Author: ViewFromTheHill

I live in the Washington D.C. area and I follow politics closely. I know Washington and I know some of the players. Mainly, I keep my eyes, ears and nose open. I even watch Fox News and listen to Conservative radio to hear a different perspective. Thanks for stopping by The Swamp. The View from here is EXCELLENT.

Tweet by Tweet Trump is ‘Gaslighting’ The American Public

by ViewFromTheHill, posted in Uncategorized

The term ‘gaslighting’ comes from the 1939 play and the 1944 movie Gaslight.  The movie starred Charles Boyer as the cruel husband who attempts to slowly and methodically manipulate his wife, played by Ingrid Berman, into thinking that her world is all wrong and that she is going insane.

It is a trick used primarily by abusive narcissists.  The narcissist will instill in their victim a sense of confusion and anxiety and of constantly questioning their own sense of what is real.  It is done in small stages.  In the movie, Boyer would lower the gaslights in the room to make his wife think that they had always been lowered.  With the continual barrage of little lies and half-truths, the victim begins to no longer trust their own memory, judgment and reality of the truth.

The technique is one that is similar to one used in psychological warfare and in law enforcement, interrogations, brainwashing and even torture.

According to author Christine Louis de Canonville, “The intention is to, in a systematic way, target the victim’s mental equilibrium, self-confidence, and self-esteem so that they are no longer able to function in an independent way. Gaslighting involves the abuser to frequently and systematically withhold factual information from the victim, and replacing it with false information.”  ~The 3 Faces Of Evil – Unmasking The Full Spectrum Of Narcissistic Abuse 

Now, factor in Donald J. Trump’s second favorite form of communication Tweeter.  (Of course, his first is the sound of his golden voice.)

trumptweet

A couple of typical gaslight behaviors in this one tweet:

  1.  The MEDIA:  They are liars and don’t report the truth.  He constantly denies that the media tells the truth and misdirects the average American who believes him to distrust what was once a source of information.  He repeats this false narrative every chance he gets.
  2. Voter fraud:  When he thought he had no chance of winning there was rampant voter fraud.  This would protect him from the harsh truth that he lost.  But surprise surprise the only ‘voter fraud’ was from Russia and it helped him win.  Now, there is NO SUCH THING AS VOTER FRAUD.  “Well, How Convenient” as the Church Lady would say.

And a couple of months later:

trump-tweet-sources-said-png

Again, there is that false narrative that he keeps hammering to his followers:  “the VERY dishonest media.”  And the idea of “sources said” or ‘unnamed sources’ would most definitely be something that Donald J. Trump would not want anyone to believe.  And why wouldn’t anyone want to have their name used?  Well, for one, anyone who has ever worked for Donald Trump has had to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement that prevents them from saying anything that is disparaging against Trump or his family.  The cost for such a transgression is $5,000,000.00.

Oh, and Trump is insisting that anyone who works for him in government sign a similar agreement.  He is even wanting to extend that to ANYONE who works in a government job.  So, there goes “Freedom of Information.”

trump-intelligence-agencies

You can almost see the use “AIR QUOTES” around “Intelligence”  and “Russian hacking” much like a lawyer would talk to a jury about a person being “abducted by Aliens.”  By now, January, 2017, his followers know the code.  The “Intelligence” is not real.  They have been ordered by Obama to make all this stuff up.  And besides, this is the same intelligence bunch that made up the weapon-of-mass-destruction that forced us to go to war in Iraq.  (No, it was Darth Chaney, but that is another story.)  .  And the “Russian hacking” well it was most likely some fat kid in his underwear in Utah as it was the Russians.  Nothing to see here, Folks, just keep moving along!

But is it fair to call Donald Trump a NARCISSIST?

When asked to sum up Donald Trump’s personality in an article for Vanity Fair, a psychologist at Harvard, Howard Gardner said that he was “remarkably narcissistic.”

George Simon, a clinical psychologist who conducts seminars on manipulative behavior, says Trump is “so classic that I’m archiving video clips of him to use in workshops because there’s no better example” of narcissism. “Otherwise I would have had to hire actors and write vignettes. He’s like a dream come true.”

And, of course, there is what I would consider the most frightening feature of Trump, the narcissist.  You take a world dictator who is attempting to bring Russia back to the bad-old-days of the USSR and a global power and he compliments Trump and it’s a marriage:

Trump on Putin

  • October 2007: Trump said Putin’s doing a great job
    “Look at Putin — what he’s doing with Russia — I mean, you know, what’s going on over there. I mean this guy has done — whether you like him or don’t like him — he’s doing a great job in rebuilding the image of Russia and also rebuilding Russia period,” Trump told Larry King on CNN.
  • “Putin has big plans for Russia. He wants to edge out its neighbors so that Russia can dominate oil supplies to all of Europe,” Trump said. “I respect Putin and Russians but cannot believe our leader (Obama) allows them to get away with so much…Hats off to the Russians.”
  • “I got to know him very well because we were both on ’60 Minutes,’ we were stablemates, and we did very well that night,” Trump said, despite the fact that he and Putin had been interviewed in separate countries at different times for the same news program.
    It’s a comment Trump has repeatedly made at rallies.
  • “It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond,” Trump said in a statement. “I have always felt that Russia and the United States should be able to work well with each other towards defeating terrorism and restoring world peace, not to mention trade and all of the other benefits derived from mutual respect.”
  • “I have no relationship with him other than he called me a genius. He said Donald trump is a genius and he is going to be the leader of the party and he’s going to be the leader of the world or something,” Trump said, embellishing Putin’s praise.

So, what does that mean for America?  Well, let’s see when Putin starts pushing.  Just a little and then a little more and maybe one small country then six.  And what will the narcissist Trump do?  Just how far will Putin be able to push Trump until Trump pushes back.  And how do narcissists push back?   Trump can play it cool with sanctions and ‘look weak.’  But that isn’t what a winner would do, is it.

I’m going to leave you with something that I hope you will be able to pass on to your friends who voted and supported Donald J. Trump.  I have said from the very start that Donald J. Trump will be the President for the next four years but most likely for just the next two.   I think that Keith Olbermann can say it much better than I:

And that’s my View from The Hill.

They called me an ANTI-SEMITE

by ViewFromTheHill, posted in Uncategorized

I got a real shocker yesterday!

In response to a MEME posted

15732105_1018151318290230_4827435067194550367_o

I was the first person to respond with this:

“Even if Israel is wrong? Say, they decide to cut the heads off of all Muslim children under five years of age to make a point to their parents to move? You will still blindly stand with Israel! Wow, you are a staunch supporter!” (Rick Hill)

And this was the response that I received:

“His bigotry is glaring and unrepentent. He’s a total Trumpista. But if one is looking for people who HAVE cut off heads, slaughtered children, and terrorized their citizens….well, they can be found. But they’re not Israeli. I’d ask him to name a Moslem country which has Jews in every branch of government, which hasn’t evicted them or let them live as full citizens, which safeguards their rights, lives, culture….but he wouldn’t be able to. And he’d never acknowledge that Moslem, Christian, and other religionists who are Israeli citizens ARE represented in the Knesset, Supreme Court, etc., attend schools paid for by the government, and have their religious sites protected by the government. No. That would go against his avowed anti-Semitism.” (D.S.)

This person continued to assault me as an anti-semite through countless posts and in personal messages:

“I am astonished that YOU should be whining about being offended when YOUR comment was so fully hateful, bigoted, and irrational…It was unprovoked, it clearly came from a place of intolerance and rage, and if you’re standing behind it, you’re simply evil. I don’t tolerate any sort of bigotry. No double standards, no spreading of lies and stereotypes.” (D.S.)

Here is my point:

Have we come to such a low point in our reasoning that we are no longer allowed to question the Jewish state of Israel in ANY FORM without the threat of being labeled an anti-semite?  

My original example was a gross hyperbole and was meant to show the absurdity of standing by a government should that government stoop to the level of their enemies (ISIS).

The Christian fundamentalist have taken the mantel of defending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud party and refuse to accept any contradiction.  It has almost become a fundamental article of faith that:

RIGHT OR WRONG: WE MUST STAND WITH ISRAEL!

They appear to hold these beliefs so strongly where no matter how many facts, data, studies or other information that plainly contradicts their beliefs that they are shown, they refuse to change, alter, or even consider a different reality.  Instead, they go to great efforts to rationalize their belief and they are convinced that they are being totally rational and are confident that GOD IS ON THEIR SIDE.

And when someone is foolish enough to advance a theory in contrary to their affirmation, they can only attack with the most apoplectic and indignant response possible.  In my case, it was a person of the Jewish faith calling me a Nazis and anti-semitic.

And if I were even remotely comfortable with either of these epithets, I would not be writing this public response.

I attempted to reason with this individual.  I found common ground and I even found that her sister is a close friend of mine.  Upon revealing that we had a relationship albeit a distant relationship, I was then likened to Adolph  Hitler with the comment that “maybe Hitler had his reasons…”

It baffles me that anyone could close their mind so tightly as to even allow oxygen to be able to enter.  And a mind unable to get fresh ideas or to feel or see the world in an alternative view is one that will surely wither and die.  I feel very sorry for D.S., her unreasonable hatred of someone she has never met and will never meet and for her inability  to process anything except total acceptance for a religion, a people or a cause.

It is this kind of person who built Jonestown in Guyana, who followed Marshall Applewhite and his Heaven’s Gate followers who left their corporal bodies to meet the alien spaceship hiding in the tail of Comet Hale-Bopp, and who walk the halls of Congress in the nation’s capital confident that global warming is a hoax and that the Earth is only 6,000 years old.

And that is my View from the Hill of this designated ‘anti-semite.’

 

So, Why the Civil War? Part 2

by ViewFromTheHill, posted in Trump Nonsense

Have you ever been to one of those Evangelical MEGA Churches?   They are HUGE.

And I mean in the Donald J. Trump sense of…

…HUGE.

They make the mind of Jerry Jones and The Church of The Dallas Cowboys almost seem meek and mild-mannered.  They have two missions:

  1. Save every soul who enters their doors

  2. Get more members so they can repeat step one.

Oh, and there is a step three but, well, it would be indelicate to discuss it in mixed company.  I mean you who are reading this may or may not be saved.  And if you are saved, then you will surely understand but if you are NOT SAVED, well….?  You may misinterpret and misunderstand and misrepresent the WORK OF GOD.

You see, people who are ‘washed in the blood of the Lamb,’ saved, understand the absolute need for our pastor to own a private $65 million Gulfstream G650, to live in a 19,000 square foot home on 19 acres with a high fence and a very sturdy iron gate, several luxury cars and some extra money to spend…and give to the poor, of course.   It takes a lot of money to maintain a church and the pastor’s manse and needs for meager transportation and that money comes from one source:  the saved souls.  The more saved souls; the more God’s gifts flow from Heaven.

So, the mission (from God, of course) is to save the most souls.  And you have to follow those three steps in order to do so.  And according to Tim Keller, senior pastor of New York City’s most prominent Mega-Church (5,000 souls a week in attendance and tithing,)  Redeemer Presbyterian Church,

“Jesus’ teaching was not the main point of his mission. He came to save people through his death for sin and his resurrection. So his important ethical teaching only makes sense when you don’t separate it from these historic doctrines.”

You know, I have read The Bible a couple of times.  I read it once from page one all the way to the last page.  But since then I will pick it up or more often than not just grab my copy on my iPad or Google a reference and read.  So, I have no idea how often I have read the whole book.  But when you turn to The Bible for knowledge, comfort or just to read the beauty of the written words, I always come away with a calm, loving and serene sense of compassion.  Every word seems to be filled with God’s unbounding LOVE.

This may be an interruption to this who BLOG, but I think it is vital to understand the difference between the warring factions in this country.  You have the unyielding Tea Party view of no negotiation and only one path to salvation and now listen to what I consider the heart of The Bible:  The Sermon On the Mount:

Wow!

Full disclosure:  That was not the “real Jesus Christ.”  That was an actor.  Jesus didn’t have the nice music behind him (at least, I don’t remember any music when I was there.)  Jesus didn’t speak English.  The original film from the original “Sermon on The Mount” was apparently lost or burned by Tomás de Torquemada during The Spanish Inquisition.

But, if you took time to listen, you only heard one thing:  compassion.

From my junior high years all the way to my second year in college, I wanted to be one thing:  a minister in The Methodist church.  I started reading every bit of religious text and authors from every century.  When I was in college, I was introduced to Søren Aabye Kierkegaard and his works, Either/Or, Upbuilding Discourses (which in the 1960’s were just labeled Discourses) and Fear and Trembling.  Kierkegaard was a philosopher, poet and theologian from the early 1800’s in Denmark and was widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher.  Existentialism was a neat word to throw around in the 1960’s!

But Kierkegaard’s works could be boiled down to one short sentence:

God accepts you; God love you just as you are.

As a matter of showing how much he loves you, he sent his only physical son to Earth to be horribly crucified to atone for any sins that you might have committed.  In other words Jesus has already paid for your sins and you don’t owe anything.  You don’t have to jump through any hoops or give to any MEGA CHURCH.  You are accepted just as you are.  End of story.  Now, go enjoy the life that God gave you instead of trying to make God happy.  He is already HAPPY.

And above all else have compassion for your fellow men and women.  The other side of this Civil War sees compassion or God’s love as much more important than merely winning more soul in an endless game of numbers.

Do you see that this CIVIL WAR has taken on a religious aspect that the Founding Father’s did everything in their power to remove from our government.  These were smart guys and I’ll bet they had damn smart wives who told them what to think at times.  They separated church from state.  And I believe they kept it separate for the very reason that our union is now dissolving right before our very eyes.  Are we a Democracy or a Theocracy?

They had no way of knowing about Trump, a black president, nuclear weapons and the state of Israel.  But they did know about history and how it rhymes.  They also had borne witness to how religion and politics just didn’t mix.

So, how did we end up with Trump?  Remember the movie “The Perfect Storm”  well this was worse.  Everything came together to elect Trump.  EVERYTHING that should not have happened HAPPENED.  Example is a guy from a small town in New Jersey who is 55 years old and in those 55 years had never voted; not once.  He works in a tatoo parlor and causes pain and creates body art day in and day out.  On his off days, he drives a HOG (A Harley Motorbike to my wife and some of my shy friends.)  He didn’t hear about Trump from “THE NEWS” as he has never watched that either in his 55 years.  His buddies told him about this no bullshit guy who hated Mexicans and was going to build a wall around the entire United States.  He registered to vote for the first time.  He showed up to vote on Election Day for the first time.  He wasn’t supposed to by all accounts, but he did.  He voted for Trump.

Then there are the “anybody but Hillary” or more accurately “anybody who will support anti-abortion laws.”  The world is filled with very religious and very faithful Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodist and Muslims who abhor abortion.  It has become their crusades of the 20th and 21st centuries in these religions.  Almost all of them started the election season hating Donald J. Trump.  They were for Rubio, Bush or Cruz.  CRUZ, yes, Cruz, that was our boy.  He was a legal scholar and agreed with every conservative principle.  Even though he looked more like Grampa on The Munsters than a possible 45th President of the United States, we could support a good guy like Cruz.

Well, just like an Agatha Christie novel, each little Indian boy (and one girl) was killed off one by one until “one little Indian boy left all alone;” But instead of “He went and hanged himself and then there were none.”  It ended up “He went and won the race and Tweets on his Phone.”

These same people who were ripped apart with the moral dilemma of voting for a reprobate such as Donald J. Trump and each weekly abhorrent revelation into his vile mouthed portrayal of women and minorities found themselves forced to figure out a rationale for voting for the likes of this person.  These are some of the best people in America and they have a conscience and they didn’t like their choice, but in each one of their minds and souls they found a rationale and they voted for Trump.

And then there is just the shame of the Democratic party.  The great middle class working guy and gal who had just about lost all hope and they needed to believe in a better America.  The only person who was willing to lie to them about this Glory Land of Milk and Honey and who would promise them that which was impossible to provide was Donald J. Trump.  And they were desperate or stupid enough to vote for Trump.

So, now we have Donald J. Trump for a term of four years.  (My prediction is that he will not last four years and we will end up with a President Pence, which is actually much much worse.)  And America is now torn apart even further.  A number of good Americans are chanting “NOT MY PRESIDENT!”   School children were walking out of class in protest of the potential of a Trump Presdiency.  The day after the Inauguration, women from across America are planning either a March on Washington or a march on their own state capitals.

My friend from Oklahoma was right.  This is a Civil War and it has only begun to get worse under a Donald J. Trump Presidency.

But here is a single ray of hope:  Donald J. Trump.

WHAT?  Are you nuts?  How is our only ray of hope the person who has divided our country?

Donald J. Trump has promised much more than any single President has ever promised.  For over a year he has worn that stupid red baseball hat that reads

“Make America Great Again.”

And these people who elected him expect him to come through with a majority of those promises.  One only needs to look at the reluctance of the Republican party to spend much needed money on things such as a crumbling infrastructure and Zika Virus prevention to know that Trump will never fulfill even a tenth of this numerous promises.

Donald J. Trump is bound to fail.  The real question is how much of his own party will his failure take down with him?

And the other ray of hope comes from the rhyme of history:  Even as the Nazis exterminated her entire group of childhood friends and most of the world she had known, a young Anne Frank could write,

“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

or as signs began to appear during the election:

“Love Trumps Hate.”

And that’s my View of The Civil War from The Hill.

So, Why The Civil War?

by ViewFromTheHill, posted in Uncategorized

Preface

I don’t usually believe that “the Universe” or “God” or “Karma” cares one way or another about me or about what’s going on. And I’m not real sure what I feel about prophecy, Biblical, secular or the kind with the Neon ‘Sign’ of the blinking palm or eye. But coincidence gets my attention. And when those miscellaneous bits of the ‘universe’ bombard me one after another, even I sit up and take note.

Well, that just happened. And it was kind of spooky, strange, weird and noteworthy.

The result is this pre-dawn compulsion to write this and title it “Why The Civil War?” My MAC was even very slow to load and forced me to realize that there would be a Part I and had to be a Part II. Just another coincidence or should I be listening? I don’t know but here we go:

The Donald J. Trump Years of The Civil War

Part I

Eight years ago, a lifelong friend of mine from Oklahoma shocked me when I realized that this exceedingly intelligent young girl who I had known growing up had morphed from an enthusiastic Kennedy-For-President-sign-hanging Catholic visionary to this woman in her 60’s who was a conservative practitioner of Messianic Judaism and feared the dangers for Democracy of an Obama victory.

I had naively suggested that we should combine to form a ‘grass-roots’ movement to show solidarity for the entire United States by combining the Liberal with the Conservative. She balked at this idea and said, “Don’t you realize that this is a Civil War?”

No I hadn’t.

And yes, she was right, as the years ahead would prove.

To me, the first shot or the ‘Fort Sumter-Moment’ was when Senator Mitch McConnell (Republican from Kentucky and Senate Majority Leader) gathered his fellow Republicans together shortly after Inauguration 2008 and vowed to refuse to cooperate with anything that came from an Obama White House. The obstructionist legislatures stood firm and did absolutely nothing for eight long years. The business of running the government of the United States stopped because one little man from Kentucky disliked one liberal man from where? Kenya? Chicago? Hawaii? Did we ever see that ‘real Birth Certificate?’

They had separated themselves from THE UNITED States of America to become The Divided States of America. The Union had once again been dissolved and it was indeed brother vs brother. Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated on March 4, 1861 and it had taken a little over a month for the Civil War to begin on April 12, 1861. McConnell had started this second Civil War in less than one day after Barack Obama became the 44th President of The United States.

We started by no longer listening or talking to one another in the Senate and in The House. And the country soon began to follow the example of our leaders in Washington. We stopped listening and we started YELLING.

THEY were wrong and WE were right.

But who were “THEY” and who were “WE?”

Are the Conservative right? Or is it the Liberals? And which group is wrong? The Liberals or the Conservatives?

How can one group love America and the other group also love America? Doesn’t one group have to hate America? Isn’t one group EVIL and one group good?

Where are the EASY ANSWERS? I WANT EASY ANSWERS!

Well, of course, we all want easy answers and obvious answers and we want those answers to coincide with OUR BELIEFS and prove that the OTHER SIDE is WRONG! JUST DEAD WRONG!

But is this merely a case of what people have observed for centuries that history does indeed repeat itself? Or is it a bit more complicated?

And there is one of my favorite quotes which I spout at every opportunity:

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”`           ~George Santayana

Or perhaps it would be more accurate if we listen to our own, Mark Twain, who famously said on the matter:

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”

To make a direct correlation between the 1861 Civil War and the 2008 Civil War would be both ludicrous and pointless.  They didn’t repeat themselves but they do rhyme!

I think the best place to start is with SOUTH which rhymes with MOUTH, which we seem to have way too much of now days.  And that means we got TROUBLE!  Right here in Washington D. C. which rhymes with TEA and that is a great place to start for ME.

The Tea Party Movement began  following Barack Obama’s first presidential inauguration (in January 2009) when his administration announced plans to give financial aid to bankrupt homeowners.  The Tea Party was the most conservative Republicans who were against tax-payer money going to help home owners.

The Tea Party attempted to refrain from advocating for social issues such as abortion and leaders wanted to maintain their eye on limited government and economic issues.   But slowly the religious right who were already members of The Tea Party began to exert more control and championing of moral issues became a greater focus of the group.

The Tea Party at the beginning of the first term of Barack Obama was barely recognizable during the last days of his first four-year term.  They had become a religious more than an economic movement.

In politics, one can always reason with the other side,  one can negotiate with the opposition and one can ultimately come together for the good of the entire country and compromise.  However, how can a person of faith compromise their beliefs?  There is NO COMPROMISE in religion!  And for the first time a political party was also an unyielding religious group who refused to talk, listen or negotiate.  They were right on all moral issues and the other side was wrong and evil.  The Civil War became much less civil, Obama was demonized and the rift between the Conservatives and the Liberals seemed impossible to bridge.

So a LARGE part of this rift is now religious.  But most of the people in The United States are Christian.  Yes, there are minorities of Muslims, Jews and other religions but the vast majority are Christian.  Even in the Senate and The House, one can count religions other than Christian on one hand.  So, where is the big difference.  The difference may be in the two camps of Christians:  Evangelical and Non-Evangelical.

A recent New York Times article by Nickolas Kristof (the link is below)   http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/opinion/sunday/pastor-am-i-a-christian.html?_r=0   goes a long way in helping us to understand the depth of this chasm between Evangelical Christians and the non-Evangelical Christian community.  in interviewing the prominent evangelical pastor Tim Keller Kristof asks  whether one needs to believe in every Christian tenet in order to be a Christian, particularly the resurrection of Christ as well as his Virgin Birth.

“Jesus’ teaching was not the main point of his mission. He came to save people through his death for sin and his resurrection. So his important ethical teaching only makes sense when you don’t separate it from these historic doctrines.”

So, for the Evangelical Christian, the most important aspect of religion is that you must be accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior.  It is a Three Step Process that you MUST go through :

  1. Step One:  Read the Bible and Understand that this gift of forgiveness and eternal life cannot be yours unless you willingly accept it. God requires an individual response from you.
  2. Step Two:  Realize, Repent, Request and Receive    Realize that you have sinned against God.
    “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
    Repent of your sins.
    “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out” (Acts 3:19)        Request God to save you through Jesus Christ.
    “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)    Receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
    “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12)
  3. Step Three:     Say the Prayer of Salvation        Lord, I stand before you a sinner. I believe you died on the cross for my sin. I believe God raised you from the dead. I am asking you to come into my heart and save me. I accept you into my heart as my personal Savior. Thank you Lord for saving me-Amen       “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

And Bingo:  You are saved and will go to Heaven.

 Thank you for coming to McChurch, Next Customer, Please.

To the Evangelical, it is a numbers game.  The more you bring to Christ and convince them to go through the three easy steps, well, God does like to WIN.  (So, if we could only get the Glengarry leads!)

The Conclusion in Part II

Bands Flock to be Included in Trump / Pence Inauguration Festivities

by ViewFromTheHill, posted in Trump Nonsense

Contrary to the Liberal News reports that have falsified the truth of the incredible enthusiasm that the musical world has about supporting and participating in the Trump / Pence Inaugural Festivities, dozens of First Class Internationally known Entertainers are begging to be included in the celebration of the new administration.

Of course, the mainline act is being sent from our closest allies in the entire world, the wonderful folks from the Russian Federation.  Appropriately, the Red Army Choir will be performing Donald J. Trump’s Inaugural Theme Song, “Get Lucky.”  You can enjoy just a short taste of their professional and well choreographed rendition:

What Donald J. Trump Inauguration wouldn’t be complete without the incomparable sounds of the The Three Naked Polish Guys and their ‘well placed accordions.’  Vice President Pence is a huge fan of the Three Naked Polish Guys and the other mainline group from Alabama, “Hairy Dick and his Electric Guitar.”

Dick is recuperating from an electrical malfunction at a recent concert for the White Supremacists of Dixie when at the climax of one of his most requested numbers the and electrical short-circuit came into personal contact with Dick and gave him quite a shock.  They are both reported to be healing and should be in full force to perform for Vice President-Elect Pence.

The White Supremacists are also bringing the favorite sound of the Trump Team:  The Trumpets of Triumphant.  This Grammy stealing group has been wowing audiences from Berlin to Bangor since 1933.   They are said to be a HUGE fan of the President-Elect and his policies.   A motorcycle honor guard of over 2,000 loyal fans are currently traveling from Alabama all the way to the Nation’s Capital for the Trump Inauguration with the Trumpets of Triumphant as their honored guests.  They are rumored to be staying the first week at the new Trump Hotel and the night after Donald J. Trump takes office in the Lincoln Bedroom.

The symbolism of their stay is not lost on many of Trump’s followers as he has vowed to revoke a number of the previous President’s Executive Orders.  The Lincoln Bedroom houses the actual Executive Order that President Lincoln signed on September 22, 1862, after the battle at Antietam.   He issued his most famous Executive Order, The Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves would be free in the rebellious states as of January 1, 1863.

Although it is not official but word has surfaced that Mr. Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, may also be performing.  It has been no secret that West has made it widely known that he plans to run for the Presidency in 2020 after Trump finishes his four-year term as the occupant of the White House.

Land of the LOST Campaign Promises

by ViewFromTheHill, posted in Trump Nonsense

I got an early morning phone call this week from, of all people, the former Speaker of the House, Newton Leroy “Newt” Gingrich.

“Leroy, my man, what’s the good word?”  I asked.

“Rick, it’s bad!” Gingrich replied.

“How bad, Newt?  Billy Bush bad or out of hair spray bad?”  I inquired realizing the seriousness of this call.

“It’s about as bad as it can get, Rick.  Trump just tore me a new one on a Tweet about the Alligator’s and the swamp.”  he answered.

“So, was it the ‘alligator’s’ that got him upset?”

“No, the ‘swamp!’  The ‘swamp’ is out.  We don’t have the ‘swamp.’  We needed the ‘swamp.’  The ‘swamp’ was what we were going to drain and now, all of sudden, Trump doesn’t like the ‘swamp.'”   Gingrich said almost in a panic.  “Rick, I came up with the ‘swamp!’  It was my baby and now, Trump hates the ‘swamp.’  I’m screwed!   I’m just screwed aren’t I?  Aren’t I just screwed, Rick!   I’m just screwed!”

It is sad to see a respected politician break apart and destroy themselves.  Luckily, this was Leroy “Newt” Gingrich and the word ‘respected’ has not been used in the same sentence with his name for over a decade.

But what Gingrich was panicked about isn’t unusual.  Campaigner Trump made a whole lot of promises and assurances to his many supporters.  It seemed that as he was speaking off-the-cuff in each different section of the country he would feed off of the enthusiasm of the crowd and could almost read what was uppermost on their minds.

Here is an abbreviated list of the many promises made by President-Elect Trump:

  1. Build a wall along the southern border
  2. Make Mexico pay for the wall
  3. Get rid of Obamacare
  4. Rebuild the country’s aging infrastructure
  5. Defund Planned Parenthood
  6. I will take care of women
  7. Use the term “radical Islamic terrorism”
  8. Ban most foreign Muslims from entering the United States
  9. Bar Syrian refugees from entering the country and kick out any who are already living here
  10. Heavily surveil mosques in the United States
  11. Create a database of Syrian refugees
  12. Never take a vacation while serving as president
  13. Prosecute Hillary Clinton
  14. Strengthen the military
  15. Be unpredictable
  16. Allow Russia to deal with the Islamic State in Syria
  17. Bomb the s— out of ISIS
  18. Target and kill the relatives of terrorists
  19. Shut down parts of the Internet
  20. Bring back waterboarding
  21. Get rid of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
  22. On the first day in office, terminate President Obama’s executive orders related to immigration
  23. Deport the almost 11 million immigrants illegally living in the United States
  24. Continue to allow lowly paid foreign workers to come to the United States on temporary works visas
  25. End birthright citizenship
  26. Then on Thursday, December 22, Trump tweets U.S. needs to ‘greatly strengthen and expand’ nukes
  27. DRAIN THE SWAMP!

That is 27 of the promises from Donald J. Trump during his pre-inaugural days.  By the way, this is merely one third of all of the promises.  Yes, this list is merely 1/3rd of all of the promises that Donald J. Trump made from the day he announced to three days before Christmas, 2016.

Now, I’m NOT going to tell you how or what YOU should be thinking.  I am simply going to ask you to look over the list one more time.  Now, in all honesty, you cross off the promises that are either impossible or just rhetoric.  (rhetoric
noun rhet·o·ric \ˈre-tə-rik\:  language designed to have a persuasive or impressive effect on its audience, but often regarded as lacking in sincerity or meaningful content.)

And now, Trump has crossed off “draining the Swamp” himself.  Why?  Well, take a look at the alligators who he has started to populate his own personal swamp.  This is no swamp.  This is a steam bath for Billionaires.  The total amount of all of the wealth of the previously wealthiest cabinet in the entire history of the United States was that of President George W. Bush.  His entire cabinet was worth a whopping $250 million!   That is exactly 1/10th of the wealth of just one of the Trump Cabinet members, Wilbur Ross, nominated for Secretary of Commerce with an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion.   (Does anyone not remember the state of the American economy on the last day of George W. Bush’s Presidency?  Do you remember the collapse of General Motors?  I don’t want to scare you but this group isn’t even rich as compared to the billionaires in the Trump Cabinet.)

So, the common man, has voted into power over them the wealthiest individuals in the entire world.  

It reminds me of a story when I was in my first year of being a teacher.  Our best friends were two very wealthy individuals.  One had been born into wealth and the other had married her.  She called to invite us out to go eat and then to a movie.  It was a week before our next paycheck and we were broke.  Broke BROKE!  We told her that we would love to go but we didn’t have any money.  She said well, we’ll go by the bank and you can just write a check.  My wife said we don’t have ANY MONEY.   There was a long pause and then a horrified,  “YOU DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY!!!!  HOW WILL YOU LIVE?  WHAT WILL YOU EAT?”

Lesson to my common men and women friends:

Rich people don’t understand being poor.   Their solution:  just go get some more money.

So, please, remember this little lesson, when you are wondering, in a year or two or four, how you got so screwed.

And that is my View of the SPA / SWAMP from the Hill

The Upside Downside World Of a President Donald J. Trump

by ViewFromTheHill, posted in Uncategorized

Change is LIFE.

If we don’t change, it means that we are dead.  So, moving from a Democratic White House to a Republican White House is merely change.  It is natural.  It often happens in a Democracy once every four years.  As Americans we should ALL embrace this natural order placed here by our founding fathers and ACCEPT and MOVE ON. Right?  Doesn’t this ‘SOUND’ sensible?  Isn’t it exactly what the Democrats would be saying right now, if Hillary Clinton had won?

So, why aren’t they?  What is different about this change in our government?  Why are these Democrats beings so…UnAmerican?  Unpatriotic?  UnAccepting?  UnWilling to just Go Along?

Again, change is LIFE.  Shouldn’t we all just give a President Trump and his government a chance?  Just a chance?

Well, it isn’t an easy answer for over half of the country.  But for the other half, yeah, sure, we are all on the Trump wagon 100%.

So, what will being on “The Trump Wagon 100%” look like in this “CHANGED AMERICA:”

  • According to a recent poll, 34% of all Republicans now have a favorable  view of Vladimir Putin, ex-KGB agent, ex-Communist, they guy who took control from Boris Yeltsin way back in the last century and just never seemed to give it back to the people, the guy who has been taking back countries like an old-time Soviet area Dictator, a guy who silences his critics with jail, a guy who silenced the media with a silencer on a gun, well, not a nice guy…PERIOD.  Now, this is the SAME REPUBLICAN PARTY that under Ronald Reagan defined itself for its staunch opposition to The Soviet Union.  So, Russia, who was our bitter enemy last year is now our friend and partner.
  • NATO.  Since April 4, 1949, a few short years after World War II and at a time when it appeared that the Soviet Union under Stalin was snatching countries and land in eastern Europe right and left and World War III was just around the corner, twelve countries, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States signed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.  Now, in 2016 there are 26 member states of NATO.  Its purpose is to defend member nations against aggression.  And who were they being defended against?  Well, let us list them 1. Russia.  Yes, it is a short list.  Now, to be fair in 1997 the NATO-Russia Founding Act was signed to build bilateral cooperation.  That was two years before Putin came into power and after the fall of the old Soviet Union when everything seemed so much brighter and positive.  Now, under Trump, NATO is not such a good idea.  Some of those bum countries don’t pay their fair share and in the ‘protection racket’ or BUSINESS every good businessman knows that ‘no pay / no service.’  It is just GOOD BUSINESS.  And America wanted a BUSINESSMAN to run our country and the world and we now have one.  So, NATO, either pay up or learn to speak Russian.
  • The “BUSINESSMAN’S” government as opposed to the “PEOPLE’S” government.   Every Republican will tell you that “GOVERNMENT IS TOO BIG.”  Odd, that every criminal or thief will tell you “THERE ARE TOO MANY POLICE!”    So, number one WHO is our new government:  Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State – Awarded the Russian Medal of Friendship by Putin, himself. Net worth est. $150 MILLION   Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education – Anti-public education extremist, never went to public school and never sent her kids to public schools. Net worth est. $5.1 Billion…THAT IS $5.1 BILLION!  Linda McMahon, Small Business Administration – Co-Founder of American profession wrestling, WWE.  New worth est. $500 million to $1.16 Billion. Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of Treasury – Former Goldman Sachs Executive  Net worth est.  $50 million – so, the poorest millionaire will run Treasury.   Jeff Sessions, Attorney General – member of the US Senate from 1996 from Alabama, denied a judgeship by Congress on grounds of racist leanings.   For a full analysis of Sessions go to:  https://ballotpedia.org/Jeff_Sessions  Net Worth est. $7.50 to $10 million dollars (he currently owns no slaves.)  Rick Perry, Department of Energy – Unjustly kicked off of Dancing With The Stars on the second round.  To view his qualification go to:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmy1FYqkkZg  Net worth est. $13. and some change.  Although some estimate his worth around a paltry $3 million.     And these are just some of the American tapped to guard our public institutions.  So, a quick recap:  Tillerson, good friend of oil and Putin. Tillers is in charge of our relationship with all other governments;  Devos is in charge of your child or grandchild’s education and she never attended public school but she went to The Holland Christian Schools whose educational motto is, “Equip minds and nurture hearts to transform the world for Jesus Christ.”   Sessions is in charge of administering justice to all.  Sessions call the NAACP and the ACLU “Un-American.” Perry is in charge of energy.  Rick Perry bought fake glasses called “the Professor” to look more smarterer.  So, the FOXES are all in charge of the HEN HOUSE!

 

We are about to see the sky underneath our feet and the ground hanging ominously above us.  What was up will be down and what was right will now be wrong.

or as poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning said in 1856:

“In this bad, twisted, topsy-turvy world, Where all the heaviest wrongs get uppermost.”

And that’s my View hanging upside down from the top or bottom of The Hill

 

 

The LIBERAL Metamorphosis

by ViewFromTheHill, posted in A time to sow, a time to love; A TIME TO ACT

One score and eight years ago, I spent my days traveling the lonely roads of the Panhandle of Texas.  I would get in my car, a blue Oldsmobile, before the dawn’s early light, gas up at the same Phillip’s 66 station on what was once Route 66 and travel from school to school.  Some schools were two to three hours away.  It wasn’t unusual for me to put 400 miles on my car from sun up to sun down and to have seen only three or four schools.  They are spread out in the Panhandle of Texas and New Mexico.

Two of my biggest ‘enemies’ were my competition and falling asleep at the wheel.  I beat my competition by getting up at 4 am.  But sleep!  Wow!  That was an hourly battle.

I kept myself awake for three hours each morning by listening to Talk Radio from Amarillo.  Amarillo, Texas is one of the most conservative areas in the country.  Recently, they had a minister go around one of our mails and inform kids that Santa Claus was not real but Jesus was.  And if they didn’t repent they would burn in Hell.  Big round of applause!

So, I listened to some liberal guy from California for one hour and then three hours of Rush Limbaugh.  Now, before you roll your eyes; have you ever spent five days a week listening to Rush for three hours each day; week after week; month after month and year after year?  No, well, I have and I learned a great deal.

I learned how warped most conservatives are in their world and personal view on such things as women (femiNazis,)  liberal men (castrati,) environmentalist (environmentalist wacko,) and liberal Democrats (fringe kooks.)   But I also leaned some important lessons.

A group of liberals were getting together to protest an injustice of some sort in Maine or Vermont (the wacko-New Englanders) and they were going to get 100 of their supporters together and at exactly 12 noon they were going to release 100 yellow balloons into the sky.    Rush kept on for days about how lame this was.  How much of a waste of time this was.  How useless as a protest this was.  How it did nothing to promote their cause.

And Rush Limbaugh was 100% correct.

Now, I am a proud fringe kook.  And I’m happily married to a femiNazis who is also a fringe kook.  But I sure as Hell am not going to resist Donald Trump by releasing 100 or 1,000,000 balloons.

I have been a liberal for a very long time.  I have watched as liberals were embarrassed to be liberals.  I remember when they would hide their liberal leanings in what seemed like a sea of conservatives.  We were afraid of the ridicule and being labelled a freak or a femiNazis.

Liberals had damn sure better be in the final stages of this long metamorphosis.  We were once hidden and ashamed (the egg stage.)   Then we started to gather together and vote (the larva stage and the introduction of THE CLINTONS.)  As the truth of the George W. Bush years became evident through the lies of Darth Chaney and the secret Evil Empire that Darth Chaney and Darth Donald RuMaulsfeld led, we became much bolder, we got loud, in their faces and looked for a new bold leader (the pupa stage.)

So, we got eight years of Barack Obama.  And you might think that the Obama years were the adult years of our liberal metamorphosis.  Now, I LOVE Obama.  I think he was a wonderful president.  I know the man is a kind and loving man and that he may be the most patient President in our long history.  But therein may lie the biggest failure of his Presidency.  His patience can easily be seen as weakness and in a number of cases he failed America and the world in his obligation as the protector of the weak and the defender of democracy.  The red line in Syria:  FAILURE and the result is hard to watch and happening this week.  It also was one of the reasons that Vladimir Putin started grabbing land, countries and ultimately the Syrian conflict.

Liberals under Obama were resting in the pupa stage of our metamorphosis and it may have been one of the reasons that we are now saddled with Donald Trump and all of the evil that he has allowed to inhabit The White House.

It does take a great deal of energy to leave the warm, safe wrapping of the pupa state where you are insulated by a comfortable covering and you are protected from the realities of the outside world with that thin layer of the pupa case.  Obama was that thin layer.

That chrysalis stage will be totally shed on Friday, January 20, 2017 at 12 noon, high noon.   High Noon: a Gary Cooper picture. Marshal Will Kane (Cooper) is about to retire and move away with new wife and Quaker, Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly.)  But Frank Miller (Donald J. Trump, I mean Ian MacDonald,) a vicious outlaw who Kane sent to jail, has been released and he wants to exact revenge on Kane.

And then, as only Gary Cooper can deliver a line, Marshal Kane says,  “They’re making me run,” he tells her. “I’ve never run from anybody before.”

And ALONE he stand up to Trump, I mean Miller and his entire Cabinet, I mean gang.

Can you hear Tex Ritter start to sing, “Do not forsake me oh my darlin’“?   I can.

We are about to break out of that warm chrysalis stage and face the harsh reality of Frank Miller and his gang.  But it isn’t a movie; it is Donald J. Trump and Mike Pence (homophobe,) Rex Tillerson (Russian Order of Friendship Recipient,) Betsy Devos (Private school Voucher Queen,) Jeff Sessions (documented racist,) Dr. Ben Carson (wacko,) and Rick Perry (former Dancing With the Star reality contestant who was maliciously and unfairly booted out of the competition during the second round by the lame-stream-media.)

We had better do a great deal more than release 100 balloons in protest.

The next stage in the Metamorphosis change is called THE ADULT stage.   We need to start acting the part and stop talking and fulfill our obligation the adults in the room.

If we don’t.  Then there are some other adults in the room very anxious to take over our role, our country and our way of life.

Don’t wait until it is too late.  Because it will be too late at 12:01 on January 20, 2017.

And that is my View from The Hill at HIGH NOON.

 

 

Finally, Trump Brings Some Dignity and Brains to The White House

by ViewFromTheHill, posted in Cabinet Level Pick

(Feel Free to enjoy a little Texas Music while reading.  Just press play) >>>>>

During the campaign, I heard time and time again from the conservative voters that it would be crucial for a President Donald J. Trump to surround himself with the finest minds in the United States.   Of course, Trump has reminded us repeatedly that he is one of the smartest people in any room:

“Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest -and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure, it’s not your fault”

“I’m, like, a smart person,” he explained Sunday to Chris Wallace on Fox News. “I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years. Could be eight years – but eight years. I don’t need that.”

“I will be so good at the military your head will spin.”

Well, it may not be the military  even though  our heads are spinning but the guy Trump named as his Head of Energy does carry a weapon and he loves to fire it into the air about as often as he fires off his mouth: James Richard “Rick” Perry.  Or as he is known to millions of Americans, “Mr. Oops.”

I lived in Texas.  Rick Perry was my Governor.  I knew Rick Perry.  And you, sir, are no Rick Perry.  Rick Perry I knew never had go buy a pair of ‘novelty’ “Professor” glasses to show his intelligence; his mouth always told us in Texas how smart he was.  Here are some examples so, you can decide for yourself about the ‘smart’ pick:

  • “The reason that we fought the [American] Revolution in the 16th century — was to get away from that kind of onerous crown, if you will.” —Rick Perry, getting the date of the American Revolution wrong by two centuries
  • “No greater example of it than this administration sending millions of dollars into the solar industry, and we lost that money. I want to say it was over $500 million that went to the country Solyndra.” —Rick Perry (Solyndra was a company not a country, but there are a couple of countries that start with the “S” sound so Rick gets two points.)
  • “I trust those independent school districts to make those decisions better than eight unelected and, frankly, unaccountable judges.” –Rick Perry, getting the number of Supreme Court justices wrong (there are nine, well because of the Republican’s we have actually gone a year with only eight, so maybe Rick is another Nostradamus?.)
  • “Is it the Mitt Romney that was on the side of — against the Second Amendment before he was for the Second Amendment? Was it — was before — he was before the social programs from the standpoint of — he was for standing up for Roe v. Wade before he was against first — Roe v. Wade?” -Rick Perry, fumbling over his attack lines against Romney at a GOP presidential debate, Sept. 22, 2011
  • “I don’t think the federal government has a role in your children’s education.” –Rick Perry, at a campaign stop in Iowa, August 15, 2011
  • “It’s a theory that’s out there. It’s got some gaps in it. In Texas we teach both Creationism and evolution.” –Rick Perry, in response to a child who asked him if he believed in evolution during a campaign stop in New Hampshire, August 18, 2011
  • “If this guy prints more money between now and the election. I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we — we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous — or treasonous in my opinion.” –Rick Perry, suggesting on his first day campaigning for president that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may be a traitor to his country, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, August 15, 2011
  • “Young Hispanics in Texas can aspire to be the next Rolando Pablos, the chairman of the Texas racing commission; maybe the next Roberto de Hoyos, who heads our economic development shop; and one of my favorites, the head of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission Jose Cuevas. Is that awesome? That is the right job for that man.” –Rick Perry, bombing with a joke about Jose Cuervo tequila while speaking before a Latino convention in Texas, June 23, 2011
  • “You can always follow me on Tweeter.” –Rick Perry, mistakenly referring to the social networking site Twitter in a videotaped message to a crowd of conservative bloggers and social networkers, Minneapolis, June 21, 2011
  • “I think in America from time to time we have to go through some difficult times — and I think we’re going through those difficult economic times for a purpose, to bring us back to those Biblical principles of you know, you don’t spend all the money. You work hard for those six years and you put up that seventh year in the warehouse to take you through the hard times. And not spending all of our money. Not asking for Pharaoh to give everything to everybody and to take care of folks because at the end of the day, it’s slavery. We become slaves to government.” –Rick Perry, June 2011
  • “Juarez is reported to be the most dangerous city in America.” –Rick Perry, referring to a city that is across the Texas border in Mexico, February 28, 2011
  • “From time to time there are going to be things that occur that are acts of God that cannot be prevented.” —Rick Perry, on the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, in 2010
  • “George W. Bush did a incredible job in the presidency, defending us from freedom.” –Rick Perry in 2010

So, this is an example of “the finest minds in the United States!”  And of all of the Trump picks, poor Rick only has a net worth of about $3 million.  So, he isn’t even as ‘smart’ as the least smart of his fellow Cabinet candidates who are all on the multi-million and billionaire cusp of ‘brilliance‘ as judged in the world of Donald J. Trump, President-Elect.

And that is this Former Texan’s View of “Good ole’ boy” Swamp from high on The Hill.