Life

Take Out This Week’s Trash

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

To put a lid on the national discourse trash that this week was, we offer you an important Baltimore Sun op ed read below.  Was it just a week or so ago that President Trump lashed out at Baltimore based Congressman Elijah Cummings’ district after old Elijah lashed out at Trump for all of the “caged” children at the border?  Was it just a week ago that we learned that “infested” is a racially charged word?

A pro Trump supporter and over 170 volunteers descended on West Baltimore to take out the trash.   Whether it was a publicity stunt or not, time will tell.  But what is so telling is the plight of the people in the blight of the rat infested neighborhoods.  What is also so telling is a newspaper writing that the poor people cannot keep their own neighborhood clean.  Does income have anything to do with cleanliness and pride?  Do drug dealers really have anything to do with keeping the trash in place?

Maybe next week will be better.  The weekend is here, everyone should take a deep breath at 5:00 pm today, pop open a beer at 5:01 pm, and chill the hell out until 8:00 am Monday.

The link to the quick read and amazingly telling, in so many ways, opinion piece is here.

Gun Control Is a Mind Game.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Saturday 20 people lost their lives in an El Paso, Texas mass shooting inside of a crowded Walmart store.  Dozens more were injured.   Early yesterday morning nine people lost their lives (including the sister of the shooter) in a crowded downtown entertainment area mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio.  Dozens more were injured as well.   And in California just last Sunday yet another mass shooting took place during a harmless outdoor festival.

Everyone agrees that all three incidents were terrible.   And everyone feels that all three incidents were avoidable.  But, were they?

Alexjandro Bedoya thinks so.   He told the crowd at the MLS game in Washington DC, right after he scored a goal, as much.  He wants Congress to do something to end gun violence. You can see the short clip here.

Elizabeth Warren and Don Lemon think that they have the answers too.  They blame Trump for fanning the flames of white nationalism.  We didn’t attach the clips because we feel like you have heard their cries before.  However, there is no concrete nor credible evidence that the Cali nor Ohio shootings follow that narrative.  The El Paso one does seem like a hate/racist crime at this point but attaching it to Trump is only a matter of opinion.

A few years ago a few mass shootings were blamed by many on radical Muslims that President Obama wouldn’t label as such.  And, there was the awful Sandy Hook elementary school killing when a deranged 20 year old who killed his school teaching mom, six adults, and 20 school aged children.

In June of 2017 during a practice session for the annual Congressional Baseball Game for Charity in Alexandria, Virginia, James Hodgkinson shot U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, U.S. Capitol Police officer Crystal Griner, congressional aide Zack Barth, and lobbyist Matt Mika.  The Virginia Attorney General concluded Hodgkinson’s attack was “an act of terrorism fueled by rage against Republican legislators”.

In a tweet just minutes ago, Trump said: “We cannot let those killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, die in vain.”

“Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform,” Trump continued. “We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!”

How long do you think it will be before the Democrats chastise Trump for trying to tie immigration reform to strong background checks?  Will it be by the time you read this?  Sooner?

So, it seems, this past week like in past years everyone has an opinion on why someone opened fire on innocent people.  But, it seems like the reasons actually vary wildly.  And, the pleas for gun control, gun legislation, background checks, banning assault rifles, bump stocks, semi automatics, and automatics pour out loud into the national conversation/debate.

Gun control.  How do you “gun control?”  Or, how do you control guns?  The Second Amendment gives Americans the right to bear arms.  There are 330 million of them in the possession of Americans the fifty states over.  All of the above debate doesn’t control and can’t control those already available.  And you can strengthen or lengthen background checks.  The Brady Bill mandates five days.  Does waiting, say, ten days vs five make any difference?  Bump stocks?  We banned them.  That mattered not this past week.

Weekly, one or two at a time, hundreds die across the US due to gun violence.  Some shootings are justified, while many, many are not.  But mass shootings get our attention because of their randomness and so many innocent lives lost in one fell swoop.

What all of the above doesn’t address is mental illness, pure and simple.  If someone is diagnosed as mentally ill and has easy access to a gun, they shouldn’t have.  But, we submit, that ANYONE who opens fire on innocent people anywhere is mentally ill whether they are clinically diagnosed as such or not.  Why?  Shooters choose to shoot.  Consciously they make a decision to load a gun, drive to a location, and open fire over any alternative available to them to do otherwise.  And they do so for any many different reasons.   Any of those “easy out” reasons makes them choose to shoot.  And, that makes them in our eyes mentally ill.

You can’t “control” the human mind.  You can’t “legislate” it either.  You can only attempt to make it feel loved.  You can only attempt to educate it.

It makes us very uneasy when we can’t diagnose a root cause of a problem and put guard rails in to minimize or prevent it from occurring again.  Even in this very divided nation, strong minds would find an answer if there was an answer.  And, we would implement it.

But, so far, strong minds have no solution for broken minds.

 

 

 

Phone A Friend

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Twenty years and 363 shows and counting Who Wants to be a Millionaire? keeps on putting out content that keeps viewers wanting more.  It’s won 7 daytime Emmy’s and is ranked as the sixth most popular game show in viewership in TV history.

Falling just shy of that is boomboomsroom.com (BBR).  It’s getting close to one year on Al Gore’s internet and is now over 275 posts.  We’ve won no awards and aren’t ranked on any list of popular websites.  YET!

Our reader feedback has been way more good than bad while still in our infancy.  We are learning every day and hopefully in your eyes getting better every day.  We feel like our content has now earned us the right to grow our readership.  And, we are politely asking for your help to do so.

If you think a friend, biz associate, or family member would like to read what we write please invite them to join our small, but growing community.   It’s quite easy of course.  You can send them a link, and tell them that we post most every Monday thru Friday.  Or, you could ask them to subscribe as you might have at the bottom of the home page.  Or, if they agree, you could just send us their preferred email (easy peasy) and we’ll handle the rest ASAP.  Some of you have done this more than a few times and we are grateful.

Remember, it’s just an email a day to them at 9 AM CST only on days that we have new content.  It’s free to subscribe/read, has no ads, and no spam.

And, most importantly, the website is far safer than our Russian interfered with election process.  Ask Mueller.  Never mind.

So please do two things for us.  One, phone (or text) a friend or ten and get them on board with us.  And, two, have a super weekend.

 

 

Till Monday

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

It’s going to be 98 degrees today in H Town.  We’re getting out early for some exercise and then some golf.   Why?  Because Saturday and Sunday are forecasted to be 104 degrees.   It’s called climate change.  Today 98, tomorrow 104.  Change.  It’s going from damn hot to unbearable.   We’ll be back Monday with a blockbuster article.

Happy weekend!

Fore.

Boom Boom’s Life Lessons #16.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

One of the many gifts that Boom Boom gave us was the torrent of quips about how one leads one’s life.   He could say so much by saying so little.   A statement at just the right moment resonated in my young, eager eardrums.  How I interpreted or applied it was up to me.  No more words were spoken because no more words were needed.

One of the positive learnings that came out of being raised Catholic and attending Catholic schools was learning to give back, or to volunteer for worthy causes.  Back then an optional group for men to join in that effort at their parish church was called “The Holy Name Society.”  Members met one Sunday every month after church to discuss past, present, and potential future endeavors that they collectively voted on as worthwhile to help the a person, family, or community in some way.

From that was born “The Junior Holy Name Society.”  Young and eager to emulate Boom Boom, I joined the group the first year that you could at age 8.  All of the fathers and sons would meet as the main group, then the two would split to hold their own meetings for a few minutes.

Boom Boom rose to the level of President a couple of years later.  I was in awe that he could speak in front of a group of 40 or so, and led them through many charitable endeavors.  His sincerity, combined with his knowledge, captivated his audience and much good came from that.  I liked being in the big meetings more than being with the juniors just to watch him.

One meeting’s main topic was the decision to rebuild a part of a widow’s house damaged by yet another strong summer southern storm.  There were some dissenters and disagreement voiced throughout the time spent on how to and the cost to do so.  Repeatedly Boom Boom called on others and others to voice their thoughts on specific parts.  We(he) even brought in a couple of construction guys to be able to answer some questions.

Through it all Boom Boom barely spoke.  He only asked questions along the way.  It seemed like an odd meeting to this 10 year old.  Driving home I asked, “Dad, why didn’t you talk more today?”  “I don’t know much about remodeling nor plumbing son.”  I sat clueless for a minute thinking about how this was different from his approach in the other meetings.  “Yes you do,” I thought and said.  “No, I don’t.  It’s important to know what you don’t know.”  

I didn’t know then that my dad didn’t know everything about everything.  But, now, looking back, I realize that he was smart even when he wasn’t.

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-The Declaration of Independence

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Two hundred and forty-three years and one day ago America, then 13 Constitutional Colonies, declared it’s independence from British rule.  But, did you know that the document wasn’t signed that day?  It was ratified.   It’s interesting trivia.  And here are some other facts leading up to and after 7/4/1776 that are a part of the Ten Piece (Declaration of Independence) Nuggets that follow.

  1. The Declaration of Independence (DOI) was actually written on July 2nd.  It took congress two days to debate and eventually ratify it on July 4th.
  2. The final approved text was reproduced into 200 or so copies to be distributed to the thirteen colonies.  Philadelphia printer John Dunlop did the work.  The copies are referred to as the “Dunlop broadsides” accordingly.
  3. It is believed today that there are only 26 known and authenticated copies that remain from the “original” copies.
  4. One such copy was discovered by a man who bought a painting at a flea market in Philly in 1989.  He bought the painting and the hidden gem behind it for $4.  He sold the copy of the DOI for $8.1 million a couple of years later.
  5.  The ratifying delegates actually didn’t begin to sign the DOI until August 2nd.  Some signed even later.  Fifty six eventually signed the original.  And, two, John Dickson and Robert Livingston never signed it at all.
  6. One signer, Richard Stockton, a lawyer from Princeton, New Jersey, became the only signer of the DOI to recant his support of the revolution. On November 30, 1776, the he was captured by the British and thrown in jail. After months of harsh treatment and paltry rations, Stockton repudiated his signature and swore his allegiance to King George III.   Later in life he pledged his allegiance to the US all over again.
  7.  Ben Franklin was the oldest to sign at 70 years of age.  A South Carolina delegate, lawyer Edward Rutledge, was only 26 and the youngest to sign.
  8. The original was moved from Washington in 1941 to Fort Knox in Kentucky until 1944.  This move came two weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.   It was covered by 150 pounds of protective material and escorted by the Secret Service along the way.  In 1944, post war, it was returned to the national archives in D.C.
  9. There is a message, written upside-down across the bottom of the signed document: “Original Declaration of Independence dated 4th July 1776.”  Who wrote this and why isn’t for sure known.  However, in the early days when it traveled it was often rolled up.  This writing might have been used to easily identify it from its back side.
  10. By July 9th the document had reached New York City.  George Washington, commander of the Continental forces in New York, read the document aloud in front of City Hall.  A rambunctious crowd was inspired by its words.  Later that afternoon they tore down the nearby statue of ole’ King George III. The statue was subsequently melted down and shaped into more than 42,000 musket balls for the newly formed American army.

Hopefully you enjoyed your barbeque yesterday and the independence nuggets above today.

 

Boom Boom’s Life Lessons #15

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

One of the many gifts that Boom Boom gave us was the torrent of quips about how one leads one’s life.   He could say so much by saying so little.   A statement at just the right moment resonated in my young, eager eardrums.  How I interpreted or applied it was up to me.  No more words were spoken because no more words were needed.

Out of nowhere (out of wood actually) my friend and neighbor across the street had a great two story fort built in his backyard by his dad.  It was cool!  Everyone wanted to play with Timmy and at Timmy’s house.  I needed a fort too, then.  I wanted everyone to want to play at my house.  One Saturday after work Boom Boom, with reservations, built just that for me.  I proudly announced as much to all of my friends late that afternoon.  Boom Boom went back to his weekend chores usually within earshot of my new play area.

Soon many wanted to play in my fort.  I was the king of my castle.  I was the commander in chief of our neighborhood army. Even Timmy came over.

However, daily, less soldiers followed my commands.  And, then less friends were in my army.  I had to get the remaining ones in line.  Soon my fort was all but abandoned.  Everyone went back to Timmy’s fort.

I sulked.  Boom Boom asked me why I thought everyone had deserted my army despite my commands.  “I don’t know,” I whined.  “I do,” he said.  “Why?”  “Because bosses aren’t bossy, son.”  What do you mean?”  “Leaders ask, they don’t demand.  They show the way.  They don’t force the way.”  I sulked.

“What do I do now, Daddy?”  “Go be a good soldier at Timmy’s fort.  You’ll get another chance another day.”

 

 

I Have Yet Another Story and A Moral Thereof!

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The best way to bump into celebrities is to live in Los Angeles.  The second best way is to travel to and from there frequently.   It was on a return trip from there that this writer very nearly chest bumped an “A lister.”

Another early AM Friday flight from LA  to Houston had boarded.  The week was done for the most part.  Luckily, I was bumped up to first class as a bonus on the bon voyage.  Before taking my seat in 1D I quickly saw that the overhead storage space directly over the row didn’t exist due to the curvature of the fuselage.  Being a bit of an alpha, I seized the opportunity to put my roller bag over row 2 just behind me.  What about the needs of the folks in row 2 you ask?  What about them I ask?

I settled in with The Wall Street Journal in hand; actually in two hands.  This was back when newspapers actually still went to print.  The hubbub, yapping, inefficiency, and general incivility of 250 humans boarding a plane was all around me.  Immersed in the paper, it was all just white noise to me.  It’s far better that way to remain somewhat sane truth be told.

With that as the backdrop I barely heard, and it really didn’t register with me, that a pair of first class flight attendants were at work in the galley as one remarked to the other that “it sounds like we have a VIP on board.”  This could be most anyone including United brass or a dead head trip friend, etc.  I stayed buried in The Journal.

Wheels up, a movie on the tiny screen, a breakfast, some computer work, and wheels down three hours later summarizes my time in the cylindrical 550 mph tin can.  A luggage grab, a stroll to the parking garage, a drive home, and a conference call is all that stood between me and a big time weekend.

That luggage grab would be like threading a needle though as I needed to walk backwards to get it.  The alpha in me said that I should bull rush the oncoming traffic, stifle it, and grab the bag versus waiting for a slow moment in the mad exit dash from the row or rows behind me.

As I took the hard left turn to do just that the person seated directly behind me for the entire flight headed for the aisle in the obviously opposite direction that I was.  And, because of that we both came to a full stop.  Then we met eye to eye for that uncomfortable moment that I created.  Well, it was almost eye to eye.  The gentleman was about a half-foot shorter than I.  Immediately the mind raced.  Yes.  Yes.  I cannot be mistaken.  Yes it is.  It was none other than George Clooney.  Oh yes I did, I flat out stymied George.

It felt like I had a pair of eyes on my back through the Jetway.  Once in the terminal a fellow passenger strode by and asked if I knew that was George Clooney.  I decided to stay alpha and went the humorous route, or so I thought.  I asked him “more importantly do you think that George Clooney knew that it was me?”  It was an odd stare back for sure. It was a bit awkward all around all over again really.

Oh, what’s the moral of the story?  Keep your luggage close and your A List friends closer.  Or, vice versa.

 

Boom Boom’s Life Lessons #14

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

One of the many gifts that Boom Boom gave us was the torrent of quips about how one leads one’s life.   He could say so much by saying so little.   A statement at just the right moment resonated in my young, eager eardrums.  How I interpreted or applied it was up to me.  No more words were spoken because no more words were needed.

Growing up, Daniel Joseph “Rusty” Staub was my favorite MLB baseball player.  Born and raised in NOLA, he signed with the Houston Astros for a then crazy 100,000 dollars in the early sixties.  Our family and his were friends.  My dad introduced me to him at an early age both in person and through the TV and newspapers.  I was hooked.

He went on to play in four decades (late 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and early 90’s) for five teams (the Mets twice), amass 2700 plus hits, and late in his career set a modern-day record for pinch hits.

Growing up my conversations with Boom Boom were plentiful.  Rarely did one occur that didn’t start or end in baseball.  Rarely did one occur without a subtle or not so subtle lesson imbedded in it.

“Rusty went one for three last night Dad.  What’s his batting average?”  “Get a pencil and paper son and we will figure it out,” he suggested.

“Can we drive to Houston and watch Rusty play for our vacation?”  “Let’s sit down tonight with your mom and see if that’s what we want to do this summer.”  “We could go to AstroWorld too!”  “Sounds great son.  It’s a family decision, let’s talk to mom.”

“Why did the Astros trade him to the Montreal Expos, dad?”  “The Astros must have thought they were getting value back son.”  “What does value mean, dad?”  “Value means getting equal or better in return.”

In my teen years, “Why did Rusty turn down 2.5 million dollars over five years from the Mets, dad?”  “He asked for $200k a year for the next 20 years instead Wally.  He is setting himself up for the rest of his life son.”  “What does that mean?”  “Get a pencil and paper and we will figure it out,” he again suggested.

Rusty never held out for more money.  He never had a bad word to say about another teammate or coach. He never got tossed from a game.  And, most of all, he left the game with his head held high.  Over time he became a favorite of many for how he conducted himself on the field, in the clubhouse, and in life.

Happy belated birthday to Rusty!  He would have been 75 on Monday, April 1st, or April Fool’s Day.  But, Rusty was no fool.  He didn’t know it, but he helped Boom Boom teach an eager beaver a thing or two about sports, life, finances, and growing up “the right way.”

It’s great to have heroes in life.  It’s greater to have one that you can learn a lot from.  It’s greatest when you can share that hero’s journey with your ultimate hero in life.