowledge for emerging community leaders, was assembled. Detroit participants were recruited for that initial group when the three youngest members of the current Detroit cohort (including this author) were not yet born. This was the era of Sinai Hospital, still 10 years away from being sold off to DMC.
This was the late 1980s. Boblo and Tally Hall were thriving, so I was told; Google and Uber were not yet envisioned, nor were JSwipe or Twitter or Amazon.
Over the last three decades, it seems like everything except the Amidah has changed. Yet, truth-be-told, that may now depend on your prayer book, which may be digital, colorful, more matriarchal or, for some, non-existent.
One thing is certain: Making sense of a confused, complicated, certainly uncertain world is assisted by education rooted in Torah, by community-building done in real time and with peers who easily become friends. This is Wexner 2017-19 — and Wexner 1986-88.
The program still allows participants the dedicated time with the highest-caliber scholars to discuss and deliberate around the core of who we are as a people, all rooted in the famous Pirkei Avot phrase that inspired the Wexner Heritage Program: “The world stands upon three things: upon Torah, upon Divine service and upon acts of kindness.
The 20 current fellows have discussed pressing issues with noted scholar Deborah Lipstadt just as earlier ones did with Leon Uris, the famous author of bestsellers including Exodus.
Matthew Shiffman of Birmingham, already a passionate philanthropist and dedicated booster of the city and community, has found immediate value in the program.
“Having the opportunity to be part of an incredible group (chavruta), Wexner has provided me a lasting platform to further my Jewish education and prepare me to be an even better lay leader within our community. It’s been many, many years since this program has been in Metro Detroit, and I feel blessed to be part of it.”
The Program’s Roots
When Les Wexner decided to make a significant philanthropic investment in leadership in the North American Jewish community, he approached it entrepreneurially, said Rabbi Jay Henry Moses, vice president at the Wexner Foundation.
“He and his co-founder, the late Rabbi Herb Friedman, piloted the Wexner Heritage Program in Les’ hometown of Columbus, Ohio, in 1985. It was immediately clear they had hit on a winning formula. So, they reached out to neighboring communities, and Detroit, where Les’ dear friends and mentors Max Fisher and Al Taubman were pillars of Jewish life, was one of the first cities to respond to the call and embrace the leadership development opportunity that the Wexner Foundation was offering.
Reuben Maxbauer and Ethan Davidson (facing camera) listen intently during a seminar session.
“So, the Detroit group of 1986-88 were pioneers, helping the foundation test and hone the approach to adult Jewish learning in the service of strengthening leadership.”
“As a native Detroiter myself,” Moses said, “I was especially delighted the trustees of the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Foundation, in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, had the vision to realize a generation had passed, and it was time to invest in developing volunteer leaders in the Wexner model again.“Since the 1980s, we have watched with great interest as Detroit weathered economic and social challenges and began an inspirational renaissance in the last decade. In the Wexner program, we teach that leaders need to guide their communities to respond to changing circumstances with an adaptive mindset — as Jewish communities have done for three millenia.
“We work with communities all over North America; nowhere are we seeing more vision and energy than in the current Detroit cohort, which represents nearly every corner of Detroit Jewish life, from city to suburbs, secular to Orthodox, schools, community centers, synagogues, startups and more. As Detroit continues to ride the wave of creativity and renewed energy, these leaders will be at the forefront of exciting new initiatives that will strengthen the community and put Jewish values into action.”
To bring the Wexner program back to Detroit, Larry Wolfe, immediate past Federation president, offered local philanthropic support of $350,000 through the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Foundation. The Wexner Foundation matches that amount to fund the two-year program cost of $700,000. No expenses are incurred by the participants.
“Educated leadership is a catalyst for progressive ideas, programs and communal participation,” Wolfe said. “The Wexner program is in the forefront of establishing new leaders and giving them the tools to enhance our communal outreach.”
The Wexner Foundation has expanded to additional fellowships that span leadership development for Jewish communal professionals in graduate programs (Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program) and leadership development for Jewish professionals (Wexner Field Fellowship), to service learning programs for high school students (Wexner Service Corps) and programs to advance the civic sector in Israel (Wexner Israel Fellowship, Wexner Senior Leaders).
2017-19 Detroit Cohort: Adam Blanck, Alicia Chandler, Ethan Davidson and Matthew Shiffman, all of Birmingham; Darren Findling, Gayle Gold, Joshua Levine, Rachel Opperer and Wendy Pittman, all of Huntington Woods; Adam Finkel, Carolyn Bellinson and David Kramer, all of Bloomfield Hills; Kristen Gross, Franklin; Reuben Maxbauer and Sheri Shapiro, both of Farmington Hills; Ruby Robinson, Detroit; Sherrie Singer and Ilana Stern, both of West Bloomfield; Julie Tepperman, Windsor, Ontario; and Yoni Torgow, Oak Park.
Current Cohort
The fellows graduate this July in Jerusalem after having two years of local courses and week-long seminars in Aspen and Utah to learn with participants in other selected cities throughout North America; three new cities begin each year.
During the local courses, a scholar travels to Detroit for a four-hour seminar, usually held every other Wednesday evening. The curriculum span is from liturgy and the Bible and contemporary Israel society to European Jewish history, God and synagogue, and modern leadership topics in 21st-century American Jewry.
“During our first Wexner Heritage retreat in Aspen in the summer of 2017, Les Wexner addressed the group in his beautiful mountainside home,” participant David Kramer of Bloomfield Hills recalled. “He told us he created the program because he came to realize many of the most prominent lay leaders in the Jewish communal world had little to no education in Jewish history, Jewish ritual or Jewishly informed leadership skills.
“I quickly came to realize the principal benefit of the program is not only learning from amazing scholars about all things Jewish, but also understanding how to take that knowledge and apply it to Jewish communal leadership.”
The current participants are already active in a diverse array of leadership endeavors in the community.
For example, Yoni Torgow of Oak Park contributes his time and energy to advance Yeshiva Beth Yehudah; Rachel Opperer of Huntington Woods does the same with Farber Hebrew Day School; Reuben Maxbauer of Farmington Hills has been an active, engaged board member of the Frankel Jewish Academy, as Josh Levine of Huntington Woods has been with the Hillel Day School. Gayle Gold, also of Huntington Woods, has worked to support the Jewish Federation’s endeavors focused on young adult mental health needs. Others of the 20 fellows give of their time by working on Federation, Jewish agency, day school and synagogue boards and committees.
Alicia Chandler of Birmingham, current president of Detroit’s JCRC/AJC, says being a Wexner Fellow has been the most powerful experience of her Jewish communal life.
“It has taught me how to connect my Judaism to my Jewish leadership,” she said. “The experience has helped root my leadership in Torah and tradition and helped me understand the ever-changing entity that is the Jewish community. It has also given me 19 amazing, smart, thoughtful friends. While our community, like all communities, faces challenges, this experience helps empower leaders to embrace the challenges and help our community thrive.”
Levine said, “It also speaks to the resurgence in all areas of the community experienced over the past few years. Wexner recognized all of the wonderful initiatives taking place in Detroit with its Jewish leadership and wanted to cultivate and be part of the great resurgence seen over the past 10 years.”
Gold said, “The Wexner Heritage Program is an incredibly rich resource for the Detroit Jewish community. We are so fortunate that Wexner chose to come back to Detroit. The opportunity to study in a way that develops critical thinking has been truly inspirational for me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to stretch my brain in this way. It feels amazing.
“The end result will be a group of leaders with deepened relationships and heightened commitment to our community,” she said. “We will be armed with an enhanced skill set to effectively listen, problem solve and effect change — and, most importantly, the courage to do so.”
Kristen Gross of Franklin said, “Experts have assisted me in honing my personal narrative; succinctly defining why I devote my time to Jewish philanthropic work. Wexner has given me the confidence to be bold and disruptive in certain areas and a thoughtful listener in others.”
Wendy Pittman of Huntington Woods said, “One of my favorite learnings is that pluralism is fundamental in Jewish history and this provides us with a foundation to nurture, support and grow our community from a place of acceptance and unity.”
Rachel Opperer of Huntington Woods summed it up well: “From the community’s standpoint, Wexner has been a successful investment because we have taught a diverse group of Jews to talk with each other, to listen to each other, to respect each other, differences notwithstanding. The more opportunities we have for a community to act like a community, the stronger and more inviting our community will be.”
Scott Kaufman, Federation CEO, hopes to keep the program going in Detroit.
“In Jewish Detroit, we are blessed with a great pipeline of dedicated and talented emerging leaders,” he said. “Among them are a cadre of leaders experiencing the Wexner program, a veritable masterclass in Jewish leadership. Wexner participants are developing expertise in the type of adaptive leadership that is essential in our rapidly changing world. Yet they are also gaining a deeper understanding of the Jewish texts and ethics that inform our enduring mission. Sort of a perfect balance of innovation and tradition that I see as an essential element of the Jewish experience throughout our history.
“Hopefully, our community will be able to bring the Wexner program back on a regular basis as I believe the impact on our community will be profound.”
Wexner Inspired Initial Detroit Alumni
The track record of Wexner Heritage Fellows from 1986-88 is easy to see. Many of the graduates have given decades of leadership and service to the Jewish community, which has included some of the most significant positions of philanthropy, policy-making and community-building within Jewish Detroit, and within the national and international communities.
Peter Alter, as an example, has served as local Federation and Anti-Defamation League president as well as on national Jewish boards. He also studied for more than 15 years with Rabbi Avi Cohen of Partners Detroit, which Alter says has been a very special, worthwhile and privileged experience for him.
Dr. Richard Krugel has chaired the Jewish Fund and been president of the Jewish Community Relations Council; Judge Susan Moiseev has chaired committees at the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan and at Jewish Senior Life; Marcy Feldman co-chaired the Federation’s Family Mission to Israel and was vice president of Federation’s Women’s Division; Phillip Fisher served as chair of the Investment Committees of the Jewish Foundation of North America and the boards of the Jewish Foundation and United Way of Southeast Michigan — and this list is just a tip of the iceberg for their involvement and that of other members of their cohort.
Looking back to their time in Wexner, Cheryl and Dan Guyer, who attended together, said, “We were exposed to different models of leadership, developed a more critical way of problem-solving, and had the opportunity to study with nationally and internationally known Jewish thought leaders — Adin Steinsaltz, Joseph Telushkin, Deborah Lipstadt, Yitz Geenberg, Irwin Kula and others.
“We connected with peers in other Jewish communities across the country,” Dan Guyer said. “We studied with them and learned from them and developed a global picture of leadership through Jewish values that prepared me to take on leadership roles in local agencies and nationally. The return of the Wexner program to Detroit is an opportunity to create a group of educated, thoughtful, dynamic and Jewishly sensitive leaders to take on the challenges of our community.”
Cheryl Guyer is director of development at the Holocaust Memorial Center.
Krugel says his experience in Wexner was one of the most significant events of his early Jewish leadership development and was life-altering. “Those years studying with some of the greatest Jewish scholars in the world, including Rabbis Adin Steinsaltz, David Hartman and Shlomo Riskin, among others, made me realize the importance of Jewish education for the future of the Jewish people and the need for adult Jewish education.”
Alter says it’s impossible to overstate the success and impact of the Wexner programs nationally and in Israel.
“For Detroit, it was a privilege 30 years ago, for each of us participate in the program. It is a fantastic boost for Detroit to have Wexner back here. It, of course, enriches the community and creates a buzz, but, even more importantly, it helps to provide Detroit with a new generation of more informed, more educated, more enthusiastic and, therefore, better Jewish leaders. It allows many of the participants who have leadership potential to be/become much better Jewish leaders. The entire community benefits.”
