Author: thependulumswings staff

David’s Goliath Falls to Goliath’s Zion

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Two years of investigation have come and gone.  Countless subpoenas, several indictments, a few guilty pleas, a trial or two, and still many questions remain as a result.  Millions of dollars on legal fees and ten of thousands of FBI hours got us here.  No, we aren’t talking about the Mueller Investigation of possible Russian Collusion by President Trump and team in the 2016 election.

We were referring to the ongoing broad net that the FBI investigation cast at amateur basketball.  There is still unfinished business on that front as well.  Handlers, assistant coaches, and at least one head coach are still squarely in the crosshairs of the mess.

But, but, but.  But, yesterday, the UCF v Duke round of 32 NCAA basketball game gave us all a chance to get from college sports what college sports is supposed to offer to us.  No, no we aren’t thinking about a brown paper bag of cash.  We were thinking about great stories about great young players on good to great teams that fought each other like Democrats and Republicans.  The proverbial “they left it all on the court” statement comes to mind.

7’6″ Tacko Fall meets 5’6″ CBS reporter Tracy Wolfson

Duke, a three decade and counting Goliath, had all it could handle with the University of Central Florida playing the role of David.  David(UCF) has a Goliath of its own.  If you missed the game you missed a 7 foot 6 inch center named Tacko Fall.  Born in Senegal, he came to the United States as a teenager who was more interested in biochemistry than basketball.  At senior night a couple of weeks back Tacko saw his mother who flew over for the first time in seven years.  He can dunk a basketball without jumping.

Tacko fouled out attempting to stop a Zion Williamson last-ditch effort to will his no. 1 seeded team to victory over the ninth seeded Knights.  Zion will very likely be the first player selected in this summer’s 2019 NBA draft.  He’ll make many brown paper bags of cash soon.  Tacko, in today’s NBA world, has little chance at making a pro roster even though he is three inches taller than any current NBA player.

The plot of the game thickens when you realize that Johnny Dawkins, the now head coach at UCF, played for and starred for Duke in the 80’s.  After a very nice NBA career he went back to Duke and learned the finer points of coaching under, you guessed  it, Mike Krzyzewski.  Johnny’s son, Aubrey Dawkins transferred from Michigan to play for his dad.  And, yesterday, play for his dad he did.  And, he did it very well.  He scored 32 of UCF’s 76 total points.  He was the best player on the court at least for this one game.

In the end UCF lost after a passionate, thrilling, twist and turns ending by a slim one point 77-76.  How a last second tip in attempt stayed out was crazy.

Mike Krzyzewski felt like his team lost even though they won.  He felt like UCF won even though they lost.  He fought back tears and said as much in his post game interview that was filled with platitudes for his players, the opponent players, and his one time understudy, Johnny Dawkins.

Knight fans and Blue Devil fans stayed standing where they rarely sat after the game was long over.  There was disbelief if you wore black and gold, and relief if you wore blue and white.

UCF is done.  Duke advances.  NCAA basketball won and is not done.  It was a great forty March Madness minutes.

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-March Madness and MLB

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Fridays are great.  Springtime Fridays are greater.  Weather improves. Days are longer.  Flowers bloom.  And, multiple sports become more interesting.  Oh, and there is this thing called March Madness.  What is it about us knowing so little about so many teams and for a weekend or two we fixate on their stories.  Everybody and every team has a story.  The weekend is near.  And, the tasty morsels below will help fuel your run to the weekday finish line.

  1.  It’s a rather small sample size of exactly one game.  But, if Murray St. plays as well as they did yesterday, the 12th seed could run deep in this tourney.  One of our astute readers is a basketball junkie.  He points out that when you have the second best player in America you always have a shot at winning.  Ja Morant did not disappoint.  He crossed over and then nailed a step back three one minute, and then a bit later he threw down a statement jam.  His triple double led the Racers to a 19 point shelling of fifth seeded Marquette.  But, we found his supporting cast more than up to the task as well.
  2. Florida St. beat a balanced Vermont team by seven.   Florida St. might be ten deep.  They can play big or small and fast or half court.  Yesterday they did both and advanced over a determined Vermont club that drained a strong 16 three pointers.
  3. Which brings us to a Saturday late afternoon showdown between Murray St and Florida St.  Madness indeed.  Today’s play will uncover another surprise or two, but for BBR’s money this upcoming tussle to get to the Sweet Sixteen should be sweet to watch onto itself.
  4. The opposite of this success was Alabama’s lethargic NIT loss at home to Norfolk State.  Former NBA player and two team NBA coach Avery Johnson couldn’t turn the Tide around on the hardwood.  When you have an office in the same athletic department as Nick Saban going to the knitting tournament doesn’t promote job security.   Losing at home to Norfolk St. is the final ball of yarn.   A buyout conversation is underway.
  5. Which brings us to Alabama’s basketball future.  Shouldn’t we expect them to try to shoot for the moon with their next hire?  The football program was, is,  and will continue to be a cash cow.  Why can’t a football powerhouse also be a basketball powerhouse?  LSU made a run at just that.  The problem is they paid for the coach who might have likely paid for the players too.
  6.  Which brings us to baseball.  The LA Angels made some noise. They hooked Mike Trout with 430 million George Washington’s for a dozen years to effectively ensure that he puts it on the line for his one and only team for the entirety of his career.  If you project his career totals, as analytic geeks do every day, his stat pile will put him onto a very short list of the best baseball players ever.  Ever.  Like Willie Mays ever.
  7. In this same noisy window of time the Seattle Mariners and the entire country of Japan said goodbye to a hitting machine named Ichiro Suzuki who spoke softly and carried a lethal wooden stick.  Ichiro was a 10-time All-Star in the majors. He had 3,089 hits over a 19-year career in the big leagues after having 1,278 while starring in Japan. His combined total of 4,367 is a professional record.  His hit stat pile puts him onto a very short list of best hitters ever.  Ever.  Like Pete Rose ever.
  8. ESPN, who we like to bash for a variety of reasons, put out a cool “untold stories” article on Ichiro.  You can read it here.  There are six parts to the quick read, and his exchange with the impatient Lou Pinella is the first one.  Ichiro was a rookie, and Pinella wanted more out of him.  Turns out, all Sweet Lou had to do was ask.
  9. Meanwhile the Houston Astros decided to get ahead of the Alex Bregman train before it left the station.  The confident 3rd baseman hinted that the Astros should be willing to pay a bit more for his services after just two and a half years in the bigs.  His performance last year both at the plate and in the field put him right into the MVP conversation for the American League.  The Astros own him for the 2019, 2020, and 2011 seasons for cheap.  Rather than slow play it, they put 100 million on the table for six years.  His agent decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth.  Bregman could possibly fetch more elsewhere for years 4-6 of the deal offered.  Or, he could get hurt and never live up to his end.  In the end the deal sounded good to both parties.
  10. Which brings us back to basketball for our last tasty nugget.  Today’s NCAA action will bring upsets.  In a one and done scenario the longer the dog stays in the game the more they feel free to bark.  Ducks don’t bark, but watch out for Oregon as a very spry 12th seed facing the Badgers of Wisconsin.  We’re going to watch carefully and if Charles Bark(ley) picks Wisconsin to win, we are putting at least three wooden nickels on Oregon.

Enjoy the weekend and the Madness.

 

Can Lightning Strike Your March Madness Picks?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The national Powerball Lottery jackpot hit $560 million last evening.  Did you win it? The odds were long.  If not, you have another chance at fame and fortune starting today.  Did you fill out your NCAA March Madness Tournament Challenge bracket?

Warren Buffet, who is of some fame and fortune himself, is offering his 400k employees a chance at a million bucks a year for life if they “just” correctly predict the Sweet Sixteen this year.  The calculated chances of that are roughly one in a million.  So you’re saying there is a chance!

That chance is far better than his recent years of bracket challenges when everyone was invited to play for the same payout.  But, then you had to have an entry that stayed clean for all 63 games of the 64 team tourney field.   The chance of that was a not so reasonable 1 in 9.2 quintillion.  How much is a quintillion? It’s one billion billions, or a one followed by 18 zeros. Or, if you are a visual person it’s 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000.   Makes the nation’s debt look pretty manageable, doesn’t it?

Need inspiration, do you?  Early March madness occurred on March 8th when what may be the greatest parlay wager ever to hit at a U.S. sportsbook was placed.   A bettor at a Vicksburg, MS casino placed a $25, 20-leg bet that paid $104,412.44.  The parlay featured point spreads, money lines and over/unders on a mix of Friday night NBA and college basketball games. The bettor backed 14 favorites, three underdogs, and three overs. Every single one hit.  So you’re saying there is a chance!

If you haven’t filled out your bracket yet, you still have a few hours before the first jump ball is tossed up.  March Madness actually ends when one team cuts down the nets in early April.  You know what April brings don’t you?  Showers.  April showers bring, of course, May flowers.

Oh, and if your bracket is still holding up then, you should stay indoors.  One of those showers could bring lightning.  The chances of getting struck by lightning are about 1 in 300,000.  So you’re saying there is a chance!

 

 

MLB Changes Its Pitch

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Spring has sprung in the lower half of the continental 48.  That means the sound of the crack of a baseball off of a Major League wooden bat will soon be heard in 30 parks around the US and Canada, and not just in spring training sites in Arizona and Florida.  All together now, “and its one, two, three strikes and you’re out at the old ball game.”

Well that one, two, or three strikes “thing” will be good for MLB pitchers through 2019 anyway.   But, when late Spring of 2020 rolls around a new rule will mandate that a pitcher, whenever brought into the game, must face a minimum of three batters.  Or, he must end the half inning unless he cannot due to an “incapacitating illness.”  If your job was a situational relief specialist, brought in to get one or two batters out (say lefty on lefty), the commissioner has some nice parting gifts for you.

So why the change?  MLB is on a mission to speed the games up by reducing the down times.  Down times occur basically anytime the ball isn’t in live play. A pitching change for one batter and then another change for another batter creates a lot of down time.   For 2019, for example, they are further reducing the TV timeout time between innings.  It’s only a whopping five seconds from 2:05 to 2:00, but two years ago there was no such stopwatch.  Mound visits by managers and/or catchers now max out at 5 per game down from 6 as well.

We applaud MLB for joining the 21st century, all be it, 19 years later than that frightening 2000 countdown.  But, why wait till 2020 for the three batter minimum rule?  MLB says that they want to give managers a year to adjust to the new strategy.  Maybe they should have thought about the new rule in 2018 then, and put it into play in 2019?  Or, in 2017, or 2016.  You get where we are going.

When Al Gore invented the internet 30ish years ago, after somebody invented computers, the world sped up.  Video games are action packed and high scoring.  Anything that you want you can “Google” it in milliseconds.  Amazon can deliver packages faster than Fed Ex can.  Baseball is isn’t playing catch.  It’s playing catch up.  In other words, its past time that The National Pastime look at itself to recapture a generation and a half of its youth that might be at the lost and not found.

Before you know it they might even address that silly DH in the American League, but not in the National League rule.  Can you imagine if the NBA had the three-point line in the Western Conference and not the Eastern?  Come on man!

The good old boys that ran baseball lost the good new boys (and girls) attention.  It’s all about the consumer if you are trying to build a brand to build market share, ratings, and sustainability.

We have mixed feelings about the three batter rule. And, if you are going to do it, do it now.   But we are glad baseball is trying to get off of the back pages of the three newspapers that still print daily.  Heck, soon they might even be trending on Twitter.

 

 

 

I Have Another Story and a Moral Thereof.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Almost to this day a year has passed since I went from flying about 75,000 miles on business trips a year for 25 plus years to not.  Sure I’ve flown a bit for getaways in the last twelve months.  One such getaway was last week’s Orlando trip.  As I got into my seat for the flight back the news broke that Boeing 737 Max 9’s were being grounded in some countries due to similarities surrounding two recent crashes.  Jeez I thought.  Actually a stronger word came to mind.

Compounding the angst was a three sided laminated foldout in the seat pocket directly in front of me.  It spoke to the information and safety features of this particular plane.  This plane was a Boeing 737 Max 8.  Hmm.   Way too close for comfort I thought.   And, sure enough, a day later the FAA took both the 8’s and the 9’s out of the sky pending further investigation.

Surely you have heard someone say “air travel is safer than driving a car.”  Or you might have heard “you have a greater chance of being struck by lightning than dying in a plane crash.”  That all sounds good until it doesn’t sound good at all.  It didn’t sound good to me then, and it doesn’t now.

Why not?  Well, it turns out that a great friend of mine was on a Delta flight about 25 years ago that essentially crashed landed, overshot the runway, and ended up under the fence at the end of the field.  Luckily he walked away from it.  It also reminded me of a flight a dozen years back to sunny and warm Milwaukee.  The flight attendant had just announced over the PA that I was on board that day and this was the flight that would take me over a million air miles. Surely they have some award for insanity?   A partly cloudy ascent gave way to more clouds when a bolt out of the gray very brightly and strongly hammered the wing.  Lightening had struck the plane. I saw it all too vividly from my emergency window seat.   Remember, “you have a greater chance of getting struck by lightning that dying in a plane crash.”

I wonder what the saying is about dying from lightning in a plane?   Surely the words “gosh darn” or maybe a bit worse would be included.  The plane shook off the shake that the bolt put through the fuselage and it was if nothing had happened.  Although it got very quiet when the copilot quickly exited the cockpit and did a visual inspection of all that he could see as soon as he could see it.

What’s the moral of the story?  Air travel is very safe until it’s not.  I don’t miss flying and all of the before, during, and after incivility that accompanies it.  No I don’t, not at all.

Fly safely.

5th Time is a Charm

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Independent Investment Management designed to protect and grow your wealth.

JIM CARLTON
Managing Director
Chief Investment Officer

Friends

The fifth time was a charm. After 5 tries since the 4th quarter of last year, the bulls finally penetrated the 2800 (2815 level to be exact) on the S&P, and were able hold it into the close. The economic data was mixed with consumer confidence and job openings stronger than expected, while the industrial production number was softer than expected. All this basically leads to the Fed being able to be “patient” with regards to monetary policy, but in the meantime the bulls can point to the fact that recession talk might have been premature.

As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 139 points to finish the day at 25,849. The S&P 500 was up 14 points to close at 2,822. Gold was up $6 to trade at $1,301 per ounce, while oil was down $.18 to trade at $58.43 per barrel WTI.

Despite the woes for Boeing, which weighed on the Dow, it was a good week for the bulls. Now that we have closed above 2815 on a daily and weekly basis, let’s see if the bulls have cleared a runway to the old highs of 2940 on the S&P. The FOMC meets next week, but we obviously don’t expect the Fed to change interest rates at this point. They might give us more clarity on the quantitative tightening (bond run off) program, which could add to the overall dovish tone that the Chair has exhibited recently. We’ll let you know how things play out next week. Stay tune.

Jim

10200 Grogan’s Mill Road, Suite 340
The Woodlands, TX  77380 
(281) 298-2700 Phone
(877) 824-4299 Toll Free
(281) 298-2760 Fax

[email protected]        www.chjwealthmanagement.com

Investment Advisory offered through Carlton, Hofferkamp & Jenks Wealth Management, LLC (“CHJ”).

*Numbers and figures sourced from the following: Bloomberg.com, CNBC.com and Finance.Yahoo.com.
The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which investment(s) may be appropriate for you, consult your financial advisor prior to investing. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly.

CHJ Wealth Management,
10200 Grogan’s Mill Road,
Suite 340
The Woodlands, TX 77380

No Spring Chicken, But Still Pleased as Punch

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Yesterday one of our esteemed writers turned a, in his mind, very young 59 years of age.  An early morning workout gave way to some reading.  Time of the essence allowed for only 12 holes of golf as a fun dinner with family awaited.  And indeed the day was enjoyable.  When asked about the day he said that he was as pleased as punch with how it went.  However, while pleased as punch sounds good, it comes from a macabre origin.  Its meaning is derived from the bizarre really.

Meaning: To be very happy
History: A 17th century puppet show for adults called Punch and Judy featured a puppet named Punch who almost always hurt people. The act of killing or hitting characters with his stick (know as a slapstick) brought him pleasure, so he felt pleased with himself afterwards.  Later the show morphed into a lighter, more children’s friendly event, and Punch’s character thankfully became a friendly one.

As one ages either gracefully or not so gracefully(like the beast known as Punch) into the fall season of their lives, their existence is sometimes referred to as being “no spring chicken.”  This seems less than flattering.  Savvy New England chicken buyers agree.

Meaning: Someone who is past his prime
History: New England chicken farmers generally sold chickens in the spring, so the chickens born in the springtime yielded better earnings than the chickens that survived the winter. Sometimes, farmers tried to sell old birds for the price of a new spring chicken. Clever buyers complained that the fowl was “no spring chicken,” and the term came to represent anyone past their prime.

While you may not be as pleased as punch to be looked at as no spring chicken, remember, “age is only a number.”  So says some wise owls.

We wonder why the bigger the birthday number the more likely it’s referred to as only a number?  Actually, we don’t wonder.  We know.

The day is young.  It’s time to get after it.

 

 

 

 

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Quote the Raven “Speed Kills”

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The month ago NFL trade of eleven year veteran, Baltimore Raven Joe Flacco to the Denver Broncos became official yesterday as the new fiscal year of the NFL began.  There were several other trades and a bevy of free agents signing.  To say the pace of play was fast would be understating it all.

Lamar Jackson, the 2018 first round pick and late year starter for the Ravens, was the beneficiary of the trade as the deck was cleared for him to take the full-time starting quarterback position.  The Ravens’ brass hopes that he will be the franchise’s next, well, franchise quarterback.  To say the pace of LJ’s 2018 on field play was fast would be understating it as well.

However, to say his Mercedes-Benz pace was 105 mph on Tuesday would be exactly accurate.  Like a stop watch at the combine, Lamar provided video proof of his fast driving.  He decided to video the needle on 105 and post it on Instagram complete with the no seat belt dash-board indicator on as well as his tapping on the steering wheel to the selected tune of his choice.

On Wednesday the 22-year-old tweeted out an apology saying that “he had made a bad decision.”  We wonder if the bad decision was driving 105 mph, the unhinged seat belt, the phone recording while driving, or the world-wide web post of it all.

Some surely see this as a problem.  We see this as an opportunity for Lamar, his agent, and the Ravens however.  Commercial gain from endorsements, advertisements, or public service announcements can come from this.  Some awesome, and some not as awesome, possibilities follow.

  1. The Raven’s film Lamar getting in the car, buckling up, and driving exactly the posted speed.  Lamar looks into the close up of the camera and quote the  Raven “nevermore.”  A CLIO award awaits.
  2. A video of Lamar’s pure on field speed and elusiveness running in to the endzone for a touchdown fades to a dated video of his 105 mph dash.  The camera cuts to Lamar who states that “speed on the field and off the field kills.  I only speed on grass these days.”  This one is tricky due to the potential dual interpretation of the word “grass” however.
  3. Adidas has Lamar under contract.  They could film him running in his three stripe cleats and have him say “the only thing faster than me in my car is me in my adi kicks.”  Ok, ok, this one needs some work.  But, impossible is nothing.
  4. Mercedes-Benz could film him calmly walking out of the airport from his arrival gate spliced with OJ Simpson’s Hertz commercial running through the airport 30 years ago.  The tag line could be “why run and rent when you can Benz and speed?”  Ok, ok this one needs work too.  But, how about those rental choices from Hertz in 1978?  Fairmont, Mustang, or LTD anyone?
  5. Lamar could go rogue and video himself going 105 the next time he so chooses, and seat belt be damned again.  He could turn the smart phone on to himself and say to the average Joe, “don’t give me any Flaccover this!”  Ah, these kids these days.  Instant Instagram fortune awaits.

We’ll be back after these words from our fine sponsors.

 

 

It’s March Madness and SWA is Flying

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Southwest Airlines ran the popular ad campaign “Need to Get Away for a While?” for several successful years.  In the ads paid actors would say or do something, usually in a business, meeting, or social environment that would cause the room to collectively pause and wonder “did that just happen?”

Yesterday we learned that an often paid actor, Felicity Huffman, paid her way around the college entrance process to get one of her children into a school of higher education that they otherwise would not have qualified for.  Huffman, one of the housewife character actors of Desperate Housewives fame, was a desperate mom it seems.  She wasn’t alone in this scheme that was exposed, not by a long shot.  SWA has non stops from LAX to nearly anywhere.

It amazes us how often big time personalities, either by hook or crook, fall flat on their face.  Did that just happen?

Totally unrelated, it was only Monday when the NFL network had a get away moment.  Charley Casserly, former longtime NFL GM for the Redskins and the Texans, is a “front office/GM expert” for the network.  The NFL Network rolls old Charley out when they need the “why” answered after the “what” has occurred.  Charley was asked why the Cowboys didn’t get the ball to effective wide receiver Cole Beasley more last year.  His answer is right here.  “The Cowboys threw the ball to Dez Bryant too much last year.”  The only problem with the answer is that Dez Bryant didn’t play one snap for Dallas in 2018, not one.  The former star was cut last summer.  Southwest has some great fares to The Bahamas right now.

A few years back during the TBS portion of the NCAA March Madness telecast Charles Barkley called Duke star Justise Winslow’s name just a bit wrong. He called him Winston Justice and knew no differently.  But to one up himself a couple of years later he was asked why a certain NCAA Final 64 team (the name escapes us) trailed another at halftime.  He noted that team’s star player needed to pick up his game in the second half.  The only problem was that said star player had missed this game and the prior two months due to injury.  What might Sir Charles have in store for us this year?

Barkley is paid to be Barkley.  He is quite good at it.  Casserly is paid to be an expert.  He is quite bad at it.  And Huffman illegally paid and/or bribed and/or cheated to get her child in college.  That’s the worst of it.

Given the Madness, it must be March.  Southwest Airlines flight 123 now boarding.

And the Pendulum Swung

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Sixth grade science teaches us that a pendulum can only swing so far in one direction.  It’s momentum is slowed, then eventually halted, by its center of gravity and gravity itself.  That wise professor Nancy Pelosi gave several freshman Democrats a refresher course in just how that pendulum “thing” works yesterday.

Just six weeks or so after hugs and smiles and poses for group pictures had the Democrat freshman representatives positively giddy about a progressive future without greenhouse gasses and that gas-bag Donald Trump guy able to get in the way, Nancy became the center of gravity.  And, suddenly the swing to the left met gravity.

Alexandria Octavio Cortez (AOC) has The Green New Deal and dozens of other far left newbies had the pitchforks and lanterns.  The hunt for green October and the head (figuratively) of Donald Trump was on.

Nancy cleared her throat and in her best Lee Corso voice, pencil in hand, said “not so fast my friends on the left.”  That’s right.  It took a left coast, left leaning liberal to slow the roast.  She said, “I’m not for impeachment. Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it.”   And just like that the old guard put the new guard in place all the while taking a cheap shot at The Donald.

And just like that the old guard put the new guard in place in 2014.  Then it was John Boehner, who took the gavel from Nancy, and Mitch McConnell who relegated the Tea Party incoming revolution to the last row of the Senate and House floors.   Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and a band of brothers had the music momentum stopped.  These upstarts had gone just far enough.  Rhinos forever!  And just like that the darn center of gravity, like Father Time, remained undefeated.  The pendulum headed back towards the middle.

So, where to from here?  AOC and her nearly 60 new Democrat friends feel empowered by the progressive wave that retook the house.  Surely they can push the Green New Deal.  Cost might be a problem though.  Estimates to actually act on its merits range from 40 trillion to nearly 100 trillion, or between 8 and 25 times the yearly federal revenues tax dollars received.

The cost of a Chick-fil-A meal is far less than that.  Sarah Palin left an aforementioned Tea Party rally in 2013 and proudly bought a couple of no. 1 value meals. It made international headlines as a show of support for the conservative christian right led Tea Party and the conservative christian right leadership of Chick-fil-A.  The restaurant chain was under fire then because they closed (and still do) on Sundays.  Heathens demand that the right give them the right to chicken seven days a week.

Support came to the left led Green New Deal yesterday when noted nutritionist, right coast NY Mayor Bill de Blasio proudly announced that soon NY public school lunches would enact, drum roll please, “meatless Mondays.”  Surely this will be a great first step in reducing those pesky emissions all the while helping our young eat healthier.  Government sure knows how to look out for its tired and its poor who know no better.

Perhaps the long running,successful, cow survival campaign by ChickFilA is now dated.  In place of “Eat Mor Chikin” sparing cows it could be “Eat Mor Letus.”  You would save (not kill) two animals with one slogan.  PETA would be so proud.

Speaking of “Letus,” let us pray that sanity returns soon.

Or, it returns at least before the cows come home.