Author: thependulumswings staff

Your Body is a Temple

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

As America reopens we don’t seem so open with what we are willing to put into our bodies.

Is a vaccine around the corner?  Probably not, but a recent survey of Americans stated almost 50% would not want it injected into their bodies for fear of side effects.   Another reason cited was the concern that our government would be injecting a microchip along with the antibodies.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters at the White House, President Trump revealed that he’s been taking a hydroxychloroquine pill daily for a week and a half, along with a dose of zinc. Shortly after the announcement, The Your World with Neil Cavuto anchor called the president’s remarks “stunning” and warned that the drug could kill certain individuals who consume it.

The "Great" Roger Ailes
The “Great” Roger Ailes

Trump objected to the rant and tweeted “@FoxNews is no longer the same. We miss the great Roger Ailes.  Looking for a new outlet!”  The great Roger Ailes’ body of work included a few workplace sexual harassment charges.   We digress.

Nancy Pelosi, head of one body of Congress weighed in as well.  CNN host Anderson Cooper asked, “Madam Speaker, what is your reaction to the president saying he is now taking hydroxychloroquine? Are you concerned?”  She tore up the president like an old speech.  “I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and in his, shall we say, weight group — morbidly obese they say.”

Pelosi knows a thing or two about putting drugs into one’s body.  It must be clear to her that botox is way safer than hydroxychloroquine.  It’s written all over her face.

In her home state, six of seven convicted sex offenders freed in Orange County, California, last month due to fears of the Chinese coronavirus crisis spreading in local jails have since been rearrested for violating their terms of release.  Most of them were taken back in for ridding their bodies of that pesky GPS tracking device.  You have to wonder if they would line up to get the vaccine.  The bright side is virus immunity.  The downside might be a tracking device.

Planned Parenthood leadership is screaming for more money during these #alonetogether times.  Seems like we may have been together during our alone time.  Maybe we are more open to what we put in our bodies?

And this morning Walmart reported first-quarter earnings.  They were impressive.  With revenue over $32 billion, they beat the Wall St estimates by over $1 billion in top-line sales.  Same-store sales were up by 10% percent.  Strong.  A Walmart spokesperson cited “considerable strength in food sales.”

At least we haven’t lost our appetite though it all.

 

A Nightmare Prop Bet

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Yesterday we offered a couple of proposition bets on the NCAA playing or not this fall.  Today we offer a prop bet on the 11/3/20 election.

As #hidenbiden trends on Twitter, we have “Sleepy Joe” at plus $180 to actually NOT be the Democratic Pary’s nominee for President.  You bet $100 to win $180 that Biden goes home in August with his MyPillow.com pillow in hand.    The DNC has to fear, we repeat, has to fear that the sunset is near.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has delayed its convention a month, yet still plans to do it virtually.  Safety is the key they say.  Or, is it?  Why delay it a month if you aren’t physically attending to begin with?

There might have even been a glimpse into that thinking yesterday.  “First of all, our convention has to happen, because we are not officially nominating Joe Biden in order to take Donald Trump,” Xochitl Hinojosa, communications director for the DNC replied during an interview.  “So our convention is happening. There is business that has to happen.”

Or could her combo of words be a gaffe?  Hinojosa has yet to clarify her remarks.  It would be befitting of the party whose presumptive nominee spits out more gaffes daily than the Feds print money.

Take yesterday for example.   Please.  In just one video conference from Biden’s basement, he won the rare Triple Crown.  First, he needed off-camera prompting that he was on the air.  Two, he told the country that in this pandemic we have lost 85k jobs and millions of people.  “Millions of people,” he repeated.  “Millions of jobs,” he finished.  Finally, stammering, to complete the trifecta he forgot the name of one of his top medical advisers.  All three dreadful videos are captured in this article.

Just before Biden went into hiding all of his Democratic challengers obediently folded like some fine sheets made from Giza region cotton.  Crazy Bernie was the lone holdout.  But, he virtually conceded the race when he virtually conceded the race.  Sanders didn’t want to be President anyway.  He just likes to be Bernie for a while every four years.

Honestly, it was funny at the outset.  Now, it’s just said frankly.

He needs the best night’s sleep in the whole, wide world because a nightmare named Trump awaits.

Who will be the nominee if Biden is a no show? That’s a bet for another day to handicap.

For now, take “no Joe” for $100 to win $180.

 

 

 

2020 NCAA Football. Kickoff or Punt?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Although it’s never really the offseason anymore, the NCAA football programs usually enter the offseason filled with questions that need answers.  This offseason was no different on the questions part.

Schools are out for summer and plenty of the questions remain.  A few that were answered are subject to change.  That is life in 2020 as the biggest questions still loom and the answers remain unknown.

Will colleges play football in the fall?  Will the NCAA allow it?  Will the virus allow it?

We offer eight questions below and offer more than eight answers.  It’s always good to hedge your football bets.

  1.  Will the NCAA dictate if and when the schools, teams, and conferences can kickoff.  No.  They’ll give generalized recommendations, but NCAA President Mark Emmert already stated that there will be no uniform start date this fall suggested by the for now governing body.
  2. Why did he say that?  He said that because he is smart enough to know that there isn’t one answer across hundreds of schools and fifty states.  He is also smart enough to know that the Power 5 conferences are watching carefully.
  3. Why are the Power 5 conferences watching carefully?  Well, they rule the roost.  If ever there was a time that they might break free of the NCAA and form their own governing body this might be it.  Football is BIG money for the BIG 12, BIG 10, PAC 12, ACC, and SEC.  It supports (with a bit of help from basketball and rarely baseball) all other sports teams, both male and female, that are revenue drains not adds.  Some schools subsidize their academic costs with football generated revenue.  If ever there was a year when revenue is needed, 2020 is it.  If you take the air out of football you’ll take the air out of the entire 2020-21 academic sports calendar year.
  4. So, will college football be played in the fall?  No, yes, and maybe.  “No” is the answer if the enemy spikes in the next four weeks to the point where wisdom and prevailing sentiment dictate otherwise.  “Yes” is the answer as of today for some schools in some states that crave it, depend on it, and have state government support for it.  That’s first and foremost the SEC.  Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana are opening back up for business in an aggressive manner v. many other states.  LSU announced its intention to have classes on campus as early as summer session number 2 in July.  “Maybe” is the answer for many schools as of now as they take a wait and see approach.
  5. What if half suit up and half don’t?  Follow the money.  Teams will reschedule opponents to the level they can to fill the fall calendar, and collect TV money to fill the bank accounts.
  6. Would the SEC go it alone and schedule a full slate of all in conference games?  It’s only a guess, but our answer is yes.  Why?  Aren’t you listening?  Follow the money.  If people are watching the NFL Draft, the MMA, and South Korean baseball (yes they are) in record numbers, can you imagine the ratings for SEC slugfests?  America is craving live sports.
  7. Could the season start late?  Sure.  It will have to if summer workouts and especially fall camps cannot start on time.  The risk of injury due to a lack of conditioning is real.  The fallout would be quite negative.  Sure.  The virus might have a thing or two to say about the date as well.  Sure.  The reconfigured schedule possibility could include fewer, and later in the fall games as an option.
  8. Would colleges field teams to play if they don’t have on-campus classes?  This one seems highly doubtful.  The criticism would be fast, furious, and ongoing.  The academic elite crowd already looks down their nose and around their reading glasses at the double standard of academics and big-time sports.  You can’t decide to virtually teach for social distancing safety and actually have sweat, blood, and tears flying on a field, can you?  The optic would be a difficult one to sell.

Take limited fans in the stands for $150 to win $100.

Take major college football being played for $100 to win $125.

Hindsight, Foresight, and Throwing Darts.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

One unlucky BBR staffer was assigned a project that wound up lasting well into the evening.  The loser of the coin flip had to research the states’ stay at home orders, easing of same, and restrictions imposed on both.

The project mercifully was called off around 11:30 pm.  Why?  It’s because there are nearly 50 different answers from 50 states in place to either stay or not in place.

We wonder.

  1.  Have we all put too much trust in elected officials that know next to nothing about viruses blindly throwing darts at a wall?
  2.  Have we all put too much trust in many doctors(experts) who are in government positions for too long as the politicians are, somewhat blindly throwing darts at a wall?
  3.  We were only supposed to be flattening the curve.  Los Angeles County, “with almost certainty,” will extend the stay at home until sometime in July.  Does LA (and Oregon) know something that most of the other 48 states do not?
  4.  Will someone please inform BBR when, barring a vaccination that all agree to inject, the risk of spreading the virus will go to zero? Or when it will go to a manageable number?  What is that manageable number?
  5. Will someone please inform BBR when the “cost” of catching it is outweighed by the cost of not catching it?  Georgia and Texas amongst others have said that day has come and gone.
  6. Wasn’t the time to lock down two weeks before we did?  Easy to say in hindsight you say?  Correct.  Yet some called for it loudly and repeatedly back on March 1.  But it seems like the time to stop a spread is before it starts spreading.  How do you know when?  You don’t.  So, if you think you are going to need to do it, isn’t sooner better than later?
  7. To those suggesting we should test everyone every time they enter an establishment that “we” think they should get tested we have a question.  When does that need to subside?  When the virus goes away?  When the vaccine arrives?  How do you pay for what you just proposed?  Isn’t it a violation of one’s rights?
  8. To anyone who says anything is too soon?  Is it not your individual decision to do or not do what you wish?  Stay home as long as you wish, but the money to take care of everyone has long ago run out.  Are you listening, Nancy?  Are you listening, Mitch?  Are you listening, Donald?
  9. Can anyone let us know when the Federal Reserve printer runs out of ink?  BBR’s low ink printer notification is on more than it’s off it seems.  That must be one big printer with one very big green ink cartridge.
  10. Why in the world is the stock market going up?  Does Wall St. know that we have to go back to work in order to survive?

Hindsight is indeed 2020.  We already cannot wait until 2020 is indeed behind us.

Meet the New Press

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Have you seen the selective edit of Bill Barr’s interview used by Chuck Todd on Sunday’s Meet the Press?  Yesterday, it was all of the (out)rage on conservative talk radio as well as on the Fox News Network.

And that, unfortunately, is exactly the point.  It’s already yesterday’s news.

As the Russian Collusion, Mueller Investigation, and Impeach Trump continues to fall further apart and the heat from the AG is now on the those that brought the, umm, Trumped-up charges both sides have predictably dug in once again.

No less than former President Barack Obama came out to weigh in on this heavyweight fight.  He, oh so elegantly, worried that this possible pardoning of General Flynn was a subordination of the rule of law.  Adam Schiff said that is would set the Justice Department’s credibility back 50 years to the Watergate era.  Should Schiff be the one talking about credibility?  We digress.

NBC, so regretful of their national broadcast error, said in a tweet written by no one you know that it regretted the inadvertent editing.  If you watched the show, but don’t have a Twitter account that follows NBC News, you would not ever see the insufficient regret.

President Trump, acting like a former TV star of The Apprentice called for Todd to be fired.  But, he added that he knew that he wouldn’t be.  And, that too is exactly the point.

In today’s fractured nation, both sides immediately line up behind their political preference, truth and principles be dammed.  If you don’t believe that ask either Tara Reade or the dumbfounded #metoo members.

The result, or possibly the cause as well, is that anything and everything can now be said with little to no fear of reprisal.  Journalism, as it was once known, is no longer.  Chuck Todd knowingly deleted the last two sentences of Barr’s response to support his narrative and knew beforehand that he had cover to do it.

In yesteryear, editors checked and rechecked material for accuracy before it was written or spoken.  Two sources on everything was mandatory.  Quotes were painstakingly quoted word for word.  Credibility was cherished and was the long term goal.

No more.  Now, the goal is twofold.  The first goal enables the second goal.  The first goal is ratings.  If you have ratings the ad revenue streams in.  Everyone gets fed.  Want to get fed?  Feed the base that you appeal to some red meat.   If you don’t have ratings you don’t have a show.

If Chuck Todd couldn’t carry the ball for Meet the Press he would have met the NBC human resource team just before being escorted out of the door long ago.  Today you don’t get fired for misspeaking, inaccuracy, inadvertent omissions, inadvertent misquotes, or outright lying (Brian Williams).  You can get fired if you sexually harass your makeup artist (Chis Matthews) or frequent contributors (Bill O’Reilly).  And you will get fired if your ratings don’t produce enough ad money for the time slot you compete in.

With a divided country you can almost say anything you want.  Why? Because soon you will be yesterday’s news.  And in today’s journalistic world apparently that is a good thing.

Made in America?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

On June 12, 1987, United States President Ronald Reagan delivered a speech in West Berlin.  He was less than 100 yards from the Berlin Wall.   Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had separated West and East Berlin since 1961.  “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”  Though it received relatively little media coverage at the time, it became widely known in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall.  There is significant debate as to how much influence if any, the speech had on the wall coming down.  But in 1989 down it came as did communist rule and/or occupation in several eastern European countries in addition to the then Soviet Union, now Russia.

There isn’t much debate at all about the influence Donald J. Trump has had in getting a taller and wider wall built on the southern border of the U.S.  Over 125 miles are completed and by winter the guess is that nearly 500 miles will be hoisted.

Reagan wanted to unravel Soviet block countries.  Trump wants to block illegal immigration.  Both walls were or are steeped in controversy and divided opinions.

But the U.S. opinion should not be divided on two other walls.  One is The Great Wall of China and the other is the virtual firewall of the world wide web.

As U.S. companies figuratively lept over the Great Wall to take advantage of cheap Chinese labor to make and eager Chinese consumers to, well, consume U.S. products a bad thing happened.  We lost sight of right from wrong all because all we could see is the almighty dollar, and lots of them.

Forgetting for a minute of how horrifically the Chinese tyrants treat their people day in and day out, focus on the last 180 days.

China either leaked a virus out of a lab or didn’t.  Investigations, in spite of the World Health Organization(WHO), are ongoing.  Regardless, does anyone think that the virus didn’t start in China somehow? China is accused of asking the WHO in January to deny that human to human transmission could occur.  Further, they restricted travel from the Wuhan Provence to other areas of China but not to the rest of the world as the virus spread rapidly around the globe.

They recently revised the cases and deaths in the country, increasing both totals by an even 50%.   Oops, maybe a rounding error was uncovered.  Some medial experts put the actual carnage at 5x to 10x their count.

Yesterday news broke that the FBI is now investigating China as it’s feared that they have continued their widespread hacking of virtual walls.  Except this time it’s even worse.  Now they are trying to hack into pharma company computers to steal the vaccination research being done on the very virus that they let out of the lab or the soup.

Like him or hate him(and apparently there is no in-between), Trump has been telling us over and over again that China manipulates their currency, profits unfairly on trade deals, and conducts cyber-attack after attack.

Perhaps it’s time we listen closely, learn fast, and plan accordingly.

We’re in far too deep with a country that is doing everything that others did that we hated just 30 years ago.   Somehow we chose to close our eyes.

What are we going to do about it? And, when?  Soon isn’t soon enough.

“Made in America” sounds good.  “Not made in China” sounds essential.

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Only in America

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

You’re returning to work.  Your appetite is naturally increasing.  We’re here to help.  Our supply chain, unlike Wendy’s, never runs short.  We’re here to serve.  Nuggets follow.

  1.  Jailed Dallas hair salon owner Shelley Luther is free at last.   One day after a judge sentenced her to 7 days in jail and 7k out of her pocket, sanity got in the way of insanity.  The Texas AG, followed by the governor, quickly acted.  They both suggested that there were better ways to handle a business owner solely interested in reopening.  It was a bad look for the state to say the least.  Maybe a quick trip to the beauty salon will help.
  2.  A Texas judicial watchdog group previously had labeled the judge as “left-leaning.” And, supposedly, people in the system have heard him say that he likes to be extra tough on people with “conservative principles.”  Remember, justice is blind.  In this instance, it was indeed, unfortunately, blind.
  3.  Consider the terrible irony that is a result of an overzealous government wielding it’s power from the start of the Coronavirus till now in this situation.  We let criminals out of taxpayer-funded penal institutions for fear that the virus would spread like wildfire inside.  We told people when they could and could not work.  We told them who was essential and who wasn’t.  A salon owner wanted to work, pay her employees, and stop taking money from our government.  In fact, they would resume paying those same taxes.  When she went in seven days early (tomorrow salons may reopen in Texas) she was arrested, jailed, fined, and sentenced.  She was put in the very same place (jail) that we let criminals out early to reduce the virus’ transmission thereby increasing the chance of transmission to her, her employees, her customers, and her loved ones.  Only in America.
  4. We mentioned yesterday that a good thing happened during this bad thing.  A GoFundMe page to help out Ms. Luther was created.  We even speculated that it would zoom (sorry) to over 100k by nightfall yesterday.   It did.  It did by an additional 400k.  The tally as of late last evening was nearly 500k. Only in America.
  5.  Meanwhile, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo rejected the idea of waving the state income tax levied on workers who voluntarily answered the call and flocked in from out of state to help during the worst of the worst times.  The good governor said that he would like to do a lot of good things but his state was facing a 13 billion dollar budget deficit.  He added that he could do some of those things if the federal government would give him some money.  It sounds like he is asking for a handout, not a hand up.
  6. New York was ill-equipped at the state level as were most.   It had a few ventilators.  It had a few masks.  It has more than a few citizens.  The federal government retro built the Javits Center into a temporary hospital.  It docked one of it’s two floating hospitals in Manhatten.  It retrofitted the ship to handle Coronavirus patients only at the request of Cuomo.  And, now, if it gives NY some money it would be helpful.  And, the national media is handing out plaudits for how “presidential” Cuomo looks, sounds, and acts as governor.  Hmm.  You mean they are thinking Joe Biden doesn’t?   Only in America.
  7. Does any state put any money or supplies away for a rainy day?  Too few.  Does any citizen?  Too few.  If this economic watershed moment doesn’t teach the public and private sector to live below its means, what will?
  8. The rise in the suicide rate caused by lockdowns in Australia is predicted to exceed deaths from the Wuhan coronavirus by a factor of ten, the Australian reported Thursday.  You should reread that sentence.  Australia fears a 50% rise in suicides this year and predicts that the increased rate could linger for years from the fallout of the lockdown.  Let’s hope their models are as inaccurate as the spike, curve, mortality rate, and infection rate models have been so far.
  9. The Washington Post is running a series of articles about POTUS’s decision to get quotes to paint the border wall.  Cost estimates range from $500 million to over $2 billion (if two coats of powder coat are applied).  Trump wants to paint it black.  Why?  It would make scaling it in the summer months significantly harder as black absorbs the sun’s heat making the “The Wall” quite hot to the touch.  Only in America if you can get here.
  10. The Post is outraged at the cost.  Wait until they see the infrastructure proposal tab.   Nevermind that we just appropriated over $3 trillion to assuage the historic economic hardship and fallout from this enemy that we cannot see.  There are too many government initiatives that hand out too much money.  What’s another $500 million to paint a wall?  Planned Parenthood gets $500 million a year and then some.   Would it be better if the wall was called “Planned Immigration?”

Get back to work when we tell you.  Only in America.

Need a Haircut?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Meet Shelley Luther.  She very politely refused to apologize for reopening her North Dallas hair salon.  The judge sentenced her to seven days in jail and a $7,000 fine.

Technically she didn’t break a law.  She refused to obey an executive order.  Then she opted for jail rather than apologize.

This is where we are in America today.  It’s even more shocking that this happened in Texas, and in Dallas.

You can go to a liquor store and practice social distancing, but apparently, if you go to a nail salon you don’t yet know how to do so.

But wait, you beg, “we have to do this because some people might get sick.”  Who said that you have to go to the nail salon? No one.  It’s the ones that said you have no choice that are worrisome.

Small, individually owned, clothing stores have been shut down for two months.  Walmart has been selling groceries(essential) and $14.99 slacks made in China(let that sink in) for those same two months.  One is essential.  The other not.

It’s your individual choice.  It’s your right to go or not to go just like it’s your right to stand in line to buy beer.  If you can stand six feet apart for a badly needed six-pack, you can sit six feet apart for a badly needed trim.

This judge could have easily chosen a less ridiculous route.  It’s all about power, and therefore control.   If you have the power, you have the control.

Her explanation was her desire to feed her kids and pay her employees.  Now she’s out another 7k.  A GoFundMe page has already started for her.  Our guess is it’ll top 100k by end of the day today.

And, that is a good thing to help offset a dumb thing.

If this were an isolated incident it would be one thing.  It’s not.

Stop giving up your rights.  It’s your right.

Let’s Hope So.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Yesterday CNN ran a story that we feel has not gotten near enough attention.  For our sake, we hope it isn’t as Donald Trump labels it, “fake news.”

We quote CNN.  “373 employees and contract workers at Triumph Foods in Buchanan County, Missouri, have tested positive for coronavirus. All of them were asymptomatic, according to a press release from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.”

Testing at the plant began last week with results coming in over the past few days, the release from DHSS said.  As of April 30, at least 1,500 had been tested, a previous release said.  A first test a week earlier of 707 of the now nearly 1500 resulted in 92 asymptomatic positives.
So what does this all mean?  We hesitate to speculate as there are no health care professionals on BBR’s burgeoning staff, but we will anyway.  The ball bounces a bit below, but stay with it.
1.  In a week’s time the positives went from 92 of 707 to now 373 of 1500.  That’s a pretty aggressive acceleration.
2.  Yet every one of them, we repeat, EVERYONE of them, are asymptomatic.
3.  This almost seems impossible.  373 people of various ages, races, gender, and health conditions, all living near each other are positive asymptomatic.  Unless it isn’t impossible.  And, let’s assume for a minute that it isn’t.
4.  If you believe the CDC’s RO, (pronounced r naught) a mathematical term that indicates how contagious an infectious disease is for Coronavirus, then you can buy into the rapid spread in a contaminated closed environment where many come together.  It’s unfortunately why nursing homes and hospitals are incubators for it.
5.  So, how many other environments that are similar have had a similar spread?  We won’t know that of course until tests are repeatedly and readily available.
6.  But, strong logic would make an argument that its more than a few and likely way more than a few.
7.  So, how many Americans are positive and were asymptomatic in the past or present?  As stated above, we won’t know that of course until tests are repeatedly and readily available.
8.  So, now go back to the first documented case to hit American soil.  On January 19, 2020, a 35-year-old man presented to an urgent care clinic in Snohomish County, Washington, with a 4-day history of cough and subjective fever tested positive.  He wasn’t asymptomatic.  But how many before him were?  We’ll never know.
9.  But if 373 and counting can all hand it off to one another asymptomatically, how many handed it off prior to the above positive symptomatic case?  We’ll never know.
10.  Which begs the question?  How many people in America today are positive?   If you buy into the snowball downhill theory loosely outlined above it could be many.  It could be many as in tens of millions.  Are we speculating?  Yep.  That makes us almost as accurate as the experts it sadly seems.
Dr. Deborah Birx, the U.S. coronavirus response coordinator, dropped the following comment on Fox News on Sunday.  “I think we underestimated very early on the number of asymptomatic cases,” Dr. Birx said. “And I think we’re really beginning to understand there are people that get infected that those symptoms are so low-grade that they don’t even know that they’re infected.”

So if you’ve bought in this far, we have but one more small leap of faith to ask.  How immune then is the herd at this point?  Probably way more than we realize.

Nearly 70,000 deaths in the U.S. is nearly 70,000 deaths too many, make no mistake.  Of course, we hope that the CDC has made no mistake when counting as well.

The country is “reopening.”  If the asymptomatic headcount is way higher than thought maybe the “second wave” or “next spike” will be far less than even the most optimistic projections.

Let’s hope so.

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Life

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

As society wonders about what it’s future will look like, we decided to serve you ten nuggets as we wander around in life as we know it today.  They’re scattered about your plate randomly, but give us a break.  They’re tasty as always.  We don’t upcharge for home delivery.  And, most restaurants are still closed.

  1.  Did you know that Jeffery Epstein had a private office on the Harvard University campus?  Harvard reportedly gave Epstein his own office on campus in exchange for almost $10 million in donations he gifted to the university between 1998 and 2007.
  2. He was convicted of underage sex crimes in 2008. Epstein reportedly visited the campus more than 40 times after being released from jail in 2010.   Money talks and Harvard apparently is always listening.  Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow said in September of 2019 that the Ivy League institution feels “regret” accepting nearly $10 million in gifts from Jeffrey Epstein.  Regret?  What a heartfelt response.
  3. The Harvard University endowment (valued at $40.9 billion as of 2019) is the largest academic endowment in the world.  Might they consider a $10 million dollar gift to some worthy institution that combats crimes against children, especially sex crimes?  Probably not it seems.
  4. Harvard University will receive nearly $9 million in aid from the federal government through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, the Department of Education announced last week.  The amounts vary, but almost every school across the land received some as well.  Might they consider a $9 million dollar gift to some worthy institution that combats crimes against children, especially sex crimes?  Probably not it still seems.
  5.  Madam Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi remained comfortably ensconced in her posh northern Cali home last week.  With so many ice cream flavors to choose from who could blame her.  She blocked the House’s attempt to vote remotely on matters before them citing concerns that it would not be a safe way to do so.  Meanwhile, she has been a loud proponent of vote by mail in the upcoming November 3rd general election. Hmm.
  6.  How do you justify a stance that is opposite of a stance on a very similar subject as she does above?  It’s really not that hard for some.  Take Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.  Please.  “Just because you’re a survivor doesn’t mean that every claim is equal,” she told CNN. “It means we give them the ability to make their case, and the other side as well, and then to make a judgment that is informed.”  Whitmer is apparently an expert on how Tara Reade’s claim of sexual assault differs from Christine Blausey Ford’s claim against the now Supreme Court Judge Kavanaugh.
  7. How does Whitmer find the time to be so well informed on so many subjects given her pressing need to manage Michigan’s coronavirus situation?   Easy.  She just locked down the state another two weeks through May 15.   “Whether you agree with me or not, I’m working to protect your life if you live in the state of Michigan,” Whitmer said, defending her stay-at-home order that extends through May 15. “We’re going to listen to facts and science because we’ve got to get this right.”
  8.  It can’t be lost on anyone at this point that, in general, Republican governors are relaxing restrictions in their states while Democrat governors are extending restrictions.  The original idea was to flatten the curve.  What is it now?  What does an additional two weeks closure do?  Did those same “facts and science” tell you to close down two weeks earlier before Detroit became a hotspot like few others?  And, do you need to treat rural counties the same as metro Detroit?
  9. No one is forced to go into a restaurant.  Individualism and human rights are getting lost in the cause.  And the cause now has blurred lines.  You can wait until a vaccine is available if you wish.  It’s your right.  Several viruses to this day have no vaccine.  It’s still your right.  Does the government attempt to make you more dependent or independent?
  10.  Meanwhile, the NFL continues to have the only “live” sports news worth talking about.  Fresh off of blowout record TV ratings for their draft last week, they will release their regular season schedule this week.  Its plan is to start on time in early September as usual and end as usual in early February with the Super Bowl.  They have contingency plans too, of course.  ESPN estimates that the absence of sports since March will erase at least $12 billion in revenue and thousands of jobs. That total will more than double if college football and the NFL don’t play this fall.
  11. (Lagniappe)  Kim Jung Un is the modern-day North Korean version of Mark Twain.  Rumors of his death were greatly exaggerated. “I, for one, am glad to see he is back, and well!” Trump tweeted.  Whoever coined the phrase “politics makes for strange bedfellows” was prescient.

Cinco de Mayo is but 24 hours away!