Author: thependulumswings staff

Enough Is Too Much

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

They say that all good things must come to an end.  We aren’t sure of that.  As a matter of fact, if you’ve been along for the five-plus years of BBR.com, you’ve learned that we tend to question more than we answer.

But, one thing that we are sure of is that it is time to move on.

The website has served its time and at times has served it well.  In no particular order, the maintenance, upkeep, time, and energy have taken their toll.  We don’t have bigger fish to fry, just different fish.

Our philosophy isn’t moving on, just the vessel that transports it is.

Let us summarize.

America has a big problem on its hands.  Any student of history or any learned human can see it.  We’re divided.  We’re divided because philosophically we’ve morphed a long way from where we were in a short period of time.

Some folks think it’s good.  Some not.

Dems now support war v. protesting against it is but one example.

In years gone by liberals would have marched against a vaccine that wasn’t a vaccine.  This go around they hysterically supported it.  Some still walk around wearing masks.  We almost feel sorry for them.

We once referred to crime as blue-collar or white-collar.  But, we’ve been asked to not see color any longer.  Besides, nobody wears collars anymore either.

A growing number of prosecutors are now bought and paid for by people named Soros.  He owns them for the price of not prosecuting.  He either hates America or has a death wish for us all.

We have stores closing in major cities left and right.  Cops won’t answer a theft call out much less arrest the thieves.  Store management is telling its employees to stand aside and watch.  Crime does pay.

We have a President who has no philosophy.  He’s a bought-and-paid-for career politician.  He’s been schilling for 40 years and tells us that there is much work to be done.  Supposedly 81 million bought into what he was selling.  What he was selling was far-left vitriol that promised pre-election to fold into his flock for the election if he would fold on a few of their wishes post-election.

He actually thinks that the economy is good.  “We’re building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out!”  He has no idea what that means cause it means nothing.  “And our Bidenomics plan is working.”  There is no plan.

Somebody was snorting cocaine in the White House recently.  God bless the queen, man.

The government doesn’t build the economy, capitalism does.  The government gets in the way of free trade with regulations on what those in power don’t like(oil)

and gives handouts to those that they do like(green).

Would you vote for Biden again?  If it’s Trump v Biden many will.   America will lose again. Trump lost and might lose again.

The left hates him as does the establishment right.  He threatens them because he exposes them for what they are.  You might hate his hubris, his pettiness, and his ego. But, if you look past that and see what he does, it is good for long-term America.  And he’s only been impeached or indicted about a half dozen times.

At least he has a backbone.

Biden walks, talks, and acts like an amoeba.  Was that last sentence hateful?  Truthful?  Both?

Climate change.  Climate change.  Climate change.   Say it enough and most will believe it.

We don’t talk anymore, we text, Instagram, or TicTok.  Elon owns Twitter.  He said yesterday, “Put the phone down, and go outside.”

The war on drugs isn’t going too well.  You open the border wider than ever and drugs flow in quantities larger than ever before.  Demand is not half of the problem, it’s all of the problem.  Supply isn’t the problem.  It wasn’t the problem and is even less so now.  San Fran hands out needles.

On the Fourth, we celebrated our nation’s independence.  Yet, daily, those in power attempt to make us more dependent.  You’re a victim.

Some want more gun control.  Sensible gun control they call it.  Yet, yesterday we celebrated those CITIZENS that fought for us with guns against GOVERNMENT tyranny nearly 250 years ago.  How many people shot off a bottle rocket yesterday and have no idea?

Our government would never do that to us, right?

Immigration unfettered is good, right?  Ask France this morning how that’s working out.

We hope that some of our articles gave you pause, made you think, or perhaps even changed your mind.

If you’d like to continue to read some of our rants and musings, let us know in the comment section and I’ll put you on a good old-fashioned email list.  When the mood strikes the words will pour into your inbox.

Thank you for your time.

 

Justice is Blind?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The reaction to the Supreme Court action striking down Affirmative Action was fast and mostly furious.

It’s been a tough 12 months for the left.  Last June the highest court in all of the land struck down Roe v. Wade.  Writing for the court majority, Justice Samuel Alito said that the 1973 Roe ruling and repeated subsequent high court decisions reaffirming Roe “must be overruled” because they were “egregiously wrong,” the arguments “exceptionally weak” and so “damaging” that they amounted to “an abuse of judicial authority.”

Yesterday, left-minded folks thought the repeal of Affirmative Action for college admissions should be “overruled” because it is “egregiously wrong” for minorities.  They went on and on basically saying that the action on the Action is “an abuse of judicial authority.”

It’s funny how that works when the system works but works against your belief.

President Joe Biden said, “This is not a normal court.”  Of course, twice on Tuesday, he said Putin was losing the war with Iraq.  That too isn’t normal, but we digress.   We wonder what a “normal court” is or looks like.

Speaking of looking like, Judge Kantanji Brown Jackson looks just like the person Joe Biden said he would appoint to the Supreme Court if he got a chance while in office.

“The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience, and integrity. And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court. It’s long overdue, in my view.”

Twitter handle The Babylon Bee pounced.  “Awkward: Supreme Court rules against Affirmative Action with Affirmative Action hire sitting right there.”

And Judge Jackson went all in.  The first Black woman to serve on the court wrote in a dissent: “With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the (court’s) majority pulls the ripcord and announces ‘colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.”

Judge Clarence Thomas retorted, “Justice Jackson claims that this locks blacks into a seemingly perpetual inferior caste.  Such a view is irrational; it is an insult to individual achievement and cancerous to young minds seeking to push through the barriers, rather than consigning themselves to permanent victimhood.”

In 1991 then Deleware Senator Joe Biden chaired the Senate nomination committee that sent Thomas’ nomination to the full floor and confirmed him by a 52-48 vote to the bench.  The irony.

Harvard University admissions data revealed, amongst other things, that an Asian American in the 90-plus percentile range on entrance qualifications has less of a chance(12.7%) of gaining admission than an African American in the 40 percentile(12.8%).

“Affirmative” is defined as “supportive, hopeful, or encouraging.”  Do you think Asian Americans find the above supportive?  Hopeful?  Encouraging?  Discouraging?

The irony.  The very premise of Affirmative Action was to give everyone a fair chance by eliminating choosing one over another due to skin color.  It does exactly the opposite.

Playing the victim card just got harder.

And, we thought justice was blind.

 

 

 

On Deck

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

In the flyover state of Nebraska, the NCAA Men’s College World Series(CWS) is in full swing.  Last evening Wake Forest was eliminated, leaving LSU and Florida as the only two standing.

It’s promoted as The Greatest Show on Dirt.

And, it’s inching closer to winner take all.  Gone are wannabees Oral Roberts, Virginia, Stanford, Tennessee, TCU, and the aforementioned Wake Forest.

The entire event is a real slice of what is right in America.  Omaha puts its very best foot forward as the host.  If you flyover, you’ll miss it.

In all of America, the race for 2024 is in full swing as well.  Not one Republican entry has been eliminated yet.  But, the Democrats eliminated all of their wannabees before the race started.

It could be promoted as The Dirtiest Not So Great Show.

But isn’t it inching closer to Donald J Trump former President vs. sitting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr?

Sure there are Republican wannabee nominees like Chris Christie, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, Larry Elder, Asa Hutchinson, etc.  Heck, even Robert Kennedy decided to disobey the DNC and announce his candidacy from the left side.

But, aren’t there really only two?

Maybe.  Maybe not.

Did you have Barack Obama(it was Hillary’s to lose) on your bingo card in 2008?  2012? How bout The Donald(it was Jeb Bush’s to lose) in 2016?  And, did you think Joe Biden(original signer of the Declaration of Independence) would garner the White House in 2020 straight from his basement, mask and all?

It seems, much like gravity, the race to the bottom is on.

More than 50% of Americans don’t want Trump to run.  More than 50% of Americans have seen enough of Joe Biden and want him to exit stage left or right.  Well, actually, his handlers would just like him to remember which side of the stage to exit daily as well, but we digress.

America is screaming for a leader louder than 20,000 jello-shot-filled LSU fans were for 10 innings last evening in downtown Omaha.

Maybe someone emerges from this pack unexpectedly.

But as of now, it seems harder than hitting a Paul Skenes fastball.

America only has its serious “For the World” series once every four years.

Hopefully, America doesn’t strike out in 2024.

 

 

 

Win Big and Go Home.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It’s right below the Republican elephant’s nose trunk and they can’t see it.  It’s the winning ticket for 2024.

No, it’s not Trump and Kari Lake.  No, it’s not DeSantis and Tulsi Gabbard.  Oh God no, it’s not Pence and anyone.

It’s term limits.  That’s right.  Run against yourself.  Limit your time there.

Think about it.

Any poll that you can find shows a great majority of Americans feel that Biden is too old or incompetent or both and should not run again.

Octogenarians are everywhere in DC.  Bernie Sanders is older than Colonel Sanders.  Nancy Pelosi participated in the original test group for Poly Grip.  Mitch McConnell is the older brother of the Smith Brothers Cough Drops brothers.  Maxine Waters was there when Moses parted the red sea waters.

Joe Biden is an original signer of the Declaration of Independence.  “No joke.  Listen, folks.  I’m serious.  John Hancock and I used to go to black churches together.”

It’s all quite stale.  And, old.

Even polarizing Ted Cruz sees it.  He introduces a bill in the Senate every two years post elections to limit both sides of the House to 12 years in office.  And every two years congressmen and congresswomen and those who identify otherwise vote to keep their jobs for longer than that.

And, as Americans, we sit around and complain about the cronyism.  Yet, we don’t demand action.

The Dems smartly will have their big issues front and center.  You know them.

Let’s end racism!  This a battle for our democracy.  The rich should pay their fair share.  Abortion is a right!  The LGBTQA+2 deserves equal rights.  It’s a war on women.  Teachers deserve a raise!  Let’s pass sensible gun legislation!  We have to build an economy from the bottom up, and the middle out (can anyone, anyone explain that one?).

The Republicans could run on “you don’t like us and you don’t like them.  Let us do our job and send us home.”

That’s what they did in the horse and buggy days.  They voted as quickly as they could and got back home to tend to their real job.  Representing was representing. It wasn’t a permanent meal ticket in and out of Dulles International and in and out of lobbyists’ pockets.

Say it loud and proud, “Vote for me, and I’ll go to Washington to vote against me!”

Inflation, border, foreign policy, debt issues, and Biden’s mental and physical health issues are there for the taking.  We can (maybe) assume they’ll get that messaging right.

But, it’s past time to up the ante on keen marketing.

And, it is past time for term limits.

Oh, Snap

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Back in November 1980 Roberto Duran and Ray Leonard were in Round 8 of their rematch for the Welterweight Championship of the world.  Duran, known as Hands of Stone, stunned the boxing world by quitting in the middle of the round, uttering “no mas,” meaning no more.  Leonard’s flash, panache, and right hand beat Duran into submission.

Fast forward to today and many Americans feel like Roberto.  No more they say when it comes to expanding our bloated national debt.  Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy went a few rounds themselves before pounding out a deal to extend the debt limit and spending more money but supposedly less than they would have otherwise.

It’s inaptly named the Fiscal Responsibility Act(FRA).  Remember the Inflation Reduction Act that didn’t have anything to do with reducing inflation?  New Bills coming out of the government are keeping pace with bills that are due from previous Bills that caused this circular reference.

The FRA, unlike the rematch of Hands of Stone v Sugar, allows both sides to claim victory.

But ringside, aka Capitol Hill, the judges are grumbling.  Will there be enough yes votes this week in the House to get this through?  Twenty Republican conservatives(about the same number as there are left in the House) are publicly hands down like Roberto’s were 43 years ago.  No mas spending irresponsibly they said.

This bill allows the debt to rise another 4 trillion from 32 by 2025.  Got that?  But that might not be enough to garner the far left.

“The Republicans did not win any major concessions on spending,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., chair of the 100-member Congressional Progressive Caucus, said on a call with reporters Tuesday.  Could someone ask Rep Jayapal if that is a good thing or a bad thing for this country?

Cori Bush said she is undecided but is “leaning no” on the debt ceiling bill “As somebody who was a food stamp recipient, there is absolutely no way I can see myself green-lighting something that will take food from people’s mouths.”

Cori Bush Supporting Another Worthy Cause
The Congressional Budget Office said that the changes to work requirements for food stamps, officially known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), actually increase the cost of the program by $2.1 billion over the coming decade. The net result is more individuals qualifying for SNAP benefits and a higher price tag, the CBO said.  Oh, snap, Cori.
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) stated that communities are worried about the clawback of COVID money in the debt ceiling bill because “they thought they had until 2024 to spend that money.” And that she has been telling communities, “If you need that money, you should be spending it now.”  BLM is more fiscally responsible than Dingbell Dingell.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told reporters on Tuesday that she will vote against the bill to lift the debt ceiling as well.  She gave no reason, but she’s above it all really anyway.
And, low and behold there is Speaker McCarthy’s slippery hold on to the speakership position, the championship belt,  at stake here.  He sold his soul to get the spot and now he sold his party down the street to strike the deal some say.  The threshold for a “motion to vacate the chair” is just one member, down from a standard of five put in place under former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
All the while, the stock market is watching this carefully.  A “no mas” vote would send the indices tumbling down like where Roberto was going in round eight if he didn’t quit.
The government needs a standing eight count and some smelling salts ASAP.

 

You Might Live…

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

This morning we examine some things old, versus some things new.  We borrowed the below and it has us feeling a bit blue.

You’ve heard the Jeff Foxworthy diatribe about “You know you’re a redneck if….”  Well, enjoy or cry at his similar take on “you might live in a nation (state) that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots” below.

If plastic water bottles are okay, but plastic bags are banned, you might live in a nation (state) that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for entering and remaining in the country illegally, you might live in a nation…

If you have to get your parent’s permission to go on a field trip or to take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion, or change your gender, you might live…

If you must show your identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor, or check out a library book and rent a video, but not to vote for who runs the government, you might live…

If the government wants to prevent stable, law-abiding citizens from owning gun magazines that hold more than ten rounds but gives twenty F-16 fighter jets to the crazy new leaders in Egypt, you might live…

If, in the nation’s largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not one 24-ounce soda, because 24 ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat — you might live…

If an 80-year-old woman who is confined to a wheelchair or a three-year-old girl can be strip-searched by the TSA at the airport, but a woman in a burka or a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched, you might live…

If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more, you might live…

If a seven-year-old boy can be thrown out of school for saying his teacher is “cute” but hosting a sexual exploration class in grade school is perfectly acceptable, you might live…

If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government regulation and intrusion while not working is rewarded with SNAP cards, Medicaid benefits, subsidized housing, and free cell phones, you might live…

If you pay your mortgage faithfully, denying yourself the newest big-screen TV, while your neighbor buys iPhones, timeshares, a wall-sized TV, and new cars, and the government forgives his debt when he defaults on his mortgage, you might live…

It was quite lazy of us to blatantly cut and paste this.  We wonder if America is getting lazy as well.

At the very least is America paying attention yet?

 

 

$31,802, 940,127,334

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Rule # 1.  Follow the Money.

Rule # 2.  See rule number 1.

A week from today America either defaults on its debt obligations, or it doesn’t.   It won’t.  The worst case is that both parties will agree to kick the can down the road as it has many times before.

Whether the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-occupied (when not in Delaware) White House come to an agreement or not boils down to who gets what, as in who gets how much funding for what in the coming budget year(s).

Then that team can declare victory.  Usually, both teams declare victory even in defeat.

It’s a modified version of a previously modified version of The Golden Rule.  This version is he who makes the rules hands out the gold.

And, for the last three decades, we’ve been handing out a lot more gold than we’ve taken in.  Thirty-two trillion ($31,802,899,784,128 to be exact when we began writing) more and counting.

America doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.

Who’s fault is it?  It’s everyone’s fault.  Too few folks from all walks of life and the government demand action.

Money buys votes.  Money buys more money to campaign with when you give it to industries.

The House has already passed a bill to fund the debt.  With it comes freezes on spending in the coming years at the level we spent in 2022.

Democrats run out to the always-available mainstream media hacks microphones and scream that the elephants are going to starve children, kill the homeless, and give tax breaks to the rich.

Elizabeth Warren has no reservations(except where she should qualify to live) about asking for a wealth tax.  We need more gold.  That boils down to taxing what has been taxed.  It’s Robin Hood all over again.

Democrats call freezes “cuts.”  They aren’t.  They just aren’t increases.  And, they will still add to the burgeoning debt as the budget has more spending than revenue (which should always be called tax money received, not revenue).

Republicans, predictably, have no orator, no marketer, and few vessels to explain what they’ve done is indeed pass a bill to extend debt payments.  They can’t sell.

Karine Jean Claude Pepe de la Pierre said just yesterday, “This is something that the president has been saying for five months now, how it is important for Congress to act…”  They have acted.  What percent of America knows that?  Cares?

We don’t even want to keep what we haven’t spent.  Covid ended 18 months ago, but the nation’s Covid emergency status and funding didn’t end until this just past April.  “So, if COVID is now a thing of the past, why is it controversial for us to reclaim the billions of unobligated COVID funds?” asks Rep. Lauren Brobert.

That’s an easy one.  The money can be turned into pet projects which garner election-day votes.

Want to “save” 10k on your next car, buy electric.  More electricity means less gas.  Less gas means fewer Texans with big cowboy hats full of money.  Fewer hats means less money funding the heathens.

Want 10k of your college loan debt reduced?  Raise your hand.

Want more votes?  Reduce border security spending.  Open the border like a sieve and hand the new illegals 300 bucks a week and a hotel room.  Give them paperwork that states that they have a court date in 2027.  No rush.

Let them vote meanwhile if you can.  Maybe Texas will turn blue sooner than later.

It’s all working well.  Ask Joe himself.  “My agenda is bringing back good-paying jobs to communities that’ve been hollowed out and left behind for decades. We’re building an America we can take pride in.”

Meanwhile, Biden walks around telling assembled groups that he’s cut the deficit by 1.7 trillion.  Sometimes he says 1.7 billion.  Sometimes he says 1.7 million.  Big numbers can be confusing.

A pathological liar tells lies and stories that fall somewhere between conscious lying and delusion. They sometimes believe their own lies.

Take a look at any chart over time and see if you can see any year that we haven’t had an increase in the national debt since Clinton.  But don’t take long. You’re wasting your time.

Speaking of time, the national debt clock increased by 41 million dollars since word one above was typed.

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It’s past time to drop ten more at the virtual door.  Plus one.  They’re as random as random gets.

  1. Many many years ago Ronald Reagan exclaimed, “The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.”  As the two parties squabble down to the deadline to extend the debt limit, ALL involved should ask themselves if there might be anything at all in the government that we could cut back or eliminate.
  2. William Buckley said many years ago, “I would rather be governed by the first 2000 people in the Manhattan phone book than the entire faculty of Harvard.”  You have to be old enough to know what a phone book is to fully enjoy that one.
  3. It seems like Joe Biden has been in government for nearly 2000 years.  Twelve years ago in 2011, Biden said those with a “my way or the highway” position on the debt limit will “learn that they have to compromise” because “you can’t govern that way.”  Times are changing.
  4. Karine Jean Claude Van Damme Pepe Le Pew Pierre slammed any bans on trans treatment for minors yesterday, “These are our kids, they belong to all of us.”  Incorrect.  She’s the worst Press Secretary ever.  Second place is as far behind as the horse that trailed Secretariat in the Belmont 50 years ago this June. She’s a parrot.  And, unfortunately, the press lets her babble on to Babylon and back.  Shameful.
  5. In Portland, Oregon, a 15-year-old can elect to have their genitalia removed and/or a mastectomy without or against their parent’s wishes but thankfully minors are protected from getting a tattoo until they are 21.  Makes sense.
  6. Jordan Neely, the NY subway mentally deranged rider who unfortunately died after a good samaritan tried to protect those who he threatened, has been arrested 44 times in his life. You read that right.  Forty-four.  One arrest was for kidnapping a seven-year-old, and another was for beating a 67-year-old woman.  Do you know who killed Jordan?  Jordan killed Jordan.  Stop with the white killed a black narrative.
  7. Heads up for the ever-changing way that we classify peeps.  A few progressive media folks called Neely unhoused.  You read that right as well.  Unhoused.  Once bums, hobos, homeless, underserved, and now unhoused.   Maybe that means being released from jail?  Doubtful.
  8. Riley Gaines, a former NCAA swim star who has turned into an activist to keep women’s sports fair and equal, and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., were among those Wednesday who took issue with the male model advertising a woman’s Adidas swimsuit as part of the company’s pride collection.  You have to admire her willingness to take a stand.  America needs more women like her.
  9. We’re anxiously awaiting the first female model in a male swimming suit.  Meanwhile, move over Dylan Mulvaney.  The adidas male model could certainly work for the UNTUCKit Company if called upon.
  10.  We took a deep dive into the Latin dictionary.  Turns out that Fetterman is an old-world term meaning Young Frankenstein, er, Young Feinstein.  If you haven’t seen his interaction on the Senate Finance Committee here it very painfully is.  pic.twitter.com/XGuGQtDEpe
  11.  Adam Schiff should be thrown in jail.  His cellmate should be Eric Swalwell.  And, Barrack Obama was apprised of the entire operation.

As Joe Biden would say.  That’s all folks.  No, I’m serious.  I signed the Declaration of Independence.  Give me a break.  Come on man.  My mom was part Irish, African American, French, Jewish, and Mexican.  I slept with wolves when I was a boy.  No joke.

TBH

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

One of our senior writers was sitting poolside last evening with a cigar in one hand and two fingers of Maker’s Mark in a glass in the other.  And, it dawned on him.

That’s what they want.  “To be honest, I all but forgot about the 2016 election stink about Trump and his team colluding with the Russians.”    That’s what they want us to do.

Four years of work, sixty million of your taxpayer dollars, and a whole lot of virtual trees produced a “remember all of that subterfuge” moment yesterday.  And to be honest the Durham Report flat out states that a lot of agencies and people involved weren’t too honest.

It’s important to separate the Mueller probe from the Durham Report.

One found that the Russians attempted to influence the presidential election, but found that the Trump campaign had nothing to do with it.

The second one found that the FBI, the DOJ, lovely Hillary Rodham Clinton, Christopher Steele, Peter Strzok, his mistress, and others actually were the ones colluding in an attempt to trump Trump.

If you get enough people to rally behind a cause all willing to lie and you repeat the false claims enough times and with enough volume you too can influence American politics and, more importantly, elections.

Adam Schiff fed CNN weekly.  How many times did he state, “We now have verifiable evidence that Donald Trump conspired with the Russians to influence the election?”  Many.  Minion Eric Swalwell parroted the same time and again.

The author of this debunked 2016 Hillary Clinton lie is currently sitting inside the White House as President Biden’s National Security Advisor.   That’s Jake Sullivan.  He took the Steele Dossier hook, line, and sinker to Team Clinton.

HH, or honest Hillary, tweeted on 10/31/16, “Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank.”

How about the DNC?  The Durham report states that Clinton General Counsel Marc Elias “declined to be voluntarily interviewed by the Office.” Elias was recently severed by the Democratic National Committee from representation. The campaign was fined by the FEC for his hiding the funding of the whole mess.

Enter the FBI and the DOJ, just not your father’s FBI or DOJ.  The Department of Justice and the FBI did not have “any actual evidence of collusion” between Russian officials and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, and began their Crossfire Hurricane probe of Trump’s campaign based on “raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence.”

Operation Crossfire Hurricane, as most hurricanes do, left a lot of destruction in the path of its uncontrolled fury.

But they have learned much from this.  “The conduct in 2016 and 2017 that Special Counsel Durham examined was the reason that current FBI leadership already implemented dozens of corrective actions, which have now been in place for some time. Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented,” the FBI said yesterday.  Timely.

Reforms?  How about doing your job honestly and thoroughly?  No reform is needed, just good people without political agendas.

So what comes of this?  Trump was impeached for a “perfect call” to a guy we’ve since given 200 billion to and again for a messy January 6th insurrection that really wasn’t an insurrection.  Dems don’t play around.

You would like to think that smart people, regardless of affiliation, would recognize the atrocity of all of this and take congressional then legal action against the perps.

But, trust your gut.  The Dems will not.  After all, Schiff needs the Senate seat that Dianne Feinstein doesn’t know that she occupies anymore, Hillary is yesterday’s news, the FBI says it fixed all of its problems, the DOJ doesn’t take kindly to whistleblowers, Biden likely doesn’t even know who Jake Sullivan is when they pass in the White House halls, and Marc Ellis already extended his middle finger.

And the Republicans?

Mitch McConnell will mumble in front of a podium and no one will listen.  Speaker McCarthy will sport a fresh haircut and speak eloquently in front of a podium and not do anything.

And, a splintered party will eventually nominate the target of all of this.   It’s loaded with baggage.  It’s Trump.  And, it is mission accomplished.

Nothing to see here and soon you’ll forget about it anyway.

To be honest.  Or, not.

 

 

 

Good Evening! And Welcome to….

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

A visionary is someone who can see further down the road or higher in the sky than the next.

An example of the road analogy is Tesla.  When you combine an environmentally friendly great ride with soon-to-be driverless-ready capability fostered by a huge helping of cash from your government you’ve got an industry changer.

An example of the sky analogy is SpaceX.  Its stated goal is reducing space transportation costs to enable the colonization of Mars and eventually other planets.  Last month a forty-story-high rocket flew beyond the company’s expectations.  That’s not huge that’s YUGE.

Can Elon Musk go three for three?  He bought Twitter to ensure that there was at least one platform where free speech was indeed free.  Noble.  But, it’s doubtful that he bought it for just that or to lose money.

You’ve heard it uttered before.  “He’s playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.”

Once upon a time, people gathered around a radio in their living rooms to hear their news, sports, and entertainment.

The television changed that. Three black-and-white networks became three colorful ones.

Cable changed that.  Three networks became hundreds of channels and even some premium ones like HBO.

Satellites changed that.  And soon the choices were too many to choose from.

Enter Al Gore’s internet and streaming started.  Now you can stream any platform on many platforms.

Watch what you want, when you want, how you want, and on whatever you want.  Jump into your La-Z-Boy and click on an app, any app, or many apps.

There’s vision and there’s television.

And then there is Twitter and Elon.

After cutting dead-weight employees and charging for blue check marks, the next shoe is dropping.  Enter Tucker Carlson.  And, with that, we enter yet another new era.

Will it be called a podcast?  A live stream?  Premium content? Pay-per-view?  It matters not.

Can you imagine Twitter on TV?  Of course you can, it’s already there.  You can watch live programming from Twitter on Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV. Xbox and Android TV users can enjoy Twitter by launching their web browser and going to twitter.com.

So, is Twitter TV, or is TV Twitter?  Yes and yes.  Or for that matter call it whatever you want.  There is content and there is distribution.  And there is a vacuum when it comes to unfiltered content.  The free market gets to decide what misinformation and disinformation is.

The “networks” will soon remind you of the pay phone.  Once upon a time, you could make a long-distance call on a pay phone thanks to long-distance providers.  ABC, NBC, and CBS soon will have much in common with Sprint, Cingular, and MCI.

Twitter has the distribution, subscribers, tweeters, followers, and advertisers, and now has its first piece of serious content worth taking from the old world.  It won’t be its last.

It must have promise.  CNN wrote yesterday, “Who will fact-check Tucker now that he is on Twitter?”  AOC tweeted (oh the irony), “Twitter, brought to you by MyPillow.”

Wait till Don Lemon signs on with Elon.

Checkmate?  Not yet.

But content is king.

And, soon Elon will be wearing a crown.