10 Piece Nuggets

Ten Piece Nuggets-Random

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Thoughts sometimes enter and exit the cranium rather randomly.  Today is one of those times.  A deadline nears.

  1.  The White House says that they don’t know anything about the “Let’s Go Brandon!” cheers erupting from coast to coast.  This hardly seems possible.  Although, until last month they may have never heard of Del Rio either.
  2. Janet Yellin wants to tax unrealized capital gains.  Your stock goes from $50 to $60 bucks, you pay a percentage of the $10 even if you haven’t sold the stock. What happens if it goes from $60 to $40 next year?  Does Uncle Sam still allow you to offset the loss and pay you back the money you paid on the gain?
  3.  Dr. Fauci asked us to follow the science.  That hasn’t always worked so well.  But, now we can follow the tweets.  #firefauci has been top ten trending on Twitter for four days in a row now as it was learned that he might be behind cruelty to dogs in lab experiments.  Messing with human lives gets you air time.  Messing with K9s might finally get the old lapdog out of his pulpit.
  4. Northern Cali has had a terrible drought going for a while.  Now it’s concerned with the mega-storm that might have dropped five inches or more of rain.  You’d think that would be good for the area except for some pesky mudslides.  Note to NoCal, regions of the south get five inches of rain multiple times a year.  The sky isn’t falling.
  5. Crew members on the movie “Rust” reportedly used the firearm involved in the death of Halyna Hutchins the morning of the fatal accident for some target practice.  It was then put back with the other “cold guns” on the set.  The problem was it had a live round in it.  Call us crazy but maybe, just maybe, a cache of guns that cannot ever be used conventionally again might be better suited for the whole film industry.
  6. One tweet this AM suggested that if SNL had any “you know whats” they would invite Donald Trump to play Alec Baldwin this Saturday night.  Too soon?  With weekly record low ratings, it might not be too, too soon.
  7.  Northern California doesn’t have all of the bad weather on lockdown either.  Alvin Kamara had this to succinctly say about his trip with the New Orleans Saints to Seattle last MNF evening.  “Every time we come up here the weather is shitty.”
  8. With Zach Wilson sidelined at least two games with a sprained knee, the New York Jets secured quarterback insurance on Monday. They reacquired Joe Flacco in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles.  Raise your hand if you knew Joe Flacco was still in the NFL.
  9. Rumors continue to swirl that a deal between either the Eagles and Texans or the Dolphins and the Texans for DeShaun Watson is nearing as the trade deadline of November 2 nears.  The minimum asking price is three no 1s and at least two other picks or players.  Has a trade in the NFL for one player giving up a plethora ever worked out for the winning bidder?  Does anyone remember the Hershel Walker trade?  The Ricky Williams trade?
  10. The World Series starts tonight and it might be a dandy.  Two good teams get after it.  But wouldn’t it have been way better if the Los Angeles Dodgers could have attempted to exact revenge against the Houston Astros for the 2017 sign-stealing scandal?

Ten Piece Nuggets-Life and Sports

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

BBR’s fall Board of Directors meeting starts tomorrow in an undisclosed location in the Deep South.  This AM we are emptying our files, folders, creatives, thoughts, and tidbits to provide ten very random nuggets.

We’ll likely be dark until Friday when Abby gives us the weekend’s winners.

Business meetings aside, beaches, booze, and ball games beckon.  After all, someone once said all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  Who is this Jack person?

  1.  NFL Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker’s 66 yards long, best-ever field goal beat the Detroit Lions 19-17 yesterday at the game’s end.  It bounced on and then over the crossbar.  The 19-17 final is the same score that the Saints beat the Lions on a 63 yarder at the game’s end by Tom Dempsey 51 years ago.  The Ravens overcame a fourth and nineteen on the last drive to get in range.  They also avoided a blatant delay of game penalty.   Detroit losses in “oh so Detroit” fashion once again.
  2. Aaron Rodgers needed a mere 37 seconds to brilliantly drive the Packers to a final game-winning field goal as well.  After the ugly loss to the New Orleans Saints to open the season, Rodgers has thrown six touchdowns without an interception over the past two weeks.  A few years back he asked everyone to relax after a mid-season loss.  He even spelled it out for reporters. R-E-L-A-X!  In today’s world of instant overreaction, fueled by social media, we forgot to learn that lesson yet again.
  3.  The Raiders, Broncos, Panthers, Rams, and Cardinals are the lone undefeated teams after three weeks.  If you picked that three weeks ago you are one smart, or very very lucky, individual.  The Tampa Bay Bucs lost to those Rams late yesterday breaking a 10 game winning streak.
  4.  “Da Bears” invested the second pick overall last April in Justin Fields and yesterday decided to make him their starting QB.   He was sacked nine times while only throwing six completions versus the Browns for a putrid 68 yards.  Three games in the Bears are 1-2 and have scored a total of 40 points.  Can Head Coach Matt Nagy survive the season?  Doubtful.
  5. That thud that woke you up Saturday night was Clemson dropping to #25 in the AP Top 25 after its second loss of the early season.  North Carolina St. did the deed after Georgia held Clemson to three in the Labor Day weekend opening loss.  Clemson is still ranked, but on reputation only.  The reverberation that you felt was Arkansas pushing Texas A&M around.  A&M fell from too high #7 to #15.
  6. If you haven’t watched the Hogs play, you’re missing the best story of the football year.  Sam Pittman and his fine staff have the Razorbacks at 4-0 and ranked #8. They come at you for 60 minutes and from every angle.  They’ve beaten Rice, Texas, and Texas A&M all thoroughly along the way.  Maybe Friday Night Lights should be filmed in a different state?
  7. Let the annual debate of “does Notre Dame belong in the playoffs” begin.  They started the season slowly but are 4-0.  They started the game in Soldier Field slowly too, but closed strong, beating Wisconsin 41-13.  The Badgers scored a total of 23 against Penn St and ND in two early-season losses against quality opponents.
  8.  Turning to the world that we live in, guess which US state has the highest rate of new infections from the coronavirus?  Alaska.  Cases there have ratcheted up while the south seems to be past the latest peak.  So much for social distancing helping out.  And, you can read all of the state-by-state infection rate blame game info that you want.  The virus doesn’t see, know, or care about state borders.
  9. In fact, it doesn’t care about which country it is in either.  Norway joined Sweden and Denmark in removing all restrictions.  “It has been 561 days since we introduced the toughest measures in Norway in peacetime,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in a Friday news conference. “Now the time has come to return to a normal daily life.”  561 days.  What happened to two weeks to flatten the curve?
  10.  Where’s Brian Laundrie?  “No buzzards, no body,” says Florida cattle rancher Alan McEwen.  He has spent nearly every day of the last 30 years navigating the woods where Brian Laundrie is suspected of hiding and says it’s not conducive to habitation.  “There’s no surviving out here, I don’t know how to say it,” he continued.  Did Laundrie’s parents give the FBI and local officials a head fake when they retrieved the car from the entry point to his hiking in the preserve?  You have to think so.  Laundrie is either alligator food or never was hiding in the swamp.  A really sad story has turned beyond bizarre.

Ten Piece Nuggets-Life

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Like Joe Biden, the BBR staff took the last several days off for vacation.  Biden went to Camp David, while BBR went through the deep and mid-south on a trip to nowhere.  Nuggets await you.

  1. Speaking of a trip to nowhere, American citizens yesterday were told in writing as a response to their formal request to be airlifted out of Afghanistan, and reinforced by a noncommital verbal answer from Press Secretary Jen Psaki, that their exit from the tumult could not be guaranteed by 8/31 nor guaranteed that it could be done safely.  The words shameful and pitiful come to mind.
  2. Has anyone seen the most unpopular VP in decades recently?  Anyone?  Maybe the official Border Fixer Czar is toiling down on the Rio Grande?  Buehler?
  3. The USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy are being prepared for deployment “as needed to assist potentially overwhelmed communities with acute patient care,” Jonathan Rath Hoffman, assistant to the defense secretary for public affairs, said during a news conference today at the Pentagon.  Actually, that was on 3/18/2020.  Do we need them again?  Actually, we didn’t need them then.  So far no governors, including the ones from California and New York that asked 17 months ago, have inquired.
  4. Of course, those two might be too busy seeking their own comfort and asking for mercy for other reasons.  The NY governor resigned a week ago after claiming that his Italian heritage was partially to blame for his inability to keep his hands and thoughts to himself.   The Cali gov is taking on water in a recall election and may need his own lifeline.
  5. What is going to be needed to assist potentially overwhelmed communities with acute patient care is progress on vaccine compliance.  And, we aren’t speaking on the need for all to get jabbed a time or three.  We’re speaking of the state, local, or medical community’s insistence on health care workers getting poked, poked, and poked.  The backlash is real, growing, and about to explode.  Doctors and nurses, like Intel chips and potato chips, will soon be in even shorter supply in certain areas of the country as they walk out, quit, or move.
  6. If a nurse wants to move to Phoenix one hospital chain announced opportunities that pay $5,500 per 48-hour workweek starting immediately.  You read that right. If you like your nurse you can keep your nurse. Not.  It’s estimated that between 70-75% of the medical professionals in NY are or plan to get vaccinated.  It’s a dry heat.
  7. One baseball adage is that the baseball always finds the weak link on the team.  Gas prices, border crisis, crime waves, Afghanistan missteps, etc.  Hey, how’s the covid thing coming along?  Oh, it’s not Biden’s fault?  Of course, it isn’t.  Back then it wasn’t Trump’s either, but the media put it on him and he put some of it on himself.  Now, it’s the Republicans who won’t mask up, or needle up. Or, the media just calls it Texas and Florida.  It’s never too early to start discrediting DeSantis, is it?
  8. How will the narrative metastasize when the northern states go back to school (and the weather sends everyone indoors more often) and they light up as well?  Queue the “we need all Americans to get a booster” battle cry.  If one was good, and two was better, a third will make it best.  You can expect the CDC to announce any day now that anyone who got shot #2 more than eight months ago should get a booster.
  9. What percent compliance is reasonable to expect for a third shot?  The guess here is that no more than half of the vaccinated will go the booster route.  So while the noise loudens for complete vaccination, will the noise crescendo against it simultaneously?
  10. How will those states, counties, and cities that will require a vaccine passport enforce it?  If you have a two-shot vaccine passport it’s good till eight months after your last shot?  It will be like walking into a 7/11 store.  “You must be born after 8/18/2000 to be able to purchase cigarettes.”  Maybe CVS can start stamping the passport like when you leave for France.  All aboard.

Buckle up.  The fun is just starting.

Six(?) Piece Nuggets-Random

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Let’s make a deal.  We’ll feed you as many nuggets as we can cook up by 8:30 CDT.  We’re late against the deadline. So, hopefully, you’re not too ravaged this fine summer Friday morning.

  1.  LA County has reinstituted face masks as mandatory due to a barely discernable blip on their new cases tracking graph.  Too soon?  Time will tell.  Cali was the first to declare a state-wide emergency when the pandemic spread across the US last March.  One wonders why they are waiting five days prior to instituting it if it’s that dire, however.
  2. After ripping his driver and then getting ripped right back by a representative from Cobra Golf, Bryson DeChambeau issued an apology Thursday, saying he was “unprofessional” and that his emotions got the best of him after a bad first round at The Open.  Mr. Physics needs a Mr. Psych.  His brain operates on a plane that is either way ahead or way behind most of ours.  You pick.
  3. The Biden Administration openly admitted that they were working closely with Facebook to eliminate negative or contrary views to the vaccine.  Big government and Big Tech can do wonderful things together.  This isn’t one of them.  Big Tech is a bunch of companies that can control messaging to the degree that their posters tolerate.  When government helps, it’s not helping.  Boil it down to one word-censorship.
  4. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for more transparency from the Chinese Communist dictatorship, admitting getting access to raw data had been a challenge for the W.H.O. team that traveled to China earlier this year to investigate the source of the virus.    It’s weird that a year ago he ripped Donald Trump’s speech asking for an investigation. That’s an Olympic-sized flip.  Comforting.  Rip, then flip.  Bonus points for any reader that pronounces his name correctly the first time.  We’ll wait.
  5. A judge ordered free-agent cornerback Richard Sherman be released from jail without bail Thursday following his arrest on suspicion of trying to break into his in-laws’ home northeast of Seattle.  King County District Court Judge Fa’amomoi Masaniai found probable cause that Sherman committed four offenses: misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor charges of criminal trespass in the second degree, malicious mischief in the third degree — both carrying domestic violence designations — and misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and driving under the influence.   Where’s the #metoo outrage?  The race to the bottom is hotly contested between Portland, Seattle, and the Big Apple.
  6. “We stand in solidarity with the Cuban people and condemn the suppression of the media, speech, and protest. We also call for an end to the U.S. embargo and additional Trump-era restrictions that are profoundly contributing to the suffering of Cubans.”  That was AOC’s tweet yesterday.  Is there a lick of doubt that the DNC has polling data that shows that blaming anything on Donald J. Trump plays well with the Democrat’s base?

We asked if someone could call the weatherman in the South last week to get the rain to stop.  Consider this a second request.

 

Ten (Five) Piece Nuggets-Random

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Today we continue with our lighter summer menu.  If you’re a swimmer digesting five nuggets cuts your out-of-water time down as well.  Enjoy.

  1.  The nation’s VP was at it again.  On Thursday’s “CBS This Morning” Harris responded on whether she’d compromise by agreeing to voter ID provisions to pass voting legislation by stating that we shouldn’t downplay the impact voter ID laws could have. Because to some, voter ID means, “you’re going to have to Xerox or photocopy your ID to send it in to prove that you are who you are.” And many people live where “there’s no Kinko’s, there’s no OfficeMax near them.”  We wonder if 1) you could show up at the polling place with your ID, or, 2) take a photo of it with your phone, or, 3) go to any local library, DMV, or post office and get a $0.10 copy made, or 4) use your in-home printer to make one?  Also, she failed to mention Office Depot, but we digress.
  2. Here comes Pfizer to the rescue.  Pfizer is ready to seek U.S. authorization for a third dose of its coronavirus vaccine, outlining Thursday a top-up shot within 12 months could dramatically boost immunity and maybe help ward off any virus mutant.  The Delta variant cometh.  Pfizer’s Dr. Mikael Dolsten told the Associated Press early data from the company’s booster study suggests people’s antibody levels rise five- to 10-fold after a third dose, compared to their second dose months earlier.  This could mean that Biden’s house-to-house calls will need three trips to “get er dun.”   Will Moderna recommend four shots?  The inoculation race is on.
  3.  The husband of our Speaker of the House, Paul Pelosi perfectly timed the market again. Mr. Pelosi bought Amazon call options just six weeks before the Pentagon announced it was canceling a multi-billion dollar contract with Microsoft and starting a new one that opened a door for Amazon’s participation.  On Tuesday, the Biden Pentagon abruptly announced it was canceling its multi-billion JEDI cloud services contract with Microsoft and starting a new one that Amazon could compete for.  Amazon zoomed to an all-time high the day of the announcement.  On May 21, 2021, Pelosi purchased more Amazon call options worth as much as $1,000,000.  It was his second timely market move in the last three years on government contracts and cloud computing.  Nothing to see here.
  4. Moving on.  In Paris for Fashion Week, James Harden was stopped by police on Thursday but not arrested, the city prosecutor’s office said.  French media reports said that the Brooklyn Nets star, who has been seen around Paris with rappers Kanye West and Lil Baby, was on the street when a car was stopped after police smelled cannabis.  To be clear, Harden was not in the car, just a concerned visiting citizen. After accepting an Olympic invite, Harden had to withdraw due to a lingering hamstring injury.  Did the Nets’ team doctor prescribe traipsing around Europe as part of his rehab? Sounds good.  Maybe the weed in the car was nothing but a medicinal delivery.
  5. Halfway through the Major League Baseball season, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the +125 betting favorites to represent the NL in the 2021 World Series?  Who is the favorite in the AL?  It’s the Houston Astros at +175.  The San Diego Padres are the second choice in the NL at +330 while the Chicago White Sox are second in the AL at +250.  Can you imagine a repeat of the 2017 WS pitting the Dodgers vs. the then cheating Astros?  To quote Vin Scully, ” you can almost taste the pressure” if that matchup were to happen.

It rains quite a bit(too much) in the south this time of the year.

Limit-Five Nuggets per Reader

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Happy Fourth of July soon enough!  BBR starts its midyear conference tomorrow through 7/6.  It will be replete with sand, sun (hopefully), food, adult beverages, and fireworks.

Our intent today, getaway day, was to bring you a serving of Ten Piece Nuggets.  But, with inflation the way it is trending, and labor and commodity shortages what they are, we are forced to limit the product much like toilet paper of a year gone by.

So, as they say-eat slowly.  You’ll get filled up unless you’re looking for gasoline.

Five nuggets follow.

  1. Gas prices across the United States are at their highest level since late 2014 with shortages predicted in the run-up to the Fourth of July holiday weekend.  According to AAA, the national average on Tuesday is about $3.11 per gallon and by this weekend, that figure may rise another nickel. Gas station signs in LA yesterday showed $5.29 a gallon, while prices topped off at $5.95 a gallon in NY to top it off.  The Yankees might be fourth in MLB’s NL East, but they’re first in price per gallon. Tell the last person leaving NY to turn out the lights.

  2. The World Health Organization (W.H.O.), warned Monday that the pandemic is not over and said it is not yet time to return to normal and “encourage a lot of social mixing.”   Good luck with that.  Last week, W.H.O. officials began urging vaccinated individuals to wear masks again over variant concerns.  Good luck with that as well.  According to CNN, the rise of the Delta variant could have Biden administration officials rethinking public health measures.  Didn’t they just pat themselves on the back with the nation’s vaccination milestones?  Enter the Delta variant.

  3. The old and successful tactic of doing one thing and blaming/accusing the other side of doing it was on full display earlier this week.  When the latest city homicide figures splashed across the various mediums, the Dems went on the offensive.  The trigger(pun intended)?  The year-over-year death totals spiked dramatically.  The Democrats then took to the airwaves blaming the Republicans for wanting to defund the police.  What’s scarier than soaring homicide rates?  People believing the Democrat’s line is what is scarier.  Most interesting of all is that nearly all of the cities with runaway percentages are run ship to stern by the party whose mascot is a donkey.
  4.  Turning to sports-the Indianapolis Colts received approval Tuesday to host full capacity crowds at their home games this season, becoming the final NFL team to receive approval from their local government.  We’d have bet money that one of the left coast or NY teams would have been the last.  Maybe that’s why they’re referred to as progressive after all?  We’ll soon see if one or more of the 32 teams craters to the big variant scare.
  5. And, in the dog days of summer, the Mississippi St. Bulldogs have an opportunity tonight to accomplish a first in school history.  Moo St. has never won a major college title in any of the big-time sports.  Never.  After getting walloped by Vanderbilt in the College Baseball World Series game one (8-2), the Bulldogs growled last evening.  They evened the series at one apiece with a 13-2 blowout of the Commodores.  Errors and walks have dominated both lopsided scores.  Tonight, both teams throw their aces on short rest.  We can’t envision a blowout tonight.  But, we could see a third straight rain-delayed start.  Vandy has a chance to go back to back as they won it all in 2019.  The 2020 season, like Democrats’ cries to defund the police, never happened.

Enjoy the fireworks.  And, enjoy not wearing a mask at least for now.

 

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Random

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Thoughts, we have a few.  Nuggets, we have ten for you.

Sports and culture, and for that matter politics, seem joined at the hip these days.  So, we are here to serve.

      1.  College baseball is in full swing, pun intended.  Last Friday through today, the 16 who thrived in the week ago regionals went head to head in the Super Regionals.  With college football setting tv and attendance records and college basketball loyalty to March Madness, we wonder why college baseball doesn’t get more run.
      2.  Do we watch less tv as the weather warms?  Yes.  It’s time to swim, bbq, and go on vacation perhaps.  But, the stories, the drama, and the overall quality of the game seem underappreciated to us.  For example reigning champ, Vanderbilt has an ace and a deuce named Rocker and Leiter.  Or, maybe it’s Leiter and Rocker as co aces?  One leads the NCAA in strikeouts and the other is a close second depending on who threw last.  They’ll both go in the top ten of the upcoming MLB draft.  The Vandy duo and late-inning relievers allowed East Carolina one run in 18 innings.
      3. They’ll be tough to beat with that one-two punch.  But, the unknown is the only known in the college game.  Take the N.C. State v. the national number one seeded Arkansas Razorbacks three-game set as proof.  On Friday  Arkansas pummeled the Wolfpack 21-2.  Yes, 21-2.  Surely Saturday would be a 9 inning coronation for Arkansas culminating in a punched ticket to Omaha.  Cue Lee Corso.  Not so fast my friend.  State beat the Hogs 6-5 on Saturday and punched their Omaha pass with a 3-2 win on Sunday.  N.C. State was a 2 seed in the regionals and a huge underdog to the Hogs.
      4. Joining State and Vandy are Stanford (who took Texas Tech’s lunch money in Lubbock), Tennessee(far better than LSU), Arizona(solid performance), and Texas so far.  Dallas Baptist and Virginia play midday today while Mississippi and Notre Dame do tonight.  Winners move on, losers go home.
      5. Before we leave the college baseball game we have one question.  Why does anyone play on artificial turf south of the Mason Dixon Line?  Come on Vandy and others.  You have PLENTY of athletics department TV money.  Plant some grass and buy some dirt.  The only thing worse than artificial turf is brown artificial turf disguised as mud around the basepaths.  Worst of all?  Glad you asked.  The mounds and home plate areas of some parks are “fake mud” too.   It’s a bad look and we would imagine a bad brush burn, sliding pants or not, as well.
      6. Are you watching the NBA?  Every week a column pops that says fewer and fewer of us are.  Are we tired of the game that’s three-pointers after three-pointers?  Or, are we tired of the social agenda that the league embraced a year ago and remain hungover from it?  Both?  With Lebron and the Lakers already home we guess that the LA market viewership is not what the league wishes for this time of the year, either.  Though the Clippers are alive and on the other coast so is Brooklyn who is locked in what looks like a seven-game set with the Milwaukee Bucks.
      7. In the NFL offseason, Le’Veon Bell punched his ticket too.  Saturday he publicly stated his strong preference to not play for Andy Reid and the KC Chiefs ever again.  This is after a run in Pittsburgh where he wore out his welcome, as well as a brief stay with the NY Jets.  “I said what I said & I don’t regret at all what I said…for those who have a PERSONAL PROBLEM with me because of what I SAID, that’s fine…you have your right! just understand I ALSO have MY RIGHT for how I feel about MY PERSONAL problem with dude because of what HE SAID to me.”  Sounds PERSONAL with a capital P and more to us.
      8. Jon Voight, easily one of the top actors of the last fifty years, has had it with what he calls the hypocrisy of the left and the compliant media.  This time it’s about the “look past” of Hunter Biden’s latest problems.   He expresses that in a two-minute reflective video.  He’s done a few and clearly feels very comfortable in his skin in expressing his mostly conservative viewpoint.  That’s rare in Hollywood, but so is Jon Voight.   If he didn’t earn fifty awards for his portrayal of the Mickey Donovan character in the big hit series Ray Donovan, he should have.
      9. President Joe Biden’s expansive and expensive infrastructure plan/bill is running into roadblocks, pun intended again.  Progressive Dems want more climate change money while moderate Dems want less.  He’d like to get this through with bipartisan support.  But, moderate Republicans want even less cc money, while conservatives want none whatsoever.  It seems like it’s hard to please everyone and their agendas.  Good luck.
      10. Meanwhile, while we know this was last week’s news, we feel the need to comment.  Dr. Anthony Fauci said last week if you take exception to him, you take exception to the way overused narrative “the science.”  Please!  And, he said so while speaking in the third person.  The big ego of that diminutive man always impresses.  Less talk and more legit China investigation and China cooperation about the origin of the China Virus seem like the path we should be headed down.

You’ve been served.

Ten Piece Nuggets-Random

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Back by popular demand is our Ten Piece Nuggets column, random style.  Who knew that your taste buds would be so approving last week?  You did, and you told us as much.  Sports, news, politics make for some good hash to hash out.

  1. Bitcoin hit a high for the year and its existence of $64,895 on April 14.  Just 40 days later, Sunday, it was down 50% from that high, standing roughly at $32,000.  If anyone reading this understands virtual money give our staff a buzz at 1-800-SAY-WHAT.   Imagine if it was our standard currency.  In 40 days the price of a loaf of bread would have doubled as your purse was effectively cut in half.
  2. Of course, if anyone understands how our government can print money virtually day and night in the last 12 months, please call too.  Have you noticed prices creeping north at your local grocer?  The word from your government is that these increases are only temporary as demand surges post-pandemic.  We aren’t so sure.
  3. The Pope is at it again.  This time he tells us mere mortals that we’ve been abusing planet Earth.    For a long time, the earth “has suffered from the wounds that we cause due to a predatory attitude, which makes us feel like owners of the planet and its resources and authorizes us to irresponsibly use the goods that God has given us,” the pope declared in a video message for the launch of the Laudato Si platform, a seven-year ecological project.  “From the hands of God we have received a garden; we cannot leave our children a desert,” he declared.  Speaking of abuse, didn’t the church already leave a few children in the worst desert of all?  Some folks just can’t stay in their lane.
  4. Everyone is a climate change expert.  Listening to the pope, live-alone bachelor Al Gore must be smiling inside of his 10,070-square-foot estate near Nashville, Tennessee. Though a report by the National Center for Public Policy Research said that according to data obtained from the Nashville Electric Service, a public electric company that powers Mr. Gore’s home and most of Nashville, the 20-room mansion used 230,889 kilowatt-hours of electricity during the 12 months ending in 2019.  That’s roughly 21 times more than the 10,812 kWh a year used up by the typical American household, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.  Lucky for him, his invention of the internet easily pays for such excess.
  5. Meanwhile, another expert, this one on infectious diseases, said this one year ago in May of 2020.  “If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and what’s out there now, is very, very strongly leaning towards this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated the way the mutations had naturally evolved,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci.
  6.  And now?  Fauci was asked by PolitiFact managing editor Katie Sanders late last week if he still believed the virus was developed naturally.   “No, actually,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) said. “I’m not convinced about that, and I think we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we continue to find out to the best of our ability exactly what happened.”    One mask, two masks,  Red mask, blue mask.  We borrowed those words and manipulated them a bit from another doctor who has been outed.  Dr. Suess.
  7. Brooks Koepka got swept up in the mass of humanity that rolled towards the 18th green Sunday as 50-year-old Phil Mickelson won the PGA Championship. But, he’s yet to get swept up in the Bryson DeChambeau craze.  This video proves that and then some.  It’s a must-see for 45 seconds.  Even though Bryson is making big bucks on the big tour, he’s obviously living rent-free in Brooks’ cranium.
  8. “They” say that there is nothing like playoff hockey.  “We” agree with “they.”  Overtimes, tied series, and nonstop end to end skating take us back to yesteryear when we didn’t have to listen to social blah blah, jerseys with causes in place of names, and incessant whining about all that’s wrong in a world that is and always has been far from perfect.  It’s only a hunch, but we’re guessing that the tv ratings are way up for the NHL playoffs right about now.  And, they accomplish all of these ridiculous athletic moves on ice skates.  Drop the puck.
  9.  Aaron Rodgers’ feelings are hurt.  Brian Gutekunst, the Green Bay GM who drafted his eventual replacement, is his target.  “I think sometimes people forget what really makes an organization,” Rodgers said Monday. “History is important, the legacy of so many people who’ve come before you. But the people, that’s the most important thing.  Culture is built brick by brick, the foundation of it by the people, not by the organization, not by the building, not by the corporation. It’s built by the people.”  Well said, Aaron.  And, you’re one of the people. In fact, you’re the most important person on and perhaps off of the field in the organization.  Swallow that immense pride and huge ego and buckle up your chinstrap, please.  Vince Lombardi is looking down at you while looking down at you from above.
  10. As MLB approaches the 1/3rd mark on the season, who leads the AL East?  It’s not the Boston Red Sox, nor the New York Yankees.  They are the big spenders.  It’s the Tampa Bay Rays, again. Tampa Bay won it in 2020.  They would be the ideal team for a remake of the great movie Moneyball.  The league average for entire organizational salaries is $258 million.  The Yankees are spending $402, while the Sox ( or Sawks if you hail from there) stand at $352.  Tampa?  Glad you asked.  They’re getting it done with $126.

Till then, later.

Ten Piece Nuggets-Random

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

We picked 10 crayons out of our box of 64 and sharpened them for good reason.  We want to color outside of the lines this AM.

So, enjoy some opinions mixed with facts and some sports mixed with news and politics.  Why not?  Journalism as you knew it is dead and gone anyway.  Your nuggets are served.

  1.  Inflation is upon us and everyone knows it but the Federal Reserve it seems.  The worst of it all, you ask? No, it’s not soaring lumber prices.  It’s the government.  When you print money and give it to the minions they stay home.  Employers, desperate to reopen after the too-long shutdowns, are having to pay up to get them back to work to climb over the handouts.  Free money, yea!
  2. Governor Greg Abbott joined a few other governors yesterday as he will pull the plug on any “free federal individual relief money starting June 1.”  His message is simple, “go to work.”  If you feed ducks every day they’ll wait in the same spot for you every morning and quack happily when you get out of your car with the loaf of bread.
  3.  Nothing is free.  We repeat. Nothing.  America is only borrowing against itself.  You owe the money, it just doesn’t hit your email inbox once a month looking like a Visa or Discover bill.  It’s called the national debt.  If you’re wondering it crossed over 28 trillion and counting.  But, who is counting?
  4. We’ll recognize this 9/11 that 20 years have passed since many passed during the attack on 9/11/01.  Shortly after the tragedy, a terrorist was arrested with a bomb device in his shoe on a plane bound for the US.  Since then we’ve dutifully taken our shoes off every time we pass through an airport scanner.  The scanners cost about one million dollars a copy.  Twenty years later we’re still buying them like hotcakes and they still can’t detect harmful shoes.
  5. Speaking of planes, if you fly soon, the pilot will remind you that keeping your mask on for the flight duration is mandatory.  That is unless you are drinking the drinks or eating the food that the flight attendants serve you.  So, stay safe unless you’re adding to the biggest problem you can have if you get the dreaded Covid-19.  Obesity.    And, they keep making the seats smaller, but we digress.
  6. Speaking of Governor Abbott, his thinking, when he said Texas “stay home” was no longer a couple of months back, was labeled “Neanderthal thinking” by President Joe Biden.  Biden’s old enough to know we suppose.  Yesterday Texas recorded no deaths from Covid-19.  We aren’t saying Abbott was right, and perhaps he was even too early.  We are saying that many books will be written about the multiple missteps this nation has taken and will continue to take surrounding this pandemic.  At least he allowed individuals to choose.
  7.  As of this past weekend, 122 million Americans are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.  That’s 37% of our country’s population.  Several states are offering incentives to get vaccinated.  Free Lyft rides to and fro, free french fries (how bad is that?), and five chances in Ohio to become a millionaire are but a few of the “come and get its.”  It says here that the total will not pass 60%, ever.
  8. Trainer Bob Baffert was suspended Monday from entering horses at New York racetracks, pending an investigation into Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit’s failed post-race drug test.  Baffert has had five violations involving impermissible levels of medication in his horses over the past 13 months.  It’s a real black eye for a sport when people at the top of it are accused or “convicted” of cheating.  Ask any Houston Astro if you need further proof.
  9. One year ago LeBron James was all for the NBA’s idea of play in playoff games.  A few weeks back he tweeted, and we directly quote, “whoever came up with that s*** needs to be fired.”  The King himself will grace us with his presence as is LA  Lakers will play the Golden State Warriors in the play-in tourney and need one win to secure the seventh seed.   A man has a right to change his mind.  Now about China, LeBron?
  10.  Last year Lake Charles, LA bore the brunt of not one but two hurricanes just weeks apart.  If you drive through the city of about 100k you still see the aftermath.  Then, this late February a once in a one hundred years freeze wreaked havoc on the southern city that isn’t built anticipating deep freezes.  Yesterday, more than eight inches of rain fell in a few hours and flooded many homes and businesses that just reopened.  Maybe there is something to this climate change rhetoric after all.  Or, maybe it’s just bad luck on top of bad luck.  Either way, it’s another serious gut-punch after the fight should have been called.  Plenty of more rain is expected in the next 96 hours.

If you live near the Gulf Coast, stay dry.  If you live elsewhere enjoy the Spring day.

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Random Leftovers

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Does it frighten you to look into the back of your refrigerator from time to time and grimace at a plastic container of leftovers that you had no idea were still north of the disposal?  We understand.  Sometimes one of our staffers has the same problem with some very random nuggets rolling around in the back of his cranium.  Time to clean it out.

  1.  Next Saturday features “the fastest two minutes in sports.”  It will be Kentucky Derby day.  Can you name today just one horse entered for the prestigious Run for the Roses next Saturday?  No?  Understood.
  2. But isn’t it funny how you will wind up yelling at a flat-screen TV for a jockey and a horse that you won’t remember the name of by water cooler Monday?  Heck, you might even place a bet on the said horse.   Why not?  You still have a few bucks left from your stimulus check, don’t you?
  3. King James stepped in it again yesterday.  In a quickly deleted tweet he called out the police for killing the teen who had the knife in hand in Columbus.  He also decided #ACCOUNTABILITY was a good way to give a bad idea some social media air.  We’re still waiting on accountability from China on many fronts, but we digress.
  4. And, while we are picking on the King, shouldn’t he drop the nickname “King?”  First, it’s gender-specific unless we missed the discussion that now recognizes females as kings as well.  Second, it’s someone who takes from his minions to enhance his lifestyle.
  5. His President, Joe Biden, thinks just the opposite way though.  Biden’s proposed a possible 43.4 percent capital gains tax for wealthy Americans yesterday.  What did Wall Street think?  The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 400 points on Thursday afternoon after Bloomberg reported the details of the plan.  “His view, and the view of our economic team, is that won’t have a negative impact,” said his press secretary Jen Psaki.   Hmm.
  6. And much like the King should reconsider “King,” shouldn’t Biden eliminate the word “secretary” from any and all of the government positions that carry that title?  It seems like a layup and then a victory lap (or nap for him) waiting to happen.
  7. The controversial activist group Black Lives Matter criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Wednesday after the speaker thanked George Floyd for “sacrificing” his life for justice, calling her remarks “so damn disrespectful.”  The party from the left was in such lockstep with BLM prior to the election.  Pelosi is political Teflon though.  She’ll be back on Capitol Hill doing the people’s business on Monday thank goodness.
  8. The hype for the NFL Draft next week is in full swing.  Will you watch some of the three-day extravaganza?  No sports organization markets itself like the NFL.  No one.  Punch “NFL Draft” into Google. It’s pretty astonishing that a single event generates 243 million results in 0.22 seconds.
  9. Who’s your team taking in the latest mock draft?  If you don’t like the predicted choice, fret not.  “Experts” as ESPN labels them usually get only about 25% of the first round correct.  If you like the choice you might start fretting, however.  NFL teams’ success rate (offering their choice a second contract after the first has run its course) is only about 53%.
  10. Last year the NFC East Division didn’t have a team with a winning record as the season ended.  Awful.  Worst ever.  Is MLB’s East Divison in the NL going to follow up that ineptness with its own?  Three weeks into the season the Mets, Phillies, Nationals, Marlins, and Braves are a combined five games under .500 and none have a winning record.  Surely the Braves have too much talent to stay below .500.  And, how much longer can they keep the name Braves, as we digress for the last time this week. #stoppedthechop

Happy Weekend.