thependulumswings

That was then.  This is now.

During their medal ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City on October 16, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem to show solidarity with oppressed Black people worldwide.  Forty-five years ago it was outrageous behavior to act out for a cause.

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov refused to wear a rainbow jersey during warm-ups for the team’s Pride Night for LGBTQ inclusion on Tuesday, citing his religious beliefs.  It’s now outrageous to act out against a cause.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos helped black people in San Fransisco even if it took almost half a century.

The San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee has proposed paying each Black longtime resident $5 million and granting total debt forgiveness due to the decades of “systematic repression” faced by the local Black community.  This is not for slavery as California was never a slave state.  Can anyone who so chooses identify as black?

Ronald Reagan was the last Republican governor in Cali (The Terminator aside) since 1980.  Jimmy Carter was the last Democratic governor in Georgia since 1980.  Cali loses 100s of thousands of residents a year (even with border migration) while Georgia and Florida gain like numbers.

We’ve gone from social gatherings to social media which makes us anti-social.  Who the hell is that ringing our doorbell?

Peace, love, and sit-ins were plentiful to protest the war we had no business being in-Vietnam.

Now we print money that we don’t have to fund the war that we have no business funding-Ukraine.  But if you say that out loud you’re outed as a lover of Russia.

And right on cue, Zolenskyy asked for more funding last evening.  There is no way that any of this money is making its way back to America for any reason is there?

Horses and buggies used to bring representatives to Washington so they could vote and go right back home to tend to their business (likely farming).  Now representatives make a career out of the position and get quite rich doing so thanks to outside interests lining their pockets.

The representatives used to vote for what they felt was right for their constituents.  Now they vote almost always along party lines.  Why?  Money, power, reelection party funding, and committee positions.

Budgets once existed to balance what you wanted with what you could afford.

Tomorrow the national debt ceiling is reached without additional approved funding.  The Dems say this is no time to negotiate any spending reductions.  It was only three weeks ago that they(and enough Republicans) jammed a $1.7 trillion dollar Omnibus Bill through before year-end.  There was little time then as well presumably.

An omnibus bill is a law that covers a number of diverse or unrelated topics in case you wondered.  It’s like going to a buffet.  Take as much of anything as you want.

Free speech was once free.  Elon is trying to get it back that way.

Oh, and as a reminder vaccines are free today as are boosters.  Except they’re not free as the government is paying for them, which means you are.

Crime didn’t pay.  Today it does.  Daily not-so-fine folks walk out of fine stores with thousands and thousands of dollars of merchandise with no repercussions.

The war on drugs sounded promising.  The “Just Say No” campaign sounded promising.   Now we want to release criminals early immediately for nonviolent crimes such as selling drugs.

Maybe the only thing constant is change.  Take the climate for example.  It has always been changing.  Sedona Arizona’s mountains were once hundreds and hundreds of feet below sea level for example.  Today they stand thousands of feet above the dry ground.

But guru Al Gore went on an unhinged rant and told an esteemed group gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos yesterday that climate change will “boil the oceans.”

That sounds like one hell of a seafood feast.   Take as much of anything as you want.