I got a real shocker yesterday!

In response to a MEME posted

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.’

 

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

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

 

 

“A Day In The Life”

I read the news today, OH BOY!
About a nutty man who won the race
And though the news was rather sad
Well, I just had to laugh
I saw his photograph

He blew his hair out with a comb;
He didn’t notice that the orange was gone
A crowd of people stood and stared
They’d seen his face before
Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Trump

I saw a tweet today, OH BOY!;
“Rosie O’Donald is the fatest one”
A crowd of people turned away
But I just had to feel
Having read Art ‘o The Deal

I’d love to turn you off

Woke up, fell out of bed
Dragged a comb across his head
Found his way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up,  noticed he was bald

Found his hair and sprayed it orange
Made the news in seconds flat
Had an Intel Brief but “I’m too smart”
And somebody spoke and I went into a dream

Ah I read the news today, OH BOY!
Four trillion stones to build that BIG OLE WALL
And though the stones were rather HUGE
They had to count them all
Now they know how many Stones it takes to make the Mexican Wall

I’d love to turn you OFF!

“CIA Confirms Russia Hacked The US Election” CNN

“Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House” Washington Post

“A Muted Alarm Bell Over Russian Election Hacking” NY Times

“17 Intelligence Agencies Declare US Election was Hacked”  Meet the Press

Let’s play a game:  Let’s say all of these headlines came out eight years ago.  It is the recent election of Barack Hussein Obama over John Sidney McCain III.  So, what would be your reaction to these headlines if the President-Elect was a black man named Obama (who many of you believe is a secret Muslim and wants to destroy America and Christianity ?)   Would you be outraged?   Would you be yelling “FOUL!”?  Would you be angry?

Or would you do as Fox News reports:

“Trump: Claims of Russian interference in 2016 race ‘ridiculous,’ Dems making excuses” FOX News

“Trump team says ‘move on,’ after Obama calls for cyber-hacking probe” FOX News

“Kelly Riddell: Media on a mission to discredit Trump” Fox News

No, you who voted for Donald J. Trumpski are quiet.  You are sitting in your homes.  You go to you churches on Sunday.  You play with your grandchildren and you ignore this fact.  The Russians HACKED YOUR ELECTION.  It doesn’t matter if it changed the outcome; as I learned in Latin alea iata est, the die is cast.  Donald J. Trump WILL be the next President of the United States.   To change that outcome would be insanity and most likely cause an armed insurrection among some of you.  No, you seem just fine that our enemy has come into our house and screwed around with democracy.  You are content with Russia doing this to your country.

I am most disgusted with those sanctimonious among you who served in the military.  You took an oath to “DEFEND THIS COUNTRY AGAINST ENEMIES BOTH FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC.”  Yet, all you can do is get drunk during the Army / Navy game and glory in the defeat of Navy while you guzzle down another cheap beer.  And you call yourself an American Hero!   Bullshit!  You are an American disgrace, if you sit and ignore this ATTACK on our Democracy.   Why do you think we fought the Revolutionary War?  So, you can PICK your own leader WITHOUT FOREIGN INTERVENTION!   But now, well, it is just fine with you since it was YOUR CANDIDATE who won.

But if it were eight years ago and the GODLESS Russians had helped Obama!!!??!@!!

What would you have done?  Sit and drink another beer?  Go to church and praise God?  Play with your grandchildren or watch your kids play football?

Well, I don’t know, maybe that is exactly who you are.

• An American when it is on your side.
• An American when your candidate wins.
• An American when it isn’t some Muslim or black or maybe or maybe not a Muslim…he just doesn’t look like a President should look.
• An American who will ‘fight for his country’ but no, I don’t think I can fight for Democracy…I think it is okay for our enemies to influence our election since Donald J. Trump won.  I’m not that much of a Patriot.  I’ll pass on defending America now.  “Honey, I got a dead soldier here!”
• An American who is just fine and actually happy that Vladimir Putin, a Godless former KGB officer, influenced an American election.  My guy won, so, who cares.

Well, I’m sorry to tell you but YOU ARE NO AMERICAN.  Our founding fathers would kick your ass out of their country for allowing a foreign power to influence an election.

If you call yourself a Christian and you go to church and you believe in the American way of Democracy of free elections that are decided by Americans and not influenced by our enemies, then how in the world can you just sit there…silently…in your pew…bow your head before God…and be happy with this new threat to our Democracy.

Where is your outrage?  If you value Democracy,

WHERE IS YOUR OUTRAGE?

And that is my View of Your Hypocrisy and Double Standards from my sanctimonious Spot on The Hill

“Trump: Claims of Russian interference in 2016 race ‘ridiculous,’ Dems making excuses”

(you let it happen now and it will continue to happen and then what becomes your Your America when it isn’t Your candidate?)

For years the Christian Alt-Right has been convinced that the Muslim Obama and his ‘Liberal’ government has had a war on religion. There was outrage over a governmental restriction of saying “Merry Christmas.” There was outrage over students being told that they could no longer say the Pledge of Allegiance because the Founding Father’s wrote “Under God.” There was outrage over a ban on teaching the Biblical facts of the Earth only being 6,000 years old and that Jesus rode dinosaurs. There was outrage over science, over facts, over history, over literature, even over cafeteria and recess. There has been a great deal of outrage on the side of the Christian Alt-Right.

But they are Alt-Wrong about just about every bit of it. No one in the government or no one of whom I have ever heard has prohibited “Merry Christmas,” The Pledge of Allegiance, different theories of creation or kept your fat kids from killing themselves by sitting during recess and eating McDonald’s Big Macs that you bring them to supplement all that bad fruit and low-fat food that the schools force down the rest of the healthy kids’ throats. Just dead Alt-Wrong.

But that War on Religion that never really took place is about to be replaced by an all-out offensive against science, history, literature, reason, and the very doors of the free neighborhood school-house.

A member of President-Elect Donald J. Trump’s proposed cabinet said it more eloquently, “Religion is needed to interpret science because maybe it’s just propaganda,” former Presidential candidate Doctor Benjamin Solomon “Ben” Carson, Sr., American retired surgeon (I’m guessing tree-surgeon.) Born in Detroit, Michigan, and a graduate of Yale University and the University of Michigan Medical School.

He graduated from YALE UNIVERSITY and he believes that science might just be propaganda??? I’ve been to Yale University. Several of my close friends graduated from Yale University. Yale University is a friend of mine. You, sir, are no Yale Graduate.

Fortunately, the main frontal attack will not be led by Dr. Ben. He will be off ‘fixing’ federal housing and urban development. That is the same Dr. Ben who told The Washington Post, “Having me as a federal bureaucrat would be like a fish out of water, quite frankly.” And the same Dr. Ben who firmly believes that people who live in poverty had a choice between wealth and poverty and they picked poverty. Yale University!!!!!???!

No, the General Patton of the Fourth Army to lead this frontal assault on most things that educator’s have held dear for centuries is Elisabeth “Betsy” DeVos, an American billionaire, businesswoman, philanthropist, and education activist from Michigan. DeVos is known for her advocacy of school choice, voucher programs, and ties to the Reformed Christian community. The closest that DeVos has come to public education was attending Holland Christian High School where their educational mission is to, “Equip minds and nurture hearts to transform the world for Jesus Christ.”

DeVos is convinced that God has placed her great wealth at her feet for the purpose of bringing down the lies of public education and replacing them with God’s truth. Here are a few of those lies:

• Big Bang  (Christian school will teach God created it in seven days)
• The universe is 14 billion years old.  (It is only six thousand years old)
• Dinosaurs lived 65 million years ago. (Jesus rode dinosaurs)
• The flood of Noah was not world-wide.  (Was so)
• Life formed on earth over millions of years. The process is called evolution. (Creationism)
• Women didn’t come from an old extra rib of some guy named Adam. (women are man ribs)
• Math:  A tool that is useful because it seems to work in manipulating the natural world (A reflection of the mind of an orderly God)
• English:  Literature must be representative of all cultures, which are seen as having equal value, and has no inherent meaning (Literature is appreciated as a demonstration of common grace and interpreted in the light of God’s Word)
• Teachers: Varied backgrounds – Christianity or some other religion, humanism, atheism; may be straight or gay (Born-again, committed believers seeking to model Christ before their students – no gays, atheists or fatties need apply)
• Peers:  Varied religious backgrounds, often receiving little moral instruction or values at home or church (Students from Christian homes who are there because their parents support Christian values – oh, and they have whiter whites and brighter brights)
• Science:  Naturalism – everything comes from matter, time, and natural selection (God is the Creator and Sustainer of all things; science involves knowing God through knowing His world)
• History:  Controlled either by autonomous man or by an impersonal process (Controlled by an omnipotent God who knows the end from the beginning – so, just sit back and watch God control everything)

The Christian Educators Association International, an organization that sees the nation’s public schools as “the largest single mission field in America,” aims to show Christian teachers how to live their faith — and evangelize in public schools.  They don’t seem to care about teaching but about saving souls.  I thought we had churches for that and public schools for education, but then I’m just an old-fat retired educator; a true dinosaur from a by-gone era.

So, this dinosaur is BEGGING you to WRITE A LETTER to your Democratic or your Republican Senator and demand that

Betsy DeVos NOT BE CONFIRMED by the Senate.

Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution, known as the Appointments Clause, empowers the President of the United States to appoint certain public officials with the “advice and consent” of the U.S. Senate.  All Cabinet members are nominated by the President and then presented to the Senate for confirmation or rejection by a simple majority (although, before use of the nuclear option during the 113th US Congress, they could have been blocked by filibuster, requiring cloture to be invoked by 3/5 supermajority to further consideration) *cloture is a procedure for ending the debate and taking a vote.

So, you it is your time to pick one:  FACTS  or STATE SPONSORED RELIGION IN SCHOOLS.