Mountain View News Saturday, December 27, 2025 
1111OPINIONOPINION 
Mountain View News Saturday, December 27, 2025 
1111OPINIONOPINION 
MOUNTAIN 

VIEWS 

NEWS 

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson 

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR 

Dean Lee 

SALES 

Patricia Colonello 
626-355-2737 
626-818-2698 

WEBMASTER 

John Aveny 

DISTRIBUTION 

Peter Lamendola 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Lori A. Harris 
Michele Kidd 
Stuart Tolchin 
Harvey HydeAudrey SwansonMeghan MalooleyMary Lou CaldwellKevin McGuire 
Chris Leclerc 
Dinah Chong WatkinsHoward HaysPaul CarpenterKim Clymer-KelleyChristopher NyergesPeter Dills 
Rich Johnson 
Rev. James SnyderKatie HopkinsDeanne Davis 
Despina ArouzmanJeff Brown 
Marc Garlett 
Keely TotenDan Golden 
Rebecca WrightHail Hamilton 
Joan Schmidt 
LaQuetta Shamblee 

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PUT THE LIGHTS ON

STUART TOLCHIN 
WHAT MORE THERE IS TO KNOW

 Last night after a couple of hours of sleep I awoke, imagining I

had been talking on the phone with my mother. At the end of 

the conversation, I told her to “shut up”, and she hung up on me. 

My mother died almost fifteen years ago but as I awoke, I had 

forgotten that and spent a couple of minutes trying to figure out 

how to call her back wanting to apologize. Finally, I realized it 

had all been a dream, but I am still thinking about it.

This whole past week has been strange. My wife, a born Catholic, 
and I a born Jew spent eight consecutive days lighting Hanukkah candles. Right 
after lighting the candle lighting, we said a prayer from a flyer handed out at the 
Chanukkah lighting ceremony in the center of Sierra Madre which occurred last 
Saturday. What were we doing there? A neighbor invited us to attend reminding 
us that he had constructed the giant menorah which would be displayed. Okay, so 
we went and after the lighting we invited him to dinner with us at a newly- opened 
restaurant across the street. Unexpectedly, he insisted upon paying for all three of 
us---a very surprising connection!

 Anyway, after lighting each candle at home my wife and I pronounced the words 
phonetically that were written on the paper she had kept. It was important to me 
not to even read the English translations that also appeared on the page. This leads 
me to discuss the three books I have recently read which I think are connected to 
my dream last night and other unusual things I have done in the past pre-Christmas 
week. The first of the books is entitled ONE LAST THING BEFORE YOU 
GO –Why You Should Interview Your Parents. Reading that book made me very 
aware of how much more there is and was to know about my parents, who are both 
long-deceased, and myself. 

The last book I read was entitled THE FINAL SOLUTION by Michael Chabon. 
What fascinated me was the book cover picture of a giant parrot. Remarkably Ifailed to take notice of the title of the book which many of you must know was a 
plan orchestrated by Nazis. The book begins as the boy and the parrot are observed 
by a feeble 89-year-old man who has lost all interest in talking with other 
human beings.

I read the book almost to the end before I realized that the old man was probablySherlock Holmes and that the boy was Jewish and had somehow escaped to England 
from a Nazi Concentration Camp. Somehow it hit me that “THE FINAL SOLUTION” 
referred to the plan orchestrated by Nazi Germany during World War II 
for the genocide of individuals they described as Jews. I reread the book a couple 
of times each time, becoming more aware of my own arrogance and ignorance.

 The other book which has had an influence on me is entitled ISHMAEL authored 
by Daniel Quinn. It also involves conversations between a man an animal. This 
time the animal is a gorilla, and the conversations are about the arrogance and 
ignorance of “civilized” man who seems on the road to bringing about the destruction 
of the entire human species. I think that book and the other two have something 
to do with my dream about an interrupted conversation with my mother in 
addition to my Chanukkah lighting and attendance. On Sunday, I also marched 
up and down the Sierra Madre hills doing my best to join in singing Christmas 
Carols. 
What is going on, I think, is that I am becoming aware of my own superficiality 
and ignorance and am trying to do something about it. There is so much more to 
experience as a part of our existence than I have ever appreciated. Sadly, I have 
remained out of touch with the appreciation of fellowship, friendship, community, 
and shared experiences. For that, I blame my mother. That’s what I wanted to talk 
to her about. Perhaps it wasn’t her fault, but I wanted to talk about it.

 Sometimes language gets in the way of understanding thus the need for parrots, 
gorillas and reading phonetically. Now I can worry about the coming rainstorm 
and the potential need to evacuate as that is easier to understand and possibly still 
to ignore. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

HOWARD Hays As I See It 

Mr. Trump's America will be increasingly blind and blundering,

feeble and friendless." Hillary Clinton 

Ms. Clinton made that 

prediction last May in 

the wake of the “Signal-

Gate” scandal – Defense 

Secretary Pete Hegseth 
and other top officials discussing details of 
a military attack over an off-the-shelf app. 
National security professionals were concerned 
this risked the lives of our service-
members. The Trump administration was 
concerned that people were making a bigdeal about it. 

But now as the year draws to a close and 
over the past several months, fewer Americans 
are willing to accept “Mr. Trump’s 
America”. There aren’t as many stories of 
businesses and institutions shelling out 
millions in settlement money and payoffs 
to curry favor. Media companies that caved 
aren’t seen as having advanced any kind of 
“balance”, but as having sold out in allowing 
their output to be subject to Trump’s 
veto. His labeling the New York Times an 
“enemy of the people” for its coverage of 
the Epstein files only brings calls for more 
coverage of Epstein files – and for charges 
against administration officials for illegally 
withholding them. 

Following the U.S. Institute for Peace re-
branded as the Donald J. Trump Institute 
for Peace, and the JFK Center for the Performing 
Arts becoming the Trump-Kennedy 
Center for the Performing Arts, the 
announcement of a new “Trump-class battleship” 
is seen not as an effort to improve 
capabilities, but as further evidence that in 
“Mr. Trump’s America” everything, even 
our U.S. Navy, is seen as little more than 
another branding opportunity. (Former 
Naval intelligence officer Malcom Nance 
posted, “WHOEVER DESIGNED THE 
TRUMP CLASS ‘BATTLESHIP’ GOT THE 
DESIGN FROM G.I. JOE.”) 

Hardly anyone buys the line anymore that 
armed, masked federal agents are in our 
communities to get “the worst of the worst” 
off the streets. The FBI has been directed 
to compile a list of “leftist networks”. Views 
the administration say reflect “anti-Americanism” 
are deemed “threats to our national 
security”. White House aide Stephen 
Miller wants organizations like Act Blue 
charged with funding “domestic terrorism”. 
It’s what “Mr. Trump’s America” is all about: 
armed federal agents ready to act should 
those exercising First Amendment rights 
be declared “threats to our national security”, 
or when those supporting dissenting 
voices are charged with aiding and abetting“domestic terrorism”. 

And regardless of one’s feelings about “Russia, 
Russia, Russia” and the “stolen” 2020 
election, few are willing to take Trump’s 
word anymore when he assures that whatever 
the concern about affordability – housing, 
utilities, groceries – it’s all just another 
“hoax”. 

It’ll be interesting to follow and see how 
many are still choosing to stick with “Mr. 
Trump’s America” next year as we head into 
the midterms. 

For all I tried to follow and write about this 

last year, the most comment I received was 
regarding the column in which I wrote the 
least – consisting primarily of posts from X 
and Bluesky. So, to wrap up the year, here 
are some more: 

Trump said about Venezuela, “They took 
all of our oil and we want it back. They illegally 
took it.”. Weighn posted in response,
“The oil that’s . . . in their country???” 

Following Trump’s comments on the murder 
of Rob Reiner, Sam Alberti notes, “If 
you said something like this about Charlie 
Kirk three months ago they would have 
gotten you fired from your job”. 

Responding to reports of a “mysterious giant 
structure” hidden in the waters off Bermuda, 
I Dissent posts, “The Epstein files 
are so bad they are bringing the Bermuda 
Triangle back”. 

Trump responded to the shootings at 
Brown University, “Things can happen”. 
Nick responded to Trump; “Man just said 
womp womp to a mass shooting”. 

In a public interview, Elon Musk says that 
with mRNA you could turn someone into 
a butterfly. Brandy Bryant posted in response, 
“Guy who says you can’t change 
your gender: You can change your species”. 

Gramps observes: “Uneducated voters pose 
a greater risk to this nation than undocumented 
immigrants ever will.” 

Vice President Vance states, “Every afford-
ability crisis that’s confronting the American 
people today, is traceable directly to a 
problem caused by Joe Biden.” Andy Os-
troy responds, “The ‘We’ll fix it on day one’ 
losers are still blaming Joe Biden on day328”. 

Again, from Gramps – “Monday: Mass 
shooting. Tuesday: Mass shooting. 
Wednesday: Mass shooting. Thursday: 
Mass shooting. Friday: Mass shooting. 
Saturday: Mass shooting. Sunday: Mass 
shooting. Republicans: ‘We gotta do something 
about trans people playing sports’.” 

VP Vance states, “If you have fewer people,
fewer illegal aliens trying to buy homes, 
that means American citizens are finally 
going to be able to afford a home again. 
It’s very, very simple economics”. Covie responds, 
“So illegals don’t want to work and 
are relying on welfare but are also buying 
all the houses???” 

Jamie Bonkiewicz recalls: “Remember 
when we had no idea who Erika Kirk 
was? That was awesome”. This past year, 
we found out what “Mr. Trump’s America” 
is all about. 2026 is the year we take our 
country back. 

And for those reading this on the Saturdayit comes out, Sunday morning the 28th is 
the year’s best car show in the area – the 
Holiday Motor Excursion put on by the 
Horseless Carriage Club of Southern California. 
Cars gather at 7:30AM at the Arcadia 
Park parking lot on Santa Anita, then 
take off on tour at 9:30. I’ll be there with 
my 1929 Model A Phaeton. Happy New 
Year! 

RICH JOHNSON

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS (Reprint) 

Time to give up on “Resolutions”. My past track record 
on adopting lasting resolutions is dismal. What about 
yours? Let’s try “Revolutions”. Experts have told me the 
failure rate for New Year’s resolutions is about 80%. We 
don’t even make it through February. I have an idea! We 
should all collectively reject the following resolutions: 

1. Live healthier 
2. Lose weight 
And as if I don’t feel guilty enough the fitness industry has statistics. 
Their study shows four out of five people who join a gym in January 
will quit by May.
Might as well ask me to resolve growing hair! Toss resolutions on the 
trash heap. And forget your body. Let’s shift away from selfishly focusing 
on improving the body and try working on improving society. Micro to 
macro. Why not? My suggestion is volunteer for something. 

I think it just might be easier to succeed taking on the much easier task 
of improving society. DeAnn Hollis said: “Volunteers do not necessarilyhave the time, they just have the heart.” (Who is DeAnn Hollis)?

 Here are some mind altering quotes on volunteering: 

“Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because 
they’re priceless.” Sherry Anderson 

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” Booker T. 
Washington“Volunteers are love in motion.” Unknown 

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” 
Ghandi 
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” Helen Keller 

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for 
others?” Martin Luther King, Jr. 

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, 
a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of 
which have the potential to turn a life around.” Leo Buscaglia 

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get 
better. It’s not.” Dr. Seuss 

“If you want to touch the past, touch a rock, If you want to touch the 
present, touch a flower, If you want to touch the future, touch a life.” 
Unknown 

If you are reading this column on Saturday, December 30th there is still 
time to come hear my band, JJ Jukebox perform a New Year’s Eve Eve 
concert. Tonight , 6:30 at Nano Café in Sierra Madre. (626) 325-3334. 
Please pardon the shameless plug! 

Speaking of music, let’s see here…music quotes! 

“Bagpipes are the missing link between music and noise”. 

“I have an accordion and I’m not afraid to use it.” On a bumper sticker. 

“The only winner in the war of 1812 was Tchaikovsky.” Solomon Short 

“Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.” Voltaire 

“Music played at weddings always reminds me of the music played for 
soldiers before they go into battle.” Heinrich Heine 

“Without music, life would be a mistake.” Nietzsche 

Finally, to close off this column is a profound (to me) quote by George 
Bernard Shaw: “When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden 
truth.” 

To my dear friends who read my columns (even sporadically) thank 
you. I am humbled and blessed knowing a few of you out there enjoy my 
efforts. If I can equip you with a funny line or meaningful quote that 
you pass on at a party, I’ve achieved my goal. 


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 

91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com