Monday, February 27, 2017

Thank you Trainwreck.

What do you call someone who lies constantly?  I mean age?  Okay.  My Grams lied about her age.  So what?  I don't, but I don't find any reason to hold that lie against someone.  But how much lying is "too much"?  Think about it.  There's a level that each of us is willing to tolerate from others.  From our friends, even this varies.  If I don't like you, pretty good odds I've caught you in more lies than just your age.  The other thing I don't have a stomach for is someone who consistently uses others.  It's just not something I've got any patience for.  Now, if one of my friends is okay with it, well, I'll overlook it in one of their friends.  They're not using me, and I figure my friends are adults.  Another one of those each of us has different limits.  Now, the other thing that none of my friends have because I have zero tolerance for it:  Phony, hoity toity crap.  I grew up with plenty of phony boloney types.  I found them exhausting and irritating.  Every one of us knows someone that is like this to some level.  Usually we know more than one, but we all know at least one that is actually so phony that being around them is like nails on a chalkboard.  Again, most of these people don't have many friends, but it's all about how much phony each of us can tolerate.  I have some acquaintances that I would call phony to some level, but I actually am very proud to say that I really have no phony friends--let alone those phony, hoity toity types.  I take these three things as deal breakers as far as friendship.  

Now, what probably makes me unique is that I really don't care if my friends have friends that I wouldn't be friends with.  No one likes everyone.  I'm honest, and I'll admit sometimes to a fault.  Yet, anyone asking has been warned that they aren't going to like what my opinion is before I will spew out more truth than they can handle.  I do know how to keep my opinion to myself, but if someone doesn't know when to leave well enough alone--you know that moment where I'm telling them to leave it alone, mind their own business, shut up, don't ask.  I know for a fact a couple of my friends are laughing right now, because I have told even my friends they don't want my opinion.  It's been that way most of my life.  Most people don't always want your opinion--a lot of people just want you to agree.  I'm not the one.  I don't agree just to agree.  I also have very little tolerance for BS.  It's not my thing either.  I'll usually avoid it like the plague.  Probably why I'm not much for liars.  People who lie and lie and lie, well, they always seem to think they are flying under the radar.  As the old adage goes, it's work to keep up with lies.  Someone, and I'm one of those someones, always remembers what you said when you said it.  Some things people say have no value add, but it is what it is.  I remember so much crap at the drop of the hat, sometimes I amaze myself.  Let me actually be trying to remember, well, that's another story.  Just listening semi-passively?  Oh no, I'm going to remember.  Regardless, of these two faults, I have my friends' backs and they know it.  It is exactly who I am.  Loyal, honest and straight shooter.  

So admittedly, I'm not super fond, never have been of a friend of a friend who is hoity toity who I've caught in more lies than anyone I've met in decades, and that I have myself observed using other people because they are so self absorbed that their "friends" are only a convenience.  Now, all that aside, yes really, I ignored it.  Lying about age, job experience, degree....acting like everyone else is beneath them...literally using people to help pay, yes pay not pave, the way.  These are things I do not tolerate in my friends, but not my friend.  However, once yelling at a friend of mine--whether mutual or not--when all the friend was trying to do was help.  No.  I have no tolerance.  I made it very clear that I had no tolerance for that behavior after it kept going and going with me sitting smack dab in the middle of it.  This wonderful person then started yelling at me.  Oh no, I'm not the one.  I made it clear that they might think it was okay to yell at the mutual friend, but I wasn't tolerating it.  I can only tolerate so much.  Everyone has limits, and considering I listened to the yelling for probably close to 10 minutes before saying anything, I'm thinking I did pretty good.  

Of course, this person also will tell the mutual friend that they are going to do this or that and don't follow through--and no courtesy call or text to say "hey not going to make it".  This person also has been stalking--okay, by stalking I mean going to the location someone they messed around with by hunting them and getting people to report where the person is so they can come where the ex is trying to avoid them.  Screaming at the person when they walk into a place because they are with someone else?  Oh yes...and this is just the tip of that nasty iceberg.  The last thing this person does that totally gets on my last nerve?  Victim.  Always the victim.  It's my fault that I don't like them.  No.  It's life.  Not everyone is going to like you.  It's not their fault they got used or that they are stalking this other person.  It's the stalkee's fault for this reason or that reason.  I'm flabbergasted at the ridiculous justifications.  This person doesn't use people either--the people that they take advantage of do so because this person doesn't try to get them to.  Uh, this isn't even debatable to the witnesses.  The consensus is the person does it on purpose and with purpose.  

The funny thing is when reading the above paragraph our response changes if it's a man or a woman for many of us.  I don't have any different opinion whether the person is male or female.  I don't like liars, users, or phonies.  A single package that then stalks someone that doesn't want to be around them, is so self absorbed they can't show common courtesy to a friend and let them know what's going on, and always playing the victim?  No, I don't care if this person is male or female.  Basically, no matter how we look at it--the person is a shitty person.  The person is a trainwreck and if they are into their 30s or plus, forget it.  That's who they are and will always be.  

For all my faults, I'm proud to say I'm not a liar.  I've never used anyone.  I'm too honest to be phony.  I am what I am.  The best, in fact the only good thing about the person or anyone like them, is that they remind me how horrible people like them are and how lucky I am not to be like that.   Even more wonderful is that they also remind me how lucky I am to have some wonderful, real friends.  Real friendship is something people like this person just never experience, because they truly don't even know how to be a friend.  All I can say:  Thanks Trainwreck.  You reminded me how much I appreciate real people and real friends.   

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Adoring the Donald.... The reality is setting in

This last week has been a roller coaster.  By the end of the week, I was thinking that our new POTUS has lost his mind.  Let's face it.  President Trump is still the Donald.  He was looking bummed after less than 2 weeks into his new Presidency.  He probably hadn't thought about how his entire life was going to change.  He just wanted to win.  He's never seemed to think that far ahead.  No more NYC nightlife.  No more being able to walk into his hotel bar and have people lining up to take pictures with him.  But now he's powerful.  The President of the United States is one of the most powerful people in the world.  This has concerned a lot of people since he announced his run for the Office.  But this week, I realized that the Donald is pretty simple.  He doesn't like to lose.  Many thought this meant he was a megalomanic.  I was concerned he might be.  Okay, I'm pretty sure that's a solid "no" now. 

So in the last week, he started "keeping" campaign promises.  First, he came out with an Executive Order for the "Wall".  As controversial as it has been it didn't seem to bother him.  The backlash was pretty severe from Mexico... Who cares?  But the response here in the States?  A huge backlash from how much money it would cost, how ridiculous it is to be spending money on it when the economy is the main issue, fear of terrorists next and the Wall?  A high dollar price tag with no return.  Next, another EO. Another campaign promise fulfilled. So important no one blinked, not even his adoring die hard Trump supporters.  And another.  Nothing.  Little blurbages in the news and moving on. 

Then he drops his biggest campaign promise of them all.  Denying Muslims entry to the USA.  But he only denies 7 countries, not including any he or his assets do business with, even though many of the countries are actually the ones with the money flowing to ISIS.  He gets it from all sides.  It didn't block all Muslims.  His loyal following is divided.  The GOP suddenly is mostly against him and all the Dems.  The backlash from Europe comes pouring out faster than he changes his mind.  The Donald boldly announces he's keeping his campaign promises.  A few adoring comments on social media here and there but for the most part, backlash, and lots of it. 

The new POTUS is beside himself. His best buddy through the election who was named Chief of Staff, Bannon, is still petting his favorite POTUS's ego, and the Donald rewards him--with a position in the National Security Committee.  Unprecedented.  Scary.  The man, Bannon, has no real qualifications to be Chief of Staff.  The position is supposed to be the gate keeper to the Oval Office, the person who appeases the media when needed, strokes and smooths the rough edges when the President gets short with minority party leaders or even majority party leaders.  He's the one who's supposed to make sure where, when, what, who.  Obama's Chief of Staff, according to Bob Woodward's books, was one of the biggest problems in the Obama White House.  She blocked anyone she didn't like and was notorious to listen to the First Lady over all others.  So his selection has given a lot of people pause because like her he's got some weird ideas compared to the average Americans' points of view.

Like President Obama's Chief of Staff, Bannon is known for his racist views.  She leaned far left racist and he leans far right racist.  In addition, his far right zealot views both from his time with Breitbart and from his far right tripe movies that he made make even the moderate conservatives shake.  His appointment was not palatable to the Dems but to most of middle America, if they're still paying attention, was not the "best" choice.  In fact, most Americans that realized who he was were concerned, even many who voted for Trump. 

Yet Bannon knows his audience, and it's not America.  It's Trump.  And a stroke of the fur in the right direction is all that's needed.  The Donald was down and his Chief of Staff assured him he was fine, as he has consistently from the start of the bid for the White House.  The rewards with the Donald are usually pretty good when you make him happy, so the Donald rewarded his Chief of Staff with a seat on the NSC...

In the same stroke, President Trump also removed the Director of Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs from the NSC.  The backlash had been massive, even from the GOP, Allies, and more than 60% of the American public.  The bombardment on social media was shocking.  How dare he remove those two?  And what the hell is Bannon doing there?  The "removal" of the two is not unprecedented, but Bannon who has zero intelligence experience, a minimal 4 years as a peon in the military, and a tripe movie and news maker (not even a journalist), this seemed insane. The backlash was even more frightening. 

The Donald doesn't like to admit to  mistakes.  I've told people he'll never do it.  It's just not who he is.  He said anything to win the Presidency.  He won.  Whatever he said in his mind is dead and buried, move on.  Until, he needs to feel adored.  Last week, he needed that adoration. He thought announcing he's keeping his promises with 4 EOs would help.  The adoration fell short.   Our Donald needs a lot of petting. 

So two things happened to our poor new POTUS last week.  He didn't get praised by masses like he had hoped after his latest Executive Orders and the backlash from his decisions on the NSC.  He just didn't know what to do.  Panic probably set in.  This isn't a megalomanic.  A megalomanic would be scrambling for more power.  He's not.  Obama when faced with the same slaps insisted everyone follow him.  Do as I say. You must. You will. You have to.  Our Donald?   I'm keeping promises. I'm doing what I said. Look. Look.  Look. He's waiting on praise like anyone who needs adoration. 

No one knows who all the initial choices were for SCOTUS.  We can safely assume they were a diverse group.  President Trump is known in the past to like a lot of controversy and options amongst his decisions.  This is both scary and unpredictable.  Most expected his first SCOTUS choice to be someone who would be rejected almost immediately.  Yet, he took some serious punches last week when he was most likely expecting fireworks and celebrations.  His SCOTUS decision is not one that will piss off moderates.  Moderate, middle of the road Americans cannot complain.  The one he chose is known to side with gun owners.  He's also known to side with religious freedoms.  He's what I would call a true solid conservative Constitutionalist. 
(NOTE:. This should not be mixed up with conservative politics. Not sure when the two deviated, but it is what it is.)
He won't make the far right zealots happy.  He won't make the far left zealots happy.  He believes the Constitution should be interpreted as written.  Freedom of Speech. Freedom of Religion.  The Right to Bear Arms.  The Fifth Amendment.  He'll back some politically liberal ideas and some politically conservative ideas.  And most of both will be what mainstream Americans want.  President Trump deserves kudos for this choice.  He's a great choice for Scalia's replacement.  That's right.  GREAT CHOICE FOR ALL OF US.  

Okay, so even a blind horse can find water sometimes.  But our President reminds me of another President who he shared years and years of friendship with.  President Clinton. Billy Boy didn't like to be in the wrong side of the majority of Americans, even when that meant pissing off other Dems.  The far right zealots went after him with a passion and I have no doubt that he and his wife are criminals (possibly more she than he), but regardless, President Clinton governed by polls.  Didn't always result in the best decisions long term.  He and Speaker Gingrich are the real people to blame for the real estate bubble that burst taking automotive and other industries with it.  However, our Donald is very much an ego.  He wants to be adored.  Billy wanted popularity.  What's the difference?  Minor to us. What's it mean??

Well, that means President Trump needs the adoration of way, way more than the 10% of Americans that voted for him.  Only 10% voted for him because they are devout true Trumpites.  The other 35% hated the bitch more.  Almost 10% of us voted for neither and 45% voted for the Clinton.  But only 10% of them were devout Clinton followers.  Like our new POTUS, 35% of them only voted for her because they didn't want him.  So what's our poor new President to do?  How can he gain the adoration he craves when the rest of his life will be surrounded by Secret Service?  No NYC clubbing.  No whims.  Constant planning.  This has not been his life. It is now and for the rest of his life.  How does he get the 75% to 85% of us to adore him? 

The right choice for SCOTUS.  The right choices for the majority of us. That's how.  And this week.  He started with SCOTUS and today, just this morning, he announced he will not rescind LGBT rights granted by the Federal government.  No doubt his SCOTUS pick explained the nuisances.  For all of the Donald's faults, his "fault" to be praised and adored will trump, pun intended, any lip service he gave to get elected.  He may turn into the most popular President since Reagan. 

Oh no, I have no qualms that he has a long, long, LONG road to traverse before that happens.  But his SCOTUS pick and the LGBT rights are a step in the right direction.  He's starting to realize the zealots may have helped him win, but if he wants the majority of us to really love him, he's going to need to win the majority of us over.  He wants us to forgive and forget what he said during the election.  I think he's just figured out that, because he needs adoration, the right way to that is to give the majority what we want.  We don't want zealots. We want middle of the road.   We want equal rights. We want less government. We want gun rights. We want religious freedom. We want the economy fixed.  We want DC to do their jobs.  I'm not saying to those of you that hate him to give him a pass.  No. He needs to know and he like Clinton is paying attention.  Not to polls but social media.  I'm not saying those of us that didn't want either to get all excited either, but Judge Gorsuch is someone that Johnson would've considered.  And those Clinton voters that voted against him, I know y'all will be the hard sell, but admit it. If he were to dial back on the support of Israel, and/or fix the economy, and/or not take more Sioux land... Well, he'd win you too.  The die hard Clinton fans, well, you'll probably be shit out of luck.  He'll try because that's who he really is.  He needs to be adored.  Bottom line, he's not a megalomanic.  He doesn't crave power. He craves love and attention--probably like most kids who's parents tossed them into a boarding school and nannies.