thependulumswings

The weekend has come and gone.  But the Summer of Love rolls on.  Ten Nuggets that range from this to that await.

1.  The Summer of Love rolls on, but the occupied zone CHOP had some rough weather roll in.  Tent city had yet another shooting overnight.  One person was dead and one injured on Saturday.  All of the wounded from last night were transported to the hospital via private cars.  The front gate guards and others prohibited the police to come in.  And, the police stood down.  And apparently the city leadership either ordered it so, or complied.   Astonishing really.  We wrote a week ago that you could watch it implode soon.  And, here we are.
2. Donald Trump’s Tulsa rally fizzled badly Saturday when so many before it sizzled.  What went wrong?  Waining interest?  Doubtful, but not out of the question.  Covid-19 fears?  Maybe.  The racially charged threat of violence?  Maybe.  The arena looked empty and more often than not sounded subdued.  Trump sounded tired.  So did his act.
3. The differences between him and hiding Joe Biden are so great it says here that he should pivot a bit and take the country through why he thinks his approach is better.  His base is as secure as the anti-Trump base is.  Both are fighting for the very few who claim to be undecided.  Maybe he was rusty like his hair color.  With no rallies in months and months was Tulsa like a warm-up band?  If so, he was singing out of key.
4. With Mrs. Butterworth still on life support, Eskimo Pie got a terminal pie in the eye.  That’s right, no more Eskimo Pies.   Eskimo was a term that was mostly used for a handful of Native American tribes that lives in Alaska and other Arctic areas including Canda and Greenland.  In 1977 the reference was replaced by “Inuit” people or “Native Alaskans” depending.  A quick 43 years later Dreyer’s Ice Cream Company realized it was offensive.  Eskimo meant “eaters of raw meat.”  Raw meat has vitamin D in it to help with the long winter months.
5. At least they can still enjoy their igloo’s for now.  But, should the Igloo Corporation change its namesake product as well?  If so, then the Inuit’s might then be homeless vegans.  Well, at least CHOP city isn’t too far away.
6. Yesterday before the NASCAR Cup Race at Talledega Speedway in Alabama a plane carrying a Confederate Flag and the slogan “defund NASCAR” flew overhead.  While everyone was looking up someone slipped into Bubba Wallace’s garage and left a noose.  The  Washington Post’s Liz Clarke, who has extensively covered NASCAR, noted how closely the organization restricts access even when there isn’t a pandemic. It “controls entry into its garages,” she wrote. “Not just anyone can get into a garage stall.” The Speedway, as of Monday morning, has not commented on the incident, but there are cameras in the garages.  Something doesn’t add all of the ways up here.  Roll the tape.
7.  The North Face is threatening to pull ads from Facebook and Instagram if Zuckerberg doesn’t agree to their demands to censor “hate speech” and whatever other types of posts it doesn’t agree with.   Other brands are expected to follow.  Facebook is a private company.   It can do as it pleases.  The North Face is a private company.  It can do as it pleases.  We heard that The Tucker Carlson Show has a few ad slots open up recently if The North Face wants to spend its advertising dollars elsewhere.  Every mountain has four sides.  Recognizing only the north face doesn’t seem inclusive.
8. With so much attention being placed on the COVID-19 crisis and ending “systemic racism” do you worry that the biggest existential threat to our globe is being forgotten?  Experts Cory Booker, Liz Warren ( she didn’t check the “Eskimo” box on her Harvard app, she checked Native American), Bernie Sanders, and Jay Inslee told you all about it a few months, that seem like years, back.  It’s climate change, of course.  Suddenly talking about it seems so 2019.  Fear not, it’ll be important again before November 3rd.  It’s only a matter if it gets oxygen before or after another “war on women” crisis.  Miami is taking on water dammit.  At least CHOP was founded on high ground.
9.  Will the NBA or MLB play again in 2020?  Meanwhile, the NFL seems like it’s full steam ahead.  Something doesn’t add all of the ways up here either.  MLB  has millionaires arguing with billionaires as an added eyesore to COVID-19 problem.  If the NFL mandates social distancing in the stands will it also mandate it on the field?  Spread offenses will have never looked so spread.  Huddles will be anything but.  Should the referees wear a mask?  Or, would you prefer that they wear a muzzle?  CHOP might field a team.  They want no referees at all!
10.  Golfer Nick Whatley tested positive before round two of the RBC Heritage PGA event on Hilton Head Island Friday.  But the tournament played on as it should.  Even if you aren’t a golf fan you have to love the way the island and the course looked on HD TV.  It was a peaceful escape.  It’s a beauty, and it’s unique.   It’s so Pete Dye.  And it has stood the test of time quite nicely.   So will we.

Keep your head down.  It’s but two weeks from the Fourth of July.  That’s only 25 Zoom calls from now.

You remember it.  It’s when we celebrate our freedom and independence from oppression.