  STORY ONE - BAIT & SWITCH
Hey! He ain't no Robert Preston and he ain't the Music Man
A con artist, Harold Hill, pretends to be a professor of music. He'll solve all the town's problems by forming a boys' marching band. He bilks the unsuspecting/naive townsfolk into buying instruments for their sons. Alas! He's the Flim-Flam Man and has no intention of ever organizing that band ... just intends to take their money and run ... and does so as he heads off to River City to play the scam, anew.
The short of this long story (Broadway Play and Movie) is that Hill (Robert Preston) falls in love with Marion the Librarian of River City (Shirley Jones, who wouldn't fall in love with Shirley Jones?), turns out to have a heart, after all, and is spiritually redeemed as he kisses Marion!
Ta-Da
And They Lived Happily and Musically, Forever More!
 STORY TWO - BAIT & SWITCH, Some More
I'll Take the Mammon! You Take the Money!
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I think everyone should read certain scriptural texts, but these texts need to be read with care. There are, for instance, multiple translations of Matthew VI:24 ... here are two ...
No man can serve two Masters.
Either you will hate the one and love the other
or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot worship both God the Father and money?
Then, there's:
No man can serve two Masters.
Either you will hate the one and love the other
or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot worship both God the Father and Mammon?
The problem here in the second translation is simple, if insidious. The Aramaic/Hebrew word Mammon is not as de Lyra wrote: nomen daemonis ... the name of a demon ... The word Mammon is the common noun in those ancient languages for Money ... not a fancy word for Money ... just plain Money! Get it? Get the Bait & Switch? The leaving of the word in its untranslated form is just such an example of Bait-and-Switch, in which by slight-of-hand a flim-flam artist offers you one thing but gives you another. The Preacher from Nazareth was telling his flock that Love of God and Love of Filthy Lucre are mutually exclusive. By leaving it untranslated, who knows? Maybe Mammon is some terrible false god!
Confessing My Take on Such Matters:
The translators of Matthew had a difficulty. Those translators who left Mammon untranslated apparently wanted the faithful to follow the Teachings of God while simultaneously encouraging the flock to give them oodles of money to build their spires higher and to provide a comfortable living for their leaders. Pretty cool, eh? Alas! It was typically the Blue Collar laborers and artisans who had to dig-deep into their pockets with hands bloodied from their labors to contribute to the building of these Ornate Spires, Spacious Apses. and Manses with Lapping Pools to keep the Padres healthy!
So, What's My Point?
This blog was planned to demonstrate -- by mirroring Herr Drumpf's behaviors -- just how this Master of Illusion has been conning his followers:
- by utilizing innuendo and rumor instead of fact;
- by relying on "believe me's;"
- by humiliating/belittling others; and
- by reinforcing the Truth Value of Lies by repeating them, usually three times.
By these means, this man who reportedly swindled small business folk in Atlantic City and elsewhere has convinced many decent folk that he is concerned about their well-being. As Trump Almighty might say:
Sad. Very Sad. Very, very Sad!
These are, by the way, the methods utilized by certain charismatics, gurus and false prophets to purloin their followers health and wealth.
And by these means, this man has convinced his flock that:
he is well, in spite of the absence of any credible Proof;
he is wealthier than Midas and honest as the day is long,
in spite of the absence of Tax Returns;
he is a shrewd businessman, in spite of dragging four major companies
and many minor ones into bankruptcy;
he is a kind and giving man who only hurts when hurt,
in spite of his attacks on nearly half the World,
beginning with Sen. McCain and including the family of all imagined enemies
and sizable proportions of the World's Hispanics, Muslims and Women;
he is just interested in you, in spite of his claiming that
his biggest sacrifice is in giving you a job (Go, Donnie-Boy);
he has golden hot and cold faucets and hot lovers
and he wants them for you, too;
he knows how to close deals in spite of the fact
that he didn't write the book on same
and in spite of all of the above; and
his capacities (brain and "whatever") are enormous,
in spite of his reportedly doll-sized hands (sorry ... couldn't resist)
and scattered speech.
And now this perfidious Flim-Flammer has credible evidence that POTUS was born in the United States (atta-boy, Don), at least as reported by lackies, such as that Guiliani fellow, and maybe has come around to believe that Low-Energy Jeb's plans were just fine and that Little-Marco wasn't as diminutive as he may have appeared in the primaries and that it was Lyin'-Ted's Mother and not his Father who shot Liberty Valence and that John McCain isn't a total loser.
By the way ... Has anyone ever seen Donnie going to church or using the bathroom ... I mean ... could HE be ... is it possible that He's the Big Guy? I mean ... just sayin' ... nobody HAS ever seen him go the toilet and he does get the Best Cuts of Beef ... errrr ... women.
Frankly, I'd prefer that none of us be deplorables and none of us be conned but too many good folk have been fooled by this Man's Music.
C'mon Guys and Gals ... Get with the program!
And Beware of Words and How They're Used!
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