Category: History

All historical references, especially American history

Whirlwind Trip to Colorado, Hillsdale National Leadership Seminar

Last week, RB49 and Hubby flew to Denver for a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar.  I usually have an aisle seat on an airplane, but this time I had the window seat, and I saw some beautiful scenery below.

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We picked up the rental SUV, and drove south to the city of Colorado Springs, where we found the Broadmoor Resort, a very old, and very beautiful, hotel at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.  We barely had time to get settled in our beautiful room, before it was time to attend the President’s Club reception.  Here’s the view from our room.

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At the reception, we met up with some people we already knew from Ricochet, one couple who live in Colorado Springs, and a woman from Texas (yes, Hillsdale has supporters all over this country).  We went in to dinner, and had a very nice meal.  Tuesday’s dinner was Frank Luntz, a well-known pollster, who told us that he became a conservative gradually, while learning about what motivates the people he polled over the years.  His theme was “how to speak about conservatism”, and he emphasized some of the points I have been saying over the years (you can’t convert liberals by arguing with them-you need to appeal to their emotions).  Here’s one of the many slides he showed about better terms to use in your conversations.

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After that dinner, Hubby and I went on a little walking tour of the building.  The Broadmoor has dozens of original paintings and sculptures by Western artists, accumulated over the more than 100-year history of the property.

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In a dimly-lighted lounge, I spotted this cleverly-designed footstool.  Very cute!

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Can you tell that he’s a turtle?

We fell into bed, exhausted from our busy day.  The room was sumptuous by our standards, and very comfortable and quiet, even though it was just across the hall from the elevator.

The next day, after continental breakfast, there were more speakers, including Sharyl Atkisson, a rather famous journalist (whose computer was compromised by Obama stooges), and Mollie Hemingway.  Both ladies had very interesting stories to tell.  Mollie used to be an editor at Ricochet, before she went to The Federalist.

After a nice lunch and one more speaker, the conference adjourned.  We had a bit of time before we had to head back to Denver for our 8:00PM flight, so we went to the hotel bar for a quick drink.  The main building is across a small lake, and I got to capture some of the beauty of the resort on the way over.

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Once we arrived at the hotel bar and ordered our drinks, I had the opportunity to pay more attention to the inside of the bar.  Very beautiful! This picture must have been of some patrons from the Robber Baron days of the late 19th Century.  I didn’t find out who they all were.

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After our nice drink, it was time for us to head home.  As is my normal, I pay attention to architectural detail wherever I am!  Here are some creatures who saw us off from the main entrance.

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We made it back to the airport in time, dropped off the rental car, and boarded our plane.  It was a very rushed trip, but certainly productive. The venue was gorgeous, speakers were fascinating, and our friends warm.  What more could a person ask for?

 

International Women’s Day, NOT celebrated here

International Women’s Day, NOT celebrated here

And here’s why, from Wikipedia:

International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 every year.[3] It commemorates the movement for women’s rights.[citation needed]

March 8 was suggested by the 1910 International Socialist Woman’s Conference to become an “International Woman’s Day.” After women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917, March 8 became a national holiday there. The day was then predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations.

Sorry, but Calling-all-RushBabes does not celebrate Soviet, Socialist holidays.

One more thing..take a look at the woman in my Featured Image in the head-to-toe burqa.  Do you think her husband celebrates her?  NO-she does not leave the house unless covered!  Oppression, it looks like.

Every Picture Tells a Story

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Each element of this picture tells a bit of my story.  From the sign on the left of this shelf, you can see that this is above my desk at work.  People who come over know at a glance that I am available to help them with their issue.  To the right of that sign (sorry for the ribbon in the way!) is a picture of my husband and me at our wedding reception, in 2003.  Front and center is the vase of pretty flowers my husband sent me for our anniversary last year.  Those flowers stayed right there until they were simply husks.  It just made me so happy to look at them, and know my hubby was thinking of me.

To the right, and behind, are some awards I have earned from my professional association, the Institute of Supply Management, Western Washington Chapter.  Two are clear glass on stands, and one is a piece of incised granite.  In front of those is the cute pewter cat business-card holder I found a few years ago and that follows me to whatever my job is.  And I’ll give a special prize to whomever can identify the item with the white base and power cord to the left of the cat.  This picture just tells so much of my jumbled-up story!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/story/

 

Weathered, Creations of Man, and of Nature

This building was originally built in the twelfth century, in England.  The Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds.  Much of it has weathered away, with the help of the local people, who often used the fallen stones for new buildings.  But even the ruins are beautiful.

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Abbey ruins, Bury St. Edmunds

This spectacular example of Nature’s Creation, weathered, is Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.

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“Natural Bridge”, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

 

Funny, that natural arch almost looks like it could have been carved by men.  But no, we mimic nature, or try to.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/weathered/

 

…On the Other Hand… 2017 Wrap-up

…On the Other Hand… 2017 Wrap-up

2017 was an “on the other hand” year for RushBabe49.  For every great thing that happened, there was something disgusting in return.  No good thing goes un-punished, and 2017 was a great example.  Starting in January with the inauguration of duly-elected President Donald Trump.  Election night in 2016 was the most fun I had had in years, spending hours on the live chat on Ricochet.  Many members’ comments were priceless, and when we went to bed that night (some stayed up until the wee hours of the next morning) we were elated.  But the Left’s tantrums at having been defeated were not terribly unexpected, but they were more violent than we thought.  The “Resistance” was immediate and loud, and we have been putting up with it for the entire year.

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This response shows the level of culture of the majority of leftists.  They immediately start with the worst curse words they can come up with.  Too bad, President Trump remained in office.  The resistance was also widespread within the bureaucracy in DC, and every one of the new president’s appointments was drawn-out and fought tooth and nail by the “deep state”.  I remember being on a trip in February, and being regaled by all the crap thrown at Michael Flynn, who was forced out of his position for communicating with the Russian ambassador, which was part of his job!

The Deep State and the Democrat Senate Losers tried their best, but they could not stop the nomination and confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, one of President Trump’s most important achievements in his first year in office.  President Trump has also had confirmed twelve new federal Circuit Court judges, a victory for Constitutionalism.

On the other hand, 2017 was marked by numerous murders of police officers, many in ambush situations, all over the United States.  By July, the total of police officers killed in the line of duty had risen nearly 20% from 2016.  The Ferguson Effect, where community members not only do not help the police solve local crimes, but positively hinder them, was much in evidence.  The murder rate in cities like Chicago and Baltimore skyrocketed, as gang members felt more comfortable carrying on their wars in many neighborhoods.

The employment situation in the US improved in 2017, as companies brought jobs back from overseas and opened new factories.  About 1.7 million new jobs were created in Donald Trump’s economy, and the stock markets reached new record-highs multiple times throughout the year.  Locally, tech companies have been on hiring sprees, with software engineers and systems analysts able to field multiple job offers and basically write their own tickets.

On the other hand, the cost of living in many big cities has also gone up so high as to price non-techies out of the housing market.  Landlords raise rents, and ordinary working stiffs have to leave town to find places they can afford to live.  Those of us who own our homes already just face increasing property taxes and utility fees, but we can remain in our homes.

On the other hand, we saw huge data-breaches that exposed the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans, who had NO choice of where their data were stored.  The big breach at the credit-reporting giant Equifax brought it home to Americans how fragile their hold is on their privacy.  The subject of cyber-security was a big one in 2017, and promises to remain so in the new year, and for the foreseeable future.

President Donald Trump’s 2017 economy also brought the opening up of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines and the opening up of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in places to oil exploration to increase America’s energy independence.  And the best news of all, the most consequential tax reform of recent history was passed in December, ensuring that the majority of Americans will see the government confiscating less of their hard-earned money.  The tax bill repealed the individual mandate of ObamaCare, so many young people will not be required to purchase unaffordable health “insurance” or pay a huge fine/tax.  Since their employers will also be paying less to Uncle Sam, employees may get another benefit from the new tax laws.  Many big companies have already announced special bonuses for their employees (including those sleazy liberal TV commentators who swore the bill was horrible for the country).

President Trump’s foreign policies have also borne fruit, with ISIS being deprived of most of the territory they held, the UN de-funded of $285 million, and Jerusalem being declared the Capital of the State of Israel.  We have now brought the Israelis back as our friends, when the Obama administration had denigrated them and sided with the anti-Semites in Europe.

On the other hand, 2017 has brought increasing conflict (mostly words so far on our part) with the madman at the head of North Korea, and the mullahs who still rule in Iran.  But President Trump is doing his best to unravel the one-sided Iran nuclear “deal” which was a terrible bargain for the US.  2018 is bound to bring more tensions on those fronts, but America will now be dealing from a position of Greatness, not leading from behind.

Illegal immigration to the United States has gone down dramatically since Donald Trump was elected, and that is in the absence of the border wall!  This shows that even the expectation of action can affect the behavior of those who might be affected by the action.  On the other hand, the “deep state” judiciary has continued to throw obstacles in the way of the President’s legitimate power to allow or not allow anyone to enter the US.  This makes me very angry, and so far every one of the “bans of bans” that makes it to the Supreme Court gets overturned.  I hope that in the New Year the Supreme Court will be able to finally rule that the Executive Branch is solely in charge of immigration policy.

Personally, my own situation has remained very good in 2017 and going into the new year.  Hubby and I are still gainfully-employed, mostly healthy, and comfortable in our home, with our owner, Kikyo the black cat.  I again played the full-length Messiah the day after Christmas, and was just transported by the wonderful singing of the choir; an excellent end to the season.

I extend my best wishes to all my readers and followers at Calling-All-RushBabes for a very Happy New Year of 2018.

Oh, yes, here are my two last photos of 2017, taken on a shopping trip this afternoon.

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Ascend, Cast your Mind Higher-Photo Challenge

In 2012, I went to Washington, DC for the first time.  One of our first stops on our walking tour of the city was the Library of Congress.  I was absolutely blown away by the beauty of the inside of the main Library building, and it felt like I took an hour just taking pictures of all the beautiful architecture and decoration.  You can see that the builders had in mind that visitors would be “transported” to a higher plane than just the mundane, so they did their best to help us to see how important the Library, and learning, are to our shared American Culture.  They took quotations from ancient and modern philosophers, and illustrated them.  I was awed, and I think I was meant to be.

Wall decoration, Library of Congress

Knowledge, Library of Congress

Ignorance, Library of Congress

Ascend, indeed.  All these plaques carry basically the same message, that people are meant to learn, and use their knowledge for good, and pass that knowledge to their progeny.  Just think of all the work that went into those plaques!  You’ve heard the phrase “Onward and Upward with the Arts”.  Embodied here.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/ascend-cmhr/

 

A Short ECON101 Lesson about Taxes

A Short ECON101 Lesson about Taxes

Right now, the US Congress is hashing out a “tax reform” set of bills intended to change the ways taxes are confiscated from American workers and savers.  Those on the Left often refer to “tax cuts for the rich”, showing their basic envy of people who actually EARN their livings in the real world.  Republicans, in the majority in both the House and Senate, and in possession of the White House, consider it their responsibility to reduce the tax burden on working and saving Americans.

The concept of “revenue neutrality” was originated by Democrats who are horrified at the thought of Government receiving one fewer cent of its lifeblood from those Americans who pay income taxes (currently just slightly over 50% of Americans).  A young member over at Ricochet opines that the current tax scheme MUST be “revenue neutral”, as the Federal Government is already overdrawn on its accounts and can’t tolerate any reduction in its “income”.

That is not true, and here’s why.

Reductions in Tax Rates, especially for high-earners, always result in more revenue for the government (small and large business owners keep more of their earnings, add employees to their payrolls, and create more taxpayers). Why is this so hard for people to understand? This is Econ 101. And why, oh why, should the all-mighty Government not shrink? Why can’t waste be eliminated from all levels of Government? The less Government confiscates from your paycheck, the more you have to spend, and save!

The problem is that those in Government do not trust their fellow Americans, who pay their salaries from their own legitimate earnings, to know how to allocate their own money. “Revenue Neutral” is a crock!